Colos Short and Curlies

Give that ball to Best

When do you think that we wil lbe asking Alan to give us a wave?

I think even 4 or 5 games in this season I am on record saying he looks decent but lacks a goalscoring threat

Was surprised we didn't do that last season, seemed an easy route of revenue. Perhaps NR had it in the deal that they'd be our only shirt sponsor if we went down? Should have plastered it all over the ass of our shorts

Add Ben Arfa and Simpson, who I think will become a very good right back. We're getting close to having a first team that will compete at the top level and will challenge to qualify for Europe in a year or two. Have to agree with Simpson. Although this has a lot to do with the lack of alternatives, I really can see him in an England shirt before long, if only for a friendly

He was aiming for Best tbf

I saw the Best sub as a 'Look he is still alive come and buy him' move

Win against West Ham and I'd be confident enough about our chances to have a real go at the FA Cup

which is a good thing, because he had an awful opening few minutes. Glad he's recovered and looked really up for it since. Linking well with Barton too Put the ball on Shola's head with a perfect cross at the start. Not sure when he was awful. First 5 seconds, ball bounced off his foot for a throw in

I'm going to give him credit for the first half. We've seen a lively front two, a nice training ground corner and Jonas attack space.

Apple

:colo:

He'd miss 3 out of 10 from there (unless it's against the Mackems)

Why? He's a Villa fan, and TalkSport is the home of laddish over the topness. Came across as a fake celebration to me, simply to wind Chelsea fans up

What a tit Collymore was for the equaliser

Fair enough mate. From what i've seen Jonas can dribble past players better than Bentley, and Taylor takes a better set piece. Take note people, for you have been warned by somebody who has seen more of him recently than all of us combined.. Go back to 2001 and ask Coventry fans about Bellamy. A change in clubs can make a world of difference to some players

Perfect time to start him imo

http://www.avforums.com/forums/attachments/sport/136700d1251910625-ssn-better-than-qvc-hyping-nothing-jim-white.jpg FOR FUCKS SAKE, IT ISN'T A REAL BASTARDING WINDOW And if it was and it was slammed shut, it would shatter

How far away from serious pressure was CH? I think CH would've garnered significantly more support through the bad periods due to his previous achievements and the general goodwill towards the fella. Nobody expected miracles of him. If an 'Experienced Manager' is recruited as an improvement over the status quo then naturally pressure will be higher and patience lesser. If he came with more gravitas then the argument would naturally be to give him time (see the argument for Hodgson from some quarters) but his previous clubs have been Reading, Southampton, Charlton etc so he'll find himself with very limited public support should results go against him. That and the fact he's an Ashley man. I agree that AP probably won't receive a huge amount of patience but I'm not so sure how things would have panned out for CH. The performances against Bolton and WBA had been very poor and any thought that we might rely on away form to stay up was blown (and yes some did seem to be relying on that). He wasn't too many poor results away from being under serious pressure imo. Yeah, but he had several key players out - this is a definite factor in them results. But we still shipped 5 goals against Bolton with CH's first choice back four playing. I think some people will tend to look back on CH now with more tolerance than they were showing at the time. There was hell on after both those games, and this forum was no exception. I was against sacking CH (still am) but as I said I don't think there would have been unlimited patience. We'll never know if CH would have got more than 3 points from the last 3 games but I doubt that he would, the last 2 in particular were very hard matches and 3 points isn't actually too bad a return. The fact is that other sides at the bottom and around us have started picking up good points and so we are on the slide. But its all irrelevant anyway, we now have a sequence of games coming up where points should be picked up. AP was appointed because Ashley thought he could make a difference and he has to find a a way to deliver results - whether players are missing or not. I think CH got a lot more slack because he is a decent man and everyone could see that he was trying to do the right thing in terms of shaping a longer term approach to the club. Had he been in charge for the Liverpool, Citeh and Spurs games and got the same results I think that the support would have started to wane though

Cometh the hour, cometh the Xisco

Ranger will score Carroll will score Tiote will get booked

Its formations, decisions during games and media comments that will sway my opinion either way. Very disappointed with the approach to the Spurs and Man City games. He must go 2 up front vs Wigan Lovenkrands has been shit when started Ranger hasnt started, and nothing apart from a couple of last minute runs exploiting his pace and fresh legs has made me think he warrants a start. Best is at best average I think its only fair he is judged when he has all of his strongest players availible to him as we just dont have the strength in depths particularly up front and at LB to plug the gaps Its all well and good saying our forwards bar AC are shite, but if you play 5 in the middle you need at least one of the 5 making the runs to play off the striker. Especially against Spurs there was often a good 50 yards between Carroll and our nearest midfielder, and thats down to the managers instructions

Its formations, decisions during games and media comments that will sway my opinion either way. Very disappointed with the approach to the Spurs and Man City games. He must go 2 up front vs Wigan

Lets put this in the proper context: we lost two games against two sides who are infinitely better and who we will not be in direct competition with us for anything for the forseeable future. Pardew's not helping, of course. Both of whom were well below their best. We've taken advantage of this against Arsenal, Sunderland, Chelsea already when they've not been at 100% by being organised and keeping a good shape to the team. Had we done the same we could have been looking at 2 draws at least from the past few days.