manctoon

He only got a brief run out. If anything, Carroll was poor at retaining the ball and deserves to be dropped. I have faith in the boss regardless of the selection and formation though.

Ha ha, I can take it...I'm a big boy, y'know. Three points at Plymouth tomorrow will cheer up some of the slapped arses on here.

Yep. 4-4-2 for me as well...not fussed whether it's Ranger or Lovenkrands up front...there are arguments for both starting. By all means, bring Nolan on for an aerial threat if it's 0-0 with half an hour to go, but you'd think Plymouth will leave enough gaps at the back for two strikers to have a decent go at them.

...and you've got a thing about grammar and intelligence by the looks of things. Deary me.

And that's fair enough, but there's a difference between criticising how a player did when he's already had a shit/anonymous game and when he's having a great game. And when you make that criticism having not seen the game in the first place, so without context, it makes you look a bit silly.

He was asking whether we attacked more late on because either a) Blackpool were holding on or because we changed our formation. I was merely saying it was b and not a. Alright with you?

Wind your own in. It had nothing to do with you.

A twat is someone who questions the ability of our keeper for conceding a goal when, by rights, he could've conceded eight in a single half.

Not really. There were massive gaps at the back for Blackpool from word go - we just couldn't exploit them because we only had one (not very good) man up front. A good example of this is that we only had two attacks in the first half. One produced a goal and the other produced a stonewall penalty shout and a free header in front of goal for Butt that should've been a goal. Blackpool played 4-3-3 and kept attacking until the end, it's just that we exploited the gaps more in the last 10 minutes.

He made about seven saves before that goal. But if you'd've bothered to go to the game, you would've known that. Just goes to show that you look like a clown when you make sweeping statements about a game you didn't see.

THe 5Live commentators seemed to think that Barton was playing some neat stuff, but there was no-one getting on the end of it? I'd be interested to hear what someone at the match thought of that. Not true. Barton effectively left Butt to get in all the decent tackles and Barton lost his rag at one point, lashing out at one of the Blackpool players. Coming forward, Barton had two shots - one which was decent and one which was shite. These are the games that he should be dominating the midfield, instead he failed to compete. Ironically, Barton's best spell was in the last 15 minutes - but by then our approach was long ball, so good midfield play wasn't needed.

There is a clear distinction between passing an opinion based on having been at the game and having an opinion based on listening to radio commentary. Politely watch your mouth.

I don't know the first thing about him, but this has got to be a good thing for squad depth. (Although I am usually cynical of anything connected to the fat fucking long-ball merchant who manages Blackburn).

Why is Butt getting such a hard time? Least he put in the effort tonight. Barton didn't put in a single challenge and Nolan was slow as fuck.

Butt was streets ahead of Barton tonight, but you're right about us needing two up front.

To be fair, Geremi did alright for a while tonight, save for one poor cross. He was offside because Blackpool were playing aa ridiculous offside trap for the last five minutes...Carroll and Ranger also got caught by it. You're right that, we need Smith and Guti back.

Nicky Butt brings nothing to the team other than fouls, bad passes and ginger hair. The first black mark against Hughton this season for me starting with one up front. As I said over on N-O if you're going to play one man up top then someone who can hold the ball up is preferable to someone whose strength is flicking the ball on. Couldn't agree more. Carroll won lots tonight - but his headers went absolutely nowhere. And Nolan was too lazy to play off him. Butt was alright for 20 minutes but then got overrun in the centre. We badly missed Smithy tonight.

It wasn't the numbers that lost it tonight, it was a poor midfield. Butt and Barton have the quality to dominate a midfield - they just failed to do it tonight.

I have to say, we deserved the defeat and that was a long time coming. We looked poor with only one man up front. Carroll won headers all night long, but couldn't actually control the ball and lay it off (not like Ranger did at Cardiff). Overall, Blackpool controlled the first half and Harper made two or three decent saves to keep it 0-0. We should have had a stonewall penalty for handball at 0-0 though. They deserved their equaliser, even though the deflection from the initial shot was fortunate. Their second was lucky as fuck though - just a goalmouth scramble that we failed to clear. This match was won in midfield. Blackpool had three strikers and a poor defence - their game was all about hitting the front three from midfield, and our poor battling in the centre allowed them to do it. Butt started off brilliantly with some decent challenges, but he was knackered in the last half hour and Barton was poor all night. I think we need to get back to basis on Saturday: two up front, passing football and a strong midfield.

I'm still after a spare if anyone has one. PM me.

But you could argue that we've already been tested at the back and up front so far and come up trumps. When I saw that Ranger was our only recognised striker available v Leicester and Cardiff, I thought there's no way we'd score, yet the midfield picked up the slack. And, again v Leicester, I didn't think Simpson would do too well at centre back, but he came in and did well. But you're right. For me, we three new players in on loan - one striker and two defenders. I think, at the moment, the boss is taking the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' point of view. Remember the time we were top of the (other) league and we bought in a player, which shook things up a bit too much, setting up the eventual downfall? The best thing about loans is that you can do them at short notice. If we get an injury in a key position, the boss can sort out a loan in two days or so. Loan players will always want to come to a successful side. But I doubt we'll need them in the next four games.

Why? The whole idea of debate is that you state your position and then state your reason for having that position to give other people a chance to counter it. Yes and i think near enough every other person on here has agreed your point is a joke. I don't think you're quite understanding this. Answer this simple question: Why do you think it's a joke?

Fantastic video...this should be stickied. Keep 'em coming

Well, I've yet to see evidence at SJP this season. Reading's support was embarassing. Leicester at least stood up, but sang naff all and Sheffield Wednesday had the numbers but made no noise. Huddersfield were the best, I think. I'm not saying we're unique as a fan base, I'm saying I don't understand why anyone would travel for so long only to stand and watch the match in silence. It takes so little effort to sing, yet people seem more fucking interested in chatting on their phones or fucking off downstairs half an hour into the game.

Why? The whole idea of debate is that you state your position and then state your reason for having that position to give other people a chance to counter it.