Yellow Rider

[quote user="morty"]Good news, considering the possible Vokes recall. Lets face it, if Holt was going to miss the rest of the season, we''d be screwed. [/quote] Correct (sad to say) - exactly what I''ve said in the ''Choices'' thread. 

[quote user="The Butler"] So it''s not Lambert it''s Holt behind our success is it? That''s a tad insulting to PL. If our team morale is that fragile that we can''t do without him for one game then we DON''T deserve prem football. If the crowd can''t lift those out battling in our colours then we don''t deserve it either. [/quote] Fair points although my comment about Holt''s influence was comparing his influence with that of other players (Hoolahan specifically in this instance). Agree with your other points but the fans KNOW (as do the players) how vital Holt is. You only have to listen to PL''s take on Holt to tell how he rates his influence as well. Don''t get me wrong I have been a critic of Holt this season when he produced some sluggish and below par performances (as late as October) and I dislike (intensely) some of his, er, diving or ''cheating'' even. However, when he puts his mind to it the guy is awesome and his leadership credentials are beyond dispute.      I have supported the boys since late 1960''s and I can''t think of any other player who has had same level of influence as Holt. Sure we have had other goalscoring (and better) forwards but have any wielded the almost mystical effect this guy does?? Forget someone like Hucks - sizzling player but a ''loner'' and no leader, that''s for sure. Donkey Roberts was similar to Holt but was more limited as a player. I never saw Iwan as manager. With Holt I think he could be a great success in management if he goes down that route. Leadership is everything and Holt has it in bucketfuls. Put it like this can you honestly see a front line of Vokes / Jackson or Jackson/ Pacheco giving us the win at Ipswich in that red hot atmosphere? I sure can''t! Did you watch Holt closely in the last few minutes at Watford? One moment he was literally on his knees in the Watford box as he could hardly move, the next he almost scored with a header from a corner. It was Roy of the Rovers stuff and if he had buried that header the roof would have come off the away stand!          

I''m a great fan of Hoolahan but the boy Holt has by far the greater influence over the whole club. As someone else has said on this message board, ''if Holt is out, we''re screwed''! Make no mistake if Holt is not fit for tomorrow, the morale and confidence of the fans and players will be fragile. He is that important from a leadership and goal scoring point of view. Sure another striker can come in and might even score but a Holt type leader is simply not on the books. When the chips are down over the next five games (and possibly the play offs thereafter) we MUST have the leader back. Anyone who endured our Premiership season in 2004/2005 will tell you that we were  leaderless on the pitch after Malky left and was not replaced.       

[quote user="Bird Table"]First of all, the Football League should ban teams from sharing their grounds with egg-chasers. The state of that pitch was a disgrace. The combination of ploughed field and clueless ref reminded me of Tranmere away last season *shudder* Onto the game, if you''d offered me the point at half-time I''d have happily taken it. Our defence seemed to panic in the face of pretty basic tactics from Watford - hoof the ball up-field as quickly as possible. I thought Ward was poor for the second game in a row. Jackson again looked very lively and it was good to see McNamee get a good run out again. Moving on to Friday, we need to check our nerves in at the turnstiles. Create an atmosphere like we did against Bristol and Scunny. Scunthorpe were beaten before they''d kicked a ball, they s**t their pants when they heard that noise before kick-off. There''s still all to play for, let''s get behind the boys and do this. OTBC [/quote] Are you saying we did this or Watford? In first half all I saw from us was repeatedly giving the ball away by hacking it upfield looking for Vokes and Holt. Watfords ''basic'' tactics cuts us open easily on more than one ocassion with quick counter attacks and some sharp interpassing on the deck, they passed their way through us for both goals.     Agree with your other points though. IF Holt is out Friday I do fear the worst and we could conceivably struggle now to even keep in the top six such is the influence of Holt. 

[quote user="City1st"]Bungay it don''t need to be a binner address - we have got tickets from an essex adress and a sussex address you just need to make sure the bank details correspond to your regsitered address poorman roaf is going to be covered in green and yellow[/quote] Er, I don''t think so!

[quote user="City1st"]Looks like even the local council have become fed up wiith the paupers poncing off them and so have stuck up their rent - by a massive 743% ! It means our impoverished neighbours will now have to cough up £111,000 instead of the usual £15,000. With season ticket prices being also put up, the squeeze is on at poorman road. Even the ever clueless Simon Clegg recognises that numbers will fall - again. "“We need to recognise that fan numbers are dropping " Still there is one shining light of optimism for our impoverished neighbours. Council tenants elsewhere are being warned that if their income rises significantly it may mean that council property will no longer be available to them. Falling gates, falling income and now falling season ticket sales mean there is not much chance of that happening at poorman road. ps to those who question the relevance of this to City it should serve as a reminder of why our club has been not ran in such a way that it had to be handed over to an ''hinvestor''. That despite all their idiotic claims their grubby little club has continued it''s year on year slide. All Evans has done is put a new straw hat on the donkey as it is being taken off to the knackers yard.[/quote] Only thing you should concern yourself about Walphy is the result on 21st April. I could''nt give a damn about their rent or any other non footballing issue. If Bullard slams in another freekick and that effectively denies us automatic, I for one won''t gain any consolation in gloating at how much rent they may be paying! 

[quote user="Ooh Ahh Lee Power"]What interests me most about Swansea''s fixtures is that compared to ours and Cardiff''s 4 home games they only have 3. Tough long trips to Portsmouth, Burnley and Preston. They have lost 9 away compared to our 3. And to add to that their home games aren''t easy too. 2 teams (us and Hull) with great away records. Really think Swansea will not be our main competition![/quote]   Sorry to disappoint you but the OP got it wrong. Swans last game is at HOME v Blades 

Glad someone has posted about this as I thought it might just have been me imagining it! Compared with the fantastic support at Leeds, yesterday was a tad disappointing. May have been due to some fairweather fans and that could well be right. I met up with 4 people who used to live near Norwich but moved up to Louth some 8 or 9 years back. Only one would be classified as a NCFC follower yet all the family came along for the day. Nothing wrong with that at all but they''re not the type to be singing their hearts out! With the noisy Hull fans right next to us you would think that might have inspired the Y''army on but it seemed to do the opposite. Don''t get me wrong, there were moments in the game when the whole stand sung as one and sounded loud. Didn''t happen enough though. Can''t blame the Hull fans - I thought they were excellent and I did''nt notice any signs of threatening behaviour or intimidation. It was friendly banter and the yellow mixed with the orange after the game with no problems as far as I''m aware. 

Pretty much agree with your summary here CD. We know you''re only a grudging Wes fan so thought you were a tad harsh on him but I can see what you mean. No surprise that we saw much more from him when he was pulled back behind Holt and Lansbury.  As you say had we shown the same level of urgency after we had scored as in the last 15-20 mins. then we would have travlled back with three points. We tried to replicate the second half Barnsley performance but there was a world of difference in the quality of opponent + a vociferous backing from the home fans! Re Surman- I know he has had only 5 or 6 games back after the second knee injury but I want to see more, in fact a lot more from him. There is a quality footballer in there for sure and he is ''elegant'' as PL describes him. Thing is he looks like a tidy indoor 5 a side player with comfortable posession, nice cushioned lay offs, neat passing and the occasional quality reverse pass etc. Frankly, thats'' it. I can see (and presumably PL will be working on this) the deficiencies that prompted Wolves to get rid. Namely, he lacks a decent tackle on him, doesn''t get involved enough and can ''disappear'' for long spells. Sorry - that is not good enough and most certainly won''t be if we do go up this season.  Whilst Lappin would be rated as inferior by most fans in terms of technical ability, as things stand now, I would keep him ahead of Surman if I had to choose between the two for next season (again, on the scenario that we get promoted). Lappin is hardly ever injured, puts a great shift in and gives natural width. Sure he can''t score for love nor money but he''s a more solid, relaible bet than Surman.     

Brilliant report chap! I didn''t go last night and was hopping mad I missed it - sounded great. Seemed like Leeds away but with the win. Thanks for the post. I''ll be at Hull so if you want to meet up at the game for a chat on anything NCFC send me an email.  

Wish to hell I''d gone but had a training day so it was difficult. Brilliant result and top performance by sound of it. Like last season with the Double H on fire. I was quick out of the blocks to criticise Holt Saturday for his ,er, ''fall'' but he sounded awesome tonight which proves what a player he can be when he focuses. Really pleased for Wheelie as well as I''ve always wanted him to score to get that monkey off his back. My complaint from what I''ve seen of him is that he hasn''t put himself about like I assumed he would when this fanastic opportunity came his way at 31. Now his confidence should be sky high and we could finally see him score the goals which fires us up and takes much needed weight off Holts shoulders.     

[quote user="Sons of Boadicea"]The sad thing about all of this is the acceptance of cheating as "part of the game". The irony of course is if an Ippo player dives, wins a penalty from which Ippo score the winning goal in the forthcoming "derby" I am sure a lot of you will be signing a completely different tune. The truth is that football is becoming so cynical, the authorities do nothing about it and most worrying of all the fans just shrug their shoulders and accept it (except of course if their team is on the receiving end).....[/quote] Spot on that man!! Shades of .........''you don''t grass on one of your own'' kind of attitude I''d say. Pity that many fans (of all clubs) just can''t accept they''re being totally hypocritical and justifying double standards with this kind of thing. Imagine this scenario tonight - we''re 1-0 up with  a few minutes to go.    Holt (may as well be him but could be any City player) suddenly punches an opponent in our box with no provocation save maybe a bit of verbals. They score the penalty, we then let in another and lose. Holt suspended for three games. Bang goes three points and with it, quite likely, the play off hopes as well as we know how important Holt is to us. Would these fans still stand by him? You bet they would, ....''he''s one of ours'' you see!!

[quote user="CJ"]For all those idiots who labeled Holt a cheat watch the BBC replay and you will see the Preston defender clearly catches Holts trailing leg hence Holt goes down. I agree not deliberate by defender but you have to get out of way when you are behind player. Should have been penalty and probably straight red. I really struggle to see how anyone including the ref saw it as a dive, as many have pointed out why dive when bearing down on goal and more importantly how on earth would Holt know a defender near enough behind to make dive look genuine. He clearly only has eyes on ball and going for it when tripped. He was perfectly balanced until caught by defender To all those who said he dived you are muppets and what worries me is the ref didnt give it when to me that is routine decision. In fact the more I look at it the more angry I get for f*s sake the Preston player ends up falling over Holt [/quote] Thank you for labelling me an idiot and muppet CJ - how very civil of you. Won''t lose any sleep over it so don''t worry! Just watched it again on the BBC sports site - in fact as it doesn''t have slow motion or different angle shots, It''s very difficult to get a clear view. Having said that if your back leg was clipped and you''re travelling at pace (as Holt was), I believe you would stumble and fall very awkwardly. Watch it again CJ - the boy Holt is clearly looking for ''contact'' and when there was, he sprawls himself theatrically. Do I still think he ''cheated'' - Yes, I stand by what I said yesterday. If he hadn''t got ''previous'' with this sort of thing then I would have given him the benefit of the doubt!   

Crab- although we clearly diasagree on this one you''ve made some very good points in your last post so that''s fair dos. I''m a big Holt fan but that''s based on his presence, leadership qualities and being a damn good player (when he puts his mind to it). I do take issue with your basic stance that because Holt ...''is one of ours'' then he is somehow above the law and can pretty much do what he wants to get favourable decisions even if that means going down when so much as brushed by an opponent. It just leaves a very nasty taste in the mouth from the pont of view of fair play. I agree with you that all teams get decisions that go against them which were ''unlucky'' or ''unjust'' but that''s mostly down to the fact that officials are human and have split seconds to give a verdict. Getting a decision when you''ve cheated or conned the ref. though is totally wrong.

[quote user="Stan Ley"]"Think i''m right in saying we''ve amassed 12 points in our last six games . That''s promotion form'' I think it''s 9 points from our last six games not 12 which actually falls well short of promotion form. We don''t play all our games at home which judging by our performances against Doncaster & Preston is just as well. Lambert has done a great job at this club but I agree with some other posters that starting at home against a weak Preston team with one up front was a mistake. His options are limited with Wilbraham who is clearly not good enough at this level, and Jackson who hasn''t come up to expectations. These are both Lambert purchases. I like many others cannot for the life of me understand why Wilbraham was brought to this club. I doubt whether he would make the bench for any other side in the top 10 of our division. It also didn''t help today that Holt played like a drain. As soon as Wilbraham comes onto the pitch the midfield gets bypassed and we play the long game. Our strength is our midfield. What''s the point!! For some reason Lambert has not been able to get the quality forward that a club such as ours with genuine promotion ambitions needs. The Foulger money was available in January. It is disappointing that Lambert has not been able to get the right player but it will be easier to get a suitable individual in the summer. We have come a long way in 18 months but I think our inadequacies in the final 3rd of the pitch will ultimately will leave us short of promotion. We have a midfield as good as any in this division. If we had the same quality of forward that got us promoted last time then we would have no problem in going up this campaign. [/quote] Absolutely right there Stan. Whilst I agee the midfield ''squad'' is as good as anything else in this league, I do think (and have said this for ages) that as a unit our midfield can be very predictable due to lack of pace and width. Surman''s much vaunted ''left foot'' is well over rated particularly from dead ball positions although when the team are on top he is elegant and composed. Lansbury contributes little for long spells in the game but can pop up with a sublime pass or a goal.  We don''t know what has happened with McNamee but I would get him back on the bench and get him involved again when it''s clear we need something different. Remember the Burnley home game? He was electric in the second half - we need that width and pace now when the team run out of ideas.    Failing that get Korey back on with orders to get wide and hassle the opposition that he can. That will also give Martin the confidence to get forward knowing that Korey is covering. 

[quote user="Jim Smith"] Leicester (a) Hull (a) Ipswich (a) Portsmouth (a) Tough games against sides massively improved from the first half of the season. 6 points v Donny and Preston at home would have given us some breathing space. Now we have little room for error with Burnley also picking up.   [/quote] Totally agree Jim. Whilst there are strange results going on at the moment with many top sides dropping points when not expected, it''s unrealistic to have to go to the games you mention with us possibly HAVING to get a result due to points thrown away recently at home. Pompey is a nightmare place to go at the best of times and you would''nt fancy our chances there is the chips are down. Likewise Ipswich. Hull can be a bit hot and cold so we could have opportunities there. Ditto Leicester although if they hit form I fear the worst if Zak is out. We can certainly ''get over the line'' to secure last play off place which, after all, is minimum aim and we may yet do so with some comfort. The home results (and form) MUST be improved though.  

[quote user="crab"]You don''t call your own player a cheat. He was trying to win a penalty. That isn''t cheating. He knew contact was coming and waited for it. Not everything is black and white. I know people are disappointed with the result, but why have a pop at our star player when you''ve just watched possibly the most cynical team to come to Carrow road this season. If Holt had got the penalty decision given, if would have been everything PNE deserved.[/quote] Do you honestly believe those comments - read them again please. So, let me get this right as I''m sometimes slow on the uptake. If an opposition player goes down like Holt did and gets a penalty then you will have no complaints obviously. Yeah right!! Bet you''d be the first guy on your feet bellowing all manner of abuse at the player! Re the point about ''contact'' - sorry but you''ve fallen for this media, MOTD line that has been peddled in recent years where the ''experts'' pore over the slow motion replays from every conceivable angle trying to prove this ''contact'' evidence. Lo and behold if there is ''contact'' then the ''diver'' is immediately absolved from any blame and the pundits scream ''PENALTY''. For gods sake football IS a ''contact'' sport. There is nothing wrong with ''contact'' UNLESS it becomes a foul! Holt was not fouled in a million years but decided to try and con the ref. who fortunately knew better. Holt cheated and you know it.  

If PL was the top manager that so many assume he is then I''m afraid to say he would have sorted out Holt and some of his ridiculous behaviour a long time ago. Fact is that as long as his theatrics and clear conning of refs works in our favour then the boy PL is obviously happy. ''All part of the game''you say - maybe but there''s no reason why we should lower ourselves to the cheating levels of others. Holt has a terrible reputation now and refs will (quite rightly) be very wary now of giving us a penalty whenever he goes down. He will take fearful stick at Portman Road and only has himself to blame. The so annoying thing about all this is that the guy is actually a damn good player and if he just concentrated on playing the game, competing for every ball and battled to keep on his feet, I''m sure he would have even more goals by now! 

[quote user="Frank"]I hope we keep the same formation against Preston. 4-5-1 can be seen as a bit negative but the way we played it on Saturday was very attacking yet seemed to also look ok defensively. [/quote] Don''t think that formation will help us at home though. If anything it will make us even narrower in our play as a result of which we over elaborate and have no width / pace. Saturday it was ok (in fact first half was excellent) - it will work better away as we get more space with the home side pushing up. At FCR sides have worked us out and our approach is predictable. That''s basically why we have struggled to break teams down and have lost / drawn games as a result.  

[quote user="walks on water"] 4,1,2,1,2         4,2,3,1      4,3,2,1      4,3,3      4,4,1,1    How did it look like we were orgsanised?   ...and did it look like something that could be effective when we''re at home, when teams sit back? [/quote] i was not happy when i saw the formation but it did work fine first half when we played some very good stuff. Certainly would''nt use it at home as the lack of width and pace was arguably even more apparent. Surman maybe an elegant footballer but wimps out of far too many tackles and has no pace. Most oponents at FCR know our pattern very well and set up with two very well organised banks of four. With our narrow gameset and no pace in the side that''s why we''ve struggled so much at home and have only been rescued by a succession of last minute goals.

[quote user="Robert N. LiM"]What has he got to do to get a game? Look interested? Want the ball? Not hide behind his full back so no one can pass to him? Total waste of space if you ask me. Shows absolutely none of the desire that has characterised our rise from League One to the brink of the play-offs. Whether that''s because PL hasn''t handled him well is something we''ll never know, but he hasn''t looked remotely equipped to do any damage in the Champs this season.[/quote] Short (and not very accurate memory) Robert. What about when he came on v Burnley at home and was outstanding? What about same earlier in the season v Barnsley? He is frustrating but CAN give width, pace and whip crosses in. Yesterday was another case in point - we played some great football first half  but were content just to keep posession second half and the lack of width andpace was glaring. Make no mistake Barnsley were very poor and with our predictable pattern of play we would probably have struggled against better sides.   

[quote user="PhatCanary"] [quote user="Sons of Boadicea"]To the OP - You say "look at the bigger picture". The bigger picture is that under PL expectations have been raised, as Grant Holt alludes in his article, a few months ago we would have taken a point from the Donny game, now that is not good enough. To redress the balance it is equally possible for us fall down the league in those 13 games if we do not maintain the high standards set by PL. Personally I do not agree with booing the team however I understand the reasons why people do it. What people must stop is all this "at the beginning of the season we would have taken mid table" nonsense, whilst that was true at the beginning of the season (and I for one felt that way) we are now 70% of the way through the season and have a chance of Premiership football in our grasp and nobody should be content at dropping points at home at such a crucial stage of the season.....[/quote] The Donny game was disappointing but the crowds reactions was an even bigger disappointment,i agree with you that we would have all been happy with mid table at the start of the season but i still feel getting on the players and managers back after only one poor result is ridiculous,to boo the team because of a poor 90 minutes is a stupid thing to do imo,how does that help the players,in what way does that show the team we are fully behind them!! [/quote] I have never (and will never) boo the team but think again. Remember Hull and Pompey which were DEFEATS, did the fans boo? No. Now ask yourself why the difference. I''ll leave you to work it out. 

[quote user="Al Catraz"] [quote user="Dan-NCFC"]Like Paul Lambert said on Late Kick off last night, "I''ve created a monster, anything other than the best and there''d be calls for "Lambert out"" The standard has been set, sometimes we forget that we were bottom of league one 20 months ago. It just felt like tonight something was missing. Another striker perhaps. [/quote]   Enough of that " we were bottom of League One when Lambert took over" crap. It wasn''t as if we were stranded at the bottom of the league with 30 points separating us from the play-offs, over half the season gone, squillions of disinterested loan signings and a generale morale permeating the club which was at an all time low. Yes, we were bottom of league one (after 50 years in the Championship/old 1st division) but the season had hardly got under way and I am not even sure if the team in top spot had reached double figures in points at that stage. That isn''t meant to detract from what has been a truly excellent achievement in getting us into the play off zone of the Championship with only 13 matches to go but I am getting a bit fed up with hearing this week in week out. Enough already ! We are where we are which is great but we need to push on now that we do have the chance of making it to the premiership - some of the recent signings have been questionable to say the least, now Lambert has got to stop reminding us of how far we''ve come since he took over and take us even further and in the process prove that he really is a great manager. [/quote] A lot of what you say is absolutely right. Seens that (for ages now) if the team have a poor result / performance, instead of PL giving an honest and objective assessment all we get is the same tired old record being played...............''think what it was like before we came in''   Reality is that PL has not got a clue what it was REALLY like here from after the Craven Cottage murder to early August 2009. He wasn''t here was he! Sure he knows the statistics probably and would have an idea that we used several loan players in the relegation season but that''s it. Fact is that v Donny the team were no way mentally ''up'' for that game. They thought they could coast it because of all the post Leeds hype and believed everything they heard  about Donny having only 11 or so fit players. Sure some of our fans (like peope in society generally today) just criticise for the sake of it but they are not the majority. Those who booed I like to think did so NOT becuase of the result but the woeful attitude and performance. Remember Hull and Pompey? City were applauded off the park yet we lost both games! Why? Because the attitude was spot on, we played well and worked the opposition keepers. You can''t do more than that at the end of the day.

[quote user="ricardo"]With all the pre-match talk of a big win over an injury hit Donny you could be forgiven for thinking that  you had turned up at the wrong ground tonight. All seemed set fair as Lambert resisted the temptation to tinker and named an unchanged side for once. City began slowly, indeed most of the early play was in our own half and with Donny playing a high line and flooding the midfield it was hard for City to make forward progress. The passing was as poor as it has been for a long time and when City finally broke free the balls into the box were wildly overhit. The crowd were very quiet but honestly, there was bugger all to shout about. We had to wait until half an hour for the first bit of quality and it resulted in a goal. Fox hit a 30 yard pass to Drury who made good ground before delivering to the far post where Holty smacked it high into the net from 6 yards. It should have been the signal for the floodgates to open but apart from a few uptempo minutes the game quickly slipped back into the doldrums. I''ve seen some poor stuff over the years but at at times tonight it almost plumbed the depths of the Grant/Roeder period. A couple of minutes before the break there was another moment of quality as Lansbury set Drury away on the left and his cut back was side footed over by Holt. The were cheers as the halftime whistle went, probably of relief from the utter dross on display. It could only get better we thought and for a time it did. City moved the ball quicker and made some presentable chances. Wheelie scuffed an effort badly from 12 yards and a couple of minutes later was set up again by Whitbreads through ball. As Wheelie made ground into the box whole ice ages waxed and waned before he set up a shot that drifted wide. Then Holty broke down the right and picked Croft out beautifully only for the midfielder to fail to hit the target. Wheelie had a decent game as far as his hold up play went but it was no surprise when he again failed to head a guilt edged chance wide of the keeper. People say he''s unlucky but to my mind someone with his scoring record over 12 years really ought to have had a bit of luck by now. Donny didn''t really look like scoring but when you''ve seen as many games as I have you get that sixth sense that things are not going to turn out as you hoped. With 6 minutes remaining Donny attacked on the left. The ball looked to be going out for a throw but bounced on the line and spun back just enough to go for a corner instead. Ricardo had that sinking feeling and as the corner came over Drury leaned into it and brushed the ball into his own net. I think we all knew that it was all up then. With 5 minutes added it was all long ball but City have been to well so many times this season it was no surprise that this time the bucket came up dry. Such is football and such are the results in games that will make all the difference between a lottery and an auto come May. I have been hesitant to jump on the auto promotion bandwagon because I can''t say Ive seen a really convincing home performance. Yes we have pulled out last minute victorys but over a season it takes more than that. Snowy the cat has given me no clues recently so I guess the agony is set to run for quite a while yet. [/quote] Spot on Ricardo and I agree 100% with items highlighted. Having been massively proud and impressed at Elland Road Saturday, last night was a crushing disappointment. Nothing to do with the result but everything to do with the attitude and performance. I''ll try and be brief. For my c£450 season ticket + all other expenses I have three priorities (in decending order): 1. the team must have a nailed on mental attitude to give of their very best and be set up to try and win every game 2. Then (hopefully) we will see some entertaining attacking football  3. If we win the game that''s a bonus and the icing on the cake. Provided I have items 1 and 2 I''ll take whatever comes as a result. Last night - the team''s heads were still stuck in the Elland Road clouds and had totally underestimated Donny. No way were the players ''up'' (mentally) for last night and it showed from the first until 85th minute. Why did some fans boo? Simple - they were hacked off with the sluggish attitude and woeful performance NOT the result. Want proof? go back to the home defeats to Hull and Pompey - the team were applauded off the pitch becuase they had approached the game properly and played as well as they could and had worked the opposition keeper. Up front impotence -  sorry, but our strikers (other than Holt) are about as virile as a serious case of brewers droop! I have been seriously underwhelmed by Wilbraham in his two league starts this week. He simply does not display the appetite that a 31 year old given this amazing opportunity from the lower divisions would (you would assume) show. Did he actually break into any kind of sweat last night? PL said ...''he was excellent'' - joking are''nt you mate!  If that was ''excellent'' then I''m defo gonna get over with Holly Willoughby at the weekend! That ain''t gonna happen (unfortunately) but you get my drift.      Jackson tries his heart out but his touch and control is poor and does not get the service he needs. If Holt gets injured we''re finished such is his influence on things on the pitch. It would be a mortal blow - PL knows it and what''s more the players know it as well. Pattern of play - with the diamond we have no width whatsoever and by excluding MacNamee we have no pace. Yes the boy is an enigma but he HAS been electrifying and changed some games. We must get him back re-energised, re-motivated and back on the pitch and start getting him on. We constantly look like we''re trying to play a five a side game within a thirty yard narrow stretch of pitch from the centre circle to the opposition box. If we are to hold on to the play offs (stand any chance of winning) we must freshen up our pattern of play and get some movement and pace into the side.       Finally, we all know how well the boy PL has done (and is doing) but Im getting well jarred off with him reminding us every time we struggle in a game. Fact is that he has absolutely no idea what it was really like here between the end days of the Worthy era and August 2009!! Change the record please!     

[quote user="SnakepitCanary"]So Leeds have been building themselves up for promotion for the Prem whilst they were in the Championship? Get real cluck you idiot. It doesn''t matter if we are ready or not (even if I think we are), it''s all about money. Going up has the potential of wiping all of our debt out. So you wouldn''t want us to get promoted to help us financially? Jesus wept.[/quote] Sorry - I think you''re foolhardy if you believe that. Did''nt happen last time did it? Yes I know we had the mortgage from AXA in 2003 to build The Jarrold but overall debt climbed steadily even after promotion. If we go up this season (and I as a fan want that achievement in a sporting context only as much as anyone), we will immediately shovel out most of the cash on huge (by our standards) wages / transfer fees. Do you honestly think the club will write out a cheque to it''s creditors to finally get rid of the towering level of debt we have?? No chance, it will be ....''restructured'' and ''managed'' you see and overall debt level is unlikely to show much reduction.  Mc Nally may be getting to grips with cashflow outside The Premier but once / if back inside, he will spend and spend again so the much vaunted ''£90M'' won''t go very far after many snoughts have been at the trough!