Gallowgate Toon

Owen won't start according to The Mail.

i think we'll win tbh and it could really kickstart the season. 2-1 Martins and Emre in the dying minutes.

Yeah performance wise but we haven't got too many points out of them so far. Well nows our chance to get some pay back then.

Aye its a bit harsh to not put Anderson in there he has been an absolute beast for Man u, i was speaking to some of their fans and they absolutely love him.

He could be so good, watching those Chelsea highlights again you can see how much pace he has. The chance where Butt just placed it through, he was level with Alex at half way but by the time he had reached the ball (this is also after slowing down so he could go on to his left) he was yards ahead of Alex who is also a pretty nippy CB himself. You just feel though if he could just do that 3/4 times every game he would get a goal at least. You can see why he might not do it now as we have no creativity through the midfield but if we bought a Diego or a D'allessandro in January he might start to do it, which would be massively beneficial.

Its a massive shame, he is a very good footballer, such a waste of talent.

the fans at all those clubs (with the exception of man utd maybe) will tell you there clubs improved in the first 6 months. being patient pays off...should we have given souness,roeder,bill mcgarry longer ? Exactly all those clubs could see improvement, so far we have been terrible with no sign of improvement. FFS our fans aint moaning for the sake of it or because their standards are sky high its because the football has been dog s*** and tbh our league standing doesnt reflect how bad we have played, we have had a bit of luck I think its fair to say we've seen slight improvement in the least, i believe that we had our best start in the PL ever this year? and this is a sign of no improvement at all? We do have better players and a better squad, we've got more away points this season so far than last season. We're not in a total injury crisis like last year and we are comfortably away from the relegation zone and pretty damn close to Europe still. Aye we're f***** aren't we, i'd hate to be a fan of any of the teams below us. we had a dream start in terms of "look at that opening group of games" have you seen our remaning away fixtures? Bullshit, i bet we wouldn't have won as many under Roeder and tbh we've had easier starts to the league than this one. Yes its going to be a difficult second half to the season, but i'm convinced we will finish top half, which i'd be happy with.

Blackburn were within days of sacking Souness before we took him away from Ewood and paid them for that so don't use them as a reason to hold onto Allardyce. How long has O'Neill been at Villa? I'll give you Everton. Pompy have had Redknapp since 2005. They have all had more than one season in charge now, yes? (Sam has arguably a much bigger task than the above managers bar ferguson). Which proves it does take at least one season to steady the ship, Sam as i'm sure you have noticed has only been in the job for 6 months and we are only 4 months into the season. You have to give a manager 2 seasons at least unless you are in serious crap (relegation fodder which we aren't) then judge him. You must have known that Sam would have to fix the whole foundations first? do you think it was going to take him a couple of weeks to sort it all out?

the fans at all those clubs (with the exception of man utd maybe) will tell you there clubs improved in the first 6 months. being patient pays off...should we have given souness,roeder,bill mcgarry longer ? Exactly all those clubs could see improvement, so far we have been terrible with no sign of improvement. FFS our fans aint moaning for the sake of it or because their standards are sky high its because the football has been dog s*** and tbh our league standing doesnt reflect how bad we have played, we have had a bit of luck I think its fair to say we've seen slight improvement in the least, i believe that we had our best start in the PL ever this year? and this is a sign of no improvement at all? We do have better players and a better squad, we've got more away points this season so far than last season. We're not in a total injury crisis like last year and we are comfortably away from the relegation zone and pretty damn close to Europe still. Aye we're fucked aren't we, i'd hate to be a fan of any of the teams below us.

Just look at the teams above us though, most of them stuck with a manager and they are doing really well now. Blackburn - Mark hughes had a more mediocre start to his Blackburn campaign for a couple of seasons, now they are European contenders consistently. Aston Villa - Fair to say MON had an average start last season, not massively improving Villa's previous League table finish. Everton - Moyes has had to work his socks off for a few seasons now, but also started off with some dodgy end of season table, now European shoe-ins imo. Pompey - Again Harry had to spend time and money but now Pompey are easily top half and contenders for Europe. Man Utd - The famous example Sir Alex Ferguson took him 3 seasons to guide his team to success and look at them now. It just shows that being patient pays off. We all have to be patient though, the fans, chairman and the players. Sam is a good proven manager, he knows the best let him do his thing.

I seriously doubt he will actually, if his story that his attack was provoked is true he probably won't get any form of a sentence, just a fine. Are you on glue!! His latest escapade was no doubt provoked, but he is already on bail awaiting the Dabo case (that alone could result in a sentence) which was adjourned a couple of weeks ago. No judge or magistrate is going to go easy on him now that he has broken those bail conditions. He going down No i'm not on glue, perhaps i was being too direct when i said that i seriously doubt he will go to prison, for me it could lean either way but provocation can reduce any kind of sentence given. If he did actually go to prison though he would only get a few months. I just don't think a court will send down a footballer for afew months when they know he has plenty of money to pay hefty fines and can do plenty of community service activities, instead of filling prisons even more.

I seriously doubt he will actually, if his story that his attack was provoked is true he probably won't get any form of a sentence, just a fine he has disgraced the club by being out at that time of the day. regardless of the outcome of these charges, he is a scroat and we should never have signed him. I seriously doubt he will actually, if his story that his attack was provoked is true he probably won't get any form of a sentence, just a fine. I seriously doubt he will actually, if his story that his attack was provoked is true he probably won't get any form of a sentence, just a fine. not a expert on criminal law but what has gone before and the fact that he decked someone and it was caught on cctv then started lashing out at passer byes is enough for me ,then the little case of assault coming up with a damn good chance of a jail sentance is enough for me to say he will not play for the toon again .Will our new owners and manager just say "hey joey calm down son and let your football do the talking " i think not hes gone to far this time imho. Yes but the fact that he was apparently 'provoked' into the attack is a huge mitigating factor, if somebody could testify that yes the man Joey hit assaulted a girl at Barton's party and made jibes about his brother (one in prison) then Barton could be let off very easily indeed. I agree with the being out that late part for sure and a club suspension is definitely necessary and a sacking could be used, but i don't think Sam has the guts to sack a player he bought.

He said when he first came here that it would take him 5 years to sort out this club and many on here were fine with that 6 months ago. Its an absolute mockery that people are calling for his head 6 months in, in fact its plain terrible. No wonder the average life of a manager is something like 13 months with all the ridiculous pressure put on the main man by the fans. why can't we be patient, we have no divine right to be better than the teams above and we shouldn't expect too much. Maybe if we were in the relegation zone i would be worried and consider bringing in a new man but for now we are totally safe and i'm sorry we might just have to deal with mediocrity for a couple of seasons until we get back to our old status. If we sack Sam now, what are we going to do? go on with this endless carousel of managers until we actually are relegated? because if thats what we do now, that is what will happen.

I seriously doubt he will actually, if his story that his attack was provoked is true he probably won't get any form of a sentence, just a fine.

I seriously doubt Sam will be sacked for the next couple of seasons.

Not in a court of law though, unfortunately. You can drink until you are paralytic, take as many drugs as you want, play your nintendo ds while driving, and it will still not be murder. True, a girl from near where i live was texting on her phone while driving and collided with another car. The woman in the other car died but the girl was only sentenced to 3 years in prison and obviously a driving ban.

He might be quite good, Park ji Sung is south Korean and he's a pretty decent footballer.

Stick with Sam, he'll come good in the end.

I think we're one dimensional enough without Crouch.

Cacapa certainly isn't average.

Play Barton alongside someone other than Butt then we shall see what he is capable of. Barton has to cover for Butt too much so Barton can't press forward as much and do his thing. Did anyone see his pass on the half volley after a corner, he had his back turned had a defender on him and it was about 40 yard pass but he got it there with pin point precision. Somebody with little talent could not do technical passes like that. Obviously theres alot of s*** going on in his life atm so it wouldn't be too fair too judge him so early.

Agreed. To play effective 4-3-3 you need clever adaptable players. Oba is very instinctive and totally unflexible. Play him as a striker in a 4-4-2 or not at all. Yep. In a 4-4-2 he could basically be played as a luxery striker. Alongside someone who is guaranted to score goals, Martins could provide the 'special' and 'unpredictable' touch. In a 4-3-3, with Martins always wanting to come infield, it in effect nullifies half of any potential width for us, putting more pressure on the left flank. But he has scored the most goals for us this season, while being played out of position alot. Doesn't this make him the automatic starter in a 4-4-2? i think he is the main striker in a 4-4-2 that gets those goals. Another player should support him imo. I've just said, yes, i'd play him in a 4-4-2. But as the luxury striker. Since he has scored the most this season, why shouldn't he be the main starting striker? Does it really matter if I call him a luxury if he's still playing? Well no actually, it doesn't . I thought you meant he should not always start, be brought on for luxury, unpredictable touches. My mistake

Agreed. To play effective 4-3-3 you need clever adaptable players. Oba is very instinctive and totally unflexible. Play him as a striker in a 4-4-2 or not at all. Yep. In a 4-4-2 he could basically be played as a luxery striker. Alongside someone who is guaranted to score goals, Martins could provide the 'special' and 'unpredictable' touch. In a 4-3-3, with Martins always wanting to come infield, it in effect nullifies half of any potential width for us, putting more pressure on the left flank. But he has scored the most goals for us this season, while being played out of position alot. Doesn't this make him the automatic starter in a 4-4-2? i think he is the main striker in a 4-4-2 that gets those goals. Another player should support him imo. I've just said, yes, i'd play him in a 4-4-2. But as the luxury striker. Since he has scored the most this season, he is guaranteed to score goals, why shouldn't he be the main striker.

He has been hit and miss for us so far. Theres been glimpses today and every game that he has played of sheer class. Some excellent passes, good running, skill and tackling. But other times he has made strange choices and lost the ball too easily. His court case will affect him, for obvious reasons and i think that we can only judge him once its passed but when he has also settled in more afterall he has had a difficult start with injuries etc. He is a very good player, but until his controversy is over he shouldn't be in the side.

Agreed. To play effective 4-3-3 you need clever adaptable players. Oba is very instinctive and totally unflexible. Play him as a striker in a 4-4-2 or not at all. Yep. In a 4-4-2 he could basically be played as a luxery striker. Alongside someone who is guaranted to score goals, Martins could provide the 'special' and 'unpredictable' touch. In a 4-3-3, with Martins always wanting to come infield, it in effect nullifies half of any potential width for us, putting more pressure on the left flank. But he has scored the most goals for us this season, while being played out of position alot. Doesn't this make him the automatic starter in a 4-4-2? i think he is the main striker in a 4-4-2 that gets those goals. Another player should support him imo.