The Prophet

Would suggest booking 6pm-8pm if possible. Sunday 11th January 6pm Meet @ Coach Lane [pay Dr Venkman £5 as you pass through the gate onto the pitch] [warm up, team organising, waiting for late-comers, etc] 6.15pm KO First Half 7.00pm HT 7.05pm KO Second Half 7.50pm FT & Penalty Shoot-out 8pm + Head to Ship Inn/Benton Ale House (?) for post-match pints and banter [these are both next to Four Lane Ends metro & <10mins walk from Coach Lane Sports Facility] Have we managed to find a ref? More like arrive at five, blagging your way past Venkman. Wait for half an hour until everyone arrives. Kick off at six after everyone glams themselves up. Stop for an hour at half time and wait for the ambulance to cart cp40 off after his heart attack. Play a significantly extended second half after the ball is retreived after numerous skied penalties. Wait around for twenty minutes while Pilko and Stephen "find the soap". Go to the police station to give a witness statement after Nixon gets seven bells knocked out of him in the pub.

It just wouldn't be a transfer window without Diarra's annual move...

18th would be better like...

Aye, because what we need is an injury prone midget with an attiitude problem.

Head into the winter break second after a 1-1 draw with Schalke today.

Despite an emphatic 3-0 victory on the raod we fail to make it on to the "Last Word"...

Two small men can work, it depends on what system you play. No, we don't play an amazing system that perfectly suites both of them but they both have enough quality to score goals. As long as we continue to keep the ball on the deck they will cause teams problems.

More importantly what about the pre/post match piss up?

So, that is five good well earned points on the road now, three clean sheets and three decent performances. So why can't this form be repeated at home, is the pressure from the fans restricting the players? We have conceded three late goals this season against Man City, Wigan and Stoke, it's also worth noting we so very nearly fucked up against West Brom also at home. Imagine, your playing in the black and white five minutes into the second half of a game the team are leading 2-0. With the team talk ringing in their ears the opposition apply a bit of pressure, the home supposort begin to become a little restless. Five-ten minutes later the away side are still dominating, by now the fans are nearly silenced and all can be heard is the voice of the travelling supporters and the odd disgruntled home fan. Knowing they've silenced the home fans the opposition go on to score. All of a sudden the atmosphere changes, every mistake that is made is greeted with a negative reaction, all of a sudden you are aware that there are 52,000 eyes on you expecting you to make something happen, you don't want the ball so you drop back and hope you receive it as little as possible. Other players are beginning to do the same until the team are so deep they can barely get possession in the oppositions half. Eventually the defence cracks and the equaliser comes much to the dismay of you, your team and the home support. Now this is hypothetical but it is possible for this mentality to creep in whether it is unprofessional or not. So my question is, due to their expectations and reactions are the fans making the players feel pressurised and nervous and therefore contributing or even causing these late home reversals?

A couple more: Rants, opinions and the odd server error In love with a girl who wouldn't touch you with a barge pole? Talk to our experts Becuase our new board is shit too

A starter for ten: Would you employ a manager who had won four titles and and two manager of the year awards with two different clubs? Official Nile Ranger fan club

Lets play safe while were f***ing around with relegation ay. The last time I saw Lua Lua play was last season against Sunderland 2nd XI & he was f***ing s****, but then he was playing against players like Liam Miller & Ross Wallace players with nous who have played CL football not the cream of Oldham's youth team. The academy players who are in & around the first team Taylor, Edgar & Carroll are light years ahead Lua Lua although them chaps are not midfielders, which I think is part of the point Ron was making. Play safe? We have no fucker to play in the centre of the park. Colo can play there, CNZ can play there & so can Geremi, so there is 3 players. I'm not update on the injury front, how long is Guthrie out for? If he has a long lay off we're risking all three of our competent centre backs. Zoggy is wasted in the middle so your left with Butt and Geremi, is it too much to even stick the lad on the bench?

Lets play safe while were f***ing around with relegation ay. The last time I saw Lua Lua play was last season against Sunderland 2nd XI & he was f***ing s****, but then he was playing against players like Liam Miller & Ross Wallace players with nous who have played CL football not the cream of Oldham's youth team. The academy players who are in & around the first team Taylor, Edgar & Carroll are light years ahead Lua Lua although them chaps are not midfielders, which I think is part of the point Ron was making. Play safe? We have no fucker to play in the centre of the park. There's one thing this kid alone will bring to the team that the likes of Butt and Duff have forgotten all about and that is hunger. The lad is hungry for the game and hungry to prove he can play it. Now I'm not naive enough to think that this lad is just going to walk into the side and pull the strings for years to come. However, this game is leaning process. The only way you learn is by doing. If this lad is to stand a chance he needs some exposure to the first team, relegation fight or not. You can have all the hunger in the world but if you don't develop the talent you have then it becomes pointless. So give the lad a chance to shine, even if it's for a twenty minute period at the end of the odd game. It might be refreshing to have new blood in an ageing side which appears to have everything to lose.

Better get some games under my belt, been known for the odd mis-timed tackle when the rust creeps in...

The only way we'll ever know if he's going to be any good is by throwing him in at the deep end...

Everton can be horrendous to watch at times. I think I should like them because they have players I like (Arteta, Pienaar, Osman) and three Nigeria internationals (would have had another if not for work permit nonsense too), but your style of play is incredibly bad sometimes. It's because, like us, they have a collection of poor footballers in the centre of the park. They frequently start Arteta, who is probably still their best football player, out wide. They then play the likes of Osman and Fellani in the middle, the latter of which has potential but is still finding his feet in the league. You then have Cahill dropping back to support, effective in the box? Yes, influential elsewhere? No.

Xisco, older, fitter and with more experience, its common sense man Wullie. Xisco has had no chance what soever and if he's sold I lose all faith in the recruiting policies of this club. That's assuming the idiots who boo him and say he's s*** already haven't scared him off. Put him on the bench for the weekend in place of Carroll as Viduka and Carroll are way to similar. How is it common sense to have 3 strikers and no midfielders on the bench? Its the terms of Established first team players. Xisco is Kazenga isn't. Simple as that, he's coming off the back of an injury picking him and then playing him against a team that are as physical as Stoke would only have given more way to a potential injury. And as for Viduka Carrolll, glad I made you laugh Wullie. But please tell me the differences they offer? Both are "Big striker" Viduka has far more control and a better shooting and is a far superior player to Carroll, but in terms of what they offer, they aren't different. If you play Viduka and Martins you have plenty of options, Viduka Carroll you have very little. Answered your own question. Oh and in the right system Owen and Martins can work together, we just don't have the players for that system.

Impressive NE5, when did you take up fishing? Didn't Gretna collapse due to exceptional circumstances? Think the then owner is on his death bed or something along those lines. I think part of Hoffenheim's impressive success is how they're making themselves sustainable via their youth policy, Hopp really knows his onions.

Tip of the day: DON'T LISTEN TO LIEN Was going to lump on Shakhtar, pah last time I take notice of any of your gems of wisdom in the bookies...

Another masterful treble, when will I learn to stopping looking at value...

By the way, cracking thread Parky. It's nice to have a decent football debate for a change.

Liverpool Lisbon Inter 16/1 Burnley Forest QPR 13/1

The stats don't say anything because we're talking about a certain situation, one where we're desperately trying to hang onto a lead and the best way to do that is not allow the opposition backline to move up onto the halfway line. You're right in that of course it's not the only reason but it's a major factor. It's not simply a case of who scores at certain times and after coming on or whatever - in the last ten minutes when you desperately need a goal, there aren't many players I'd rather have than Michael Owen (see Wigan) but that is not the case here. Why is he leaving a specialist poacher on when he clearly has no interest in scoring another goal? Just looking at stats and goals doesn't tell you anything about how much fear Martins' presence alone puts into a defence (especially one like Stoke's - hardly blessed with pace) and stops them playing a high line, no matter how he's performing on the day. Kinnear shouldn't be trying to defend these leads at all but in taking Martins off, he's shooting himself in the foot because it makes it harder to defend such a lead. He'd gone off when Man City equalised btw. Aye, I know I was referring to the Wigan game. I largely agree with your post but I don't think the subbing of Martins in particular could be classed as shooting yourself in the foot. If you take Martins off and replace him with Viduka you’re causing the opposition a problem. They'll push up and his hold play will bring Owen into play. Now with Owen's pace and intelligent movement I still expect us to be a danger on the attack. Similarly had Kinnear brought on Martins for a defender and we had switched a 4-3-3, pushing N'Zogbia and Jonas up front with Owen we would have still caused problem because with the pace of three of them we would still provide an attacking threat up front. Now when you are causing yourself a problem is when you bring Martins off for a defender and you sit deep. If we're talking about the Stoke game, they get their success from pushing other sides back line further and further back until they're sitting on the keeper. And that's what we did, we plaid into their hands. So what am I trying to say? Well, making a negative substitution does not cause a later reversal as long as you compensate for it by keeping some form of attacking presence. Pace, skill and intelligence will always scare defenders, it doesn't particularly matter to me whether it's Martins, Owen, Jonas or N'Zogbia in the final third because they will all put fear into a back line, particularly those with little pace. What does cause a late reversal is a negative attitude and negative tactics. Getting rid of your attacking outlet all together to sit deep and defend in your own half in this league is suicide and we proved this by paying the ultimate price. For me if we had subbed Martins as we did and continued with a positive attitude we would have won that game. So again I reiterate, no, subbing Martins doesn't help but at the same time subbing him is not the cause of our problems. We have conceded late goals for a variety of reasons this season from lack of concentration to having to defend with 10 men against a quality attacking team, but on this occasion we lost those two because we played negatively, not because we substituted Martins.

What's your point? Didn’t particularly have one... Well if you haven't got a point make really long posts then none will notice. I'd say the point was people need to stop making mountains out of molehills when it comes to Martins being subbed. I beg your pardon? You heard me. Na, my post with the stats on pretty much confirms what I thought. The subbing of Martins isn't cuasing a late reversals but a general lack of pace, attacking threat and ruthlessness is. I think you can look at previous squads, hold your hands up and say the back line was piss poor. Yet you look at this one and the fact they can comfortably keep a clean sheet gives you a bit of hope yet like the defence of old they still ship late goals. Now I think unless you have a top four defence with your Ferdinands and Terrys, etc, sitting back and trying to defend any form of lead is a dangerous game, particularly with the nature of our league. So to answer your original post, no. There's no doubt that subbing Martins doesn't help in the slightest and sometimes contributes to the problem but it isn't the sole cause. The reason we squandered the lead against Stoke is because we insisted on trying to hold back and attempt to protect it. Even if we had Owen and Viduka up front and we continued to push forward I feel we would of comfortably beaten them. Also, if you also take note of some of the other results: Martins was on the field against Wigan, while we were down to ten men against City, circumstance hasn't always helped this season but as I say neither have our tactics.

What's your point? Didn’t particularly have one... Well if you haven't got a point make really long posts then none will notice. It was hardly a really long post Erm... Minds gone dead, you can have a point later...