Telegram Sam
15 years ago
5 months ago
5,082
Premium
Copy and paste the below and fill it in.

Team:
League Position:

Star Man:
Most Improved:
Best Youngster:
Most Disappointing:

Best Game:
Best Goal:
Worst Game:

How's the manager doing?
What player do you want in January?
Where will you finish?

Overall Grade:
Team: Arsenal
League Position: 1st

Star Man: Hard to look past Aaron Ramsey. He's established himself as one of the most accomplished players in the league and his goalscoring form has been breathtaking. He's dropped off a little bit but is consistently solid. The entire defense deserve credit as well as they have been superb throughout.
Most Improved: Ramsey, definitely, but I'll go with Mertesacker. When he first came to the Premier League he was written off as being too slow and not good enough, but this season he's been one of the best defenders in the league and is a leader in the dressing room.
Best Youngster: Serge Gnabry's brief spell in the team was encouraging for his future.
Most Disappointing: It's a real shame that Santi Cazorla has been so far off of his best because everyone was so excited about how he would link up with Ozil. He was so good last season so it's a shame to see him do little of note so far this season.

Best Game: The Napoli and Liverpool wins were probably the best performances but the best result was certainly the victory in Dortmund.
Best Goal: Wilshere versus Norwich. Goal of the season for the whole league in my eyes.
Worst Game: The 6-3 loss to City was annoying but the 1-0 defeat to United was just awful.

How's the manager doing? Really well. He seems to have his mojo back and I feel confident that he can bring back the glory days.
What player do you want in January? A striker, any striker. Diego Costa would be the dream but realistically someone like Luis Muriel or Christian Benteke would still be good.
Where will you finish? 2nd.

Overall Grade: A-
George14brfc
12 years ago
3 years ago
3,912
Team: Blackburn
League Position: 12th

Star Man: Jordan Rhodes
Most Improved: Ben Marshall
Best Youngster: Adam Henley
Most Disappointing: Leon Best

Best Game: Blackburn 4-1 Bolton Bolton were awful but we were very good.
Best Goal: Jason Lowe V Middlesbrough
Worst Game: Doncaster 2-0 Blackburn awful.

How's the manager doing? Not too bad could be better could be worse least he has steadied things a bit.
What player do you want in January? Tom Cairney
Where will you finish? 11th

Overall Grade: C
Sam
17 years ago
1 year ago
5,092
Team: Manchester United
League Position: 6th

Star Man: Wayne Rooney. Just. If we didn't have him we'd be doing far worse. A bit more consistent this year, despite his dickish behaviour in the summer he's doing very well this season and giving it his all. De Gea too has been fantastic, in my opinion the best goalkeeper in the league and he'll only get better. And of course, Januzaj
Most Improved: Antonio Valencia. So good to see him back to his best, taking on his man, beating his man, putting in good crosses and creating chances.
Best Youngster: Adnan Januzaj. This boy is something special, he's playing far better than Ronaldo was when he was 18. He's going to be a star, everyone can see that. We just need him to cut out his diving, but god he is so exciting to watch.
Most Disappointing: There's quite a few. Marouane Fellaini. He hasn't done anything. The hefty price tag has probably affected him, but it's not a good enough reason. Shite. Anderson, needs to be sold in January, he's had his chance. Nani, why the fuck did we offer him a five year contract? Same old with him. Cleverley, doesn't seem to be improving. Young, has a terrible reputation now and isn't very good, seems to be improving since his goal against Stoke. Buttner, so average. Rio, his time is up.

Best Game: Beating Leverkusen 5-0, Arsenal 1-0 and Swansea 4-1. Everything clicked in those matches, played good football and we were full of confidence. In the league I don't think our performance against Swansea has been fully matched. There's not been many enjoyable matches this season!
Best Goal: Januzaj's volley against Sunderland. Beautiful.
Worst Game: Man City 4-1. We were so fucking awful. We didn't turn up, City were all over us and the far more superior side. They were really good, but we made them look better. And every one of the home defeats were painful.

How's the manager doing? Getting there. His adjustment to this level has been slow. I can't fully blame him for the transfer window, but he has to take some of the responsibility. He shouldn't have replaced all the backroom staff, some of this tactical decisions have been bizarre, 4-4-2 is fucking dead, our players are getting injured more often which seems to have something to do with his training methods. And finally, he needs to stamp some authority, he was worried about our reaction to taking off RVP against Newcastle and because of that he's out for a month longer. Plus, why the fuck is he playing Buttner and not Fabio?
What player do you want in January?: A.fucking.midfielder. Vidal, Bender, Barkley, Gundogan. ANYONE GOOD.
Where will you finish? 4th.

Overall Grade: C-
Shedender
17 years ago
1 month ago
13,751
Team:Bangor
League Position: 1st

Star Man: Darren Gibbons - quality shot stopper who has made some top saves this season.
Most Improved: Not sure.
Best Youngster: Barry Walsh (if he's a youngster) - didn't know much about him but he's been good since getting into the team.
Most Disappointing: Tommy Lambe - quite disappointed that he hasn't scored a single league goal this season to date, he scored quite a few last campaign.

Best Game: Donegal Celtic 1-4 Bangor - wasn't overly confident heading to west Belfast against the recently relegated side but we were excellent, particularly in the first half.
Best Goal: Andy Hall vs. Lurgan Celtic in the League Cup.
Worst Game: Going down 3-0 at Knockbreda yesterday afternoon, just a downright awful performance that saw too many players below par.

How's the manager doing? Great. Came in last season as player/manager (and still is) when we were bottom of the league and drove us to survival on the final day and we've done incredibly well this campaign to date so he's done amazing and long may it continue.
What player do you want in January? Not sure.
Where will you finish? Don't think we'll hold onto top spot but do think we'll finish in the top three.

Overall Grade: A
gfnx25
12 years ago
6 years ago
1,754
Team: Bury
League Position: 20th

Star Man: Craig Jones
Most Improved: Craig Jones
Best Youngster: /
Most Disappointing: Too many to choose from

Best Game: 4-1 vs Cheltenham under Blagwell
Best Goal: Jessy's 35-yard screamer at Norwich in the Capital One Cup
Worst Game: Losing 2-1 at fucking Cambridge in the FA Cup 1st round replay

How's the manager doing?: Flickers has only been here for a couple of weeks but things are already on the up. Dropped Edjenguele, changed the formation and tries to play football unlike Blackers or Jeppo before
What player do you want in January?: A whole new defence would be great
Where will you finish?: We should finish somewhere around 12-18th but staying up is all that matters this season

Overall Grade: F
bluemoon.
17 years ago
2 months ago
2,411
Premium
Team: Manchester City
League Position: 2nd.

Star Man: Sergio Aguero - Quite simply the most complete striker in the league and, Suárez aside, the best player in the league.
Most Improved: Samir Nasri - Pellegrini has helped him rediscover the form for Arsenal that saw us sign him in the first place. He may even have surpassed it.
Best Youngster: Matija Nastasić - Hasn't really lived up to his first season but he's the only young player really making an impact at first-team level. Hopefully Marcos Lopes and some of the other talented youngsters can start to break through soon.
Most Disappointing: Edin Džeko - He's clearly a very good player but his attitude stinks, he's frustratingly inconsistent and his refusal to use his considerable size to win the ball has only been highlighed by Alvaro Negredo.

Best Game: The 4-1 derby win. Not our highest-scoring result but it was a commanding win (that could and should have been more) and in my opinion, it was the first result to really show what this team is capable of.
Best Goal: Hard to choose. There's been so many of them. Off the top of my head, Yaya's curled golazo against Plzen was pretty special.
Worst Game: The annual 1-0 loss at Sunderland was definitely the low point so far.

How's the manager doing? Starting fairly slowly but he seems to have got it figured out. We've seen a steady improvement since the Sunderland game and the tactics seem to have clicked. We do still need to improve our defence, though. We still look too shaky.
What player do you want in January? A left-back and a central midfielder. Ideally that'd be Luke Shaw and Blaise Matuidi but that's probably slightly unrealistic.
Where will you finish? 1st.

Overall Grade: B+
BR.
17 years ago
2 years ago
1,896
Team: Blackburn
League Position: Championship

Star Man: Jordan Rhodes
Most Improved: Ben Marshall
Best Youngster: Adam Henley
Most Disappointing: Leon Best

Best Game: Blackburn 4-1 Bolton Bolton were awful but we were very good.
Best Goal: Jason Lowe V Middlesbrough
Worst Game: Doncaster 2-0 Blackburn awful.

How's the manager doing? Not too bad could be better could be worse least he has steadied things a bit.
What player do you want in January? Tom Cairney
Where will you finish? 11th

Overall Grade: C


Bang on, agree with all of that. Apart from maybe putting 12th instead of Championship next to 'league position'

Being 12th out of 24, having won 7 drawn 8 and lost 7 with a goal difference of +1 is about as mid table as you can get - and that's where we're gonna end up.
BR.
17 years ago
2 years ago
1,896
Jason
17 years ago
1 month ago
4,635
Team: Sheffield United
League Position: 16th (League One)

Star Man: Star man? Jose Baxter, best of a bad bunch, the guy has real quality and could easily play in the Championship, pretty surprised we managed to get him tbh.
Most Improved: Chris Porter, though not really any good, he's improved since his loan spell at Chesterfield, seems to have given him confidence.
Best Youngster: Harry Maguire, will probably leave in January, and hard not to mention George Long, not often does a League One keeper get into the England u21s, again, probably move on in January.
Most Disappointing: Everyone else i've not mentioned. Poor poor season in truth.

Best Game: Tranmere, 3-1 win at home on 29th December. Ironic.
Best Goal: Jose Baxter, free kick v Oldham (his former club) 35 yarder.
Worst Game: Hartlepool at home in the JPT, lost 1-0, the eventual sacking of David Weir followed.

How's the manager doing? The new one, sorted things out, seem to be moving in the right direction, the old one? Shocking.
What player do you want in January? Johnny Russell, heavily linked too him, would be a brilliant signing.
Where will you finish? No higher than 10th, but from how the first 15 games went 10th would really please me.

Overall Grade: With Weir in charge i'd have given us a 3/10 but with Clough in charge i'll give us a steady 7/1, we will improve before the end of the season, i've no doubt.
George14brfc
12 years ago
3 years ago
3,912
Bang on, agree with all of that. Apart from maybe putting 12th instead of Championship next to 'league position'

Being 12th out of 24, having won 7 drawn 8 and lost 7 with a goal difference of +1 is about as mid table as you can get - and that's where we're gonna end up.

ha ha I read that wrong thanks !

Yeah it is we are no where near consistent enough to get play offs but we are better than last year when we slipped into a relegation battle.
tmatthew
17 years ago
4 months ago
771
Team: United
League Position: 6th

Star Man: Hard to look past Rooney. Absolutely crucial to most points we've gained so far, and would be much worse off without him. De Gea has been great as well and I wouldn't like to imagine where we'd be without a top class 'keeper either.
Most Improved: There have been a few encouraging signs of players improving in the last five or six games (Cleverley for example, Young to a lesser extent), but the only player to really improve on last season is Welbeck. Playing upfront more he's come good with a few important goals and has earned us points, so couldn't ask for more really.
Best Youngster: Januzaj. Improves the team when he's in it so much, which says a lot about his talent and how poor we've been. Has been the difference in a few games we've scraped points in.
Most Disappointing: Fellaini. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt 'cos he needs time to adjust and he has been playing with an injury. But need some massive performances from him in the second half of the season.

Best Game: 1-0 Arsenal. Wasn't the best we've played all season but was important, and shut a lot of people up.
Best Goal: Januzaj's second vs Sunderland was special. One of Rooney's free-kicks could be chosen too.
Worst Game: City.

How's the manager doing? Getting there. He's got the toughest job in football in replacing SAF so needs to be given time. We're slowly improving and if we continue to do so I'll have no complaints by the end of the season.
What player do you want in January? Despite signing Fellaini and getting Fletcher back, we still need another CM to replace Anderson. Koke would be nice but Herrera might be more realistic.
Where will you finish? Top 4

Overall Grade: C
Eric Portapotty
14 years ago
1 week ago
3,322
Team: Arsenal
League Position: 1st

Star Man: Ramsey - Never in my wildest dreams would I have seen these from him, having come such a long way through injury and criticism.
Most Improved: Bendtner - Let's face it, low expectations, him actually scoring has already surpassed it.
Honestly though, I like how he's finally decided to work harder, years in the wilderness did do him some good.

Best Youngster: Gnabry - Fitted in well in the absence of Walcott and the Ox, here's to seeing more of him.
Most Disappointing: Cazorla - I've always maintained that he should rotate with Ozil, but he's not contributed as much as last season (albeit trying to meet such a high benchmark). We'll see more of him in the coming months, I'm sure of it.

Best Game: 4-1 Norwich, the last 20 minutes was the best I've seen of us in a long, long, time.
Best Goal: Because I still can't tell whether that Wilshere goal was intentional, I'll go for Ramsey v Liverpool.
Worst Game: 0-1 at Old Trafford - Van Persie, Ozil going missing, Giroud not doing enough, was an impotent performance.

How's the manager doing?: Lesser men would have given up after the vitriol that he has to endure, so credit has to go to Wenger for that alone.
Ozil was a masterstroke for more than just footballing reasons.

What player do you want in January? Morata on loan doesn't sound half bad.
Where will you finish? 1st, because what's a fan without his delusions?

Overall Grade: A
Carroll.
15 years ago
3 years ago
3,361
Always make some random threads Sam

Team: Liverpool
League Position: 5th

Star Man: Bit obvious. Luis Suarez has been world class, but likes of Coutinho, Gerrard and Sturridge have been very, very good too.
Most Improved: Jordan Henderson. Massive improvement from him, Ferguson slagged him off in his book but the lad has been fantastic. Settled in nicely now and can maybe become Gerrard's replacement when he hangs up his boots. Flanagan has improved heaps and bounds as well.
Best Youngster: Quite a few here, Coutinho, Sterling, Flanagan, Sturridge if I can class him in here. Our youngsters have stepped it up.
Most Disappointing: I'd probably have to say a couple of the defenders lately but they've not been too bad all season. Sakho is very raw, especially on the ball and Skrtel has always been sloppy. Would love to see Agger get back to his best. Aspas hasn't lived up to the price tag either but not really played much.

Best Game: 5-0 Spurs was a nice bonus, but they've been dire to be fair. The 3-3 draw with Everton was a great game to watch but not the best result. Beating United was good too. For team performance, the 2-1 loss to City has to be up there, unlucky to not get anything from that.
Best Goal: Luis Suarez has scored a few great ones, his 3 against Norwich were special. His free kick ones are up there too, the one vs Everton being my favorite.
Worst Game: Losing to Southampton at home early on killed our little run and the loss to Hull was pretty bad too. We were bad against Arsenal, but my worst has to be against Chelsea. Didn't create anything all game, very disappointing after the performance against City.

How's the manager doing? Very good to be fair to him. We've had a great start and if we can continue like this who knows where we will end up. Hes tried to impose his style of play which I like and is very good to see however does sometimes get us into trouble.
What player do you want in January? A solid center back would be nice, not really sure who's available though. A striker to take the pressure of Suarez a bit, but saying that we have Sturridge to come back but would still like one to come in. Our first team is actually pretty good, need more cover though.
Where will you finish? Could finish anywhere. We've got all our rivals at home in the second half so that is an advantage. I'm going to say 3rd though.

Overall Grade: B+
tmatthew
17 years ago
4 months ago
771
We've got all our rivals at home in the second half so that is an advantage.


'Cept us.
Carroll.
15 years ago
3 years ago
3,361
I meant top 4 rivals
tmatthew
17 years ago
4 months ago
771
You know you're 5th and just two points ahead, right?
Carroll.
15 years ago
3 years ago
3,361
Yes I did mention that in the Prem thread. Tbf to you, you've slowly started to get the wins and it looks like you might well be back in the hunt if you can stay consistent.
terriersmad
16 years ago
3 years ago
744
Team: Huddersfield Town
League Position: 11th (Championship)

Star Man: Difficult to pick between James Vaughan, Adam Hammill and Adam Clayton. Vaughan's early-season form was outstanding, Hammill's been consistently excellent despite being in an unfamiliar wing-back position and leads the division's assist charts, and Clayton purely for his Pirlo-esque performances and beard.
Most Improved: Joel Lynch. Started last season superbly, but went off from September and found himself out of the matchday squad altogether. This season he's been a rock at the back and has even pitched in with some tremendous goals - his 35-yarder against Charlton was so good Charlton themselves showcased it on their YouTube channel.
Best Youngster: Duane Holmes has only just broken into the first team and he's being linked to a potential World Cup call-up for the USA. Aside from him, Tom Smith has emerged in recent weeks in the absence of Peter Clarke and has excelled in defence.
Most Disappointing: I love Jon Stead, but he's only scored once and his touch seems to have deserted him. Cracking winner against the Beeston Bastards, though.

Best Game: Town 2-1 Burnley. People will have seen the refereeing error which gifted Town a penalty in the second half, but that shouldn't detract from an all-round superb performance. 2-1 flattered a Burnley side who were top and unbeaten in 12 going into this game. Honourable mention for yesterday's 5-1 mauling of Yeovil, in which Town could have recorded double figures.
Best Goal: Tough to pick. Lynch's 35-yarder against Charlton, Norwood's volley against Burnley (aided by a dodgy keeper), Norwood's 30-yard screamer at Bolton, and Danny Ward's strike to level against Leeds were all great goals. But Danny Ward's first against Yeovil had it all - the move started in our left-back position and ended with Ward cutting inside from the right to unleash an unstoppable strike past the keeper to make it 4-1.
Worst Game: Losing 3-1 to Birmingham after a wretched performance is bad, but that it was against the worst side to visit the McAlpine this season makes it even worse. We even conceded two identical goals and showed nothing even when Birmingham went down to 10 men.

How's the manager doing? Excellent to now. Tactically flexible and has us playing entertaining football, as well as making us so much harder to beat. Last year we went under too often - this season we've been tighter and tougher.
What player do you want in January? A lethal striker. Recent performances have seen us create buckets of chances and we've lacked someone to put them away - cueing the inevitable comment of "Jordan Rhodes would have scored that." Someone in his ilk would be greatly appreciated.
Where will you finish? Without a lethal striker coming in in the window - 13th. With a lethal striker coming in in the window - 8th.

Overall Grade: B+ - I've been really happy with the progress we've made this season, and our performances have been getting better and better in recent weeks. We're not far short of the play-offs as things stand, but we're still looking over our shoulder at how those below us are doing.
Fantastic
13 years ago
1 week ago
2,496
You're English, it's called half-term. Have a fucking word with yourself.
Ninja
14 years ago
6 years ago
5,341
Team: United
League Position: 6th

Star Man: Rooney's probably the only players thats really made a case for himself, to be the star man but there's been some good performances from the likes of Januzaj, Jones, Rafael, Evans, Smalling, Welbeck and De Gea. In most cases the young guys have been picking up the slack from some horror shows from the likes of Ferdinand, Evra and our wingers.

Most Improved: It's tempting to say Welbeck, but I don't think he's really improved. He's got more goals, but thats because he's getting a run of games centrally. In terms of his performances he was playing well last year as well. I'm going to go for Jones, I think he looks like an option in midfield nowadays whereas before I thought he was abysmal at it. Still think he'll end up at the back though, but Smalling has also improved there.

Best Youngster: Januzaj. No question, sky is the limit for this kid.

Most Disappointing: Kagawa and Hernandez. Fellaini has been a lot of what was expected from him, has been injured and hasn't had a real chance. Kagawa has now had a season and looks nothing like the footballer that did so well at Dortmund, it's a bit of a cliche but I really think he struggles with the physicality of the game here.

Hernandez appears to have lost his clinicallity, and without that he's not good enough. Hopefully they both get a proper chance to turn it around but I can sadly, especially in Hernandez's place, see them both going in the summer.

Best Game: I'm tempted not to say Arsenal, because we then went on to not win in 4 games following that. Aston Villa away was important, I think you saw real belief in the side for the first time and they really rallied together in the face of injuries. Depending on how the season goes from here I think we may look back on the Hull game as important as well, the team showed real resilience that day and if we go on to have a good season that will be a performance we will look back on.

Best Goal: Smashley Young vs Stoke

Worst Game: City

How's the manager doing? Indifferent, he's got my support but I've been disappointed in the way we've lost games and the way we've been playing. Still, promising signs of improvement in recent games and hopefully he recognises that the responsibility for that lies in the likes of Welbeck and rewards them for that, rather than benching them immediately when the bigger names are back.

What player do you want in January? I don't think we'll do business in January, the squad is on the whole pretty healthy and the sort of players we do need (a world class midfielder and winger and numbers in defence) simply won't be available until the summer.

Where will you finish? Top 4, I really wouldn't rule out a tilt at the title if we can get on a roll towards the end of the season. It's been that sort of year.

Overall Grade: C
Shola
15 years ago
5 years ago
2,708
Team: United
League Position: 8th

Star Man: All of them. The core squad of 15 or so have all been very, very good,
Most Improved: The obvious one is Mike Williamson. But I think Williamson is the same player as he always was - just the team around him has improved dramatically - such as the defensive shape, organisation, focus and discipline.
Best Youngster: Santon if he counts. If not I was really imressed with Bigirimana last year - but he has disappeared from the team.
Most Disappointing: Obertan I suppose. Which is a shame as I think he'll be a very good player, when it all clicks.

Best Game: 0-1 at Old Trafford. Mostly because it took 40 years.
Best Goal: Moussa Sissoko against WBA.
Worst Game: Losing to Sunderland - although it it unlikely Newcastle would have found such a high level of form if they won or got a scrappy draw.

How's the manager doing? Good. After the defeat to Sunderland I lost patience and wanted him sacked (I didn't want him sacked last year) but credit to him he eventually found a winning formula. FourFourFuckingTwo. Although I am worried that a lot of his tactical switches just don't work.
What player do you want in January? A bit of a cliché, but I think keeping hold of our players is probably far more important. A backup young RB and a backup target man striker might be nice. But I doubt they'd get many minutes. If Newcastle were being super proctive - sign next seasons first choice striker now. Like make sure on July 1st we know who is going to be the main striker at the club. Remy or whoever. My super secret hopes and dreams are is that Mourinho refuses he was wrong and sells Lukaku, but refuses to sell him to a title/Champions League rival, leading Newcastle to be the club who can afford to pay the £25m or whatever to sign him.
Where will you finish? 8th?. Going to be very hard to overhaul any of the teams above. A small possibility Man Utd will go into a tailspin or Liverpool will do what they did under Dalglish. And maybe a decent chance Sherwood will be shite at Spurs. Or Everton will lose a bit of steam and Newcastle will catch them.

Overall Grade: A. Almost hard to believe Kinnear isn't leading us into a massive relegation 6 pointer on Wednesday. Almost.
Telegram Sam
15 years ago
5 months ago
5,082
Premium
You're English, it's called half-term. Have a fucking word with yourself.

..Fuck, you're right.

Poe
17 years ago
2 weeks ago
3,675
Team: Newcastle
League Position: 8th

Star Man: Loic Remy - without his goals I dunno where we'd be, tailed off in recent weeks.
Most Improved: Cheik Tiote - dreadful last season, looking like a genuine top player again this time out.
Best Youngster: We haven't really got any real youngsters in the squad, Dummet came in and played well bar the derby.
Most Disappointing: Sylvain Marveaux - looked decent last year but apparent lack of application in training and poor attitude when on the bench has limited playing time.

Best Game: 1-0 vs Man Utd.
Best Goal: Sissoko vs W.B.A.
Worst Game: Losing to Sunderland was annoying as they're really bad this year.

How's the manager doing? Good - albeit I don't think he's doing much. He's got our best players out on the pitch and they're either playing really well or pretty average and he still doesn't know how to change things. Sissoko as an attacking right midfielder in a 4-3-3 will never work either.
What player do you want in January? A targetman and Loic Remy permanently. And keep Cabaye.
Where will you finish? Anywhere between 5th and 9th.

Overall Grade: A
Hogso
16 years ago
11 months ago
17
Team: The Villa
League Position:13th

Star Man: Fabian Delph
Most Improved: ...Fabian Delph
Best Youngster: Do they actually have to have played for the first team? No? Loan evaluations OK? Righto, Jack Grealish.
Most Disappointing: Aleks Tonev. Literally League Two quality at best.

Best Game: Arsenal 1 - 3 Villa
Best Goal: Delph v Southampton
Worst Game: Villa 0 - 1 Palace

How's the manager doing? Terrible. The time he has had with the squad has been plenty to impose some sort of style on the team. At the moment we cna barely muster a counter attack which is supposedly our best weapon. His summer signings are not up to scratch (although the Okore injury isn't his fault of course, and may have proved to be a very astute signing), and I question his ability to motivate. We have seen that he is able to make changes on the fly recently that pay off, particularly against West Brom and Cardiff, but not nearly often enough. Why play 4-4-2 and not start Albrighton on the right side? One example of many. Very concerning, we are getting worse and the games against Palace and Swansea are the worst I've seen us play since the DOL years

What player do you want in January? Somebody in the middle of the park over the age of, say, 27, who has bags of Premier League experience, and can actually pass the ball to their team mates would be really excellent.

Where will you finish? The optimist in me is saying 17th

Overall Grade: E
Marc.
17 years ago
6 days ago
224
Premium
Team: Partick Thistle
League Position: 10th

Star Man: Kris Doolan
Most Improved: Jimmy Craigen
Best Youngster: Aaron Taylor-Sinclair
Most Disappointing: Steven Lawless. Though he has had a resurgence in recent weeks.

Best Game: Beating Ross County 3-1 going on six or seven.
Best Goal: Kris Doolan's goal at Inverness, had to be 15-20 pass move before excellent shimmy and finish
Worst Game: Getting horsed at Aberdeen, losing 5-1 to Motherwell was painful but we showed some glimpses of quality in that game, less so about the match at Pittodrie.

How's the manager doing? He's starting to struggle though he went out after the Motherwell game and brought in Lyle Taylor on loan, prone to tactical naiivety at times but we've never played absolutely stinking in many games this season. I'll give him the season and if we stay up, review his position then. It's his first full season as a manager and seemed a bit of a reluctant hero.

What player do you want in January? We've not been scoring many goals so a striker, which we now have, was one priority. We need cover in midfield and defence as well.

Where will you finish? 10th.

Overall Grade: B-

B- because I never expected us to tear up trees this season though we could well have had we taken the chances we've missed. Bar one or two here and there, our entire side has no experience in the top flight.
Number 1
16 years ago
10 months ago
3,650
Team: Newcastle United
League Position: 8th

Star Man: Loic Remy. Hard to look beyond him and his goalscoring exploits.
Most Improved: There's a few for this one. Williamson and Tiote were both terrible last year, but have been vital players this season, while Mathieu Debuchy was largely woeful in the second half of last season and now looks like one of the league's best full backs (yesterday aside)
Best Youngster: Paul Dummett is the only youngster to have really played that much, with some good and some bad games. One to look out for perhaps.
Most Disappointing: Papiss Cisse has never really looked like scoring so far this season, and says a lot that Ameobi has displaced him despite going a whole year without a league goal.

Best Game: The win at Old Trafford narrowly edges the Chelsea win, although both were special
Best Goal: Moussa Sissoko v West Bromwich Albion
Worst Game: The failure to perform at Sunderland.

How's the manager doing?: Reasonably well. He'll always have critics and hasn't always got it right this season but he's taken bold moves since the Derby defeat that have improved the team significantly. For that, he deserves praise.
What player do you want in January?: One more striker could still be useful to help take the load off Remy, and so would another full-back. Keeping Remy permanently and resisting bids for Cabaye would also be much-welcomed.
Where will you finish?: Top half. 7th, perhaps.

Overall Grade: B+ (A for games after the derby)

You'll need to Login to comment