acrossthepond

acrossthepond's official predictions: We draw away to Blackburn. The big man sends out another pathetic team and we go 1-0 down by halftime but recover on the break and equalize to hold on to the point. We get pummelled, maybe 3-0 by Arsenal. Sam is promptly shown the door. We appoint Nigel as caretaker, he plays a couple of games, we end up with Coppell or someone like him and finish another season of midtable mediocrity with near to no action in the Jan. transfer window.

From ESPNsoccernet: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story...mp;lid=tab1pos1

Cacapa, Faye, Taylor, Duff Owen There's 5 players off the top of my head who're missing. Of those I'd reckon 4 would be in the first 11, of those I'd say Faye, Taylor and Owen would be key members of our first 11. I'd say he could blame defensive frailty on our injury list. Duff's been out of contention so long I don't even count him. I'll give you the other 4 although I doubt Taylor would be a key member of our first 11 since he hasn't featured in it for so many games under Sam. Defensive frailty ok, what about midfield and offensive frailty? We look like a senior citizen's brigade.

He did manage to collect his yellow card just before the match ended. I was getting a bit worried there.

And ? getting rid of a manager after 14 games would add another 100 weight of support to the theory that this club is a fucking cartoon of itself. this was never going to be fixed in one season let alone 14 games. indicative of the quick fix mentality of this country. You all want a plaster, when what we need is a splint. If you're looking for some for of kudos for calling for patience you find none here, Allardyce has a 5 year plan, don't make me fucking laugh, should we have given Souness more time ? or Roeder ? We have appointed the wrong man, and if you can't see that after this performance you need to wake up and smell the coffee my friend. Will you still be in denial when we are at the foot of the table ? Come the new year we'll probably find out. The man has lost the crowd and the dressing room, that equals no future. I know it's a classic example of "the grass is always greener" but if I'm quite honest we beat Liverpool in this fixture last season and didn't lose to any of the big four at home and if you think that's going to happen again this year you have another thing coming. Big Sam looked so promising and somehow we let our expectations rise so high (as we always do) but I'm afraid the truth has come crashing down here and it's time to send Sam on his way before he can damage us further. I'd rather have the little man back if this is the shit that Sam is going to serve up at home. He can't even plead injuries - most of what passes for our first team is fit. BIG SAM OUT - you know what you can do with your five year plan mate.

He's done. If we keep out their 4th it'll be a genuine miracle. Bring on Redknapp, I'll pay his bus fare.

Let the booing begin. Turned over at home again. I think this is the end for Sam and it couldn't come any sooner.

Ring the bells, turkey day is over but Big Sam is DONE. As we say over here "stick a fork in him." Good call Dr Gloom, just goes to show how amazingly predictable Sam's sad subs are.

I promised myself I'd stay away from this thread and not go for the kneejerk reaction. Can't manage it any longer. If this fat bastard doesn't figure it out in incredibly short order he'll be out of a job and we'll be back to "laughingstock of the EPL" status. His team selection and substitutions ("tactics" I bet he calls them) are beyond awful. There aren't many times I've been embarassed to be seen in black and white but this is one of them.

Bit of a step down for him as I consider Birmingham more likely to stay up than Wigan this year, but that's City's own fault for waffling on his contract for so long. Good boss, doubt he can save Wigan now though.

howay man. taylor scores 7 in the magness league Doesn't make him any good We could probably pick up some decent money for "future England captain" Taylor...why shouldn't we cash in?

I'd have Joey Barton before I'd have Diouf, the filth. Oh wait... But seriously, I'm more interested in having Ben Haim for 1m. Maybe then we could offload Taylor before his ego gets the better of us and get some proper talent in.

If anyone's interested, apparently Emre scored a right cracker for the Turks today as they beat Norway 2-1.

I've seen it with my own eyes and still can't believe it. Cannot believe it. Scotland truly robbed. Missed an open goal and got punished for it by some obvious cheating.

I'm pleased with Mort (a chairman who's never heard from is one of the best chairmen of all in my opinion) and Ashley. He's got the dosh and I really want to believe that he is committed to NUFC. Sitting with the fans against the Mackems was a huge point in his favor for me.

Not much arsed about this. Can't lose what you've never had. If City will still give us 6m for him I have a pen for Ashley to sign with.

you're having a laugh you clueless shite Have you seen Gordon play? His positioning is some of the worst I've seen from a top-flight keeper in a while. He's got good reflexes but should not be letting in some of the soft goals that have been scored against Sunderland this year, Milner's included. Worth 9m? That is the laugh here.

Another anti-Allardyce bandwagoner coming out of the woodwork. This story would never have seen print three months ago.

Remind me who's in your midfield again? Nobody we've ever heard of? Oh, that's right. Get out you mackem bastard and take your Championship squad with you. Michael Chopra, Kieron Richardson, Craig Gordon...you must be having a laugh.

Oh, I dunno. I only put those numbers up to irritate people. I guess I'll have another look at them after the transfer window closes.

Not that I'm supporting Rico because he can be a right argumentative cunt but really change the number of posts and you could apply that statement to others. In which ever order you like but arsehole.armpit.the.hairy.calling.like. ! I guess I'm arguing with you now, but nonetheless, you may disagree with my views but you can hardly say that in my time on this forum I've chased down everyone who might put a toe out of line with my way of thinking and personally attacked them with the sheer bloody-mindedness and ignorance of R|CO. This guy is good for nothing. He reminds me of Leazes, except not so much "sad" and more "serious shithead."

You just clearly want to fling insults at me with little to no reason. And you thought I might want to defend myself....... can't think why I might. You poor bairn. The world is such a cruel place. You stand up for yourself! Go Fop! 700 posts since 3 September and you've managed to say nothing of value. Nothing. Zero. Nought. Not a sausage. Nothing. Piss off already you sad charva, the only thing you've done in 700 posts is argue with everyone who says two words to you.

Away to Boro also. They're a load of sad wallies and part-timers who we should've beaten with our eyes closed. Sam hasn't really been tested yet. I feel like we'll see his true quality when we face the big teams. At this point in the season, things are uncertain - we're approaching a turning point. Either we put this shakiness past us and get the big results (at which point this will be forgotten and those who question him now will be singing his praises later) or we take a few big thrashings and begin to hear calls for Sam's head (at which point those defending him now will be chanting "Sam oot" out the sides of their mouths.) Wait and see, I think. I'm not giving up on him yet, meself.

GK: Given RB: Beye CB: Cacapa, Faye LB: Jose Enrique RW: Milner CM: Butt, Emre or Barton LW: N'Zogbia ST: Martins or Owen, Viduka Stick to this or some semblance thereof please Sam. It isn't rocket science, honestly. Play your men in their positions and their quality will be obvious for all to see. Roeder was abused for playing people out of position, so why shouldn't Big Sam be questioned when he does it? I'm not up for this hero-worship business. He's done a good job of rebuilding this team, but buying the players and training them properly is only half of the game - the other half is out on the pitch where we have been subpar and I don't mind saying so. Sam can turn this club around, I am sure of it, but he's got to stay simple and do the obvious first. Enough tinkering.

We looked like we could've won it. Had a hell of a purple patch there for about 10 minutes after our equalizer and it seemed like we were sure to score. Chances muffed: Owen - brilliant control off the hoof from Harper, can't fault him for not scoring. Owen - nonexistent foul called on him when he would've gone through. Milner - blasted into outer space Martins - offside at the last We could've had it. I guess honours even is close enough though, especially considering their glaring misses and Chopra's shot off the underside of the bar. Better than losing to these sad bastards I suppose. I do have a number of complaints though - Barton in particular was woeful and looked more like a thug than a footballer, Big Sam waited far too long to bring Martins on and took off the wrong player for him, and our defence looked as shaky as possible without totally collapsing.