Pilko

Excellent performance - a better side might have punished our slightly slack defending at times, but who gives a fuck? It's Boro and they're shite. Going a goal down in unlucky circumstances was what won us the game imo. It gave the crowd added impetus, it meant we'd be attacking for the whole game instead of only applying proper pressure in the second half. It also gives the players the belief that they CAN come from a goal down and win a game - the first time in 14 months we've done so (NUFC 2-1 Birmingham I do believe). Harper 6.5 - the two shots that went straight at him he managed to palm away instead of keeping hold, the shot from O'Neil hit Tuncay and on another day could have went in. Was good on crosses and commanded his area at times Beye 6.5 - Very unlucky for the o.g, got forward very well in the second half and supported the attacks. Had a steady game and a few class block tackles got the crowd on side S.Taylor 7.5 - Dominant in the air, calm on the deck and scored the all important equaliser. A threat during set pieces, and hardly gave Alves (and subsequently King) a kick all game Bassong 7 - Emnes got goalside a couple of times and a better striker may have punished him, but Seb was class in the air and did the simple things well, booted it clear when necessary and stood up well Duff 7.5 - Had a cracking game considering he wasn't playing in his natural position. Can only remember him wasting one pass (late on) all game and defended excellently. Seems to have a good understanding with Bassong on the left side of the defence. Didn't perform miracles attacking but he kept possesion well and kept things ticking over Guthrie 7 - Fucking excellent corners (i.e. hit over the first man) one of which was scored from, had a great game and never stopped running, was a great engine and made one tackle in particular that was world class Butt 6.5 - The usual mixed bag of class tackles and dodgy passes. His long balls to the flanks were good today but some of his crosses and balls over the top were shit as usual. Didn't cost us anything though (for once!) so escapes my criticism Nolan 8 - Immense performance, still a very sluggish player but got two assists today. He provided superb support for the forwards and also shored up the left and right channels when required. Massive improvement from Spurs away Jonas 6.5 - Good with the ball at his feet and held it up well, won plenty of freekicks but again, very little tangible end product. Correctly removed by Shearer, whether tactical or to save him for next weekend I'm unsure of Owen 6 - The usual decent touches, movement today was very good and made the correct runs into the channels. However barring one flicked header provided fuck all goal threat and was brought off at the right time Viduka 8.5 - Hold up play is excellent, for an alleged 'fat' lazy player he never stopped running, gave everything for 85 minutes and provided some class link-ups. Is clearly playing for a new deal, man of the match today and rightly so SUBS Lovenkrands 7 - Didn't do much apart from knock the ball into the back of the net, so fair play to the lad. Looked delighted when he scored and was definetley worth it on a free transfer Martins 7 - Scored a beauty of a slicer (who gives a fuck though?) and won key headers at the end of the game to keep the ball in the Boro third. Pace caused the game to become stretched and he worried Boro's patched up backline Carroll 6.5 - Won a few headers and had two sights of goal, one he might have scored from (although Oba delayed the pass a bit long for me). Did nowt wrong, far cry from his similar length cameo against Man City at home SHEARER 8.5 - Started the game with the best possible team and made the subs at the right time. Can't ask for anything more and he (and Dowie) deserve the win as much as anyone.

I don't feel that sick, or nervous tbh. I was more nervous before Sunderland (h) and Spurs (a) than I am now. No doubt it'll kick in as soon as we kick off.

You seem fairly calm.

He is on the bench. And to be fair to Shearer, he gave Shola one start, realised he was shite and then he hasn't been on the pitch since.

LuaLua makes the bench, Guthrie apparently starting wide right. Hopefully Butt or Nolan will depart before the hour, get Guthrie in the centre and LuaLua wide right for half an hour.

That's pushing it a bit like.

you can so tell when he's had a spliff and the walls are dripping, he puts two at the back in some FMtastic formation

I hope thats a midfield three of Guthrie Nolan and Butt with Jonas floating in front of the strikers. That just won't work as a 442.

Most likely we'll see it at Fulham.

I was in the Riverside Stand opposite, block Z right next to the Villa lot. None of the fans were doing any singing at all.

Nolan 0 Butt 0 Guthrie 2 (1pen) Barton 1 (1pen) Duff 2 Jonas 0 Smith 0 Geremi 0 Pretty sure Duff has 3. He might well have, I just did it off the top of my head. Ones I remember are Spurs (h) and Everton (a). Oh right. He got one away against WBA too. So he did, original post edited.

Nolan 0 Butt 0 Guthrie 2 (1pen) Barton 1 (1pen) Duff 2 Jonas 0 Smith 0 Geremi 0 Pretty sure Duff has 3. He might well have, I just did it off the top of my head. Ones I remember are Spurs (h) and Everton (a).

Nolan 0 Butt 0 Guthrie 2 (1pen) Barton 1 (1pen) Duff 3 Jonas 0 Smith 0 Geremi 0

I wish I could channel your optimism. Positive orgones.

I wish I could channel your optimism.

Yeah. I was more talking about how well their team is doing and none of them seem to give a fuck.

After going to Craven Cottage this weekend to see their game against Villa, there are some things worth sharing with you all. The stadium itself is in the middle of almost like a "suburb" type part of London, built on the back of normal houses, in a leafy street. The sun was shining and fans were wandering around the street. Everything looked really good. We went in (near the away end, not in the neutrals like I thought but in the home end) and the whole place was dead clean, away and home fans were mingling by the side of the river and the beer was flowing. Before the game, at about 2.50pm, they played this stupid song, which went along the lines of THEY ARE REAL MADRID, THEY ARE BARCE-LONA, WE ARE FULHAM EFFERRSEE AND WE ARE GONNA OWN YA! THEY'VE GOT NO POINTS, WE'VE GOT THREE, HOO HOO HAA HAA HEE HEE.! As this song was played, the stadium announcer exclaimed "and welcoming onto the pitch, your chairman, Mohammed Al Fayed!" and out he came, twirling a Fulham scarf round his head and doing a lap of the pitch as this ridiculously cringeworthy song was played. None of the Fulham fans seemed arsed about any of this, a minority clapped, they sat their stony faced whilst my lot had a right laugh at the song. The Villa fans (who were a total credit to themselves all afternoon, sang their hearts out even when 3-1 down) gave these events a WHAT THE FUCKING HELL WAS THAT!?! and rightly so. "Imagine if Ashley done that," said one of my mates. "They'd be chucking pies at him" Anyway, the game kicked off, Fulham went 1-0 up after about 12 minutes and the fans cheered when Murphy netted the pen. Then, after this, stark silence. No applause, no chants, no GOOOAARRRN!!! every time the home side picked up the ball, no nowt. For a team who are sitting 7th in the table and pushing for a Europa League spot, the fans were a fucking joke. Two teams were playing out a decent game of football (particularly the home side) and these snobs sat and snoozed in the sunshine. The Villa fans were all we could hear, chanting away, both for their team and criticising the Fulham support all game long, fantastic. All of the Fulham players had good games, apart from Zamora who got 10 minutes and missed a good chance. Aaron Hughes, solid as a rock at centre half - surplus to requirements at NUFC. Pantsil and Koncheksy were brilliant all game long at fullback, and at the end, Pantsil did a lap of the pitch, clapping all the fans, cheering, jumping in the air and making clenched fist gestures. I cannot imagine any of our players doing that at the moment. It took 38 minutes for the first home chant. And even that was a Fulham! clap clap clap Fulham! clap clap clap by one side of the ground. I was sat there thinking "imagine the noise at SJP if we were playing good football and pushing for a European spot" - it would have been an electric atmosphere. The home fans were shit considering where their club was about 10 years ago. To summarise: Fulham - nice little ground, lovely weather, good football team, good manager - shocking fans.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/thatmitchellandwebbsite/images/396/digbyandginger.jpg

So PM, Sned etc, how did you find it? And where were you sitting?

Zero? Zero is a percent...!

Dunno if you can play for us then minimum height is 6ft. I'm fine putting six past you while wearing a blue t-shirt tbh. No you are not. We'll play like a Redknapp team - nine massive guys with 2 little flair players.

Yeah, the blue team will be a bit lacking in the height department. From memory, I think that Menonema, Dave, Wullie and Greg were all less than 6 foot.

Paul Chow wants to be in there.

I don't think so. He's always had injury problems. For me, of the two mentioned, Ledley would be a far better bet.