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I fear we will lose. I''m trying to remain positive but the line-up doesn''t give me much hope.  

Surman should never be starting ahead of Hoolahan and / or Tettey. Surman has played reasonably well in the games he''s played but he should have had 2 goals, last weeks chance was an easy chance that would probably and should have given us 3 points and at the end of the season you hope those chances are not the difference between staying up or being relegated. I don''t think he ever does enough defensively either, he doesn''t have enough pace, so why he''s been picked I don''t know. Meanwhile, Hoolahan was MOTM last week and has been left out, it doesn''t make sense. I''d even bring Bennett in ahead of Surman as I think he can add more to the team up front and in defence. Let''s hope we can score a few goals today and get our season up and running at last.

If Bassong isn''t fit to play, I''m sure he''ll pick Turner in his place. It sounds as if Pilkington is also a doubt, so if he isn''t ready Bennett might be considered. I hope Hoolahan plays and if he does I guess we will only play with one striker ie Holt. So I think the line-up will be something like this: RUDDY MARTIN TURNER BARNETT GARRIDO TETTEY HOWSON BENNETT SNODGRASS HOOLAHAN HOLT If Hoolahan doesn''t start Jackson should play to give us some pace up front. Johnson would be very unlucky to be dropped so he might keep his place and move Howson further up the pitch in place of Bennett who may not be 100% yet. I don''t expect Butterfield to start but he may be a sub. With so many options in midfield the line-up is very difficult to predict particularly the middle.

I''m not suggesting we don''t attack at all and sit on our goal line, all I am suggesting is we could give our strikers, who have been misfiring, more help in the opposition penalty area and use a different formation to accommodate a creative player or two that could lead to a few goals. We lack a striker at the moment who is likely to score enough goals to keep us up, but in all the other areas of the team we look capable and strong enough. It is just an opinion and something I think could be given a trial in a less important game.

Is it worth trying a different formation? ie 3 centre backs 2 wing backs further up the pitch. Effectively a 3-3-2-2. The 2 midfielders behind the 2 strikers could be given a free role and be closer to the front 2. This system could accommodate Hoolahan and Snodgrass as those midfielders with free roles. I just feel we need to be putting more players in and around the opposition box and put the emphasis on attack rather than sit back too much. I think it''s worth trying out in the Cup perhaps.

With the transfer funds we have available it will always be difficult to challenge the other clubs for the signatures of any striker who looks half decent. Even CMS was valued at over £3.5 million and we weren''t prepared to pay that, possibly because last season wasn''t his best as he was playing up front as a lone striker. This season he''s been banging the goals in for fun. If we go back for him in January, he is sure to be valued at £4m. The trouble is you never know whether these players will play as well in the Prem and it will always be a gamble.What we need is another, dare I say it, Dean Ashton without his attitude, but with his talent and goalscoring ability, but where are we going to find him? Perhaps Kane will develop into a top striker, let''s hope so, as I don''t know where our goals are going to come from on our current form.

I agree. Hughton is a little negative or defence minded. West Ham were there for the taking and I didn''t think they were much good in front of goal. I would definitely have brought on Hoolahan or possibly Fox in place of Surman for the last 20 minutes. To say West Ham are a big physical side and that''s why Hoolahan wasn''t brought on is crazy. OK so Wes is short but he is quite tenacious but more importantly he can create something out of nothing and that''s what we needed late in the game. Surman on the other hand although he may be taller, has never been a player to really get stuck in and I can''t remember him ever heading a ball. He played well in the first half and created one or two half chances but I think he was struggling towards the end. If we had brought Fox on, we could have pushed Howson further up the pitch.

[quote user="Nicholls"]What a joke this is, a thread made up on pure guesswork. What i think is you''re a fool.[/quote] Perhaps I am, but it is just an opinion at the end of the day. On reflection some of my ''guesswork'' might be a little generous in some areas and mean in others, but as some posters have pointed out our midfield may make up for the ''inabilities'' of the strikers. Snodgrass and Butterfield could well come to our rescue, so there is cause for some optimism when you also consider our defence is stronger.

That''s my main concern. So far we''ve scored 2 from 3 games and we''ve had very few shots on target compared to other teams, so where do you think our goals are going to come from? I don''t think Holt will do quite aswell as last season but he''ll probably end up being our top goalscorer. Let''s say he gets 12 Jackson is unlikely to get into double figures, I think he''ll get 7 or 8. Morison - it depends how much effort he puts in, but again is he likely to be prolific and how many games will he play. 8 goals Martin is unlikely to start any games and may not even be on the bench for most games. Maximum 2 Kane - difficult to predict and will depend how quickly he can blend in with his team-mates and obviously how many games he plays. 5 Snodgrass on present form will be one of the most prolific from midfield. Minimum 8 Butterfield - 4 Howson - 2 Pilkington - 6 Bennett - 2 Hoolahan - 2 Johnson - 3 Fox & Surman - I''m not confident they will feature enough to have the chance to score Tettey - 1 Barnett - 2 Bassong - 1 Martin - 2 Unless our ratio of shots on goal per game increases dramatically, we may struggle for most of the season. I hope I am proved wrong. However our defence has looked much more solid in the last 2 games and if that kind of form continues, we might be able to rely on the odd goal to win us some games. In general play we should be able to hold our own against most of the sides if we play as we did against Spurs. It''s unlikely we will be able to match Man City, United and Chelsea, but the rest are in the balance depending on our form, attitude, scoring ability and the opponents form. Obvious I know, but on reflection I can''t see us getting beyond the bottom 6 I''m afraid. We''ll see. What do you think?

Is this our squad then barring any last minute signings, sales and loans? GOALKEEPERS Ruddy, Bunn, Rudd & or Steer FULL BACKS R Martin, Whittaker, Francombe Garrido, Tierney, Lappin CENTRE BACKS Bassong, Turner, Barnett, Bennett, Ward DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS Tettey, Johnson, Fox, (Korey Smith) WINGERS E.Bennett, Snodgrass, Pilkington, Surman ATTACKING MIDFIELDERS Howson, Hoolahan, Butterfield STRIKERS Holt, Jackson, Morison, C.Martin & ?? (Loza) Russell Martin can obviously play in central defence if neccessary and Whittaker anywhere across the back. Lappin can play left mid and Snodgrass & Bennett central midfield, so we have some flexibility. We just need a hard working striker to play alongside Holt who can chip in with 10 goals or more.

and what about Fraser Cambell? Where is he these days? I think I''d prefer him if we had a choice. Fraser would probably be much more money ie £4m but I think he''s worth it.

How about Shola Ameobi? Do you think he could do a job for us up front? I know he''s not so young anymore, but he can score and he has connections with Hughton. I think we are starting to run out of targets in the UK who are both available and suitable, so perhaps we''ll have to look further afield.

Bassong can play defensive midfielder if neccessary. I think we need a striker more than anyone and to ship out C Martin and Jackson, as they aren''t quite up to it.

With Bassong very close to being a Norwich player, who is leaving us? I think that Barnett has probably played his last game for us or he''ll be loaned out at least. Lappin is also unlikely to play a big part, so it might be in his interests and ours that he finds a new club. Thanks to both for the service they have given us. I''d be happy if Chrissy Martin were sold on to make way for a new striker and Jackson loaned out on a month to month basis to give him some matches. I would really hope to hang on to Vaughan as I think he is one of our better finishers if he is given a chance. Now we have a few options at the back I think it''s time we added a new striker to the squad. I think our goalkeeping options are good enough and we don''t need to add to what we already have.

For me the ones that stand out are Crofts and Barnett. I like their attitude but I just think they struggled to make the step up to the Premiership. It would be great if they could prove me wrong, as then we wouldn''t need to shell out for some replacements, although we appear well stocked in midfield. Who do you think will be on the move? Does anyone else spring to mind?

& I understood everything he said. We don''t need an interpreter!

If Holt does leave us (I think it will be a blow if he does), a replacement for him would be a priority and at the moment I can''t think of anyone suitable on the radar. Other than a striker, I''d like us to reinforce the central defence with a little experience and the one name that has been mentioned on here that I would be very happy with, would be Curtis Davis, who could play alongside Bennett or Ayala. In midfield I''d be happy with Lansbury or Snodgrass, although I think we need a defensive midfielder aswell. At right back Gunter, unless Whittaker has been bought to play in that position. If Holt moves to Sunderland perhaps we could do a part exchange for one of there strikers. I''d be interested to see what you would be happy with, given the funds we have. Many have criticised our activity in the transfer market without coming up with any sensible suggestions.

I will never forget the huge turnaround in fortunes from being a struggling League 1 side to finishing 12th in the Premiership. I thank PL, all his management and coaching team, what you achieved will be hard to follow. I don''t blame PL for wanting to move on and to climb the management ladder, he''s ambitious, so good luck to him. From what I remember last week he said the board''s ambitions were to finish 17th next season, PL said his ambitions were much higher, or words to that effect. In other words, perhaps the board were being realistic and are not willing to push the boat out in financial terms in order to bring in the players we need to compete in the top half of the table which is where PL wants to be. If he stayed another season there was a chance we could struggle without spending £15million or more in the transfer market and perhaps PL thought he''d taken us as far as he could. One thing I won''t miss is his strong Scottish accent which I couldn''t always understand. His man-management was first class. Of course it goes without saying, if he does leave and returns with another club, we''ll want to put one over on him, but that''s not to say I''ll be booing him for being ambitious and leaving our club. What he''s achieved has been incredible. Thanks.

Holloway, Houghton, Clark or Poyet. Any of those for me would seem to be a good choice, but you never know how it is going to turn out. My favourites would be Clark or Houghton with Culverhouse staying as assistant, if he doesn''t follow Lambert out of the club, but I have a feeling Culverhouse will team up with Lambert. Culverhouse could eventually turn out to be a good manager but it would be risky and too much too soon for him to take on now, I think. 

I''d field the following to start, how about you? Ruddy Naughton Ayala or Bennett Whitbread Drury Fox Howson Pilkington Hoolahan Surman Holt or Morrison   or I''d go with the same back 4 and play 442 with 2 strikers and drop Hoolahan to the bench. 

Does anyone know why Howson didn''t feature at all? Did he pick up a knock in training? I was really surprised he wasn''t playing especially after Lambert''s comments following the game last week. As much as I like Surman and his creativity, I think he can be a liability, especially the defensive part of his game. On the clips I''ve seen on TV he is very often tracking back but unable to get close enough and get a tackle or block in when the opposition score. When Wigan scored it appeared he was in the penalty area doing just that. When Giggs scored 2 weeks ago, he could be seen standing beyond the far post watching as Giggs poked the ball home, although on that occasion it may have been Hoolahan who was mainly to blame. Surman''s attempts at tackling have to improve and I think he needs to be stronger. Obviously it is a team game and you can''t really blame any one individual for poor results and performances but we do have a relatively light-weight midfield and against Wigan there wasn''t enough steel to compliment are creative players.

Any news on his hamstring? Will he be fit to play this weekend or will he be out for another week?

I couldn''t pick anyone out for special praise, as they all did extremely well. When our two centre backs had to go off, I must admit I thought we would struggle with the lack of height and expertise in the back four against some tall Bolton players, but we were magnificent. They worked for each other, were brave and put in a tremendous amount of effort, aswell as creating loads of chances at the other end. They never cease to amaze me under PL. We''ve had last minute goals to win games, last gasp equalisers, a draw at Anfield, a terrific performance at Old Trafford, 2 crushing defeats of Ipswich last season and countless other top results, but this one is up there with the very best under the circumstances. They never know when they are beaten, their heads never drop, they are a great group of players, managed by the magnificent Paul Lambert and Culverhouse. I am so proud. OTBC !!

Stick or twist? Drury or Naughton? I would be inclined to bring Drury back and play Naughton in his more familiar role at right back. Tierney won''t be fit to play so that counts him out. Drury did well the other week when he played and was unlucky not to keep his place, so I woud be happy for him to start. Martin could be a super sub if we need him. I hope Vaughan is on the bench and given a run out in the second half.

well said. There, are too many knee jerk reactions. We''re not going to be world beaters however we haven''t gone from being a good side to a poor one over night. All teams have their off days, we''ve had ours and we''ll bounce back. We''ve done so well this season, better than most people expected and have had a terrific January, let''s not forget. So come on lets get behind the players and help them recover, instead of making it harder for them.