Consortium of one

I think the team is getting more comfortable with an attacking mindset. To play defensive for a point would be disastrous, IMO. Go and take it to them. I think our best defense is a good offense, right now.

I think he'd be a good complimentary player. I think he's canny and has got some thunder in his foot. He's not great but he's not shit either.

Well done with his goal and general performance, but I think that sort thing is utterly pointless and pathetic. Not much more than a "show". See, I disagree with this big time. On a team that has been lacking confidence, getting the lads pumped up can only help. I give credit to Viduka for doing the same thing. There were a couple of occasions earlier in the fisrt half when I saw him encouraging other players. At one point Enrique advanced up the left side and attempted a canny pass that almost slipped past the defender to Viduka's feet. The pass was knocked away and as both Viduka and Enrique turned back to defense the cameras caught Viduka raising his fist and nodding his head towards Enrique as if to say "great job recognizing the opportunity and the pass was almost there." I guess part of my point is that it's awfully hard to be creative when you are afraid to make a mistake and this team has played kind of scared for a while. What I saw today was a team that started to come out it's shell a little and not be afraid to take a few chances. I think experienced finishers like Viduka and Owen leading the cheers is a good thing and I hope they continue doing so.

KK is showing that he isn't as tactically inept as many thought he was. Right now, he's making pretty good use of the limited available talent.

Looked like the back four's confidence grew as the game went on. I'd continue to start the same four. The continuity is helping them.

Difficult to read. I almost gave up on it. I got the point eventually.

I think it's been an interesting discussion and there have been some good ideas both for and against taking Oba out in both this thread and the game thread. In a relegation battle KK's gonna keep his cards close to his vest so any insight we can get into his thinking is important, imo. It's quite possible that KK killed a few birds with one stone: he showed confidence in Owen and Viduka, lit a fire under Oba and showed confidence in Zogs by putting him in during a critical part of the game. He was also successful in making a tactical change during a critical part of the game and having it work as well as can be expected. Win, win, win all around I'd say. Hopefully he can build on it for Saturday.

Yep. I'm not all stressed out over it, just curious. Classy quotes from Martins, btw.

I still don't understand why he was subbed out. KK has said that he did it to shore up the defense, which I understand. However, Oba is the only one of the three who can create a goal out of nothing. Viduka and Owen have to be set up to cash in so you have to commit to coming more forward to have deeper control to put the ball on them whereas with Martins if you can get him in space a good deep ball can be a winner without leaving the team short in it's own end.

I like this set up too. I'd bring Carroll in for Viduka when he's gassed and Milner (if available) for Geremi around the same time. We win 3-1. Martins, Viduka and Zogs score for us and Bullard scores for Fulham.

Kinda nice to see this lineup, tbh.

Owen and Martins will start (I hope) and Viduka will come on for Owen (if he's ineffective and I suspect he will be) around the hour mark.

No matter what, a team usually gets what it pays for. If a team consistently reaches outside to pay (or overpay) someone for their past accomplishments there is a good chance that it will fail. The ideal is to build from within, be willing to pay to retain the talent that you've developed and go outside the organization for the few pieces that make the whole picture come together. You just can't take a bunch of hired guns, throw them all together and expect them to mesh. Developing your own players is key for two reasons: 1) It keeps the core of your team familiar with each other. They have been trained the same way and know how play off each other. They know all their strengths, weaknesses and preferences. Good unity, common purpose and all that. Develop players from youth and target young players that can be purchased cheaply and have a future rather than paying heavily for someone's past. 2) It helps keep player costs down. The money saved from multiple transfer fees for mediocre players can be used to nab that big fish that can really make a difference. Plus, outside players come in to an (hopefully) established, unified team atmosphere. This takes some time, a lot of patience and requires a strong organization fromn top to bottom. I think it's a good model for any professional team in any sport.

I don't usually watch it. Sometimes I put it on as background noise while I do something else but not this past week.

Thats better. At last some sense. Riiiiiight. So anyways, while I think people have the right to vent their frustrations on a messsage board if they constantly complain about the team and whine about how it makes their life miserable then perhaps they should root for someone else or just not root at all. I mean if there is something on TV that I don't like, I just change the channel, right? If all a person can do is bitch about a team when they are down, go root root for ManU or the NY Yankees or some other perennial winner. Then youy can always be happy and gush like a school girl. I mean you're either behind the team or not. I'm not saying fans can't be critical or get down when the team sucks but there is a line that shouldn't be crossed. At some point you have to shut your yap and get behind the team. Better days are coming and all that.

I like those threads. They make me warm and fuzzy.

Well, I'd love to give my opinion on this matter and a myriad of matters regarding the team but I can't because I can't see the games in person. mackems.gif

Enrique looks lost when he's in open space. He doesn't seem to quickly identify attackers and adjust. He usually seems to turn the wrong way and while he has a bit of a burst it's not enough to compensate for his mistake. More experience would help with that, I'm sure. With some better center backs and perhaps a midfielder that was more adept at rotating back when he charges forward he'd be more effective as well.

How Smith keeps getting the call over Martins is baffling to say the least.

If Allardyce had stayed: better off in the short term. Worse off in the long term.

Who said Alan Smith can't "score"?

I'm glad they got this worked out. He's a class act, seen him a gazillion times, just what we need.

Well now, since I'm a foreigner and you're going to hate me any ways, let me give you good reason to by saying, "He's a class act, seen him a gazillion times, just what we need"

3-2 win Owen scores twice

I don't watch SSN every night but whenever I've watched it after a NUFC game (since they've hired Keegan) they've always had fan reaction on film. I've not seen any other fans being interviewed except for Newcastle fans. This past Saturday, teh fans interviewed were very down on the squad and KK. I wondered why I always saw NUFC fans being interviewed. I 've yet to see that for any other squad.