Big_John_10

First of all petrov was easily the best of our central midfielders. Reo coker, aka the messiah, contributed very little in my opinion and sidwell even less

Agreed, petrov was making more tackles and interceptions and i've rarely seen a player not want the ball as much as NRC. Everytime someone was around him with the ball he was pointing and indicating for them to pass it to someone else. Saying that though he was still better than sidwell who was once again rubbish.

Yeah i think nrc did just about enough to warrant keeping his place next week, although this was more sidwell's doing than his. I do worry that his substitution may signal that oneill feels differently about the matter however.

I think he was subbed due to injury.

Spurs didn't deserve to win... they would of deserved to win if they didn't squander all the chances they had. Good teams put away their chances - Spurs didn't - we did.

Also for all the time they had the ball and all the space they found in midield they didn't create clear cut chances, they were restricted to long shots and crossing in for crouch.

First of all petrov was easily the best of our central midfielders. Reo coker, aka the messiah, contributed very little in my opinion and sidwell even less

Agreed, petrov was making more tackles and interceptions and i've rarely seen a player not want the ball as much as NRC. Everytime someone was around him with the ball he was pointing and indicating for them to pass it to someone else. Saying that though he was still better than sidwell who was once again rubbish.

Like the burnley game it wasn't a terrible result but the performance was poor.

First half was pretty good, we pressured spurs whenever they had the ball and actually played some nice stuff. They had a lot of the ball but there only clear chance came from a deflected freekick and cuellar produced a quality block on the line.

2nd half was very poor, no one was capable of keeping the ball and slowing the game down for us and everytime we cleared it both strikers were still on our 3rd of the pitch.

There was also a period of time when we tried to switch formations and some of the players looked liked they didn't have a clue where they were suppossed to be playing.

As much as i hate them spurs are a good team and were coming off a huge victory the week before, a draw isn't terrible but the performance was poor.

I have this distinct impression our opinions are falling on deaf ears on here.... Oh Dear

Are you that arrogant that you think we should all be falling over ourselves to come and comment on what you think? Or that the manager should care?

3 haters out of 7! Jeez Risso, sting and Fran are quick off the mark.

As a point of record 'CrackpotForeigner' i don't hate O'Neill. Indeed i find him entertaining with his funny manerisms before and after match interviews. I have however questioned many of his signings, which some have worked and others, well, have disappointingly failed miserably. You can probably say that of most managers, even the great Fergie and Wenger!

I do however dislike the way O'Neill sets out our team to play and in my humble opinion, he doesn't make the best of who he has signed for one reason or another. When he finds a winning formular, he changes the team the following week and quite evidently has his 'favourites,' born out with his treatment of Reo-Coker!

I also believe that with a more progressive thinking manager, we would have a better squad of players with more guile and technical ability with the amount of money O'Neill has been furnished with and just maybe, we might have been better in Cup and European matches as a consequence? Gained more success maybe?

Nevertheless, it is more than fair to say that we have improved since O'Neill has become our manager, but then again, that would be the very least we would expect with the money spent!

I just feel that O'Neill's system of play belongs more to the coaching book of the 1980-90s rather than being reflective of today's style of football. Thats why i believe O'Neill has taken us as far as he can and we do need a new manager who will instill a different type of system of play into our squad. I would like to see us playing a more diamond formation with the quality players to play that way. This would leave us less open through the middle and i dont think our wingers are good enough to carry a consistant threat, just as i don't think our central midfield partnership are good enough at the moment to allow us to play two out and out wingers!

Only my humble opinion of course and as always, there will be many who will disagree with me. I just want the best for our club and although we are indeed in very safe hands with O'Neill, i think we could at, the very least, see more entertaining football coming from our team, with the same, or indeed, even more success!

for what its worth on here, i can empathise with much of what you write.I too feel similar with your explanation of the Midfield & wingers. It seems to me the cm's are the scapegoats and the wide players get away with murder.

I am not an advocate of removing O'Neill, but I am living in hope he will change his view.

Many thanks for your considered reply 'Tro.'

I don't disagree with much of what you said. I do, however, think he has built a decent squad but, like you, don't think he uses it to its maximum capability. I am not sure your diamond suggestion would work with our players BUT it could be worth a try. Anything has to be better than sticking with the same front 6 and same formation that we have for the last 5 or 6 away games.

I can take losing/drawing with poor teams if I thought MON was trying to turn it around and find a solution to our poor performances. He didn't for the last 15 games of last season and he hasn't done for our away games this season. It feels like groundhog day to me!

I posted in the match thread but i think it could go here also

Only Man city have lost less away games than us so far.

Only the 4 teams above us have won more away games than us so far.

5 teams have scored more goals than us away from home.

2 teams have let in less goals than us away from home.

Performances may not always be pretty for the whole 90 minutes but i don't think we've reached panic stations just yet.

Played shit against a side that've won all but 1 game at home this season, yet came away with something. I hear that's what good teams usually do.

It's just hilarity reading the sarcy Heskey and MON tactical genius comments after something like this. Even better for those that chose to turn their streams off.

Taken in isolation, this result would not be bad. But the performance was very poor and it is the sixth or seventh very bad performance on the road in a row and our manager doesn't seem to have a clue what to do to change it so this doesn't happen in the next away game??

Even MON must be tempted to try something different for the trip to Manure? Thought about 4-5-1 Martin - might be worth a shot?

Only Man city have lost less away games than us so far.

Only the 4 teams above us have won more away games than us so far.

5 teams have scored more goals than us away from home.

2 teams have let in less goals than us away from home.

Performances may not always be pretty for the whole 90 minutes but i don't think we've reached panic stations just yet.

Of course it’s rare, nobody else gets a look in for the Champions League and Europa League isn’t worth the effort financially and at the expense of chasing the elite.

English clubs do dominate Europe. Liverpool mumping it up this season doesn’t change that. Chelsea will be there or there abouts, as will Man United. To break into the top four of this league, with the extensive financial advantages that the Sky Four has over the rest of the league would be an excellent achievement. If we got there, it would be because we were consistently good enough. Your argument for me lacks logic. Shit teams don’t finish 4th, bloody good ones do.

meh

i think youre vastly overrating the standard of football in england is all

Have to agree with P3te completely. English league is average and predictable every year. Teams from below the top4 in Spain and italy would beat the English teams more times than an English team would win. In these countries its an achievement to finish top but in England you only have a chance when the Sky teams mess up and thats teh sad facts about it

On what basis can you make claims like that? Didn't the massive side of roma drawwith fulham recently? Last year didn't it take a last minute goal for AC Milan to beat a pompey side that outplayed them?

It doesn't really matter what the standard is like in other countries, in England the top 4 are good sides that have spent lots of money and can attract the best players, finishing above any of them would be a massive achievement and not one a shit football club could achieve.

With the money O'Neill has spent, we shouldn't be outplayed by the likes of Wigan, Blackburn and Burnley, but that's what happened.

Only wigan outplayed us and they also beat chelsea who have spent a hell of a lot more money than we have over the years. Burnley beat man u who have also spent a hell of a lot more money than us over the years.

Terrible weather and playing a team with an excellent home record.

Poor performance but ok result.

Did the other team have different weather?

:yawn: yes Jez Burnley had different weather.

Well I pray that when I graduate from comedy school I'll be as witty as you and post comedy gold between moans on the match thread.

Graduate? Doubt it.

There's that wit i envy so much! Tell us something else to be thankful for please

I have a feeling that had NRC played and we got a point i'd be reading a lot more posts saying what a decent point it was against a team who have an excellent record at home.

I'm happy enough

:shock: the word happy has been used on VT.

How very witty!

Well I pray that when I graduate from comedy school I'll be as witty as you and post comedy gold between moans on the match thread.

i'm not saying i thought it was a genius decision that would work without fail but it's ridiculous to get so worked up about things before they happen.

being generous, it has a 90% chance of failure...

I agree but I don't see the point in getting angry with the decision before it's had a chance to fail.

I'm happy enough

:shock: the word happy has been used on VT.

Heskey on, Luke Young off hahahahaaaa.

Here we go, Heskey for Luke Young.

heskey on for luke young...

**** retard...

Lol.

Heskey on for Luke Young.

Never ceases to amaze me ol' Martin.

Heskey on for Luke. MONs really going for it.

quality.

Why don't people wait before reacting so badly?

yea, its awesome... 3 goals in, what is it, 24 (i stopped counting after 2 in 20), games?

cant wait for his next goal in 10 games...

i'm not saying i thought it was a genius decision that would work without fail but it's ridiculous to get so worked up about things before they happen.

This evening we are fourth.

I am pretending nothing else happened but that.

At the end of the day performances mean nothing, it's all about the league position. As long as that is fine then i'm happy.

A tactical change made by Martin O'Neill actually got us a goal.

Like against the scum and wolves. It does happen you know.

Carew is way, way out of form.

Gabby's stopped scoring

Well these two were awesome and both scored in our LAST game, jesus give them a chance.

Heskey on, Luke Young off hahahahaaaa.

Here we go, Heskey for Luke Young.

heskey on for luke young...

**** retard...

Lol.

Heskey on for Luke Young.

Never ceases to amaze me ol' Martin.

Heskey on for Luke. MONs really going for it.

quality.

Why don't people wait before reacting so badly?

Shocking effort. Whilst he got the goal, what the hell was Heskey doing being put at RB?

Some of these decisions are baffling.

He came on for a right back you fool, doesn't mean he played there.

Its what sides do when they're losing, take off a defender for a striker, its called throwing the kitchen sink

I couldn't watch the match you clearing in the woods, and I read on the forum he was at RB.

i've read a lot of things on this forum that i wouldn't take seriously.

4th place with a clueless manager and some shit players, how do we do it?

Terrible weather and playing a team with an excellent home record.

Poor performance but ok result.

And i'd say getting a point of man city, smashing bolton and beating liverpool and chelsea is the sign of a good team.

I'd disagree because if you keep losing games against the teams we do, then a) I'ts a good job we've got those points as we'd be looking over a shoulders come our annual March slump and there's no point beating the good teams when you can't pick anything up against the others.

As for your second point, it's not really relevent is it? It's just yet another attempt to group people and lash out at them.

we've finished 6th the last 2 seasons and are currently in 5th place, if you don't think we are a good team then your expectations of what a good team should be are ridiculously high.

We have a good squad with good players which means on our day we can match anyone in the league and get results like the ones against chelsea and liverpool. The difference between us and the big teams is that they can produce performances like that on a more consistent basis than us. But as we find ourselves sitting in 5th place we aren't doing too badly with those performances, but keep having a whinge if it makes you feel better.

I would say losing regularly against Wigan, Blackburn, Burnley is not the characteristic of a good team of players. I would also say that being 5th after 12 games is nothing to be jumping up about looking at the way we folding last year from where we were.

It is not suprising that you may not be aware of the difference between criticism and 'a whinge'. It explains an awful lot.

And i'd say getting a point of man city, smashing bolton and beating liverpool and chelsea is the sign of a good team. 5th is nothing to jump about yet but if we were as shit as some try to make out we wouldn't be there above teams like man city and liverpool would we?

petrov must have put gabby off.

Petrov doesn't make our team click, Reo-Coker does.

For a limited player NRC certinaly has a big reputation.

Wonder why fans and players have never picked him as the best player over a whole season?

Probably the same reason we can have a decent defensive record, find ourselves in 5th place and beat teams like chelsea and liverpool, it is because like every other team in the prem we aren't consistently great

So you think the reason why we lose to Burnley, Wigan, Blackburn is the same reason why we beat Chelsea? I'm sorry, I don't follow that - and you haven't explained what that reason is? I really don't understand how it can be the same reason? You will need to elaborate on that one.

Or just make another sweeping, snidey statement. One of the two.

We have a good squad with good players which means on our day we can match anyone in the league and get results like the ones against chelsea and liverpool. The difference between us and the big teams is that they can produce performances like that on a more consistent basis than us. But as we find ourselves sitting in 5th place we aren't doing too badly with those performances, but keep having a whinge if it makes you feel better.

Glad to see one or two are happy with the way things are going and making free with the smilies. You may be pleased to know your team is a goal up at half-time.

Don't find the performance funny, i find the reactions on here funny, yours is one of them.