The, he's finally GONE! Tell us your thoughts Thread

[TezzRexx]

Let's not get carried away with a narrow win against the team that are bottom of the league.

Let's wait and see what happens against Liverplop, Arsehole, Chelski and Stoke.

The first half was okay today but the second half we almost reverted to type.

One swallow does not a summer make.

And on the other side of the coin we shouldn't get too upset if we do badly against 3 teams who are way above our station and a notorious bogey side.

What?

In fact why bother turning up. I mean we only beat Arsenal 2-1 and Liverplop 1-0, how very dare we.

Stop making excuses for the man and the team and actually what we could do if we had someone to install some belief. I was on a FA course yesterday so only saw the highlights, but it didnt appear to be a romp against what is arguably one of the poorest teams in the league on current form.

We have only beaten:

Bolton

Wigan

Blackburn

Norwich

Hardly a whos who of quality is it? Against everyone else we have run and hid and I expect us to revert back to 5-4-1 as an "attacking" formation despite the obvious balance a 4-4-2 brings us.

Whilst there's no excuses for Mcleish for some of the ways he's set our team out, or how our team have performed in some games, don't forget we have lost 3 players that set up 2 and scored 1 of those goals, and 2 of those were our best players & supply line.

Again, not making excuses for the formations or some performances, but we're still trying to find our feet without Young and Downing (although I think we're coming close) and that's got to be considered.

I do have high hopes against Liverpool. Mcleish will do himself no favours by playing negatively, and to a lesser extent, playing Heskey. I'm hoping for Bannan on the left with N'Zog pairing up with Bent but I'm guessing that's unlikely, despite most of N'Zog's goals last season coming from central positions.

[Czechlad]

Just found this. Gave me a good laugh

[Brumerican]

Let's not get carried away with a narrow win against the team that are bottom of the league.

Let's wait and see what happens against Liverplop, Arsehole, Chelski and Stoke.

The first half was okay today but the second half we almost reverted to type.

One swallow does not a summer make.

And on the other side of the coin we shouldn't get too upset if we do badly against 3 teams who are way above our station and a notorious bogey side.

What?

In fact why bother turning up. I mean we only beat Arsenal 2-1 and Liverplop 1-0, how very dare we.

Stop making excuses for the man and the team and actually what we could do if we had someone to install some belief. I was on a FA course yesterday so only saw the highlights, but it didnt appear to be a romp against what is arguably one of the poorest teams in the league on current form.

We have only beaten:

Bolton

Wigan

Blackburn

Norwich

Hardly a whos who of quality is it? Against everyone else we have run and hid and I expect us to revert back to 5-4-1 as an "attacking" formation despite the obvious balance a 4-4-2 brings us.

I'm not making excuses . I'm simply saying that just as you shouldn't get too excited about beating a poor team , you shouldn't get too upset about not beating teams who are better than us if it were to happen .

[DelboyVilla]

at the moment they heavy rely on that "average" player RVP

Give me the Fonz any day of the week! He's already better than RVP and scores more goals????

I'd like to see McLeish put Ireland in against Liverpool, playing off Bent with N'Zog and Albrighton either side.

Wouldn't be a bad thing (and better than putting in Heskey!)

Ireland??? Why?????

I would rather have Emile in the side than that complete waste of wages!

[ozvillafan]

You can only beat the sides they put out against you. Credit where it is due, then, since I think AM got the squad and formation right for Bolton.

Before you ask - no, I'm not an AM fan.

[NowDoINotLikeThat]

You can only beat the sides they put out against you. Credit where it is due, then, since I think AM got the squad and formation right for Bolton.

Before you ask - no, I'm not an AM fan.

Agree he got the team selection right.

But 2nd half was again poor stuff.

First half was admitedly some of the best stuff we had played this season but second half was disturbingly back to sitting far far too deep and frankly was like some of the Man U game again.

I don't think taking Bent off for Heskey was right decision either.

Yes Bent had an offday and missed some sitters and was poor but to replace him with Heskey when was 2-1 ?

Bolton also look relegation bound that cant be ignored.

McLeish will show if has acknowledged his errors in these next few games with his selections.

[Amsterdam_Neil_D]

You can only beat the sides they put out against you. Credit where it is due, then, since I think AM got the squad and formation right for Bolton.

Before you ask - no, I'm not an AM fan.

Agreed, we did well. Looked like we had a bit of energy and drive. Most important of all, see what happens when we pass to each other.

Great win and a positive step forward.

[theboyangel]

at the moment they heavy rely on that "average" player RVP

Give me the Fonz any day of the week! He's already better than RVP and scores more goals????

I'd like to see McLeish put Ireland in against Liverpool, playing off Bent with N'Zog and Albrighton either side.

Wouldn't be a bad thing (and better than putting in Heskey!)

Ireland??? Why?????

I would rather have Emile in the side than that complete waste of wages!

As for selecting Ireland over Heskey next week, with EH on the pitch I fear our central defence will do nothing but punt it high in the air for him to attempt to get his head on (before falling over) - we just continue to give possession back to Liverpool over and over again

With Ireland, we know he has the ability to play and he'll have a bit of freedom in the final 3rd of the pitch where he operates best.

The suggestion is tactical but I'll concede now, that AMC will pick Heskey though!!!!

[DelboyVilla]

at the moment they heavy rely on that "average" player RVP

Give me the Fonz any day of the week! He's already better than RVP and scores more goals????

I'd like to see McLeish put Ireland in against Liverpool, playing off Bent with N'Zog and Albrighton either side.

Wouldn't be a bad thing (and better than putting in Heskey!)

Ireland??? Why?????

I would rather have Emile in the side than that complete waste of wages!

As for selecting Ireland over Heskey next week, with EH on the pitch I fear our central defence will do nothing but punt it high in the air for him to attempt to get his head on (before falling over) - we just continue to give possession back to Liverpool over and over again

With Ireland, we know he has the ability to play and he'll have a bit of freedom in the final 3rd of the pitch where he operates best.

The suggestion is tactical but I'll concede now, that AMC will pick Heskey though!!!!

I think our defense will hoof the ball who ever is up front and AM will expect DB to flick the ball onto himself to score? Don't get me wrong I hate AM's style and tactics and would rejoice if Randy grew some and sacked him but I don't think that Ireland has done anything to justify a place in the starting line up or even the bench. I would rather see Bannan in that position as he has at least shown some fight in his belly!

It is a major concern that AM will revert to the ultra defensive set up he seems to use against any team he considers to be better than us!

[jon_c]

100% with you on Bannan over Ireland.

[bickster]

I don't think taking Bent off for Heskey was right decision either.

Yes Bent had an offday and missed some sitters and was poor but to replace him with Heskey when was 2-1 ?

So there's this bloke who keeps missing sitters in the box whilst on the bench there's this other bloke who came on last week and did provide some trouble for the side we were playing who it has to be said are better than this mob, if you were a manager you'd be daft not replacing the bloke missing sitters with the bloke that provided some attacking impetus when he came on the week before, if you want to take the pressure off your defence by attacking a bit more, that is.

Can't see the problem with the substitution myself. I'm no fan of Heskey but it seemed the right thing to do, bring off the bloke playing like a drain (no matter how much he cost) and bring on some fresh legs (though obviously older) that might cause the Bolton defence some problems, just like he did against Man Utd the week before.

[Amsterdam_Neil_D]

100% with you on Bannan over Ireland.

Never really seen Ireland do much to convince me he is a Prem player. If anything he looks Championship class at best IMO.

[barry'sboots]

I don't think taking Bent off for Heskey was right decision either.

Yes Bent had an offday and missed some sitters and was poor but to replace him with Heskey when was 2-1 ?

So there's this bloke who keeps missing sitters in the box whilst on the bench there's this other bloke who came on last week and did provide some trouble for the side we were playing who it has to be said are better than this mob, if you were a manager you'd be daft not replacing the bloke missing sitters with the bloke that provided some attacking impetus when he came on the week before, if you want to take the pressure off your defence by attacking a bit more, that is.

Can't see the problem with the substitution myself. I'm no fan of Heskey but it seemed the right thing to do, bring off the bloke playing like a drain (no matter how much he cost) and bring on some fresh legs (though obviously older) that might cause the Bolton defence some problems, just like he did against Man Utd the week before.

I don't see the problem with Emile IF he is playing no. 9. He showed last year, under Ged, that he can still be a threat when he is played as the point striker. What I cannot stand is attempting to play Heskey as an ACM/winger.

We can get away with a 4-4-2 against a poor Bolton side. However, I do think we will get outplayed by better teams playing 4-4-1-1/4-3-3/4-5-1/4-2-3-1 where they will have an extra man in CM, particularly when one of our 2 is Stan who is not the most energetic.

[Super-Villan]

Darren Bent will always get into positions and he will always miss chances. But if you play him enough he will score a shedload too. If you sub him just for missing chances then you're failing to understand the kind of player he is, and bringing on a player of Heskey's quality for him is a joke.

If Darren Bent stops getting into the position to score goals, that's when I'd worry about him. Otherwise he should stay on the pitch, because he's the best bet we have of nicking one, and about 100 times more likely to than Heskey.

[AVFC-Prideofbrum]

I thought he just bought him on to tighten things up, hopefully win few balls in air, hold it up, better from defending set-pieces and just generally fresh legs. I didn't mind the change personally, I doubt the same substitution would have been made if the game was level or we needed a goal which would make the argument more credible. We didn't need a goalscorer out on the pitch with 10 minutes to go holding a lead against Bolton IMO.

[Super-Villan]

I thought he just bought him on to tighten things up, hopefully win few balls in air, hold it up, better from defending set-pieces and just generally fresh legs. I didn't mind the change personally, I doubt the same substitution would have been made if the game was level or we needed a goal which would make the argument more credible. We didn't need a goalscorer out on the pitch with 10 minutes to go holding a lead against Bolton IMO.

To me that's very negative. What happens if they do equalise with 9 minutes to go? You've left yourself on the back foot and with much less chance of going to win the game.

[bickster]

I thought he just bought him on to tighten things up, hopefully win few balls in air, hold it up, better from defending set-pieces and just generally fresh legs. I didn't mind the change personally, I doubt the same substitution would have been made if the game was level or we needed a goal which would make the argument more credible. We didn't need a goalscorer out on the pitch with 10 minutes to go holding a lead against Bolton IMO.

To me that's very negative. What happens if they do equalise with 9 minutes to go? You've left yourself on the back foot and with much less chance of going to win the game.

Listen to yourself, bringing on a forward for a forward is negative?

If they equalise with 9 mins to go, you still have a forward on the pitch, ok its one that cant hit a cows arse with a banjo but thats all he was replacing on the pitch anyway

[Woodytom]

The only problem with Heskey for Bent substitution is that it didn't come sooner. Was our worst player and was quite rightly taken off.

[KHV]

The only problem with Heskey for Bent substitution is that it didn't come sooner. Was our worst player and was quite rightly taken off.

Bollocks

[Super-Villan]

I thought he just bought him on to tighten things up, hopefully win few balls in air, hold it up, better from defending set-pieces and just generally fresh legs. I didn't mind the change personally, I doubt the same substitution would have been made if the game was level or we needed a goal which would make the argument more credible. We didn't need a goalscorer out on the pitch with 10 minutes to go holding a lead against Bolton IMO.

To me that's very negative. What happens if they do equalise with 9 minutes to go? You've left yourself on the back foot and with much less chance of going to win the game.

Listen to yourself, bringing on a forward for a forward is negative?

If they equalise with 9 mins to go, you still have a forward on the pitch, ok its one that cant hit a cows arse with a banjo but thats all he was replacing on the pitch anyway

Listen to myself? Heh. As you say, Heskey can't hit a cow's arse. Bringing him on for Bent was an attempt to protect the game, and a signal that we had given up trying to score goals.

He replaced someone on the pitch who had missed some great chances, yes. But Bent through his career has missed great chances in matches and then gone on to score, again and again. His record bears this out. The same can not be said for Heskey.