Mick

I totally agree about the team and defenders, the prozak remark wasn't aimed at anybody, it was just a bit of bait.

Carr wasn't wearing a heart monitor, it was a Defribulator.

I'm not sure if we were better than expected or if they were worse but I saw a few things which I liked, the game was played at a good pace and some of our play was excellent, I can't remember Geremi getting a pass wrong all game and he looked strong. I didn't expect him to play that well but he wasn't the only one as we had quite a few plusses. I know it was only a friendly but we had something that we were missing last season but I can't quite work out what it was yet. The players worked for each other, our passing was mainly good, I don't know if that is because we didn't have Bramble hoofing it. I'm not sure we're having a honeymoon period but you could be right as we used so many players that nobody was left out, they all played a part, we obviously can't do that during a normal match. We still need the defenders but I've got more confidence today than I had yesterday that the rest of the team looks good, seeing us play the way we did gave me confidence, yesterday it was just hope. Young Troisi looked comfortable with the ball, I hope we can help him develop because he looks like he can play a bit.

I'd like to move this thread in a different direction. Do the Prozac Munchers ©Obi. think things look brighter today then they did yesterday? I think they do, I wasn't slashing my wrists anyway but I think we're close to having a good team and we seem to have a manager who knows what he's doing, the future is looking bright for us if we can get what we need in defence and pad out the squad.

Very few foreign players come to this country and pick up the pace of the game straight away, Luque needs a run of games before we can say for sure if his good enough or not, personally, I'd like to know one way or the other.

Carr should only play if we've got nothing else for that position.

I think he'd be wasted in that position, he's got a lot more to offer.

The picture on .com now is as funny as f**k.

You can have a go at Luque all you want, if he keeps scoring goals then that's good enough for me, he'll probably develop his game if he gets something like a run in the team.

I thought our defence was OK while Rozenhal was on the pitch then I thought we were a bit Shaky, Huntington give me no confidence at all.

I thought he was solid, I enjoyed watching him.

Warren Barton?

Bobby pissed him about, he was an easy target to bring off, no wonder his head dropped at times.

Nobby has probably been my favourite player since he joined us, he's getting on now but he's still the cleverest footballer at our club by a country mile, I’ll be gutted when he does go, I would hope that with him we can find a job for the boys because he’s got loads of skill to pass on to others.

It's not a question of "judgement". It's a question of preference. Take a risk with Ashley? Blunder further down the road to oblivion with Shepherd? (This may help: http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/preference) coming from a person who backed Souness until the day he was sacked ? Still think we were on course for success with him as manager ? And your idol Tina Arsprilla, who scored 2 goals in a season ? You don't have much of a success rate with taking risks do you mackems.gif The cheeky bastard tried to deny it, he claimed the mod's changed his posts, at least I think that was him.

It's even worse if he's doing it to his family, the biggest tit is the one holding the camera.

I would like to think Heinze is also a target for Allardyce, it would be a bit of a gamble because of his form since injury but I'd take the chance on him, I'd rather him than Riise.

Very refreshing hearing common sense from our manager, it's been a long time since we've heard any.

We actually played quite well tonight, with a bit of luck the injuries will turn out to be niggles and nothing more. Things don't look as bad as some were suggesting, we're not far off being a usefull team this season, yes we need defenders but we have the makings of a good season ahead of us if we can get the right people in. A bonus for me was the way Geremi played and Trotski looked comfortable on the ball. Carr was crap at times, especially in the second half, he's going to be a massive liability if we're using him in the Premiership. I'm not sure how good or bad Celtic are but they put up a good fight in as much as the game was more like a league game than a friendly, the players who didn't get injured will be fitter for playing at that pace.

It looks like Kevs Dads back on.

When did Port Vale, Plymouth or Hull finish above us? Oxford finished 1 place above us and they did that for one season, hardly a long period. Swindon did it randomly twice, so not really a long period again. You're getting closer to "long periods" with Oldham who managed it 3 times. You've mentioned Watford, in 1983 Watford finished above every team in the league except for Liverpool, does whatever you're going to say applies to us also apply to all of those other teams/clubs? I can't be bothered looking at the others as I'm sure some will have finished higher on the very rare occasion.

In 1991 we were in the old 2nd Division, the teams listed below were all in the 1st (top) division. why was this ? Why was the share issue aborted ? Why was there so little interest the club couldn't even sell 2.5m worth of shares ? shot yourself in the foot, predictably. Why were Leeds, Chelsea and Liverpool getting higher gates than we were, at the time you mention, but don't now ? You are getting into that area where you are going to claim that Newcastle United needed the sky TV money to exist in the premiership, and get above the likes of Oxford, Southampton, Swindon, Oldham, Ipswich, Port Vale, Hull, Watford, Plymouth, Barnsley, Brighton, QPR, Millwall, Charlton, Luton, Norwich, Bristol City, Millwall, Notts County, Bristol Rovers etc were ALL above us in the league during the period when we were in the old 2nd division ? You're a bigger joke than ever, for making such a pathetic, and stupid claim. If you aren't then please tell us how this was the case anyway ? What is the point of you ? Getting into a debate with you reminds me of http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/6017/wheelvd4.gif I've left the question you've asked at the top in the original post, I've answered it by showing the other teams who are considered to have been reasonably big clubs at that time, I've shown how our attendances stood up to them and I've shown some of the bigger clubs at this time who were also doing reasonably well at that time. I could have cherry picked and shown quite a few teams who were playing in the top division and had worse crowds than we did, I could have cherry picked like you do and use the shittest teams as an example, I haven't. One club was in the top 8 in 1991 and the 4th division last season, last season that averaged 1,000 less than they had then, I don’t think that’s because they feel the club they support is almost as good as the one who played in the top division, times have changed. You asked the question, it's tough if you don't like the answer, I'll leave it up to others as to which one looks stupid. Like I’ve said in the past, our crowds have always been some of the best in the country and all clubs attendances have improved since those times with a few exceptions.

Don't worry Dave, I think it was just a random comment.

I'm not really concerned about what Shola does in his spare time, it's what he does on the field that counts.

I'm not sure I'm fine with the transitional season but if that's what it takes to move forward then we'll have to live with it, we've just finished our third transitional season so if it takes another to start to get things right then I'll go along with it. I still don't think things as bad as 12 months ago anyway because we've shifted some shite and look as if we've improved on them. The squad's thin, nobody could seriously say it wasn't, it's just not as bad as some are saying when you stand back and look at what we've got. I've already said that our defence is no worse than what we went into last season with, our forward line is much better with the addition of Viduka and the return to fitness of Owen, even if he has picked up a knock, this time last year it was debateable if he would even kick a ball before the season end. Some may say that Shola is shite, he's better than Sibierski, we already had Shola but lost him for a long time, that shouldn't happen this season although I've no doubt some will hope it does.