Smirking_Saint

DH worries me a little, i cannot fault the guys commitment and to be fair he is a good player for this division, however i wonder if he is good enough technically to compete at both the top end of league 1 and on up into the NPC ?? The more i see of him the more i think my worries have legs. For me he is all huff and puff and no end product. His first touch seems to have improved however.

I was speaking in general really, that IS the set up we are utilising, all though we are probably a tad more technical then a lot of the teams in this league. I am suprised many believed Puncheon had such a poor game, i thought he did as well as he could given the fact that the movement in front of him was terrible, yes Lallana made a difference when he came on but even he was restricted to shooting outside the box . DC and LB are not a good pairing together, they do a good job when playing alongside Rickie but for me that is it. If we have to rely on them too much this season we are in trouble. We need backup for rickie and perhaps a young pacy striker IMO. A new quick winger will always be a good signing, especially for us as we seem to lack pace (though Ox apparantly has it in abundence) but i don't think it would have changed much against Plymouth, it was so glaringly obvious we needed someone to hold the ball up and Pardew couldn't do anything about it.

Beat me to it

Really ?? No Lambert, Lallana, Puncheon then ?

Been saying that for ages. Didn't he play a bit further forward against MK last year ?? And looked bloody fantastic ?

They are in the prem though

TBF, this is a f*cking stupid idea from NC.

Has the font got bigger since the last update ?? Also, what was this amazing new match day thingy we were told about ?? I don't mind the new format though.

I would like to see a more technically gifted Hammond and Schniederlin let off the reins a little. But that will necessitate the use of a decent DM.

Except i have never completely disregarded someones opinion or acted with a holier than thou attitude but there you go.

Agreed again, however if we are going to play this way (i hope we do) i would feel much happier with a much more mobile and technically gifted player at the back, but perhaps one that holds Wottons determination at times.

I just find CEC to be very much a soap box preacher who only only cares for his own opinion one which at times i find flawed, i am more than willing to debate with most people on here and can quite happily admit when i am wrong etc and see both sides. CEC however comes across as f*cking arrogant.

The delivery was good enough, the two strikers weren't, simple as that. Their movement was crap, which in turn meant that even if we had someone get to the by-line (which we did, we got on the end of and were blocked luckily) the movement to the ball was rarely there, you could see the frustration on Puncheons face when he found space countless times and looked for a pass which wasn't on as LB and DC couldn't find space.

This Thought we looked better playing it last season and think our players suit it down to the ground

Tactically inept but has captured the hearts and minds of the players and made some shrewed signings. He is the man for the moment, you can hardly moan at NC for wanting shot of him at the end of last year, i hear he begged for the extra cash and failed. My worry however is that given a season AP will promote us, but if NC is trigger happy it could see the end of Lallana, Schniederlin and Lambert in the red & white

The only posts i have ever noticed of you is the one where you accused people of ignoring freedom of speech and now this of which i have highlighted above. I really hope you do not carry on like this in real life, you really do sound like a bit of a pompous ars* TBH and IMO lack quite a deal of respect for your other man, especially like i said after standing on your soap box speaking about freedom of speech lol. Butterfield looked very assured yesterday, tackled well, headed and generally competed well and got forward to support Puncheon when needed. I was very impressed with what is a very good signing at this level. To say he was at the same level as James or Otsemobor is somewhat laughable, especially after a single game.

I am not an out an out supporter of Pardew, in fact i think at times his tactics are a bit... lacking. I cannot help but think however that if he goes that will signal the end of Lallana and schiederlin and perhaps even Lambert ?

I can only hope Pards has better enforcements in store.

No idea, i can't help but think he would have had provided more upfront for us today and probably would have been happy sitting behind Lambert, i just can't see who we are going to get. Akinfenwa scored today BTW Also, who we gonna get in midfield ?? Hammond i don't think is good enough for the step up

Service was fantastic, sadly the movement was shocking

I do agree with a lot you say mate, but honestly i didn't think that at all, each to their own and all that though. They had one big hoof which ended in a mistake and the target man winning a header in the box (something we couldn't do) which they scored from, as the commentator said about 100 times it was smash and grab, they just defended well and at times luckily.

This

For me it is easier defending against 2 strikers then 1 with 3 men working around him. 451 is better for opening teams up i think. That said i do think we need 4 strikers, not necersarily excellent but with differing options.

Vicious St Marys mole strikes again

Well, probably not, another day we would have won today (i think that makes sense ?) We have the players, but we desperately need a replacement target man for when rickie isn't about, today showed that Barnard and Connelly clearly can't work together, i would have gone 451 myself, but thats just me. We were in a pretty dire situation when we came down, other teams would have replaced as we did, albeit probably with not the same caliber of player if you catch my drift. We have spent the cash to get top quality signings and our talent is there for all to see. I just think in this league you need a big man up top