The9

As yet I'm not sure what Pardew's said, but yesterday me and him seemed to be very much on the same wavelength.

I don't agree with this by any stretch. I also think he is more easily replaced at this level than any of our attacking players - just not by Wotton. A match-sharp Lloyd James probably would have filled in much more competently, but he was out of practice, just as Schneiderlin was when he came back against Orient a few weeks back, when he was bloody terrible. Plus he played against Brentford and Exeter in those draws, and was only noticably missed against Wycombe until last night.

Seaborne's "hoofing" was very controlled and almost always found Lambert, and he didn't do it much in the second half, when you could argue we should have been doing it more urgently. I thought he was massively improved yesterday. Having said that, Hazell had everything covered in the air anyway, including from crosses, though I do wonder if we could have just got someone in the flight path of one of his many random arm-flailing leg waving header-away lunge-jumps that we may have got a penalty. It also kind of annoys me that people focus on two "high profile" incidents like Puncheon's poor cross towards Barnard in the first half and one pass off the pitch, and ignore his workrate, murdering of the left back all game long and ability to keep and use possession in the final third, and the large number of passes he did complete. He can also score from nothing.

I wasn't talking about the foul. That ban for Prutton's overreaction was massively disproportionate and was due to the FA overreacting, mostly due to the way other teams had harangued referees. No-one's going to tell me yelling at a linesman (and lightly shoving a ref out of the way to do so when you probably haven't even realised he's the ref because you're looking through him to the linesman) is worse than recklessly fouling, or punching or elbowing an opponent with intent to injure, etc, and they're rarely more than 4 match bans. Anyone know what ban Roy Keane got for deliberately trying to ruin Alf-Inge Haaland's career, as detailed in his autobiography ? Agree that Schneiderlin needs to calm down in those situations, but it's exactly the kind of unexpected flashpoint that's very difficult to control. Crouch's sending off was still much more devastating to us in terms of being able to stay up, it took away our attacking outlet in a game where we were going to be up against it and meant having to change our entire style of play as we didn't have a tall bloke who could hold it up to play it to.

I don't think anyone's suggesting the team goes out to just try and see who can hit the crossbar from 40 yards or do the most Cruyff turns on Saturday. And even the sides who have no mathematical chance of doing anything will be trying to win...

If we'd been 2-0 up at half time from simple quick passing moves that didn't stall in the centre of the park we wouldn't have needed to throw everything forward - and risk being caught on the counter. I know which I'd prefer.

I'm still more annoyed about Crouch getting sent off at Palace and being suspended for the last match than Prutton and the ban he got for not very much really with the ref in the way.

Really ? I think we'll go up next season but the chances of Huddersfield failing to get 3 points from their last 3 matches and us getting in the play-offs this time around is now negligible. After last night we can't catch Charlton or Swindon, which reduces our chances further, and having failed to win our game in hand we're still behind Colchester. As they are playing Huddersfield, we also need Colchester to slip up somewhere in their other two games. And Huddersfield are playing the bottom side on Saturday for a start - if they lose that and Colchester slip up and Saints win I might give it the time of day again, but at the moment, it's a massive outsider.

So what you're saying is that we should have changed MORE players, and the cup-tied players were a blessing in disguise ?

That's time for you. You can see from his rigid movements that his legs are getting stiff and that makes adjusting balance and doing anything quickly that much more difficult, especially in a congested midfield. So speaks a 37 year old (barely) "ex-footballer"...

Suppose I should qualify my optimism with a rider about injuries - we've been pretty lucky not to have major injuries this season - Murty was covered reasonably quickly and well, as was Kelvin - but the loss of Hammond and Schneiderlin no doubt cost us points. If we lost Lambert or Lallana for a few months we might struggle a bit.

Support strikers make a lot of high intensity sprints at an ever-decreasing rate as they become tired, we just swapped a tired one for a fresh one. Lambert doesn't often get subbed because he's our only target man style player and he does less high-intensity sprinting so he doesn't get as worn out.

Because they could have spent 45 minutes battering us due to a lack of defensive midfielder for all we knew - and notably DID have chances when we didn't have one in the last 20 minutes. You don't send a side out to attack and leave yourself exposed, you send a side out to win. When it becomes evident that we need a goal more urgently, you adjust the team accordingly. I can't fault Pardew's choices last night at all once the nature of the play became obvious and that Wotton was slowing us down too much, we completely dominated throughout and were just unlucky that the ball didn't bounce for us in the box.

Either will be fine, surface is great, bit of give and comfortably takes a stud or blades. New boots in a match is not a good idea as a general concept of course, get an apprentice to break them in for you.

If you're asking my expectations for next season NOW, absolute minimum is promotion, top 2 is realistic, and Champions I hope. With our financial resources compared to other sides, added to the basis of our existing successful squad, our form since October and the benefits of a fully-planned pre-season, we really should be the team to beat next season. I'd expect us to come in the top 6 with the current squad (although obviously a few of those won't be staying due to age, ability or contract status). Having said all that if we lose our first match I won't be screaming for the manager's head, Pardew's done more than enough to suggest he'll get the right kind of results.

I'm not entirely convinced by Schneiderlin's ability overall, but the deficiencies when he is NOT there are easy to see. He keeps things ticking over at a consistent pace and that doesn't allow the opposing defenders to settle, which helps create uncertainty. Wotton's more rigid style was like a full stop in a sentence. And then play went on, with the defence already reorganising and few openings created.

There was every possibility we'd have scored in those 45 minutes anyway, so why change it ? There's a difference between bringing on a more attack-minded defensive midfielder and having 4 attacking midfielders AND there was always the possibility they MIGHT catch us on the break. Playing as we were even with Wotton slowing things down we would still have been expected to be in front. We still needed someone with that defensive mentality for a while, one who (usually) can pass better than Wotton because of the possession that was going through that position - and it was only in the last 20 minutes where we had to gamble with extra strikers and risk losing the match altogether by not protecting the defence (which inevitably led to a few worrying Oldham counters).

He was certainly massively improved on any previous performance I've seen for us - looked composed and assured, comfortable on the ball and used it well. Also won most things in the air and was a LOT closer to Fonte when Oldham (rarely) attacked. I think, actually, that now he's got used to partnering Fonte he's got a lot more confidence and looks like he might have the makings of a good defender - which I definitely wouldn't have said until yesterday. It's up to him whether that is a pleasant blip or a strong consistent level he's always going to be at. One of the few positives of last night in the bigger scheme of things.

I didn't think he played badly last night, but it wasn't his kind of game. He had nothing to do to break up play which is where his skills lie, and he got a lot of ball and was repeatedly asked to use his vision and creativity, which aren't strengths. Most attacks stalled when they went through him, and the right substitution was made in the circumstances.

Spot on there. Except maybe the "very poor". Wotton was fine, but playing to the maximum of his ability he still takes too long on the ball to keep play flowing and the defence gets the chance to reorganise. Bringing James on was the right option in the interests of shifting the ball quickly, but his lack of recent match practice was probably the cause of his poor passing. When it became obvious Oldham were offering nothing that needed defending, removing James again for a striker was a smart move.

It was SO noticable that every time Wotton got the ball last night play ground to a halt that I called his replacement by James at half time. As it happened James did things more quickly but wasn't any more effective as he was giving it away a lot, and as he had no defensive duties at all it also made sense to give him the hook to throw on a striker for the last 20 minutes. Pardew made all the right choices from half time (can't blame him for putting Wotton in at the start either, he wasn't to know Oldham would offer nothing going forward) and it was just one of those days you can't afford when you're chasing a ten point deduction and slow start.

Haven't we already ? Can't see it happening, but there's still a mathematical outside possibility at least until Saturday.

Looked like a hack-out-the-opponent's-legs-off-the-ball straight red for violent conduct to me.

Other than having scored an overhead kick at their ground, the only thing that interests me about Bournemouth is them thinking they're our rivals. It'll do in the meantime if we've got nothing better to do, but I'd rather they massively c'cked up promotion from here as it would be funny... ...was also quite annoyed that some AFCB bellend was giving me aggressive verbals outside The Marlands on the way back to the train station some time circa 2004, but I called his bluff and he backed off.

The Premier League have different rules to the FL. Which is why people keep saying "we'll see" about what the FL will do if they're still in Admin. I've been saying since the start of the season that there's the possibility of their -9 (which was inevitable even then) having zero effect and them not being penalised by the Football League because they're not a member at the moment, but either way if they're in admin when they apply to join the Championship they'll get a deduction. I'm kinda hoping someone will mention their financial irregularities as well...