P3te

what the **** ****?!?!

he was our best player again today. the only one who was continually closing players down and trying to create things if we're starting gabby on the wing, ireland is wasted. we need proper balance there if he's going to play

why the **** have we taken our best player off?

2-0 game over

doesnt look like there are any changes from what i can see anyway warnock still on the pitch

gabby on the wing is pointless

its not a pace thing, its a confidence thing. warnock is giving dyer all the room in the world because he's terrified of him getting past him

i think we'd be much more effective in a 4-1-4-1/4-1-3-1-1 tbh gabby playing on the wing is nonsense though, it completely ruins any game plan we've shown over the last few weeks No more one up front surely. It doesn't work at home to the team with the worst away record in the league. 1 up front gives us more threat than 2 up front, because 2 up front weakens the midfield. we need 2 wingers out there, and if you play ireland more advanced, he can link up as a front man too theres no point playing with 2 strikers though, because it usually ends up as 2 players who arent involved in the game for the majority of the match

Clark at left back with Bannan on, yes. Can't agree with Gabby coming off though gabby offers nothing out on the right. it doesnt play to his strengths, it doesnt play to bent's strengths and it doesnt play to our strengths. its either gabby up top on his own or bent up top on his own, and two ACTUAL wingers sending balls in for them

i think we'd be much more effective in a 4-1-4-1/4-1-3-1-1 tbh gabby playing on the wing is nonsense though, it completely ruins any game plan we've shown over the last few weeks

need to make changes at half time imo gabby off, albrighton on. warnock off, bannan on. line up like --------------guzan--------------- cuellar----collins-----dunne----clark --------------petrov-------------- albrighton--ireland-bannan--nzogbia ---------------bent---------------

shouldve been 2-0

jesus gabby shouldnt be played where hes being played that decision will cost us big time here

bit of a mistake playing gabby on the right instead of marc imo. other than that the team is fine, but id just have done a straight swap of gabby out, benty in and left the midfield balance as it was

You've not watched the same games as me then! well maybe work rate isn't the right word, I'd say maybe desire. Anyway I hope he can start performing, we'll see! watch him closer, as ive said a few times on here when ireland looks out of the game it's not because he's not arsed, it's because there's nobody else on the pitch in our colours even remotely up to speed with him. he makes runs nobody sees, he picks up positions nobody else does, he never stops chasing the ball and he always tries to pick a pass nobody else is able to

not sure why people had an issue with ireland's work rate, he always breaks his bollox and never stops running

just because he's been our best forward doesnt mean we need to keep playing him as a winger no matter how much we like him, or how decent he can be playing up top, albrighton is an infinitely more effective winger, because he actually IS a winger this square pegs in round holes crap needs to stop. we've been at it for too long

id drop gabby for him tbh having gabby and bent starting doesnt really do us any favours, since it means we're missing an actual winger to supply bent with balls. gabby is a great option to have against teams who will play a high line though, and in those games i'd start him ahead of bent for most games i do think that we should line up like this ---------------bent----------------- nzogbia-----ireland----albrighton ---------petrov---herd/clark------ for the likes of swansea, id replace herd/clark with bannan and go for the jugular we have options, we just need to utilise them properly given the opposition at hand. we wont get it right all the time, but i dont think there's any sense in playing bent from the start against everyone, nor is there any sense in dropping gabby to the bench against everyone

if he continues to make the kind of decisions he has been making, and encouraging attempts at playing the kind of football we've been trying lately, then there's absolutely no need to get rid of him yet. this is the biggest job he's ever had, so perhaps it was understandable it would take him a little time to find his feet. conversely, the players also need to get used to him and how he's approaching the game. we don't know what's going on behind the scenes, but let's for a moment just cut some slack and assume that the early season performances were a combination of mcleish trying to find a system that suited the club, and the players trying to figure out how to play for him. assuming there's no return to those spineless displays, and we continue to show the kind of improvement and willingness to actually attack then, shock horror, mcleish might actually surprise a few people and actually accomplish something conversely, the last few games may well turn out to be a blip, and we'll revert to type again with the mindless negative crap for now, the signs are encouraging at last, so let's see how he continues

*edit* wrong thread :oops:

nonsense, he was very good against arsenal too while he was on the pitch. he's never been as bad as some like to make out for us either, he's just streets ahead of most of the rest of the team in terms of technical ability, movement and reading of the game so he tends to look ineffective

so we've only had 3 good players in 6 years?

we cant sell them because they're on double the wages they should be on based on their quality and they know it

**** hell mate, if you think having the odd smoke and a glass of vino is bad, you'd have a heart attack at what some players get up to. rooney, laursen, barry, berbatov and a huge number of other players smoke or smoked regularly while playing he's not, that's his missus' legs

he signed 26 players at villa 6 of them left for a fee 3 of the players who left for a fee left for a profit 3 of the players who left for a fee left for a loss 11 of them left on free transfers 4 of them are out of contract in summer i think the gem to turd ratio is lower than you think