pete165

Or, A decent point in a difficult game, played in a swirling wind without our main attacking threat at a side with a great home record.

it's a game of opinions, but I think you're wrong. Tell me what Carew did and why Heskey is your target here? At least the latter defended our own box well as a crucial extra man.

Hard to judge. Awful going forwards but Stoke are such a tough team to play against on their own patch. Disappointed in our creativity and lack of spark (and in MON's unwillingness to give someone like Delph a try, when he could do something different), but it showed today how we miss Gabby. Two big men up front who both are ungainly lumps is never going to lead to great football. At least we defended well and though we couldn't win it, didn't lose it. Still in the race.

Tragic game attacking-wise. BUT Let's get this straight - Heskey has played well. He's worked incredibly hard, defended brilliantly and played BETTER than Carew, It's the BALANCE that's been wrong and no creativity from midfield, not Heskey's fault.

This is disgraceful going forward. Really really poor. We're lacking ANY sort of spark. Why not change it and go for Delph or something? Milner anonymous. AGAIN.

We are incredibly dull to watch. Martin calls us scintillating, but I just don't see it. It's ploddy and dull from here.

Hanging in there. Playing like a team who are happy to take a point. Our lack of quality with the ball is showing why we aren't top 4 material.

yawn

I don't often common on referees, but this one today has given us NOTHING. Booking everyone in sight, it doesn't bode well. Scrappy start and a dearth of good football, as expected.

Quick, while it's still up there: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_arfjpxX_34

That was the biggest pile of steaming delightful golden shit I've ever seen. Our passing was appalling and clinical, our movement non-existent and a joy to watch, our forwards uselessly wonderful waste of **** spaces with magical touch and creativity. Our defending was heroic, mindless and overall, Martin O'Neill proved he is a naive, stubborn genius, lacking in tactical nous and peerless in enthusiasm; he should definitely be sacked because he's taking us nowhere - except Wembley for the second time this season. What utter magnificent garbage.

Can't believe this thread at times. I've been watching the whole game and have to say apart from a sloppy few moments 2nd half and mistake by Warnock, we've played really strongly and definitely deserve to win. No reason for such negativity. The way Ash and Downing have played tonight will actually BOOST them for the final. Two good wins to set us up nicely.

give em a break - carew will get one in a minute. ok, he just won a pen!

They are definitely trying, but look sluggish, lethargic and touch has gone, etc. Quite simply the same as last season - the way we play - high tempo, etc means we get results, but by this stage of the season we are simply SHATTERED. Milner looks out on his feet. We need to freshen things up - Martin is just too safe in his selections - he said all of last season that he'd learnt that the top teams use their squads, he bough more players, then once again he KEEPS playing the same side. If you can't change things around when you're playing Burnley, when can you? It's daft and it's why we're struggling - and why we struggled last season. You can SEE they're just out of puff and ideas. It does really annoy me, and I'm a real MON fan. His faith in the players is such that it's done for the right reasons, but someone needs to have a word. Anyone can see we're DESPERATE for a bit of freshening up.

we've been sluggish but it's not all bad.

awful game. they've not played great and nor have we. we've defended deep and have struggled to get the ball down. saying that, they hassle well and there's no space out there for us to play 'nice, buildup football'. unless you have world class players with first touch, that stuff gets you into trouble. that's why we're going long / into channels. we're NOT a terrible team, it's the nature of the game today. we are very limited in terms of how we play, but we knew that already.

yeah, you almost expect Dunne to be a colossus every game now. He's been absolutely phenomenal this season. Better, I'd argue, than Martin Laursen at his best.

fantastic win at a tough place. Defended magnificently. Didn't play much decent football in truth, but enough to get a goal or two. Didn't like sitting back so much 2nd half but did the job. Would've liked Delph or Sidwell on - not for Petrov today, in fact, but for Milner, who barely got a tough 2nd half.

because we're not as good as Man United, the best team in the country over the last decade.

it's not a tactical decision to sit back here - they are just coming on strong - as you'd expect with their home record.

one of the best blocks you'll ever see. And we have about 10 of those per game, I've noticed.

Time for a change Martin. We've worked **** hard and are flagging. Goal for them and it's a grandstand finish. Just tighten up the midfield with some new energy please

lovely from downing - we're seeing him speed up now or is it me?

we are TIRING Martin. PLEASE make a change if we need it. In these circumstances, Siwell for Milner wouldn't be as tragic as it sounds. Nor Delph for Heskey.

Cuellar has been tremendous defensively this half, as has Luke Young. Not over by a LONG shot, but we look like we could have another goal in us.