... team selection leads to turgid unadventurous football.

Serious questions :-

1. Of the players available, was that the best team to get a win at home to another struggling side ?

2. With 5 central midfielders across midfield, only one (Guthrie) with any pace, and Speed as a left-winger, what exactly was the plan ?

3. Where are our required 10 wins going to come from ?

4. Why can't we start a game with the pressure and attacking that we throw into the last desperate 5 minutes ?

Right - I'm off to continue thawing out.

Oh, and before anyone points it out, I know it was the weekend after an away UEFA Cup tie. But then I wasn't one of those saying today was a 'must-win'.

spot on mate, i'm intrigued as to where megson thought the goals were going to come from today with that midfield 5, also he complains after the match that today's game was a game too far players "running on empty", perhaps if stelios and andranik with limited games had been selected as the wide players instead of speed and mccann there may have been a more positive result

Good response, George.

But doesn't explain Stelios on the bench till late on, nor explain what Speed on the left-wing contributed to the game.

Kind of supports my point really. If we can't trust ourselves to attack other weak teams at the Reebok because Anelka and/or Diouf aren't there, where are we going to get 10 wins from.

spot on mate, i'm intrigued as to where megson thought the goals were going to come from today with that midfield 5, also he complains after the match that today's game was a game too far players "running on empty", perhaps if stelios and andranik with limited games had been selected as the wide players instead of speed and mccann there may have been a more positive result

 

Megson also said: "We pressed and pressed, and we probably had the lion's share of territory, but I didn't think we showed enough quality in the last third to open up what was a tight defensive unit."

I don't see how his team selection could have possibly changed that situation. I'm genuinely baffled.

Ah, well ....... it's only United and Liverpool next up.

awful selection by megson, failed to do out about it half time, failed to do out about it with 20 minutes gone in the 2nd half, first impressions have been favourable, today he has been found sadly lacking, I am very very worried that he is the wrong man.

To be honest we have not got an abundance of luxuries in midfield. This department has not been strengthened by quality by either of the two Sam's.

To be honest we have not got an abundance of luxuries in midfield. This department has not been strengthened by quality by either of the two Sam's.

 

Adranik and stelois add craft and goal threat, the balance today yet again was all wrong, we can not afford to play nolan/campo/speed/mcann in midfield it is suicide plain to see, yet highly paid managers seem to not see it.

a fit wilhelmson would've played as would a fit Helgusson, VazTe, Anelka diouf etc etc etc

 

FFS he's here now lets not get on his back after a poor selection after he's done well previously

I thought Braaten put himself about well in Munich where was he yesterday?

 

Was he out or does Meggers just not fancy him?

Was he out or does Meggers just not fancy him?

 

On the contrary, whilst talking to Megs yesterday he mentioned what a lovely arse Braaten had.

I thought the majority on here would be pleased, it was the same performance we would have got under Fat Sam.

... team selection leads to turgid unadventurous football.

Serious questions :-

3. Where are our required 10 wins going to come from ?

 

I seriously doubt that number of points will be needed this season.

 

A third of the games have gone and 8 teams are still on less than a point a game.

 

Throughout his career, Megson has picked teams to first and foremost not lose. Missing Diouf and Anelka is going to further reinforce this.

 

If you wanted total football, you shouldn't have joined the boo-boys to get Lee out. He would have given you total football but at least with Megson we have a chance of staying up.

but at least with Megson we have a chance of staying up.

 

I have to disagree with that one. I believe we are stone cold certainties to stay up and it won't even be close. Any bookies offering decent odds against us staying up?

FFS he's here now lets not get on his back after a poor selection after he's done well previously

 

We've played no-one and we still aint won a game

I have to disagree with that one. I believe we are stone cold certainties to stay up and it won't even be close. Any bookies offering decent odds against us staying up?

 

we are 4th favourites to go down, derby 1/100 wigan 3/5 brum 6/4 bolton 7/4.

i still dont believe we are bad enough to go down, there are worse teams than us.

i still dont believe we are bad enough to go down, there are worse teams than us.

 

irrelevant...

 

they may play boro, birmingham, derby & Fulham and beat them....

 

something we haven't...

 

we are not winning the games we need to win particularly at home...

 

yesterday was a huge let down following the last few games..

 

I cannot be convinced otherwise that we will avoid relegation.

irrelevant...

 

they may play boro, birmingham, derby & Fulham and beat them....

 

something we haven't...

 

we are not winning the games we need to win particularly at home...

 

yesterday was a huge let down following the last few games..

 

I cannot be convinced otherwise that we will avoid relegation.

 

irrelevant?

 

we may play manure, arsenal and liverpool and beat them.

 

the overall picture is that i believe there are at least 3 worse teams than us.

We've played no-one and we still aint won a game

 

thats why i said well and not good, he was unlucky in the citeh and Villa games, we were very good against west Ham and munich.

 

i believe that with a fit skillfull player available yesterday we'd have won that game we had plenty of drive and grit but no one with that touch extra, stelios had 20 mins and didn't really show anything different to what we already had

irrelevant?

 

we may play manure, arsenal and liverpool and beat them.

 

the overall picture is that i believe there are at least 3 worse teams than us.

 

aye, but it's irrelevant how many teams are worse than us

 

currently there are only 2, that's the relevant bit

 

and I think we may be further adrift of whatever teams are worse than us with Man U and Liverpool coming up

 

don't get caught in the too good to go down trap

 

we weren't good enough to beat braga, villa and boro teams which were there for the taking

 

the only thing that consoles me at the moment is that there are two sh?t teams below us and of those hovering above we do have more significant quality

 

whether or not we're good enough to make the most of it is a different matter, so far, we haven't been doing - we've won 1 league game all season, against a team people would generally consider worse, but whom have 5 more points than us

I cannot be convinced otherwise that we will avoid relegation.

 

Bit of a brain teaser that, Bob

 

Without the 'otherwise' I would have got it.

whether or not we're good enough to make the most of it is a different matter, so far, we haven't been doing - we've won 1 league game all season, against a team people would generally consider worse, but whom have 5 more points than us

 

 

correctomundo.

I wouldnt say we have done "well" if we have failed to beat Villa, West ham or M'boro.

I seriously doubt that number of points will be needed this season.

A third of the games have gone and 8 teams are still on less than a point a game.

Throughout his career, Megson has picked teams to first and foremost not lose. Missing Diouf and Anelka is going to further reinforce this.

If you wanted total football, you shouldn't have joined the boo-boys to get Lee out. He would have given you total football but at least with Megson we have a chance of staying up.

 

You might have one good point, Yatesy. 35 points would have meant safety in 5 of the last 12 seasons.

On the other hand .....

Not brilliant odds though, are they. And 27 points from 25 games is still a big ask on current form.

Megson picking teams not to lose when we're at home to another struggling team won't get us to 35 points. There were other attacking options available, who hadn't played 90 mins in Munich, regardless of Anelka & Diouf.

Who mentioned "total football" ? Don't put words in my mouth, please.

And I don't recall being a "boo-boy to get Lee out". I supported his appointment initially, for continuity reasons. You're mistaking me for someone else.

Sunday was sh?te - no question about that - the players were sh?te, the crowd was sh?te, the ref was sh?te...

 

My biggest worry was that Megson didn't go for the jugular - without Jesus at the back a team like Boro would've rolled over had we gone at them and got an early goal or two. I concede that we were short of striking option and I'm certainly not their biggest fan but I would've been tempted to start Bratten and the greek on Sunday and tried to throw everything at them early, killing the game and giving our players a bit of a rest.

 

The lads should still have been on a high from Thursday and raring to have a go at a very poor Boro side low on confidence.

 

It did strike me as Management that we'd been warned about from megson from WBA, Forest and Leicester supporters - negative and conservative - this may help scrape draws etc versus the decent teams, but we simply HAVE to win home games like that if we are to survive - speaking from a points perspective, we'd have been better winning one and losing one of the Villa and Boro games rather than drawing both.

 

I just hope that Sunday was purely down to personnel missing.