OTF

Not much point in having an eye for detail when you miss the bigger picture: Amoebi is shit. Guthrie + Nolan + Butt is shit.

Your posts are redundant. You're saying what everyone already knows, then acting like you're some form of nostradamus. Post something worthwhile, or don't post anything at all.

Harper: 5 - Came out for balls that he didn't get. R. Taylor: 4 - Poor set pieces, poor defending. Bassong: 6 - One of our better players, still average. Edgar: 6 - Did ok coming in to a new defensive unit. Beye: 7 - Some good defensive stops, also worked hard to overlap in attack. Guthrie: 4 - Anonymous Butt: 4 - Useless. Got the ball deep in their box twice; both times made a meal of it. Nolan: 4 - Useless. Duff: 6 - Kept possession better than most others. Put in enough crosses to eventually get the assist. Owen: 5 - Monstered by various Stoke players. Ameobi: 2 - Woeful. Subs: Jonas: 7 - Covered plenty of space and offered a passing option and width that was previously lacking. Carroll: 9 - Got the goal with a wonderful header. Made multiple defensive clearances. To leave Guthrie, Butt and Nolan with a shred of dignity - there was a lot of long balls played over them (for the first 75 minutes). Having said that though, they scarcely offered up a passing option by running into space. 3 similar players all trying to do the same job. Poor team selection IMO. You don't go to Stoke and pick a team to try to play the way that they do. If you want to win you go there and try to play the team that takes best advantage of your own players.

Decent only because of the way in which we played. When Jonas came on we had a decent run of it. When carroll came on we finally had someone who can remember how to score. Magnificent header. Turns out he was also our best defensive player for their set pieces. Confirmed for the 100th time that Shola Ameobi is nothing more than an extra man useful for training. Nicky Butt makes me sick. He's been the one more or less constant in our pathetic midfield. He's played in 27 matches and has 1 solitary assist. If that's not enough of a sign that he's fucking useless then I don't know what is. Please fuck him off. Ryan Taylor seems to be getting worse with every match that goes by. When he came to us (as evidenced in his first match) he could hit a dead ball nicely, and could even cross in general play. Now were' lucky to see 1 from 5 be anything approaching dangerous. We need Enrique and dare I say Steven Taylor back so we can condemn Taylor to the bench. I'm happy we managed to scrape a draw, but to be completely honest I think that the only purpose it will serve is to slightly delay the confirmation that we're going down.

And I use the terms 'game' and 'played' loosely. It's been a horrific watch.

I don't think that is anywhere near accurate. Even if it was though 70% of the game is being played in our defensive half.

Was Shola's man. The useless donkey practically broke away from Faye as though he was trying to get into space. Edgar's not really done anything wrong, but there's plenty of others in the team that have stepped in to make up for it. Butt, Nolan and Guthrie have all been completely useless. Noone is moving around trying to get into space, and consequently any bit of posession we have is spent passing the ball between defenders and occassionally a midfielder until Stoke can apply enough pressure that we have to lump another useless ball forward.

We've created nothing, can't string three passes together. At this rate I'm more worried that we'll be relegated from the Championship this time next year than goind down now. We're that fucking bad. Has Guthrie even been out there? Could Butt's backwards passing be any more useless? They're hopeless bunch, who you just can't see a goal coming from. I mean really.. I can scarce remember the last time ANY of them scored. It's fucking pathetic. I just have no hope in me at all. I'd love to be proved wrong, but for that to happen there would virtually need to be a miracle.

So it's a 4-3-3 with Duff Shola and Owen up front.

Two results go our way. The other puts Middlesbrough ahead of us but arguably puts Hull back into the equation. IF we win, Boro winning won't be as bad. Notice the size of the IF

It's hard to see us getting out at the moment. It'd be near impossible if we lose this one.

Their attack on paper is a lot more worrying than ours. When's the last time any of our starting players scored?

How did it come to this? 7 games to go, sitting in 19th.

Boateng sealed the win for Boro, with a Coloccini'esque mistake gifting Marlon King a clean run in on goal. 3-1 Boro.

At the moment the Stoke match will kick-off with us sitting in 19th place. I've got this as a must win if we're going to stay up. Given how shite we are it's a bloody tough ask. Nervous as hell.

Stoke's defensive record is very good when they're at home.

Shola could have a role in the Stoke match. We need someone big and strong up front to pull the defenders away from Owen/Martins. For everything that Shola is not, he is certainly big, and certainly strong. Agree, Martins has been poor this season. Jonas doesn't look unfit when he's running up and down the pitch whilst Nicky Butt and Kevin Nolan are walking in circles around the centre of the pitch.

Hopefully that doesn't mean that Martins and Owen will play up top on their own again. For mine I'd have: Harper H. Beye - S. Taylor - Bassong - Enrique Guthrie ----- Nolan ----- Jonas Owen Carroll --- Martins That's Nolan / Butt. Nicky will do doubt get the nod.

Not funny, not entertaining, not intelligent, not educational. It's ridiculous that the account has not been banned. I'm sick of the drivel. One of the mods please do what has long been overdue.

Lee Ryder: Jonas has just scored twice in a minute, he can certainly finish in training. ..... Does the fact that he is playing against Newcastle United defenders have anything to do with it?

The problem with Smith is that he doesn't create anything in terms of our attack. Lets face it, we'll be lucky not to concede a goal, so suddenly we need to score at least 2 in order to win. Can say the same for Butt as well. Nolan when he first arrived seemed to be bombing into the box at the right time, but has fallen off since.

Anyone know the extent of Guthrie's injury? I think we'll see Carroll in the starting 11 against Stoke. We need a big physical body up front in a match where they'll try to beat us down with force, so it's good that Carroll is in some scoring form. Someone braid his hair for the next match please. Martins and Carroll for mine, with Owen possibly playing in a midfield role behind them, and alongside Butt.

Fat load of good the blame game is going to be. Last thing we need right now is more pointing fingers. We've got Steven Taylor for that.

Taylor and Coloccini both struggle to mark opposing players. Though Taylor is more physical and puts his body on the line. Taylor is also quicker - not because he is anything even approaching fast, but because Coloccini is just so slow (he looks like he's jogging most of the time while opposing players glide by easily).

It's easy to see why he never ever gets injured. Never ever puts his body on the line, and goes to ground under the slightest touch, plus he's too slow to catch most strikers so there's no chance of any impact.