Stottie

Looks like he has personality problems, but he was signed by Spuds when they were doing the DOF thing so potentially their manager hasn't particularly wanted or rated him from day one. Darren Bent also had personality problems, couldn't fit into the team etc. etc. according to the genius of Arry. Like Bent, Bentley was also saddled with a big price tag to justify. I think it was Bent's biggest problem. He looked very good in an average team at Blackburn, and an average team is what we are at the moment. He can cross, has a bit of a shot on him, and I guess could take set pieces when Joey is out or struggling as in the past few games. I know Chelsea do it with Drogba, but its a waste to have Carroll taking them or lining up as the decoy.

Good result for us and good to see WBA conceding so easily. But fkn hell, ManUre have some luck. Can't we have some?

Biased twat

Not so long since we were beating this c**ts regularly, so a hard one to take. With our starting eleven, keeping to 2-0 wasn't too bad, but they weren't on form and a point was there for the taking after the red mist descended. Assuming we could have created more than the square root of ferk all. First was a bit unlucky on Perch but the second was typical Taylor doing an impression of someone trying to defend valiantly while opening the door. More worrying though was the lack of ideas and terrible execution going forward. Ultimately the kind of game and performance that will make Carroll want away. I just hope its not to fecking Spurs.

Looked like it was us with ten men. Lennon will score one like that all season, so I thought it was a bit unlucky that we went behind, but we've been useless and created nothing.

That lineup has me at the least optimistic I've been in a long time. Smith and Perch ffs.

A guess, but 30 million less a million or two for possible personality problems should be the going rate. He's scored against Arsenal, Chelsea, Citeh, Liverpool (well), and was in position to miss a sitter against ManUre.

Lescott playing for them. Makes me hopeful.

Teams on tight budgets usually don't get better later in the season, so this won't help Blackpool. Could be a spanner in the works, though I hope others fail before them. Aye, I had to look our Fulham result up and then remembered that I had watched the whole game. It was that memorable.

And then Adidas will change the ball!

Us to bench to midtable in a lower league, beautiful!

Benny has a better record in the CL than Ferguson and great record against top Prem teams. He just couldn't do it consistently against the weaker Prem teams who ManYoo always defeat, if not completely maul. Torres scoring two against Chelsea is ultimately worth less than Rooney scoring two winners against Stoke and Blackburn.

So long as the gameplan is to stop the opposition playing, the worst team in Premiership history included.

Keeper has to be Kirkland or someone from Arsenal. In defence, Perch, Chimbonda (see the 7-1), Richard Dunne and the bloke from Wolves who's gone home. Warnock's legs have visibly gone too. In midfield, Smith, Stephen Ireland, and maybe Joe Cole given he's on 90k. Bebe's crossing in that one game was comedy gold, but I'm sure there are worse than him. Cattermole looks like a total liability, but he just about keeps getting away with it. Up front Boselli and ferk it, Beckford for all the ones he's missed. My impression from MOTD is that that Fletcher bloke at Wolves also misses lots of sitters.

Well said that man! I can't see him as a classy act. His teams are always surrounding the officials and its not called Fergie Time for nothing. He may have said the right things about SBR, but for us, "love it, just love it" came first.

He's a great, but I don't think the best ever as I'd rate Clough/Taylor and the Liverpool boot room above him. With the support at ManUre and the Prem era starting, it was much easier for him to keep the club at the top than it was for the others. The club's stature and financial power makes it much easier to sign players as he has done increasingly over the years. They don't bring many youth players through any more. It's unthinkable that a major club would give a manager as long as Fergie got to win the first one. 11th, 2nd, 11th, 13th is how he started.

It was a big relief when they took Nasri off against us. Made no sense to me with Fabregas struggling. Tiote's maybe not quite there, but there are some overly attacking midfields in this thread that are crying out for a ball winner.

Thanks for posting it because if Wigan lose him and go back to Kirkland, I reckon they are down. With the Spammers and Wolves also looking dodgy, this season might be easier than I imagined.

Great article. We all know Ashley's footballing failings, so they don't need to be gone over again. Yet more evidence that FFS was a disaster and should not be welcomed back in any shape or form in place of the FCB. Bit of a shocker that it was Ashley that had to pay off Souness. The article says that our wage bill is still too high, which may or may not lend credence to any battlelines with Hughton regarding player departures. If our wage bill is still too high, who's got to go? Ideally it would be Smith but no-one will take him without us paying off a good part of the contract, so who gives us least value for money? Jonas? Colo? Nolan and Barton will be on good wedge but they're producing for the team. I think English football has basically gone through a bubble where all clubs have been living on the never never. This has been to the disadvantage of the well-supported teams, because the Portsmouths etc. have been able to offer wages that were completely unsustainable for them and everyone else. Now the debt is draining out of football, clubs with large fanbases and good matchday attendances should become relatively stronger again.

ManUre fans seem totally obsessed about him, so I hope he stays at Citeh.

Aye 10 in the league with no pens before Christmas. Well played son! Gan and get yersel a new Eminem CD or shag some slapper!

Basically they couldn't deal with Carroll (who can?) Absolutely blatant penalty level of holding of Carroll from that corner first half which could have made it 2-0 and given us something to praise Shola for. Liverpool are also lumbering at the back, but it took young Nile to expose it. In midfield, they can knock it about when unpressured, but need Johnson to come forward to get any kind of drive or penetration. I thought Torres was simply isolated earlier in the season and he did great when he got support against Chelsea, but now he looks genuinely off the pace. He missed a chance he would normally score in his sleep. Ngog was also anonymous. More than anything, I think this game and this season in general show we are reasonably good when close to full strength (even without HBA) but are very dependent at certain areas of the pitch where Smith, Perch, Guthrie etc. provide very poor backup.

Would be absolute madness to sell him. Our backups are useless and Liverpool themselves are proof that it is easy to bring in midfielders who contribute very little. We're having a roller coaster season, but how many of the poor results have been with midfielders missing? He's right to make them, but I fear his comments, and Nolan's, may mean that they're more likely to be on their way sooner than later.

I'm with Hindu, Pardew is complicit in the sacking of Hughton. Had he been a football person first, he would have told Ashley that Hughton was doing as well as could be expected without him putting more money in. So he starts on minus points, not a clean slate.

I'm seething about what has happened but its come as slightly less of a shock because of the warning. I also didn't waste any energy hoping for this to be a chance to get an improvement over Hughton in. Much appreciated Golfmag. What a mess. The self destruct button again.