heystally!

Happy that we've bolstered our squad. In terms of squad depth, I think we're at our best under MON. But, I don't think we've adequately replaced Laursen and Barry, and in the long run that might come back to haunt us. So I went with average.

Haha, a man of the highest compliments

Indeed. If only...

Anyone got the new Facebook app? Much better, so much easier to use. It's more like browsing the site now.

Going through my old photos and found this of me at Old Trafford when we lost 4-0 the season before last: Here's me playing a gig in Nottingham last December: And a photo of me last Halloween for my friend's birthday, I'm on the right:

Very much that here. Although one of my dickhead "Look at me, I'm a Southerner, anything north of the Watford gap is the north" Uni friends pronounces Worcester "War-chest-er". Part of me expected some USers to do so too.

I voted 8. I can't complain at the moment. I'm a full-time student, but I don't go into University as I just do research, so I have a part-time job on the side, and I've luckily manage to keep it for the past year. Uni work is probably the only downside to my life at the moment, as it is pressing and I'm going to end up rushing it. I've been with my girlfriend for three years this September. Two years together at Uni, and the past year we've done the long distance thing, with me in Detroitwich and her up in Scouseland. But we don't let it become an issue, because we are planning on living together ASAP, and we know it's worth making it work. So distance isn't a problem right now. Two of my best friends are living in the area as well. One I've barely seen the past year and a half, as he got too involved in his job - I'm talking working hours of 6am til 8pm, six days a week - and has only just got out of it. The other went travelling for five months and is back, so we get to go out drinking now like when we were 16. Unfortunately I'm living at home at the moment. I can't knock it too much, as I'm very lucky I have a roof over my head, and bills and food paid for. But I went to Uni for three years and loved being away from home and being an independent adult. Now I feel like my life is slightly invaded. But fingers crossed it's only short term. I try and get as much exercise done as I can, but I'm pretty lazy mentally. I'd prefer to sleep in, than get up early and go swimming at 7am. But I'm starting to turn that around as well. And once this essay is over for Uni, I'll be mentally relieved too. No spirituality, but I don't feel empty. I'm very much a believer of this life is what we have, so make the most of it, and improve conditions for everyone regardless of race, creed, age, sex, etc, etc. So sometimes it's depressing when you see ignorance and apathy around you, but personally I'm happy with this. So I can't complain. Life is good at the moment.

So you pronounce it "Bir-ming-hum" as opposed to "Bir-ming-ham"? It's just part of the American way of literal pronunciation (see the Z over S answer to the poll).

Glad to see the poll is in his favour. He is decent, and when on form he can be a real rock, as he showed glimpses of in the Peace Cup, and very much so today against Fulham. Long let it continue.

Gutted we only won 2-0. Booooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

Yeah he was at the University, so Middlebury, VT. Small town. I don't doubt that the major commercial centres are similar to those over here and probably everywhere in the world. But there does seem to be more of a contrast between cities and towns in the US than here in the UK. Towns here seem to be just very small cities, whereas towns over there have their own characteristics.

Never been there, so I cannot judge it fully. But I voted the last option, because it's our **** language, it's an 's' for the love of McGrath! I dislike the economic ideology of the country, but I also dislike it here. My friend spent the year before last in Vermont, and made a comparison between capitalism here and there with regards to, for example, going to the shops. Here you find a lot of chain stores with people working there who have no interest in the business that pays them, and as a result you find a lot more miserable people who couldn't really care how you are as a person - you're just a consumer. Over where he was, he said the stores were pretty much all independently run, and as such the people who owned their own stores were always friendlier and seemed to care more about how you were. But it's all part of the system, keep you coming back. He didn't really know which was worse. For me, the US really kicked off the market, which is something I do not support or have faith in. He said Americans are all very nice people though, and the ignorant, overweight stereotypical image is only of a very select few. You'll get a lot more conversation out of random people than here. It really is noticeable. When we went out places after he came back, the cinema or a pub or whatever, he'd ask whoever served him how they were and how their day was, something it seemed he picked up from living over in the US. And the people he asked were almost taken aback, like there was something suspicious about just asking how they were. But I have absolutely no problem with Americans. Judging people based on where they live is ridiculous. There are nice people and awful people in every country, and that is not because they live there. Really want to go visit there though.

I think we'll play 4-4-2. -------------Friedel--------------- NRC----Beye--Cuellar--Warnock Milner--Petrov--Delph----Young --------Heskey--Carew---------- And I think we'll probably draw, 1-1 or 2-2, because we won't control the centre of midfield. The General said we're looking at 34k upwards for this game. That's pretty poor, considering our last league game was the win over Liverpool.

We could always get DOL back.

Martin jol,But i want to keep o`neill and see how he does over 5-7 seasons. But Martin Jol has only just joined Ajax over the summer, so I don't think he would come here right now. I'm not suggesting you want MON gone now and replaced with Jol, but people who do want MON gone right this minute will not see Jol replace him right now.

Well, that's football, if the better team would always win, it would be a boring sport, but that's not the case. Determination and fighting spirit can sometimes make up for class. I think, maybe you would have deserved to go through despite the 1:0 in Vienna, but your defense was somewhat careless in the second leg too. Of course your team has better player on every single position, but sometimes that's just not decisive. No doubt it would be boring. Vienna were determined and did the best they could. And over 180 that was enough for them to get through. Our defence is not as good as it was last season, and I think it'll cost us this season. But I'm very gutted we're out, it was an extra six games guaranteed in Europe. Which by the looks of tonight, your support will enjoy very much so

I'd say the positional awareness and intelligence of both Barry and Petrov helped us out. And I guess with a young, raw Delph next to him, Petrov has to do more running and chasing than he did alongside Barry. I'm still all for 4-5-1, with Petrov, NRC and Sidwell/Delph. It worked so well against Liverpool, and with a Young, Milner, Carew attack once they start scoring, I think we'd do very well this season.

Heskey will never be a goal scorer. But when he plays well he provides a lot for us, like he does for England. He's a provider not a scorer. But he should not be first choice over Carew and Gabby. And he should certainly not have been played alongside Carew tonight.

I don't take positives out of tonight I'm afraid. Not to belittle your club, but we should have won tonight comfortable, and gone through to the Group Stages. We haven't, and I blame our manager's tactics. But fair play to Rapid. Your side could only go out and play the team they were faced with, and over two legs they were the better team. Again, I blame our manager for that. And your fans were great, home and away. Best of luck for the competition.

I`m not too sure about this mate. Even the best defences in the world will struggle to keep clean sheets if they are constantly having players running directly at them from midfield. Certainly when then end up having free men to pass to as our cm can`t keep up or get back to make a tackle. Of course, but I'm not talking about every attack, because with every team, some of their attacks will break down. But if we contrast our 4-4-2 with Laursen last season. We had Petrov and Barry pushing forward, neither of which are really pacy enough to get back and catch players. I felt a lot more comfortable about us occasionally being caught short when we had Laursen. Tonight, as always this season, I have felt worried when the opposition have gotten behind our midfield, and it's because I do not trust our defence as much as I did with Laursen. I still think Petrov has a role to play in a 4-4-2. But tonight, we had Carew and Heskey up front, neither of which really came short to link the midfield (as OBE mentioned), and we had a defence who have hardly set the world alight. So Petrov had to go forward more, and then get back more, and had to get back so much harder because our defence is not as strong as it once was. As a result, he had a lot more to do. A tactical problem IMO, not a personnel problem. We have a personnel problem in the defence.

When Downing is fit, I'm really hoping this is the role Ashley Young can play for us.

That's a good analysis of our performance. I think the players did perform well tonight, and they gave a very good effort. I don't think the defence is solid enough though, at times Davies and Cuellar lost their men and struggled to get back and block a shot. We're missing Laursen badly, and I think we'll continue to struggle there. Unless we're playing 4-5-1, which protects the defence more than a 4-4-2. I don't think Petrov is the problem. If we had Laursen, Petrov would not have to run as hard to get back and defend. He's better in the holding role of a three-man centre midfield, but he's not out-of-sorts in a 4-4-2. For me, once the defence is good enough, a 4-4-2 will work because the defence can afford to absorb more pressure. But right now, they cannot.

Petrov didn't play too great tonight. But he I thought he had more to do tonight than against Liverpool. Had to go forward and help create as well as get back and defend. I thought he was great against Liverpool, really played the holding role well. He's an intelligent player but his legs are going. Without a rock solid defence, he'll have lots more work in a 4-4-2. It's just not the right formation until we get the defence sorted.

Is there not a "Let MON choose who to play" option? Heskey can perform well, and we will need what he offers from time to time. It's not as black and white as "play him or don't".

Its called Squad rotation I can understand squad rotation. What I don't understand is the formation change. NRC should have been playing from the start instead of Heskey. We would have protected our defence better, kept more of the ball, still had the outlets of Milner and Young on the wings, still had the long ball option of Carew, and been less suspect to the counter-attack. Didn't make sense to go back to 4-4-2.