The Kraken

Gordon Arms, Portswood. (It helps that its my local....)

Yep, pretty much agree with that. James was a deer in the headlights last night, obviously has some talent but isn't ready for the step up yet. In the first half he seemed to be nowhere near their winger, then in the second half every pass he hit seemed to go straight back to them. Surman; I thought he looked excellent going forwards, but not great defensively. he's a big miss in midfield, playing Dyer there just doesn't work. My biggest worry is Jan's non-stop persistence with the 4-2-1-2-1 formation, which is essentially just a 4-5-1. Away from home, when we're trying to keep it tight, I think it'll work quite well and lets us hit at pace on the break. But at home, last night I thought Stern John (as poor as he was) was crying out to have a strike partner up with him to get in behind the defence. We play some nice stuff, but just don't look threatening or direct enough, our pretty play is in the wrong areas and really doesn't get us anywhere. I'd really like to either see two up front, or Lallana playing in a much more advanced role just off the striker. Last night he got lost in the central midfield battle.

Our centre-backs are: Svensson - very experienced, though obviously a massive injury worry Perry - 35, very experienced. Thomas - 29, experienced old head. Cork - youngster but made a significant number of appearances at this level. Not many teams will have more than 4 recognised centre-halves they can call on, and that's ignoring the fact that Wotton started his career as a centre-back, and the younger kids who are available. Even if you discount Svensson, Perry and Thomas would surely be counted as experienced in position. I'm not sure I understand exactly how many of these players you think we need.

The optimistic choice is f) wait for it to become clear to them that their performances have been sub-standard and therefore put their chances of a move onwards out of the question, and hope they double their effort on the pitch to put themselves in the shop window. Sadly, I think the realistic choice is b)

A very realistic, if slightly disappointing, view on things. Totally agree.

I think that while it is a revelation to see us playing such good football, we shouldn't forget that our team can also mix it up a bit and get stuck in. It was good to see Gillett especially harrassing anyone in sight, and getting fully stuck into Lee Carsley on occasion. Holmes and Lallana also seemed more than happy to put a foot in on occasions last night. You can see that Carsley really makes Brum tick and all of our midfield were excellent in shutting him down to give him no time on the ball.

He definitely can't play against us. My mate works for Watford and put the deal together and has confirmed it.

Aside from outside investment, what other choice do we have? Costs have to be cut enormously, that's the reality of the situation. Success this season means staying in business and avoiding relegation; its a sh!te situation to be in, but its the reality of 2 years of overspending.

What a waste of my 3 posts for today! And this time, actually with the link. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A23301299

This is the article...

Most people last year selected Hull to struggle; this article on bbc 606 had them down to be relegated. Remind where Hull are this year..... Predictions at this time of year are completely to be taken with a pinch of salt. According to most media outlets we were supposed to mount a promotion push last season.

Sorry, but I couldn't disagree more with this. Of course there will be a contingency to open up the corners, its not a huge logistical effort at all, just a case of providing more staff on matchday. There's no way Rupert or SFC will want to be in a position of turning away fee paying customers, so I just can't believe this will not have been considered.