Legod Third Coming

Ignore it then. The incredible thing about the internet and freedom of speech is that we also have FREEDOM to listen, or not...

I'm not convinced that's true - Hammond and Lallana both contibuted more last season in terms of goals, if nothing else. As for Lambert underperfoming - that is true, no doubt about it. We're one point worse than the team who started last season, at the same stage. That's still play-off material but it's far from good enough for our resources, team or Chairman. The key question is how will Adkins address Lambert's underperformance? Change the way he plays to go more direct, replace him or what? I'm not against Adkins (although it's no secret I was massively pro Perdew) and if he wins 70% of the remaining games we will almost certainly be promoted. But really, this should be the minimum am and I do tire of the low expectations of some fans. We should be walking this league - really we should. We are financial giants. We have two players who are worth more than the Brentford squad. Being beaten by them can happen (we did after all beat United once or twice) but it can't happen again this season.

Hmmm... I'm not sure that Oxo hasn't already contributed at least 50% of what Antonio pro-rata?? Lambert is clearly a massive issue - either: 1. he is not fit 2. he is not motivated 3. we are not playing a game which suits his game 4. or a mix of the above. That notwithstanding, we have other strikers at the club and/or could play an alternative game. And as yet Lallana and the other midfielders don't appear to be scoring as regularly as they did last season. This is how we compare after 19 games... Last Season Won 7 Drew 8 Lost 4 Scored 32 Conceded 24 Points 29 (not including minus 10) This Season Won 8 Drew 4 Lost 7 Scored 26 Conceded 18 Points 28 In reality, performances aside, we are nine points better off this season, which if we'd had last season would have meant finishing on 82 points in fifth in the play-offs. The BIG Question is... is play-off performance good enough for this team/club/chairman??

I'm pretty sure if we win 70% of our games from now until May we will win the league. And that percentage could go up from here. The key thing is to start putting results together in a sequence and not to lose the very winnable games. We can afford the odd slip up, but we do now need to start burying a few teams and behaving like the POWERHOUSE we are in this league. That could start by a few fans who seem content to let us drift, being a bit more animated about WINNING footbal matches and for the manager to start utilising the players at his disposal in a system that suits THEM and not HIM. Does Ricky Lambert thrive on the long ball? Then punt it to him. Will I miss the fast free flowing football that saw us rolled over by Brentford? Will I feck. Do I want to be entertained? Yes. Which is why I'm seeing Tron at the IMAX. As for this god-foresaken league, let's just win the thing and worry about how we play when we no longer need to concern ourselves with winning every week...

Agreed. But I expect we will be promoted and will win the league. Our squad is good enough and the manager and Chairman both know it. I would be stunned if the players weren't given a severe bollacking for last week's shambles. We must now kick on and put a string of decent wins together. And Adkins should then be allowed to build a decent squad for the Championship. I would genuinely like to see stability but if this team is not promoted, Adkins isn't a good manager and I don't see why the hell anyone would want to keep him? Especially those who were glad to see the back of Pardew. I don't believe it will come to this. I think Saturday was a blip and with Fonte back, I would expect us to win the league at a canter.

I didn't realise that as well as the SDSR resulting in sharing Aircraft carriers with the French, the Navy have further had to share around their braincells... Sure, Pardew was fired for non footballing reasons. Good luck with the frogs aboard HMS Ambush...

Ordinarily I agree with you. But the Chairman has now made a rod for his own back. If we don't go up under Adkins, he really has no choice but to fire him. I would hate for this to be the case. But equally, we SHOULD go up and at a canter. I take nothing for granted in life and know from bitter experience that just because you are equipped, able and competent to do something it doesn't always mean fate won't through a sizable spanner in your works. But imagine that Ferguson was today appointed manager of Blackburn. And was then handed £150 million to bolster the squad in January. And then he took them down. I reckon there is an 80% chance he would be fired after six months, let alone a few seasons. That's not the way I like to see football being run, but sadly it just is how football is now run. Adkins was given a target, accepted it, has the best, most expensively assembled squad (by pro rata comparison) in our history and if he fails, well... I'm sure he knows the outcome. I think this does demonstrate what a bloody ridiculous decision the sacking of Pardew was. All the good work put in last season is effectively null and void if Adkins wants to play a different way, needs different players and has a different philosophy. And that's not just because I really admired what Pardew achieved here, I would be saying the same about ANY manager. If we should have learned one thing it is that you cannot build a house without a foundation...

He came in CB and said he understood why he was here. The ONLY objective was/is automatic promotion. The Executive Chairman has stated that his target is to WIN the league. Yet the moment the fans complain about pi ss poor performances, we are suddenly off message? Well guess what, I bet I've got more patience than Mr Cortese... I wouldn't be suprised if Adkins hasn't had a late night visit from a horse's head already...

Now that's funny. Well don, helped to put the misery of Saturday behind me

This illustrates the challenge of changing manager. I make no bones about my support for Pardew, but set that aside for a moment. Who genuinely thought on May 1st this squad was not good enough to romp this league without a -10 deduction? Who was worried that we needed to change and allow a new manager to bring in his own players? So why is it now a weak squad that needs to be rebuilt?? I tend to agree that managers should be allowed to build their own sides. But look at Ancelotti - ok they're wobbling a bit (but still near top of the league) and he didn't come in and have to sell Drogba, Lampard, Terry, Kalou, Essien etc in order to win the league did he? Adkins also inherited a top class side for this league... It should be performing better. We should be top of the league and dominating with our resources, really we should. (That's not arrogance, that's fact - even Citeh's money is starting to count, why isn't ours??)

I don't care about cunning linguists, but we need a few less pussies in our team!!!!

That has to do surely with their motivation and organisation? Last year, these same players played regularly in 4-5-1 that suited the best striker in the league, enabled out midfield to dominate games and generally prevented us from losing. I would like to see our manager shake it up and try the same. Because the free flowing nonsense I have been promised was evident for half an hour against Tranmere and has not been seen since...

EVERY other team in this league would find a place for: Davis Harding/Dickson Fonte Jaidi Richardson Butterfield Lallana Barnard Oxo Chaplow Hammond Morgan Lambert Two of those players cost MORE alone than Brentford's team! One (Lallana) is worth twice their side... If they aren't playing and winning as a team, may I direct you towards the formation, tactics, motivation, selection... etc. John, there is no doubt ours is the most expensively assembled squad in this league BY MILES - absolute miles. If this team cannot win the league, we will NEVER win it.

I agree. People bemoaned 'the long ball route one style of Pardew'. Which would be the game that suited Lambert and resulted in him scoring so many goals, oh and us winning as a result. I'm delighted by our new Brazilian style... clearly it relates to the team's haircuts... Lambert isn't suited to the way we're playing now so what should we do? Sell the best striker in the league for the past two seasons? Or maybe work with the players we have (£1m worth of striker let us not forget)... I don't give a feck how we get out of this league. We could bulldoze our way out for all I care. This idea that we can be 'choosy' and play our way out. What a load of fecking bollacks. Let's just win eh?

It was good enough though wasn't it? Once assembled it had top two form from October and actually, was in a better position by now starting with -10 points! Our team is still easily the best and most expensive in this league. They just are not delivering the consistency required. Are you seriously suggesting that Brentford beat us because we don't have a good enough team?

Sure, I don't disagree. But you can't rely on youth alone. Investment in proven first team players is also essential, otherwise you're just a farm for the top clubs. So while I admire his ambition to be Barcelona, his comments about the volume of youth team players in their ranks is naive if he doesn't also understand that they scoured the globe and bought the best talent which underpins the youth development programme. The two really go hand in hand, not one or the other. I'm sure he's not daft enough to follow the Lowe model...

And it could well be my view Nick, the point is that Caeser's wife should not be above suspicion... And people should get off their high horses just because someone has an alternate view. Some days this place resembles Salem... she's a witch, burn her...

I don't distrust him but nor do I put my blind faith in anyone. His strategy of building from the youth ranks is unproven - and was disatrous under our previous Chairman... He fired a manager who most Chairmen (except Mike Ashley) would have knighted. He has charged the fans more for the same product. All of the above can be questioned and fairly, in my view. It does not mean that I don't trust him or that I am not hugely grateful for encouraging Markus Leibherr to buy the club.

Further, the very players who have come 'through their ranks' have only come to Barcelona because they are Barcelona! They have scoured the globe and at enormous expense have moved the best young talent in the world to the Nou Camp. It worries me when bankers believe that success can be created from the youth ranks at a club which does not yet have the platform for financial surety that is required to KEEP talent. If we produce Fabregas this season he will be GONE by May. This was Rupert Lowe's failed plan. And now the world will pretend that this time around with 'this' banker, it's different and the plan can succeed. Why? All those who slated Lowe tell me why this time it's different? We will still be a selling club. Not because we will need to be but because we will either be made offers we cannot refuse or the players will go to Arsenal or Barcelona...

So a Murdoch paper is ok, but a Murdock paper is not ok? Are you aware that the journalists of the Sun receive the same training as those at the FT or the Times? Do football clubs provide selective information to journalists based on the perceived quality of their employer?? You would be surprised how often the Sun journalists scoop their brethren... (Although I have no idea whether this story is remotely true - but why the hell would somebody make it up? At best we are a provincial club who can just about garner 20,000 fans to a game...)

I'll tell you something, we'll neve find out anything on here because every time someone posts something contentious they get the thread closed or banned... Feck me. It's like the stazi.

They make me wonder about the wisdom of care in the community...

You are joking? Adkins is repetitive and genuinely rarely includes a subject or object in his sentences... Personally I don't give a to55 because I want a football manager not an English teacher!

And you claim that I'm insane...

The best interviews are given by Harry Redknapp in all honesty - or dishonesty obviously...