S-Clarke

boro lead

And it's all the ref's fault! Obviously....!

Would be gobsmacked to see anything but a strong WHU win today.

WHU are panicking. They havent' really taken the league by storm, even when they had all their players available. Carlton Cole for e.g. has been rubbish this season, and has been used as a sub more often than a start. Based on his history and record at PL level you'd expect him to be banging them in all year. I know some WHU fans and they all detest big sam, they hate what he's done to their club in the time he's been there. In their opinion, which surprised me, they say they're in the worst place they've ever been and the longer he's there the worse it will be. They say it's mainly down to not using the players correctly. He's trying to play long ball football with footballers like Noble, Collison, Fabuert, and it clearly isn't working - but he's not trying any other alternative. We saw a fine example of their decline when they played us. They were utterly hopeless, truly inept and didn't have a clue other than to hoof it - that isn't the West Ham way and it must be painful viewing for their fans right now. If we can regain a bit of form and start stringing wins together again I think we can fly ahead of them. I can see them continuing to stutter.

TBF the media bigged it up, the meto were always keeping their cards close to their chest. Just happend that the system took a southern track and hit France with storm force winds, rather than us.

Really good read that. Agree with the Pardew segment too, and that's possibly the first quotes we've seen from him since his sacking? He did lay the foundations and swung this club around in the season he was here. Promotion in the first season was always a total fantasy and it was more about changing the mentality of this team - and that's what we're benefiting from now. Luckily we have another terrific manager in place to take us on even further, but you should allow time to thank Pard's for his contribution as he steered us back onto the road.

I'd imagine it'll be players from the U21 squad like Sordell, Cork, Mancienne, Clyne, Cleverley etc.. (maybe Caroll at this rate too)

I think it's original and separates us from all the normal mundane crests out there in the FL. It's instantly recognizable too - wouldn't want to change it for anything.

I would be blown away if we signed Zaha - he's being tracked by a host of top European clubs and would cost a bomb. Has your source been right about transfers before? Ambrose would be a sweet signing too. He can play on either flank and offers us something different to our current cork/morgan/deano midfield 3.

That's not a bad shout steve. He's kind of like a more mobile, faster version of Lambert. Knows where the net is for sure, but I'm not sure how well those 2 could play up top together as they have a few similar attributes. Would say that Lambo would work better with a small tricky forward who can play on the shoulder. (i.e a young conners)

Looking at their squad it just highlights why people are saying ''they got away with it''. Players like Lawrence and Rocha will be on premiership wages, no doubt. Possibly even Mullins too. Based on what's happened to them, how many owners they've had and what they have to pay in the CVA it's a disgrace that they still have such a competitive team. It's massively underperforming though, which is why it would be naive to just take the league positions at first glance to judge the quality of the sides.

He's a funny player, in a way from reading what Forest fans are saying about him....if the swap deal is true, we'd be trading like for like. Both very sulky characters apparentley - but when on their game they are match winners in any side.

Great list, you've pretty much covered all our ''dodgy'' positions in one there! All pretty realistic too. Adomah would likley be the most expensive, heard that Bristol City wouldn't accept anything lower than £5m, not sure how true that is though. Chambers would cost a bit, but players like Cylne, McGugan are running down their contracts and would be avaliable at a pretty decent price.

That article is bang up my street too as I'm only 26. Really well balanced read, totally enjoyed that. Best article I've read in a long time. Good stuff!

I thought about him in the summer, but up until now he'd never really realized his true form at Sheff U. I think as with alot of good young players that looe their way slightly, sometimes dropping a level can regain belief and confidence and he's scoring for fun at the mo and to be fair is better than L1. He wasn't cheap either, I think they paid £3m for him from Man City when he was a very highly rated youngster and seemed destined for regular international honors. I think it would be a good move, he's found his form and has his confidence back - and is finally showing his true potential.

wow, that's a pretty impressive result to say the least! Sheffield Uniteds academy is highly rated and has produced some decent players over the years...

Who would you drop from our midfield to accommodate him? I don't think he's the sort of player we need personally. He's more of a central player than a wide man these days.

Yeah, this is causing serious concern for the MetO. On current viewing it's similar to what hit scotland last week (possibly higher gusts) but it will be more widespread affecting the entire country in some way. We also have a pretty big weather system to get past tomorrow night first.

We need to improve our away form if we want to be promoted. If we carry on doing as we're doing away from home, it will start to hang over on our home form and we'll slide down the league pretty quickly. If we can add a bit of pace to the team in January then I think we have different options to use in games, especially away on the break etc. We never really replaced Chambo's pace, and If he was here this year I'm pretty confident we'd have won a few more games. Overall though, the fact we're even talking about this in december is pretty impressive. 2011 has been a year to remember for SFC - let's hope 2012 can take us up another notch.

Yeah, that's what frustrates me about him - and many others I'm sure. We all saw his insane ability in that game, yet he's shown none of that when it really matters and has flattered to deceive in most games he's played. I mean when he starts games he's seriously ineffective, he's only useful coming on as a sub. I think it's quite telling that Adkins doesn't see him as a wide player anymore.

Here we go.

Agree with Phillips, have been a big fan since his Wycombe days and was frustrated we didn't sign him then (we tabled a couple of bids for him). Not sure Jay Rod is the type of player we need, we need a forward with pace who can play on the shoulder.

I don't think Bart was ever in danger of being voted our best player though, even forgetting today.

I remember a few years ago he went out on loan when we were in L1, to Barnsley I think? Their fans raved about him and he pulled out some amazing performances. I just think he feels too much pressure playing for us, like he has to make sure everything is perfect and take this chance etc - and he doesn't react properly to that. He's been dodgy in every game he's played this season for us. It doesn't help when fans get on his back after 3 mins though. That was a nasty bit of handling, but he didn't deserve the abuse he was getting from people around me at that point. I don't think that sort of heckling is going to help an obviously nervous person.

We have lots of good players and a good team. Lallana is our best player in terms of technique, agility, ability to do things no one else can. Lambert is the figurehead, the guy our attack is built around and the sort of rugged striker that can pull you out of the mire.