TRon

Probably dropped around the time you stopped calling your manager "King Kev" perhaps? What makes you think we have stopped calling King Kev, King Kev?

Please God let this be true. Duff dropped and free to go on the lash Sunday night.

I think a lot will be revealed in the Summer, not just how much money Keegan is backed with but what sort of players he's targeted, from that we'll be able to understand why he couldn't attract them in January. It's been a shit season without doubt, I just hope now they've got there man the club can start moving in the right direction, we've just got to see this season out. A sensible approach, but of course there is nothing to stop those not sharing these views from getting their boots in while they can.

Same here. I really thought Sam's fitness regime would see a new Viduka but we were mugged on this one. He's on vacation until Australia come calling by the looks of it, the fat spongeing cunt.

Mine for what it's worth: 4-4-2 Harper Beye Taylor Faye Enrique Zog Geremi Barton Milner Martins Owen

I would have thought a Chairman desperate for cash would have snapped West Ham's hands off at £6m. Bean counters don't usually risk a deal falling through by upping the price on a whim, but then recognising this probably doesn't fit in with some people's agenda so best ignore it and hope no one notices.

It's a big ask to pitch a teenager into a relegation battle. Nevertheless, Carroll looks like he would relish it. I wouldn't start him yet, first we need to see Martins and Owen given a crack, but if it isn't working, get him off the bench and alongside Oba.

I would stick with Faye and Cacapa for this one. Birmingham are direct and phsyical so horses for courses.

I wasn't necessarily suggesting anyone should come up with something beginning with P which rhymed with Duff btw, I should make that clear. Anyway, he was subbed early on Saturday, I'm hoping that means he's no longer an automatic choice. With a striker who won't take shots at goal, we can't afford to also have a winger who can't deliver the ball into the penalty area.

All true enough, but if the top managers weren't willing to come, why not go for an up and coming manager from the lower leagues rather than a proven flop? Unless Freddie's football knowledge was so limited he had no knowledge of young managers rated within the game?

I don't think he lacks pride or passion. He just doesn't know what to do with the ball when someone's in the way.

What's Milner got to do with it? He makes Duff look like Ronaldo! A young Luis Figo obviously did a few step-overs, chucked in the odd cross and scored no goals.

Because Allardyce went on tv and said he was his replacement? When a player leaves you usually replace them, yet we were prepared to hang on to Dyer until we got the money we thought he was worth, in fact we signed Enrique a week before we sold Dyer, where does he fit in this imaginary buy to sell policy? So none of the deals were financially linked then? IIRC We sold Dyer, then bought Smith, then told West Ham Dyer was no longer for sale because something upset Ashley about the way West Ham had carried out their business. How does that fit in with your sell to buy argument?

Bit early to judge really. Given another season's experience of English football I think he could be a really good solid left back. I like the way he recovers and disposesses players who get the better of him. £6m was a fucking ludicrous fee though. For that you should be buying the finished article.

You were the one who said he'd done well for Ireland, I just assumed you'd have something to back that up. A competitive match which counted for something would be a start.

Who has he played well against? Malta? Brazil. A friendly match with lots of space and no pressure doesn't really tell us much.

I prefer Faye and Cacapa, they compliment each other well, although against the more physical sides Faye should start with Taylor. Agree with the rest of your post, where was the midfield for the 2nd and 3rd goals?

Who has he played well against? Malta? I stuck up for Duff when he was out, but his safe,sterile performances have reeked of fear recently. Has he given any full back a hard time recently?

I once asked NE5, seeing as he didn't agree that Freddie was a thick fat so and so, what was Freddie's intelligent reasoning for wanting to hire Souness? Blackburn being 2nd bottom of the league at the time, and Souness being on the brink of the sack. I never got a reply to that one strangely enough.

I've stayed quiet so far in this thread but I have to take issue with that. If Duff and Owen are our best players, we will go down, absolutely no doubt whatsoever about that. A winger who hasn't scored or set a goal up all season is our best player? Christ! I have to agree. It doesn't matter how bad the rest of your team are, there's no excuse for not being able to at least fire in some decent crosses. Zog isn't playing great but he always manages a couple if given the chance. Even Milner does although usually from deep positions. I think you said it in one of the other threads, to think the flak Robert used to get, and there was a bloke who could make and take them.

How about an unfit, unmotivated Viduka up front with Oba? Seeing as that's the more likely option.

spot on. The essence of having an ambitious board or not. Mort is increasingly looking like a clueless idiot to me. Its called using your fanbase to your advantage, and if you don't do it you are the same as those without a big fanbase. Hardly rocket science unless you are a blind man or blindly refuse to accept the obvious. Or just waiting to see if Ashley/Mort spend in the summer assuming we stay up.

Allardyce was lining up a big bid for Nolan IMO. Then we'd finally see an Allardyce team in full swing.

This is worrying. He's making runs and beating people at times, but never really finding a man in the box with a cross or getting goal. Thing is, the whole team has been a shower of shit this season. Simply because Duff hasn't shone and banged in a load of goals or made loads of assists isn't a sign that Duff is finished etc. - think its more down to the fact that the whole team have been poor and confidence is at an all time low. Duff's been out for a while with injury and he's come back in to team going through shite run of form and has had to play under two different managers. If the team was playing better football and confidence was high I'd wager that Duff would be performing better, which goes for a number of other players too. I don't know. Zog has his faults, but you can guarantee at least once in a match he'll skin the full back and whip in a decent cross. Against Blackburn, Duff took three consecutive corners and didn't beat the first man. It was abysmal, nothing less. As soon as Zog started taking them we had much more dangerous deliveries which actually caused a problem. If you can't take a corner, you aren't likely to produce much else, especially when the pressure is on.

They can also be won by the sides with more pace and skill, if we can get Zog and Martins in, I think we'll cause them problems. Also we should see a lot more possession than we have of late as they won't be able to keep the ball. I doubt they are capable of stringing more than one pass together.