AyeDubbleYoo

One of the skills Souness and Allardyce share, blaming someone else for their uselessness.

Woodgate's on another level to most of the defenders we've ever had. Sadly his fitness record is so bad that the whole thing's academic. Probably the best defender I can remember seeing play for us.

Just out of interest, why? It seemed he was exactly the wrong man for a club with a recent history of good football and some success, I was amazed he was given the job - it felt like I didn't know the club at all anymore.

The problem was that each manager we appointed was the opposite to the one before, absolutely mental strategy from the board.

I also knew Allardyce was completely the wrong man for the club mind, but I see what you're saying.

We thought the away game was going to be tough, but in the end we turned them over pretty easily. Fingers crossed for the same again.

Before the last game itd only been 3 games since Nolan scored. Its a managers job to put faith in his players, let alone the sides top scorer. I imagine he'll be coming close to a decision to drop him soon, i see no reason to think he wouldnt. He has shown he can identify the weaknesses in our side previously, hes not blind. With Smith its a case of him or Butt & people are happy with neither at the moment. Butt was better than both in the last game for me, but people werent happy about him staying on either even though we ended up massively on top after the other two went off. The things he does arent that baffling. You could argue that you'd do it differently, but the choices he's making arent as idiotic as theyre made out to be (on the whole). Very good post, I've said before that the scoreboard and league table demands a much more cautious approach than most people would like. I don't always agree with Hughton's choices, but I can usually see where he's coming from.

Fucking hell, just saw this. Horrible to hear, all thoughts with Sib and family.

You're right there actually, when you list those incomings it's far beyond what we could have expected from one January window. All of our weaknesses have been backed up, with the possible exception of a central midfielder. And hopefully Guthrie moving inside and Barton returning will help a lot with that.

UV, you've only gone and undermined the whole existence of this forum.

Mate, we've signed 6 players in key positons. Not a single player, of any reasonable worth, has left. It's been the perfect transfer window for us. There shouldn't be any reason to be unhappy. People complain for the sake of it. I think it's summed up best by saying, 'haters gonna hate'. This really. Exactamundo. Happy with the window, obviously I would have liked Beckford or Moses, but they weren't available to us.

True, I think he was just trying to endear himself to the fans and/or he just couldn't help saying what (as a fan) he thought needed to be said. That's a cardinal rule as a manager though, to back your team and not tell the world how weak you are in certain departments, even if it's obvious. It might make fans and MOTD viewers happy but it didn't really get a great response from his players. Yeah, I agree. As much as fans don't like to admit it, a big part of being a manager is lying to the press and the public.

Surely the captaincy isn't the issue, it's more about his presence in the squad. If he's causing disruption and making other players unhappy then it's a question of whether he should be there at all, right?

There are a lot of examples of that. Even at SJP they home changing rooms are a lot better than the away ones.

I would rather give him a season to prove he can keep us up than emply a nothing manager like Hughes or Curbishly, who we'll undoubtedly sack in 6-12 months and have to start again anyway. If a world class coach is available then sure, get him in.

Can we loan people outside of the window? What's the score?

I don't see why it should affect anything, I've never understood how it does. But it has a major impact, for some reason. I think you're right though, the impact is more because of the different attitude that seems to be expected away from home than any real differences.

So nobody knows then.

What do you mean?

Indeed, Pedro would be ideal. Don't know about his coaching and communication skills though... just because he's got twinkle toes doesn't mean he can teach others. I know he worked/works with the kids, but from what I heard he was a bit of a little Hitler with them. Allegedly, my lawyers have asked me to point out.

True, I think he was just trying to endear himself to the fans and/or he just couldn't help saying what (as a fan) he thought needed to be said.

Obviously it does if it's his best mates partner and they are both in the squad. Maybe Bridge should step down from the squad while Terry's captain if we can't bring ourselves to remove Terry. Leaving out Bridge because of this would be disgusting, surely? "The captain's had an affair with your missus mate, sorry but he's better than you so you've got to stay at home." I hope that Capello wouldn't be involved in anything as shabby as that.

It depends on how it affects the dressing room. If it doesn't then fine, he shouldn't be dropped just for having an affair. If it does, then it's morally wrong to leave out Bridge to solve the problem, then Terry should be dropped. He's a good player, but Capello always puts the team ahead of individuals.