stozo

Big Sam IS in real trouble. We are talking about whether he has a future after today. What is it going to be like next week after we have to go away to Blackburn and then play Arsenal.

Absolute rubbish performance. That was as bad as any performance we saw under Roeder, if not worse. Sam Allardyce is clearly a fraud. He came with the billing of being a tactical master and a man who was defensively mainded and would reinforce our leaky backline. Instead we have a man who encourages a defensive mentality in a team that can't defend. 0 shots on target is completely unacceptable.

Depressing.

Smith ahead of Milner. Absolutely shocking decision.

Terrible team from Sam. Just hope we can grab something from this game.

Cacapap out.

Not going to leave Portugal until after Euro 2008 at the earliest.

Would much rather have Mourinho, he would be more entertaining than Capello.

Tomorrow 8:30. Listening to 5live. Apparently Capello wants the job. AM? Yep, AM

Exactly.

Tomorrow 8:30. Listening to 5live. Apparently Capello wants the job. Yep. Board meeting called for 8:30. Will be sacked by 9.

Mourinho or Klinsman.

So how long before they sakc McClaren then? Surely no later than Friday.

I'd definetly do it. Bring in Jussi on a free, sell Given for £6m and use the £6m to strengthen other areas. Given isn't anything special, especially after his injuries.

I would play: GK: Carson RB: Brown CB: Richards CB: Campbell LB: Bridge RW: Wright-Phillips CM: Gerrard CM: Barry LW: Cole FW: Bent FW: Crouch

will i have to wait until next week then if uraguay win to see if i win my bets? because i need those 2 teams to win No idea mate. You'll either have to wait until next week or the bet will be voided.

Not as if he had sky high debts to write off like. I'm not criticizing his lack of spending this past summer but if we are going to go anywhere we lack world class players. When I think of who from the Newcastle team would make it into the team of a Big 4 side I struggle to think of many names, Martins would most likely be a squad player, you could make the same arguement possibly with Zog but after that there is nobody.

Uraguay v Chile is played tonight at 7pm UK Time. Where I'm looking it has Serbia v Kazakhstan listed as postponed.

In the summer we only had a net spending of around £10m. Am I the only one who would like to see Ashley well and truly get his wallet out and flex some of the financial muscle we know he has. I personnally think he should just say to Allardyce here's £40m go and spend it 2 or 3 top class players.

Looked brilliant. Get him in.

Croatia are already qualified courtest of the Russia loss.

My picks for tomorow: Leeds Southend Not feeling very adventurous this week.

Exactly!

Agree with everything you said.

We all know Given and Harper are top class shot stoppers, but I don't think either of them can take us back to the level we are aiming for. There is one main reason why they will never be world class goalkeepers and why we have had and still have a lot of defensive problems, this reason is niether control the box. You watch a top, top keeper like Cech, any cross comes in to the box and he will snap it up. By my count 6 from 20 of the goals (30%) we have conceeded in all competitions this season have come from balls in the box which the goalkeeper or defenders have failed to deal with. Now I'm sure some of yuou are thinking how is the GK to blame for poor marking? I'd say he is partially to blame as on every single ball into the box the pressure is on the defender as he knows that no matter what niether Given or Harper is likely to come off their line to deal with it. A great example of this last year is with Cudicini, once Cech got injured Chelsea seemed unable to defend set pieces or crosses, that's no coincidence as Cudicini, like Given, never comes for balls and leaves it up to his defenders. Also just to add to the debate you have to say now is the time to get shot of Given. His groin is clearly fucked as shown by the numerous injuries he has sustained to it since his stomach operation last year. Sadly I don't think he'll ever be able to start games for a full season again.