The Flying Finn

I could not agree with you more. The centre of our midfield is our biggest weakness

Surely KK and Shearer would be a cast iron non-starter. They were both heavily linked to the Pinnacle Group, and we know how much NC despises Le God

I have just a seen a manager headed towards SMS....but I think WGS was just enjoying shopping with his wife in West Quay.

Puncheon is a quality player for this league and, for me, offers good balance with Lallana on the left. But the problem this season has been his final delivery. Far too often he will beat his man, work the space to get in a good cross, and then not beat the first man or pick nobody out. Still on his day he is unplayable, and I can't think of many wingers at this level that I would choose ahead of him.

Charlton use him as a left midfielder, not in the centre

Yep. It still looks just as you described (and your pic shows), but they have moved the JPT dvd's in front of the gaps.

Since then we have played 7 cup games and signed 5 new players. All of that takes time to gel and bed in. If you expect instant results then you are being naieve, particularly after the last few years the club has had. Pardew's aim this season was to build a team that could conquer next season, and win have success in the cup competitions. He has achieved both. I think to achieve that and still be in with a shout of the play-offs this season represents a very satisfactory season. Nobody has any divine right to gain instant promotion in this league. Just look at Leeds attempts over the last three seasons.

Got them all in 1 min 40

Miles Addison would be a great signing

To me, he's look knackered for the last few games and is in desperate need of a rest.

Ditto. He was ****poor today, and flatters to deceive far too often.

Connolly's first against Bristol Rovers was also excellent

I think a lot of these opinions are harsh on James. Granted he had a poor game yesterday but to consider getting rid of him is stupidity. You can't chop and change his positions and expect him to be consistently excellent. Playing in the centre of midfield against the best side in the division is a hell of a lot different to playing right-back against Tranmere. His passing usually is excellent – an example being the through ball to Papa for the first goal last Tuesday. It was indeed slack yesterday but the conditions were not conducive to slick passing. Criticising just him papers over the real problem yesterday. We did not have enough outlets going forward. AP promised we’d have a right go at it and we didn’t. Playing Lallana on the left meant we needed a right winger that would hug the touchline, particularly as Thomas was playing right-back, and he didn’t do it. Defensively he made a number of timely interceptions and challenges, but he offered bugger all going forward. All that plus the fact we haven’t much pace up front with Rickie and Connolly, and we were always going to struggle to retain possession. It also shows that we are nowhere near the finished article and have a real lack of quality beyond 13 or 14 players. The two benches yesterday showed this; Johnson, Gradel, Ephraim, Grella and Kandol, as attacking options, while we only really had Antonio, and we had to bring Trotman on as another striker! In January we need another centre-forward of real quality, an attacking right back, a direct wide player with pace, and a cultured box-to-box midfielder, for a start. Admittedly that is asking a lot, but we do have the resources. However, I still don’t think Leeds are as strong as Norwich and yesterday was a missed opportunity. Before the game I said to my mate that win, lose or draw I hoped we just gave them a real game and got at them, but we didn’t. At no point were we destroyed, in fact for large parts we were very comfortable. And that was without playing any real football. Had we played as we have been playing over the last 3 months we really could have got something from the game. Leeds are a consistent team, but they are not brilliant. Their reputation beat us as much as anything. But at least we are still only 9 point from the play-offs. I just hope Pards and the players learn from yesterday ahead of the make or break month to come.

I imagine he meant Antonio. Mellis hasn't played much as of late.

What about Aaron McLean? Just put a transfer request in at P'boro

He's been in every squad, but has rarely started. I don't think he's actually started a game. Still, he's a very good young player.

He has done. He missed one in the play-off semi final against Millwall last year.

Lambert is a much more complete player.

I don't think he did the player ratings, just the report.

Hammond is captain. Kelvin will remain club captain.

I'm confused :S. I thought Liebherr was a 'sugar daddy'. Yet although we are not in debt, are top of the league and scoring goals for fun...he sold Fish to Boro for 1.5 million behind my back!!!

Sign up Trotman if possible. Otherwise we need a new centre back. Another big box-to-box midfielder, similar to Hammond. And if we don't extend the Reading winger's loan, then someone with pace on the flanks.

They have Darren 'china legs' Powell in their defence. We have a great chance to win.

And if we target their centre back Naylor. He looked pretty slow at times and too rash to dive in

From watching the game in the pub, I really don't think there should be any teams in this league that scare us. I've seen Leeds a couple of times and, granted, they're effective, but they are not an excellent side. Take Beckford for example. He has a big reputation, but in reality is a one dimensional striker. If he can't play off the last defender then he's not much use. Norwich, on the other hand, looked decent. And as much as I love our Rickie, their striker Holt was superb tonight, and probably the best I've seen in this league. If we can keep being effective and grinding out results, as the last 3 games have shown, then we really could make the play-offs this season.