barry'sboots

Friedel Young Cuellar Dunne Warnock Albrighton Milner Petrov Ash Carew Gabby (Fonz if not fit) Bring on Downing for last 30 mins to give some impetus.

We were dire today BUT still better than Wolves. Carlos was again exposed at RB and it is just not understable how he can play him in front of Luke. I thought the midfield was poor with the exception of Ashley who really murdered his full back. I thought Stan was poor and his needless tackle (got himself the wrong side of the opposition midfielder and knew he wouldn't catch him up) led to the free kick for the first goal. Carew good, Heskey shocking. How MON left him on for the 90 minutes is beyond me. MON was awful today. Looked clueless on the sideline when they got the two goals and proved it with his second half subs. The Fonz should have replaced Heskey at HT along with Luke on for Carlos/Jimmy and Carlos to CB. Albrighton was an unfair sub - 15 minutes and a goal down was not the right time to bring on a young kid IMO - too much pressure to try and do something with little time. His criticism of the Johnny come lately fan is misplaced IMO - it was the Holte End that was calling for Nathan and, if our club is ever going to challenge regularly we need to turn the Johhny come latelys into regulars and get the revenue up.

Spot on. Can I add: 4. A manager that is prepared to use his subs when things aren't going well. 5. A manager that can see that Heskey and Carew are a pairing that would not be good enough for the SPL!

I thought Cundy would have been better at checking his balls!

Looks like Ash has woken up. JC still absolutely awful. The Fonz must be so annoyed.

Get some money on now if you believe this - good odds! See MON has done his made his usual inspirational changes at half time.

You'd play the second half with one up front - the Fonz on his own? Oh and lose the goal threat of heskey and JC. Hell yes!!!!! This would also release Jimmy and allow the wingers to push on a bit more. 4-3-3 - the way forward!

Absolutely shocking. But knew it was going to be as soon as I saw that team selection. Yet again MON has picked his side by their wage bill - only reason I can possibly see for pairing JC with Heskey?? Three subs at half time - Fonz for Heskey, Delph for Carew, Luke Young on for Collins.

At least you could get to the replay at VP!

...... hopefully in the next two months!!??

This. This again. Spot on BUT doubt we'll see it!

I personally don't mind where we finish - to a certain extent - as long as I feel that we have given ourselves the best shot at everything that we can. This is why I am frustrated as I feel we have lost games/points through not trying things. Sunday's game is an example for me as I felt we started well and probably shaded the first half but then gradually went into our shell during the second half as Man U got on top. I felt we needed to make some changes a lot earlier just to try and spark something and avoid the inevitable which we eventually got.

I said this year and last year - two consecutive years is the start of regular? I believe we have dropped a number of points where we could have taken more that could have put us up there with Arsenal and well out of reach of Plop, Citeh and Spuds with our current squad.

I voted for one worldy and a few better players BUT I think we could have been top 4 last year and this year if MON had shown a bit more flexibility in his selections and had made tactical changes where necessary. We are not a million miles away.

What about a petition demanding a response from the FA? Not sure whether we could do this electronically? We could get other clubs fans to sign as well??

The difference here was that he clearly hadn't missed it as he gave the penalty. I could see the technical argument from Poll for not giving him a red, although I think this is BS, BUT I cannot see how he escaped without even a yellow.

Doesn't really help us though. I'd rather he was given our next big game thinking that he owed us big time (as he probably did re ManU after all the stick he has had from Fergie over the last 6 months!).

I thought that our back 4 looked very nervous (compared to their usual high standards). Apart from that I felt we shaded the first half and looked as good as I have ever seen us against a Man U side who were there for the taking. Only change I would have made was to start with Luke at RB - I can't see the logic of playing a CB at RB when we have one of the best RBs in the league. The referee was obviously poor and, if Vidic had gone as he should (either for the penalty or for, what should have been, a second yellow), it could have been a very different game. I thought the second half we ran out of ideas and stamina. Stan's legs had gone and Heskey was dropping deeper where, IMO, he is just not as effective as , say, Delph. Once they had scored Fergie went 4-5-1 and killed the game - lesson for MON methinks when we are a goal up with 20 mins or so left. I thought MON's subs were pathetic - too late and Carew for Cuellar left us shapeless with the players not quite knowing what they were doing.

Dowd certainly bottled it. No red was a mistake but no yellow is just plain shocking, as Poll said on the radio this am. I would love Dowd to come out and explain why there was no yellow for Vidic or Rafael.

A number of posters seem to view Delph as a long term replacement for Stan. I just don't see it. He is quite lightweight and, to use the old Paul Scholes analogy, couldn't tackle a fish supper (probably a bit strong but gets my point across). I see him playing much farther forward and needing a strong holding midfielder behind him. He probably necessitates a three man CM for me: ---------------- DCM ----------------- --- Jimmy ----------------- Delph --- For me, Fabian would sit alongside the DCM and be our "quarterback" with Jimmy playing in Steven Gerard/marauding way and getting closer to the striker. To play him and Jimmy together would be, for me, similar in style to Arsenal's two man midfield of last year - Fabregas and Denilson for example - and would be too easily overrun by the better sides?

Delph played out wide for Leeds. Wouldn't mind seeing him play as a winger and leave Jimmy in the middle if we had to make a change.

Do we really want another Carew/Heskey i.e. a large target man who sin't particularly mobile. We will never play the possession football that everyone craves with such players. I don't see Arsenal, Man U or Plop going this route, nor Citeh, although Adebayor is decent in the air and Cruz is more of a large striker. Chelski are a bit different as they have Drogba who can do everything! I also don't see such a striker as the right partner for Gabby if we are looking at 4-4-2 as they would both be up against the CBs and leaving a big gap between the strikers and CM?

Have I missed something? Last time I saw Heskey he started up front which is usually where most strikers play. When Heskey plays for England he is the furthest striker forward and is the striker that the other striker and midfielders play off, running on to balls he has laid off in and around the edge of the box. Gabby always plays that role for us (I am not sure why as I would like to see him running on to lay offs?) and Heskey ends up playing as a link man/third CM'er - for me he doesn't have the touch or mobility to play this role, although he has persevered and worked hard to do what MON asks of him and for this I respect him.

This is all we, as fans, can ask for. A player cannot be blamed for the transfer fee or his wages - they are manager/owner's fault if over the top. He can only be asked to respect the club and give 100%. JC hasn't done that this year and is taking the proverbial. Heskey has, but he's playing in the wrong position and that's MON's fault IMO.

Where do you get to hear this sort of thing, barry'sboots? A local guy who is big mates with an ex-player (with a big smile!) and had it confirmed by someone internal. Apparently, MON has given up trying to stop him - just told him to keep it away from MON. They also said that they thought he wanted a move to London so he could be closer to the nightlife.