acrossthepond

Ohhhh, so the reason the strikers can't score is because Jonas is shit, not because we've sold all our good goalscorers and the players who were providing for them. Yes, it's all clear now. Makes total sense. But wait...wasn't Jonas starting every game last season, when we scored more goals than we had in any of our PL seasons since 03/04? Hmm, guess it doesn't add up after all. The reason we aren't scoring is because we don't have goalscoring players (because we sold them all and replaced them with garbage when we bothered to replace them at all), not because of Jonas's deficiencies.

CT knows nothing about football and has a bit of a vendetta against Jonas, so feel free to disregard whatever gobbledygook he spouts on this topic. This is the moron who thought LuaLua would displace Jonas by the start of this season, after all. Marveaux should be playing when he's fit, I totally agree. He should be on the left and Jonas should be on the right.

Muntari was abysmal for Sunderland but excellent for Pompey 2-3 seasons back. Still not interested. Santon coming here is a very exciting idea, I have to say, but I note that his agent is the one talking up this move: See that bit about him being linked with Roma? Could be the usual agent bullshit to get Roma to up their offer.

Taxi for Arsene!

Stand by what I said about Obertan, he's just another Routledge, although I will give him credit for tracking back and defending. Maybe he does need a bit of a run in the team to gain some confidence, but all I see is headless chicken running and temerity when faced with a defender atm. If we're letting players go for free, Smith should've been the first, and his contract should've been cancelled. Best was so awful against Scunthorpe that it just makes you wonder sometimes. He should be 5th choice at best, behind the two new strikers we aren't going to buy, Ba and Shola. He'll have to do for 3rd choice at the moment though.

Also, Obertan did little to nothing throughout the game, and I hope Marveaux is being readied for time in the first team, because Obertan is just another Routledge. I don't know how many times he received the ball in space and was afraid to take on his man or put in a cross, then turned away and passed back or lost the ball. Not good enough tbh, invisible for most of the game, as he was against Sunderland.

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!!