Papa Lazaru

I think he would, simply because he actually has a bit of drive about him, as well as the desire to make things happen. You can't fault Butt's attitude but he just doesn't have it anymore, and he's having to do things that he shouldn't because those around him aren't good enough as well as aren't showing any willing at all to take responsibility. Yes Mr. Nolan, I'm looking at you. This is it, his drive, energy and aggression alone puts him a mile ahead of Nolan trundling about doing fuck all and whilst as Alex says his actual scoring record isn't great he looks as if he will at least try and get one! And if he plays he will make the forwad runs, he will try some passes and look to make things happen which means Butt who is incapable of it can stop having to try as the rest of them bottle it. I think Butt is finished as a prem player, but for this season he can do a job with Barton, but when he's with the likes of Nolan he ends up having to be the playmaker! so keep Butt to clean up behind barton, play him just in front of the back 4 as a classic DM and leave barton to boss the midfield with duff and jonas his wide men? (I'm just using names, not who I actually think is any good) Assuming Big Al didn't want a 3 man attack, or indeed 3 man defence again, then certainly away from home i'd go Butt as DM and Barton to get us going in the middle. At home though, we may have to go for it sometimes with more attackign lineups, whether it be Barton and Guthrie or something involving 3 attackers etc. If Barton is fit enough though, i'd chuck him into a relegation fight!

I'm still waiting for the actual Damien Duff to arrive at the club and play for us, the one who played for Blackburn and Chelsea, because i don't know who the hell it is that we signed! He's lost that bit of zip he once had after his last injury, plus I think that's really affected his confidence at running at people as well. Definitely something wrong like you say, sometimes he doesn't even want to try going past people which when he does try it he can still do at times. At least he put the ball in for Carrolls goal on saturday though, if he continues to play shite but sets up crucial goals till the end of the season i'll be happy!

I'm still waiting for the actual Damien Duff to arrive at the club and play for us, the one who played for Blackburn and Chelsea, because i don't know who the hell it is that we signed!

My take on the "classic" Wimbledon side was that their aim was to get the 90 mins over with as quickly as possible with the least possible time for the other team to try and play football - that attitude lives on with Stoke imo (as well as Bolton under Allardyce). Its true, against good footballing sides the longer they can have the ball out of play the better for them and reducing the game to dead balls kicks and throw ins is a good way of time wasting. Not that we are in any way a good footballing side, but i think with even half those 10 mins back we might have created a chance, you never know! we had 1 shot on target before carrolls header, I wasn't holding my breath for a 2nd until the goal went in Well, shite as we were (and by god we were bad!) we did have the odd chance, Owen had maybe a halfchance with a header, there was Owen's pullback into the box which i think a defender cleared for a corner and if Shola was anything but shite he would have chested the ball and had a great chance in the box first half and a volley/half volley in the box second half. I just wish one of Shola's had fell to Owen instead! I'm sure the stats at the end of the game had us as 8 shots on goal, 2 shots on target, 1 goal which for 95mins against a team like stoke is shocking to be fair Its totally shocking i agree, just if Shola wasn't shite there would be two more on target there and one at least a goal! But terrible as he is, if we go down this season its mainly about midfield creativity and home games against shite teams where we've lost points.

I think he would, simply because he actually has a bit of drive about him, as well as the desire to make things happen. You can't fault Butt's attitude but he just doesn't have it anymore, and he's having to do things that he shouldn't because those around him aren't good enough as well as aren't showing any willing at all to take responsibility. Yes Mr. Nolan, I'm looking at you. This is it, his drive, energy and aggression alone puts him a mile ahead of Nolan trundling about doing fuck all and whilst as Alex says his actual scoring record isn't great he looks as if he will at least try and get one! And if he plays he will make the forwad runs, he will try some passes and look to make things happen which means Butt who is incapable of it can stop having to try as the rest of them bottle it. I think Butt is finished as a prem player, but for this season he can do a job with Barton, but when he's with the likes of Nolan he ends up having to be the playmaker!

My take on the "classic" Wimbledon side was that their aim was to get the 90 mins over with as quickly as possible with the least possible time for the other team to try and play football - that attitude lives on with Stoke imo (as well as Bolton under Allardyce). Its true, against good footballing sides the longer they can have the ball out of play the better for them and reducing the game to dead balls kicks and throw ins is a good way of time wasting. Not that we are in any way a good footballing side, but i think with even half those 10 mins back we might have created a chance, you never know! we had 1 shot on target before carrolls header, I wasn't holding my breath for a 2nd until the goal went in Well, shite as we were (and by god we were bad!) we did have the odd chance, Owen had maybe a halfchance with a header, there was Owen's pullback into the box which i think a defender cleared for a corner and if Shola was anything but shite he would have chested the ball and had a great chance in the box first half and a volley/half volley in the box second half. I just wish one of Shola's had fell to Owen instead!

People would be saying he should never wear the shirt again, but it wasn't him so its fine! Personally you have to believe him and move on and hope he comes back and does some good, because the other option is he deliberately fucked the team over, potentially costing you points and your surrival in which case he would have to go!

My take on the "classic" Wimbledon side was that their aim was to get the 90 mins over with as quickly as possible with the least possible time for the other team to try and play football - that attitude lives on with Stoke imo (as well as Bolton under Allardyce). Its true, against good footballing sides the longer they can have the ball out of play the better for them and reducing the game to dead balls kicks and throw ins is a good way of time wasting. Not that we are in any way a good footballing side, but i think with even half those 10 mins back we might have created a chance, you never know!

Yet he offers more than Nolan. Nolan was utterly anonymous on Saturday, the amount of times he touched the ball must be in single figures. I genuinely forget he's playing alot of the time, not just jokingly saying somebody has been anonymous when they play shite, i really do get a shock when i suddenly hear his name from the commentators!

You're one to talk about happily pissing away as much as you like. I won't play a part in us maybe getting relegated though...well i hope not anyway!

I've been saying this since day one, in fact way back in the day when Dave Challinor used to do it. Refs just happilly stand by and allow them to come from all parts of the pitch to where the throw is, take a while to dry the ball and get a good hold on it, then slow walk backwards followed by big run up, usually taking it from well forward to where it went out. Do this throughout a game and its no wonder so much time is wasted. Its up to every team and manager who face them to be on at the refs all the time, firtly in the media before hand like Fergie does if he has an issue to get it in refs minds and then everytime they do it, whinge to the linesman and ref that its timewasting, eventually they'll have to act. Its bad enough that Stoke reduce football to hoofing and throwing balls into the box for giant players to head without them beign allowed to piss away as much of the game as they like as well.

Carroll has a much more consistent first touch so you have a game plan that revolves partly around his leading the line. Nothing sticks to Shola. That's what i've liked about Carroll, the basics of his game. He can win his share in the air obviously, but on the ground he controls it nicely, holds it up and uses it intelligently and simply. Like you say you can build some momentum around him, with Shola you see the ball heading to him and lets be honest 9 times out of 10 you're expecting it to end badly!

Its hard to call isn't it, especially as you don't know what either of them will do in their following games or what we'll do against Spurs. Even though it would sound like its because i hate the mackems (and of course i do!) i think a Hull win is possibly best because the mackems rely on their home form heavilly and if that goes they could easilly pick up next to nothing away from home and they are nearer to us in terms of points. I'd also take a draw though, neither of them getting 3 points on us, but i'm not sure the mackems winning is a good result for us really.

I agree, fans who boo their own players are idiots, but somebody like Butt took it on the chin, took the abuse and showed through massive effort and commitment on the pitch that he could turn their opinion round. I didn't used to think he was as lazy as some said either, but the fact is he ambles around with no urgency or passion and he hasn't worked on any of his glaring failing which is also lazy in attitude. As you say casually leaving Feye free to score was lack of caring/interest and unacceptable. I also agree with other people saying strikers need service and our midfield was shite but that doesn't mask a total lack of effort in attack and defence and he wasn't without chances either. He had one in their box where he managed to first control it with his hand then miscontrol with his foot, a better player would have had an easy chance there. And second half he had a chance just in the box to volley, he cocked that up, then arsed the half volley up as well and they went up the other end and could have killed the game off. Carroll showed in 20 mins what Shola could and should have been doing and should never be below Shola in the pecking order again.

I agree about Guthrie, he's hardly been a world beater and can disappear but he's clearly a better footballer than Nolan, Taylor etc But as you say nobody takes responsibility, other than Butt who shouldn't ever be our main creative force! I think a fully fit Barton would have made a big difference, not saying he'd be spraying the ball around like Messi or anything, but he has drive, determination and doesn't hide. He wants to be involved and wants to get the team going forward unfortunately he's mostly been injured or banned in his time here and even if we do get him back this season he's going to have to find his match fitness very quickly. I'd still be chucking him straight in ahead of soem of the others even if he isn't fully fit mind!

It would be about time wouldn't it, that we produced somebody that was any good! Me and my mates were talking about it last night actually, how far back you have to go since Newcastle produced a young player through the ranks that was premiership class. You end up as far back as the likes of Lee Clark and Steve Watson! Even by random luck surely somebody would have come through since then, but it just never seems to happen! And i agree that Carroll is that an age where he is definitely ready, he's had some time playing for a lower league team, he's done well in the reserves and shown a bit in the first team so there's no better time for him to really take the next step up and try and establish himself if he's given a fair chance.

Shearer spent part of his playing career here with Shola and has watched most of our games this season so he has watched him play and if Shola (or anybody else) can't take another player being picked then tough shit, grow up and accept it. Colo and Guti were both dropped by Shearer and as he said himself they were model pros about it and took it well. How Shola trains is also irrelivent, everyone knows he stars in training and is then a waste of space come match day, so its no use choosing him on training well. What Shearer needed to do and now probably will, (behind closed doors, not to the media) is say Carroll has looked better than you, worked harder when given a chance and deserves a shot, watch what he does and look to match it and show me that you deserve that place back from him. That would be man management as well, firing Shola up instead of continually letting him think his lazy, piss poor performances are good enough by picking him time and again. Also take out his euro goals, i bet he's far from 1 in 3 domestically which is where we need it, we won't be in europe for some time! I had left out his euro goals. In the league he's on 32 from 109 starts. It's closer to one every two starts in Europe where he has 12 from 26. http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=22171 The bold bit is a bit harsh given that it's the first time Shearer has even picked him. Even Keegan, who people have already said had no time for Ameobi, played him in his first couple of games back leaving Carroll on the bench, or out of the squad. I'll grant you i'm surprised he's nearly 1 in 3 domestically so fair play to you there, i always knew he'd done well in europe, though i bet his current form isn't 1 in 3! I'll be honest, i used to defend him quite a while after most people had long since been sick of him, but i don't think it is harsh in truth anymore. It isn't just his playing style that makes him seem lazy, he really doesn't give it everything and in another sense he's incredibly lazy, in that he never learns, he doesn't improve his concentration, doesn't learn to use his strength instead of conceding stupid and obvious fouls on defenders and he's clearly never worked sufficiently on striking a ball properly. As for Keegan, he would have been right not to throw Carroll in, that was a way back in his developement, he hadn't shown enough then to warrant going in ahead of Shola, but he has to be picked ahead of him now, anyone can see that. Keegan did use his usual man management skills of coming in talking Shola up, boosting his confidence, gave him a chance, took one look and said, are you kidding me! And tried to sell him as soon as possible! Shearer has a second chance if you like, he picked him, and for that was rewarded with a shocking display, no effort and a goal given away, but Carroll came on and showed everything Shola didn't so Big Al has more than enough justification to drop Shola for Carroll.

Shearer spent part of his playing career here with Shola and has watched most of our games this season so he has watched him play and if Shola (or anybody else) can't take another player being picked then tough shit, grow up and accept it. Colo and Guti were both dropped by Shearer and as he said himself they were model pros about it and took it well. How Shola trains is also irrelivent, everyone knows he stars in training and is then a waste of space come match day, so its no use choosing him on training well. What Shearer needed to do and now probably will, (behind closed doors, not to the media) is say Carroll has looked better than you, worked harder when given a chance and deserves a shot, watch what he does and look to match it and show me that you deserve that place back from him. That would be man management as well, firing Shola up instead of continually letting him think his lazy, piss poor performances are good enough by picking him time and again. Also take out his euro goals, i bet he's far from 1 in 3 domestically which is where we need it, we won't be in europe for some time!

To be fair i think he could be quite hard to replace, it wouldn't be that easy to find somebody else that inept, lazy and incapable of ever striking a ball cleanly even once in their entire career!

I thought the 2nd episode was ok, nothing more than that, a few laughs and not where i'd thought it would have went plotwise so at least they surprised me a bit. But still not worth returning for on its own, means the final part has to be outstanding to have made it worth bothering and i can't see that being the case!

Not exactly loads of options and I think it's harsh to say Guthrie's shit. I'm not saying Guthrie is shit. I'm saying Guthrie + Nolan + Butt is shit (the collective - hence the is and not an are). That midfield in the first half was an embarassment, we literally could have played for a whole day and we would have created nothing, players were struggling to even pass it forward never mind to a team mate, their touch was crap, no vision, no idea and just going nowhere. And whilst Duff didn't get much decent service, he still offered nothing. Whatever people say about Jonas' end product (and it has been mostly poor) he does get us going forward and can make soemthing happen, same reason we miss Barton as he does have some drive and energy about him.

You know what though? its come to the point with Shola that Id happily see him sold and Llambias come out and say "weve sold Shola and spent the cash on drugs and hookers for me and Mike". Id still give out a little bit of sex wee. I'm really getting to that point myself now as well, though the realist in me agrees with Alex that if we ended up losing Owen and Viduka and possibly Martins that we have hardly any strikers left.

I honestly can't believe Shearer started Shola, i though he of all people would know what a waste of space he is, and he'd seen what Carroll had done it the reserves. It defies logic, i think Shola must have a big file of photos and secrets on all managers he blackmails them with to get in the team. Not only did he give Stoke the goal by not being arsed to mark Feye, he spent the whole game ambling about miscontrolling it and pissing away possesion. Carrol came on and not only did he actually give a shit and try hard, he defended superbly and scored a cracking goal that not many strikers would get IMO. If Shola ever starts ahead of Carroll again i'll explode! As for the rest of them, Taylor is awful, Nolan serves no purpose whatsoever, two great signings by the look of it! Butt isn't good enough creatively but by god at least he tries and takes responsibility, in fact beacuse of that he's trying to do thins he can't, like those 2 late runs into the box and trying to thread the odd pass through, but you can't knock his attitude. The subs should have been made at halftime as we were shit first half and no surprise we came out and were even worse for 10-15 mins because nothing had changed. Once Jonas and Carroll came on we loooked like we could win, until then we were lucky not to be about 3-0 down! I'd have taken a draw though to be fair and as people have said Shearer did try something different at the back to cope with Stoke (even if it was 3-5-2!) which showed some real thought had gone into it and until Martins fucked him about he was clearly trying something different in attack as well.

That was terrible! Not only was it not funny but it just seemed completely pointless, like they had no real idea what they were doing. They didn't bother making any effort of clearing up the ending of series 8, simply saying it was 9 years later or something and that yet again everyone but the same 4 had died! For no reason at all they seemed to have moved the characters back to series 1 but without the laughs, in terms of how they were behaving and their situation No mention at all of what had happened to Holly Then a terrible plot device of randomly throwing in another giant sea creature to allow dimensional travel and Big Suze from Peep Show randomly appearing as a hologram and completely taking charge Very disappointed that it comes back like this after waiting so long

Its quite obvious that things were a joke before he got here, and that includes Kinnear's time, not just when Hughton was left in charge. Harper in relatively subtle ways is basically calling the previous training regime and overall running of things shite if you ask me!