Minty

Whilst I would agree, 2000+ posts demonstrate that most others would not...!

Steve Grant made the all important point above, which is why IMO Lowe deserves *some* credit... not all by any means but some.

Which makes two assumptions: 1 - That this is 'reckless transfer policy', whereas I would suggest (and Adkins himself has stated this) we know what we have to spend and will do so accordingly without it being reckless. Admittedly this is also an assumption on my part but given Adkins quote on this and the fact that Cortese said in the past that the club needs to be self-sufficient (and given his background), I believe is a far more realistic one. 2 - That Adkins has not done what he clearly has done for all previous transfers, and do his homework on the type of person the player is. I personally couldn't see him buying someone who might come with a significant risk of upsetting the squad, and whilst there's no guarantee, again, given the precedents set, I think it unlikely.

Well, actually I think he did. It is an inescapable fact that he put things in motion that paved the way for our Academy to be where it is today. He deserves a lot of criticism for many things, but on this he rightly deserves a small part of the credit.

It's all just part of negotiations. I can't be the only one who gets the fact that if Ramirez hadn't opened his mouth, we'd all be none the wiser about this transfer and therefore there wouldn't be fans getting impatient about it. or thinking that something is wrong. So if people really must find something to blame for their own impatience look in his direction. Go and get yourselves a life, turn the computer off, and wait and see what happens.

Actually, reading it back you're right, I misread the bit about 'the last word' but here I am taking it even more off-topic by replying so I'll stop being a hypocrite now and leave it!!!

He's cleared plenty of those before now and will clear plenty more in the future. He f*cked this one up. It will be looked at and discussed by Nigel. We'll never know exactly why, and unless he starts doing it regularly I don't think it's something we should be focusing on too heavily.

Ta-da!

No goal videos now then? Managed them at pre-season, was kinda hoping we'd see some for these games...

It was quite clearly referrign to the whole conversation, not just you, and yours was the most recent reply, hence the quote. I wouldn't get so precious. It was a valid point. So back to Ramirez, it seems all that has happened is that we're back to where we would've been had the player not said anything in the first place, i.e. there is lots going on in the background that none of us know about and we just need to wait and see.

Also worth remembering that the formation is only a part of the tactics... how those players are then instructed to use their formation, the level of fluidity, overlap, how deep the forwards drop, how far forward the midfield push on, depending on where the ball is etc, etc... far more to it than any of us will ever understand until we've done FA badges to match our esteemed manager and coaches.

+1 Same for blokes though, who go on about the missus as though she's a millstone or a pain in the ar$e in some way...

Adkins has made it quite clear that to add to the 4-4-2 and 4-diamond-2 that we used last season, he wanted to add a third formation to use this season, which is this new 4-3-3. He will use any and all of them as he sees fit and it demonstrates that, while he won't always get it right, he is well aware that one-size-fits-all is not the way to success in the Prem. There is an argument to say that a team should play one way and do it well... no doubt some of you will agree, but I'm with Adkins... we need variation, we need adaptability, and we won't have a 'best' formation.

Twas on MOTD3 earlier: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19314163

A little something to add to this, a tweet from Jaidi earlier this morning just goes to show how the players are feeling after yesterday:

Amen to that.

Alps, I completely agree and if you don't mind me saying so, am a little shocked that this has come from your keyboard! Be prepared for this to be copied and pasted in future if you decide to get a little bit heavy after any subsequent defeats this season.

Davis is the top scoring goalkeeper in the Premier League fantasy football week 1 because of the number of saves and clearances he made...

That's a 'special' celebration right there.

To be extremely pedantic, if the public have access to the private land, then in many cases the law still applies. To quote the government: Frankly any excuse to string him up is fine by me.

Agree that it was a good base to work from as I've said, but I don't think there is anyone who would've 'preferred a 5-0 butt-f**ing' ... that's a bit silly. In fact, I think overall, the reaction to this game has been one of the most considered and balanced I've seen for many years: Recognition of the effort that was put in, the promise showed, and the need for improvement in certain areas to continue the good work.

A Man U fan who runs 7cantonas.com ...

I think there was a bit of sarcasm in that tweet...

That is handy, ta. I'll look them up.

Moving house this weekend (Southampton area), need a transit-size van for max of two days, hopefully only one. Plenty of options out there but wondered if anyone had any personal recommendations, especially for any local companies rather than chains? Any good deals on at the mo?