tactically_naive

I'd have loved Neal to stay but I can fully understand why the club needed to do it. £500K + addons is a good deal and will support the ambitions of TTA.

All the best Trotters. Half a mill is a good deal for us in my view.

It means we didn't play him to avoid an injury so we can sell him to Nobend/Plymouth/anyone with a cheque book.

Any fecking football would be an improvement at the moment. As for success...........yer 'avin a giraffe.

Please can you fix it for me to watch some half-decent football at Boundary Park. It's been a while now since we saw a reasonable performance at BP and I'm just a little tired of turning up in all weathers to watch yet another dismal performance. Today's fixture was always going to be a come down from Goodison but today's "performance" was shocking. For a start, please, please, please, please ban Chris Taylor from taking corners. Even Stephen Hawking could put a better cross in than the Ginger One. I love the fact that he's a local lad, I love the fact that he's a Tics fan through and through, but he can't take a corner for toffee. Ban him, now. Please. Also, he is perfectly able to get into good crossing positions down the left but crosses the ball like Thora Hird. Please teach him to cross. An end product would be a good thing. Secondly, please can you teach Craig Davies how to control and hold onto the football. Oh, and shoot too. And pass to team mates in better positions than he. And to stop going missing when things don't go his way after 15 minutes. You, Shez, were the master of the creative pass and normally worked your magic from a 30 yard radius circle in the middle of the pitch. None of our current crop of players seem able to make the simplest of passes, apart from ones backwards as yet another "attack" breaks down. We used to have a player called Ritchie who was a half-decent creative player but he's wandered off to Yorkshire now. He had his flaws, sure, he had a bit of a temper sometimes and had the odd sulk but he could thread a pass through the eye of a needle. Not to your immense standards Shez, but pretty good nonetheless. Neil Kilkenny was a reasonable replacement for Ritchie but he's wandered off into Yorkshire too. I'm all for human cloning. A new Shez if you please? I'll be turning up at BP again on Tuesday evening, but I'd love it if the team in blue would turn up as well, and not the shambolic excuse for a football team that I witnesses today. Yours faithfully, tactically_naive (Aged 36 and 3/4)

Out without a fight.

Paul Beavers. Described by Stitch as "awesome".

I'm old fashioned me.......I like my wingers playing on the wing, and central midfield players playing in the centre. I know it won't catch on but thought I'd mention it anyway. Taylor isn't that good a winger if truth be told.....some pace, admittedly, but not much end product and often gets marked out of games when double-teamed by the oppo. He is the best we've got at the club on the left and should be left there in my view, although the occasional venture down the right could be useful against the right oppo. Lidds is still the best crosser of the ball we've got in my view but seems perma-injured these days.

Not a bad result today but talk of the play-offs is way off the mark in my view. Our home form continues to be mediocre and, although our away performances have been great this season, it won't be enough to take us into the play-off positions.

FA Cup semi at Wembley vs Red Scum. I've never, ever felt that bad after a game and detest Mark Hughes with an irrational passion to this day.

I think to say it was a good performance is stretching it a little. It was pretty average from where I was sat but it's now always easy against 10 men, who sat back and spent a great deal of time defending and wasting time. Hughes' goal was a great finish and the highlight of the game. Brighton upped their game in the 2nd half and and probably shaded it and they probably felt a draw was a fair result. MOM for me was Trotman who had a great game, although JP Kalala came a close second. Macca had a good game too although seemed to spend a lot of the game sitting quite deep which isn't really his forte. I thought Davies had a poor game and he really needs to get his head sorted out, although those calling for him to leave are wide of the mark by a million miles. For me, he needs to become more aware of others around him, be prepared to release the ball to his team-mates in better positions (e.g. Hughes in the 2nd half, wide open in the 6 yard box), and also needs to improve his 1st touch which has been pretty dreadful all season. He gives the ball away faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar too much.

Firefox + Adblock Plus and Adblock Filterset add-ons..............kills all known adverts, DEAD!

Really Neil? I thought he was , not fit to lace the boots of Shez. Good luck anyway at Leeds, although not too much as has already been said.

Not that bothered to be honest. Not as effective or creative as Wellens and far less vital to the team. Good luck to him at Leeds.

Me. Right now.

Somethings not quite right.

In for now, but the buck stops with him and he's gotta sort it out soon in my view. He has earned the right to try and put it right and we shouldn't be making knee-jerk decisions. However, the job comes with responsibility and TTA might have to swallow the brave pill and get shut if things don't improve by Xmas.

This is England. Still the best film I've seen this year.

Ashworth's out of business, the best news of the season so far!! Absolute arse biscuits of the highest order! Pukka or Holland's....not arsed misself, both are infinitely better than the Ashworth's used to serve up.

I was a "dwindler", as well as a "clapper". A few more around me but not many to be honest.

I sit in the Chaddy and was disappointed with the noise yesterday to be honest. No lack of effort from the MC but the rest of the Chaddy didn't really follow suit and most chants dwindled away quickly. As you say Mark, sing when yer winning.....

We were very patchy yesterday but the fighting qualities of the team were excellent and we deserved at least a point, arguably the 3 that we ended up with. Kilkenny is a must-start for me on Tuesday as were crying out for his creativity yesterday before he actually came on and made a big difference when he did. The biggest disappointment for me was Davies' first-touch which was pretty dire yesterday......he received a number of good balls yesterday and gave it away with some poor control. Hopefully Shez can sort it out in the coming weeks.

This is the first I've heard of Gary's illness and have been saddened by it very much. All the best Gary......you were a great keeper and made some truly world-class saves in between the sticks for Latics.

I'm the one who usually starts it but I don't do away games and don't comment on matches I haven't personally seen.

They could show movies on that at half-time. Mebbe "Shawshank Redemption" for Hughesy........