Given

Griffin-Caldwell-Caldwell-Bernard

Dyer-Green-Bassedas-Gallacher

Shearer-Cort. Hopefully the front two will be fit by then. Can this lot of young lads really fo any worse?

A new back four because I don't care how good they are as individuals, the defence needs to be aware of each other. Yesterday Hughes and Quinn spent most of the match wondering what the chuff Marcellino and Barton were doing. Obviously the onus was on Quinn to get forward a bit more.

Dyer remains because we need him, piss poor performance yesterday but we can't expect him to beat teams on his own. It's time to ease the pressure on the lad, play him on the right wing and make sure others are expected to play a bit as well.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001

Answers

Whatever happens Robson has options to drop players. He needs players in there who are going to do what he says.

A reserves player may not be as talented but if they give 100% every time then they can have a place for the rest of the season. I couldn't give a toss about European qualification because if the current crop play like they did yesterday we haven't got a chance of qualifying.

Drop a few of them. Make them understand that they have no divine right to play for the team and pull on that shirt.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001

I just don't know DB - I'm as bemused as everyone esle, including I suspect, Bobby Robson.

There are a few things to consider - first of all we're not yet yet safe and need another 5 points in the bag before we can be thinking too far ahead. On current form I can't see us qualifying for the UEFA Cup, but even if we did the preparation for next season needs to start as soon as we have 42 points.

This brings me back to your team selection. I think BR will make all the points he wants to make over the next few days, and will not resort to mass droppings - unless, of course, they perform the same way against Man City, which will be a very tough game.

Given did OK, although his distribution was woeful, yet again. Presumably he'll stay in.

Defensively, we were just horrible. Griffin, if fit, must finally come in for Barton - and permanently. Marcelino must surely have played his last game for the Toon - he was utterly pathetic, and I had nightmares last night about him turning his back on Matt Svensson as he scored, rather than lunging at him and blocking the shot, or at least making some attempt to do so.
Hughes and Goma are our best current CB pairing. However, if Goma is not prepared to come off the Transfer List, I'd drop him once we're safe and bring Caldwell in and give him games with Hughes and/or Dabz.
Quinn I'm not sure about. However, I think we'll sign him - BR reckons he played quite well yesterday! If we do sign him I'd like us to also bring back Robbie Elliott to give us an option. Regarding Bernard, I've never seen him, but those who have have not been impressed.

I believe we still have problems in midfield, despite the numbers and apparent options. Lee must be replaced - we've been saying for two seasons that we cannot remain dependent on him, and yet I believe we still are. He didn't play well ysterday, hence the result. Speed has gone right off the boil, and would probably benefit from a couple of games on the bench. Bassedas has done absolutely nothing as yet to convince me he deserves his place.
Good as he undoubtedly is, Solano doesn't battle, especially away from home, and is too prone to dropping his head. Acuna is a good squad player, but nothing more than that. Glass is on his way out, and Dyer remains the great enigma.

Up front, we have AS, CC if he ever gets back to fitness, and young Shola who has has comes on by leaps and bounds. Gallagher IMO is essentially past it and not an every game player. Cordone is not good enough for the PL, and LuaLua, while young and inexperienced, looks completely out of his depth in the PL - not as good a prospect as Shola IMO.

Taking all that lot into consideration, we have some real problems - particularly in midfield - and have far too many players who are not quite good enough.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001

I`ll play!!!!!(:o)

I suggest me in goal - `cos I can make myself VERY big when I want to.

Three man defence (or should I say man..woman - which is one of Yelli`s favourite Geordie expressions). Gav in front of me - `cos he`s that hard he`d really scare them. Dougal one side - `cos nobody, but nobody would get past Dougal - she`d hit them with her briefcase! ITK on the other - `cos he can shout REALLY LOUD!!!!

In the middle I`d have Softie the Philosopher - to baffle them. Buff - `cos I reckon he`s one tough cookie. Geordie - `cos it would just sound so good to hear the cry `How Geordie, ower here...on me heed!` And Pit Bill - `cos you have to have one player who can take his teeth out!

Up front I`d have Duncan - `cos he`s good at keeping the team together. Jacko - `cos if she can square up to LR she can cope with any defensive lineup! Clarky - `cos he`s got a finger on the pulse and is a good organiser.

On the bench I`d have Ciara - for commitment. Rik - `cos you`ve got to have one Katsbiaesque loony to bring on! And Yelli - `cos if all else fails she could do a good `Phoebe`!

Dr. Bill would have the bucket and sponge, and Min would lead the singing!!!

Don`t be offended if I`ve left any of you out - being a manager means making tough decisions - and there`s always next week! (;o)

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001

Sorry - that was flippant, on an otherwise serious thread. (:o|

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001

I don't mind, Galaxy. We need to laugh or we really will top ourselves. Great post!

Also excellent points, Clarky. I'm not sure how Bobby think Quinn played well, unless they left out "under the circumstances". I don't think he had as much of a 'mare as the rest, but certainly wasn't as good as against Coventry, Leeds or in training(the only other times I've seen him so far). He suffered moments of the same clueless flu infecting the rest yesterday.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001

I thought Quinn was OK..... but, and it's a big BUT, he lacked pace going down the wing. He looked very slow.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001

My suggested BBS team is on this thread! (:o)

-- Anonymous, February 14, 2001

Have you seen Quinn try and pass/dribble around a right back , pitiful , i have seriously reserved judgement on this purchase . BTW Gal Ill be available for selection in 3 weeks time when ive shaken off this groin strain i picked up playing for the resorves last night ; - )

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2001

That's half the trouble Sting. Until we sort the left midfield out we will still be asking unrealistic things from our left backs, whoever it is.

I'd prefer to just let them defend and leave the attacking to the winger.

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2001

Did you see Domi narrowly avoid placing a winner in for PSG last night? He was great at getting forward....difficult to do from the bench though, eh?

Sky delighted me this morning by claiming that their beloved Reds have never won on Spanish soil.....Barcelona; so short in the memory.

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2001

Hey Gal
Wha d' yer mean like ? Ah'll hev yay knaa ah've still gor ahll me teeth, bur ahm sure thuv got summat tuh dee wi me deein uh morcry poisnin. Yuh cheeky bag. :-)))

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2001

Oops - sorry! My mistake Pit Bill - just the mental picture you`ve painted for me over the last couple of years! Shawls, incontinence you know...that sort of thing! (;o)

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2001

Softie, although of course Domi's pet whinge was that he was a defender first and foremost...

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2001

Exactly Dougal, yet he had to watch Hughes, Barton, Griffin, Uncle Tom Cobblee and his dog playing in his position and was supposed to be happy with walk-on parts and permanent understudy roles whilst he was the only left footer available. It strikes me as ridiculous that the people who defend Quinn and Griffin's utter lack of conviction at left back this season as being a result of them having nobody ahead of them but used to routinely castigate Domi as a shite defender while suffering the same lack of a running mate.

I was delighted that Pearce was dispensed with: how many penalties and free kicks can we afford to give away with our lack of ability on set pieces? I was equally delighted that we got shot of the gutless Pistone (forget the first team fiascos - I saw that joker feigning injury to get out of a reserve game from touching distance...the same game he seemed to think Gullit wrote him off in. Hmmmm. Pretends to be hurt in the first 3 minutes and hobbles right around the ground to avoid passing in front of Tommy Craig, surely a callup to the Italian National Squad should have been in the offing).

Domi was young, blisteringly quick, great ball control, crossed with pinpoint accuracy (ask Alan), didn't dive in and give away stupid fouls, scored against the Mackems and was actually left footed. On the "down side": he was crap at defending corners - unlike everyone except our strikers of course, didn't have to switch back onto his right foot to give him something to do waiting in vain for someone to come up in support and was French. Pissing him off so badly that he engineered a move without us having anything like adequate cover for his position was plain, simple mismanagement.

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2001

I agree and I'm not sure what Bobby disliked about him. Equally mystifying are the continued selection of the club's second best right back in preference over the club's best right back and Stephen Glass's non-selection.

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2001

Hmmmm. Is it just me or is it not more a case of people wanting shot of Barton and his uncanny ability to be in the wrong place at the wrong time than out of any evidence that Griffin is a decent defender?

Yes, I know he has done a couple of great man-to-man marking jobs, but that's a piece of piss compared to the actual full/wing back's job. I've never noticed any let-up to the unopposed crossing and headers down the right when he plays and would forcefully insist that you would be lucky to know he's playing at all for an hour out of any 90. At least Warren gets noticed - never one to hide or disappear despite the fervent wishes of so many of our supporters...not mentioning any names, De Builder ;-)

I don't think there is any mystery as to why 3 succesive managers have opted for Barton ahead of him when fit since they've all seen them both in training and we are just going on the idea that "He surely can't be any worse can he?!" since we simply haven't seen enough of him to judge. That is in itself part of the problem. Resilience seems to be one of Warren's strong points (well I'm going to use the plural there whatever you smartarses think;-)) whilst Griffin seems to only need the slightest knock to disappear for months on end.

Better the Devil you know than someone whose powers of observation allow him to drive into the side of a 100 foot long bright yellow train.

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2001

Softie, it's great to have you back. That last bit about driving into the train has me in hysterics.

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2001

LOL. You're on great form tonight, pet. I'm a big Wozza fan but he has been on quite rotten form lately. Then again, as I said in my "easy target" thread, he is one of several players who have struggled lately so he shouldn't be singled out and, generally, our back four are taking stick for the ineptitude of the midfield. I would like to see Griff getting a game, though, and it might deflect some of the stick that is surely coming Wozza's way.

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2001

Regarding Griff not getting noticed, I'm not sure that is necessarily a bad thing, particularly since what normally gets our back lads noticed is some Keystone Cops incident. Maybe he's just efficient.

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2001

Barton does get noticed but from the matches I've seen this season, some live, some on the telly Barton has certainly been noticed but not for the right reasons.

The fact that Griffin doesn't get noticed shouldn't matter diddly with our current defence. I couldn't care less if the full backs never crossed the half way line with our clean sheet record.

Griffin has shown that he is tough in the tackle, maybe overly so in some instances but more than anything he has a positional sense that Warren BArton can only dream about. Griffin is defending with the head of somebody way older than him.

If Barton is taking his coaching badge then he obviously hasn't got to the sections of the course which run through Passing and proximity to the centre back. Our defence always looks exposed down the right when Barton plays.

The last straw for me was when Barton was so hopelessly out of position after a failed one-two in our half that he was sprinting back and still couldn't make up the massive gap before the Charlton player had time to make the good cross he had been given time to do.

Overall though Barton is suffering such a bad run of form that he really needs a break and some time to consider his game and the way he should be playing. We can't afford to slip further down the table.

To defend Barton and the defence, the teams complete lack of shape and structure recently hasn't helped them at all.

-- Anonymous, February 16, 2001

"Better the Devil you know than someone whose powers of observation allow him to drive into the side of a 100 foot long bright yellow train." Never shirks out of a challenge!!!!!!

Beats running downa blind alley!

-- Anonymous, February 16, 2001

I still maintain that dislike for Barton does not make Andy Griffin a good defender. Here are some great defensive displays Griffin has been involved in this season despite his limited appearances:

Charlton (H) - twinned with Charvet: pants.
West Ham (A) - part of back 3: candy from a baby.
Birmingham (A) League Cup (you'd have seen this one)- with Barton who got all the shite for failing to get his head to the cross on the second...who was supposedly tackling the man who made the cross? Why, that'd be Andy Griffin, wouldn't it?
Arsenal (A) - actually subbed by Domi in this game...exactly how much trouble did Parlour have getting past him in that game? Being right footed shouldn't have stopped him tackling.
Derby (A) - Let's not even go there, shall we?
Spurs (A) - Ditto
Villa (A) FA Cup - another case where Barton is supposedly at fault for neither stopping the crosser nor the runner - which one was Griffin after?

I say again, man-to-man marking is easy compared to having responsibility for a whole area of the pitch and 2 players and I have not seen any evidence that he is up to the task. If you are saying that he should get that chance then fine, but let's not build a player up on the basis of scant information, especially when 3 managers have preferred other players. Barton is having a shocker this season but I hate seeing him being a made a scapegoat when he is so obviously trying to do something when the entire midfield have melted away like mist. It's particularly unwarranted (boom boom) when the easy headers he gives away at the far post are made possible by the utter lack of a challenge on the crosser - usually by the self- same Andy Griffin we should supposedly be ushering in as the next Great White Hope.

Face it, man, they're all shite so no matter how we rearrange them they will remain a pile of shite.

-- Anonymous, February 16, 2001

Actually, my Villa mate thinks Griffin is shite. If that's any comfort, like, Softie. Spurs Karen thinks he's the D'sB's. Just for a cross section of external opinion.

-- Anonymous, February 16, 2001

A Spurs fan will remember full pitch dribble in the Semi but perhaps miss the fact that he didn't know what to do when he got to the other penalty area....refresh my memory, was it Row Z or all-fall-down time? :-)

-- Anonymous, February 16, 2001

Villa fans will hate him because he takes the piss out of Ginola and they like Ginola because he doesn't like Gregory.

Spurs fans like any player not in their team because their team is shite and run by an Arsenal fan, end of story.

As long as Griffin knows what to do after a forty yard run by one of their players then I'm happy. (i.e. Stay with him and tackle him not show him inside then leave him. :-)

-- Anonymous, February 16, 2001

I think my Villa mate is of Softie's opinion - that manmarking is not that difficult if it's all you've got to do. Remember when Ginola didn't play this season when we went out to Villa in the Cup. As I recall, Griffin had a mare that I night. In fairness, Softie, Karen e mailed me after this year's 4-2 commenting on his pace etc.

-- Anonymous, February 19, 2001