Taylor Swift

Btw, what the fuck was Barton doing with the kung fu kick? He did better in the second half but I still can't get over that, what a moron. Needs to freaking control his temper or channel it into his performances.

Have to say, enrique seemed quite anonymous from what i saw. He seemed to spend quite a bit of time on his arse tbh. yes he did Nyt, he didn't even come on man, what you on about?!

Firstly, what a game of football. So tense, so exciting. Fucking Anthony Stokes you fucking diving cunt fuck off and go back to Arsenal you cunt. Now that that's out of the way, it was a really really exciting game, loved it myself. Bad goal to lose again, we're too slow to react but it started with Faye not really thinking before passing so when he saw that no one was actually there he just, it was weird, I dunno what he did but it wasn't good. Apart from that he was a rock and from what I've seen, he's our best CB. What the fuck was Taylor doing after Faye went off? All I say was loads of shouting and pointing but whenever he had to defend, he messed up. Misjudged the ball on more than a few occasions and just generally nervous defending and tackling. Needs to learn to calm the fuck down. However, after losing the goal I thought we dominated. It was a lucky goal from Milner. Great cross! Then after that we had a really good 10 minute spell. I thought Emre was class in the second half. Everything we did went through him. Seriously. Did anyone else notice that we did not have one single good attack after he went off? Sure there was like 6 or 7 mins left but our attack disappeared when Emre went off. He was the link between the defenders and the strikers. He was what most of us probably envisioned him doing in every game for us. Great game from the little Turk. Viduka was class as well; his holdup play was up to his usual standard but today he was actually getting to those balls hoofed up to him and flicking them on to Owen - who also had a good game. Overall I think it was a deserved draw (okay I'm biased). We were shit in the first half, very lucky to get in at 0-0 but in the second half the performance probably merited a draw. Anyway, for those who used to complain about Shay's kicking, did they see how fucking poor Harper's is? Even if you forget the lackadaisal manner in which he takes his goal kicks, you're still left with the fact that he cannot kick the ball straight when one of our defenders passes it back to him; slices the ball everytime like a spaz because he's too nervous. Had a decent game otherwise, and so did the rest of the defence. At least we seem to be over the lifeless performances in the past few weeks and we can start again now, looking forward to the Liverpool game I am.

It's a really good sign that Viduka's 3 out of 3 for flick-ons.

1 Craig Gordon (G) 3 Ian Harte (D) 14 Danny Higginbotham (D) 6 Paul McShane (D) 5 Nyron Nosworthy (D) 7 Carlos Edwards (M) 4 Dickson Etuhu (M) 18 Grant Leadbitter (M) 33 Ross Wallace (M) 16 Michael Chopra (S) 17 Kenwyne Jones (S) So here's their team. Chopra starts then. Look at their defence man, so fucking slow. We should be looking to drive at them right from the off, put them on the backfoot and watch them all fold under the pressure of playing in a derby. Wasn't Nosworthy part of the team which got whooped 4-1? A repeat would be nice

It is a really negative team. He's up to his old tricks again - sticking players in the wrong positions. We have no width, just bite, which means this is setting up to be a very gritty football game. Whoever wants it most will win this one. I don't think one team will be passing the other team off the pitch with the way we're both set up today. Jesus man, Barton on the right!? Milner on the left?! Fuck me, our hopes lie with Emre and Viduka today. If they can somehow make sure we keep hold of the ball and pressure them, we should be able to nick a goal or two because their defence is shite. However, if not, we're in trouble because we have absolutely no other attacking outlet (except Zoggy but then our defence will be exposed whenever he comes up). Saying all that, we're still going to win

What five attacking players and one semi-attacking player? Believe, Parky, just believe. [/You]

Okay just woke up, same team as the bloke posted yesterday then - which is a very shite and negative one. Whatever, we'll win this! Come on!!

U should see the odds i've got aye, because its clinically insane just had a quick look and i could get 8-1 on just toon and derby. how much did you bet? anything more than 10p is a waste i'd say betting on all 3 english clubs to lose could be quite a fun little bet to have, bearing in mind all are away, bolton travel to munich to play the best team in jormany, spurs have to mission it all the way to fucking israel and everton have nurenburg, another good jorman team. also bolton and everton are relitive novices when it comes to european footie, and spurs are out of form in a big way. may stear clear of spurs but everton and bolton i cant see either winning. Nyt trying his best Nostradamus act.. ...and failing miserably

this game just got a lot more interesting I'm not only excited about the game but now also excited to find out whether Kev will survive his encounter with the inbreds. Good luck kiddo - don't do anything daft when we score!

I'm getting excited now

yeah, I've escaped to Heaton for the purposes of uni, but I still come into contact with the fuckers on a day-to-day basis It's like they've got diseases!

No, he's being frozen out Villarreal atm and it seems the clubs in Spain don't want anything to do with him (or did but have since moved on - Athletic Madrid being one of them). Italy would actually be perfect for him but the big 4/5 don't need him and why would he want to go the rest of the teams in Serie A? The Bundesliga is pretty much out of the question so what's left is just England. Typical Sam signing too btw.

I'm sure it was Giggs Keane Scholes Beckham for quite a while at Man Utd with Yorke and Cole upfront or whoever. Though Scholes didn't exactly sit that deep whilst playing in the center of midfield, the whole team was essentially functioning as a 4-4-2 - this is the formation that I envisage Riquelme could probably fit in very well. Anyhow, I agree with others, Sam will eventually switch to 4-3-3 and bringing in Riquelme would be a big step in that direction.

Why won't he be suited to a 4-4-2? Just let him control the attack and let the other central midfielder do the defensive work. Scholes anyone? Both are defensively inept, both do not boast pace as one of their better attributes but both have an eye for a goal and a real eye for a pass. Obviously they are two different players in terms of how they actually contribute offensively but I don't see a reason why Riquelme would not flourish in a 4-4-2 if the rest of the team is set up right.

Line up 4-4-2 with Zoggy and Milner on the right wings and I say 2-0 to us. We have the ability to open teams up and our strikers are way more clinical than theirs. I reckon we have better players than them, on paper anyhow, in every single position. All of which should lead to a win for us. And a comfortable win because Allardyce will have learnt his lesson about playing for a point and about the needless fiddling around with the midfield.

It is a massive game in terms of local rivalry, but Arsenal and Liverpool will put a dent in our season anyhow so that's why I don't consider this game that crucial, especially this early into the season. Obviously 3 points will be great, but we're what? 10 games into the season? The return fixture will be much much more important (because they'll be nearing relegation and we'll hopefully be contending for a place in Europe).

I can. I sometimes think it's the club's Achilles Heel - the inability of fans to see the bigger picture and exhibit patience and support for what is clearly going to be a longer term rebuilding project. As Mort said, chopping and changing has got us absolutely nowhere. Sam said when he was appointed that there would be tough times ahead. Deep down when I heard him saying that I knew there'd be a section of the fanbase who would object to that instantly. What Mort should have said is, chopping and changing and making the wrong choice of manager has got us nowhere. Man City went through exactly the same process as us in the summer, new owner, new manager, and new players. The excuse that we did not have time to buy the players Allardyce wanted because the new owner/chairman wasn't up to speed, doesn't exactly fill me with confidence in the new chairman/owner. The truth is Man City have chopped and changed managers as much as us, but they made the right choice in Sven, a proven big club manager with quality trophies in his CV, whilst we yet again went for the cheap option of giving a "wannabe" a chance at the big time. As for those who say we will buy the players we need to turn the side around in the Jan window, we know from past experience that clubs just don't sell their best players then, so I would advise you all not to hold your breath waiting for quality signings because it just isn't going to happen. As for being patient, as a long suffering supporter and former season ticket holder when we were really really sh*t, isn't 40 years long enough to start expecting better! Manchester City already had a good settled spine to their team to build from. We didn't unfortunately. no they didn't they had a centre half (their captain), micah richards and a couple of young keepers. we had the debt and the missmanagement though. Dunne, Richards, Johnson, Hamann, Ireland and Mpenza is their spine at the moment, and its the same spine they had for much of last season. I disagree here. Just going off stats, Ireland started only 14 league games, Johnson started 10, Mpenza started 9 (and only scored one) and Hamann started only 12! Their spine actually consisted of Dunne, Richards, Barton, Distin and fucking Darius Vassell (started 28 games). So they actually have lost half of their 'spine' from last season.

No, it's too early in the season. I remember a 2-0 at St. James' during SBR's time that was more important in terms of us recovering from a dreadful start and going on to do something. Roeder's 4-1 was also probably more important in terms of us going on and clinching a place in Europe. This game, in the long run, will have a negligible impact on our season. On the other hand, it might be a big game for them because they're not likely to get many more points this season, are they?

Typical Sam signing. Old, seemingly washed out but still enough left in the tank. Then he comes to the Premiership and lights it up (see Djorkaeff, Campo, Okacha etc.) Edit - but of course Riquelme has way more potential than Okacha, Djorkaeff etc. so if he does light it up, we'll be fun to watch, and we'll be good too - damn good in fact.

Wow. Mort continues to impress me everytime I read one of his interviews. Talks so much sense and most of what he says is very pertinent. We're definitely heading in the right direction with him in charge blueyes.gif

For live scores and stuff people could just go to www.livescore.com Very useful and covers nearly every possible league.

I don't think anyone would argue that Allardyce should stay regardless of results or performances. Roeder's team had showed no progress since he took over, hell, it went backwards from the initial 2-0 win over Pompey, which is why he was rightly sacked (or resigned - whatever). If Allardyce's team shows an improvement in performance, or shows some sort of direction, then I'm willing to trust him and give him a couple of seasons. If, of course, the team's regressed and still direction-less like it was when he was appointed, then he's got to go in time. Using that reasoning, the fact that we are currently worse than the first 45 mins away at Bolton means that Allardyce deserves to be sacked. It wasn't only the result you idiot, it was the performance in that game, and the other games during that period. I can't believe you responded to what I wrote literally.

I don't think anyone would argue that Allardyce should stay regardless of results or performances. Roeder's team had showed no progress since he took over, hell, it went backwards from the initial 2-0 win over Pompey, which is why he was rightly sacked (or resigned - whatever). If Allardyce's team shows an improvement in performance, or shows some sort of direction, then I'm willing to trust him and give him a couple of seasons. If, of course, the team's regressed and still direction-less like it was when he was appointed, then he's got to go in time.

It's mind boggling that fans like yourself are only willing to give the manager 10 games to change his mindset! f***'s sake man, he's been in one mindset for about 15 years and you expect all that to change in what? 2 months? Give him some time. He's shown that he does realize the weaknesses we have in the team, and in time, I have faith that he'll show that he's very adaptive and will turn this club around. If we win the next couple of games what are the odds that you won't be concluding, already, after 10 games, that we won't be making it into Europe next season? Well Sam himself has said on more than one occaision that he cut his cloth accordingly at Bolton. If after 5 months in charge of the club he hasn't noticed that his resources and demands are somewhat greater than at the Reebok, and therefore the cloth needs cutting differently he never will. (not saying he should go btw) What about the possibility that he just hasn't been able to make us play the kind of way he envisioned because we don't have the players for it? The whole summer was driven towards acquiring the necessary backroom staff, setting up the foundations for everything, ridding ourselves of the overpaid underachievers and then lastly solidifying the defence. Come the next transfer window I bet Sam will know that we need to acquire a good attacking center midfielder and probably a right winger as well. And if he does that, who knows eh? It took SBR two signings to transform the whole side and maybe it'll take only that much in the next window to do the same for us.