roonst83

About **** Time. This has been way too long in the making. After havign to watch us crumble to United before, not turn up, run scared, lose bottle, see their fans run onto our pitch after coming from 2 goals down in the FA Cup - this makes up for all the heart-ache of losing to Man Utd - and to do it on their own patch makes it so much better! UTV!

"Thats the way the world goes round" - John Prine.

Oi! That was the famous 5-0. One of the best away games I've ever been to and a Leicester fan tried to attack Ian Walker during the match. Was there too - it was 0-0 at HT! Villa boys went mental all second half!! Super crouchy bagged a brace! Great days!

When has playing Man Utd away ever been easy?

One word - Rooney. This guy will give our defenders a very difficult task - the man is world class and his movement, touch and overall abity will mean our defence will have to be at their best - he can create something out of nothing. We need to believe that we can win here. Id perhaps start with 4-5-1 with NRC in for Heskey then maybe switch to our 4-4-2 as the game goes on. Despite Man utd's injuries they are still wiping the floor with teams and are always extremely tough to play against - this, plus our awful record at OT will mean we'll be up against it. We shouldve won up there last year - hope we manage to make ammends.

Need to win this one - to keep us up in the top 5! Hull will more than likely stick men behind the ball and make it difficult - but they do have talent through Bullard and will be boyant from their draw against Man City last week so it wont be easy. Hopefully our crowd will get behind the boys in light of our semi final. COME ON THE BOYS!!

I think its after the Citeh vs Arse game - live on sky? If so depends what time that game finishes (i.e possible extratime / pens)

Those dates are both Monday nights?? :?: . w/c as in week commencing, so it'll be either tuesday 5th or wed 6th Phew! There's still a chance can make it. I didnt see w/c - I got all disconbolbulated in the haste!

Great result tonight - was particuarly pleasing to see Heskey's wll taken goal - came at a great time and didnt let Pompey settle after they took the lead. Heskey looked very sharp for his goal and it was a great finish. Milner's goal was excellent. I wonder if Milner being in the centre will allow him more chance to score - as good as he is out wide - he has scored plenty of goals in his career - some absolute crackers for Newcastle in the past - in fact his first ever goal for us was a strike against Spurs from outside the box after cutting into the centre of the park. The midfield seemed to work tonight - id be tempted to keep it this way against Hull - although imnot sure if Downing is 100 fit for a start. Was great to see Downing score today...and just great to have him back playing. Hopefully he'll be an excellent player for us. Its great to reach a semi final for the first time in what seems like ages. Wembley is in sight - and that alone is worth feeling good about. Lets hope this win tonight kicks off a good run for us going into Christmas. We should take confidence from scoring 4 away from home.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUCCKK!!

Those dates are both Monday nights?? :?: Im hoping this isnt right as ill be in NYC 14th-19th Jan.

Wont be easy as we havnt played well in this competition for years!! We played appalling at Sunderland, save for a a greta display from Guzan. Its about time we started dominating teams in these games. Pompey will be up for it, we need to be first to the ball and close them down quckly. I imagine Heskey will start so hope he plays with the determination he showed against Spurs on the weekend.

A win down there could potentially set us off on a good run as it could give us the confidence we seem to be lacking. Will be very tough - watching Pompey against manure the other day they seemed half-decent and not as bad as people may think. Also its Avram Grants first game in charge so this usually means new manager = win. Hope we prove that theory wrong. We've sold out our away allocation which on a tuesday ngith in Portsmouth is excellent. Hope the fans do us proud with plety of singing to get behind the boys!! That would help spur the team on to victory hopefully!!

Don't suppose we could sign Paul Merson could we? He's the sort of player that we need pulling the strings from midfield to attack and unlocking defences. We really lack some creativity going forwards.

I'd be suprised if Downing starts (although I wouldnt be dissappointed) - however I suspect he will be on the bench. I would pack the midfield out with a 4-5-1 formation to try and dictate the play. Hopefully Petrov will be up for this one - needs to get back to controlling the middle. Our centre backs will ahve to be at their bets I suspect as Defoe will be brimming with confidence and Crouch is always a handful.

:?: Unless im missing something... it doesnt though... 3 x 9 = 27. (2+7=9..not 3??) 3 x 8 = 24. (2+4=6..not 3??) 3 x 11 = 33. (3+3=6..not 3??)

The problem is Petrov and NRC arnt effective together - there's no creativity - they only work well when put in a 5 man midfield. Petrov has been doing the job of ankle biting opponents and clearing up opposition attacks -which is what we use NRC for shence he has been absent from the team. I like NRC alot - but I'd throw Petrov back in - he is captain and you will rarely see MON keeping his captain on the bench. Sidwell does have a habbit of going missing - so its a difficult one.

Got to go 4-5-1 for this one. Whenever we have had 5 in midfield this season we have stopped our opposition playing. It also seems to suit our midfiled well and allows for Ashley Young to get forward abit more. The last few games with 2 up front we havtn played well atall and certainly havnt had a grip on any of those games so it needs to change.

4-5-1 my Lord, 4-5-1!! We must pack out the midfiled to keep Cahill and Sideshow Bob quiet. Everton always seem to start abit edgy - but our games with them are always a great battle. We need to play much better against Everton than we did at Wolves 'cos with Everton's quality they would definitley punish us. I'd throw NRC in the middle and let him, Sidders and Pets get at them with Gabby up front on his own. Hope Warnock and Collins are fit to play after they picked up knocks last night.

Rumour has it Guzan only saved those penalties 'cos inflatable balloons hit the ball.

GUUUUUUUUUUUUUZAN!!!

Thats FA Cup mate. History tells us that we actually do well against Manure in this competition...

You are heavily underestimating our opponents. How can you ever justify resting key players ina premier league game to save them for a near-meanlingless cup game against Sunderland? MON will keep the same team for Wolves and this is highly important for us - the league is always priority!

Exactly. This will be a battle of a game im expecting. Local derby and they'll be up for it - they very nearly walked away from Goodison Park last week with 3 points so they will probably be buyont from that. This is a game we must win - in the past we have had tendencies to let ourselves down after getting good results against a big team - so if we're going to try and challenge for a place in the top 5 then we need to get a result here. Id never predict a comfortable win in a derby - too many things can work against you in these games and they're usually edgy. We need to throw JC and Gabby at their backline and hope that our defence is as solid as it has been recently. Atmosphere should be cracking - our boys do us proud away from home - always in full voice!

"He cuts his own hair, He cuts his own hair, That rocket polisher Terry, He cuts his own hair..." So chuffed with today - our grit and determination got us our goals today! Superb performances by Warnock, Collins, Dunne and Petrov. It was refreshing to see Gabby chasing absolutley everything down - and especially loved seeing him tear the arse off Ashley Cole down the flanks. It seems that with Fabio Capello showing interest in Agbonlahor it has certainly given him some belief and increased workrate. Was disappointed to find ourselves a goal behind - especially to such a soft strike by Drogba, Friedel should've done better, much better in fact. But clearly made up for it throughout the rest of the game. The fact that Chelsea havn't lost a game this season where they've taken the lead is testament to our team today. At times Chelsea stoked it around nicely and carved open opportunities in the second half - but we defended excellently. Lampard was kept very quiet today, credit to the immense Petrov and his band of brothers in midfield. My man of the match......David Beckham.