KaKa

Good on you Smithy. What does the 4-3-3 look like then? Milner on the left and Martins on the right? Or vice versa? Neither, they're bot playing centrally, with Smith out wide. -------------------- Given Beye ------- Faye ------ Roz -------------- Zoggy --------------------- Butt ------------ Barton --- Geremi ------------------Milner ----------------Martins Smith Sort of like that... What in the world is that?

Despit all the concerns about Sam let it always be remembered that he was the man who got rid of Bramble ...

Good on you Smithy. What does the 4-3-3 look like then? Milner on the left and Martins on the right? Or vice versa?

Bramble's just given Bruce a welcome present

I'm expecting a lot from the Geremi and Barton combo in the centre. I think Geremi's passing will help Barton.

Butt Geremi central midfield should sort that problem out. I think they might be a lightweight and could possibly be over run Suprising. Wouldve thought theyd make a pretty strong central midfield, one that would be void of creativity or any attacking instinct, but still, both players are pretty good defensively and despite not being tall, arent pushovers. Could play Faye there, but hes pretty much our only consistently decent centreback. Actually Barton will look a lot better as an attacking threat now he has someone in midfield who plays the short simple ball in which Geremi does. Butt cannot pass the ball and Emre always wants to be too complicated by dwelling too long or playing a raking ball accross the field which he gets wrong a lot.

Butt, Geremi and Barton is our best balance in midfield. at the moment none of our central midfielders are good enough as a pair and I think the best option is to have three in there. I think we'll be really good today wehter we'llw in or not is another matter though.

Watched Parker today and he still stinks. Still twirling around in circles with the ball and chasing his tail, still losing the ball while he does this and still doesn't have the confidence to pass the ball forward.

Oh dear ... Not liking that at all. I like the Faye and Rozehnal combo though. Think it has potential. Hope they prove it today.

I don't have too much of a problem with that. N'Zogbia at left-back is the only real thing that you can properly criticise; but if we're playing 4-3-3, there's no place for him in midfield and he's done well from deep earlier in the season. Good line-up imo. Just hope it's not all-out long ball. Am I the only one who thinks N'Zogbia could be absolutely lethal playing as left sided striker/winger in the 4-3-3? He has a great eye for goal and if you get him one on one with the full-back he has about a 800% better chance of actually going by his man and getting in a cross than either Milner (who'll go by his man before checking back and allowing the defence to get in position to deal with his cross) or Martins (who can beat his man with sheer pace but seems determined to not do so if possible). But no, lampoon him at LB where he's a liability defensively and can only effect the game getting forward when we're on top, which is pretty much never. I agree Shak he would be great in that position. However away to Blackburn and considering what happened last week it's probably better if we let Enrique have a break today.Zoggy is a liability baack there at times but i imagine he will have some support from Milner today as Milner tends to get back defensively for the most part. I think playing away to Blackburn, we are probably better defensively with Zoggy and Milner on that side, rather than Enrique and Zoggy.

Ecstatic about that line pup to be honest. I was dumbfounded when we didn't go with a 4-3-3 last week. Now is the time to see if we can make it work while Owen is out. I also think Martins has been doing a bit better from that wider position for us because he doesn't have to receive the ball with his back to goal which is when he is more prone to lose the ball. Great to see Geremi back in a central position too and I expect him to get back to being the link between the defence and the rest of the team which he did a quietly good job of earlier in the season. I'm actually looking forward to this now.

Aalborg are surprisingly good to be fair. They have strung together more passes than we have all season in this first half! Or maybe Tottenham are just that rubbish ... yeah let's go with that. Tottenham stink. Ramos out?

Did anyone watch the Owen documentary? When he went to his barn he pointed out horses owned by Parker, Stephen Carr and Given. I'll go out on a limb and say these were probably his closer pals on the team. Sam got rid of Parker, Given has laready thrown a tiff about being replaced for a few games and Carr is just a bum. Wouldn't be a surprise to me if Owen, Given or Carr are behind these kinds of stories coming out, even as the article suggests it is Owen. Which other senior members could it be? I can't see any of Sams signings turining on him already and I can't see Butt doing it either as he is one of Sam's favourites.

All he had to do was not moan about money all the time and go on about the owners in the media regarding this. I honestly felt he would have still been in the job had this been the case. Lost his right to even ask for money after spending £3.5 million on Earnshaw and givin up on him so quickly. He's a twat and he deserved to be ditched.

Idiot manager tbh. Always moaning about not having money despite blowing a decent amount on Earnshaw and then never playing him! Couldn't stand his moaning and whinging. Glad he's gone.

Excellent point. Very disturbing that Sam has not been able to point out something so simple. It's an absolute joke.

Yakubu is lazy for sure but he is still a major threat. He is quick and strong and can finish in a variety of ways.

I've watched both games today and West Ham and Fulham are passing the ball around much better than we do ... how can this be possible?

Don't get me wrong Viduka is a good player but have you seen our midfield lately? Downing and Yakubu were really important for Viduka last season and none of our players are playing at their level this season. Not even coming close. In order to conjure up something out of nothing he at least needs the ball right? Somewhere close to the goal at least. This is happening less and less each game. Perhaps I went overboard with my choice of words but at the moment his contribution in this pitiful team is nil.

Viduka really was a terrible signing. He's the kind of striker you should only have if the rest of the team is very quick, athletic and active and can do all the running around and create opportunities for him in dangerous situations. He is absolutely worthless for us. Completely and utterly so ...

2 - 1 to Fulham and Fulham are playing some lovely stuff. I think they actually play better football than us :-[

Makes you think, why the f*** can't my team play like that, doesn't it. aye Really is amazing how scared we are to pass the ball and it's been this way for too long now. Forget Everton! Teams like Reading, Birmingham, West Ham and even Fulham are passing the ball with more confidence than we are. I don't like to blame the fans because they're well within their right to boo if what is being served up is dross, but I do think the effect it has on players, especially new lads is underestimated. Except we were doing this from the outset of the season even when optimism was sky high.

Makes you think, why the f*** can't my team play like that, doesn't it. aye Really is amazing how scared we are to pass the ball and it's been this way for too long now. Forget Everton! Teams like Reading, Birmingham, West Ham and even Fulham are passing the ball with more confidence than we are.

Kept Arteta in his back pocket the majority of the game against Everton. He's been good but today he was poor. Seems to be too clever for his own good sometimes and I think his lax passing and his poor final ball is down to the lack of movement from our players rather than just him being inaccurate. Aye fair point about the movement, but he needs to be overlapping N'Zogbia more. Whether that is an instruction from Allardyce I don't know - Geremi moreso seemed to treat the halfway line like a brick wall that he wasn't allowed to pass. quite often it's hard to overlap someone who is getting the ball too wide or is going inside........n'zogbia''s positioning is the worst part of his game. any full back playing behind him isn't going to form an easy partnership. Excellent point. Zoggy ruins every good thing Enrique tries to do. Never gives Enrique the return ball but instead puts his head down and dribbles into a defender thus losing the ball. Zoggy was disgustingly bad today.

Wow ... shocked by this thread. He's done some really good things and done some not so good things. Looks very promising in my opinion. Looks like he will be a good player eventually for sure.