ashton_fan

The reason we're mid table is we don't win games like this that we should, we have to break the mould to move into the top half and onwards, no excuses today with the players we have available

I don't think we changed our style but couldn't get so much possession as Southampton play the same way, we are good at counter-attacking as we have pace in the side. It will be interesting to see the game plan against QPR who although in the bottom three are undefeated in their last four games and above us in the form table.

I can see why it was done, it was getting to the stage that there were more threads on previous managers/players in the past than looking at the current/future situation, it had been done to death and was getting boring. The content is still available to those that are interested so a good decision.

I'm sure we'll offer him a year but he could well get two or more elsewhere, at his age job security is important

It could just be that LM remembered the reverse fixture where Boro changed their tactics after half time and we lost our two goal lead after five minutes and he was criticised for not reacting. He may well have told the team to keep things tight at the start until we saw what their approach would be, it was fairly predictable we wouldn't have it as easy. In the first half Cornick was obviously told he'd be off at half time so put maximum effort into the first 45 minutes and he was involved in most of our good moves during that period.

I remember going to Elland Road, kick off was about 1:00 as the lights couldn't be used due to power cuts, on arrival there were queues everywhere, our coach got stuck outside the ground and Leeds fans were lobbing bottles onto the roof from the terracing. We eventually got in a few minutes after kick off but the view wasn't very good due to the size of the crowd and our late arrival. Great result though!

Hard luck lads, did us proud

Once, at QPR in the FL Trophy

I must admit I don't know that much about Bird, but they are both midfielders.

Regarding Twine he has allowed us the option of loaning Bird back to Derby, Bird will come in to replace him in the summer assuming Burnley want to keep Twine.

They're mid table in the top Belgian league, other teams Anderlecht, Standard Liege, Royal Antwerp, Bruges etc so it's probably a slightly higher level than the Championship

Apparently Westerlo paid £1.65m for him in the summer

I think Max is still improving, he's much better catching crosses than he used to be. Thought he had a good game last night, with the second goal that shot was swerving and bounced just in front of him, he got his body behind it and it was unfortunate the rebound went to one of their players. I don't know what it is about OTIB and our keepers but whoever we have in goal is deemed not good enough, it was the same with Bentley, Frankie etc.. I think Max is the best we've had for a while, all keepers make howlers every now and then, you only have to watch Prem teams on MOTD and you see them most weeks. We have to be realistic about the level of keeper we're going to get as a mid-Championship team, I think Max is better than most at this level.

Looking back at his history after his first appearance for Burnley he picked up a muscle injury and ended up being out for 19 weeks, let's hope this rumour is wide of the mark.

Manning obviously thinks we need another forward but Tommy has shown recently if he's given chances he'll score a fair few, he's been involved in all our recent goals, could be Twine is the missing link, also Williams will be available for the replay, he was the star of the West Ham games. Defence was excellent tonight.

I think that's why we signed Twine, as a stop-gap

Russel Osman saved us from relegation when he took us over as player/manager following Denis Smith's sacking. The following season he signed Brian Tinnion who must have been one of the best value signings ever. We had that cup run and finished comfortably mid-table although at times the football wasn't that exciting, but the defence was pretty solid. At the end of the season we had new owners, some of our better players were sold and Osman wasn't given any funds to replace them and had to do with free transfers. Unsurprisingly the team then struggled and he was sacked, but people forget much of this and just remember some of the football as being a bit boring, I think he made the most of what he had available and deserved more credit, certainly many worse managers than him in the time I've been watching the team.

Apparently in their last 13 visits to AG Watford have only lost once (mostly draws)

Twine to score from 20 yds?

Was a much bigger result when we beat Leeds in '74, 50th anniversary of that one this month. It was Leeds first defeat of the season and was on all the front pages

The only player to get 20+ goals in a Championship season for us for quite a while

What Tins and JL said was nothing to do with Liam, it's two separate issues

I agree that Manning has a better squad than NP had at the start, however the squad was built with to suit the style of play under NP and that will still need some slight modifications to make the new style of play work properly, so it's unfair to judge Manning until he's had a chance to make these tweaks (probably by the start of next season).

When Nige arrived he said he couldn't be judged until he'd had at least three transfer windows, these are still Nige's players so Manning has to be given more time, Nige's points per game were poor at the start and he had Scott and Semenyo during his best spell

I don't think Connolly could see him as he was facing the other way