ShearMagic

You don't think Keegan would have amassed more than 1 point against Sunderland, Fulham and a ten-man Wigan? Gerraway man. No, I don't. That's the plain truth. Keegan was also guilty of losing winnable games and playing players that shouldn't have played etc. But since he's the messiah we're not allowed to criticise him, right? Get to f*** with that f***ing attitude man. Sick of reading that sort of s****. Are we not allowed to have a debate about Keegan with that same old line being shovelled? For what it's worth, i blame Keegan as much as i blame Ashley for the state we're in at the moment. Not that that's of any relevance to this particular discussion; i just feel more comfortable assuring you of that - so we can kick off the argument on an even keel. Anyhow, Keegan's tenure started absolutely s****... but such is the tenacity and ambition of the man was that he did something risky to change our fortunes. It was risky yet executed with absolute precision. I'm on about the formation change, obviously. In the space of two games, we went from being 4-4-2, slogging it out, no shape, no determination, no confidence, no nowt. No specific player roles, no corner routines, no set piece routines. No identification in terms of where to cross, when to cross, when wing-backs should push up, when wingers should drop deep, where strikers should be, etc etc. There was the Liverpool 0-3 at Anfield, then the transition at Birmingham, then the explosion of quality at Spurs. all of a sudden, we've got a dynamic strike-force, a combative and versatile midfield, and wing-backs that could attack and assist. Keegan started slowly but he had what it took to make a big decision and do it right. He had the motivation aswell, from kick-off n'all - not a half-time "you're all s***, get better". Keegan knew exactly what he was doing and we would not be down here if he was still manager. Well presumably if he was still manager, the fans wouldn't have protested, the owner wouldn't be selling, and we'd be excited at the best squad we've had for a few good years. Absolutely, mate. Probably why Shearer is now one of the only few alternatives for the job. I mean, I thought Keegan coming back was a mistake, but it lifted everyone's spirits and even when things weren't going his way, people didn't jump onto his back like they are with JK. He was given time, which managers need. That's been our problem really, fans are too quick to jump on the managers back, meaning they're sacked or they "resign" and we start the cycle all over again. We need stability, and the only way we'll get that is if the fans approve of the next manager of the club. Who, other than Shearer, is able to achieve that?

You're welcome to your opinion but I don't know how you can be so confident of that.

You don't think Keegan would have amassed more than 1 point against Sunderland, Fulham and a ten-man Wigan? Gerraway man. No, I don't. That's the plain truth. Keegan was also guilty of losing winnable games and playing players that shouldn't have played etc. But since he's the messiah we're not allowed to criticise him, right?

Typical Geordie way eh? Blame the manager every time we don't get a result. And we wonder why we're bottom of the pile. The only mistake JK made was starting Ameobi ahead of Owen, but some of the criticism he gets is ridiculous. He's lost 2 games in 7, considering the sort of form we were in that's a fair effort. Keegan would have done no better. Want me to point out the record he had as manager the second time around?

What a roller-coaster. Would've been over the moon with 3 points from what it was looking at, and at the end of the day a point from being behind late on is still good. Considering the circumstances though its certainly 2 points dropped, we would've been 11th if we won.

Bad feeling we'll concede.

Duff has been our most consistent player, and whilst not as dangerous as Martins or Jonas, he's been working very hard. Criticism of him is absolute nonsense, I've seen every game this year and he's been our best player in nearly all of them. Say what you like, but you'd be wrong if you disagree with that.

Duff has been our best player this year, don't see where the criticism is coming from. Of course it's JK's fault though, it can't be the fucking gutless players. Has to be the manager. Fans will never be happy unless it's Kevin Keegan or Alan Shearer in charge.

Haha yeah, because we've got a trillion better options. He's not going to go if we lose. He's in charge in the short-term, face facts and support the team for fucks sake.

So were we last year. Same scoreline too.

I'm sick to death of having to come from behind and accept mediocrity now. We have to be beating Wigan at home, and now because we're behind, I think most of us would settle for a point.

Owen on, Ameobi off N'Zogbia on, Duff off Last time we played Wigan at SJP we won thanks to a Michael Owen header from an Obafemi Martins cross. It works Joe, do it.

Thankfully it's all so close down there so even after we lose today we're not too far off the pace. Fucking wrecks your weekend though.

*sigh*

We've got a lot in a row after Fulham don't we? But yes, it's frustrating.

I'd almost be satisfied with a draw out of this. I mean, sure, Fulham is a winnable game, but if we go there and try to win and only come out with a draw I'll be happy enough. Keep us ticking over, not the easiest place to go, and with our last 2 games being wins we can afford to drop points, assuming we beat Wigan.

It's a win-win for him now. If he doesn't get the job with us, he'll have no problems getting a job elsewhere anyway. Can't lose.

Totally disagree. It's the best we've been defensively all season.

So we should bring Keegan back, eh? Aye, because that's exactly what I'm saying Well, you've said it about 500 times so I just figured that's what you were getting at.

What did they do wrong? Booking Shola for Laursen running into his elbow, giving fouls against Barton whenever he's made contact in a tackle/held off a player, while being inconsistent on top of that (knee on Barton's face, Laursen's elbow on Shola) The booking for Shola was probably there (FIFA directives to book people using their arms as a tool), Barton's yellow was also fair enough. Bennett is a fussy ref, but everyone knows that.

So we should bring Keegan back, eh?

What did they do wrong?

How?

Well done Say what you like, but we've taken 8 points from 15 whilst he's been in charge. Done a fine job IMO.

All of these media outlets saying Villa were unlucky - We dominated them. Thought both Taylor and Coloccini were fantastic. They defended really well as a partnership for a change. It's the first time that I've watched us that I was confident that the other team wouldn't score, and it's not like we were playing someone crap.