Legod Third Coming

No, JP would say that we are already 3 up front! Not 1!!! So by going 4-4-2 you are removing a striking option!!!! What I think happens is that the players in the wide positions just don't get forward enough!!!! I put this down to the fact they are just not that good - not bad either but not players of the calibre of Cole who can play 4-3-3 really well because they have limitless self-belief and confidence in colleagues. Does this mean the players are bad? No, not in my view. Inexperienced yes!!! Come on lads. We've all been there. It's a Saturday night, you're down the club and you see her!! Wow, you think and in your youthful naivety you mosey on in with some shocking line trying to be mr big-stuff and look a right plonker as she gives you the old spanish archer. Whereas, these days you would simply go over, compliment her and offer to buy a drink - and you'd be in!! These lads are still a bit excitable, a bit wet behind the ears. They won't be forever!!!

I like that you thought W D L needed explanation... That aside - and I hate these form things - but it does put our results against Palace and Burnley into perspective and shows that (but for conceding 6 ridiculous goals in those two games) we had started to get the defence right!! Even with those 6 goals we've conceded only 3 more than Palace!!!! What we have to do now, is forget this horsesh!t and just win games!!!!

Your first bit I don't buy. To be four points above relegation and have 50% support on a board that has a predaliction for anti-establishment thinking (and JP is an embodiment of Lowe in that regard) is actually worth 75% on the open market in my book! As for Lowe being divisive and driving fans away, why are peple struggling to get tickets for Saturday's game and Manchester United then?? And for the record I am NO Lowe supporter - far from it. I agree with the fella that said fans divide fans. And I wonder how many people would be really, really ****ed off if Jan won the league and Rupert was vindicated?? For my money, I agree with Corky and where I have no time for the bloke is that he earned a decent living in the good times. now it's payback and I want him to put his hand in his pocket just as a I do. My business is going through a tough time (who's isnt - liars!!!!!) so I have reduced my salary, bunged more of my own cash in and ensured that everyone can survive until the good times roll again. THAT is what I want to hear from a board of a company.

LOL - it is obvious!!! What we need is a win on Saturday - 1-0 with a disputed off-side goal - who gives a to55. But we need a win. A thumping win - brilliant becase that would be a bog confidence booster. Then we need a nice turkey lunch, a break, and to come out gung-ho against Reading and give them a game irrespective of the score. (I think we'll lose cos they won't under-estimate us again and are a bloody good side!) but I would be happy if we lost as long as we gave it both barrells big time!!

Can't really remember Cov but think that DMG missed a great one-on-one to make it 2-0 when it would have been goodnight Vienna. I do recall we bossed the game, let them score against the run of play and left feeling very annoyed. Plymouth, I think JP took a point - just my view obviously, but a balanced game (disappointing on the back of Reading). Wednesday - I agree we don't get enough people into the box, is this a failing of the players not gambing? Even the coach has said he is annoyed when players don't take their chances - I don't think he means shots, I think he means chances to get forward and score. I don't know why it happens but I reckon (as i said) it has a lot to do with experience and confidence. Theoretically we have three front men in our formation, whereas we would have two in a 4-4-2. We have 1 when defending and 3 when attacking. But I return to my big beef - we are toothless because we are playing cubs when the tigers are out on loan!!!!!

Agreed. That's why I think we have missed a fit Gillett and/or Spiderman who do the hold up/defensive role well and also Holmes who does the forward momentum job so well! I think it's also that the players (for all the right reasons) have been told not to hit a ball unless they are confident it will reach its intended target (I used to have a manager who would make us run around the pitch in training any time we hit a ball over head-height over 25 yards because it was such a low-% pass). So they get into a great position, look up, see a bloke in the box, think 'hmm might not pick him out' and give the ball to someone closer!! This is down to confidence I'm sure - and ability - but confidence mainly I reckon. That's why they need to come out and just play - stop thinking too hard - and just enjoy playing. When we do that, we really are first-class.

"Peter Stuyvesant is due to join Southampton on loan in the January transfer window from FC Copenhagen until the end of the season. Commenting on the move, former club colleague and Blackburn skipper Kevin Gallagher said "Jan is always on the lookout for decent Players"".....

I don' buy that. Against Charlton we were being done like kippers until he changed it around and we would then have won but we couldn't finish a ham sandwich. Against Wednesday we battered them and could not finish a ham sandwich. Against Burnley only 10-0-0 might have stopped them scoring. When he bellowed at them at half time they came out and nearly salvaged a point - but we couldn't finish a ham sandwich... If a team comes out and sets it stall out to defend, why is 4-4-2, with two men up front, more likely to be productive than 4-3-3 with three up front?? I don't buy this stuff about plan bs and cs. We seem to have a good plan which is to play the ball to a bloke in the same coloured shirt. That's a bloody good start! What we have lacked is a cutting edge. And no matter what the opposition do, how do you think we can get more out of DMG BWP and Lallana as our primary source of goals?? This season there are three players who have excelled for me at hitting long balls to open teams up - James, Spiderman and Holmes. The problem for me is that we have been without two of those players too often, and the other has had his hands full defending!!

The only difference is that originally when Lowe was keeping a tight hold of the purse strings, others were gambling on big signings (Bolton) to maintain their Premiership status and move to this 'next level'. Now, everyone bar four clubs are in the brown stuff and having a bloke who is tight is actually a blessing. Unless we can find someone who is prepared to throw cash around. But they're all going bust!!!

First, my information is that the players play 4-3-3 from a young age at the club and therefore this is (supposedly) a formation and approach they should be most familiar with. That was from one's mouth so hard to disbelieve unless Rupes has them all on party-line duty I really struggle with this reliance on 4-4-2 - it feels like a horrible English disease, like we're a bunch of Mike Basset's stuck in the dark ages!! But the bit I highlighted is my biggest problem. Let's say we played 4-4-2. Who are our natural wingers? Who are our front pairing? Some people think we are not scoring because we play 1up, but even where managers play 2up, one usually plays slightly behind anyway - so what's the difference with having a man 'in the hole'?? I think we are not scoring because the chances that fall to BWP, DMG and Lallana are meat and drink for an Iwelumo, SKP or in fact Stern bloody John!!!!!

Not having a go at you old son, as you are nomally a very positive man, but I would love to know the games which our system has cost us. (Anyone??) At Burnley, we could have drawn if BWP hadn't taken an extra touch. And I agree with Alan, for mr this comes down to the quality of the players not the system they are being asked to play in.

My corner is definitely not open - block 39! Just ordered my tickets an hour ago.

Seriously, what a great bloke he was for club spirits.

In the Burnely commentary the two lads on 5LX were saying that Cork is a midfielder and they were really surprised to see him in defence. Altho I have to say I think he's been outstanding wherever he's played and looks equally comfortable to me at CB, RB or CM. Would make a brilliant sweeper.

Alps, it's more than that. His upbringing and schooling really do make him a pompous ass. He genuinely believes he is the right man for the job, and that those who do not see it will either come around or don't get it. It's a defiant self-belief that would actually serve our players well!!!!! It's just a bit misplaced in a bloke who is supposed to lead a variety of people including us!

Property prices down 40%. Oil down over 50%. It's about time football followed suit!!!

But every club changes a couple of players every year so how is anyone winning anything?

You won't get a satisfactory answer from me, because I do not think the expirement is failing now. I think if this were an appraisal it would be satisfactory, nothing more, but nothing less. My point is that I expect things to improve with time both from the playing and coaching perspective. I also think that what's required is the ability to recall Stern John, not the changing of a structure/system and coaching team which has had 23 games to bed in. As for Woolies, I'm afraid that it WAS failing to ask customers for suggestions that cost them their business. Did they ever ask you why you didn't shop there any more? Nor me. If they had - right now maybe they would have had a successful business.

I don't think anyone disputes his arrogance. It's whether that makes him wrong. And/or how hard anyone else has tried... One thing you know about him, he doesn't like the status quo...

I think you are right here. Apart from in one regard. Lowe believes and I agree with him that our (an) Academy could and should be much more productive. Historically, as you say, an Academy might produce a player or two every other season - maybe less!! Lowe's idea is that by playing the Academy with the reserves and first team in a cohesive set-up, you might be able to speed up the transition and increase the output. Why should we accept that an Academy cannot produe a crop of talent good enough for the first team each season? Why is it that we accept the football norm as though it is some factual acknowledgement of the only option? Historically it is because the short-cut was to BUY proven talent. Well that option is going not just for us, but clubs everywhere. If we can be the first to create a regular conveyor belt of youth good enough to play at first-team level it would not only be a feather in our caps, but also a financial model that could save this club for our grandchildren. Each season you might flog three/four off to lower teams. It may not be possible. But the idea of playing them together in a system and style that suits the first team earlier is surely the best approach? It's always irritated me that our youth team did so well, but we couldn't bring more of them into the first team and lost what appeard to be decent youth players along the way.

The fundamental difference is that Rooney and Owen were not introduced en masse with six/eight of their reserve/academy colleagues into a side which also featured second-rate CCC players. It would be rather easier for Lallana to look a class better in better company, don't you think? As for Rooney, he scored a wonder goal against Arsenal on his debut. Go back and tell me what his next goal was, against whom and after how many games? And you'll find, from memory, he didn't even start the next game... So he made the same impact in truth as Jordan Robertson!! Even Bale and Walcott played ten minutes here and there for a while before being thrust in. But to say our players are not as good as Owen, Rooney and Walcott is wholly unfair. Surely they are exceptions in any company? How about whether they're as good as Kevin Nolan at this age or Phil Neville or Gary Speed?? Or any number of perfectly good footballers.

What exactly did/does he do? Makelele type?

I don't see the 'urgency' here. Whether you agree with the plan or not, it is long-term. Therefore, what are 23 games in the scheme of a long-tern plan? The problem with football - as poor old Incey has found out - is that there is no long-term thinking any more. I personally think the plan would have much more support if Lowe hadn't come up with it. JP aside, the idea of growing our own talent is a no-brainer. Pretty much every club wishes it had the capicity to grow its own.

Then, we need Stern John back.

I had a look on-line to see what's different between the team that beat Derby and Birmingham and outplayed the latter for long periods, and now. The teams for those games were all different, but Svensson played two and Holmes, Gillett and Spiderman all three. Maybe they are a bigger miss than we realise??