shurlock

Suck Westwood off in exchange for promotion?

More chance of steve jobs coming back from the dead and taking them over -or them being taken over full-stop....than this happening.

O'Hara would be a cracking signing - a huge upgrade on Chaplow.

Upson is lower down the xmas card list than avram for most west ham fans, a billy big b*****ks whose pace and talent deserted him years ago. Am openminded; but nothing I've seen him suggests he's would fit into our current setup or direction. Experience at the back can be a useful asset; but our greater defensive need is additional pace.

Schneiderlin makes more forward passes than Hammond and, at least, when they're sideways, they're a lot quicker Why do you prefer Hammond - the gritty, defensive side of Schneiderlin's game has come on leaps and bounds. He's usually the first of our players to a second ball.

There's been research on the topic: supposedly people overvalue favourites and consequently the odds are ****** poor. Over time, its been shown that betting on underdogs, esp home teams that are large underdogs and away teams that are even larger underdogs is a more profitable strategy.

Better in which departments?

Homeland is OK but it goes a bit 24 as the series unfold, squandering some of the tension and suspense that its quasi-realism had painstakingly built up. Like some US comedy: Eastbound and Down and Louis CK are v.good.

Defo- got to fistfights with mates playing battle mode almost nonstop. Nothing sweeter than f**king some over with a green shell. Red shells were no challenge. Only other game I came to blows with friends over was sensible soccer on the amiga. Scoring a muggy last minute goal from virtually the halfway line with loads of aftertouch always did the trick.

I don't totally buy this analysis - you imply that its a case of getting players to play the ball in triangles and pass and move with intent. If we could, we would and would be a Top 4 side. To say that we play less well against teams that get stuck into us again isn't totally surprising. Mom-and-apple-pie stuff. Its easy to rewrite history and romanticise our early season form. It was based on us swarming the midfield - both Connolly and Lambert dropping deep to pick up the ball and Guly and Lallana coming inside. With all those bodies, we found it easier to play triangles and defend from the front. Yes it had attractions but with Lambert and Connolly dropping deep, it was also a problem: we didn't stretch or get behind teams enough and it emboldened the opposition to play a high line and squeeze us -something we unsurprisingly discovered first on the road where the attacking onus was on the home team. Even during our halcyon period, we were crying out for a bit of pace to counter these tendencies -check the Barnsley postmatch comments. Chaplow's (unsustainable) run of form definitely helped and the fullbacks partly compensated; but it was never totally resolved. The other problem with our early season 'pass and move game' is that it depended on giving our widemen, Guly and Lallana license to come inside. However, that exposed the fullbacks against width and sometimes overlapping FBs -and our fullbacks aren't the best equipped to go it alone. That's still a problem today -it was on saturday- and inveighing the team to go back to basics is likely to make the problem worse, not better. Our post-blip form is better than our early season form, so if anything, we should continue what we've been doing -namely encouraging the frontmen to stay up top -and being direct with a degree of pace/penetration to stretch oppositions (though we still haven't cracked that one, esp with Lee's injury). Lambert or a proper outlet makes us tick offensively and defensively, so it wasn't a massive surprise we were going to struggle. We've lost three of the four games in which Lambert hasn't started -and performances have been even sh*tter. The good news is that Lambert will be returning...

Just like Lallana was too, huh I've been critical of Schneiderlin in the past; but he's been exceptional since Xmas.

Rochdale was slightly different. Like yesterday, we were down at HT; but unlike yesterday's spineless performance, we absolutely battered them 2nd half and left the game with a bit of dignity and in decent spirits for the next game.

Its also the performances - we've looked poor with Lambert in the team usually because he hasn't won his aerial battles; but our worst performances have still coincided with his absence. Nothing compares with Donny away.

Yeh a bit of weird one, though Adkins was also pretty curt/defensive with the press after the Donny game when he was asked about Lambert's substitution/injury.

No its the myth that a term of Guly's contract is that he must play. Some mugs on here have swallowed it hook, line and sinker. Of course, for someone so obviously lazy and uncommitted, you would he think he would be quite happy to warm the bench and do nothing for his pay packet each week.

Look at league results without Lambert: P4 W1 L3 (not to mention the result at Brighton). Admittedly, a small sample but that's relegation form in anyone's book. Worse, none of those results were flukes - Donny, Leics, B'pool- hard to think of worse performances this season, including the games in which Lambert was part of a losing side. I certainly dont think he's irreplaceable; a good target man would go along way to compensating for his loss or absence. But its the one area in which we have no back-up -odd since our game is so reliant on direct, hold-up play -and the rest of a very talented team feeds off such a player. The good news obviously is that Lambert will be back; but its a shame we've never really addressed this problem -by bringing in back-up or devising a plan B- and needlessly pi $$ed away points.

Diouf hardly played with Sharp -at least as a % of Sharp's time at Donny.

This was from the Donny lad who sometimes frequents the forum - impression is that he is a decent lone striker... **** Thanks for the comments, the Portsmouth situation could give us a boost if reports are true they are in deep trouble, Billy has never played with a big man whilst at Donny he often played up front on his own with Hayter just behind and a couple of attacking midfielders/wingers. I have no doubt he will be a success at your place,his enthusiasum and determination is a joy to watch, he will get the goals you need to gain promotion I'm certain of that. Him & Lambert will be a frightening partnership & I'm sure you have other quality strikers as well. Good luck, I will certainly be tuning in to watch your game saturday evening. So he's not big but can play as a lone man and hold the ball up. I know he revels in the fat lad from sheffield schtick but is he quick enough? Cheers **** He isn't lightening quick but he is no slouch either, despite his lack of inches he is great as a lone forward, he doesn't half knock 6ft+ defenders around, the ball sticks when he gets it, rarely loses possesion and has great vision. I'd be amazed if by the end of February he isn't a fan favourite. I know the expectation & quality is another level to us but he will rise to that, no doubt about it. What's the chances of him playing tonight?

Would have gone for Roberts, Jutkiewcw or Henderson in Jan and then brought in a bit of movement/pace which we did with Lee.

In what way were they the same?

Eh? There's no doom and gloom - we're in the driving seat and masters of our own destiny. We do plenty of things right. But its not as if this performance came out of the blue. Its painfully easy to predict which games we're going to struggle in - surely its sensible to ask why don't rectify things. My advice: go to a game or two FFS. Then you might understand the frustration of seeing us run into the same f**king brick wall each time certain conditions are present.

Even taking into account the fact that Guly hasn't effectively trained or played since the Hull game as he's nursed a hamstring problem, he had a fair game yesterday. After Lallana, he was the one player I was comfortable to see the ball go to. Its a mistake to think we rely on Lambert for his goals; we miss his beauty-and-the-beast hold-up play. That's what Roberts has brought to Reading. And there are many HCDAJFUs on the market. Why we didn't strengthen to play to our strengths in Jan is still a mystery. FWIW, if Lee is out, its Guly/Lambert everyday for me...

According to the Japanese press, Lee had a medical check and it was discovered he has ligament damage in his right foot which requires an operation. He will be out for 4-6 months, ruling him out of both the rest of this season and the start of next. Japanese press don't think he'll even be ready for their qualifier/friendly against Iraq on September 11. http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20120401-00000012-spnannex-socc

As long as NA doesn't talk about us dominating possession...

I can name a handful of players who've been worse than Guly today - Sharp included.