The Kraken

As spectacular as some of those mentioned are (and I'd probably go with Connolly's against Norwich) I feel a shout out to Lallana's against Norwich is worthwhile, for the fact that it was a really slick move with excellent movement and interplay that cut their defence to ribbons, with a crisp, unstoppable finish.

Because, until Feb 20th, we have 11 games to play. A number of them against some pretty decent sides in this division. Now I don't think for a minute that we should go into any league game looking for any less than a win. On an individual basis it's how we should approach every league match, home or away. That said, I feel it's entirely unreasonable to suggest that it is unacceptable for us to lose any of the next 11 games. Are you saying that if we won 10 of those games and lost against Colchester, we should deem that form as unacceptable? Besides, it's a quirk of football that you sometimes don't get the results you deserve, and through the course of the season we (and the other teams around the top) will have to endure a "shock" defeat. It what happens, and you have to look at overall form rather than focussing on one-off games. I'd suggest that, if we're looking to achieve promotion, we probably can't afford to lose more than 1 or 2 of the next 11 games. I just don't agree with the sentiment that to lose just one of them is unacceptable.

What a ridiculous thing to say.

The only way I'd support a winter break would be if the clubs were forced to actually take a break, and that any friendly fixtures (even those behind closed doors) were strictly forbidden. This will never happen with the Premier League; the greed of all involved would just mean that they'd all be off to the Far East are other far flung regions of the globe to top up the bank balance, thereby making the true value of a winter break totally redundant.

Absolutely right. It's nice to play the fantasy football "who should we sign" game but Pardew has previously pulled quite a few rabbits out of the hat with some top signings that not too many people predicted or suggested. It's a very nice feeling to have a manager in whom you can place so much trust.

True, but there is also a great deal of mileage to be gained from adding to the mix with experienced pros from a higher division; Jaidi being a point in case. It's all about getting the blend of the team right. I think the team can get by in most areas of the pitch, though of course we can always improve. But I'd definitely like to see us sign another striker; I believe Lambert hasn't missed a game for us yet, and our style is very much defined by playing through him. I think Beckford is an unrealistic target, but he's certainly the type of player we need to be looking at, somewhere in the middle of the attributes of Lambert and Connolly.

He's going down, he's going down, Droopy's going down...

They just showed the Leeds goal on Sky Sports News. Nice finish, but a little disappointing we seemed to allow Snodgrass the freedom of Elland Road to pick up the ball, turn and pick his spot.

According to Alan McInally on SkySports, we can be disappointed to come away with nothing, as we matched Leeds all were just beaten by one very good goal. Disappointing, but I always considered Leeds to be the class act in this division, so no disgrace at all. Just need to pick ourselves up for Exeter, a convincing win in front of a big crowd will get us going again.

Bottom left

I'm not at all convinced that Plymouth would get anywhere near to capacity in the PL; all these "plastic" fans have gotten by without Premiership football for a very, very long time so I can't see why 35,000 extra would suddenly start following just because they're in one higher division. That said, you have to give credit to Plymouth as a whole for getting their arses in gear and achieving a successful bid. Something that was well beyond our own turgid rabble of civil servants. It's very much to the detriment of this city and beyond that we didn't come close to entering a bid ourselves.

Do we know if the away goals rule is in effect?

How do you "lose" a leg of a two-legged fixture?? You can be behind after one leg, you can score less goals than another team in one leg, but you can't "lose" it as it is just 90 minutes of what is known to be a 180 minute game. To suggest you can "lose" a leg suggests the first and second legs are completely separate, when of course they're not.

Excellent; let's leave it there then.

And Torquay's official site list it as a defeat. http://www.torquayunited.com/page/Fixtures/0,,10445,00.html

Yet Norwich have the game listed as a defeat. http://www.canaries.co.uk/page/Fixtures/0,,10355,00.html So I guess Torquay have got it wrong...

Seriously, if it means that much to you, take it up with the OS. They're still listing it as a WIN. The mentalists.

As long as the OS continues listing last night's and the Torquay games as WINs, I think NickG should keep his list the same. Especially as it quite clearly winds up the forum pedants and depressives so much.

The OS lists last night's game, and the game against Torquay, as a WIN. Perhaps someone should let them know they've apparently got it wrong....

Oh good, a separate thread. Because this hasn't been discussed at all in any of the match threads....

I remember watching him play at St. Mary's; think it must have been a reserve game though. He was utterly, utterly terrible! Laughably bad, in fact.

Great draw....

I went down to the ground today to pick up tickets; arrived just before 3pm and there was a queue of at least 20 people before me. Apparently it had been that way all day. Admittedly a lot were probably buying tickets for the JPT, but good to see nonetheless (apart from the cold wait in line).

The law was not intended to be a murky area, it was intended to be simple. Which is why the law doesn't differentiate, as you seem to believe, between whether the striker would have scored or not. It's a simple question; was a goal-scoring opportunity denied by the handball. And the clear answer is yes. So, yes, I can say his decision was incorrect. Watch the replay again, it's on bbc iplayer. There is no doubt whatsoever that, without the handball, Lambert would have had a clear header. Whether he would have scored, missed, had it saved, cleared off the line, is irrelevant. The "opportunity" to score with a header from 6 yards out was denied solely by the handball, therefore its a red card.

There's no right answer for this one IMO; only hindsight will tell us what the best outcome was. If we play a strong team, win the game and the players all come through unscathed then it will be a huge boost to our confidence and keep hopes alive of picking up some silverware. When the team are winning games no player wants to be dropped, and enjoying a victory over one the strongest teams in the league would be a great shot in the arm. Playing a severely weakened team and getting beaten just won't allow for that and could be seen as a backwards step. However, if we have an injury such as Murty's against Birmingham (again a cup game) then there will be accusations that players should have been rested for the promotion push. I'd prefer to see us play a strong team, though I'm all to aware of the risks it poses.