shurlock

Can picture it- Lambert bullying Lancashire and Perry; Waigo scaring the living daylights out of Rudi; Gillett can't get in the side;Jaidi and Trottman outmuscling the battering-ram Euell. The sheer work-ethic and willingness of Harding giving no space to the likes of DMG; perhaps slightly vulnerable to the pace of BWP but unlikely to stay onside; 2009/10 Lallana looking pound for pound better than 2008/09 Lallana; midfield a slightly more contested area, though no reason why Hammond wouldn't give a Surman a run for his money. And if it came to chasing goal, the likes of Connolly on the bench compared to a loaned out/depleted strikeforce and young great hopes like Peckart. Of course, we would still have Kelv to beat

Every time a manager in this league says we're in contention - lets not discount that part of it self-serving bullsh*t. Easier to account for or justify a defeat by claiming that you were up against strong team, especially one with our reputation and size.

I hate pinching united songs - why not viva lallana to elvis' viva las vegas? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPuKoqu6kMk&feature=fvw

A big few weeks ahead, especially MK Dons and Norwich at home. Wins against them and just maybe....

get a decent referee and they would have been down to 10 men and we would have murdered them 7-1. one feck and his fish tank.

I could get into that.

The chant is still a bit complicated for most fans - yesterday, most fans didnt know the lyrics but were joining in on the la la la la bit. And the Waigo chant is pants - it is too short, builds no momentum and exhausts itself quickly.

i agree Fulham are utter sh*t - for such a tight ground, they should generate real noise. nobody would shed a tear if half of lancashire -Bolton, Wigan and Blackburn- was nuked either. The common theme is that these clubs were snatched out of oblivion by rich, high profile chairmen; yet their fans have not kept up.

Our 1-1 at West Brom (2007/08, monday night, penultimate game of the season) was a special atmoshphere. We started the night in the dropzone and they only needed a point to secure promotion - when Lallana put us 1 up with 15 mins to go we were so close to shutting them up.

Saga?

the gypo would be lethal at this level;)

Two reasons -one negative, one positive - perhaps we don't have the personnel to play straight-forward 4-4-2. In particular, we don't have a decent striker to play alongside Lambert. Saga's faded and Patterson's not ready. On the other hand, 4-5-1 gives us an element of unpredictability that 4-4-2 cannot. With players floating in the hole and others breaking from midfield, picking up players is a nightmare for defenders which in fact creates more rather than less space for our centre-forward. Of course it requires the right personnel - a holding player, a fulclum around which play can be developed (which we lacked last year under JP) and willing and able runners. In Lambert we have a football league Mark Hughes - a physical presence with superb control, increasingly agile (hence all the references to work on his fitness) and a scorer of great volleys. In Lallana, Papa, Mellis and to an extent Hammond we have the runners. Many of these players would not thrive under a more rigid system - after all is Lallana a LM or RM or centre-forward; is Papa better on the right wing or down the middle? With 4-5-1, we don't have to answer these questions in any final way. It's flexible enough to let us sample the best of all worlds. That's the theory at least. The problem yesterday is that while we had the fulclum, we had too many holding players and not enough runners. To all his detractors, yesterday also showed how increasingly indispensible Lallana is to the team.

Difference between today and saturday and why 4-5-1 didn't work was that against Gillingham we had Mellis and Lallana who are 'cute' and 'busy' players, good at finding space and supporting Lambert. By contrast, the first instinct of Wotton, Gillett and Hammond is to stay put, leaving Lambert isolated. The problem is not 4-5-1 at home per se if you have the right players.

Someone did a great rendition of the 'hey macerena' for papa at charlton. nice tempo, builds up to a great crescendo.

No. he played as a supporting striker against Carlisle and Bristol R and then on the left against Gillingham - no doubt to give more cover to Harding, presumably to make up for Mellis' weaknesses against Bristol R.

Looks he 19, loaned for a month - he may never even get close to starting a game.

Good news its not on TV. Might convince a few more to go.

Like the senior team, the U-19s are away between 9 and 14 October. Think they have three games in that time, so it definitely rules Mellis out of the Southend game and potentially the Oldham game.

Mellis is going to emerge as a big player in the next month.

Roy Keane analogy makes no sense on a number of levels: (1) Roy Keane has spent much more money than AP even if you factor in the differences between CCC and FL1. (2) To date, Ipswich have only taken 5pts compared to our 12pts; their GD is -12 while we're in the black. (3) Roy Keane inherited a club that already spent big under Magilton and had been on the brink of playoffs for the previous two seasons whereas we had just been relegated and lost our best players. (4) Roy Keane has no real managerial track record, so its difficult to say whether getting Sunderland promoted was the real deal or a fluke, whether Keane's just a moody w*nker to be put on the list of other high-profile players who failed as managers. By contrast, AP is much more experienced. His record at Reading and West Ham speaks for itself and is strong enough to withstand his failures. The cream will rise to the top. (5) While by no means a clincher (coz the timeframes either way are ridiculously short), Keane has been in the job since April; AP only joined in July. Keane has had the advantage of some of last season and a full preseason.

Morgan? ...do you mean Mellis?

He's extremely quick - not in that busy sprinters way but in a loping, massive stride way. Their LB was no slouch today but Papa's pace gave him some problems.

allana definitely got better today and came close to MOTM (for me that goes to Lambert) Saying that, I think he's much less effective on the left (where he started today) than down the middle. Arguably AP also wants to play Lallana in a more central position but didn't think after Tuesday Mellis could do the job on the left(so switched him with Lallana, gaining a bit with Mellis but losing a bit with Lallana). Strange that our system is partly designed to accomodate Mellis given he's not one of our heavyweights. Still he had a very good game today and I've been a fan for his movement, endeavour and alertness since day 1.

Lallana definitely got better today and came close to MOTM (for me that goes to Lambert) Saying that, I think he's much less effective on the left (where he started today) than down the middle. Arguably AP also wants to play Lallana in a more central position but didn't think after Tuesday Mellis could do the job on the left(so switched him with Lallana, gaining a bit with Mellis but losing a bit with Lallana). Strange that our system is partly designed to accomodate Mellis given he's not one of our heavyweights. Still he had a very good game today and I've been a fan for his movement, endeavour and alertness since day 1.