Darth Crooks

That unit was largely due to having the best footballing centre back in the league as captain alongside a good young English defender at top form. Not to mention one of the most mobile and industrious left wingers and powehouses like tiote in midfield. The likes of Ryan Taylor have certainly been made to look at lot better than they are because of it. It must have been the intention to blood Santon in as a replacement? Besides Ryan Taylor is a solid professional, an admirable quality of his, so he'd be able to handle moving aside. Seems wasteful given the expense of the signing.

The fact that he looks like Murray Hewitt negates the voice he does anyway.

They tried to get the ball past Zurab but he said.....'aye go on then...'

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/3064/obertanv.png

Christmas Tree? Santa's sack more like.

Thought the thread title meant we'd signed a new player. Bugger.

Whats up with Fergie?

At lest we've got points in the bag to keep us comfortable and safe in the league for now. Nooone expected this streak but you be daft not to expect these sorts of injuries. We've done well to get this far without something severe happening. It'll be reet.

Reckon he'll try to sign some of the young Villa lads. He favoured them while he was there and they seem to be on the periphery under McCleish

Aussiemag knows what's up

True but the description of him recently as a 'key player' from some here shows some staunch defense of him as a player. Don't think either have been brilliant but they've done well given the situation. Think Jimbo deserves some respite. fwiw Santon needs to come in sooner rather than later.

Was in acres unmarked at one point at the start of the first half but I think it was Ba it made the wrong decision to go solo. would have stuck that chance away I reckon.

A Jonas pissed off with himself to come back like a man possessed and score a wondergoal.

Embarrassing. He did well enough yesterday. Let's cut him some slack. Has been doing no worse than the likes of Raylor when called upon so far.

What's this guys malfunction? completely clueless yesterday.

He's usually alright tbf but he was descrbing one way traffic whch was baffling.

I put up and then burned my christmas tree yesterday in disgust of this clueless WUM gonk.

Anyone else get pissed off at how horrendously biased Alan Smith was on Sky? Despite us hitting the ba/post nueous times, we never looked like scoring apparently...penis

Pards can sort out anything. Sort it out meme buffs.

top bloke and capable cover. Good tidings you bring.

At least the poo would have a chance of staying in a cup

Just goes to show. You can have such an affinity with players at the club that you can judge their feelings, motivations and character; yet still know nothing about their true personalities. I've no doubt Gary was a top bloke but it shows how these people and those of similar ilk in the public eye have to put on a front of contentment and togetherness. Great player who was clearly deeply troubled despite his evergreen demeanor. Very sorry to hear about this indeed.

"Hold a team back" yes like he's 'holding' us back with our 8 wins and 1 draw out of nine games since he signed and 'holding' England back with his motm performances. He wasn't good for you guys i get it but he's probably the most in form England player there is currently. Well, I said 'at a certain point'. The point I was thinking of is the one where England teams often seem to get found out - knock-out stages of a tournament, up against a team which is of equal or slightly superior ability, perhaps in a spot of trouble. In that situation, a midfield player running around, exchanging 10 yard passes with his team mates 40 yards from goal is of no use. In fact, it becomes part of the problem. If we have ambitions to win a tournament - which should be our aim, with a country of our size - we have to pick players who will offer us something more when we're in that position. Even the strongest teams have to pass that kind of test at some stage. Couldn't be more wrong tbh. it's precisely that bit in bold that becomes crucially important when you face the better teams, as it's a much needed outlet for ball retention. England, more than just about any nation, struggle to hold on to the ball against the better sides, so having someone like Parker (or a better equivalent hopefully) being able to do the simple, quotidian tasks of midfield would help somewhat. Having that sort of player, conversely, is of LESS use against weaker sides, as we're more likely to have the ball, need to focus less on intercepting their possession, and require more creativity to break them down. The argument that having someone who can track runners, show as an option, and play concise one-touch passing "40 yards from goal" is useless is an opinion from the stone age of English football. Have to agree to differ on that. The idea that you need more creativity to break down a weaker side doesn't seem logical. Huh? Are you winding me up? at least spend 10 seconds thinking about something before hitting the post button. A weaker team comes and parks the bus and is well drilled defensively. In that case there's less need for a defensive midfielder to break down opposition attacks and help maintain ball retention, because this side are not going to dominate possession or attack that much. On the other hand because they will commit themselves less you won't have the same attacking space to exploit, and with two banks of four defenders sitting solid in front of the keeper, you need that extra bit of vision to break them down and create openings. We've had plenty of homes games like this in the past, nil nil against fulham and what not. this is basic, very basic, football common sense. Surely that's a strong defensive side then a 'weaker' one though? It's a bit of a battle of semantics.

More class? More class A more like