Pam

Where the hell did 3 mins injury time come from?

We are our own worst enemy. That and the fact Mariner obviously has a bet on is getting a red card.

game over fathead sam allyrdyce!

bloody hell - Reina is as important to us as Gerrard & Torres. that was immense!

the ref will send someone off in injury time so can say he took a hard line!

get in Stevie! 1-0

but Gerrard's best position seems to be as the middle one of a three behind Torres rather than as 1 of a central midfield two. would have made more sense to play Kelly at right back, leave Masch in midfield and play Stevie behind Torres with 1 of Kuyt/Maxi/Yossi dropping out? i'm sure rafa has a plan!

is a bit bizarre - if Aquilani is fit why he is not getting a chance. he has looked like could be a good player but how can he show it if doesn't get a chance to build understanding. is not like Babel where has had chances and not really taken them. Maybe we are playing 4-4-2 so Torres has some support when Blackburn try to kick him all over the park? I'd have liked to see Kelly get a go as we are at home.

Terry really is an obnoxious turd of a man.

are you sure? seem to be stuck in forum war timewarp

Wonder if given rafa's statement about Juve whether he has won some kind of internal battle and we may see someone coming in tomorrow?

don't they all look young! shows how haggard Rafa looks these days. wouldn't blame the guy if he walked. would be desperately disapointed though.

on what basis? I don't know much about it but surely a group focussed on re-investing our profits back into the club rather than using us as a cash cow is preferable? currently we have 2 men who care nothing about our club's traditions or standing and are only interested in servicing their debt and making a quick buck. if we get some middle eastern buyer will they care about the club or just about us being a status symbol for their ego? surely some significant fan involement is preferable?

don't be talking sense - that is not welcome here!

that was poor. even with injuries and lack of fitness/confidence we've got to be doing better than that against teams like Wolves. i'm glad the commentary on my stream was in romanian as andy gray/espn would have been delirious at our performance tonight. usually i think we get better as match goes on and Rafa's use of subs is good. tonight we were just awful.

Mascherano is perfecting the Didi crumple!

i think he is ok, was free. is never going to be first choice and is basically cover for Johnson & possible Kelly (if he ever gets fit). his attitude when he has played has been good and he dealt with all the treatment dished out to him on wednesday and did offer an outlet on the right. he didn't hide and kept trying. it is not his fault he is not Torres/Gerrard & Ronaldo rolled into one. He did his best to the best of his limited ability what more can we ask of him? we need cover and he can cover the right hand side and as our third choice right back/right mid fielder is adequate. if he keeps doing ok till the end of the season we may be able to sell him for a few miliion to put towards a "better" player but we still need squad depth for occasions like this sesaon when injuries are so catastrophic.

same for me

too right. We were a refereeing c**k up away from 3 points. The team stood up to be counted and u couldn't fault the effort. Yes we are lacking in cutting edge we knew that, we also know the squad is threadbare with players injured, on way back to fitness or just plain knackered. It is not good enough and no one is happy about it apart from the media. At times we passed well and defended resolutely but we are low on confidence and got caught by inability to get second goal. Not sure why peole think we will suddenly turn into Brazil?

thought the yellow cards were cancelled at the new year so start again?

but surely at £20m Aquilani should be able to play 120 minutes midweek and then start against the hoofers at Stoke? Copyright sky sports who cares if Maxi & Riera aren't fit enough for 90 minutes and Pacheo is a small inexperienced player they should start too!

cue the if Maxi/Aquilani/Riera are fit enough for the bench why aren't they starting comments? this could either be astonishingly very good or painful! come on you Redmen!

surely Ngog would make the team? we have to win - don't care how. deflection off the ref in the 98th minute would do. regardless of your feelings about Rafa - even his harshest critic would have to admit our injuries this season have been catastrophic. Our first team fit and confident are a match for anyone and confidence breeds more confidence. At the moment we are lurching from mediocrity to farce with even the fit players looking shattered in confidence and physical condition. it has been variously described as tailspin and the perfect storm of injuries/bad luck/reffing decisions etc. the players need to stand up and be counted today, take a bit of responsibility and show some belief. otherwise we may as well sack Rafa now and accept a future of constant mediocrity, selling our best players and living with our rivals becoming uncatchable whilst the media gloat.

without trying to be overdramatic it is exhausting being here sometimes. There is only so many times you can ready the same stuff over and over again. the same people criticise the manager and other same people defend him. there is enough cr@p flying roundout of this forum with the media and other fans queuing up to have a go at our club without this place degenerating to a kindergarten. We seem to be past reasoned debate and into intrenched positions. The lack of football isn't helping. if there is some investment/ purchase/sale of players/games to discuss then that shakes things up a little. at the moment the forum is in danger of consuming itself in a pit of doom. this was always the most reasonable/knowledgable forum with interesting posters but at the moment it is hard work which is becoming self-fulfilling as fewer topics are dominated by the same arguments. which becomes less interesting and excludes those outside the private battles which are occuring and makes people less likely to come and start new topics. not sure what the answer is - apart from a concerted efffort to try and be more positive and talk about different stuff. i do think ultimately some people just like arguing.

i hope we have Dalla Valle on a very long contract! 4-0 Dalla Valle hat trick!