Shak

What a camp run...

Take Milner off? Think he's looked alright. Couple of dangerous balls in. A switch to 4-4-2 in general though, Enrique for Geremi say (Zoggy pushing up, Milner going right) would probably be a decent move if the game hasn't changed by 60 minutes. Agree, if we change to 4-4-2 then I'm fine with Milner staying on the wing (right wing). But if with our current shape he hurts the balance of the team a lot, as you need pace out wide in a 4-3-3, which he simply doesn't have. One or two-semi dangerous balls in I suppose, but he generally takes forever to get that cross in so when he does the ball has to be absolutely perfect as players are marked-up for the most part.

Yikes. There's just nothing going forward really, the midfield lacks anything in creativity while the wide men are either terribly erratic (Martins) or extremely easy to play against (Milner) for the most part. We've nobody who can take the ball and run at the opposition and beat a couple of men (excepting Zoggy, whose stuck at LB), without someone like that teams just have to defend with a bit of discipline and good positioning and they're laughing. I'd bring on Emre for Geremi and Enrique for Milner, and maybe Viduka for Smith later on. But that's just me.

Stroke of luck, by all accounts. f****** hell, though, really not good enough. Only saw the last half hour, ye weren't great I must say. Bit disappointing to see Reo-Coker taking the ball to the corner flag in injury time.

Watching the Mackem game, never a free-kick at all IMO. Mackems got robbed.

Fair enough so.

What exactly has Rozenhal done to stay in ahead of Taylor? Bit annoyed if true tbh, we saw at Derby that Cacapa and Rozenhal absolutely suck if they're asked to be in the least bit physical.

Shitting a brick now tbh. The thought of England actually winning a World Cup terrifies me, and now they finally have a coach capable of making it happen. Sven could have, but he never really did his own thing or showed the necessary balls required for the job. There'll be no such problems with Capello. It's not that I'd begrudge the players and people of England the glory of a World Cup, just the thought of seeing John Terry or some such tosser gleefully lifting the World Cup above his head every four minutes on television (every single time Sky Sports News goes to adds breaks for instance) is too much to take. I'd basically have to give up television, it'd be a nightmare.

Zidane and Ronaldo really do stand out for me, there's nobody else that I've seen that I'd put up there with them or whom I consider noteably better than the best of the rest. Matter of time before Messi is up there, reckon he could potentially be the best I've ever seen.

The long term problem with Milner on the left of a 4-3-3 is his pace, and while pace isn't the be all and end all of playing on the wing, it certainly is very important for the wide men in such a system. Generally your center forward is more concerned with link up play and playing with his back to goal, and the 3 in the middle of midfield are there to be solid and create from the middle rather than stretch teams. So that leaves the two wide men as the people whose job it is to stretch the opposition and get in behind them. Milner will never be able to do that, and while he may play well as an individual from the left, it upsets the balance of the team and makes us easier to play against. Unless he has an absolute stormer of a game and scores a goal or two and delivers brilliant cross after brilliant cross, I don't think it's the best position for him. In a 4-4-2, yeah, he's a good winger. But I'm just not sure 4-3-3 will suit him long term at all.

Spot on. Only players you should try and build a system around are truly world class ones, and Owen will never be at that level again.

I'd drop Milner and try N'Zogbia in the advanced role on the left, give him a run if games there and he'll be more effective than Milner can ever hope to be IMO.

Kingdawson's reaction to this should be good, and rightfully so.

That's absolutely insane.

I reckon Villa will beat Man U, should be a great tie either way.

Reckon we can nick a draw at Stoke!!

Avoided Chelsea.

Wouldn't rule out that happening tbh, though I'd say it's a pretty small possibility.

we've won at ewood two seasons in a row. I didn't mean Blackburn away specifically. Thought that was obvious. we always take a huge crowd there and usually put in a good show so i wouldn't really class it as the type of away game we usually do bad in. we've done better than this under roeder and souness so i won't do any cartwheels yet. tugay scores. What exactly about my post screams "doing cartwheels" FFS? My point was basically that's it's an encouraging performance. There's a whole lot still wrong with us and I'm fully aware of the fact that this performance doesn't mean we're fine now or anything. never said your post did, i just wouldn't include blackburn as one of the traditional gamesin which we struggle, youd have to go back a decade to find the last league game where we didn't turn up. certainly better than previous games but i thought we'd do well anyway. Which is why I used the expression "kind of game" (i.e away trips to physical, mid-table sides) rather than said Blackburn in particular.

we've won at ewood two seasons in a row. I didn't mean Blackburn away specifically. Thought that was obvious. we always take a huge crowd there and usually put in a good show so i wouldn't really class it as the type of away game we usually do bad in. we've done better than this under roeder and souness so i won't do any cartwheels yet. tugay scores. What exactly about my post screams "doing cartwheels" FFS? My point was basically that's it's an encouraging performance. There's a whole lot still wrong with us and I'm fully aware of the fact that this performance doesn't mean we're fine now or anything.

we've won at ewood two seasons in a row. I didn't mean Blackburn away specifically. Thought that was obvious.

Winning and losing isn't really that important to me this year tbh, can't see anything but mid-table as our finishing point for the season. It's the performances. Last few have been shocking, but this is the kind of game today where we've been pushovers in for years. This is the type of game we've needed to develop more spine in, and from the looks of today it seems that maybe we're doing that. Need to do it consistently mind you, but if we can do that then it's a great sign for once we're able to add some more quality to our team.

You mean the shot just went 40 yards directly up into the sky? Bizarre.

Good to see we're at least are showing a bit of bottle today, fair play to the lads.

Good on you Smithy. What does the 4-3-3 look like then? Milner on the left and Martins on the right? Or vice versa? Neither, they're bot playing centrally, with Smith out wide. -------------------- Given Beye ------- Faye ------ Roz -------------- Zoggy --------------------- Butt ------------ Barton --- Geremi ------------------Milner ----------------Martins Smith Sort of like that... From what i can see Smith is playing right down the middle with Martins supporting on right and Milner on left I would hope so! Shak quit messing about. This isn't the time for that. Frankly, I find having a laugh is the best way to get through times like this.