Fatwax

I think that he should be sold in the summer, because I don't see him changing. He's either suspended or injured and rarely plays enough games in a row to gain momentum. There are better options out there I'm sure.

So basically we should drop him because he doesn't fit the way the team currently plays. Got it. Depends how much faith you have in the likelyhood of our side playing better football as a result of having a bit more confidence following the result v boro. As owens had about two clear goalscoring chances in the last two games hes played in & with his movement still looking good. I would still play him. Chances are though also that our players level of confidence wont effect much and some of them will still play shocking football. In which case Owen wont fit in to well no. Just depends which side you choose. I think we can play better than we have been & that we're more likely to score goals putting faith in that than accepting we'll be crap again. I take the viewpoint that it'd be easier to change the personnel in the system than the system itself with so few games left. I certainly don't think that he should be dropped from the squad and I imagine that he'll still be in the starting line-up today, but unless there are players on the bench that could potentially change the game to replace him (much like last game) I don't think that there'd be much point. You never know with Owen, earlier in the season he was scoring for fun and this time last year he was undroppable because of his contributions from the 4-3-3. If he scores today I wouldn't be surprised.. but then I'm not expecting him to either.

So basically we should drop him because he doesn't fit the way the team currently plays. Got it.

Allardyce signed 9. But he also released 5 I believe.

Wasnt Nike's Anti-Racism top like that? The Grimsby Town home kit from the 06/07 season was that design. It looked alright, I've got the shirt somewhere.

I don't think I've actually heard any. Care to share big bear?

I thought that as well, seems he thought he'd just scored a 30-yarder to win the Champions League. Probably the fact that they'd gone 1 up indirectly through him and it could have pulled them closer to avoiding relegation. He probably thought he did score it. I'm not going to begrudge him that.. but only because we came on their relegation faces with hot sticky goal-juice.

BLACK POWER?!

Excellent post, but I think it was 1-1 against Birmingham and we came back to win our last game against Spurs 1-4.. off the top of my head.

Sign that fucker up. Two fantastic substitutions!

HIS NAME ISN'T HOOT!

We haven't won a single game this season in which we conceded the first goal. I don't see this changing sadly.

'Steven Taylor, with that meaty forehead of his' Amazing.

Why the heck would they want to outlaw that kind of tackle? Great to see, takes a lot of skill to pull off without conceding a foul. Probably because it drags up the debate of replays for refs etc. We all got to see the tackle from different angles, the referee saw it from behind and I imagine it'd be hard for it not to look like a foul. The only give away would be the change in direction of the ball, but without seeing it from the front there's no guarentee that it came from the foot of the defender. Assistant referee's should be able to call it, but they rarely do - see the Beye incident.

Is everyone on the blob tonight? Some of the bickering is pathetic.

Only reason we waited 5 minutes to find that out was because Blatter was furiously crossing out current rules and scribbling some bollocks about identity in the margins.

That'd be classed as violent conduct I believe.

I'd say you need to read it, watch the replay. It's not a red. It's a bad challenge, but it's not worthy a red. Any other player and it would've been a yellow, or nowt. He went in with two feet, which can be classed as either violent conduct or serious foul play. That's a red card according to the book I got when I qualified as a referee. You're right that some would have got away with it and the fact that it was Barton didn't help much, but according to the rule book the ruling was correct.

Blatant red. Read the rule book.

Say what you want about Nicky Butt, but he's resilient as fuck. I just wish some of our better players were as tough as this fella.. and as professional. Saying that, he is total dogshit.

I knew Benayoun would score.. looks offside, but it was tight.

I think Jonas and Owen will be making an appearance come 60 minutes.. or at least Jonas. Could be effective and it's one of the only times I've been happy with him being on the bench.

So we're hoping to play the counter-attacking game. Fair play.

That's the problem basically. Unlucky/ridiculous injuries and average to poor quality throughout the squad hasn't helped much either. How many games did it take Keegan to get us a win last year? It was quite a few, like.. I reckon Shearer would be the same. 8 games isn't enough. Owen is probably dropped so he can be saved for the 'winnable' matches btw.

Loads of players still do it.