Dr Gloom

why am i not surprised?

a rare mistake from given for their goal. i can't believe the sky pundits all missed it. they were raving about drogba's effort which, to be fair, wasn't that great. given's positioning let him down. if he'd been standing in the right spot, he would have saved it - it's not like it was top corner or anything. i would have started le sib last night ahead of parker. emre doesn't looks as comortable playing off a front man as he does in centre mid. we didn't have kind of outlet up top. sib looked dangerous when he came on.

how ugly is milner?

that frosties advert with that little shit singing 'they're going to taste great" is the worst like

double wanker tbh

open top bus parade?

can't beat an away win over xmas to spark off the jingle bells song.

gutted for him. but you have to wonder why someone can have such bad luck with injuries. is it all down to poor luck or could he look after himself better off the pitch.

wtf?

how the fuck did he ever play for england? another classic graham taylor selection to rank alongside carlton palmer, geoff thomas and andy sinton.

i (rather foolishly) fancied our chances this time around. but i think we'll challenge them again in 2008. take warne out of the equation and the aussies aren't that much better than our strongest side. scary that they seem to have unearthed a replica glen mcgrath in stuart clarke though.

the convicts were always favourites but we shot ourselves in the foot with our selection policy. the negative approach set the tone for the whole series and despite some decent individual performances, we never dominated for more than a couple of sessions at a time. geraint jones and giles shouldn't play test cricket again and flintoff should give up the captaincy and conentrate on his own game. we missed simon jones but playing jimmy anderson was just silly. he looked every inch a man who hadn't played much cricket all year.

Don't talk shite. They are a horrible team, make Bolton look like Real Madrid. they had more chances than us, just didn't take them. the difference was that martin took his chances They're wank. Take 15 minutes for every throw in, corner and free kick and maybe the stats may say they had more shots or whatever ( haven't seen the stats yet) but we bossed the game and should have wrapped it up a lot earlier. We really missed Emre when he went off. "bossed the game?" i don't know what game you were watching. i thought we were poor second half. gave the ball away cheaply and allowed watford to come at us far too easily. their biggest problem was that all their best chances fell to that big donkey they played up front. Well maybe my judgement is differing from yours, due to me being at the match and getting caught up in it a bit. And then I believe when we score a late goal and everyone goes home with a smile on their faces from a well earned 3 points that the look on the whole game may change, and yes maybe Watford battled well, but that's all they can do really. But we looked a step above them really, and so we should, we may not have been in top gear, but Watford deserved fuck all today. If you took a more objective neutral perspective, you would have to say that Newcastle were gash and Watford (Watford ffs!) deserved a point. They would have got 3 points with a half decent striker. Yes, it's good we got 3 points but the performance left a hell of a lot to be desired. We're about to play some proper clubs soon, and if we play like that we will be badly punished. We've very little chance of Europe this year, but at least we won't be relegated. i think we've got a decent chance of snatching a european place again. there really isn't that much difference in quality between the majority of clubs outside of the top 4.

I don't think many people would say a plan is 'perfect'. We had such a setup under Robson with all the promising young players and the wheels fell off very quickly. Spurs have planned to the extent they have more under 18s on their books than Kenton Comp but they too are finding it very hard to make that jump into the big hitters. But we are going nowhere if we stay on the path we're on. The beauty of a great 'plan' (perhaps strategy is a better word) is that it is more than just a piece of paper or boardroom diktat. It instills a mentality across all club employees about what the clubs goals are and how it wants to acheive them. Within that fundamental framework, you can build training policies, transfers, ticket prices, pretty much any function the club carries out. Within those sub-levels there are plans in place but prepared in a way that anticipates that in football your best player can be crocked in a second, managers can walk out, freak own goals can plunge a side towards the drop. This isn't about a step-by-step guide to success, no such thing exists. Rather it is an understanding and shared principles that can be applied to every action the club can take. Souness was rightly sacked and his squandering of cash on shit like Faye and Boumsong was a big part in that decision. To be honest, I see that as the least important part of the bid. As we all know, £20m can be spent on very little (Luque+Boumsong+Faye). It could save our season, it could just as well add to our wage bill with nothing to show on the field for it. More important than that is that the current regime looks to have run its course. A good job may well have been done then but this is a vastly different game to the fledgling Premier League. The Shepherds are reasonably successful local businessmen, the Halls to a greater extent becoming known nationally via the MetroCentre development. But this is now a global game, with big hitters than add a couple of zeros to the sort of figures talked about 10-15 years ago. Can we really compete and continue to grow with a board which is virtually down to family members and Russell Cushing? Where are the non-execs? Where are the specialists? I have grave concerns about the intentions of Polygon, Gillette Mach 3 and Belgravia but one thing's for certain they'd make sure that the people in positions of responsibility are the best they can get. Not someone with the right surname. Yes the club is in a (far) better state than the club was in 'pre-92' but we're not going any further than being mid-table floaters for the foreseeable future. Spot on again. seconded. shepherd's plan, strategy, lack of foresight... whatver you want to call it... usually involves ignoring problem areas (ie the defence) and blowing the majority of our budget on players he thinks will win the fans over meaning we are over-stocked in certain areas and pitifully thin in others. and then sacking the manager at the most absurd times...usually a handful of games into the new season or just after the transfer window closes. sheperd is a joke chairman in most people's eyes. the funniest thing I keep reading is when you STILL think the chairman is the manager ....... hilarious. Keep it up son. he wishes he was. that's the problem.

Don't talk shite. They are a horrible team, make Bolton look like Real Madrid. they had more chances than us, just didn't take them. the difference was that martin took his chances They're wank. Take 15 minutes for every throw in, corner and free kick and maybe the stats may say they had more shots or whatever ( haven't seen the stats yet) but we bossed the game and should have wrapped it up a lot earlier. We really missed Emre when he went off. "bossed the game?" i don't know what game you were watching. i thought we were poor second half. gave the ball away cheaply and allowed watford to come at us far too easily. their biggest problem was that all their best chances fell to that big donkey they played up front.

Don't talk shite. They are a horrible team, make Bolton look like Real Madrid. they had more chances than us, just didn't take them. the difference was that martin took his chances

that's actually quite funny. anyone reckon shepherd could 'have' barnwell in a fight?

babayaro has been the worst player in the side since he's come back from injury. the problem is that it's either him or ramage, so you have to play him. left back should be a priority in the transfer window.

how could i forget that classic? he's used it more than once iirc

reminds me of big les the way he hangs in the air, only he's half his size. great timing on the header

he definitely looks a confidence player. once he got his first goal today he was buzzing around everywhere

watford deserved something out of the game. martins was the difference between the sides.

quality link barney

yes please

i can't get the link to work