jb

[quote user="Road to Nowhere"] Cant see Lambo deserting the flat back 4 policy so I would go with this;                                   Ruddy Martin      Barnett   Ward   Lappin                Crofts     Fox Martin         Hoolahan      MacNamee                        Holt [/quote]   ^this.

thanks!

I''ll be trapped in Woodbridge on Saturday afternoon - does anyone know of any pubs that will be showing the Reading game in that area?  Thanks for your help! jb

looked to me like the 2-3-2-3 (or W-W) that Barcelona have been using on occasions recently - Ward and Barnett as centre backs, K Smith and R Martin wing backs (thought Russell did really well on the left, my man of the match yesterday) with Fox as a deeper midfielder inbetween them.  Crofts and hoolahan central behind Macnamee, Holt and C Martin.good article HEREsure i''ll get shot down - just how i saw it, that''s all.jb

sorry if this has already been mentioned - particularly as it doesn''t really say an awful lot.  fond overtones, though.   http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/football-league-blog/2010/oct/15/championship-norwich-city-qpr    

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/football-league-blog/2010/aug/05/football-league-preview not particularly illuminating, but it''s nice to see Ipswich tipped for relegation outside of this board :) jb

interesting article (if you''re that way inclined) on the changing role of the ''holding'' midfielder (seems particularly relevant when discussing Russell/Fox):  http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/07/30/central-midfield-role/. zonalmarking.net is well worth a look in general, actually.  Enjoy!   jb

prem: chelsea champ: burnley L1: Southampton L2: Gillingham NCFC Top Scorer: C Martin NCFC finish: 17th 1st defeat: Forest (A) 1st red:  Ruddy 

1. Burnley 2. Middlesborough 3. Reading 4. Coventry 5. Nottm Forest 6. Cardiff 7. Bristol C 8. QPR 9.  Sheffield United 10. Portsmouth 11. Swansea 12. Derby 13. Preston 14. Ipswich 15. Leicester 16. Doncaster 17. Norwich 18. Millwall 19. Hull 20. Leeds 21. Barnsley 22. Scunthorpe 23. Palace 24. Watford

17th 52 points 53 goals 10 clean sheets POTS: Ward Top Scorer: Martin 14 Red Cards: Ruddy, Ward, Crofts  

[quote user="Jim Smith"] Someone posted a team beased on the German formation the other day which i thought looked like it would work really well for us. Would be:   Ruddy Martin Ward Whitbread Smith/Drury Crofts Smith Martin Hoolahan Surman Holt [/quote] i think this is EXACTLY what Lambert is aiming for on day one. 

hurray, i was gutted to be missing the first game of the season, now i can go!  also means the start of the season is 19 hours closer than it was... bring on Malky!

bit extreme getting the Territorial Army involved, don''t you think?   :)

http://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/topic/8262903/7/ could only be bothered to go through the first half-dozen or so pages of this, and not even sure that this is the ''main'' Celtic forum, but Lambert''s name comes up surprisingly infrequently.  To be honest, I''d be surprised if a Champions League team like Celtic went for a manager with no experience outside of English division 3 in any case. jb  

There was a moment early on in the Wycombe game at Carrow road where there was a loose ball on the edge of our box which turned into a series of 50/50 balls - for the first time it became apparent exactly what the ''Lambert effect'' was - yellow shirts hurtling into tackles, blocking shots etc - i turned to the old buy in the seat next to me and said ''we''ve got our team back''  he agreed. i think that Martin''s winner against brentford just shades oli''s against southend for me (wasn''t at Gillingham) - almost felt guilty to have beaten southend as we had played so poorly, whereas the performance against brentford was brilliant, hammering them with 10 men but being so unlucky in front of goal.  also amazing what a bit of perceived injustice will do for the atmosphere at the ground (not the sending off, but several other refereeing decisions were awful that night). another great moment was Oli coming on for his debut against Exeter and almost scoring within seconds... immediate cult hero!  probably the best goal that never was at CR this year. considering that the season started with that horrible sick feeling as ColU fans chanted ''welcome to league 1'', i''m happy to say that the good memories will by far outweigh the bad this year... as long as we remain in the top 2 til the end, of course.    

i''d go for... Forster 6 - one sharp stop in the second half, one poor kick in the first - seemed reluctant to race out for the ball on a couple of occasions. R Martin 5 - disjointed performance, but at least made the effort to cover for the midfield''s lack of effort. Nelson 6 - typical performance really... caught for pace a couple of times but generally strong in the air and getting better positionally. Doherty 7 - good night''s work - had to cover for Rose a lot in the second half and made a few great challenges. Rose 4 - couldn''t pass, wouldn''t track back, turned and outpaced constantly.  outstandingly poor. MacNamee 8 (MOM) - kept on... and on... and on.  lots of effort and, crucially, QUALITY!  some great crosses from dead balls and open play, and had their defence worried all night.  really promising debut. Lappin 5 - i like lappin, but he really is looking increasingly jaded right now.  wondering why he''s still in the team, especially as he wasn''t taking set pieces tonight - certainly doesn''t look like a centre mid in a 442. Hughes 4 - really disappointing, especially in terms of the amount of energy he seemed willing to put in - there''s a place in the side up for grabs and hughes really didn''t seem to care that much.  did nothing to support the strikers OR the defence all game. Hoolahan 6 - tried some stuff, mostly didn''t work out but was lacking options to pass to most of the time. Holt 5 - what is wrong with Holt?  flat footed and slow all night.  is he playing with an injury?  C Martin 4 - a return to the bad old days.  had him as my MOM on saturday, but barely contributed at all last night. + Smith 6 - achieved at least as much as Lappin and Hughes combined.  seemed to give us the impetus to drive forward and use the ball positively.  deserves a rest, but can we afford to leave him out of the starting 11? Johnson 8 - right place, right time.  twice.   put southend on the back foot as soon as he came on, and should have had a hattrick with a free header that he sent miles over the bar at 1-1. 

1. Norwich 89 2. Swindon 89 3. Leeds 88 4. Col U 86 5. Huddersfield 84 6. Millwall 81 with Charlton missing out altogether.  Their run-in is horrible, whereas Swindon and Huddersfield look to have the best fixtures remaining.  We''ll still nick it, though :)

1. Russell2. Holt3. Smith/AskouClose-run thing so far - could see any of those 4 (or Drury, Doc, Lappin, Spillane or Hoolahan) picking up the BBMT at the end of the season.agree strongly with what the earlier poster said about spillane... was getting better and better with every game before his injury - i find it hard to imagine that Semi would''ve got anywhere near the 1st XI if he''d stayed fit.  Hopefully he won''t take too long to get match fit once he''s recovered.