Noelie

Another game that looked like we might lose in the first half, another game we should have won in the second half, and another fuck-up in defense. With the absense of Duff, Zoggy, and Milner it was pretty obvious there wasn't going to be many crosses going in from the wings. I thought Martins should have stayed on, Geremi or Barton should have made way for Zoggy.

That's a pretty good appraisal Mr.Fish, Sam didn't make it too hard for Derby & Reading to beat us as well as the others that did under his tutelage. 4-1 to Pompey AT HOME and Pompey scored all 5 goals. We were really hard to beat that day. Especially when Sam had brought in Beye, Faye, Rozehal, Cacapa, & Enrique to strengthen our once pourus defence.

Aw c'mon Jonny, methinks thou's being unkindly towards LeazesMag, I wouldst thinketh he'd fall on his sword afore he wouldst smite Lord Ashley.

Point is it wasn't and he didn't. Derby should have been one of the "easy" fixtures and all Allardyce could get us was 1 point out of a very possible 6. I just hope Derby win another match so we don't go down in history as the ONLY team they beat in their relegation season of 2007-2008. Allardyce got no points out of a possible 3 from Reading, and 1 point of a possible 3 from the Mackems and as we still have to play them again, let's hope Keegan can do better.

I think we would probably be in the same shit position if Allardyce had stayed. I think he would have continued to play people out of their best position and make the ureal substitutions at unbelievable times. I think that there is no question that we have played better as a team since he left even though the results have gone against us. The only plus that I could envision if Allardyce had stayed would be that we would have got more players in during the winter window but no doubt they would be cheapies and probably no better than the ones he had already brought in.

Small consolation that Blunderland lost today, a draw would have taken them above us too because of the number of goals we have leaked all season. Our next games do not hinge us in a matter of life or death situation, it's fucking worse than that. At this point I can't fault any manager new or old for our dismal recent results, the fault has to lie completely with the players who are unable to capitalize on the amount of scoring chances that present themselves.

Didn't expect to get anything out of this match, expected to get beat, but what I didn't expect was to see such a shadow of a team that played so well lest week. I was expecting Liverpool to score at anytime but actually thought we were going to be 0-0 at half-time, talk about being a dreamer after seeing last weeks winning goal at the bell. We've now slipped to 14th place after Reading's win today, a dire situation now, only 3 points ahead of Bolton who are in the bottom three. Our goal difference is terrible and if we lose next week either Wigan, Sunderland, Birmingham, even Bolton could move ahead of us with a win. In fact if we lose, Wigan and Sunderland could move ahead of us with a draw. Any miracle workers out there?

If we should go down I don't think Keegan will up and walk away as long as he has the backing of the board and they will provide the same amount of summer transfer money that has apparently been talked about. Recent results under Keegan's management since he came have not gone our way but there is no question that the teams performence overall has shown a vast improvement which can be attributed to Keegan's influence. However Keegan inherited a team that was going nowhere but downhill and it's hard to put the brakes on, there is a lot of work still to be done and I believe that albeit in the Premier league or the Champions league, Keegan will build a tem that will give us something to cheer about. I think that if we do go down we will be back in one season provided Keegan gets the support he needs from everyone, from the board down to the fans.

Wouldn't say he was 'very' good but he certainly had a decent game which again brings up the question of why he hasn't been getting a game ahead of N'Zogbia at left back which is his natural position. Every time I have seen him play he has never looked bad enough to be dropped, and he has always looked like a good prospect for the left-back position. I believe that Enrique & N'Zogbia could form a formidable left-side partnership if given enough games playing together.

Heartbreaking A much improved performence but the bottom line is goals!! If you don't score you can never win, they scored, we didn't, they won. It was heartbreaking because; Owen missed goals he would have normally scored, the defense leaked the winning goal, another game we should have won, should have seen Zoggy on earlier. Small consolation but we are still in 13th place due to Wigan & Blunderland not winning. If we can keep up this tempo of performence and start scoring we should manage to avoid relegation.

That may well be true Mr. Fish but we couldn't beat all 7 of them could we?

What I don't understand is why Enrique isn't playing in reserve games when he's not getting a run-out with the first team? If it's a question of match-experience, match-play, match-fitness, or failing to show anything in practice then surely all this could be resolved one way or another by getting to see what he has to offer in competitive matches instead of sitting on the bench. And frankly, what I have seen of him so far gives me the impression he could be alright at left-back if given a run of starts.

That's very true but if we lose our next game and Wigan + Blunderland + Bolton win theirs we'll more than likely slide down the table to 16th place. Reading is 3rd from the bottom and only 6 points behind us, things are looking dodgy.

Position of the break looks bad for any recovery to play again but I certainly hope I'm wrong. 7 months after arriving in the USA I had my leg broken in a game against a Yugoslav team, My break was midway between the ankle and the knee, large bone was broken in half and the small bone was fragmented into pieces. Had a steel pin inserted down the middle of the large bone from knee to ankle. Was in a cast from toes to bum for 9 months and I did play again but not for 2 years. The pin was removed 5 years later as it had displaced too much bone marrow and was causing the bone to become brittle.

Expected to lose but not that badly. Looked bright at first then hopes faded. Not enough quality in our team overall. We just need to avoid relegation and give Keegan a chance to bring in better players in the summer.

Aye, where ye from like? I know Belfast I mean when you were a kid. Belfast's a nice place though, so it is. I was brought up in Burradon, mainly. Never lived in Shields, hardly ever been to the place. Belfast's sound, aye. Not too dissimilar to the Toon is a lot of ways. I'm only here through the week though. 3. 0. Once spent a month living in digs in Belfast while waiting for a ship to be fitted out, Had a good time there and wouldn't be surprised if there's some folks been searching for their biological father. Nobody's found me yet. Dad? Fuck off he's mine You had better start counting your dollars me mothers wanting to know where the maintenance is Aw c'mon son, isn't there a statute of limitations or summat.

Aye, where ye from like? I know Belfast I mean when you were a kid. Belfast's a nice place though, so it is. I was brought up in Burradon, mainly. Never lived in Shields, hardly ever been to the place. Belfast's sound, aye. Not too dissimilar to the Toon is a lot of ways. I'm only here through the week though. 3. 0. Once spent a month living in digs in Belfast while waiting for a ship to be fitted out, Had a good time there and wouldn't be surprised if there's some folks been searching for their biological father. Nobody's found me yet. He was waiting for the Mary Rose to be fitted out... I might be old, ancient perhaps, but I'm not that fucking old.

Aye, where ye from like? I know Belfast I mean when you were a kid. Belfast's a nice place though, so it is. I was brought up in Burradon, mainly. Never lived in Shields, hardly ever been to the place. Belfast's sound, aye. Not too dissimilar to the Toon is a lot of ways. I'm only here through the week though. 3. 0. Once spent a month living in digs in Belfast while waiting for a ship to be fitted out, Had a good time there and wouldn't be surprised if there's some folks been searching for their biological father. Nobody's found me yet.

Ah, but I beg to differ oh learned one. In a previous post in this thread you said; "ah knaa Alex man" and anyone with a good knowledge of the Geordie dialect are fully aware that the noun "I", is spelt "aa". been reading "lorn yorsell Geordie" lately have we Methinks another mistake. Methinks thou dost mean "Larn Yersel' Geordie" by Scott Dobson circa 1969. Na, aa hevvint read it lately, divvint need tee, but it's in me library.

Ah, but I beg to differ oh learned one. In a previous post in this thread you said; "ah knaa Alex man" and anyone with a good knowledge of the Geordie dialect are fully aware that the noun "I", is spelt "aa".

I want to believe that, have to believe that, he has the necessary talent to do that but my concern is that he might walk out the door as he has done before. To knowingly walk into an already high pressure situation is a diabolical position to be in from the start but the fact that KK has accumulated only one point since he arrived has to be piling more pressure on him albeit pressure he is putting on himself for not doing as well as he hoped for. My concern is that his self-applied pressure may prove too much for Kevin but I sincerely hope not as I don't think the pressure from the fans or the board are a factor in the equation at this time.

Mr. Fish, aka Mr. Thomas, my expectations are not disproportionately high at all, I am just very disappointed that our performence today was of a lower standard that has been shown in the past 3 games, and I think our cause could have been helped by a slightly different line-up and earlier substitutions. I expected to lose today but not as badly as we did, in fact when we got the early goal I thought we may perhaps steal 3 points or maybe grab a dwaw but as the game progressed it was fairly obvious to me it was not likely to happen. And yer right son, I do like a moan but my moans are born of frustrations, not high expectations.

Yes Enrique was injured but didn't he play in Spain's under 21 team against France mid-week? Sure, Faye has been away but then so has Beye, they both played together in the African Nations Cup. Viduka had been injured but he featured last week and I haven't heard of him being injured again.

Aye it does LuckyLuke, but it seems to me there's a lot of homework and study to ne done, there was a lot of Dunces on the field today.

One step forward four steps back!! Words starting with the letter 'D' say it all. Depressing. Diabolical. Doh. Dire. Disenchanting. Dejected. Damn. Defective. Deflated. The list goes on in reference to the Dismal Display today. The Defence is like a sieve with its holes getting bigger with erosion. Why Keegan did not play Viduka will remain a mystery until we find out the reason. Why he did not start Enrique rather than Carr is another mystery. Mysteries galore today, why wasn't Emre brought on sooner, why didn't Faye feature at all, why didn't Enrique feature at all?? In all honesty, even after Owen's early goal I don't think we ever looked like we could win, the improvement shown in our last two games looked to have Disappeard doon the netty.