Shak

If relegation is still in the balance on the last day I don't think Ferguson will be quite enough of a cunt to send out a 3rd string outfit. He'll leave out the guys that it would be a major blow to lose, the stars of the team if you will, but there'll be some pressure on him in the week leading up to the game if rolling over could save Hull. They'll still probably half-ass it of course, but I expect it'll be a reasonably decent team that takes the field on the day.

Someone photoshop some decks in front of Dowie.

I'd say he's very consistent actually. He'll never be the difference maker you want in a winger, his end product just isn't there. But every team needs workers, guys who will put in the donkey work and run their legs off to create space for the impact players. Ji Sung Park is a bit like that for Man U, he rarely does anything special but he finds his way on to the pitch for most of Man U's big games because Ferguson knows that against other quality teams the difference can often be which side works harder. If we stay up I'd want to keep him and see what he can do with some better players around him. Get a winger on the other side who has got a bit of quality in his final ball and a couple of central midfielders who can give us some better distribution and he'll be a lot less frustrating for us. He always shows for the ball and never hides, a team needs characters like that. That said, I'll not be heartbroken if he leaves.

That moment where it broke to him in the first half and he had a bit of space to run at the Boro defence was depressing. He had Guthrie open to his right and somehow managed to not see him before lobbing an aimless ball into the box. It genuinely looked like he didn't have a clue what to do. Pre-injury he'd have run at the defence and tried to get a shot away, but he just can't do it anymore and he knows it.

Superstar!

I'd taken the numbers to be like a percentage. As in 3 = 30% chance you think we'll go down and so on and so forth. I'd be somewhere between a 3 and a 4 at the moment like. As in I think if the last couple of weeks of the season were played out three seperate times we'd go down one of those times. Never said Hull would win at Bolton, either, and they may not have to. Point could be enough. And yes I know they're shite but did you see the Bolton-Sunderland game at the weekend? I did and it wasn't pretty, Bolton have switched off and that could even the playing field for Hull. And Fulham may not have the best of away form but we're hardly a powerhouse now are we? Nowt wrong with a bit of hope but to see what I read as you saying we have only about a 10% chance of going down, when we're only out of the relegation on goal difference with two fixtures to go, just really made me shake my head tbh.

If we stayed up and Shearer didn't offer him a new deal then I'd start to really believe that he can take us places as manager. Easy thing to do would be offer him a new deal on reduced wages, but you don't become a great manager doing the easy thing.

Rather give Viduka a new deal than Owen. Both are crocks, at least Viduka can offer something when he's on the pitch though. He's still only 33, if Shearer can motivate him to get himself on the pitch more often then he'd be good to have around for another season. Obviously we'll need an alternative at CF because relying on Viduka alone would be lunacy.

Hilariously over-optimistic tbh, we're still pretty much shit remember? Despite being an absolutely dreadful team, Boro still were well in the game last night until the last few minutes. If Emnes wasn't a complete disaster of a footballer we'd have been in trouble. Luckily, Hull are an even worse team right now and are more likely to go down than us, that can't be denied. But Bolton have given up on the season, and I can easily see Hull getting something there if things go their way. We'll be rejuvinated against Fulham and I think we'll give em a good game, but they're a very well organised side who'll punish us if we're dodgy at the back and will be vastly harder to create chances against than Boro were. Just hate this attitude some people have adopted now that we've finally eeked out a home win against one of the worst teams in the league, like everything's going to be rosey from here on in. We're still right down there in the shit, make no mistake about it.

There's no reason whatsoever that Hull can't get something at Bolton, did you see them against the Mackems last Saturday. It's gonna be a terrible game between a truly shit team (Hull) and a below average team who've given up on the season (Bolton) and it's more or less impossible to call what way it'll go. I think we'll need a point more to stay up, at least. I think we'll get it against Fulham, too. 1-1.

Didn't think he was particularly good last night myself, bit better than he's been in most games but he'd fucking want to be. Did have a hand in the last two goals though so deserves some credit for that.

Just noticed this post. I doubt it was serious, and Im probably being insane, but can you actually do that? Honestly, what the fuck do you think?

If his name wasn't Michael Owen then he'd struggle to get a game in the Championship these days. Actually felt bad for him tonight for the first time. He was actually trying, the poor fucker, and still was so absolutely desperate it defied words. To think, five years ago he was legitimately one of the world's best players. Now he's reduced to this slow, weak, lumbering attempt at a footballer we see before us today. It's actually pretty sad, tbh.

Fuckin' hell, that was pure torture until the moment our third hit the net. Massive, massive win. Thought the crowd was immense, fair play to everyone who was there. Harper - 6 - Not much he could have done about the goal really and was competent otherwise. Beye - 7 - Unlucky for the OG, but worked his socks off the entire rest of the game and got forward very well. Bassong - 6 - He and Taylor never looked comfortable the entire game really, made some good challenges but has had better games for us. Taylor - 7 - Same as Bassong, but with an absolutely massive goal. Duff - 8 - Hated him for so long, but he's been one of our best players the last month. Never stopped trying, and for a makeshift left-back he's done very well defensively. Butt - 6 - Typical performance from him, good work off the ball neutralized by his desperate attempts at being a footballer when in possession. If he'd just realise that he's shit at passing he'd be so much better. Nolan - 5 - Seems to be earning plenty of praise on here, which I find odd. Offers very little, slow and immobile and generally just no sort of threat whatsoever. Hides an awful lot as well. Two assists mask what was another very poor display. Guthrie - 7 - Average sort of performance for the most part, but his delivery is by far and away the best at the club and his set-pieces looked our best chance of a goal all night. Jonas - 6 - Lot of nothing from him tonight, never stops looking for the ball and his workrate defensively is great but was ineffective tonight for the most part. Viduka - 9 - Absolute class. Fat, slow and old yet still produced more moments of genuine class than every other player on the pitch combined. Owen - 4 - Sad what he's become, actually felt for the bloke tonight as he was actually trying and still managed to give as ineffective a performance as you'll likely ever see. Time to put this one down, I'm afraid, he's had a good run. Martins - 7 - Massive goal, still looks to be moving a bit awkward but barring any sort of decapitation he needs to start ahead of Owen from here on in. Lovenkrands - 7 - Sealed the win, pissed about a bit before then for the most part but worked hard. Carroll - 6 - Did fine. All in all, fair play to the entire team. Nolan made up for his performance with two crucial assists, while Owen was pitiful but it's really hard to blame the guy anymore. To summise... http://blog.3bulls.net/wp-content/uploads/2006/01/Flair%202.jpg WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No luck then. They do a pretty solid pint of Guiness in that pub btw, it costs something like 7 euro mind you.

I really wish we'd bring back the black and white striped nets, they were the business. The new nets are why we are where we are, make no mistake about it.

Yeah, saw that. Crazy that the bookies actually have us staying up. Beat Boro and we'll be looking quite good, which is absolutely crazy when you think how shit we've been since early September.

That would be my preferred option like, interesting to see what he tries! I reckon Lovenkrands could do a nice job in that Oba role, but as you say he's hardly a winger. Then you're getting into the territory of Nolan coming in for Jonas in the middle as well, unfortunately. The team you suggest would be my favoured one too. I think with Butt and Guthrie in the CM then you need someone with legs in there beside them. Jonas can't cross for shit so maybe the best thing for him would to be used as the box-to-box player, with Butt playing the holding role and Guthrie getting on the ball as much as possible. It's not like Jonas isn't physical enough to play in the middle either, hopefully Shearer will agree.

Gay Paris? If by that you mean regular Paris then when I was there I watched the West Brom home game in an Irish bar called Brady's, address is 14 rue de Lisbonne. Chez will probably be there too if he's not off travelling somewhere.

Lovenkrands is desperate on the wing, really don't see why he wouldn't just stick him in Oba's position in the 4-3-3 and let them at it?

Aye, you were wrong about Owen mind. Turns out they're both shite.

That's a load of balls in all honesty. There's a few reactionary types on here but you make it seem like everyone just reacts based on the last game we played, which is quite clearly not the case. If anything people tend to make their minds up about something and stick to their guns about it too much. And I said "near the ball", not on the ball.

I'd have Taylor in the team ahead of Colo at the minute tbh. Gotten to the point where I completely shit myself any time that Coloccini gets anywhere near the ball.

Selling Milner wasn't the mistake, for the £12m we got we could have vastly improved our team more than James Milner would have done this year. Some central midfielders, for instance.

Thing is there's really nothing that's stopping a number of clubs from challenging and breaking that Top 4, and I'd be confident they will in time. Arsenal spend less than pretty much every team in the Premiership, and teams like Spurs, Villa, Man City and ourselves to name just a few are more than capable of challenging the big 4 if they get their act together and appoint a good manager. Villa this season is a prime example, and they'll only get better next year if they give O'Neill some more funds to work with. Really, Chelsea are the only team who've bought success in recent times. I suppose it is unfair on teams like Wigan, who have a certain level they'll never be able to surpass due to their shitty support, but the suggestion that the top 4 is somehow inpenetrable the way things are at the moment is pretty much ridiculous. Salary cap, as well as it works in the US, is completely unworkable in football too, barring miraculous levels of co-operation and sacrifice from clubs who have no reason to do so.