The Prophet

The lad's a headless chicken, you can't criticise his work rate but I'm yet to see an ounce of footballing ability from him.

Got to go 4-4-1-1 for me, it's not great but our lack of a decent forward makes it the most preferable option.

I'm yet to see any of this.

Cannot remember a productive ball from them tbh into the danger zone and gutierrez made one good ball and f*** all else apart from his headless chicken routine . I dunno man. I can't help but appreciate Jonas's efforts tonight. Was very positive compared to the rest of the dross. But yes, Guthrie and Nolan, probably the worst CM pair performance I've seen. I've always hated Guthrie and he seen quite a bit of the ball at the start but after that it was embarrassing.

For the record do people realise Carroll was missing today regardless?

3 of the players you have mentioned haven't been present for the majority of the season. Today was a disgrace of a performance against a horrendous team, certainly doesn't bode well for the future. You're dramatising it a bit in fairness.

To summarise: We were alright first half, we were shite second. Jonas was wank. Ranger was clueless. We missed Tiote. Once again we looked out of our depth when a side defends in numbers.

Poor Hayley.

easy, turn him down when he asks for the wage he's worth I don't think it would have taken anywhere near that. It's Beardsley all over again. Meanwhile Blackpool manage to hold onto their star player, despite him wanting to go and clubs falling over themselves to get him. But they are such a big club compared to us... s**** example, they were saved by the deadline. ... by a couple of directors not signing the forms properly. Accidentally? We have to call this now, not with hindsight but I reckon their chances of staying up this year are better with him, and our chances are worse than they were with Carroll - no hindsight necessary. It might not work out like that, but if we do go down can anyone really say that they were sure we'd be fine? By all accounts Blackpool had all but let him go, it was Spurs who couldn't tie things up in time. Of course our chances have taken a blow that was the risk of selling him so late in the day. We need to soldier on until the summer and hope our average pack of strikers currently at the club continue to muster enough goals between to see us through.

easy, turn him down when he asks for the wage he's worth I don't think it would have taken anywhere near that. It's Beardsley all over again. Meanwhile Blackpool manage to hold onto their star player, despite him wanting to go and clubs falling over themselves to get him. But they are such a big club compared to us... Shite example, they were saved by the deadline.

Here we go again...

Now the dust has settled I’ll give my two pennies worth: I’ve made no secret of the fact I’m not particularly happy with Carroll. After all the sound bites pledging his future and his loyalty he’s turned round and shafted the club. No matter what your thoughts are on role of the hierarchy in it was Carroll who demanded the new contract, it was Carroll who made the transfer request and ultimately it was Carroll who signed for Liverpool, it was his choice. After all has been said and done he’s shown he’s nothing more than your garden variety footballer, always looking for the bigger pay cheque. Having said that it doesn’t mean Mike and Derek have covered themselves in glory either. Whether they were looking to cash in or not the fact remains they’ve sold one of our key players with next to no time to find a replacement. Their hands may have been tied to an extent but ultimately they’ve taken a gamble on a distinctly average strike force to see us through the rest of the season. Looking it from on objective point of view we’ve simply been a victim of the game. A newly promoted club looking to establish itself in the Premier League is always going to struggle to hold on to its key players when the bigger clubs start throwing the cash about, just look at Adam and Blackpool who were saved by the deadline. I know we like to think we’re a new club who should be more ambitious but ultimately we’re not one of the big boys, depressingly it’s going to be ‘name your price’ for the near future. Taking another example look at Everton who’ve been in and around the European spots for a while. An established name in the Premier League but when the sides come in with silly money for key players such as Lescott or Rooney, or a player simply wants a move to a club who will pay better wages or participates in Europe ala Pinaar they cash in. However the worry is whereas Everton will reinvest the money in the playing side we won’t. For me, in our current situation, that’s the real test of our ambition. If we spend and spend well in the summer it’ll go a long way to cushion the loss of Carroll, however if we resort to begging, stealing and borrow again it will not only raise an eye brow amongst fans such as ourselves, our very own players are going to start questioning the direction of the club as well. However for the time being we need to regroup and stick our primary task of staying in the Premier League, even if it has been that much harder.

Ashley has put us through so much shite since the Keegan tribunal: Relegation, the re-branding of the stadium, sacking Hughton, and so on. Why would he suddenly start caring what the fans think of him? He's just about universally hated. Keeping that in mind why would be hatch some elaborate plot to cover his arse when Carroll inevitably left? I'm not doubting Ashley wanted to sell at some point, but at the same time I don't buy into the conspiracy theories.

It fits far too well with Ashley's earlier behaviour to not blame him. He always sells the best players towards the end of the transfer window, failing to replace them. Apart from Milner I'm struggling. Even then he probably wasn't one of our better players.

Is Mike a buffoon or an evil genius? Its just so hard to tell these days...

Pardew may be telling the truth, fits in with Carroll's statement as well. Too many people looking for a reason to blame Ashley.

Even the thread title annoys me, fucking hell.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01361/leon-best_1361759c.jpg http://knowyourmeme.com/system/icons/4364/original/bapple.jpg?1288997274

What a load of shite.

My personal view is Carroll wanted to go, simple as. I though I'd be more hurt than I am, but it was inevitable at some stage to be honest. Carroll will come out with some tosh about being forced into it to save face. He/his advisors know Ashley is hated so the fan are likely to buy into any suggests he was forced. I know people like to think 'dark forces' are at work and the those who don't buy into them are naive but I think his head was turned by Liverpool, simple as that. What we need to do now is solidier on until the summer because no matter what you say about the circumstances surrounding the transfer it was awful timing on our part. The issue if we achieve that objective will we reinvest the money? That will show us how ambitious Ashley is, unfortuately I trust him as far as I could throw him.

ahyes, the "rooney" tactic resurfaces. rubbish then aswell