Pam

everton kicked ball back to our keeper from some kind of blow up and the keeper was too casual in bending down to collect it and went through hi legs. was awful concentration lapse. luckily we've just equalised thru an everton og from freekick

that was a huge win - played well and got the just rewards and an unjust red card fro Fat Frank just makes it even better. However - much as i like Kuyt's attitude and work rate he needs to offer more of a goal threat. at the moment if Gerrard and Torres aren't scoring we struggle to break teams down. To win the league we need other players to shoulder some responsibility for scoring the goals. need to build some momentum by stuffing blues**** on Wednesday and then adding to Portsmouth's problems at the weekend - black January is over time to push on.......

i hate Richard Keys - he is so happy we are having a difficult spell he is almost wetting himself with glee!

if true it could be for the best - don't rush him and get him back completely right and ready to take the league by storm! would hate to rush him back to see him limp off. If we can't beat Newcastle and Preston without him we are in trouble!

get in Benni!

thanks Cobs

there is a lot of impatience these days and football has changed hugely. Tickets are ridiculously expensive, the players may as well be aliens for what they have in common with ordinary fans! It is a big committment to go to the game in time/money/emotional energy and we watch a load of over paid prima donnas run around some who look like they don't have a care in the world. If they are crap at our club they will just go somewhere else for a big signing on fee and more money in a week than we earn in a year or three! The constant focus of sky/forums/papers/phone ins mean everything is magnified up even more. Every numpty has an opinion and is not afraid to use it depsite them not having seen a game for years! Or even worse they do go to the match and want to use their god given right to give their opinion as loudly as possible regardless of actual circumstance and to ensure that everyone within a hundred seat radius gets the benefit of their wisdom. Every bad performance or peice of body language is analysed in a hundred different ways and average ex footballers seek to make a name for themselves by criticising the players and managers of today. Internet myths and spoutings of Andy Gray become gospel. The pressure as Manchester Utd get closer to our league record has been building as has their fans get more and more confident (irritating?). New money floods into the league - Chelsea overtook us financially and Man City could be the new force to be reckoned with and may start splaching the cash in Jan - can we compete for players on purely monetary basis? Our owners/board are incompetent/inadequate/self-serving/out of touch idiots depending on who you believe. Our promised stadium is nowhere to be seen/we are falling behind financially and commercially and if you believe the doom and gloom in the papers then RBS will pull our funding and we will go into administration or be faced to sell all our best players! I fall into the pragmatist category - despite all the off the field issues i think we have some world class players, some who aren't world class but add to the team and are worthy of their place and some who aren't good enough and need to be moved on. We don't have the strength and depth of Chelseas/Man Utd but we've had a good start to the season results wise though the performances haven't quite been up there. We will either get better and kick on to make a serious challenge/win the league or be found out as injuries/lack of goals impede or challenge. I'd rather be where we are in the league than where United are and the fact that we are dispointed that we don't have more points shows that we deserve to be where we are. The players and nervous and the fans are nervous - everyone desperately wants us to play well and win games but both sides have a job to do to make that happen. Just sitting back and waiting for it to happen is not enough. The negativity is becoming self-fulfilling. Players get slagged and their confidence dips and their performances suffer so crowd gets on backs even more etc. Likewise Torres's supporters make me feel like i have wings on my feet comment. not sure what the answer is - forced happiness for all fans - you must be positive on pain of banishment? There is difference between constructive criticism and negativity and there is a difference between being positive and being delusional. Some people just like to complain/criticise/over react because it is somehow easier/gives them more attention than being constructive or upbeat.

got to be Team 4 - can't go against Torres and Mascherano!

the march was great - it grew as got closer to the ground. however loads of apathy from the fans who just stood in pubs or on streets watching the protest go by - there was a fair bit of abuse near me from marchers towards people just watching. There does seem to be a lot of ordinary fans who either don't know or don't care about the aims of SOS. I walked passed the ground about 11am to join the march and there wsa nothing up there to sugest anything as happening. If sos intend doing anything similar again they should leaflet round the ground for the fans who haven't picked it up already saying what is happening and why - maybe generate some more support. i did think the feeling was right - keeping the protest outside the ground ahead of the game. today was important on the pitch and needed unity in the stadium during the game.

interesting if the players requested the change. later on there are more people in the ground and the players do get the full rousing benefit ( assuming it is a rousing version) but there didn't seem enough time to play the full version after the PremierLeague song and it just faded out. I would assume there are specific timings for when teams have to come up and have the premier league song and then all games are supposed to kick off at same time? there is only the time that they kick about whilst captains toss the coin to do it which doesn't seem long enough. don't mind about electronic advertising though did find them a little distracting at first. we've all criticised the club for not being commercial enough and being behind other clubs in generating revenue so can hardly complain about this development!

we are not the only team strengthening and can only impact our own performance. i expect us to do better this season - turn some of the draws of last season into wins and do better against top four teams but we don't have a divine right to win the league. We look to be building a strong first eleven with some exciting young players coming through. A title challenge this year to develop some experience of a title fight would be acceptable and a great platform to build on. Not that i wouldn't welcome winning the league this year i just think to jump straight from fourth to first when Utd and Chelsea will strengthen further is a big ask.

is anything happening?

i can't even get the offal to load up - never mind eseason ticket bit

has anyone managed to get on the live commentary? - it won't load for me

Players have a choice as to whether to sign a contract and what terms go into that contract. If Ronaldo had a burning desire o play for Real at some point why did he not have an escape clause triggered by a certain fee in the contract? Likewise for Barry. They sign the contract, take the wages (however obscene they may be) and therefore have a commitment and a notice period (the term of their contract), if they change their minds then it is up to a potential buying club to make an acceptable offer. In the meantime the player can be rubbish, injured, suspended, in jail and still get paid. I'm afraid i have little sympathy for the poor dears who are struggling to decide what to spend their latest million on. They sign the contract much like the rest of us at work and are bound by the terms. Tough. To even contemplate using the word slave is so disproportionate it has echoes of a spoilt child - but then afterall that is what a lot of footballers are - and we are the mugs that pay for it all.

one of the most effective and moving demonstrations of fan power i've seen was the RTK/Justice demonstration last year at the FA cup game against Arsenal. it was particularly effective because it was so focused and controlled. People knew what they were to do and when and for how long and those within the crowd who didn't know before were swept along. On kick off it started and at 6 minutes past it stopped. Even the players seemed to be just pasing the ball waiting for it to end before the match properly got going. merchandise boycotts will affect adidas and impact our negotiating power for our next kit deal - it won't affect G&H now. match/season ticket boycotts are unlikely to work as not enough people will go along with it. There is too much noise going on at the moment with too much disagreement and pedantic criticism or irrelevant things. For a protest to be effective it needs to be focused, play the media game, have a consistent message which is specific, simple, realistic and carefully thought out.

I honestly don't care about them winning. I've surprised myself today by how much i don't care. I hate both Chelsea and Man Utd (obviously Utd more) and didn't want to watch the match. Instead last night I went to an Istanbul night with a load of people i go the game with. We watched The Road to Istanbul, One Night in May and a Great Derby Victories DVD over a few beers and pizza. Mobile phones weren't allowed and i didn't know the result till I got home. I was mildly amused at the Terry crying pictures on the TV and then have ignored it. My lack of caring has really irritated the many Man Utd fans at work too. We can't change the result or who Man Utd/Chelsea or anyone else buy this summer. All we can do is start again next season and support Rafa and the team to get back to winning ways!

i love Rafa and wouldn't want to change him but his choices do amaze me sometimes! Why Voronin? Why not Lucas or Plessis instead of Alonso or Benayoun instead of Voronin? cue a Voronin performance of a lifetime and hat trick!

the thing about Crouch is the less he plays the more people big him up and then when he does play you remember how slow and awkward he is as the ball bounces off him as he miscontrols. I'm not saying he can't do a job and the number of clubs supposedly after him reflect that. Sometimes he does look brilliant but a lot of the time he looks slow and disinterested. he will never displace Torres as number one striker and if we persist with the current formation then he will be a bit part part player. With Crouch in the team we seem to play a different way - Rafa desn't seem to think Torres & Crouch can play together and I know who i'd rather have! This summer we need to step up a level again like we did with Torres and buy someone who can play alongside Torres and score 20+ goals. Crouch is not that player.

you are getting a bit militant in your old age! i think they know what the fans think - diverting support away from the team to blast the owners could be very detrimental to the team in a crucial match - do you not think it could be counterproductive? a protest at the directors entrance would be another matter if you can drag certain esteemed relatives away from the pub!

Bennett is a disgrace as a supposedly impartial referee but Masch gave him every opportunity to send him off. Given all the fall out of Cole's behaviour midweek it was obvious there was going to be a crackdown and Masch offered himself up with his constant niggling dissent. it might be double standards given usually we are the least like this of the top 4 teams but it was painfully obvious it was going to happen. if we can all see this then surely one of our senior players ( yes Gerrard, but also Alonso , Reina and Carragher) or our bench could have also seen what was going to happen and had a word ten minutes or so before he got sent off. The final offence wasn't a yellow card in iteslf but it was the total effectof his constant sniping. If Rooney had been sent off for this we'd all be rubbing our hands with glee and saying he deserved it. Bennett is a kn*b but Masch was stupid and contributed heavily to his own downfall and our defeat. He is a young lad hopefully he will learn from this and we won't suffer from his absence against the bluesh*te next week.

the referee was a disgrace but Mascherano was stupid, given the publicity about Cole in the week Bennet was always going to want to play the big man and prove how hard he was. Away at Old Trafford there was only going to be one outcome to Masherano's constant dissent. yet again we get nothing out of United. mentally we weren't up to it. we lacked the big game intelligence and luck that seperates us from United and the ability to bring on £50m worth of subs! our few big name players didn't step up today and we didn't convert the few half chances that came our way, Mascherano lost his head and hopefully will learn from this. Seven wins on the trot have been great but we still a country mile away from looking like serious league contenders!

that red card has been coming since he got the first yellow - why did no-one have a word out of out senior players/bench??? He can have no complaints - will he miss the derby or Arsenal - is it ten days after the red? what happens to us when we play Utd? Bennett isn't helping but we just went to pieces before they did anything. we aren't performing - are our own worst enemies giving the ball away, not completing simple passes. the rubbish being talked about us making up the numbers and our season being only about 4th place was making my blood boil pre kick off but we've just vindicated all thos gobsh*tes.