Shak

To be fair, they've got two games against Stoke at home and Bolton away that they could get anywhere between 0 and 6 points from. (apart from 5, I suppose) We need them to get no more than 3 or we're in real, real shite. We can only hope they don't nick something in any of their three harder fixtures, if that happens then it'll be the old toaster and the bath option for me.

Mine's probably the Blackburn side that beat us 2-0 at the end of the 2006/2007 season.

Yes, but our current lot can't provide that. It's about getting the best from what we have, and if we're going 4-4-2 then that means dropping Owen because Martins gives you much more shot at doing something with the level of service we can provide. Obviously, we need to be going 4-3-3 though.

Hull at home to Stoke is as big as any of our games tbh, if they win that then we're really fucked.

I really disagree with that. Owen has never been a technically gifted player. His touch on the ball and his passing isn't particularly good at all. In the past, he's relied on his athleticism, but now that he's lost the edge off his pace, the reality is he's just an average Premiership striker. I keep hearing about 'the service' being poor, but it didn't seem to stop Martins getting on the end of a few chances. bang on Would you drop Owen and play 4-4-2 then? Surely 4-3-3 is the way to go from here on in?

Both would improve the team if available, can only hope they make it.

No, we need to play him alongside Martins and one of Carroll or Viduka. Ideally a midfield 3 of Barton, Guthrie and Jonas. Think there's a nice balance in that trio, Guthrie the static distributor with Jonas and Barton providing the legs.

The only team I've ever seen make wing backs work was Brazil around the turn of the century. They did have possibly the two best players ever suited to the wing-back position of course, Cafu and Roberto Carlos. We have Ryan Taylor and Damien Duff. Enrique or not next Monday it'd be absolute lunacy to try this fucking bullshit formation again. We've looked absolutely and completely useless every second we've been in this system the last two games. It was only when we abandoned it against Stoke and let Duff play much further up field that we started to look in any way threatening and got our goal. The moment we reverted to it after the goal it handed Stoke the initiative and they naturally finished the game looking the more likely winners. Can't believe Shearer claimed it actually worked against them, we were useless. Same against Spurs for most of the first half, again the minute we abandoned it we improved immediately. If Enrique doesn't make it next Monday, play Duff or Bassong at LB. I can only hope that Shearer has gotten it out of his system and is going to go with a formation that makes some sense. If he hasn't, I don't see us getting a win next Monday.

This I would say the same formation, with one exception. I think the formation should have Owen and Viduka swapped. Owen has been Mr Nobody when he's dropped back to help in midfield, yet Viduka's whole game these days is about getting possession, holding the ball for a bit and then feeding players making forward movement. So I'd put Viduka in that central forward role to act as a target man, to get the ball, hold it at his feet, allow Martins and Owen to make runs in to the box, and then passing it to Owen's or Martin's feet. So this for me: Harper Beye Colocinni Bassong Enrique Guthrie Barton Jonas Viduka Martins Owen Only time Owen has looked in any way useful for us the last couple of years is in a hole, it's clearly the place for him. FYP Ahhh lighten up man http://i40.tinypic.com/205qerk.gif

This I would say the same formation, with one exception. I think the formation should have Owen and Viduka swapped. Owen has been Mr Nobody when he's dropped back to help in midfield, yet Viduka's whole game these days is about getting possession, holding the ball for a bit and then feeding players making forward movement. So I'd put Viduka in that central forward role to act as a target man, to get the ball, hold it at his feet, allow Martins and Owen to make runs in to the box, and then passing it to Owen's or Martin's feet. So this for me: Harper Beye Colocinni Bassong Enrique Guthrie Barton Jonas Viduka Martins Owen Only time Owen has looked in any way useful for us the last couple of years is in a hole, it's clearly the place for him. FYP

This I would say the same formation, with one exception. I think the formation should have Owen and Viduka swapped. Owen has been Mr Nobody when he's dropped back to help in midfield, yet Viduka's whole game these days is about getting possession, holding the ball for a bit and then feeding players making forward movement. So I'd put Viduka in that central forward role to act as a target man, to get the ball, hold it at his feet, allow Martins and Owen to make runs in to the box, and then passing it to Owen's or Martin's feet. So this for me: Harper Beye Colocinni Bassong Enrique Guthrie Barton Jonas Viduka Martins Owen Only time Owen has looked in any way useful for us the last couple of years is in the hole, it's clearly the place for him. Putting Viduka there and asking him to run around and link the play could land Shearer in jail, I doubt Viduka would manage 45 minutes without dying of exhaustion. Owen in the hole, Viduka up front is the only way to go. I'd swap Barton and Guthrie too. Joey has a far better engine to get up and down the field, whereas Guthrie's best asset is his distribution. If Barton isn't able to go then maybe Smith. Doubtless it'll be Butt and Nolan that start though.

To be fair, he's had them playing a completely different system the last two games so there's definitely been a change. Unfortunately, that new system makes the previous 4-4-2 look awesome.

If Shearer pulls his head out of his arse and abandons this 3-5-2 bullshit then we're still right in there with a shout. If we win our three home games we should still stay up, and despite how absolutely ungodly bad we've been all year there's absolutely nothing whatsoever that should stop us doing just that. Boro and Pompey are absolutely shite too, and we have them at our place and with our 3 best goalscorers looking like they'll be available. Beat them two and we'll have our tails up when Fulham come, and while they're a decent side we should still be able to beat them considering how important a game it'll be for us. I think Blackburn will be safe. They've 3 very winnable home games to come too and West Brom on the last day. So it's two of us, Boro and Hull for me, and I think Boro are 90% gone. If Hull get more than 4 points from their run-in I'll be very surprised. We need Man U to go to Hull needing a win on the final day too. If we go down on the back of Man U rolling over against Hull on the final day to rest players for the CL final I'll probably have to kill some people.

Don't get to see a lot of Inter games, what system is Mourinho using there? Zlatan and Drogba are both more target man types really, I think they'd be better served getting Villa than Drogba tbh, even though Drogba is a better player.

Could have very easily gone down under Fat Sam tbh, we were every bit as shit before Keegan took over as we are now, arguably moreso in fact. Appointing Wise was probably more damaging, as while he didn't actually do a whole lot wrong in his time here it was his presence that ultimately led to KK's departure. We'd not be in this mess if Keegan had been left to his own devices, not that he was in any way blameless in the situation.

Went to see 'The Boat that Rocked' last night, had written this game off as over. FML

The Letters from the Heart section on the Liverpool website is impossible to read, heartbreaking.

I've said before, Pekerman pretty much singlehandely robbed his own team of the World Cup that day, or at least a very good chance of going on to win it. Went 1-0 up just before half time, second half they were looking very comfortable. But at 1-0 you're never safe, any idiot knows that. Argie keeper went off injured, that was one sub down but no real harm. Then he takes off Riquelme, the guy on the team that pretty much everything goes through. Obviously the plan is to sit back and defend, risky strategy but at least if you concede a goal you've got Messi on the bench to try and go on the offensive again if needed. Then with ten minutes to go he takes off Crespo and puts on Cruz, straight swap. Final sub pretty much wasted in a lame attempt to use up a few seconds. Inevitably, Germany equalise and send it to extra time and ultimately penalties. And in a win or go home match the Argentinians have easily their two best players sitting on the bench throughout extra time, powerless to effect the outcome. Hands down the worst display of in game management I've ever seen, and one I doubt I'll ever see topped.

Good news, as as has been said it's a pity Lua Lua went out on loan as he'd be well worth giving a try too. With Martins' availability looking questionable at best, it's nice to at least have an option other than Shola to call on. Hope he does the business if and when his chance comes.

That'd be my XI, too. Agree with lovejoy though, Nolan will get the nod over Guthrie, or even worse Jonas, most likely. Guthrie and Jonas in the Barton and Geremi roles from last year though would be promising though. Ideally, with everyone fit I'd be going Jonas, Guthrie and Barton as the three in the middle. Think that'd be very good tbh.

Ryan. Duh. Is Steven Taylor back for this? If so, Beye at RB and S Taylor at CB for me.

-------------- Harper Faylor -- Beye -- Bassong -- Enrique ------Guthrie -- Butt -- Jonas -------------- Owen ------ Carroll ----- Martins Is what I'd go for. If Enrique is out then shove Beye at RB, Faylor at LB and either Colo or Edgar at CB. I'd actually be tempted to start Duff instead of Martins too. Aside from the dodgy business last Saturday, Oba's been a disaster the last while and I've thought for a long time Duff's best spot is up front, making a nuisance of himself and working the channels playing off a big man. He's still not very good like, but we desperately need a bit of mobility up top and that's one thing he has. Would give Owen some space to work in coming from deep too.

I don't really mind as long as it doesn't start spilling over to other threads, which it has a bit. That said, there's definitely something a little bit unsettling about the whole thing to me. I'd feel weird obsessing about what is basically a 17 year old kid who has scored a few goals for the reserves. Odds are he'll amount to nothing sadly, given our record with bringing youngsters through. Obviously hope I'm wrong and he turns out to be the next Ronaldo, but chances are he'll be the next Michael Chopra, only with "swagga". Also, I know for most people this is just a little bit of a laugh. Few people need to have a look at themselves though tbh, I'm dreading the day the thread title contains 'Nile Convention on Saturday Week' or something to that effect.

Duff and Carroll up top, Owen in the hole. Assuming Martins is gone, one way or the other. If this is all much ado about nothing then put him in there for Duff.

The positive is that we got a point and looked like we were up for it. Don't really think we deserved a point though, even if they did give a better effort than some of the gutless efforts we've seen this year. We scored with what was basically one of two or three half chances we created in the entire 90 minutes, and Stoke really should have killed the game off two or three times early in the second half. My concern is that yesterday Shearer basically shit the bed with the formation he sent them out in. If you're gonna go 5-3-2 then you'd better have a lot of mobility in the 3 midfielders and two strikers, or else you're gonna end up being very narrow and easy to deal with. We sent out Butt, Guthrie, Nolan, Owen and Ameobi and the inevitable result wasn't pretty when we were in possession. It was only when we moved Duff up field and brought Jonas on that we started to look in some way capable of mounting an attack. I'm no fan of Duff but I'd have had him up front yesterday with Shola and played Owen just off. Shearer needs to learn from this, and fast. If he doesn't by the time Portsmouth come to SJP, we're fucked.