acrossthepond

Very pleased with the result but the first 40 minutes were abysmal and this excellent start will probably mean there'll be no new players in.

Nice two touches from Smith. Is he actively trying to lose the ball? Remember what happened last time he came on.... EDIT: And he's been on 5 minutes and collects his customary yellow card.

Christ.

Panic stations - Smith is on. Still time to give away 2 goals then.

Bloody hell, some of these saves from Krul!

Get in! Can't argue with Best's first touch there, that was class.

Brilliant hit from Cabaye, bottom-feeder Best puts it in.

Looks like they finally woke up in the last 3-4 minutes of the half. I guess a positive we can take from that was that our defence was rarely troubled by Fulham, although whether that's down to their deficiencies or our strengths I'm not sure. Cabaye has, for the first time, shown some of the player we were led to hope he is. Obertan finally ended his invisible man act toward the end of the half too. Hopefully this momentum can carry on to the second half, but for me it stops with our 'strikers.' One or both need to be off and immediately.

Saylor determined to injure all competitors for his title of 'fans' favourite.'

Once again we look like complete dirge. This XI is simply not good enough. Simpson, Raylor, Best and Lovenkrands are Championship players. Are we going to play for goalless draws or wins from free kicks all season?

The boos for Duff are pretty cringeworthy.

First it was "before the USA tour" (and what a fantastic experience that was ), then after, then before the season starts, then before the transfer window closes. Next it'll be "in January", and still the morons on here will eat it up. This is classic Ashley bullshit, the same he's been spewing since the Hull game after Keegan walked. "End of the week/window/season" etc. I think Pieters will come in at the eleventh hour, but there'll be no striker and absolutely no further mention of the Carroll money. Pardew will try to pretend like it doesn't exist and never did, and we'll hear more in December and January about how we're trying to get players in but finances are so tight, etc etc.

Arsenal and Nasri? I take your point, like. Clutching at straws here.

'Pards', odious gobshite that he is, reckoned Obertan is Routledge's replacement. Cabaye is meant to be Nolan's replacement, so who does that make Barton's replacement? And when are the morons upstairs going to realise that "1 in, 1 out" is not good enough?

As has been said, get as angry as you want at him and try to push off as much blame as possible on him (and that will assuredly be the club's PR spin), but the brutal facts remain: we have let a key player go for free to a divisional rival for no reason other than Fat Mike's petulance at being criticised. If they'd given Barton a contract, he would've stayed. If they were bound and determined not to, they should've demanded a fee, which QPR would likely have paid. This is another catastrophic stroke of idiocy from Fat Mike and Diamond Dekka and anyone who says otherwise is, plain and simple, an idiot or a troll.

This kind of thing is what earns you the stick on here, Deano. It's cloud cuckoo land stuff. I like your positivity and attitude better than CT/Toonpack/the other Ashley apologists who reckon Fat Mike's bullshit and cost-cutting is "as good as it gets" and we'll never be a top half/top 6/top 4/etc side again, but we played like utter dogshit against a third division club and that prompts you to say we can go on and win it? We have real and immediate problems. The squad is unbalanced, we're apparently about to start strengthening our relegation rivals by giving them our best player for free, and we have no left back. I don't think there's going to be any "fairy tale" for us this season, nor should we focus on cups. What you said in the other thread about this squad not really being that far away from a top 7 finish was spot on. In an alternate universe where there was no Ashley and someone like Lerner was financing the club, we'd have every right to want to push on and buy those two quality strikers, quality LB and quality RB that we really need. But with Ashley, it's always nearer the pit than the summit. We're screwed and we look to be screwed for many years. It's much more likely that we'll go into the season with R. Taylor as our starting LB than it is than we'll spend 6 million euros on Enrique's replacement. You have to face facts at some point and realise that we're not going to make any sort of a splash this season, any more than we did last season, as long as the climate at the club remains unchanged...and that unfortunately we have no way of changing it. I don't want you to turn into another miserable moaner like some others on here who think every loss means relegation and every new signing is bound to be shite, but some realism would improve your crack greatly and end the nastiness toward you.

A legend was born today. Take a bow son. That moment of magic aside, that was 120 minutes of utter, utter dirge. I expect we'll hear loads of shite now from Pardew and his mouthpieces on here about team spirit or squad depth or some crap, but that was desperate. Papering over the cracks isn't even in it. We need new strikers (plural.) Best is truly terrible, Lovenkrands is finished, Ba is suspect but may still be settling in, and Shola is Shola. These ones aren't good enough.

Good God almighty, that was atrocious.

We did write Nolan off during the relegation season, and to be fair he was shit, but who wasn't? He was a panic buy who was managed by an alcoholic clown on a sinking ship. He will do the business for WHU, I have no doubt. @KSA: Whatever could you mean? Lee Ryder tweets that team spirit is great!!!!1!!!one!!

Didn't know he was drinking during games. I would too, mind, if playing football were my job. Either way, maybe he hasn't been fasting during games but he probably has been during the rest of the month, and it makes you tired and slow. Or his recent subpar showings could have nothing to do with fasting. Either way I don't think they're because his head's been turned (that part will wait until January.)

Fasting for Ramadan kind of takes it out of you. I expect he'll be back to top quality in three weeks or so.

This is madness, and no, it is not Sparta. This is lunacy. Barton is one of our best players, possibly the best we have left now. He gave it all against Arsenal and Sunderland despite having a public falling-out with the idiots up top and we're going to let him go for nowt. Leaving on a free at the end of the season I could understand, but letting him leave for free when he's got a year left is pure, unadulterated insanity. These dumb fuckers are supposed to be all about making a profit, so why turn down the chance for a transfer fee? Cutting off their noses to spite their faces? It makes no difference since we wouldn't spend whatever fee we got for him anyway, but my point stands. This stinks of Fat Mike's petulance.

Jesus wept. With any luck he'll tell them to fuck off. Home is where the heart is, Joey, and I'm quite sure there were chants of 'sign him up' at both the Arsenal and mackem games.

I mostly agree with HF - nobody really wants robot referees who spot everything. But I think goal-line technology should be introduced. There's nothing so infuriating as seeing the ball cross the line - the most important part of the game, in my opinion - and having it ruled out incorrectly. Well past time if you ask me.

Apparently AP was sat with EP's agent at the match. Im sure he was trying to do a deal. Sturridge on loan still looks possible. where do you even get this nonsense? Its an opinion. He isnt starting at Chelsea and would probably want 1st team football. Why not? Because he would require a loan fee and wage contributions, which doesn't fit with our business model, that is, pay absolutely nothing. Going after Sturridge makes perfect footballing sense and I think 99% of fans would welcome the move, and he would probably even be interested. However, our owner (and therefore, his puppet manager) does not do things because they make footballing sense. I think we've seen enough evidence to conclude this is the case. He runs this club to enrich himself and as a vehicle for his business. Why sign Sturridge and pay upward of 2m and possibly 30-40k/week wages when we could sign a free striker or someone from a lower division who we might sell on for a profit?