AyeDubbleYoo

In his favour so far is that - he isn't influenced by events above his head, he gets on with the job. - he has a light touch, he doesn't mess around with things if the results are coming. - the players seem to be behind him and the team spirit is good. We don't really know how he'll cope when we're losing more games than we're winning, and he has to face the big teams week after week. But until the ownership situation is sorted out (i.e. we have a new owner) there doesn't seem to be much point in getting anyone else. I can't how they could do much more than Hughton has (so far).

Most probably, yeah. The amount of memories of Gerrard smashing in a last minute winner over the years are endless. Without him they would be a very average side. Benitez is probably is a decent enough manager, but for Liverpool he's signed a lot of players who didn't make the grade for whatever reason.

Last night was a very small crowd, but overall I think we deserve massive credit for our crowds since we got relegated.

If anything Liverpool have been over-performing in recent seasons, and they're now just finding their true level... about the 5th or 6th best team.

Don't rate Seol, at Reading he wasn't good at all. And although he plays on the right, I'm pretty sure he's left footed... so he won't necessarily add proper balance or width.

Definitely, can't understand why he hasn't been given more of a chance.

I'm naturally nervous about all our games, but there's no reason that we shouldn't be winning this one. Although our play hasn't been great recently, we aren't losing games. The Plymouth performance should give the team a confidence boost, and I'd like to see the same team for this one. Except Smith back in for Butt if available.

Very good piece of play by Carroll for the third goal, monster leap and header that nobody else in our squad would have got. I'm not decided on him overall, but as a partner for a striker with decent speed/runs and some adventurous midfielders, he looks as good as any we've got. I'd say we've got a better chance of playing attacking football and keeping the opposition pinned back when he's playing.

There was bound to be a season when Gerrard didn't win all the important games for them eventually. Even with the addition of Torres they rely on him to a greater extent than any other team I've ever seen. Without those two they're distinctly average, and probably worse than the likes of Villa and Spurs now.

The idea that Ashley has made any money out of us, or has any prospect of doing so in the future, is surely mental.

Sounds like something straight out of the Freddy Shepherd school of management.

Very surprised that anyone is taking pleasure from or hoping for the demise of Man Utd because of their owners. You'd have thought after what we'd been through we'd understand what it's like.

Argh, someone put a microphone near Big Sam, run for cover!!!!! I can't wait until his whinging face and negative tactics finally catch up with him and he relegates someone. Just feel sorry for the hapless fans of whatever club he gets his hands on.

pol, that's one of the best posts about Ashley I've read on here. I still believe his worst quality was naivety rather than malice, that he really thought he could be 'one of the lads', go to games on a Saturday and make the club a success. Yes, he was an idiot to believe this. The situation we are in now, he wants out but as a businessman he will try to wait until the best time to cut his losses. And as a gambler he will be prepared to take some serious risks in order to get a better result in the end.

I can't believe, by any stretch of the imagination, that Mike Ashley has benefitted financially from buying NUFC. And the chances are he never will. He's invested more than intended, found the club in more debt than he thought, put in more of his money and also probably taken a hit on the value of things like Sports Direct because of their association with him. I bet if Ashley could rewind the clock and never buy us, he'd do it in a second.

I thought that's the very thing he wasn't doing. He's taken a big hit so far on his purchase, surely, he's put in much more money than he originally thought he would need to... and the value of his asset has decreased at the same time.

The journo makes himself look like more of an idiot as the interview goes on IMO, especially with stuff like 'shouldn't you be beating so and so?' type questions. It highlights what a lot of people don't want to face about football... there can only be one winner, one champion, one cup winner, and sometimes you're just not good enough to be it.

If he played for us I'd love him, same as Craig Bellamy. What he said in that interview is pretty good actually, I wish more people would stand up the shite 'journalists' in this country. Especially when they make stupid accusations and report stories that are completely free of quotes or sources. He seems to expect unquestioning support from his local press though, which is taking things a bit too far.

My biggest question is how the club will be funded over the medium-long term if supporters take over. I still can't get my head around it... surely we need someone prepared to subsidise significant losses until we're promoted and re-established.

Absolutely spot on. Agreed, suppose the problem is that at the moment the choice is based more on ability than on affection for the country. With the exception of a couple of players (e.g. Giggs), the vast majority of players want to play for England and only choose Wales/Scotland/Jamaica/Nigeria when they fail to make the grade. Which does nobody any favours.

If you object to this, you should see what happens in Rugby and Cricket... you can basically just pick a country!

If he ends up on the right instead of Guthrie then we'll end up playing even worse football, if anything.

He can be better than that though, he has the ability.

Its all about perception though isnt it. Flying off to Vegas just doesnt give the impression that they are concentrating on the Transfer Window - whether it be rightly or wrongly. Fans, I think, like to know that their top boys are in their offices working on things. MA & DL seem incapable of avoiding this kind of thing. Fair point, but should they have to make every decision based on how the Sunday Sun might interpret it? They probably don't give a shit about the tabloids, and I can't criticise them for that. There should be no consideration of how the papers will interpret anything. They should consider what's best for the club and to get what their manager is after in January. Well in that case we'll have to wait and see what happens before we criticise, no? Maybe they'll have a little trip to Vegas and the club will still make the signings they would have anyway.

Well he's right we do need players, and he's a human being so he's got a right to express an opinion. And he has to say 'we've got a good squad' because anything else would be stupid. So it's a bit of a non-story really. Think of the trees, for God's sake think of the trees.