Bootle Buck

Even better

Rafa wouldn't give a shet if the whole world hated him if he was getting results. Far too many fans are looking for far too many excuses and pety issues. They are better than us right now end of. Let's just quietly figure a way to knock them off their perch.

I agree there but any 11 players we have on the field have to stay focused the whole game. I have noticed we give far too many silly free kicks away outside our box too. Many of them eventually lead to goals that should never even have been allowed to happen.

Every week it seems there are more and more decisions that cost teams points or players yet these desicions are made in a split second and in many cases were the official doesn't have a full view. Is it time to bring in video review like the NFL were teams are allowed to challenge a play and the Ref allowed to view the incident on the sideline. Chris Coleman was sent off for diputing an offside that he viewed immediately on a monitor pitchside and was adament the wrong decision was made. Maybe teams would get 2 challenges per game or per half so we don't have to have matches ruined or players suspended for nothing. The incidents could be cleared up in a minute rather than cost clubs dearly.

How many times do we give away uneccesary free kicks that result in goals/ How many times are we caught napping on a set peice. It's seems like most goals we concede come from these lapses in concentration. The main factor in our recent run was the fact that we were determined to keep a clean sheet. Our defenders, midfielders and our goalie kept focused for 90 minutes. Since the turn of the year we have lost that concentration and it has cost us many points. We were lucky not to get knocked out by Luton and for a good part of the Pompey game we looked very nervy. The question is can we get that intensity back and how quickly.

I'm talking the past 3/4 years since Babbel left. Riise when he plays FB doesn't get forward as much as he could. Finnan as I acknowledged does get forward but in a different way to those I mentioned earlier. He is not one to run at people rather he waits for the opportunity and gets forward after the bakll is played around first. The others are more direct and tend to bomb forward more often.

Future Red maybe. Mickey and his wife have had another baby

You have to think both Utd and Chavski have let their pitches go for a distinct home advantage. It is a joke that the two so-called richest teams in England are playing on pitches you would see pub teams playing on.

Charlton are a very inconsistant team and are there for the taking. I would love to see us pressure them from the off. I would start Crouch, Fowler and Garcia from the off. I would restore Stevie and Xabi in the middle with Kewell on the left and Riise at LB.

What hurts us more is we have never had full backs who naturally go forward. Someone in the mold of an Ashley Cole, Wayne Bridge or Gabriel Heinze. If you watch how many times the likes of these and players like Gary Neville get forward and provide lots of crosses. Finnan has strated to get forward more often but still doesn't do so as much as we need.

Personally I wasn't expecting too much out of yesterday's game. Unlike the Man Utd game when they were there for the taking. This Chelsea team is focused and resolute and punishes teams for mistakes. The sad thing for me is that we seem to have lost those those two characteristics Chelsea have that we had during our run. Carra and the defence was so focused on not conceding and the rest of the team were able to put teams away regardless of how we played. IMO since we conceded in the Everton game we haven't had that focus. Whatever Rafa did to get the lads into that mindset in October, November and December he needs to do ait again. That team during the great run is the team we know we are capable of being therefore any blips are disappointing but have to be expected. Let's trust in Rafa to get it right.

Wait until he makes his first error and he will be crucified.

In my original post I wasn't saying Baros is the ideal forward. However, he wasn't any less valuable than the ones we kept. Rafa always goes on about possibilities and to be honest I think Baros gave us our only outlet to trouble defenders on the ground and make them work. It is unfair to say that Baros has only 5 goals as he does a lot more than just score he creates a lot of openings for others.

In the CL semi and in the Carling Cup we went at them from the off. In both games we had scored within 5 minutes as Chelsea don't like being put under pressure. Unfortunately in both of those games we sat back after that and allowed them to come back into the game and have the upper hand. We held on in the CL but couldn't in the Carling Cup. However, it was clear we were most successful when we played hight tempo right from the off. If Stevie is given the freedom to drive at teams right from the off no-one can stop him. That is a strength we need to use more often. Against Chelsea he is usually asked to sit deeper and becomes more peripheral.

We started with Crouch up front by himself. We haven't done that in ages. Kewell has been great on the right but we asked him to play as a link striker. Our midfielders didn't gt forward as much as they normally do. That is to me is being cautious.

He was the one forward we had who would work his @rse of to make something out of nothing. Instead we have 3 strikers who don't score much and who create few problems in the box for defenders. Milan was a headless chicken but he gave defenders many problems and opened up opportunities for others.

We should have saved 7 million for the purchase of Crouch and put it towards a goalscorer whether it was Owen or whoever. We have no-one to compare to Crespo, RVN or Henry in fact our forwards combined won't even come close to any of them.

I think the last 25 minutes of the first half against Everton was the start of it. We looked ragged and stretched for the first time in ages. Luckily Cisse scored right after half time but that could have been a scrap. After that our back four hasn't looked the steady unit it was when they hadn't conceded for 10 games. It's like that Beattie goal shook them and they havn't recovered since.

Spot on Ricky John we have shown far too much caution against the top teams. Recently teams that have gone at Chelsea and Man Utd have got something out of the game. The old American sports saying "Offence is the best form of defence" is so right. If you go at teams it keeps them away from you. Some of our best results in the past two seasons have been when we have gone flat out. Olympiacos -second half Juve-Home first half Chelsea - CL semi home First 5 minutes AC Milan - Fist 15 minutes second half. Betis - away first half Everton away Derby first 20 minutes We literally have frightened the shet out of teams when we have gone for it. Unfortunately Rafa is too cautious most of the time.

RAFA - SIGN HIM PLEASE

They better get up quickly. Charlton is no easy place for us to play and the @rse will have a point to prove.

Thank Feck we had a good run to get us up the table. As right now we are playing like we did last season.

What a fecking day! My cable company went out when the game was about to begin, I can't get it on Asia TV and we are fecking losing to the Chavs again. Must get drunk and win some money on the Superbowl and find some Chav fan to take my frustration on.

If Rafa was looking for big Target man in the summer he could have done a lot worse than McBride. I watched him for years at the Columbus Crew and the man gives everything. He has a lot more of a physical presence than Crouch and much better in the air. And still McClaren never comes under any pressure.

I honestly would have loved us to get Malbranque. He's not as big a star as many mentioned but he would have solvd out RM problem for the last few years.