Andy_Porter

Gerrard on the left with Barry staying in the middle imo.

I retract what I said earlier, he should no longer be anywhere near the squad.

Bullard is a bit of a legend, he always looks so happy just to be out on the pitch. Should probably be there in place of Jenas, I doubt a Spurs player is going to be very confident at the moment.

Got my tickets today.

Downing is basically are only choice for a left footed winger, he's not great but I can understand why he's still getting picked. He offers something different. Young should be in the squad at the expense of Beckham imo. Jenas isn't great either but I'm not even sure who we could replace him with, Carrick and Hargreaves when fit would take his place I guess. Maybe Reo-Coker or Bullard but I don't think there's much different between the three.

Just keep it the same as the last game. Gerrard should be on the bench, there's no need to change anything from the Croatia game. Lets not whinge about Capello's decisions after the last two games. The only change to the squad i'd make would be Defoe out for Owen.

I'll join a league/cup if it's 360.

Probably beat us and then people will be on here moaning. The cycle will continue until we get a couple of decent results. btw we already played the best side in the league twice and that didn't exactly end with an embrassing score line.

Spot on once again. I do wonder how long it will take some people to realise that we're crap and can't expect to go away to sides like Coventry and win.

I imagine that JP is telling the widemen to get forward whenever possible but still track back. Obviously the wingers aren't sure when they should be defending and when not, that's where the problems are coming from imo. When we had Holmes on the left he really put in a good shift up and down the left and covered Surman well, now we are lost in the wide areas. I honestly don't think it would change if we just shunted it around to a 4-4-2. We would need to play two proper wingers there like you say, I hear we have a decent Czech winger waiting in the reserves? Even then I think the 4-2-3-1 would work much better with two proper wingers. We could really do with Euell, John and Skacel in the side, build the team around those three and then mix in the likes of Lallana, McGoldrick, Surman, Lancashire, Schneiderlin etc.

The lack of cover is because of the people playing in the wide positions, not the system. If we changed to 4-4-2 and had McGoldrick and BWP on the wings it would be exactly the same.

For all Pearsons shouting his win ratio wasn't as good as JP's. Everyone is going way OOT with this result. We where crap but it's not the end of the world, it's a long term strategy anyone who expected anything above mid table from this season is an idiot. We where crap last year year, we didn't really spend much money to bring in players and we're still crap the only difference is our young players should improve and hopefully we will be in a position to challenge in this league in 4-5 years time.

Why? It shouldn't be any extra problem at all. It should allow the full backs more room to attack but infact we just end up the same amount of attacking play as we would playing a 4-4-2. I honestly don't understand why the 4-2-3-1 formation would put James and Mills under more pressure than a 4-4-2, our formation should be more defensive than the traditional 4-4-2.

Injured.

Certain relegation! at least until we win again and everyone is sure we will be in the play offs...

We play one up front because it means we can play another man in midfield. Playing 4-5-1 makes perfect sense, every team in the world play 4-5-1 at some stage, it's hardly some new idea we've picked up. McGoldrick must be the new Jermaine Wright, I didn't think he was that bad really.

lol @ knee jerkers. Sack the board. Sack the Manager. Sack the defence. Sack them all.

We've got enough to stay up. We should be aiming for the top half of the bottom half if that makes sense. There are easily more than three teams worse than us, if we can keep Schneiderlin, Lallana, Perry and Davis fit then we will be fine. Will be interesting to see how Pulis, Euell and Gasmi fit into the side when fit. Mid table this season, keep hold of as many youngsters as possible over the summer and then aim for a steady improvement each season as we hopefully build for the future.

Wouldn't really be bothered unless the **** decided he wanted to sit near me at SMS.

We just got a striker in on loan, he scored in the last game I guess you missed it. Shows we are still looking for loans when needed, personally I don't see the point in a month long loan unless we get unlucky with injuries and come up short in a certain position. As for taking Premiership academy rejects I don't really see the point, we have a better academy that the majority of the teams up there anyway and anyone who is decent enough for this level will be signed up anyway.

-------------Davis James Lancashire Perry Fish -------Wotton -- Cork McGoldrick -- Lallana -- Surman ------------Robertson That would be ideal imo. Skacel won't play, anyone know why he wasn't involved in the reserves?

Chuffed for him, I just hope he gets a chance to play.

If any of our strikers actually bothered to attack the far post towards the end of the game we would have scored 4 or 5, so many balls flashed accross the goal while players just sat waiting in the box. Maybe it's a lack of experience, I'm sure John would have got on the end of one. 3 points away from a play off spot \o/

Davis - MOTM and so far he's easily been my player of the season. He made three saves in a row before we scored the penalty, if any of those had gone in we wouldn't have got the three points. Superb performace and hopefully it continues. James - Looked a bit shacky at times but he grew in confidence with the team and was an important part of the side. Perry - Done what he had to do well and marshalled the defence well. I think he won the tackle which sent BWP on his way when he hit the cross bar before half time. Lancashire - Looked good as a defender but not totally composed in front of goals, he gave the ball away on the edge of the area in the second half and he will really need to cut that out of his game asap. Should stay at the back with Perry even if Svensson is fit for Saturday. Mills - a future star, doesn't look out of place in the side although he sometimes gives winger a bit too much time on the ball. Surman - Looked superb in midfield and should probably stay there whenever possible, he can help run the game from the middle although I'd worry he may get muscled out of games too easily. Cork - Got forward well and also defended well, wasn't sure how well he'd do in midfield but he was quite good. A shame he's only on loan because he's got a bright future ahead of him. Lallana - Didn't have his best of games by his high standard but he was still one of out best player. He's just so composed on the ball which isn't something i've come to expect at SMS. McGoldrick - Well taken penalty and was unlucky not to score again at the end. I think he need to learn when to cross and when to try and beat a man. Too often he tries to hard to beat one or two defenders when and early ball might be an option. Overall he had probably he best game for us. He showed a lot more effort than in some previous games. Roberton - What a finish, showed some great touches and imo looked a lot better after Pekhart got injured and he moved to the middle. Very unfotunate not to get a 2nd. BWP - Unlucky with his shot before half time and he had an alright game. I'm not convinced he fits our system, especially not as a winger. Hopefully he will prove me wrong. Pekhart - Didn't really do much before he came off, was he injured?

Through the middle. Roberston was down the left to start and then BWP went there after.