Taylor Swift

If we survive, it won't be disgraceful. It'll have given him 5 months to have a look at the players at the club and 5 months to scout players. If we survive, it'll have been a wise decision not to sign anyone in the Jan window. Wise? Jesus Christ. It will be fortunate. Wise would of been getting some players in who could spark a very poor season. Wise? mackems.gif Fuking hell. Typical short-term outlook. Wise? Fortunate? Semantics as far as I'm concern. We won't be stuck with overpaid players whom we've overpaid for and might not even need.

If we survive, it won't be disgraceful. It'll have given him 5 months to have a look at the players at the club and 5 months to scout players. If we survive, it'll have been a wise decision not to sign anyone in the Jan window.

I'm not bothered. Not the best of strikers anymore, we won't recoup much money for him and we're paying him a shitload in wages anyway. I'd renew but with a shorter deal and only if he accepts a severe paycut. I'd actually prefer a lucrative pay-as-you-play deal with substantial bonuses for scoring/assisting because at least that way we're not guaranteeing him anything, and actually creating incentives for him to play and score.

So Big Sam plays shit football, loses some games and should be given time? KK comes in and loses to Man Utd and Arsenal and should be shown the door? Have a word. I don't think he means that KK should be gone, but that Allardyce should never have been sacked in the first place because it caused upheaval at the wrong time (middle of transfer window, middle of the season ahead of a tough schedule).

With the exception of Zoggy, none of our players can push the other team back. None of them run with ball with any conviction and I don't think any of our midfielders truly knows what it means to pass and move.

Compared to the defence which qualified for the Champions League, Hughes Dabizas O'Brien Bernard Switch O'Brien out for Woodgate and Dabizas for Bramble if you want and it wouldn't change much because Woodgate hardly played. I rate Beye more than Hughes, and Faye and Taylor/Cacapa are imo, equal, to the pairings we used back then. And as good as Bernard was offensively, he was shite positionally and was always caught out (the Wolves FA Cup game instantly springs to mind). But, in that team, we weren't under constant pressure. We kept hold of the ball well, weren't pressured into passes and had an abundance of pace which pushed the other team back = takes longer for the opposition to attack = more time for defence to get set, and time for our mids to come back and help. Compared to the team we have now, we give the ball away too easily, have no pace which means the field is shortened and thus, when we lose the ball, we're very liable to losing easy goals (as Man Utd demonstrated), or being counter-attacked. The midfield's the problem, not the defence.

We're not that far off from being a good team (3 or 4 players imo), so in that respect, I agree with what Mort is saying. Two CMs and a right-winger. If all of them are top-class, I think we'll be a good team next year. And if Mort feels like it, we could spend some money on a striker as well. But anyway, our team doesn't need a full overhaul. As shit as the players have been, it's about the team coming together. We don't need galacticos in every position to be a team that can challenge for Europe. We finished 13th in two consecutive seasons with SBR before he bought Bellamy and Robert and that vaulted us up to 4th. I really feel we've got the fundamental aspects of the squad down. We've got a decent defence, one which I rate more than the ones which finished 4th, 3rd and 5th (excluding Woodgate's rare contribution), and our strikers are all capable, on their day, to score goals. In the same way as Shearer needed a partner like Bellamy, Owen also needs a partner who will do the work for him. Our main weakness is keeping hold of the ball, and that's because our players lack pace (= defence tightens up = no space = less time), and many of them lack the required intelligence level to pass and move (Smith and Butt *sigh*). If we can sort out those two things, and of course give them some time to gel, we'll be a good team.

Honestly, how many times have you seen Hutton and McGeady play?

How many fixtures did Yorkie post then?

We'll have Milner. N'Zogbia is a decent player when played in the right position, but we don't need anyone there. Other than those two, to be honest - and I'm not taking the piss here - I'd be entirely meh about the rest. Beye would fit in nicely in a good team. I really rate him, even after being burnt by Cristiano once or twice today.

15 I think

I've checked, in only one season did the team a team go down with more than 38 points (West Ham with 42). The average amount of points for the team who ended in 18th is around 36, so if we get to 38, with all the teams in the bottom half canceling each other out, we'll survive. THREE wins.

We got into the Champions League with Dabizas and O'Brien playing in the center of defence so I don't think Taylor should even be compared to them. Edit: The only player that Taylor seems to be looking more and more alike is Bramble.

Really, kd? They're 4 points adrift and have really looked, and played, like shit. Apart from the Villa game, they haven't looked like a team that's actually fighting for their Premiership status (much like Newcastle in a way).

Is there a stat for this? What's the actual highest amount of points gained by a team who was relegated? This does seem to be one of those seasons where there seems to be parity amongst the shittier clubs in the league (not a compliment) but we still need to win three more games to be safe.

Text from my Man Utd supporting mate - 'Too easy...' God I hate them!

I've had a look at the fixtures list. If we can beat Reading, Sunderland and Fulham, and we play all of them at home, we'll be fine. We can lose every other game and we'll end up with 37 points which I think will be enough for us to survive. Those are the only three games where we need to pick up maximum points from. If we pick up points in any other game, it'll just be a bonus.

no they did not Ok, we scored a few more goals, but we still conceded the same. we didn't concede 11 against them in the space of 6 weeks Because the extra 12 weeks makes a huge difference We could say thats worse in fact, as we had the extra time to sort out the defensive unit. We lost 5-3 away but in that game we put a good fight. A great fight I'd say. Some poor defensive mistakes cost us the game but they didn't play us off the park. They did in the 6-2 game but we scored first and looked threatening. In both the games this year we've been played off the park and we probably deserved worse if I'm honest. At least in the two beatings that year I thought the scoreline reflected the game. If it wasn't for Harper it could have been 7+

no they did not Ok, we scored a few more goals, but we still conceded the same. Except that the performances then were wayyyyyyy different to the performances now. Don't dare compare SBR's team to the 'team' that we've seen for the past 6 months. Even against Man Utd SBR's team put up a good fight. Hell, I seem to recall us actually winning!

1-5 and 0-6 ? ? ? ? No, they f*****g DO NOT They don't beat everyone 6-0 at home and 5-1 away though. Only us. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm Sarcasm ? If so, it's the worst I've seen attempted. No, it was actually quite obvious.

Repeating a behaviour and expecting a different outcome is the definition of stupidity. Or insanity. Take your pick. Keegan, please stop playing Alan Smith. Please. For the love of god. Please. For me. I'm dying here.

So we've conceded 11 goals against the team that makes my blood boil the most in two games... great.

There's a clearer picture of that somewhere out there and you can tell he's sort of grimacing/cringing, which is an understandable thing considering what he's looking at. He's not smiling like he appears to be in this picture.

SMITH HAD A SHOT!!!!!!

Why is Ronaldo being booed? He's been quality. He should be applauded, not booed. If the idiots insist on booing someone, why don't fucking boo Alan Smith - unarguably one of the biggest waste of money ever. At least with Marcelino he never played so that meant other, better players could play instead. With Smith he's just clogging up space. What a cunt.