The Prophet

How old are you? If you don't like the topic don't fucking read it.

I missed that meeting. Link. It might just of been speculation but I can't be arsed to trawl the internet trying to confirm it. It's a thread based on specultion anyway. Ashley putting the club up for sale in the summer is a possability, which is essentially what the thread is about.

Thanks for your fantastic contributions to the thread. I apologies for trying to generate some discussion on a forum, I'm disgusted with myself. Edit: Not Dave.

Reading and listening to football opinions one of the most over used phrases is "big club". But what is a big club? What properties give it such a status?

Sitting top of the Championship is currently the only glimmer of light in a particularly cloudy sky. Sitting bored silly it's interesting to wonder what comes next for the club. Given the points return from the beginning of the season promotion is a real possibility but as much as we want to be back in the top flight will it hold any benefit for the long term future of the club? Ashley has already made it clear he'll make an attempt to sell should we earn promotion, a notion that doesn't bold well for our prospects. Come the New Year Hughton can expect a shoe-string budget while any attempt to sell up in the summer will see the squad neglected. Going into the Premiership with little change to the current crop is the stuff of nightmares, having togetherness and team spirit is one thing but it takes more than that to prevent a good hiding from the quality in the top flight. Even those able to charm the birds from the trees would struggle to shift a club saddled with a sizeable overdraft and a squad destined to be mired in a relegation scrap, let alone Ashley. Most self respecting business men will baulk at an inflated price, the only possibility another idiot with more money than sense. What if the masterful appointment of Hughton fails and we remain in the second tier? Will the club go up for sale or can we expect further asset stripping and minimal investment? It's difficult to speculate with such an unpredictable regime in charge but it's tough not to wonder what the future holds. Our best bet of removing Ashley could mean a humiliating relegation from the Premier League but many would argue it is a price worth paying. However given the squad depth and the man in charge of organising them we might not even get that far. It's just so difficult to be positive when all the answers are either shrouded in negativity or simply leave us posed with another question.

Although he isn't playing well it there may be more to it than meets the eye as it is obvious his style is lost in this division and in this team. You watch him at times and you sit and wonder how on earth he is in the Argentina squad, then when you look at his technique it makes sense. For Argentina he has Messi, Milito, Tevez, even bloody Palermo playing in front of him. None of these players are massive and all like the ball into feet. Last season there occassion where you saw Jonas sliding an intelligant through ball to Owen or Martins and for Argentina he can do this because of the movement and footballing ability of the players in front of him. Then you look at our forward line. Big strong forwards who can cause problems from a quality flighted delivery into the box. None of them have particualrly intelligant movement. They don't need someone who is going to slide balls through to them they need someone who is going to consitantly bang in quality deliveries from the flanks. His other asset, his dribbling is lost in the league. A lot of the time you do not get the time to run at people without a hefty challange coming in. Born in Argentina and playing his trade in Spain it's probably a new world to him, different to even the Premier League.

It's tough because if you asked people before the season began if they would take 30 points from 15 games most would of took your hand off, myself included. Yet like most I'm still not completely happy with the way things are going. I think the big one is the recent run we've been on. We missed an opportunity to put daylight between ourselves and the chasing pack with a run of four games without a win, I think in particular the two draws grated on people a bit. If you consider QPR are one of the better sides in this division and against Bristol we were a bit unlucky it really wasn't that massive. People should maybe look at it a different way in that we were lucky West Brom hit a poor patch when we did because they could of also pulled clear, it's six and two threes really. Its human nature to look at what could of been I suppose. The unnconvincing performances of the side at times has also contributed. I don't think it's arrogant in saying, on paper at least, we have one of the better squads in this division. We could be and should be having days where we rip sides apart. Off the top of my head West Brom, Reading, Palace and Ipswich are the only games we've looked like a side capable of competing at the top of the division. The annoying thing it's not because we don't have the ability it's the tactics that are the problem. In the recent games in particular we've been playing the long ball game. Not only is it absolutely shocking to watch but most of the time it's ineffective, particularly with one up front. Whenever we try and play a bit we've looked good, but instead we just belt it up field and most of the time it comes straight back at us and we've been thoroughly outplayed in games with this being one of the main contributing factors and it could so easily be avoided. Then you add Ashley's shadow looming over the club, the appointment of Hughton and the depth of the squad. The wheels feel like they could come off at any time, especially with the horror show that was last season still fresh in the memory. Yet with all this in mind it is easy to forget we're at the top of the division with a healthy 30 points in the bag. Given how negative things were at the beginning of the season I think even the most hardcore pessimists would fail to smile at that. The truth is this season was never going to be pretty and I'd take our unconvincing performances every day of the week if it meant promotion. For me the unease is born from just how easily things could unravel, especially with Ashley and Hughton at the helm.

Not the greatest player in the world but can't fault the lad's effort at the minute, keep it up.

Mixed feelings about the game. At the begining of the season I personally felt Bramall lane would be one of the toughest grounds to go to so to get three points is a good feeling. Apart from that there aren't a huge amount of positives to take out the game. I didn't understand the starting line up. Your playing a team who've lost three on the trott, go and put some pressure on them. By playing 4-5-1 or 4-1-1 or whatever the hell it was your just inviting the home side to take the initiative, don't give them that chance. Ranger took a while to win me over but giving the rest of the options he should of been up top with Carroll. Oh and Guthrie out for Butt what was that all about? So you pack the midfield and then employ a tactic of smashing it aimlessly over their heads for the entire first half. The majority of the half was either Harper or Coloccini punting it straight back to the Sheffield defence. Carroll worked his socks off but certainly had his work cut out. At half time I think the penny dropped because although we weren't great second half we actually kept it on the deck in patches and looked a hell of a lot better for it. Another mystery was the substitutes. While I could understand Simpson, master of the needless foul, off for Ranger but Harewood off for Jonas went straigh over my head. Jonas was awful but surely he could of provided cover for the full back. Probably to prepear us for the genius of sitting in our own eighteen yard area for the last ten minutes. Which brings me to the positives. The defence were good. Simpson was careless at times but Sheffield put some excellent deliveries into the box which we delt with, not always convincingly, but we got there in the end. Coloccini looks like he's regained his confidence minus the sillyness. Kadar also grew with confidence as the game went on, his distribution in particular improved throughout the game.

Clearly not the finished article but the potential is there to be a half decent player.

Harper 8 - Some great saves which kept us in the game but he needs to learn he doesn't have to smash it up field every single time. Simpson 5 - Did ok, couple of needless fouls. Colo 8 - A player that's clearly regained his confidence. Kadar 7 - Clearly not the finished article but did well. His distribution went from the shocking to the great. Enrique 8 - Once again confirms he's far too good for this league. Jonas 4 - Absolute shite, pass it for fucks sake. Butt 5 - Didn't do a lot wrong, probably out with neck strain from the ball being smashed over his head all game. Smith 5 - See Butt. Taylor 6 - Inconsistant delivery but not too bad overall. Nolan 6 - Worked hard, was fed on scraps for the most part. Carroll 7 - Did well up top on his own, his battle with Morgan was good to watch. Ranger 6 - Neat and tidy when he came on. Harewood 4 - Gave the ball away with his only touch of the game. Hughton 4 - Shit line up, shit game plan, shit substitutions, sort it out.

What kind of fucking plank leaves Guthrie and Ranger on the bench? Do we really have to put up with this for an entire season?

It's quite big change as it would influence the entire formation.

Does the man have no fucking backbone? They're in poor form, start two up top and put them under pressure, if we dominate early on their heads should go down and the crowd will get on their backs.

Given Sheffield's form we should win this one but I'm not convinced: 1-1

Was it last season they played Man United in the Champions League? For me over the two legs Inter were the better team they just lacked the cutting edge to break down what was at the time the best defence in Europe. In the first leg Ibrahimovic went missing and when he did come good in the second leg the midfield support was too slow in backing him up.

Aye it was me who picked Young. He was the first right winger off the top of my head and I mainly picked him on reputation, I admittedly haven't watched as much Premier League football this season. Same as Bilyaletdinov. Off the top of my head I'm not sure he's the best left winger in the league but having watched him a couple of times this season he certatainly look like he's recaputuring his international form and is up there amoungst the front runners. I thought the aim was to pick a premier league team that would gel together, if I was picking the best players my side would have been slightly different.

God awful weekend for refs. Goals ruled out for next to nothing, cheap penalty decisions and rather quick to flash the red card.

No one else would have Evra in ahead of Cole?

Zidane's headbutt in the world cup final.

Seems a strange one.

When all the bigger, better football playing nations qualify for the world cup.