Merrick's Marvels

Cheer up fella, we need to move on. The king is dead, long live the king and all that. Get off the old bus, all aboard the new bus. We can deal with the Lansdowns some other time.

Apologies, in advance, to Oxford.

The stand behind them is wrong for Stoke - much bigger stands behind the goals at the Victoria Ground, whereas Filbert Street had a low single tier a bit like the East End behind one goal.

Yes, I went on a rant about Everton. On a thread about Everton. Because I can't stand Everton. Maybe you dont remember their spawny FA cup wins at our place(bet you are a Man Utd fan from Bristol)

Quite. Midfielders who can do a bit of most everything. Unlike all of ours. All of them. No wonder we're treading water. Dear Santa, a new midfield asap please.

Benitez and Ancellotti was my point?? Talk about missing it. Duh. Read again without that bit. You might get it then. Eventually. Good luck.

All that financial cheating, just to be utterly shite. Hilarious. And when they wake up tomorrow, they'll still be shite. And the day after. What a stupid club (well at least since Harry Catterick's School of Science days). How the likes of Benitez or Ancellotti ever agreed to manage these monkeys is beyond. Hang on, yes - money! How silly of me. Money they didn't have, neither. Nor their owners.Corruption and stupidity, what a mix. Now get off our pitch you skaghead tw ats.

I believe it's John Charles pictured - in the red shirt of Wales. Or for those of you watching in black and white, the, er, black shirt.

12. Never been to Schalke. Recognise John Charles and Stanley Matthews though which was presumably a clue and the Brighton one was nowhere near enough of a shithole to be the home of da famuz gASS.

Agree 100%. Which is why, even though I attended the last one and live, literally, just round the corner, I won't be bothering with this charade. Good luck getting an answer!

Didn't Gavin Marshall say Pearson was sacked because it looked like he couldn't deliver promotion this season. And it's clear Manning's been told he doesn't have to. Double standards. Not that we're surprised.

Re the highlighted bit, just this season??? We've been 2nd best for seasons plural! Probably since the break up of that Johnson midfield (Pack-Smith-Brownhill-Bryan-Paterson) - how long's that, nearly 5 years? In all that time, we've been unable to exert any sustained control over the flow of games, even at home. No wonder it's been a struggle. I am literally praying - praying - that, by this time next year, we have Knight and a completely new midfield. 2 or 3 new players in there would transform us at a stroke - blokes who can run and pass, not do one or the other - or neither.

Not sure what Roberts is! Diffident? Disinterested? A curate's egg. He's hardly hit the ground running, that'sfor sure.

Job done

I'd have thought so. Paid as per the terms of his sale to them.

Yeah that's the clown. Been on ignore ever since, so managed to mostly avoid their inspired views on the Manning appointment. Deary me.

Some 17 year olds with time on their side.

Surely there was some pr1ck on here insistent that it was 25 million up front, payable now, right now??? Not instalments, right now???

My experience is of nothing but first class service - once you've got to the front of the queue! The people they employ are excellent, there just needs to be more of them. I can understand why there aren't though. If only they could solve my "ID number not recognised" glitch.

Knight further forward? Look where he presses from - look where he robbed the mighty Barry Bannan! Play him any further forward and he'd have been in the away end! Nor me. But have we been recruiting for this? In that system, do we have "2 for every position" which isva phrase Jonboy and Tinnion have used repeatedly recently in their desperate justifications for the dismissal of Nigel Pearson?

Thanks. I guess it's only a meaningful comparison if you compare his stats when playing the same position as well but, even then, he'll have played a lot more at LCB in a 3 for Luton than here, more as a LCB in a 2 here etc which will skew the figures. All I know is we're better with him playing than without but, whichever position that is, he doesn't really fit - Atkinson must play LCB in a back 4, we don't play a back 3, I'd never pick him and James together for the reasons above (ditto with Williams) and Harry's a brave man if he wants to play 4-2-2-2 for an entire season (it worked well for LJ once (home to WBA?) for about.... 30 minutes).

One carthorse is one too many, never mind two. I like them both incidentally! But this would be the opposite of "front foot football". How about all our centre mids are mobile, capable of getting in the opposition's faces, pushing high up the pitch to win the ball? (As well as having nous and technique, obviously). Roll on the summer.

That would be my perception too, although I'm no expert on Luton's style. But if accurate, he was playing a different game to the one we attempt. I'm sure someone could produce visuals or graphs showing his passing range for Luton in season 21-22. I bet that would look nothing like the same thing for his time here. Which is why the fact he was their player of the season is a red herring, for me. In Scott's absence he's an absolute must-pick though

Yes but also, was he required to force passes out of defence into statuesque midfielders or be some kind of deep lying playmaker because no-one else in the team could make a pass that actually hurts the opposition.

Instead of who?