Sheaf Saint

2003? Don't know if that was actually the last time but I remember going to Ashton Gate and seeing us win 3-0 in one of the cups.

I've become thoroughly bored of watching it this season. I could happily watch Vettel win every race if it was close and he had to fight hard for it, but the way he just scampers off into the distance every time now is just depressing and dull to watch. Really can't be bothered with it any more. The only saving grace for the sport on the whole that I can see is there are some big regulation changes for next season (1.6 litre V6 turbocharged engines instead of the current 2.4 litre V8, and an enhanced energy recovery system), and the varying degrees to which the teams adapt to these should shake things up a bit. When Maclaren designed this year's car they did it with half an eye on these new rules for next season so they should be a lot more competitive at least. I'm done for 2013. Really don't care how the rest of the season pans out because the title is already Vettel's barring an injury that stops him from racing. I'll tune in for the first few races of next season and see if it is any better, and if normal service is resumed then I'll quit watching it for good I reckon.

Isn't it far more likely that there is a much simpler explanation for Lallana always being subbed: because he runs his socks off for the team and is knackered by the 70 minute mark?

.... We looked so much better and more likely to score after Lambert went off yesterday. Don't get me wrong, I'm not in any way writing him off because he still has a lot to offer. But I just don't see how we can accommodate him in our current game plan. Opposition teams have sussed out that he can be marked out of the game and it's costing us badly at the moment IMO. I honestly think we would be better off playing Davis or Gaston in the hole and using SRL as an impact sub to come on when the defenders are tiring. Just my opinion. No doubt many of you will disagree.

Yep, we do. Mine was lightning quick to text me after the game to say he thought we deserved it. There was quite a delay on the stream I was watching and I got the text before the ref blew for full time!

You say it was pretty clear, but it really wasn't. Having seen it again from a couple of angles on MOTD it does look like Lovren didn't make any contact with the ball (just), but initially when I saw the replay it looked like he did. The ref obviously didn't have a great view either, Sturridge wasn't exactly in a shooting position and he didn't go down, so it's easy to see why he didn't give it. I've seen softer ones given before certainly, but then we've had a couple of blatant ones denied already this season so it's swings and roundabouts.

He seems so much more confident this season alongside Lovren. Our defense has been immense so far with three clean sheets in five games (I know - I had to re-read that myself!) and he has been a core part of that. Long may it continue.

Lovren MOTM on Setanta

Agreed. We look a lot more composed and dangerous since Davis came on.

What did Clyne get booked for? My stream was buffering.

Really poor from Wanyama to get dispossessed there.

Very bad misjudgement from Clyne there trying to shepherd the ball out and giving away a corner.

And it would have been a blatant dive cos there was no contact from Shaw.

Defending too deeply now and can't keep possession when we get out of our half. I don't reckon we'll be able to hold on to this.

Should never have been a FK though cos of a blatant push from Sterling on one of our players right before it.

The Liverpool bias on Setanta is ridiculous. All the HT analysis has been about them and their inability to unlock our defence. Hardly surprising with John Barnes and Didi Harman as the studio pundits, but still it's very depressing.

Agreed. Wanyama has been a liability so far today. What the hell has happened to the man that looked so unplayable against WBA on the opening day? Lallana has been good but his touch lets him down too often.

Lucky let-off. Lovren clearly made some kind of contact with the ball though.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/unfortunate-bbc-moustache-for-nigel-farage-8829452.html :lol:

I'm not saying he is a better player, I'm just going on the evidence before my eyes. I watched most of the games last season and the fluidity that we had in midfield - the way we passed it around and worked the ball up the pitch - was of a much higher standard than I have seen so far this season. Last week Wanyama didn't release the ball quickly enough and that allowed him to be closed down by the West Ham forward players which prevented us from building our attacks in the way that we seemed to be able to do last season when Cork was playing alongside Schneiderlin. Just an observation. I don't doubt that MP and the coaching staff see something in Wanyama that convinced them he was worth spending all that money on, but given how effective JC and MS were in CM last season, I think MP made a mistake by dropping Cork from the matchday squad entirely to accommodate a very expensive signing who has yet to prove he was worth the money.

And it's no coincidence that Wanyama had a great game at WBA but has been less impressive in the games since then. Our midfield was so much more fluid last season when we had Cork and Schneiderlin at CM, and I really hope JC gets picked today and that Wanyama is forced to fight for his place in the team to (hopefully) prevent him from getting complacent.

Nice try George, but utterly wrong I'm afraid. The 'report' (I use the term loosely because it all stems from a 'Journalist' (again, term used loosely) in the Mail on Sunday) which claims the Arctic sea ice has grown by 60% and that the IPCC held crisis talks is completely discredited. The 60% growth claim is in fact a staggering example of 'cherry-picking data to support your argument', and the crisis talks did not happen. http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/09/10/climate_change_sea_ice_global_cooling_and_other_nonsense.html

Just been to see Rush - the biopic telling the story of the rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda during the 1976 F1 season. As a fan of F1 it was amazing to see the racing scenes on a big screen but even my GF, who hates F1, really enjoyed it. Top stuff from Ron Howard. The two actors playing Hunt and Lauda are brilliant and they both even look a hell of a lot like them as well.

While you are absolutely correct that Wanyama cannot be blamed for our lack of creativity or goal threat, as that is clearly not his role in the team, I do believe that Cork would have made a difference yesterday in a different way. During the first half at least, Wanyama was guilty of dithering in possession: receiving the ball in or around the centre circle and taking an absolute age to decide what to do with it. This allowed the WHU players to close him down and limit his options, or close down his team-mates who were making themselves available to receive it. Quite a few times this resulted in him going backwards to keep possession or giving the ball away. JC, on the other hand, will receive the ball and release it much more quickly to feed one of the forward players, and that is what we were crying out for yesterday to penetrate their midfield better.

West Ham were crap. Utter, utter crap. They were there for the taking and we couldn't find the quality to unlock their defence. Not too dis-heartened because we looked rock solid at the back (apart from one pinball moment leading up to Collins' spooned effort) but we are 4 games into the season and we still haven't scored from open play. Worrying.