Chez

Not sure I agree with most of your points (although flat track bullies does ring very true having not beaten the top sides out of sight last season) but seeing as he's made mistakes my side of the argument is going to look a little thin right now. Can't see anyone on this thread including myself and Dr Who (who are the only ones not laying into him) saying he is a "great defender" just that he'll be fine - he'll do a decent job for us this season.

how the **** was the second goal his faulty? As usual Saints fans will jump on a players back at the smallest of opportunities. He's only human. Even the first goal he stuck a leg out to block a shot., Everyone does that, its a natural reaction. His positioning wasn't great and he went with the wrong foot, but bloody hell, some of the things Claus used to do made my eyes water compared to that and he was gods gift on here.

I said "will" be fine. You write him off if you want, but I'm gonna give him a bit longer to find his feet.

there is a lot less of us dominating in the top flight, so we aren't putting chances on a plate for our strikers, so Sharp wouldn't score many goals IMO. Sharp offers little movement IMO and all at a very slow pace. I saw more movement from Rodriguez on Sunday if I'm honest. OK so Lambert doesn't create his own chances, but he wins headers, holds the ball up and links the play. Sharp does none of these things. In magic, I'm talking about beating a man with raw ability not tucking away a chance.

Luton did far less and the entire board and management had long gone before the FL dished out their substantial punishment.

Not sure why anyone gets child benefit. If you can't afford kids don't have them. Put this money saved into state supported child care. Workers needs are then looked after paid for from money previously handed out liberally.

agent John Utaka seems to have revealed himself

you make it sound like he single handedly got us promotion in the end, which is miles off the truth. The side as a whole put chances on a plate for him, some of which he finished. How many times was a game going away from us and a piece of magic from Sharp changed the game our way? I can remember a single occasion. Almost all his goals came from concerted pressure or chances created by others.

we've only just been bloody promoted. Pretty much the whole side are therefore going to be marginal at this level. How's about lowering expectations a little and hoping these guys can complete rather than expect them to be wining week in week out?

watching pretty much every single one of his games since he came here is what makes me believe he will be fine. He is a decent player who has just made a few mistakes that have led directly to goals. Doesn't mean he is **** or can't cope at this level, it just means he has made a few mistakes. Christ, if we sacked every player that did we'd have a turnover of players like QPR. Just read this thread from the start again and see how time can change opinion on players and how stupid knee jerk posts can make fans look. Going back to Fonte, he made a mistake on TV at Boro (important because you get a whole host of fans that hardly ever go to games seeing the error and judging the player on that mistake rather than the bigger picture) and suddenly "he is ****". ********. He had a decent season last year and his partnership with Jos was one of the main reasons why we were promoted. But fans are fickle and forget every decent performances and only remember the below par showings. There were a few, don't get me wrong, but I recall that he had a broken toe at the time. Yes he also made a few mistakes over the course of the season (who doesn't) - diving in was always something that I thought would get him in trouble, but he has tapered that more and more as he has progressed up the leagues. This is why I, against the tide on here, thought he'd be fine given a little time to adjust. And what do you know... Back to Jos. He was absolutely outstanding last season. Almost faultless at times and that needs to be taken into account when assessing what he can do for us this year. He has made a few errors this time round - being turned inside and out by Tevez certainly isn't one of them - but nothing most centre backs aren't making up and down the country. The key here is that they have ALL been punished, so they really are shown up (good old TV again) in glorious technocolour, but IMO he'll settle down and some of these mistakes will eventually not lead directly to a goal and those mistakes won't be noticed or will be quickly forgotten leading to fans saying how well he's playing - even if he is making the same sort of errors! keep in mind that defending is not just about centre backs stopping strikers scoring. It's about our own strikers keeping the ball and pushing teams back. Midfielders moving off the ball causing opponents onto their back foot. It's about having the right balance of players in front of the defence who dribble and pass to ensure we keep the ball and relieve pressure. It's about care and attention when we are clearing the ball and passing right through the team. Giving the ball away cheaply, especially in poor errors leaves big centre backs exposed to quick counter attacks. It's also about putting pressure on the ball carrier, not giving away daft freekicks...the list goes on and on. In short, all CBs will make mistakes. The key is to minimise the opportunity for them to take place. If we as a team do more in that regard then there will be less opportunity for Jos to **** up and suddenly he'll look like a great player again. He'll be alright.

Jos will be fine.

you talked utter drivel earlier in the season about Fonte and your post above fails to acknowledge just how wrong you were. Sunday wasn't a one off. He's been pretty good in most games, as he was for the vast majority of last season.

you trusted Adkins when he brought him in, why is his judgement being doubted now? Sharp is a Championship striker and no more. He offers little other than goal poaching. I for one am happy that we have shipped him out in favour of the signings we brought in. Mayuka looks a genuine talent to me and I saw some good things in Rodriguez on Sunday (both are still relatively young with room for improvement) that I have not seen before from him - decent turn of foot, confidence to run with the ball, good work rate, not bad in the air and willingness to put himself about to unsettle centre halves. Sharp offers none of those facets. I thought Austin was the more dangerous of the two strikers at Burnley so was sceptical about his signing, but hopefully he'll progress quickly. I guess what he doesn't offer is Sharp's goal poaching, but I've never been a fan of strikers that do jack all game and just wait for a chance to come there way. A promoted side can't carry a goal poacher. they need work rate and threat and the ability to create something out of nothing for themselves. Sharp against Blackburn last week missed a real sitter to win the game. Forest fans aren't overly impressed so far and prefer Cox.

I was happy with the transfers and still am, disappointed with the number of errors we have made and the subsequent lost points, have never liked Adkins' when he speaks, but always wanted him here, felt he made a massive mistake in the substitutions against Manu, less so on Sunday, but overall his substitutions have been very effective over the last two years. I am more than willing to back him for a lot longer. Amazed the number of people doubting him. I guess that's football these days. No patience.

I'm amazed that we sell so many. Premiership ticket prices are a joke. if I hadn't bought a season ticket out of habit I doubt I'd choose to spent that sort of cash on a single ticket when its free on TV. Shame the empty seats are usually next to the away fans and are picked up by the cameras every week.

Peter has been telling Stories.

he is not quick and he is left footed. Why does everyone expect him to go past fullbacks on the outside? Every now and then he goes outside to keep the fullback honest and he did that today, but he's going to come inside more often than not and when he does he'd looking for movement in front of him and in the second half (one great Morgan run apart that he should have picked out) there wasn't a great deal going on so he eventually ran into trouble. He got caught in possession down the middle once, when a little slow to release, but at least he was making things happen and offering a threat. Having someone dribble and take pressure off the back four is vital and he does that well. Once he went off we hardly kept the ball at all and we ended up dropping deep and under the cosh. In contrast Chaplow doesn't dribble and relies on people finding him on the move. We didn't have enough ball to take advantage of that and our right side just disappeared as any sort of threat, long angled balls from Yoshida apart.

Can't agree with this at all. Chaplow has played wide midfield for us for two seasons. Mayuka is a centre forward who has played a few minutes on the right side of an attacking 3. I don't want to see him or any other striker playing wide as part of a 4-4-2.

why do we keep taking Puncheon off? He was our best player against United and he was right up there today as well. We haven't improved in any way after both substitutions. Add to that we dropped him completely at Everton. Adkins certainly knows how to keep the two muppets behind me happy. They moaned at him all game, then moaned at Guly too. Talk about judging a player based on past performances. Lambert wasn't having a great game and did very little in the second half, but defensively we are weak at set pieces whenever he goes off. I thought Fox had a pretty good game today. Got tight to Duff and tracked his runs well. Got the wrong side of him a couple of times, but he was only done when faced with a 2 on 1. A few stray passes, but overall I thought he did OK. A million miles better than the Villa game. Fair play to him.

I can't helping thinking that Cortese has redeployed girls in skirts to hand those sticks out

is he?

Jordon Sibley. If you have a better route to an answer I'm all ears.

why do you frequent a football forum, is it to whinge at whingers?

Jordon Sibley. If you have a better route to an answer I'm all ears.