CanadaSaint

Eleven on target shots to 4. Keep it up guys. He might think about Connolly for Sharp although I'd be inclined to keep Sharp out there for now.

If we keep the width and go at them down both flanks, I can see us scoring two in the last twenty minutes.

Dave's dead right about the width. I'm really surprised that Adkins, playing against ten men, chose to narrow things rather than widen them.

I'd definitely keep Sharp on for the rebounds and half-chances that I think will be coming.

I'll back Adkins to make more effective adjustments than Fat Sam, and I think we can give them real problems in the second half. Quietly optimistic.

We've got a lot of options on the bench and we really need to take the game to them. Let 'em chase us around, keep lots of width, move it around and they could be looking at another red or two.

Me too, but he's just gone up in my book - and down in the ref's! :lol::lol:

Hoof, chance. They've done it all season and we should have been ready.

That would take "nightmare" to a whole new level.

Shhhhhhhhhhh!

No, I'm not judging someone by their appearance - just suspecting that you would do that before deciding to call them a moron to their face, which you are so quick to do on here.

Very true, and I think Rickie is evolving into (if he isn't already) a player who will set up far more than he scores - all the more so now he has Sharp there. He's ahead of Holt on just about every measure in my book.

If it turned out that "The boy done well" was a 6' 3", 15-stone, tattooed, muscle-bound freak with a very nasty disposition, would you call him a "moron" to his face? I'm not sure you'll answer that honestly on here but I think I know the answer anyway. And if that answer is what I'm fairly sure it would be, you've just proved the very point you're arguing against.

I think it's a very fair comparison Minty, and I'll go a little farther. Sherringham played at the top level until he was 41, I believe. He did that because he just seemed to get smarter and better with age, so the development/expansion of Rickie's game this year may just be a preview of improvement still to come. And if that's the case we still have another ten years of Rickie to look forward to, as long as we take care of him and he takes care of himself.

There are plenty of people in the world who are far from the confrontational type. Why are they a "coward" or a "weirdo" if choose not to confront someone face-to-face for breaking the law or ruining the enjoyment of others? Especially when the morons who come out with racist crap are often the kind of people who regard a smack in the face as being a reasonable response to someone who calls them on it?

I think Lambert has far more dimensions to his game. The comparison is very flattering to Holt.

I don't think it's the clarity that's in question.

Makes sense for them - it's code for 4 (kick) - 5 (rush) - 1 (look for rebounds).

I hope he wasn't looking at any of our players. I dread him getting his hands on them because I don't think they'd ever be the same again.

I was a little queasy about not having a keeper on the bench (tempting fate and all that) but a look at who we did have on there gave me a buzz. Now that we've got some injured players back and used the transfer market wisely, boy do we have some quality in depth! And not just quality but options. I get the sense that we have the players to shut the game down, open it up, chase an equalizer or a winner, go wider or narrower, or do just about anything we need to do. And Chaplow is still to come.

I'm not looking for him to come in anytime soon, Dave, because his effectiveness is entirely dependent on his fitness - more so than for other types of player. I was talking about when he's fully ready to come back. With regard to the central midfield, Ron's comment probably sums up the problem. Schneiderlin shows signs of real class but he's too often guilty of the "short, sideways and back" approach. What were your thoughts on the full backs, who seemed to play better today?

I can see Adkins using Puncheon and Chaplow to share one high-tempo role on the right, with the substitute coming on to replace the starter when his intensity is starting to drop. We looked good when we had pace and intensity on the right flank - it contributed a lot to our shape and balance and helped the opposite flank to look good as well.

IMO it's not just "a big positive" to have the two full backs playing well - it's absolutely critical to the way Adkins wants to play. Like most people, I've felt that our loss of form dates back to the loss of Chappers, but - far from coincidentally - I think the form of our full backs went down the sh*tter at about the same time. If they're playing well and crossing well, there's not a team in this division that can live with us.

We've just comfortably beaten a team with a 6W, 2D, 2L record over the last 10 - a team that has won at Boro and West Ham. I'd say that's an excellent return to form - just in time for Tuesday. And, boy, our bench looks really good as well.

This is one hell of a good time to be re-finding our form. West Ham aren't as good as most people (especially themselves) seem to think and they're there for the taking. Man, I'd love to hang a licking on them on Tuesday.