Robster

Other mid-table and lower teams can confidently expect a result against us at the moment. Come one lads. Derby had 6 points, a horrific away record and are clearly finding this level tough. Did anyone seriously think that we were not going to win that game ?

I dont think the performances are a result of the players expecting to win against weaker opposition. more like they show no desire to WANT to win

Surely its not being arrogant to expect to beat Derby at home... or even at worst not concede a goal against them. I bet even Derby fans couldnt believe what was happening in that match

no need to apologise to me

I am not convinced that an all together defensive manager would be that unpopular here, so long as we were getting the results. I think most of us realised that when Sam came along. However, because of his baffling ideas and team selections, his defensive thinking just gives us a handy stick to whack him with. If we were top of the clean sheet charts and had another 10 points on the board, I genuinely think we would all be as happy as pigs in shit, given that he has just arrived here. The fact that his defensive tactics have done us no good is really putting the pressure on him

Absolutely because its Sams fault for playing him out of position AGAIN

I wonder what book Cech (or Harelio) will be taking with them to read during the game.

That comment about not being able to cope with Wigan's tempo sends a shiver down my spine.

''Men at some time are masters of their fate" Nice bit of shakesphere a little dry for me though This is Sam's Shakespeare moment. Sam should remember the wise words of General Douglas MacArthur: "Never give an order that can't be obeyed." blueyes.gif But... "Honest plain words best pierce the ear of grief" "A friendly eye could never see such faults" "We're Shit and we're sick of it"

FA Cup game is the one. Lose that and I just cant see him not clearing his desk monday morning. I bet the BBC cant wait.

but true

the best, and probably only thing, Sam could do at the moment, is give a massive interview in which he explains his teams selections (for yesterday in particular) and what he see's as each players' role in the team. (maybe he went into this in The Mag interview. Havent seen it - all I know is he tried to tell us Milner is a left winger). The Smith role certainly needs explaining along with Zog being LB, Enrique not playing regular etc etc We need some lines of communications opened because at the minute, unless he justifies what he is doing or trying to do, the fans are just going to assume their are being proved correct in their assumption that "he doesnt know what he is doing". Come on Sam. Let us in on the secrets.

What a load of crap sadly i dont think it is. bar Bolton, nothing we have done away from hom has suggested that we are likely to pick up maximum points anywhere. got to hope lady luck is on our side

but in some respects, like with souness, itis better not to have a manager at all as the players feel released once the current manager goes. just put someone in there who can pick the team every saturday i think its fair to say it was more that souness was no longer there than because roeder was, as the reason we finished that season so well. who takes charge in teh interim i dont know but i am getting a sense it would have a more positive affect on the players am most interested to know what the general atmosphere is like around the club/training ground. Is it happy go lucky or is there an air of tension around the place

Its the beginning of the end. This should have been kept within the walls of SJP. If only he had added this statement with "and I think I made some mistakes in my team selection which led to the general performance". At least the players would have seen that he is with them; but to seperate himself from blame..... not the best move in the world.

what the full story is I dont know but I have just heard the headline on TalkSport saying that Sam "Isnt happy that his future rests in the hands of his players". I would like to know what the actual quotes were and in what context this was said but its hard to think of a way that this could be suggested that wont instantly find him having "lost the dressing room". It appears that he is looking for scapegoats... its Roeder all over again... Sad excuse for a man if he isnt prepared to accept and admit his own mistakes and failings. I think if he came out now and admitted what he has done wrong, he may pull back some of his detractors. Comingo ut with shit like this is just feeding the fire. I am seriously starting to think he is trying to lose his job on purpose.

I must admit Libertine, I was in the same camp as you... until last week. Then sam decides to move Alan Smith back into midfield even though we finally have gotten some decent performances from him whilst in a forward role For that decision, I have changed my mind as it was a decision based on... well i dont think anyone knows what. W got a great result and performance against Arsenal. Why on earth has he tampered with it

Lets hope when the time comes, be it tomorrow or in five years time, that Ashley and Mort don't listen to people like you. A large section of our crowd yesterday were singing for Shearer, not me I'll add. think thats what they want or was it just for affect to let Sam know they dont want him any more ?

I Agree with Both of the above (in bold), TBH! The over expectation by our fans is frankly hillarious. We were/are no where near Villa, Blackburn, Everton or Pompy. We are not a top 8 team anymore. We are a mid table team. We need time to build on that. Those expecting anything above 8th this season were dreaming. The club was murdered by two appointments and sackings. Changing again is a bad idea, its hardly brought us on so far.. you cant say that on here. we are a top 1 side and we arent performing as such. sack the manager and the rest. good post though. LETS SACK THE MANORGER SO HE KAN SELL EVERYONEZZ AND SIGN MORE s*** BECAUSE ITS ALL WE CAN REALISTICALLY ATTRACT YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I'm not aiming this at anyone but isn't it clear? Where has sacking and resigning a new team got us? If done correctly, it can work wonders. Most of our Managerial decisions have been poor but John Hall made a decent one in sacking Ardiles and getting Keegan in. It can work if the club think about it properly. I really felt that JH could sense what KK would do and went for it. If certain people see that then i can see this thread going in a completely different direction pretty soon... I just meant that at the time KK was no where to be seen in the football world and that JH must have sat down and really thought about what it would take to get NU back into the top flight. Massive risk but it suggested that thought had gone into the appointment process. Not may other appointments have suggested such thought however but it shows that it can be a success.

I Agree with Both of the above (in bold), TBH! The over expectation by our fans is frankly hillarious. We were/are no where near Villa, Blackburn, Everton or Pompy. We are not a top 8 team anymore. We are a mid table team. We need time to build on that. Those expecting anything above 8th this season were dreaming. The club was murdered by two appointments and sackings. Changing again is a bad idea, its hardly brought us on so far.. you cant say that on here. we are a top 1 side and we arent performing as such. sack the manager and the rest. good post though. LETS SACK THE MANORGER SO HE KAN SELL EVERYONEZZ AND SIGN MORE s*** BECAUSE ITS ALL WE CAN REALISTICALLY ATTRACT YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I'm not aiming this at anyone but isn't it clear? Where has sacking and resigning a new team got us? If done correctly, it can work wonders. Most of our Managerial decisions have been poor but John Hall made a decent one in sacking Ardiles and getting Keegan in. It can work if the club think about it properly. I really felt that JH could sense what KK would do and went for it.

Btw, we're actually long past this now. Our best start now since 2003. ooo, he's better than Souness and Roeder. Wrong, if we win it'll be the fluke of the season and will make no difference. yeah, if we win, sack him anyway. What signs has Sam shown you to warrant you thinking we'll be sucessful under him? its pointless typing them out as they'll just be ripped to shreds, but the main one is how high bolton finished for the past few years. There's something quite interesting about that, and the whole Allardyce situation that the man himself hasn't seemed to notice yet.... WE AREN'T BOLTON! yeah, we finished lower than bolton for years. We're a different team to Bolton, we've got different players, a different set-up, a different fanbase, a different status. This is where Allardyce is going wrong. He should stop trying to turn us into Bolton because it won't work. We're two completely different teams. Where they finished is completely irrelevant. What matters is Allardyce and now. exactly. its new to him so why not give him a season to get acclimatized to the job and see how he handles it from there? the whole "time = success" thing isnt a myth. sorry to interrupt but, I think its because he doesnt seem to have shown 1, not a single thing, that suggests that things on the pitch have changed for the better. We are still shite at the back and conceding goals against teams that cant score goals against any other teams, our midfield has no flair, passing cohesion and drive and the front line offer no threat or pressure to the opposing defence. If we were keeping clean sheet after clean sheet then at least we could say "thank fuck. at least he has got the defence working". We've got nowt to cling to

When you give a player instructions on what to do and how to play in a game, how much does he actually stick to those instructions and how much does he just revert to his natural game. Would be interesting to know from a pro player, how often they forgot instructions and just found themselves doing what they wanted as it would certainly explain why, if he is playing 3,4,5 of our players out of position and to do things completely unnatural to them, why the team is all over the place. If they are spending all game thinkng "ok... I have to do this and go there" instead of doing what comes natural to them...

isnt this another of Sam's strange decisions. Wasnt Harper doing ok while Given was injured yet as soon as Given was able to walk again, he went straight back into the side. Good incentive for players to play well if the manager is quickly showing that he has his favourites.

Excellent, Derby drew 2-1 with Liverpool today. Wigan have averaged a goal a game all season so don't look at one result in isolation, before today they'd won 3 games out of 18 and drawn 4 lost 11. wigan have 8 points from 5 games since bruce took over, a considerable improvement on the last manager. Easy to sit there and say that without watching it isn't it? It is way too easy to sit behind statistics. Like you say, fans watching know whether its working or not and it appears that it is not. Was heart breaking to hear John Salako on SSN saying how much Wigan had dominated and that we were really poor