ikri

Do the players have the first fucking clue what's going on around them? Do they understand that we're the team playing in the black & white stripes & that passing to each other sometimes helps?

I'd prefer Carroll on for Shola

Creating nothing in the midfield, working hard but they were just breaking up chances prior to the goal, after that they just fell to pieces. Shola is Shola no change there. Owen left up against 2 defenders twice his size is never going to work, especially if we just continue to play hoofball. The ref has been shit.

oh ffs

fyp

Duff actually being required to do some work on the wing? Worrying

Great bloke, but wasn't the greatest keeper we've ever had. I'd go as far to say that if we'd had a player of Given's or Harper's abilities back then we'd have won the league by a mile.

A lot to do with training techniques and rushing players back from injuries. It was exactly the same under Souness. Plus, there's probably a motivation problem thanks to our league position, a reluctance in the players to rush back to another shitty performance.

We were told well before Christmas that Kinnear spent about 90% of the training sessions working on defence. It should be no great surprise to see that we've lost all ability to attack, retain possession or take set pieces when we have spent the majority of the season completely ignoring those areas of the game.

don't like nit picking... but this dosen't sound encourging, regarding his style, does it? It could kind of depend on the situation that Enrique was in. It may have been a position where safety and a long clearance was required. Without knowing at what stage of the fame he shouted this at, its difficult to put into context. I can imagine that Shearer had seen that the Chelsea defence were pushing pretty far up the field & a well placed long pass between that defence and the keeper would have seen Martins in. Clutching at straws? Why yes. Yes I am.

It could easy just be an impact injury then, lets not panic folks! Knowing our injury luck it will be a fractured ankle. Knowing our luck he'll lose his foot

No chance, without Guthrie we're depending on that corpse to start come Saturday

--------------------Harper-------------------- ---Beye---Taylor---Bassong---Enrique--- -------Guthrie-------Butt-------Jonas------- ---------------------Owen--------------------- ----------Martins-------Carroll/Xisco-------- If Duff plays I feel we'll lose. He was one of the primary reasons for our capitulation yesterday. We cannot afford passengers in the 1st XI in our situation.

Thought we did well in the 1st half and I don't believe that it was a coincidence that Duff's arrival on the field signalled the team's surrender. Duff was abysmal. He did his usual trick of standing on the byline waiting for the ball, very rarely trying to find some space. He was woeful tracking back, often leaving Enrique exposed as he slowly trotted back after losing possession. Duff was that bad during the game that I half wish we'd brought Smith on instead since he'd have actually tried. Taylor was crap, just crap. His set pieces were a complete waste of time, his passing was poor and his marking was often non-existent. I didn't think that Martins was anywhere nearly as bad as some people have made out, he had a couple of chances but he needs about 5 good chances to score anyway, had the midfield managed to produce more opportunities then I'm sure that he and Owen would have had done better. Owen looked far more interested in the game than he's looked for months but once the supply dried up in the 2nd half he was largely ineffective. I'm not sure what was going on when we should have been counterattacking, but on a number of occasions when Harper picked up the ball we'd have 7 players on the edge of our own box and they'd all be slowly jogging out. The midfielders should have been charging up the field to try and start an attacking move. Our problems are all largely in the midfield, they don't create enough chances and they don't break up play well enough when required. It's been the same since Sir Bobby left but no one has really managed to deal with the problems there.

Weirdly I think we may need to say a big thank you to Dave Whelan. Nothing else seemed to be getting through to Ashley, but the moment that a big business adversary starts taking the piss out of him Ashley decides to make changes.

Another 28 seasons should do it, he'd have to keep playing till he reached 55 though.

Doesn't the coming of Al-Mahdi usher in the end of the world? Still, 50000+ people chanting Mahdi, Mahdi might scare the living shit out of the opposition.

Shola obviously taught him that jedi mind trick he knows

I'd add also that when players become managers they very often play a very different style of football than what they're remembered for as players. George Graham was a decent goal scorer as a player, but produced dour defensive teams as a manager. Kenny Dalglish was an incredibly skilful attacker during his playing career but his teams were anything but that. Don't simply think that because he was a striker who enjoyed playing with good wingers to provide service he'll want the same as a manager, there's just a good a chance that he'll want rock solid defending and an Allardyce-style nick a single winning goal from a set piece at the end.

If there's any truth that his contract was due to expire in the summer anyway then he's probably just had the remainder paid up. Not really a sacking, more a hastening of his exit.

Last year called, they want their meme back.

I was going to post that I'd not be too shocked if he brought in an experienced manager as his assistant, in the same way that Keegan used to employ Arthur Cox, but I was expecting someone like Kenny Dalglish or Chris Nicholl, not Dowie.

Again? When did they stop?

So you're saying that we'll never see the 3 of them playing together then?

Highly reminiscent of Sir John Hall's original motivation for hiring Keegan - a short term appointment that would lift the fans and team to hopefully avoid relegation.