shurlock

Love to see who would win a 100-metre sprint between Oxo, N'guessan and Forte.

Im sure they're the first ones to be surprised by how quickly he's made an impact - cue your favourite NC quote. Professional and academy-level football are different on so many levels that they're like night and day.

That's a fair statement, though, of course, AL and AOC signed contracts under very different circumstances (e.g. AOC hadn't even made his full professional debut in August)

Rob Jones is an effing beast in the air.

The relevant word here is "IF" - a vacuous statment and hardly a ringing endorsement given nobody genuinely thinks that interest in AOC is going to die anytime soon...

Your logic is muddled - on the one hand, you're suggesting that the fact we're backed by with the financial security of the estate of a billionaire was a relevant factor (it doesnt matter how rich you are if the player wants to leave); on the other, you quote NC who himself conceded that he didn't know AOC's inner thoughts -just that he doesn't THINK AOC wants to be anywhere else and he knows that AOC is aware that he has alot to learn - there's no resounding or positive statement along the lines that "AOC is keen to be here and believes the club gives him the best chance to develop/learn etc etc" (for a contrast, see AL who has made these kind of statements). I'm not saying that AOC was chomping at the bit to leave, especially as he can wait till the summer but the idea that NC could be certain in December that AOC would stay is just crazy. You're overestimating the club's degree of control over these matters. I get the impression that AOC is far less sold to the idea that

Yes but thats not the point. MLG wan't discussing whether AOC wanted to be here- only the position/wishes of the club, that if NC said AOC was staying, that was the end of the matter. It totally misunderstands the balance of power between club and player.

Youre missing the point - its not about what the club says. if a player wants to leave, there's not much you can do - just look at andy carroll. Newcastle seemingly stood firm and rejected two offers only to have a transfer request thrown in their face. Keeping an unhappy player is untenable - better to cash in.

i know he was awful for those 12 mins

We've been crying out for pace (more so than for finishers/foxes in the box) -and a mix of forte, chambo and n'guessan should give us it.

Agree with this wrap-up.

Not to mention the fans who were/are incapable of realising what gems NC/ML are - preferring instead to get hot and bothered over installment plans or question every decision they've mae in paranoid detail. What was the rationale? something along the lines of not wanting to be a big club because the heart and soul was being ripped out of southampton. Give it a rest with the holier than thou BS..

Or as the arraogant c*nts put it "we'll do what want, we'll do what want, we're man united, we'll do what we want".

See that City just done by the same routine County used against us - striker blocking/backing into keeper before whipping the ball in for a near post header. At the time KD was blamed for not commanding his box - if anything the foul against him was more flagrant.

Mate you're a total joke, one of the big culprits - the kind of muppet who starts threads telling us that "its time to accept, its unlikely we will go up" in the middle of september.

Agree- yesterday showed we are better equipped for a more technical league which leaves you either massively optimistic about our chances of kicking on (should we get promotion) or fearful that we'll f**k up and be consigned to the lowest common denominator football of L1.

Maybe but it also smacks of delusion - as if these things are to be expected when you go to smaller teams. This is no one-off. They've misfired all season and many of their weaknesses were exposed once again yesterday by L1 nobodies. First-team or not, many of these players have featured regularly this season -either way, they don't have the depth or look anything like the uniteds of old. They still have the right culture and mentality which can paper up the cracks- just as Liverpool managed in the late 1980s; but that can't sustain you forever. Unless they clear their debt and/or get taken over by rich qataris or something, I think this is the beginning of the end of their dominance. I would be worried if I was a manure supporter right now.

Think Bart should start and Butterfield is a no brainer - always looked for the pass, was comfortable when Nani came on (and you would have expected him to have been cream-crackered by then) and some of his crosses e.g. Guly's header were excellent.

Wasteful finishing? Punch's was a v.difficult half-chance; Fonte's wasn't a miss but a decent header; Jaidi should have got his header on target but who knows if he would have beaten the keeper; and yes guly should have squared it. We were hardly wasteful. Most teams create more chances than that -not to mention actually work the keeper- and fail to score. We created two chances from open play. We didnt do or create enough with the possesion we enjoyed - and alot of that can be attributed to AL's absence. Re. Tranmere I totally agree with you. I was there and AL had nothing to do with the result.

Lallana's got many skills but magically inhabiting others bodies isn't one of them - anyway, he can also be wasteful in front of goal. You seem to suggest that the game turned on particular chancea -punch, jaidi, guly - no team in the world is so clinical that they convert every (half) chance they get. Fact is we struggled for ideas, didn't create enough or get behind them - something which Lallana's absence contributed to. You give the impression we were creating chances left-right and centre and it was only want of better finishing that we didn't win. If so, your point would be well taken; but the game was nothing like that.

No howlers but the offcials were dire - so many 50-50s were called against us in decent, breaking positions and our forwards were given zero-protection -every neutral i spoke to afterwards (admittedly they all probably hate manu) thought so as well.

Nothing. But the insinuation is that when "you come to these lower league sides" they rough you up, get in your faces and typically with the help of a sh*tty pitch try to outdo you with raw power, set-pieces and the odd lucky break. Couldn't be further away from the truth as for a good portion of the game, we outplayed them playing football. Owen can't help it - he is a walking muppet - lives his life in cliches. I assume you're not so stupid to miss the insinuation.

Lallana might have made a difference against county -arguably he would have; but his absence was neither here or there for the Tranmere result. He might have allowed us to retain better possession of the ball but that wouldnt have been enough to compensate for the all the other areas we were sh ite.

Glad we played 4-1-2-1-2 - been calling for it for a while. Shame punch is a gonner as he would have fitted perfectly in this system. Also allows us to start barny who's done nothing wong this season while getting the best out of guly/lallana in the hole.

Hasn't the management also been consulting Fonte about decent players in the portuguese leagues? (or the other way round, Fonte's been recommending players).