swjf50

My sentiments exactly "It is not too late to learn, but now it is time to show we have learnt". If we keep making the same mistakes, then it shows we haven''t learnt and are not getting the message. Karanka the Middlesborough manager also made a statement today admitting that he was at fault for their recent results. I believe AN, who has had a good start to his managerial career, made some mistakes with his selection v Liverpool. Hopefully he will learn as well as the players.

Rudd 5 Pinto 5 Martin 3 Bassong 5 Brady 5 Dorrans 4 Howson 6 Redmond 4 Naismith 8 Hoolahan 8 Mbokani 8 Dorrans and Redmond are not good enough. Redmond needs dropping and given a kick up the back.... I''d play Olsson with Brady left wing, Tettey will hopefully be back, if not Mulumbu or O''Neil in Dorrans place. VOO in place of Redmond. Klose and Bennett in central defence.

We were great going forward but were exposed at the back because we committed too many players forward ie both full backs and didn''t have a recognised defensive midfielder playing. Simple. How many times are we going to be caught out ball watching? Was it Liverpools second goal where most of our defenders were dragged out to our right side, leaving Firmino in oceans of space with nobody marking him in the middle. Catastrophic errors like Martin''s back pass and Brady''s header for Liverpool''s fifth. These mistakes are costing us week after week. It''s about time we learned from them and improved as a unit. Surely Martin has been given enough chances now and shouldn''t be a starter any more.

I wonder what he thought of the match today and our performance particularly the defence?!

Drop Martin, Bassong, Dorrans and Redmond to be replaced by Bennett, Klose, Tettey and VOO. Why wasn''t Mulumbu played instead of Dorrans today? We didn''t have a single defensive midfielder on the pitch, which was madness. We missed Tettey today. I know his passing is his weakness but he covers a lot of ground and protects the back four better than anyone else in our squad.

Rudd Pinto Bennett. Klose. Olson Tettey. Howson VOO Brady Naismith Mbokani This is the team I picked before today and I still think it has the best chance. After today Rudd might be dropped for Ruddy but I''d say no goalie would have much confidence behind the defence that played today. Appalling decisions, terrible marking, poor clearances and a shocking back pass that beggars belief from a ''professional'' footballer. Why even attempt a back pass before checking where the opposition are and at least hit it hard enough so it has a chance of reaching Rudd. I''d expect that kind of error in an under 14 boys match. The trouble is the offender makes these mistakes on a regular basis and still keeps getting picked. He''s had his chances, I thank him for his efforts and for helping us get promoted but it''s time for him to be dropped. He can only be 3rd choice. I will seriously lose faith in what AN is trying to achieve if he persists in picking RM and also Brady at left back. The results speak for themselves.

We scored 4 goals, Naismith''s performance, Pinto looked good going forwards, Mbokani worked tirelessly and scored a good goal. Our defence will be better in the future games ( it couldn''t be much worse ). The transfer window isn''t closed yet. We will be better with Tettey and/or O''Neil in the side. We will be better without Martin in central defence and at full back. We will be better with Klose and Bennett in central defence. Rudd will have better games.

Why were Dorrans, Martin and Redmond picked? Dorians hasn''t impressed so far and isn''t a defensive midfielder, whereas Mulumbu is. Bennett has been one of our better defenders and I would have said should be ahead of both Bassong and Martin in the pecking order. Wisdom could possibly play at centre back if we have injuries and would be a better option than Martin. Redmond hasn''t offered much for a while, so I was surprised he was picked ahead of Jarvis and Ofoe. It''s easy being wise after the event, but I said before the match who I would have picked in defence ie Pinto, Bennett, Klose and Olsson. If Klose isn''t 100% then I''d have had either Bennett and Bassong or Wisdom. Brady was caught out of position on a few occasions and needs to be much more disciplined if he is played at full back but personally I think he''s better as a left winger, further up the pitch. I think his instincts are to attack, so I would play him on the wing. His pace helped us at the back several times but he''s not a natural defender. I think it was either Martin or Brady who headed the ball back into the danger area at the end which led to the Liverpool winner, when it should have been headed out for a corner. That was the mistake of a poor defender and inexcusable.

Unfortunately AN seems to have an obsession about Martin. He had been dropped then pushed out to right back, we buy Pinto and then put Martin back at centre back. What the hell is going on at the training ground!!! Is Bennett injured, as he''s been one of our better defenders and if he is and Klose isn''t ready then why don''t we try Wisdom in the middle.

Not good enough, it''s as simple as that, I''m afraid. Awful back pass and partly to blame for the last goal. Surely if Bennett and Klose are fit, he will be dropped. We can''t afford to keep picking him, if we want to avoid the drop.

I can''t see Redmond starting unless he has done something extra special at training. VOO or Jarvis should play on the right, unless Brady plays Left back in which case I would play Jarvis on the left wing and VOO on the right and I would hope he would be better defensively.

[quote user="Molly Windley"]Hell, lets go for it RuddPinto Bennet Klose Olsson Howson Tettey Brady Voo Naismith Jerome [/quote] Like this line up and Lessinghams but I think AN will have Brady at left back and perhaps one or two of our signings aren''t ready yet, although I hope they are.

[quote user="Lord Eddard Stark"]swjf50 wrote: ''How about a sneaky bid for Ronaldo or Lewandovsky ?'' Ha ha, they wouldn''t sign for us really.[/quote] Of course they would. Ronaldo is probably on about £400,000 or more a week and Lew probably a bit less. We could afford that, no problem. The transfer fee would only be about £100million, if we sold the Directors, training ground, the club we could manage that.

I doubt all 3 new signings will be played v Liverpool but hope they can. It''s great that Klose can play on either left or the right, as it means we could drop Bennett or Bassong. There''s not much in it, but if I was picking the team I''d pick Bennett at the moment but that could change. Now we have true competition for places ie right back - Pinto, Wisdom, Martin and Whittaker. I think one of those may be released in this window, possibly Whittaker with his limited chances of playing. Getting the right balance in midfield is the key to how well we are going to perform I think. Hoolahan may not have so many games with the introduction of Naismith unless Naismith is on the right wing, but I believe his best position is a No 10 where he will be more of a threat. VOO could still play a big part as an attacking midfielder, although the defensive side of his game needs to improve. In summary I think we have some good options, they now have to gel. Let''s hope one of our strikers can start scoring regularly and the midfield start creating some chances.

How about a sneaky bid for Ronaldo or Lewandovsky ?

Bamford on loan perhaps. I think he''s realistic but a squad player and not a starter. I couldn''t see him playing the roles that Jerome and Mbokani play though. If Lafferty and Hooper stay perhaps we don''t need another striker. Ideally we want someone better than our two main strikers who can find the back of the net regularly. Shane Long would be great but he''s not available. Is there a Dean Ashton in the lower leagues we can sign up?

Great signings which should really bolster our squad and strengthen our line up. There may yet be more comings and goings in the transfer market but now we have these players in what do you think our best line up would be? My starting eleven would look something like this...... Rudd Pinto. Bennett Klose Olsson Tettey. Howson Jarvis. Naismith Brady Mbokani With Tettey one booking away from a ban, hopefully he can avoid a booking at the weekend or we might be a bit light in that area with O''Neil being suspended. What about a loan deal for Bamford? Or Shane Long now that would be the icing on the cake, but I can''t see Southampton letting him go yet.

I wonder whether he''ll be on the bench at the weekend, since he''s had a break and perhaps come on for 30 minutes? I know it won''t be popular with most fans but it seems to be the way AN likes to play it ie gradually breaking them into the team. Let''s see if he''s ready by the weekend.

Big strong, no nonsense centre back with skill who can play left or right. I am looking for a catch but I can''t find one......grrrreat!!

Plus AN says he can play Left or Right centre back. Great news. Naismith next with a bit of luck, then what? A striker to compete with Mbokani and Jerome perhaps or am I asking for too much?

Perhaps we should also look at the statistic ''which defenders made the most mistakes that resulted in goals'' and also ''which teams were attacked the most''. For the latter one, it would then be obvious why Bassong and Martin are on the list, as having made the most clearances as we may have been attacked the most. Having said this, it is difficult to compare defenders in this way. I think the former statistic might be the most important.

Definitely need a new captain, I am 100% sure. Martin is good pro and a nice man but he lacks Premiership quality unfortunately. A captain in the Prem needs to lead by example and be an ''ever present'' or be the first person on the team sheet. Martin is far from that. I don''t think we have many candidates, the only ones I would consider would be Howson (he was captain at Leeds) but may not always keep his place, Tettey, has captained the team before, O''Neil, has experience but again he may not always play, Bennett still relatively inexperienced and Bassong, but I''m not sure he made a great captain before. Perhaps we could have two ie Howson and O''Neil or Tettey depending on who plays. Or how about Brady? Is he vocal enough. He is certainly one of the first names on the team sheet, but has he been captain before and would he make a good captain?

Another ''no show''. So what''s the solution? There is a lot to criticise but at the end of it all we need to get behind the team. However before we do, we have to iron out the problems and weaknesses, as there is no point papering over the cracks. 1. We need to be more ballsy in the transfer market, as there is no point in pussy footing around in order to capture our targets or we will miss out. 2. We need a strong leader on the pitch who will lead by example. Someone who will most likely keep his place in the team because he is good enough. 3. Be prepared to drop players who are not good enough. 4. Put 100% effort in. That''s all we ask. If we put the effort in and lose we cannot complain. 5. Buy a Premiership quality centre back a s a p. We need to spend serious money on someone who will give our defence some backbone. We''ve needed one since the end of last season and that should have been the first signing we made in the summer, so I''m puzzled why it didn''t happen. 6. Buy a quality striker and a creative midfielder to compete with Hoolahan. Why hasn''t Lafferty at least been given some game time? Our other strikers have been misfiring, so I don''t understand why he''s not at the very least on the bench. Is there a clash of personalities with AN? Can VOO play the Hoolahan role? Isn''t that worth trying? He has created two goals before today. I know he didn''t have a good game and his defensive work needs a major improvement but before today he had been one of our best players in the last two games. If I was picking the team next week, I would drop Martin to the bench and pick Wisdom in his place, unless Pinto is ready. Hopefully we will have one or two new signings by next week who can start. We don''t have too many options who will improve the players who played today, so perhaps we should play a different system and we should definitely demand more effort, as today just wasn''t good enough. Captain? I''m not sure, perhaps Howson or Tettey. Can Mulumbu improve our performance? I''m puzzled (again) why he has hardly been given any game time since his injury.

[quote user="mrs miggins"]-----------------Rudd----------------- Martin--Bennett--Bassong--Brady ---------Howson--Tettey------------ Ofoe--------Hoolahan--------Jarvis --------------Mbokani--------------- Firstly, is Tettey suspended? Second, what would your team be?[/quote] I''d pick the same team other than instead of Martin I''d pick Wisdom and make Howson captain.

We don''t need another midfield player. Our money would be best spent on a central defender and striker in my opinion. Our midfield stocks are in good shape with Mulumbu, Tettey, Howson, Odjidja, Hoolahan, O''Neil, Dorrans, with Brady, Redmond and Jarvis being the wide men. If we are about to sell a couple of those then perhaps it might be a good idea.