Ant1815

I live in Luton and to be honest it doesn't help them that all the football fans living here are all bloody glory hunters. I walk through the town centre on a busy Saturday or Sunday and the only football shirts everybody's wearing are the usual predictable ones: ManU, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea I honestly think that I've seen more people wearing Toon shirts than Luton ones in the centre of Luton. So much for supporting your local club...

It's not really our fault if outsiders can't be bothered to think past the ends of their own noses, and just jump to easy conclusions instead. The Fulham result wasn't the problem, it was the performance. I was at that game and I can honestly say it was one of the worst football matches I've ever seen. There was plenty of reason for pessimism.

Allardyce nearly signed him a couple of days before he joined Portsmouth... Wow. I didn't know that. Maybe Sam is not as averse to the more skillfull but less hard working player than I thought. I'm still not sure about him coming back though. Remember how excited some got when Bernard came back, and look how that turned out. He probably wouldn't be as good as many of us remember.

There's no way that Laurent Robert would get near to a Sam Allardyce team.

My thoughts exactly. You can talk all the tactics and personell you want, but as soon as I saw us on MOTD in white shorts and white socks I had a bad feeling about this game

Erm. Have I suddenly stumbled on to a different forum by mistake? I haven't been here as long as most of you, but I can definitely remember some grumblings on this very board not so long ago about our playing style, midfield choices etc. Maybe a lot of people have changed their minds recently

Fantastic result. I watched it in a pub in Luton in the middle of a bunch of spurs supporters...I hate spurs supporters Was a bit disappointed when Zoggy came off and Milner came on....especially putting Milner on the left, but I could understand why Sam did it, as Milner tends to keep the team shape better than N'Zogbia, even though he offers less of an attacking option. A pretty conservative tactic when you're in the lead. Still, I thought he played well enough and got the goal too. You can't ask for too much more.

No they didn't, but then I'm not suggesting that Chelsea will be involved in a relegation battle either, only drop a few places in the league. Well I'm betting that the top three is pretty predictable....the usual suspects of Man UTD, Arsenal and Liverpool. Fourth is the unknown quantity. It's early days but Man City might be a decent bet. Aston Villa could be in with a bit of a shout too, and as unlikely as it seems even maybe Spurs if they can start to get their act together. Of course Chelsea on paper have far more quality than all of those teams, but it depends on how much you think that a manager affects team performance as opposed to just players. I could be wrong but I think that Grant is way out of his depth in the premiership, and I'm sure that Erikson, O'Neil and Even Martin Jol are better managers than Grant. Either way I'm looking forward to seeing how Chelsea perform this season. Outside prediction.....Look for Abramovich bringing in a new manager in February :parky:

Too much quality to fail and fall out of the top 4. Their backup is good enough to finish 5th at least. Grant maybe a bit s****, they may have their problems, but i cant see their home record dissolving too drastically in the near future, however, they are very vulnerable to some sticky results. Its a good time to play them, its a good thing for the EPL. West Ham were supposed to have had too much quality last season to get involved in a relegation battle. A team full of good individuals doesn't always translate into a good team. Especially considering the situation with Drogba being unhappy. Who else is unhappy? I can well see Chelsea dropping out of the top four this season.

Graham Taylor was talking about the pitch on the radio this morning. Apparently it's a very good modern artificial pitch and the only real difference it should make is that the ball tends to run along the ground a little quicker if it's wet...which it probably will be this afternoon. He couldn't see any real problems.

What's the general opinion of the chances of him being sold in January? I've held off buying a replica shirt this season because I'm usually not keen on getting names on the back of them, but I really want to get one now and I'd choose Martins as my first option. Bit of a downer if he's shipped out in January though

Hi Guys Long time lurker. First post I was at the game last night. One thing I do want to say which I haven't yet seen mentioned is our overall general style of play. I've seen Bolton play against Arsenal in the past and get results by closing them down and denying them time on the ball. I fully anticipated us to play like that yesterday. Not pretty but effective.....no such luck. Our overall strategy seemed to be stand-off and let them play. For much of the game our entire team seemed to be no more than spectators standing around watching Arsenal pass it about. To be fair Arsenal didn't look too threatening at first despite all the possesion, but it was pretty much an inevitability when their first goal went in. I don't get to see too many live games due to living in Luton and life commitments etc. but i usually get to all the away games down here and a few at SJP when I visit the family and I've got to be honest and say that last night's performance is pretty much the same sort of stuff I saw us play under Roeder, although the defending was a little more organised and competent. Very disappointing and i feel really sorry for all the lads that actually travelled down from the North East to see that dire performance.