barry'sboots

The problem is, he keeps repeating the same mistakes. Its like he doesn't watch the game? This is incredibly frustrating because we can all see it. It is sooooo obvious. You do not have to be a great manager to know what MON is doing is wrong - formation, teams and subs. How many times are people going to defend him and say he is a great manager who has had an off day??

MON has blown it again. - 15 games at the end of last season with Stan in a 4-4-2 didn't work - Wigan, Rapid Vienna and Cardiff, now add Blackburn - poor performances against inferior opposition Does he not watch these games. For those that say 1 loss in 7 - look at the opposition. The only decent performance was against Plop. It is so frustrating! His stubborness and poor tactics are going to make us midtable in my view. Another depressing weekend.

**** hell, i hope you are joking and not incredibly fickle. Why is he joking and fickle. What would you disagree with in his points? We all know that Petrov and Delph are a very poor CM pairing - Wigan, Rapid Vienna and Cardiff proved that. We didn't have any fight in CM from what I was hearing. Heskey on to play with Carew and Jimmy inside?? We weren't winning the ball in midfield and that change is not going to help. MON's stubborness and lack of tactical awareness is going to kill our challenge to the Europa League spots let alone CL.

Pretty decent but it may be the right move, if we are searching for a goal in the back end of the game i'd rather have Delph in the middle with Petrov as that i feel is the most creative midfield we can currently field for the 4-4-2 with Carew and Gabby up front. Honestly hoping we bag a couple in the first half and just shut down the game as we have done before this season though. UTV But we also don't want to concede and lose if we switch to a 4-4-2!! We have seen a 4-4-2 with Petrov and Delph and it is lightweight - Wigan, Rapid Vienna and Cardiff - particularly in the last 30 when Stan is tired.

What formation/team do you think he will play for this game and do you think (obviously subject to injury and performance) he will have it in my mind to stick with the same team for the Everton and Chelsea games that follow? I hope he goes back to the 4-5-1 we deployed against Blues and Fulham with NRC back in there. I would also probably start with this team against Blackburn. Fingers crossed (for me) that MON agrees. I think we will get battered if we go with the 4-4-2.

Poor performance by all accounts and radio and Sky (+BBC highlights) suggested Cardiff were unlucky. Echo the earlier thoughts on MON's selection. He is killing Gardners chances by always playing him out of position.

Like to see something different in CM. And not the Petrov and Delph pairing that was murdered by Wigan and faded badly against Rapid Vienna.

I take your point though, but unlike some I do not change my views depending upon the last result. I think we have got good results without playing well but against Blues and Pompey. We will get stearner tests. Whose to say we wouldn't have also won with Beye - Cuellar - Dunne - Warnock? If we are all jsut going to post on the back of results it will be a pretty dull forum for debate. "Great game. We won. CL here we come." or "Oh my god, we lost. Surely we are going down." will be all we will see apart from transfer speculation.

I want Beye to play. If he had played badly against Plop and Fulham I could have understood it. - I think MON sends out really negative messages to his squad when he plays a player out of position in front of one of them. This is bound to cause the confidence of that player to drop. - I also think it unbalances the team. I was excited this year that we would see the best out of Millie and Ash with proper FB's behind them and he is already screwing with that. And I disagree that he had fit Dunne and Collins in from day 1. For me, if we are in good form and players are doing well, as Cuellar and Beye have from day 1, then they should not be dislodged by new signings. I would place Shorey as an exception to this as I do not see him as part of our squad going forward - too inconsistent for me.

I hope he does play, as that will mean that he feels ready. Having watched Glen Johnson tonight, I think Luke is capable of making a late run for South Africa - a much better defender than Johnson which is what you really need behind Lennon.

Gareth was defo the better player for me - very mature and calm, an excellent organiser and leader. I loved Ollie and the way he loved the Villa but he was too nice for me. When he did lose it he was so obvious. Also, he was very easy for the bigger no. 9's, e.g. Emil for the Blues, to move around. I suppose, playing alongside Martin, this would have been covered by Martin.

I have to admit that, after the Wigan game, I was very tempted to write to the club and ask for a refund on my two STs. This was not due to me being disappointed with the result (although clearly I was) but down to the frustration of knowing that MON had let us down again with team selection and lack of substitutions. It was clear from the last 15 games of last season that Stan cannot play in a 4-4-2. The pre-season improvement after he was injured and NRC started to get a game was significant. Yet he still went with Stan in a 4-4-2. I was gutted at the start and the result (and lack of changes to that formation) only confirmed this. The Plop and Fulham games have shown that he has, at last, learnt but it takes too long for my liking and I'm not sure he has any other plans/scenarios. I would have liked to see him use his bench a bit more in the Fulham game both to freshen it up (Stan had played three games in six days and is not the fittest anyway) and to keep his squad happy - Delph for Gingewell and Marc for Gab at 2-0 up with 20 mins left?? And I completely disagree with taking NRC off every time? I hope he can, sensibly, shuffle his pack this season and prove me wrong.

Could we have Carson pre and post the "Engalnd game". Looked awesome before BUT a totally different, clueless keeper afterwards.

Bruce has always done a pretty good job. Look at where he got Wigan to last season. Be interesting to see what he does with Sunderland ... a couple of years behind MON on a similar "project". Hughes did a great job with Blackburn and Wales but looks out of his depth with Citeh. We will see more over the season. Roy Hodgson did fantastic with Fulham last season. Harry has a decent track record and, whilst not popular with most of us, seems to have got Spurs firing. I like MON but I don't see him as the in the top 4 on what I have seen to date. Consistently poor decision making (or a lack of decision making I should say). He needs to start showing some flexibility and responding to situations (substitutions, tactics etc) IMO before we can say he is a very good manager and can take us to the next level. I would say the jury is out on MON in the modern Premier League??

It provokes discussion about our team. Pretty boring discussion forum without this, unless you like reading match reports and speculative transfer threads (in the windows) and nothing else.

Have to agree with this. Ash is the quicker and to see him running at a full back is very exciting. His delivery is vicious, when he is on form, hence the reason we score so many ogs. Milner is currently the heartbeat of the team, alongside NRC. Haven't voted. Couldn't ... didn't want to do. Love 'em both ... in a very manly way of course!

I might go back and have a look at results with Heskey and without, but i can't be arsed now. But i think the main problem was defensively, i dont think the Petrov/Barry or Petrov/Delph centre midfield has the legs defensively. And it showed in the stats. This. I think 4-4-2 can work fine as when we beat Chelski at VP two seasons ago BUT we cannot play Stan in such a formation - he is just not mobile/energetic enough. It was NRC and Barry that day and NRC + Delph/Downing would be interesting. Also, needs the second striker to be disciplined if we are playing opposition that play 4-5-1 (as Luke Moore was that day) and drop in to CM when the opposition have possession!

Would have to disagree. A very good (but injured player) who will be our playmaker for the next 5-6 years, a very good prospect who will replace Sidwell at the top of the triangle within 6 months, IMHO (unless Sidders recaptures his Reading form), a great LB (rate him as the best outside the top 4), excellent cover for our first choice RB and two (it would appear) decent CBs to compete with our existent duo. One more signing - ACM/2nd striker e.g. Tuncay - and it would have been a very good window.

Gabby didn't score on Monday but we beat Plop 3-1. A striker doesn't have to score 1 in 2 to be a good player. You are right though that someone has to score the goals and its doesn't quite work with Gab and Emil. Maybe alongside the Fonz as our back up striking duo? Trouble is, in our position, we are unlikely to have a back up striker for JC that scores at 1 in 2!

I think he's okay, as a back up for JC, but should never be paired with JC. Its not Heskey's fault that he's playing though, its our idiot of a manager. The same manager that repeatedly puts Stan in a 4-4-2 and hardly ever plays NRC. The same manager that watched the last 15 games of last season and made no tactical changes or even substitutions. The same manager that watched a very average pre-season until Stan was injured and replaced in DCM by NRC followed by some great performances/results. The same manager that returned Stan in a 4-4-2 on day 1 and watched us murdered by a Wigan side that has since been murdered by everyone else. The same manager that tweaked the side to then see us beat Plop but still didn't learn from that!! I don't know what MON has to go through for him to learn anything?? He is a complete prat and the poll should be about the manager and not a CF who is being used by that manager in the wrong way. IMHO! He is taking the club down.

I'm with you. He just doesn't have the energy to play in a 4-4-2. It is becoming a joke. And if he does play 4-4-2 he is always dead on his legs after 60 mins hence the CBs get absolutely flooded by opposition runners not being picked up by our supposed DCM! Why can't MON see this. It was there for the last 15 games of last season. There in pre-season before he was injured - massive change in our form after Petrov went. And there in the Wigan game and tonight. Stop playing Stan in a 4-4-2!! I agree that Heskey and Carew should not be played together. I'm surprised MON didn't go for Crouchie to give him more big men pairing options. It is just basics and embarrasing. This from a supposedly top coach?????

Thought Carlos was excellent. They were let down by a lightweight CM. Simples!!

A few other negatives you seem to have missed - We are out of Europe - That makes it difficult to attract decent players - or retain your existing ones And - The way we let them stroll through the centre of our midfield in the last 30 minutes. If they could finish at all they would have won 3 or 4 - 2!! - Our manager hasn't got a clue and has the memory of a goldfish!! We've seen it all before Martin. We NEED to CHANGE things. He has the players. He just refuses to use them. I am getting very very bored with him. If he is going to play 4-4-2 with Petrov in there at home this season we are going to be in trouble, especially if he won't take him off for the last 30 when he is tired or add an extra CM. He adds nothing in that formation. Lets see NRC and Delph if he's gonna try it - high energy and good mix. Otherwise, it has to be 4-5-1.

MON proves his lack of tactical awareness again!! 25 mins to go and midfield, anchored by Stan (who should never play in a 4-4-2) getting overrun. Bring on NRC and Gab for the two strikers and shut it down. Will he never learn. Did he not see the last 15 matches of last season?? Stoke, West Ham etc etc etc.. Getting boring. The man must be an idiot??

ST holder with my wife. Will go away if I can convince her there is good shopping destination!! Hence never been to Wigan, Blackburn or Bolton.