shurlock

Cheers will tinker with the draft rankings ahead of tonight's draft - will be good to go and fully committed once the season starts. Have a good one...

We were chasing the game -and decided to bring on another attacker. It wasn't a like for like substitution but a calculated gamble which didnt pay off but was reasonable enough. In fact, we were probably more ragged while Cork was on the pitch. We were certainly cut open more times in the first half.

Agree - probably the same is true for Fonte.

Some morons around me -first few rows- were already calling for Osvaldo's head "he's f**king ****, waste of £15m, get him off" -all in his earshot after Lallana had hit a slightly heavy pass which he had failed to keep in.

Clyne has been fit for a couple of weeks. While we're on the subject, JWP is not a RM, though fortunately MP changed it at halftime. To think that we've dismantled our complete right hand side, that is, Punch and Clyne who had great chemistry is bizarre. The responsibility sits firmly and squarely on MP's shoulders.

Grasping at straws me thinks. They hardly showed much 'speed of thought and movement' last season. If anything, Lallana is one of the main culprits as far as slowing our play and taking too many touches are concerned. Playing Cork would not address any of our problems - Wanyama is a better player. The question is whether we needed to spend £12m or whether the money would have been spent strengthening arguably more pressing areas. But that's all moot and now we have VW we should play him.

You heretic you

No Our problems are not in DM or indeed in defense. Cork would do nothing to address them.

Well we have had to rotate the 3 CM and we're only two games into the season. Morgan's already picked up a knock - only that JWP was preferred to Cork (and perhaps that's because he was on the pitch and MP didn't have to waste a sub on another holding player when we were chasing the game). All I know its going to be a long old season.

Edit

Said like a true mongbaoarder.

Is that the same BS mate who said we would be imminently announcing the joint signings of Damaio and Banega and SSN was about to do an exclusive. You've definitely got form....

There for the pen miss - was behind the goal in the Archers where MLT took it.

Did the double over us -very few clubs have managed that in the last few years.

Found his level

Well done dulldays.

We were undone by QPR's long ball because of an individual slip up between Fox and Yoshida - the personnel is now different, though whether Fonte adds much more than Yoshida is debatable. Sunderland was completely different - we were aggressively chasing the game and any team would have been vulnerable. Wouldn't put it down to MP's tactics at all. WBA was worrying but let's not forget how we dealt more than comfortably with other direct/counter attacking sides like Wham and Stoke both of which caused us far fewer problems than say Swansea. With Vic in the side, I'm even more confident that we can deal with these kind of sides.

The writer does bundle together a bunch of unconnected games. I don't think the home games against Wigan and Norwich shine much light on our current woes. Even the QPR game, as a nervy six pointer, has limited value. Saying that there were issues at the end of last season that have spilled over into this one, though we've dispensed with the slightly more defensively minded Davis which should have helped. IMO, wee've been carrying the likes of Jrod and Lallana and they've faced little or no competition given Gaston's form and MP's freezing out of Punch. Lambert does what he does but he's never going to pull defenders out of position with his movement -and when he does, he tends to empty the box, dropping off into predictable positions. Don't think it takes much to resolve now that Osvaldo is here -his urgency and energy made an immediate difference. had he started, we would have beaten Sunderland comfortably. Also dont think JWP is suited at home on the right, esp if either Clyne or Shaw is injured. Has a lovely delivery but, like Davis last season, is a slightly negative move. With Morgan and Vctor bossing the middle, we surely can afford to take a few more chances. Ideally would like one new face before the deadline - am firmly and squarely in the camp that a decent wideman who can commit defenders would open up space for others that would unlock sides that come to park the proverbial bus.

Interesting season for the ravens -going to see the opener in Denver during the international break. Spent big tying Flacco down after his MVP performances in the playoffs. The contract won't kick in till later on which defers some tough questions but he's lost two of his favourite weapons -Boldin in a dumb trade to the 49ers and Pitta through a freak injury. Outside Torrey Smith, the front office is scrambling to patch together a receiving corp with (washed up) veterans and rookies who hardly inspire confidence and the Ravens have never had a strong record drafting WRs. The D is a different story. It has been thoroughly overhauled -some people think that the likes of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed are irreplaceable. They will be misses emotionally but their best days have been behind them for a while. Arguably the Raven's D is stronger with the addition of the likes of Dumervil, shrewd acquisitions like Smith and Canty and the return to fitness of Suggs and Williams. Think they will take many by surprise. Think the usual suspects -the 49ers, Seahawks, Falcons, Texans- will be contenders. New England will stumble on some winning formula in what is a pi $$ easy division. Quite like what the Rams and Buccaneers are doing.

You seen much of Piatti, then?

See Townsend tore Swansea apart and was the difference between the two sides -who says sides with 4-2-3-1 don't use wingers of sorts Townsend isn't good enough for us either according to the mongboard illuminati

Dyer, Lennon, Tevez, Hernandez, BWP etc See a theme emerging? You don't need to be tall to play off the wing.

http://www.fourfourtwo.com/statszone/8-2013/matches/694918/player-stats/44683/OVERALL_03#tabs-wrapper-anchor http://www.fourfourtwo.com/statszone/8-2013/matches/694918/player-stats/44683/OVERALL_02#tabs-wrapper-anchor Looking at these, seemed pretty peripheral in the last third.

Did you see the number of passes Rickie misplaced yesterday?

Definitely not suited to our system