slystallone

Favourite: 1) Eyresy! 2) P Murray 3) C Taylor Most Talented: 1) Shez 2) Fitz 3) Wellens Worst (tough as there are sooooo many) 1) Lord Kangana 2) David Lee 3) Mark Arber

Would we risk that in the playoff final?????

I will be amazed, amazed i tell thee, if we line up any different to the usual 442, with the usual suspects in the usual positions. I'm becoming very sceptical of anything shez says in terms of "i'll make changes" etc, as; quite frankly, he never does. if Byfield has indeed gone back to Donny, i'd start with Lewis & Hughesy up top, with a pumped up & ready to go Craig D to come off the bench. guess we'll see tomorrow though eh, sweeping chenges; i'd expect not.......

Must say it amazes me that we can't use that either, vs 10 man Brighton they were still doubling up on Tayls and yet we could free men up on the overlap. Taylor at times on sat was being surrounded by 3 men; if he could pass the ball on quickly; surely there's space to be exploited elsewhere (the opposite wing for exapmle). Teams unfortunately have figured us out, double mark (or triple sometimes) Tayls & that's our 1 attacking threat stiffled. Nothing much is coming from the right wing at the moment & centrally we don't look like bursting through into the box or threading passes through. we're crying out for 2 wingers - both with pace to worry & tie up the opposition. We also need a ball player with a bit of nounce in the middle of the park. From what i've seen of Lee (Crewe & Orient, along with Ashton pre season) i'd throw him in the Centre & see what's what. Then its either Smalley or (controvercial i know) Davies for me on the right. Pace, tricks & direct running to give another option other than Taylor for the oppo's to think about. that's my take anyways - shez will more than likely stick with the same old same old as we all know he will!!

rated Killen as a player, big / strong/ good technique / eye for a goal, was just his horrendous injury record that brought him down. Then with the revelations about paying for his families airfares etc, he went down big time my estimations non-playing wise after that. Can see him (if fit) doing a job at a Bolton / 'Boro / Stoke / Hull / West Brom, but more likely to be suitable for the Championship at teams a la Cardiff / Ipswich / Norwich etc. Playing wise (on the pitch & fit!) i'd ahve him back here in a flash - personality & injury wise; wouldn't touch with a barge pole. Be interesting where he ends up this Jan as i think he'll be off somewhere.

This whole thread shows up the divide in opinions on Neal - the ones who think he crap & the ones who see what the scouts /pundits / international managers see. I'm with the scouts / managers personally, think he's the best FB we've had since Armstrong & the best RB since Irwin, but hey, what do alot of very respected people in game know eh? lets go along with the 'crap' brigaide shall we? "Bloody Eardley, he's crap you know." Rubbish; i'll be peed off if he goes personally, i can understand the club's plight financially so if a 'silly' offer comes in i understand it will be given due consideration; but seeling off our prize youngsters isn't the way to mount a promotion challenge; and Eardley IS one of our prize youngsters.

I must be watching a different full back to you then, because that is one of the things Eardley brings to the table (along with his better defending when compared to Kelvin & D Jones), his link up with Lidds has been one of our strong points over the last couple of years, the Lomax / Lidds partnership hasn't been as good as that of Eards / Lidds - Neal constantly looks to overlap when playing RB, he did it 4 or 5 times in the first half on sat, and set up 2 of Lewis goals vs Scunny doing the same. He's a cracking player for L1 level & has the potential to play even higher. I'd be very surprised if we didn't get bids for him in Jan from Championship clubs, and i'd be really disappointed to see him leave for less than £750k with considerable add-on's thrown in too. The gang of Eardley bashers will have to find a new target for their stupid ass booing & berrating though if he does indeed leave us in Jan, wonder who t'll be? COG? Whitts? Deano? they always need someone to slag off don't they?

Lomax's passing has been off for at least 5 weeks now, he again failed to regularly find a team mate, and his aimless dinks into the box were very frustrating. He did defend fairly well though, making a couple of interceptions & tackles. Don'tget me wrong, i like Kelvin - but i fail to see that he is a better player than Eardley & holding the RB slot on talent & merit. Neal should have been in the side 2-3 weeks ago; when Lomax's passing & positioning were starting to go pear shaped. Eards back in for this saturday for me. Also, whilst we're on Full-backs, i thouh Jones had another solid game, to add to that he produced vs Walsall. He seems to getting better at defending (which he needed to do) & is looking a more complete LB than he has done in his earlier games.

The briefness of the statement suggests its a serious incident to me, i think they would have gone into more details if it was a build up of issues. Football wise, its a shame as i've seen him play a fair bit watching the yoofs & stiffs & he has always impressed me - i thought he had a chance of breaking in to the 1st's - obviously not now though. Also, he'll miss out on the chance of playing at St James Park next Tuesday now too...

Wow, skim-read through the 7 pages of this thread, i believe if there is a 400k release clause then its bye bye in Jan for Mr Hughes; a chamionship club (be it Donny or some else) will stump up that amount as it makes more sense on a 'proven' goalscorer than getting in a 'maybe' type of striker for more money...... If it is a done deal (as some say) i hope the coaching staff are checking all avenues for a replacement now - a loan signing seeming to be the most logical; but do they go young kid & gamble or old head & gamble?? Out of all the recent loanees, i wouldn't mind Jordan Roberts back, assumeing he's over his injury, as he looked good in his stay with us.

Then i remain perplexed. Shez IS watching a different game to me then?? No way was Lomax MoM, far far from it. Shez has looked to heap a load of praise on him after a really below par performance; singling out his passing (WTF??) Lomax didn't find a blue shirt until 15 mins to go FFS! I'm not Lomax bashing - not at all, he just had a bad night; to add to the other few bad games he's had recently. What i posting is what the hell is Sheridan going on about?? Like Lags, i wonder what has gone on with Eardley, have we already accepted a bid for him; so shez is playing Lomax in there so we won't feel the loss? Has he been a naughty boy behind the sceens? or, has shez lost the plot?? Something has to have gone on, because for footballing reason; Eardley has to be the first choice RB on merit; with Kelvin as a very able back-up. very strange all this.

Erm, its not YOUR choice to stand, its the LAW. Stewards are doing their job; you make it Unnecessarily hard for them with your behaviour. If you all (and by that i think you mean the less than 100 that persistanly stand in the RRE) stand for a designated game, you'll only succeed in getting the club in bother with the authorities; which is great fun isn't it???? Utter rubbish this standing malarky - sit down & behave yourself (and get on with your school work too!!)

There are 9 million bicycles in Beijing - that's a FACT!!!

just after the bloke shouted at LDB to shut up (rightly IMO), did everyone see the pissed up fella staggering his way up the aisle before HT, he fell into everyone on his way up - how do you get that drunk for an evening KO after work?? very funny moment!!

If that's seriously true, then me & our manager are watching completely different games - which is worrying. i was watching the Walsall game where Chris Taylor was MoM by a mile & unfortunately Kelvin was ur worst performer, don't know what Shez was looking at!!!!!

I think Eardley's more of a danger going forward. But Lomax is a lot cooler under pressure. Normally he doesn't waste the ball, and usually makes it to a blue shirt but last night his distribution was as poor as I've ever seen it. Then again, must have been hard for him due to the lack of movement in midfield. Lomax's distribution (or passing as i like to call it) was awful last, and as someone said earlier, if it had been Eardley who played like Lomax last night, well; he'd have been crucified on sheepfoot lane. Eardley gets absolutely ruined for far less than lomax did last night, Kelvin gets the benifit from most. Strange. Lomax had a better last15 mins, where he put in a couple of blocks / interceptions but apart from that was our worst player out there. He should be on the bench for Brighton, irregardless of 'never changing a winning team' - that's his 4th or 5th poor prformance; and his PASSING has gone down hill fast. Eardley back to RB please Shez.

It'd have to be 5pm for me by the time i get up there, but which one should we go for?? Tileys (with the real ale) has swung it for me like - but i do think we should look to meet up as there won't be many of us & going to ground "as 1 group" sounds like a plan so we can all sit together as a Latics block (or 20 seats more like!!)

I said along the lines of "taylor by a country mile; closely followed by greeeegan" my mate then (correctly said) "so not by a counrty mile then if he's close"!! Doh. Taylor was simply brilliant last night, as someone has said, worth the money on his own. His running with the ball at his feet was a joy - and if he'd av bagged at the end of 'that run', it would have been L1 goal of the season; let aloner our one. Greegs was top draw at the back, a vast improvement on what has been before. And special mention to COG who looked v useful in his cameo when he came on.

Me & My Dad will be making the trip up, getting off from work a bit earlier to travel up from Owdham. anyone any idea of which stand will be open (guessing it'll be only 1 stand open??) and, if there are a few Tic's, is there a decent pub near the ground we could meet up in? over to the Geordie land dwellers.........

.....at tackling ......at shooting .....at crossing ......in the air .......at positonal sense don't get me wrong, i like Kelvin & he's a very steady L1 squad player, but he really isn't in the same league as Eard's, who gets a load of undeserved stick from people who don't see how good of a player he is. Good enogh for full international games but not for an away game in L1, hmmm??? Eardley should be our first choice RB no questions asked, one of the first names on the sheet behind Taylor. Lomax will do a reasonable job in filling in should Neal be sold, but is not a better player & not a RB that a promotion chasing side should be selecting; Eardley is though!

That's the point. If, if we'd have won either the 1st leg or last night, we had chance, granted it was just that, a chance, of making the 3rd round, where we had; once again, a chance of getting a big tie. This tie could have afforded us the relative luxuary of not having to sell our star players in Jan. I think we could have made do with getting JPK / Thompson / Davies / poss the Wolfy etc off the wage bill & adding that to the FA Cup monies, been in a similar postion to last season with the FA Cup / Trotman money. Now, it looks increasingly likely that a "star" will be sold, maybe 2 or 3 to balance the books - only adding to the cycle of going nowhere like we have been for years. Can you tell i'm still mad about last night???

Nail & head again! Unfortunately, it is now i feel an inked in, nailed on certainty that one (or 2!) of the prize assets will be sold in January; take your pick from: Taylor / Hughes / Eardley / Smalley / Lewis.......... Add to that any number of JPK / Tommo / Davies.......and our stong squad looks a weak one at the end of Jan And all for f**king up a cup game!

erm, Mixu Paatelainen?? Nope, sorry, i know, the answer is JP Kallala won the race coz he got to the KP Nuts first!!!!

Thanks, just telling as i see it at present. Going for a lie down now, much needed!

Replace "different class" with "same old sh1te" and we're there with that banner!! As many have said, last night was an amalgamation of all that is wrong with the club at the moment; brought lovingly together in 1 absolutely shocking performance. Mis-management of the highest order is happening from the top of the club all the way down (but thankfully stopping before it hits the yoofs, bring on 9t of Dec & St James Park i say - looking forward to that!!) The scrapping of the ressies was a shocking decision, shown up last night. Sheridans lack of tactical foresight, in worrying more about a side who are woeful on their travels & 17th in the league, rather than fielding a side that has the shape & personel to showcase & utiliese our best strengths, shown up last night. Square pegs into round holes position wise, shown up last night. Lack of ability to quickly change things on the pitch; mid game when things are clearly not working, shown up last night. Over-reliance on our 'old heads' in the team, playing week in week out, irrigardless of form, un-droppable in the managers eye's when younger; hungrier models are warming the bench or sat in the stands, shown up last night. A cup-tied striker that could have been brought in in time for the 1st leg; sat in the stand in the row in front of me, watching the sack of sh1te that he's just joined, shown up last nigt. A motionless manager stood pitch side, occasionally shouting at Jones or Lewis, looking hang-drawn & un-motivated; whilst his oppposite number never shut up all game & made decisions when they were needed (N.B this does not in any way mean i for one minute like Martin Allen; he's a grade A cock!), shown up last night. Hoof ball up to our strikers, bypassing the midfield, whereby our small & physically weaker small lads get beaten in the air everytime, for the 2nd ball tobe mopped up by their midfield, shown up last night. how a million miles away we are from ever gettng out of this league, shown up last night. I'm unbelievabley angry about the state of the club at present. Last night was the bringing together of all the evils that have been around for ages, we've mearly been papering over the crack with results like the leeds / leicester / scunny one's. We are a mid table team, being poorly managed at present which is making us look ever worse. Going nowhere fast, and something will have to give. I'm very, very weakly holding onto the strap of the keep the faith banner - for how long the TTA decide to keep the faith with the current regime will be an interesting watch over the coming weeks. A win on saturday will not suddenly make all ok again, there are big issues & problems in the club that need addressing asap! phew, pause for breath after that!