oldtype

Seriously though, that's no points in the next two and back into the relegation heap nailed on if we're forced to make do with some unholy combination of Butt, Smith, and Geremi.

Bloody hell I didnt realise that Guess who's back... http://images.teamsugar.com/files/users/1/17989/47_2007/WFZPO.jpg

Fucking hell, why've they picked a match that hasn't even ended yet and is pretty much nailed on to be shit over ours :/

No worries, one of them will get injured soon enough and solve all of our problems.

Harper 6 - Good sweeper-keeper-ing. Doesn't look entirely match-sharp yet though. Enrique 5 - Would be a great player if he could just stay focused and stop playing playing the ball into dead ends. He's got the talent and the physique, just needs some good coaching. Unfortunately he didn't really do much for us today. Bassong 6 - One of his weaker games for us. Fortune is one of those uncommon strikers who has a clear edge on Bassong physically and he left us exposed a few times. Still solid though. Colo 6 - Still has problems playing in a high line but was very solid when we were under pressure late into the second half. Saylor 6 - Unlucky for the trip that lead to the first goal (studs got stuck in the turf.) Still, how a player with basically no defensive intelligence started out his career as a CB is beyond me. Good run for the goal. Duff - 8 Best game in a Toon shirt. Flashes of the Damien Duff that was supposed to be a "bargain" at 5m. Butt - 5 It's a huge indictment of Butt as a player when I can look at his performance today and think "well, it wasn't THAT bad." Nolan - 6 Pretty average. Gets into a lot of good positions but doesn't do a whole lot of useful thing with the ball. Credit for the assist though. Raylor - 7 Unremarkable from open play but what a breath of fresh air it is to have someone who can take set pieces. Didn't know he could do long throws too. Probably best deployed at RB. Wigan definitely got the short end of the stick on this deal. Ameobi - 6 Decent. His primary job was to rough up the Wigan defenders and creating space for Lovin' and he did that well enough. Was pretty shocking after he got crocked though. Awesome highlight reel run Lovenkrands - 8 MOM. He hasn't got Oba's shot or his unpredictability, but here's a guy who uses his speed in a way that I always wished Oba would. Great at running down channels and exploiting empty spaces. Absolute nightmare for the WBA defense today. Will be great backup for us. Perhaps there's even a Lovin' - Oba partnership to look forward to in the future.

If Ashley has any sense really he'll let Kinnear use this as an excuse to step down honorably and get a real manager in during the break. Bloody hell I'm insane aren't I.

A lot of people lambast Kinnear for playing long-ball tactics, probably out of the common myth that s*** football = long ball. The reality is that we actually play a mixed passing style with a very high line that tries to put pressure on the opponent and play the offisde trap. And that high line is precisely what's dropping us in the s***. Just look at the second half today, Mowbray noticed what we were doing and just had his players ping high ball after high ball after high ball in the second half, and we suffered for it. This used to work decently well when we had Beye coordinating things and playing last-ditch tackles to make up for the empty space, but our current backline simply isn't well-coordinated enough to play this kind of defense. This is also precisely the wrong system for Coloccini, who doesn't have the physical presence to head away long balls and get exposed way, way too often when he's forced to stand on a high line like that. We got away with it today, there is going to have to be some adapting done if we're going to stay up.

FULL TIME!! W000000000000000TTTTTTTTTTT! Bassong Shoryuken's the ball

Xisco on! The apocalypse beckons

Comedy defending, booed off at halftime, TV crew showing people leaving early... Are we sure this isn't SJP?

fucking biting my fingers off here.

Fucking hell matter of time now. Why are our lot so mentally weak. You're still 3-2 up you fucking idiots.

This is going to be the worst 15 minutes ever.

Fuck. 3-3 here we come.

They are pronouncing Fortune right though he has a ' over the e which makes it for- tu-ne doesn't it ? The Colo-ccu-ni part was what I was on about.

I'd think about it if we go another goal up. Just to remind everybody on here how shit he is and why he should never play for us again.

Might have something to do with the ridiculous high line Kinnear has the team playing.

For-tu-ne has rolled Colo-ccu-ni

http://www.monkeydungeon.com/images/halloween-straight-jacket.jpg

Surely you can't be happy about Ameobi getting crocked. That means Smith walking into our team considering that Viduka will never be fit for 90 minutes.

Shola fucked

Shola being Shola

Taylor's freekick blatantly would have whistled into the back of the net if it was against us.

The suggestion of taking off some combination of Butt/Duff/Ameobi happens every match thread. They never do To be fair, Shola's been a handful today, and it's not as if we've got any impact subs on the bench. We don't need impact players we've scored 3 goals already. We need to get fresh legs on to get control of the midfield. Who are we going to control the midfield with? Please don't say Alan Smith.

Anyone who suggests Smith should be brought on needs to be torn away from their keyboards.