The9

Nice - there's only one featured Championship game, so that's going to be a stream somewhere.

It was a foul on Roberts right on the edge of the box and he was lucky Mike Dean bottled everything remotely near making a decision all match long, because he got Roberts well before the ball.

Guly basically had a 95% pass completion when he got on the pitch and had clearly been told to sit in front of the defence and try and open Reading up by passing the ball quickly across the pitch, which he did perfectly well. He then sat deep as the build up went wide and came forward into the space to link play in the middle/attacking third when the space opened up. The complete duckface behind me kept slagging him off for not running forward into space that didn't exist, and usually 2 seconds later when the space opened up, he'd already moved into it, had the ball and moved it on. Some people just want to slate him for not running everywhere and chasing everything down for 90 minutes, which is basically someone else's job which he nevertheless does a fair bit of the time anyway. I just don't get the criticism 90% of the time, even considering his languid style and a technique of putting his first touch 5 yards away into space to allow him to accelerate onto it.

I thought Chaplow played very well, booking and control the one time when Harte blocked him off aside. He was getting forward so much and nullified his man so well (it was McAnuff I was worried about before kick off), Adkins realised we could put De Ridder in there instead.

Basically he should have shot every time he got in the box, he'd have scored sooner or later.

Having said that he was reckless and there have been sendings off for less this season.

We didn't "desperately miss" anything yesterday except the back of the net with 11 of 12 attempts on target.

He was excellent in negating the influence of McAnuff until it became obvious he wasn't a threat and we needed more attacking presence, plus he'd been booked, hence the substitution. I thought Hammond was less effective and was directly responsible for losing the ball for Reading's second.

That's part of their queueing system. Not busy : Ring and speak to an operator. Busy : Ring and get put in a queue Speak to an operator eventually. Very busy : Ring and get told lines are busy, get cut off OR succeed in connecting, see "Busy". If cut off, retry until succeed in connecting, see "Busy".

I actually thought he was going to be just physically too slow in the Championship to be able to make space for himself, have been delighted to be proven wrong on that one, his touch and ability to move the ball past people is fantastic by any standard and it more than compensates for his lack of De Ridder style "knock and run" pace.

I don't agree at all. I think spending his time clattering people would detract from his abilities. He's skilful and effective most of the time, that's just not part of his game and doesn't need to be. As for ego, I'm sure he's loving turning players inside out and knowing he's better than them - it would more than satisfy my ego, f'sure.

I think that's fair comment and suspect it's to do with his style - he sort of "leaps" into the ball when he controls and is very light and agile when he sells dummies, and that's not an effective way of transferring energy to the ball for a powerful shot. You need a firm planted base to get the resistance for a decent shot, Lallana's usually floating around. He's still loads better at it than Cork though, now there's a bloke who can't shoot at all !

I agree to a point it's options, but that's because Lambert isn't an on the shoulder player, Sharp, Lee and Connolly all are, but if they're not available he's got the skill to hold play up and keep the ball in attacking positions. He's played on the right before, even made his debut there, but consider how few regular left-side options we have (Lallana, Lee?, Schneiderlin ? Fox?) compared to the plethora of right-side players (Guly, Puncheon, De Ridder, Chaplow). Makes sense to play him mostly on the left cutting in on his "bending" foot as we have plenty who can use a ball down the right but can't do that on the left - though Puncheon on the narrow left did well for Millwall and I think that's his best position.

If everyone stops replying to him about it he'll move onto stupid stuff like predicting us to come 17th (though next season in the Prem I think a lot of people will take that).

He was up against Ian Harte and actually should have run at him more. His crossing was better than last time he got a game but without someone finishing it... and he's definitely an impact sub not a starter, he's never played his best from the start for us. Also lucky that his token "chase back and tackle from behind" didn't end up in his usual yellow card.

Alternatively we could be all but up on Tuesday if we win and West Ham lose twice.

You're bonkers, Lallana's thinking, feet and dummy selling are rapid - he only delays passes in order to create space or go past players and he reacts faster than all but the very top players in the Championship (Prem standards are a different matter). If anything it's the accuracy of his through balls that needs the work (along with his finishing and especially heading) - but there's nothing wrong with his speed of thought.

Two completely different types of player, how can you even begin to compare ? I would rather Lambert's shooting and heading but I'd much rather Lallana's touch and ball skills.

Basically any West Ham defeat will mean we only need one win to go up on GD - unless they thrash someone or we get stuffed.

We could currently get confirmed as promoted on Tuesday (barring unlikely GD swings) with 85 points, and should West Ham lose their last 4, 76 and a decent GD will have been enough (assuming Brum don't overtake them). The "number of points needed" thread stats are based on accommodating things like West Ham's home form being poor, I think you've completely missed the point - we don't need that many points precisely because the teams around us have lost matches. Sheesh.

As West Ham are currently only on 76 points (albeit with 4 to play) I'd suggest they're still in with a chance of being right... for the moment. If West Ham get another 4 points, THEN might be the time for the big "told you so".

I couldn't give a toss, and I've just posted on here, so knock one off the total.

I've done my time. Played 1, scored 2. It's a great experience even empty, can only imagine what it's like full. Never played in front of more than a few hundred myself.

I know for a fact that Pat from Poole didn't see us score in something like 7 matches through last season coming up to Easter... and that took some doing given our results last season. I think he broke the streak on April 16th when we beat Bristol Rovers 1-0.

Even if we had previous and there was the remotest chance of doing it this time, I think rigging the second most beneficial mutual result with 3 matches to go would be a preeeeeeeetty stupid move.