S-Clarke

Leeds is his most likley destination if he comes to L1 i think. has been quoted saying that he loved his time there.

I really hope we're only loaning patto out - selling him would be a mistake IMO, got a feeling he'll turn out to be another one in a few years we'll be saying ''why did we let him go...!'' he's not quite ready for us yet - but will be a good player in time IMO.

Stock and Barnard

I'm not sure what people expect Lallana to do when the ball is constantly hoofed up field. (as it was most of the 2nd half) many of our better moves and chances in the first half came from him being involved, he hasn't got much pace unfortunatley, but his agility makes him a real threat in the final third. He's improved much more this year - he's much more involved IMO and he works his socks off for the team, so i wouldn't say he's even a luxury player anymore. He always puts in a real shift, even if it doesn't quite come off.

i think it was more to do with not having another striker to put on the bench, as we'd just had a bid for patterson from southend (which was subsequently rejected)

Their support confirmed their status as a micky mouse club. tbf i think their average attandance is something like 6-7k, their stadium will be like white elephant if we don't get the world cup bid.

i like him, i think he's the perfect player to compliment/play off lambert.

issue at the moment though is that Mk Don's paid a loan fee to have him for the season - which is why i don't think we'll see any movement until the summer. Although FC Twente are sniffing around him i heard.

Puncheon is a player pardew rates very highly - wait till the summer for anything on that one though.

their left flank would have been attacked by thomas and antonio, and they aren't small/light players!

''Tonight showed the difference in quality in this league this season. We came up against no teams built like that last season. Even with the 10 points back Saints would be level with us, so arguably we should be well-matched, but that was a team built for a higher level, where physique and strength are a pre-requisite. That's not a dig at Saints, they could play a bit too, but it was easy pickings for them defensively and they could always unsettle us with physical presence in the midfield. It was the size of the whole team that was most alarming. We were up against a left flank of bodybuilders, and of the rest, most of them were 6'+ and 13 stone. We just don't have those sort of players available to us as first teamers (Jude & Seano being the exceptions) at the moment. RDM identified this last season and brought in Jabo for nights like this. Incey will probably come to a similar conclusion in the Summer Anyway, it'll be interesting if we can get the first goal down there, as our game is all about pace on the break and it may prove to be the key factor yet, but I'm travelling more in hope than expectation.''

kind of reminds me of Kenwyne jones in his early days (totally different type of player...but it's the attributes/odd footballing ability im getting at) He's a rough diamond - he's got it all in his locker (pace/strength/close ball skills), if he can just be coached on those little bits of decision making (i.e when to pass, when to beat a player etc) he could be fantastic. I remember in the early days Kenwyne was slated on here for being awful etc - but with his attributes you always had a chance of molding a decent player out of him.

He is - he played in doncasters re-arranged 3rd round game last night.

oh good times

thank **** it's not a league game! bit of a blessing there methinks.

nice thought but Lincoln sent him back because he has an ankle injury.

agree with that, credit to him with the assist for the goal too. generally had the beating of the CB's all night, but we didn't have the movement around him for him to get openings himself.

+1. James was great tonight i thought.

that was ****ed up, how on earth was that a free kick? the sky commentators even commented on how bizarre a decision that was. I don't even think antonio touched their player? I wouldn't want pard's to come out and shout from the rooftops about it though, we've got a win, a well deserved win. It's not like any of the decisions cost us the game luckily, so we can move on and go into the home leg with a huge advantage.

Maybe, not sure we'll get much success though, based on the fact that his hands were raised. surley they should have a look at the mkdons players reaction in the first place though.

the ref' was card happy.

I think wotton did a good job today, but that's in a 5. Not quite sure how he'll do in a flat 4, we'd need an advanced attatcking midfielder to play off him. How about... ---------Wotton ----James - Lallana Antonio ---------Holmes

Hands up to a players face - he didn't slap him or punch him, just raised hands. It was in retaliation to nearly getting strangled by their player, make of that what you will.

Great effort, a brilliant away performance. Antonio was great, but Fonte was the best player on the pitch. Complete class act, read everything - nothing ever got past him. No idea @ the ref, how that was a red i don't know. Ok he put his arms up to his face, but it was ****ing gleeson who nearly strangled him in the first place FFS - two yellows, surely? We really dug in though, great efforts from the senior lads in perry and wotton (who was brilliant doing his normal spoiling job). James had a good game too, but we didn't keep it on the deck as much as we can. - we play much better that way. we've got a massive chance of going to wembley now though, MK Don's really aren't up to much at all tbh.

p/e for barnard a possibility i wonder?