Taylor Swift

That's fine. These people are free to write what they want. They just shouldn't expect their opinions to be taken seriously in the future. I haven't read the whole match thread but from what I saw there wasn't that much of 'knee-jerking' going on. What's wrong with calling a spade a spade? We were shit today, couldn't string together more than a few passes when they took the lead, BS fucked up with his tactics from the start and fucked up even more when he failed to react after they scored, then when he did react it was too late. I haven't seen a 'Big Sam out' comment except the sarcastic/WUM ones.

He finished very tidily for the goal after a really good run. Overall a good performance from him. It was actually the type of performance you would see an accomplished striker put in. Worked hard, contributed more to the team that just the goal and never stopped trying. Also seems to have curb his angrier moments - you know, the moments where his face is about to explode because he's just lost control of the ball

Thing is, football is a game of emotions. It's a rollercoaster ride, especially if you happen to support a certain black and white team. Surely we have to expect people to react with their emotions every now and then and not carefully consider, analyze and then articulate their ideas. People aren't robots man.

Same could be said of Martins, Emre, Owen and quite a few others in our team. We need to play to our strengths and today was a day in which we seemed to be trying to do the exact opposite. Theres two viewpoints here - either the manager plays the best system for the players at his disposal, or he sticks to his guns (even if sporadically) and uses the system he knows best, gradually changing the personnel to best fit this system. To be fair, I would rather we do the latter, because the potential to go further is when the manager gets to mould and incorporate players around the system he prefers. If that means gradually shipping out some of our best players who unfortunately cannot adjust to the preferred system, and replacing them with players who do have the ability to play in the system he prefers, then im all for it. Atm, it should be the former. Our best players will cost a fortune to replace - Owen, Martins, Emre, Milner etc. All players who have shown that they can contribute when played in a 4-4-2. We ideally should be fitting a formation around our 'key' players, essentially forming a spine for the side. Given Rozehnal Barton - Zoggy Owen ^ That's how I see the 'spine' of our team. Zoggy's obviously on the left wing but he's an essential part of our attack. Barton will prove so to be as well and of course the others are pretty self-explanatory. Now from here, we have to fill in the rest of the positions. Atm, it seems Allardyce's spine consists of Geremi and Smith in the center together, which will NOT work. I'm not arguing in favour or against a 4-3-3 - just saying that we need to make sure our best players are on the park in their best/most effective positions. Anything other than that would be inexcusable from BS.

Same could be said of Martins, Emre, Owen and quite a few others in our team. We need to play to our strengths and today was a day in which we seemed to be trying to do the exact opposite.

Just got back from the game. Thought the ref was wank, always giving little niggly fouls which stopped the flow of the game. Elano was immense. Always the first to the ball and his vision is something else. Petrov also had a very very good game, totally raped us down the left-wing. For our team, Martins was always lurking and finished his chance really well. Other than that, Enrique came on and did alright. We just lost to the better team today. However, saying that, Allardyce's tactics today were wank. Fucking hell man, starts with a 4-3-3 again although it must be said that Smith had a decent game, showed more for the ball and generally was looking to get involved in our attacking play, which was a nice surprise there. Anyhow, we started with a 4-3-3 and was blatantly dominated. Our goal came from nowhere and Citeh were looking dangerous whenever they attacked. Cue half-time with us undeservedly level. Then, the logical thing to do would be to change it up a bit, get some width in since our attacks only consisted of long punts up - which lead to them getting the second ball and launching a counter-attack on one of our wings. But no, Allardyce stuck with this ineffective formation, which became even shittier when they scored straight after the beginning of the second half, effectively making his half-time teamtalk redundant. For 20 mins after that, we couldn't keep the ball, couldn't string together more than a few passes and all our 'chances' were created by lucky bounces off of their defenders. Change was needed but still no, Allardyce stuck to the 4-3-3. Then FINALLY he makes a change with something like 10 minutes left, and then makes another change, but who the fuck comes on? That's right, Abdoulaye fucking Faye comes on for Steven Taylor. Way to go Big Sam. Way to go on the offensive when there's fuck all time left. It's mightily frustrating because 3000 fans in the away end knew that an offensive substitution was needed but the only person who didn't was BS himself. Btw, straight after Emre came on, him, Zoggy and Enrique strung together a few passes and won us a corner. And that was only in a minute or two of playing together. In the end though, it's only one game. Just wish we put up more of a fight in the second half than just succumbing to the loss.

I reckon Smith is a better option for the team than Viduka is. He's more mobile, more versatile and will work harder for the team. He might not have the touch of Viduka but how often has Viduka actually shown it in the first five or so games for us? Smith can do the flicking-on and holding up play job almost as well as Viduka can, and probably better as well because he doesn't require pin-point passing from the midfielders to get involved. With Viduka, it's almost a situation where if you lob it up and he's not in a 2 meter radius then he isn't going to get it because he's too slow. Though Smith isn't the fastest, he's certainly faster than Viduka! This is not a knee-jerk or biased opinion as well. I just think that maybe Viduka's form last season has tricked many fans into believing he's better/more consistent that he actually is and will be for us. I remember when Roeder was wanting to sign Viduka last year and many people on the forum was vehemently against it. I think last year was an anomaly, it could actually be due to it being a 'contract' year for him. And with Ameobi not being good enough, Smith is my choice to play the target-man role.

1. Newcastle -------- 18. Liverpool 19. Manyoo 20. Spurs

Jon, you go to work but do you actually do work?

Cheers, so it is either a choice, or a mentally disability Mental disability? WTF? Where did you get that from indi's post?

In the grand scheme of thing homosexuality is natural. There are many scientific recorded examples of homosexuality in the natural world, ie gay monkeys, gay penguins etc. Even gay human are natural, cos we are the product of nature, we are part of the nature. Homosexuality is unusual yes, but it is not unnatural. And there is nothing wrong or immoral about homosexuality, unless you are a religious person who follows the religious codes. Well, tbf, the gene that says you're gay would naturally cease to exist because there's no way that this gene can be passed on to future generations. The fact that this gene is actually created certainly has to be down to a 'mutation' which isn't beneficial to the gene itself (because it can't be passed on). So I guess homosexuality can actually be argued to be 'unnatural', but that has no bearing on whether it's morally right or wrong. And I mean 'unnatural' as in it goes against what our body was 'naturally' created for (to reproduce and pass on our genes). Edit - It's pretty important for science to try to understand why this mutation is happening though, especially since it's not isolated to a certain race nor gender. So are you saying that there has never been a case of a gay man fathering a child? Because I know a bloke who was married for several years, had two kids to his wife and then came out as gay as he couldn't keep on living a lie and has for the past 32 years(he was a friend of my dad's and that is how I know him) has lived in a relationship with another man. I wonder how many straight men here only ever have sex to reproduce? I mean naturally as in if he was gay and admitted it from a young enough age, there isn't a 'natural' way to pass on those genes. The case you mentioned is an exception. I don't think it's normal for a gay man/woman to be in a marriage and have two children before coming out as being gay. In regards to your last sentence, I echo it (and have said so in this thread). Natural or unnatural is really irrelevant because of how we've evolved and how we're capable of doing much more than what was/is 'natural' to us.

But natural selection would mean that this gene should eventually 'die out', no? We need a biologist.

In the grand scheme of thing homosexuality is natural. There are many scientific recorded examples of homosexuality in the natural world, ie gay monkeys, gay penguins etc. Even gay human are natural, cos we are the product of nature, we are part of the nature. Homosexuality is unusual yes, but it is not unnatural. And there is nothing wrong or immoral about homosexuality, unless you are a religious person who follows the religious codes. Well, tbf, the gene that says you're gay would naturally cease to exist because there's no way that this gene can be passed on to future generations. The fact that this gene is actually created certainly has to be down to a 'mutation' which isn't beneficial to the gene itself (because it can't be passed on). So I guess homosexuality can actually be argued to be 'unnatural', but that has no bearing on whether it's morally right or wrong. And I mean 'unnatural' as in it goes against what our body was 'naturally' created for (to reproduce and pass on our genes). Edit - It's pretty important for science to try to understand why this mutation is happening though, especially since it's not isolated to a certain race nor gender.

I wasn't having a pop, your logic is just flawed. So I ask again, and hopefully this time you'll answer, was Arsenal's unbeaten team 'too foreign'?

Bull. When Arsenal were in the middle of their unbeaten season, did you ever think their team was 'too foreign'? Edit - Do you think Arsenal's table-topping side at this moment of time is 'too foreign'? Is it getting to be an offence now to mention the "foreign" word, or something? Nowt personal mate, but I think you've latched onto this single part of what TT has written and it's blinding you to the point he's really trying to make. He does have a point, you know. Benitez has brought in a lot of players, most foreign. Some have probably never heard of Portsmouth. No matter that they think they're at 100%, it only takes that slight lowering of standard due to what they think (or don't think) of the opposition due to ignorance and they will fall flat. It happened today and it'll happen again for them and I hope it happens all the time, tbh. It does take time for foreign players to make the adjustment and it's not just the pace of the game here, it's keeping on top of their game when they go to the so-called unfashionable places like Portsmouth, Wigan etc etc. They may think they are mentally right, but sometimes they are not. That's very true HTL, but this is down to Benitez to solve this problem. Wenger does (and did) fine with his French players. It's not 'foreign' that's the problem, it's the ability to motivate these players. I don't think TT is trying to make the same point you are though, he's implying just because Rafa is foreign he underrates the Premiership, and I disagree with that because there have been many other foreign managers who have been successful in England.

Wow, Wigan were once top this season as well, making your point invalid. Top 4 for Arsenal? Shouldn't they be pushing on further than that? But thats not what is holding them back, a out and out striker and youth is currently stopping them mount a realistic title challenge. For Liverpool its totally different or have you forgot that this is what this thread is about? So if Liverpool had a British/English manager, do you think that'll solve the problem? Edit - that is what you're implying btw - that because Rafa is foreign he underrates the strength of the Premiership. I've pointed out examples of other managers (foreign and local) who do the same thing on occasion, which is evidence that's contrary to your statement. The reason Rafa rotates is player is not because he's foreign and underrates the strength of the Premiership, it's because he needs to rest his players because they're challenging for many trophies. Fergie, Mourinho and Wenger do the same thing and it should be obvious why.

2-0 West Ham. Own goal by Luke Young.

Bowyer nice finish. 1-0 West Ham.

It is a fact that they are top of the table, or is your 'dislike' (couldn't find a better term) for 'foreigners' blinding you to this fact as well? Anyhow, when they end up finishing in the top 4 quite comfortably, will you think their team is 'too foreign'?

Also a foreign coach who underrates the strength of the Premiership. From what i saw of the game, Liverpool were lucky not to lose. Nothing to do with being foreign, everything to do with being a manager of a team who'll be challenging for many trophies. As Nut said, Fergie's done this on a few occasions, so has Wenger and so has Mourinho. Absolutely nothing to do with being local or foreign.

Bull. When Arsenal were in the middle of their unbeaten season, did you ever think their team was 'too foreign'? Edit - Do you think Arsenal's table-topping side at this moment of time is 'too foreign'?

Top-drawer stuff from Adebayor. 3-1.

:lol: After a magnificent through ball from Jermaine fucking Jenas (yes, you read that right), Darren Bent misses a 1 v 1. He had 3 seconds to line it up but mis-kicked.. by quite a bit. Hilarious. 16m, you're having a laugh!

FABREGAS!!!

1-1 Adebayor. It was my words that turned it around