Rodders

last year was his first spell in the side. I think he's a worthy squad member this year.

excellent! toss off stoke

goals for midfielders and strikers, assists for new players, job done. can't comment on the game having not seen itself but the statistics are a pleasant read.

It doesn't. Fans are cocking moronic vulgar **** these days.

about to say, just seen the attendance, bloody hell

excellent stuff. Job done, banana slip avoided, goals for multiple players. Can't ask for more from tonights game, well aside from more bonus goals!

excellent. important goal that, nerves should settle, lets go get another 2 or 3 please. good shit with collins the young un. **** off stoke 8)

and plenty of options on the bench too - in theory anyway.

back 4 is inexperienced but not too bad at all. Lichaj is a solid right back, Baker is a promising if raw centre back, Lowton has played there in pre season, Stevens is the weak link but at least he's getting a game. Glad Guzan is playing. Midfield and forwards must take advantage.

we'll sign him I think. About 75% confident

Perhaps. We'll see though. I do think, though it's difficult to tell with someone who keeps his cards close to his chest ( a trait im grateful for ), that having willingly taken the job on, he's identified some targets and is very alive to a need to gain value for money. Perhaps he shouldn't have to have that concern, I don't know. I was actually quite happy to see him give the likes of bannan and delph games so far, but equally very disappointed by the paucity of their performance.

Again, I know I'm someone who's quick to look for the positives, but I don't think it's an unreasonable hypothesis to suggest Lambert wanted to come in take a look and give the current players time in the system too. He bought some essential players early on and had others in mind, perhaps happy to wait and see if other players could be shifted first, whilst letting these players have a go in the opening games so far, now that he has seen a couple of signs of what needs to be done, he's prepared to move a bit faster. That's just one view, and please no sarcastic responses of "omg you'd defend randy if he shat on you" type responses, that's just to my mind a fairly plausible scenario that doesnt need to invite dramatic concerns about 'backing' just yet.

on the other hand BoF, could he not be coming in to this side at the beginning of its development, as part of a team that will grow together into Lamberts philosophy free from any entrenched habits of undesired styles of play? I do think it is still a risk of sorts but I'm not that concerned. It seems to me that at present the style of play more than the personel is the 'problem' in that it is still new to the players, once the players know how to link up effectively with the attackers we'll hopefully see dividends.

Losing our first 2 games was probably a blessing in disguise, cuz Lerner is opening up the pursestrings now...If we beat West Ham and drew with Everton, Lerner would probably have been content to rest on his laurels. personally I though Lambert was waiting to see how competent the players were at this level before assessing how much more was needed.

I would have thought such activity would have been happening anyway to be perfectly honest, but lets hope they come in soon!

to stay up? yes, by a 5-8 point margin What have you seen from this squad that makes you think that? All other teams in the league have strengthened and look stronger remember too. All the positive talk from Lambert, Faulkner and co preseason has been pointing towards having a much better season that last year, though I find that hard to see realised if we don't invest in the this small/low in quality squad of players. it's simple really. the squad we had last year was a touch weaker, and we were playing a very negative game. there was no scope for improvement because of the way we lined out every match. it was all about trying not to concede at all costs. nobody improves in that environment this time around we're trying to play football. we'll be dreadful for a while, but there'll be glimpses of change happening. we're seeing it already. the tippy tappy shite that people on here hate among the back 4 and the midfielders is a sign of progress. it's dull to watch, but it means we're intent on holding onto the ball. if you can hold onto it, the next thing that comes is using it better. when you use it better, you tire out other teams, and the next step of cutting them open starts to happen. the difference is not in the personnel, it's in the way we're approaching games. keeping the ball leaves scope for plenty of improvement as time goes by. it also leaves scope for a few thumpings here and there, but we'll hit our stride about 10 games in, and start picking up plenty of points against the lower teams and lower mid table teams. that alone will be enough to keep us up, but with that comes confidence to put in the odd performance against better teams, and you end up getting the odd draw or nicking a win against top 8 clubs. from there you grow we're at ground zero, and there's a long way to go, but we're approaching it the right way. the issue is our fans want great, successful football without the actual process of getting there Cracking post. Sums up my thoughts too. It is going to be a tough journey but we will improve.

in terms of disappointment, there was a football game on the mega drive I think which was actually impossible to play. Not sure if it was Italia 90 or something like that but so godawful.

lets hope he sells we get someone in who has infinity billion pounds and never ever makes a mistake.

just seen the highlights. not that worried really. Everton are an excellent side who are well settled and have been developing over the years, ours are inexperienced and still learning - in this respect not a surprise. The red card was a bit harsh. The youngsters will learn KEA and Wiemann are good signs. Guzan needs to get a run in goal though I think and we need a left back but, we have players who are going to have learn on the job quickly. All this relegation chat is a bit nonsense. Not to say Im happy to lose, obviously not, but honestly I think people are being prematurely downcast by our prospects. Get in a couple of players and see how the team is doing after a couple of months and I think there's enough there to say we'll pick up significantly as the season goes by. Will be tough and obviously a lot of work to do, but what did people expect this early?

good fixture for us to have at this point. Need to get a first win of the season and more game-time together for the players to get used to the system. Guzan in for Given, Baker in at centre back, Lichaj to left back, Wiemann and Bent up front?

berwick holding rangers to a 1-1 draw atm

Lambert will have learnt a lot more about the players, but its always going to be difficult with new players in new positions in new styles against sides that have been together for a while. Everton are strong, not surprised by the defeat tbh but sounds like we really need to improve the attacking play to start getting points on board. At least we've got the first goal of the season up, a minor point though. Improvement needed and I back it to happen. LB and striker in please, and maybe another midfielder if possible but, it is going to be tough going early on.

the defence will take time to get to know each other, and we really need a left back. Baker is better at CB.

18 minutes into the first home game of the season, with a new backline and trying to play a new style of play, yes we might need some more players yet, but **** hell calm down.

no fixtures in this thread? I am disappoint.