Tachikoma

It was never going to be sustainable as people began to realise how dire things were as we continued to fluff chances and make a mess of things. Any fan even in the stadium gets credit for simply showing up in my book. The players on this team don't even deserve that much support for their performances this season. The players deserved every bit of support they got in the first hour yesterday - they played with more passion and urgency than I've seen from them for a very, very long time and fuck me, when was the last time we had that many chances to fluff? I'd even say that they overdid it, and should have remembered that the games are 90 minutes long, not 70.

Neither were the two other strikers who played last night, actually.

I would like to see Geremi on the teamsheet again. Yes he's slow, but with 3 strikers upfront he has plenty to aim at.

I think they pushed too hard in the first half, and it showed in the last 20 minutes. I just had that feeling that they wouldn't be able to keep up the pace (note how quickly we closed down _everything_ at the start) for very long at all.

No, it was Viduka's departure, a little earlier, which did the damage. Things immediately changed. Really missed him. Although I expected a downturn when the sub happened, I was actually surprised by just how much we lost. Suddenly everything bunched up and we were little better than we were against Spurs until he game on. Viduka really put in a shift tonight, and on top of that he has genuine class. Wish we had more players like that (who'd also play regularly).

In fairness, I now understand that the reason he does play is because we've got fuck-all else who can play in the role he plays. Thanks Mike.

I concur totally. Then why didn't he against Blackburn, West Ham, Hull, Liverpool ect? This is a case of looking back with rose tinted glasses, he did fuck all for us for a long time before he eventually got the massive move he wanted to Wigan.. Why should we expect he'd do anything more then the other wasters we had on the pitch tonight? charlie was a waster, and totally flattered to decieve and his attitude stunk, reminds me of domi, and he's done fuck all since Seriously, fuck off to Spuds. If you honestly think the reason he left was all down to his attitude and not our shiteness, and that players who are better than Charlie and Jonas would be begging to join us, you need to join the "Spuds for 4th!" brigade.

Martins is worse. That boy is a f***ing donkey. We have a choice between two strikers who don't score, except one of them jumps and runs about and sprays around horrible passes while he's at it, while the other is just invisible. Martins is a million times more frustrating to watch. He's a fucking arsehole. How is Owen any less fustrating when the only thing that justifies is his presence on the pitch is his non-existent ability to score chances that fall to his feet?

Where is Loven anyway? I'll have him over Owen on any day now.

I'll be a little more cautious and go with a goalless draw.

Guthrie came on...duff slotted back into Enriques position. Looked a good sub tbh I didn't tbh...my one criticism of the new regime is whenever,he makes a substitution,he doesnt change one for one but alters the whole balance of the team..i,personally would have slotted Edgar in there,and kept Duff further up the pitch,where he was causing Pompey problems. Duff caused more problems when he ran in from fullback, imo. In hindsight, I'd have preferred Jonas to come on then and there.

Because Butt is useless even as a free space for the opposition players to run across. I hate to admit it, but we actually needed Butt. Alan Smith for all his "hard-tackling" and neat passing (no sarcasm there) has no sense of positioning as a DM. Smith was our best fucking player I'll have whatever you're smoking. I wouldnt disagree tbh. Smith played well for his standards, but if you thought he was actually effective in his role you're stoned.

Because Butt is useless even as a free space for the opposition players to run across. I hate to admit it, but we actually needed Butt. Alan Smith for all his "hard-tackling" and neat passing (no sarcasm there) has no sense of positioning as a DM. Smith was our best fucking player I'll have whatever you're smoking.

Because Butt is useless even as a free space for the opposition players to run across. I hate to admit it, but we actually needed Butt. Alan Smith for all his "hard-tackling" and neat passing (no sarcasm there) has no sense of positioning as a DM.

Since Owen's forgotten how to score, just about _any_ of our strikers bar Shola should have started the game ahead of him. The only player to come out of that game with any real credit was Viduka.

Fuck off Owen, fuck off Carroll, fuck off Martins and fuck off everyone on the team. Hello Coca-Cola Championship.

It was introduced after Leicester just took the piss - racked up a load of debts and avoided paying them all off by going into voluntary administration to very little detriment. Various other clubs had dutifully laboured for years paying off those they owed, languishing in lower divisions in the mean time, and Leicester just dodged the whole experience. From what I've read, Southampton could have done exactly the same if they went into administration a week ago.

Have you forgotten what we were like when Owen and Viduka started upfront together?

That's for sure! When was the last time we had made all subs at 61minute? That's not an optimal situation of course considering possible injuries/sent offs but clearly we tried to change the course of the game which can't be said about his predecessors. The frustrating thing is why can't he get it right the first time? that's EXACTLY what i thought yesterday, still he's only had 3 games as manager with a travesty of a group of players so maybe that's a little harsh if he doesn't start martins and viduka next game then i'll probably lose all faith tbh anyone know why guthrie didn't play? Martins really looked like he was struggling with his groin, and Viduka won't last 90 minutes either. Guthrie on the other hand, has to start.

We need Guthrie playing higher up the pitch if we want any chances to be created from midfield though. Ideally, we'd clone Guthrie and play them both, but maybe we could risk Smith playing in the deep-lying midfielder's role instead. I think I'd rather have Geremi in there instead.

Central midfield.

Actually, Butt tries to do the same thing as well. Of course, the problem is that most of his passes over 5 yards rarely ever find a black and white shirt. Before this match, I hadn't seen Smith complete a pass over 10 yards, so "massive upgrade" might be a bit of an overstatement.

Agree with that line up. Enrique and Martins to magically have their injuries heal, and Viduka to lose 10 kilos? I'd still rather have Geremi in there over Smith, mind.

We can begin with not playing our transfer window signings tbh (except Loven).

If we didn't play any of the deadwood, our team would look like this: Harper Beye Saylor Colo Bassong Jonas Guthrie Geremi Owen Nile Carroll This is assuming Martins and Viduka won't be able to start any games; as bad as Geremi and Colo are at least they're footballers.