Channon's Sideburns

I think to be honest Lallana has had the 'freedom to express himself' in every game he's played - no-one has been shackling his ankles have they? People are moaning about Holmes suddenly becoming a world-beater in his injury absence, but this hero worshipping of Lallana is getting just as ridiculous. They are many in the team (inc. another slatable player in many eyes Lloyd James) who put more effort into their performance and contribute more than Lallana. So what is it then? Impressed by his heel turns? That's lovely if you're on Strictly Come Dancing with Brucie but in League 1, nah. Impressed by his corner taking? Impressed by his shooting? Impressed by WHAT exactly? I know that some on here are trying to paint Lallana as Le Tiss in terms of promise and ability but GUESS WHAT....Le Tiss actually performed and changed games with his play - When was the time Lallana EVER did that?

...and who went upfront with Lambert? Lallana.. I rest my case.

Listen, we all support the team. You have to realise though that we are in danger of falling so far behind by Xmas if we don't start performing, then we have another relegation battle. The players (by that I mean Lallana,Mellis,Paterson,Gobern,Thomson) - i.e the ones who were shown to be out of their depth last season, are NOT the ones we should be relying on to improve things. IT'S NOT THEIR FAULT - LAST SEASON RUINED THEIR DEVELOPMENT. My solution to this is to bring in more experience, leave Lallana et al on the bench to surprise teams and give us options. Because at the moment we are one dimensional, our subs don't improve things and we have to ask, why? The loan market COULD be our saviour. However, just because I don't buy the 'wait and we'll be ok' routine, doesn't make me negative - the players have to pull their fingers out their belly buttons and get grafting - otherwise we'll have the best ground, and training facilities in L2.... and that doesn't bear thinking about.

Can the Mona Lisa take corners?? ;-) Seriously, we need to remember last season, when we all thought 'everything will be ok' - unless we are VERY careful, we could be in a similar position. We need results and fast - by Xmas it will be too late.

Drop. Simple - needs time from the bench to find his role. We cannot afford to carry any players - and at the moment, we're carrying Lallana. Disagree? Well if you can tell me exactly what he gives the team I'd be delighted to know - saw him from pre-season (you know, just after he told Wotte his head wasn't right) and there is no end product. He's Neil Heaney without the pace.

No-one is expecting miracles. Pardew is crafting his side - however you have to be in cloud cuckoo land to think that our youngsters from last season are good enough. Apart from James, who came on leaps and bounds, the rest have gone miles backwards. Sorry if that's seen as negative but it's the truth - you can keep positive till we are miles away from safety at Xmas if you like. We've been here before, under Burley 'We're going to stonk someone soon', 'It's coming together'...all bollix. I'd rather play Wotton or Gillett than Lallana...he's becoming one of the most over-rated players we've had for years. Oh sorry, not allowed to criticise are we?

Well I reckon we should have John McCririck taking the corners - his hand gestures would be more worthwhile than Lallana's...

I know its all mind-play but sooner or later Pards has to be honest in interviews and say they have not played well. His interviews are starting to sound like Burley's - 'Blah Blah not that bad,very pleased' - which is a load of bollix...we know he won't be happy about it so why pretend? The mental problem the players have (that were here last season) is that they were told they were world beaters....in fact they can't even beat carpets... If he can, Pards needs to move on as many from last season as poss...and QUICK.

Well what excuses would be put forward for Lallana if he wasn't taking them? He has to be doing SOMETHING to justify his place.....

Because he can't/won't tackle. I've yet to see evidence of why he gets played - doesn't even deliver decent corners half the time yet people seem to think he's our best player. He's not. If he was that great he'd be superb WHEREVER he played..this 'best position' nonsense is covering it all up = he's actually not as good as you think he is. Simple.

Someone pls get it on Youtube, I'm stuck in Tesco's car park!

Nickh has got a point. It annoyed me no end to see Rasiak grinning like a Cheshire Cat in the photos from Reading when he joined...never ******* smiled as far as I can remember wearing the red and white... Call me cynical....but nice signing on fee????? ;-) Loyalty (apart from Super Kelv) is history in football.

Perhaps because we go on about our rich owner so much, teams and players now think they can demand a king's ransom for joining. Then there's the Lescott Effect - seeing as he's probably worth £5m max and got sold for £22m, every club up and down the land now think their players are worth 3x their true worth. Now, if we were in for a player in the CCC, who was really worth £500k, and then the club selling wanted £1.5m...you can see how deals can collapse. There are benefits though, by now Pulis must be worth at least a tenner.... ;-)

I have a feeling that we will know more if certain players arrive on loan next week - that will tell us probably who they wanted to sign permanently. Not that we'll find out why it didn't happen - the rumour on here yesterday about Saga to Leicester w/Gradel in exchange, and it not happening because of Notts County's supposed interest gives us a clue what can happen (true or not). Watching SSN yesterday and them creaming themselves over Redkrapp's plans made me cringe - they really do think he's wonderful. Nice to hear that Levy vetoed the signing of James though - I guess Harry now realises who his boss is (I reckon he'll be gone by the end of the season again)..

No news means there is...well, no news. I suspect there may be some 'loans until January with a view to permanent move' - in and out that we find out about shortly. When you look at the amount of paperwork involved in a transfer (they did a good piece on this on SSN earlier) its amazing ANY deals get done before 5pm. From the info they showed, all the agreements between clubs, players and agents all amounted to about a ream of paper. Crazy. Still, if we get a couple of loanees in until January it can tide us over until the cheque book comes out....haha ;-) (Shouldn't laugh - I'm actually really annoyed we haven't signed anyone...REALLY ANNOYED)...

Agreed, but Pards was saying we needed experience - now we sign another teenager, to go with Mellis... Not exactly overwhelmed to be honest - another player from the Prem - but he hasn't played that many games for them....

I see Franks has a lot of experience we can call on - he's 18 FFS....

BBC said earlier that Arsenal were in the market for a late deal involving a midfielder... Schneiderlin?

On BBC earlier they hinted Arsenal would be making a late move for a midfielder... Morgan???

Can't we just release Pulis? Surely even paying up his contract has got to be better than having him around...can't think that many have queued up in the Megastore to have 'PULIS 69' on the back of their shirt.... Oh hang on - they sold one. To Anthony Pulis - closest he'll get to wearing the red and white. Seriously it's more embarrassing than Ali Dia....or Lee Todd.

Wrong player to ship out. One of our midfielders who ACTUALLY HAS EXPERIENCE at this level. Sorry Pards, you've got this one wrong. Shift out Thomson & Pulis before you get rid of Gillett. HANG ON - YOU COULD NOT MAKE THIS UP = LET GILLETT GO, KEEP PULIS????????

Ehhhh??? In fact the opposite is true, we are now in a STRONGER position long term because of his ineptitude - our -7 isn't his legacy, almost meltdown was. We are -7 because Pardew is putting the club back together. It's going to take time - I'd rather be in this situation than this time last season trying to work out how the 'dutch revolution' was going to turn some green youngsters into men. It's like playing U16 football when you're 12, it doesn't work. BTW, back on thread I reckon we'll sign one and have three out today. ;-)

All I can say on this it's a shame such questions weren't being asked 4 games into the start of last season... Get with it, we're REBUILDING. It's not going to happen overnight - consolidate this season, walk the division next season...

Did he wave back? ;-)

TBH I think that if you use your 'Red Button' on a Sunday morning, that you can see the highlights.