S-Clarke

2 BT Sport games in January. New years day against Chelsea is on BT Sport, and there's an early saturday kick off mid-way through the month away at Sunderland, which is also on BT Sport.

I sit with a great crowd in the Kingsland these days, but over the years have had some pretty ****ty experiences. Back in our L1 days, I'm never massively early, so I did have to walk past a few people to get to my seat. It must have been about 2:50ish, and this bloke and woman were both sat with a plastic/paper plate full of food, flasks of tea all laid out on their laps. Christ, the **** I got as I needed to get past... Not directly to me...but you heard them muttering ''Why do people come so late'' ''This is so inconvenient'' and the best bit.....''The design of this stadium isn't good''. Yeah, sorry, they didn't include dining arrangements in the stands. Holy jesus, some people. And thank **** they didn't have a flaming season ticket there, otherwise I may have been kicked out for rearranging their picnics on the bloody floor.

Let's be honest, after beating Man Utd on their patch, this is exactly the sort of home game Newcastle will slip up in. I feel pretty confident about this one, not sure why...but I had a similar feeling in the run-up to the City game. I think we've got another epic away day on the cards. I'm not sure what I'd change, probably just JWP out for Morgan (if he's back). Leave Osvaldo up top, but bring on Lambert alongside him if we're struggling. Don't think we will be though, positive about this one.

It's never really kicked on for him to be honest. I think he's 20 next year, and isn't actually part of the academy anymore - he's now in the U21's. I'm not sure what the future holds for him, I'd have expected to see him feature more in some of the cup games if he was close (only had a short-few mins at Barsnley), but I don't think he is that close, and as he's 20 next year....that's got to be a little worrying. It's probably now or never for him at Saints.

I quite liked them both playing together against Villa, it looked quite lively. A front 4 of Lallana, Rodriguez, Lambert and Osvaldo is going to cause a hell of a lot of problems for the opposition. I think you need to create activity around the front players, I don't think either look that effective just stuck up top away from the play - you need to get in and around them, taking on the 2nd balls, running in behind etc. I think there's a place for both and they're clever enough to play together, Rickie certainly is. He's not getting any younger, but he's still class. It's not like he's going to lose pace, as he never had any, so that ability will stay in there....he could probably play onto near 40 in my eyes, has really looked after himself in the last few years.

Still believe Davis has been MP's most consistent and one of his better players since he's arrived at the club. Used as a sub, or as a start, he has played a key role in some massive results. A terrific, top class CM in my opinion. I don't think our CM has ever been this strong squad-wise in my lifetime.

Thank christ, he's been banned!

I had a feeling we'd do something today, I just don't rate Man City away from home and defensively they are pretty atrocious, so I knew if we pressed them high from the off we'd cause them all sorts of problems. We did start a little slow, but after 15 mins we got to grips with it and absolutely dominated City. We pressed, harried and panicked them which never, ever let them settle. It would have been easy for our heads to drop after going 1-0 down and allow City to really crank it up, but credit to the lads, they stuck at it and kept going, and going, and going..... In terms of quality, I thought it was a great match to watch. Some fantastic football on show with some really quick and incisive attacking moves. You have to applaud Jack Cork, so long on the side lines and he comes back in to produce a game like that. He was terrific. His passing was brilliant, his breaking up of play was brilliant and his general reading and ability to be in the right positions was excellent. He was my MOTM. But defensively. apart from an odd 1st goal, we were back to our best. We didn't really let them dominate the midfield, so we limited the chances that way, however when they did get an opportunity we were very strong and resolute at the back - especially Fonte, who has had a great year. But take a bow Osvaldo, that was a goal of the highest, highest quality, and that's what he's capable of. I thought he had a good game on Wednesday, but he was as good today. He made some really good moves in behind their back 4, but we were sometimes a little slow in picking him out - but the goal he scored was just out of nothing, we don't have anyone else who could have done that. Overall, with the injures we have and the players we had out, it was an exceptional effort from the lads. As they say, good teams don't often lose more than 3 on the bounce...

Clearly wants lots of $$$$$. QPR offered him a bucket load, but he went to Russia as they offered a bit more. Now his career has gone into obscurity, no ****.

Ok, so who is up for an all-nighter on the 14th? 2am Kick off!

Clyne is out for a while too apparently, but not confirmed yet.

Still confuses me as to why we belittle the cups. We have a real good chance of a cup run this year, and we should have got a lot further in the league cup. Now with the injuries we're picking up, it looks like they were rested in those games for no reason really. Doesn't look like we're going to do anything this season other than bog standard mid-table (which is progress, don't get me wrong!) but it would have been nice to have a bit of excitement in the cup, but the club don't seem to care about that. Nothing beats a day out at Wembley, no matter what cup it is. It can make an average season look so much brighter.

Well, the goal keeping coach setup is totally different than what it was before, as MP bought his Espanyol crew over. And to be honest, you sometimes can't polish a turd....no matter what you do. If they've got a weakness, they've got a weakness.

That's a bit of a bugger, and here we all were worrying about the yellow he'd pick up....who gives a **** about that now!!! We'd been very lucky with injures up until now, but this is as bad as I can remember for a long time. This high powered game has cost us here.

Gaston just hasn't had a chance this year for whatever reason, he was sporadic last year and frustrating but he did do things.....this year, for whatever reason he has been completely pushed aside. He's not injured in my eyes, clearly on the way out. Obvious cover up. But I like Osvaldo, I thought he had a good game the other night. He gave us more attacking inpetus and had some good movement about him. Personally, from what I've seen...I don't think he's a ''target man'' or a ''play up top on his own'' sort of player. I think he needs lots of things going on around him for him to be effective. At Roma he usually played from the right, left and sometimes through the middle, with the likes of Pjanic, Totti and Lamella all floating around. I think Totti often played right up top. He looked pretty poor at Chelsea, but he was seriously isolated. If you look at it last night, we had lots going on around him with Lallana, Jay, Lambert, Davis...and he looked better for it. Let's hope MP noticed it as well, as I'd hate to see him isolated up top again.

Should be quite easy. Same IP address.

3 posts in a row by the same person, weird.

Still enjoying these fella, good stuff!

Yeah, I thought both Villa's full backs looked very assured actually, and 2 area's they've really improved upon since last year.

Yeah, what a dumb thing to talk about on a football forum!! Idiots...

He does remind me of Welbeck sometimes! Doesn't look capable, and then does something top class out of nowhere! He's defiantly our best outlet in terms of stretching sides though. I am a big fan of Jay though, I think he'll be a top class player for us.

We're missing a bit more depth to the squad, pretty much. We clearly need better backup in goal, and I think we're getting to the stage now where we can look to evolve the 2nd CB position with another Lovren-level defender. Having Fonte, Jos and Yoshida as the backup to CB isn't too bad. Midfield we're pretty much sorted, a lot of really good depth in that area. (Only question mark is over a natrual AMC style midfielder, if Ramirez isn't going to stick around) and as hard as it may be for some people to accept, I think we're also edging nearer the time where we'll possibly look to evolve Lamberts position in the team.

To me it's quite clear who the obvious WUM's are, and it should be to the mods as well. So they'd be struck off pretty quickly. I dont buy any of this forum character bull**** either, they're just an absolute borefest of relentless drivel.

Other way round I don't know, I just think City can blow hot and cold, especially away from home. I still look at Demecheillis and wonder WTF he's on sometimes, looks an awful defender when turned against pace....so if we deploy Jay up alongside him, we can get some joy. I think we're going to have to score a few though.....

It is quite an interesting debate, because you're right - in the times I've seen him, most shots seem to go in, you can call them wordlies, or poor defending in front of him, but he doesn't really seem to make saves. Boruc can pull of an unbelievable save and get us out of the mire, but you just get the feeling that Gazzaniga just isn't capable of that. I still look at the 2nd goal last night and the way he threw his arms all around, a really odd reaction to it. No real strength behind those arms if he did get a touch, they were just flapping all over the show. Someone made a good point a few days back, Boruc pulled off 1 or 2 great saves a match, because we did let teams through at times and they did have shots at goal. I don't know what it is, but he just seems way, way too slow in thought process and positioning.