Ashley17

Just in case Billy Davies is reading - Honestly mate, if you send your team out to nullify Nolan and Smith, we are absolutely doomed so, yeah, you might want to do that

I remember Shola saying he'd play through the pain barrier against Leicester if necessary. Got to love our physios

Thought he could cut inside, considering he has no crossing skills at all of which to speak. Probably a good idea. Stuart Pearce thought David James up front was their sure fire way of getting into Europe but you decided it better he played in goal, and for that I salute you.

Richard Wright is left footed and you played him on the RIGHT!?!? Other than that, your team selection and tactics were spot on and you deserved better.

I don't understand why Hart was in the original squad and Foster wasn't, but after Foster gets called in as cover he gets the start? Hart must be pissed off.

Shearer when Ferdinand scored in the 5-0 - "look at Shearer!"

I absolutely love goal celebrations, I know some don't like it because it's immature and it's just a goal and whatever but they're a work of art. Favourites of mine are probably Roger Milla's corner flag dance, Lee Hughes' at the moment makes me laugh for some reason, Bouba Diop's dance, Tino with the corner flag, Wright/Ruddock immitating Di Canio/Alcock, the list goes on. Trying to work them into 6 a side at the minute but just end up looking like a twat

Vitor Baia wears number 99

The Sirous Mahjoob thing was bizaare. Llambias told a red top we were in talks with someone over the sale, the paper speculated it was this Mahjoob bloke, then some Iranian news site ran with it with quotes. In fact, didn't somebody register on a forum asking if he was real and they said yes One hell of a prank if they were behind it all.

At least the physio will know his arse from his elbow, something I'm not convinced Barnes and McAteer do.

They said 2 months which, if it is from when the injury happened, would mean the end of October/start of November. If it's 2 months from when they finally got the scan results back, then add a couple of weeks to that.

Living the dream there, punching a fat moron in the back of the head

Dean Gerken was in net for them today. No he wasn't, Gerken was named on the bench by the announcer... Basso got injured in the warm-up according to the beeb, Gerken was definitely in goal today

He was utterly shite

What an annoying game, but these things happen. Firstly, thought the team selection was brave. Enrique's hamstring made it less than ideal but otherwise, couldn't complain too much. My hatred of Nolan remains but he's never going to be dropped and I admit I single the lad out for being fat and shite. But I digress... Early on we looked ok, good link up between Harewood and Lovenkrands and if Harewood had scored instead of hitting the post, well it would have been a much different game. Jonas had a shitter, nothing came off for him and he wasn't even able to beat a man today, something he normally does with ease. Looked knackered, but then 2 games in 3 days after a long lay off is the probable reason. It's a shame he's off around South America playing in another inept team for 2 weeks, he needs the rest. Second half I have no idea how we didn't score, as usual all the action was down in front of the Gallowgate so couldn't see it all that clearly from SJH West Corner but the amount of head in hands moments were ridiculous. Harewood should have had a pen of course, but he is a very odd footballer. His touch isn't great and he seems to slow down before he does anything, he can't do anything at pace. And for a big lad he never seems in a hurry to get in the box. Weird. Lovenkrands had his best game since coming back, granted that's not difficult, but he had a few decent runs and is hopefully nearing match fitness now. Smith was class and didn't even get booked, Guthrie was average - he never seems to have an easy pass available though, and he doesn't have the pace or trickery to beat a man consistently, which is a big problem when he's on the wing. Nolan, well, he got into the positions in the box and might have scored on another day but when teams are keeping the ball in midfield he's still useles to us, and I still ahve doubts over him in a 4-4-2. Ryan Taylor, for me, should be used on the right wing, his delivery is the best at the club bar Geremi but Ryan Taylor can run as well, which is always a bonus. I'm not saying he's a flying winger or anything but in this league when he's got two big lads to aim at he does well. His long throw is useful too. Simpson tried at left back but I agree with Yorkie that he was feeling it towards the end, it can't be easy playing with Jonas when he's in his "I'll play deep" mood. Steve Taylor was solid and Zurab, whilst steady, made some gaffes, the short backpass for one and he could arguably have been sent off. Booked in the first half for a pretty cynical foul, he took one of theirs out on the edge of the our box in the 2nd half and the ref played an advantage. Also the obstruction later on was a possible caution, the ref had lost the plot by then though and if he'd sent one of ours off after fucking up every other decision, well he would be dead now I fear. Carroll was great when he came on, won a lot in the air, worked hard, got shots in on goal and generally pepped us up, unlucky to be left out but could probably have used the rest and I'm glad he responded in the right way. Bristol City fans were pretty good, out in numbers and loud in spells. They played alright, nothing flash but a decent top 10 team I'd say. Evander Sno, who played right wing for them, was absolutely gash, him vs Jonas was just awful viewing. So 2 weeks break and we really need it, back to back away games when we come back and hopefully we can get the team sorted out. There's a huge lack of options when we're on the ball and it inevitably gets humped long, and playing the percentages doesn't always end well. Maybe the diamond with 2 big strikers is the way to go, especially away from home. Anything that doesn't involve Butt is fine with me though.

I think that's what sums it up...all the things we laughed about in a "surely they haven't been as stupid as that!?" kind of manner turns out to be true. And the fact that they've admitted things they say in the press are a lie, well, we've all thought as much for a while but now it's confirmed. This lot are a fucking disgrace, and although we've thought that all along, there's no longer an "if.." belatedly following that statement.

Just back, really odd game, all seems a blur. Their goal was stupid to give away, but it had been coming. Enrique dicking about in the corner once too often, cleared it straight to them, deflected shot later and we're 1-0 down. 15 minutes later we actually started to play, but we had 4 centre midfielders on the pitch, and no width as a result. Lots of congestion in there, lot of lofted diagonals for Carroll and Ranger. The pen came after a decent spell of pressure, but fuck me what a piss pen it was. TO make matters worse he got in down their left a few minutes later and instead of cutting it back passed it straight at Cerny. Shite. Other than that, Carroll had a header off the line and Nolan had a header saved, we should have been level at half time but we weren't. Jonas came on at half time and actually wanted the ball, caused them problems but didn't even attempt many crosses, often selecting to pass in to the strikers or waiting for Enrique. The goal was what we'd been trying all night, ball in from Simpson, Carroll won his 900th header and Harewood bundled it in. After that, Enrique squared it for I think Harewood but we were down the other end, it missed anyway, looked a decent chance. Then nothing. 15 minutes happened with QPR passing it across our 18 yard box, nothing much else. Guthrie took some of the worst set pieces I have ever seen, clearly the penalty miss was in his head. A midfield containing Butt, Nolan and to a lesser extent Smith should never happen, especially at home. Butt was hauled off at half time but he wasn't as dogshite as usual, he was being played in a tactically inept formation. Kevin Nolan however, is not a central midfield player. The ball is passed around him with such ease he is chasing shadows all the time, slowly. He can't turn so he often hangs his leg out like a dog having a piss. Sigh. The stadium gave Simpson man of the match, didn't do anything wrong but didn't do anything flash. Sums up our night I guess. Personally I'd have given it to Zurab, who I thought was excellent.

Shit didn't realise how old this thread was

There is no league with leagueID = 95800 Stu?

We wouldn't be able to get him on a year's loan anyway, all a load of shite.

Thinking...that could be a 3-5-2 with wingbacks. Maybe.

I quite like it for away games, can spend the day watching the scores come in then watch our game in the evening.

The Man U game was just after christmas Daft thing was we kept a clean sheet at Old Trafford in January and at home to Arsenal in April and the only one in between was a fairly pointless return leg in Mallorca where we already led 4-1 and they played the reserves. Another game where Woodgate was outstanding was away at Villa after O'Brien got sent off, although that was against a much shitter strike force.

http://www.nufc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10278~1807077,00.html No Barton either Edit: at the picture on that page