Its a ridiculous over simplification to even consider the improvement as a sole result of that. Besides, Fulham away was the initial game we improved yet lost- Spurr played that game.

Potentially down to a few more things than that? Like maybe something to do with the bloke who didn't score in those 5 first games?

It's a fashionable assumption on here that we have "undroppable" players but I don't buy this favorites malarkey.

Why did he go out and get akpan and Guthrie if he saw Lowe as undroppable?

Stop making sense.

Text message arrives at 3am:

"Are you a pirate"? check out BRFCS

Not me chaps,but what is slightly disturbing,I was in Barrow last week 😂

So back to hating dogs, Tories and Allardyce (yes yes yes I would have him back tomorrow).

You hate dogs? I no longer like the cut of your gib Gav.

They not good enough for the 1st team. We have better options in Chris Brown,Lowe and Williamson.

Sent from my C2305 using Tapatalk

Here you are again telling people how it is when you have no idea.

There aren't goals from anywhere else DE. As Philipl says, it's too much to ask Rhodes to bear the entire weight of scoring. I haven't got any answers, there are no answers with the present set up.

So I guess the only answer is to change the current set up.

You haven't got any answers? Blimey.

I don't know Gav but I like the cut of his gib. I just don't see him as a pirate.

I take Walney Blue at face value and have found a few of his posts genuinely funny.

Finished 3-0 v Brighton. Seems as though Mahoney and Raya had good games.

It's a poor do if they ban you, don't throw in the towel so easy. Anyway I'd be more inclined to call you Gav than Gordon

Surely Gav isn't banned? Really?

The poor bugger did look miserable as Large Samuel's lone striker.

I think come the end of the season you'll find there are far more than three managers in a lower position than the Rovers under Bowyer.

You do know that you are bothering to reply to the bloke who was convinced that Diego Maradona was on his way to the Ewood hot seat don't you?

Aussies by and large are great people but some of their tabloid journos are A grade knobs. They have gone a bit quiet.

you can't seriously wallow in the marginal success of a bunch of kids in a competition that the tops teams didn't enter and we got a bye to the quarters....

You seem a little bitter?

Payne left due to work permit issues apparently, Oçonnell to Brentford, Edwards to Morecambe I think. didn't we release Hanley and he went to a prem club?

EDIT list of players who played over the two legs in 2011/12 final and where they are as far as I can find.

Matthew Urwin - Bradford 2014/15

Peter Wylie - Skelmersdale United

Wiil Beesley - Released 2014, signed for Southport 2015

Reece Hands - Greenock Morton 2013 -released 2015

Ryan edwards - Morecambe 2014

Jack Oçonnell - Brentford 2015

Osayamen Osawe - 2013 Southport 2015 Hallascher (germany)

Raheem Hanley - Swansea 2014

Curtis Haley - played on loan at Chorley , Bamber Bridge , now ?

John O'sullivan still at club

Hugo Fernandez - AC E Manlleu (spain)

Darragh Lennian - Still at club

Christopher Dillo - St Mirren 2013 - Stade Rennais (France)

Tim Payne 2014 Auckland City 2015 Portland Timbers 2 (US)

Kellen Daly - still at club

Robbie Cotton - 2014 -Sheffield FC

Bradley Mason - Warrington Town 2014

Danny laverty 2014 - Rhyl FC 2015 Cefn druids

Antonie Bolan - 2014 Tranmere 2015 Stalybridge

Wasn't Robbie Cotton going to be the next big thing? The 'next Steven Gerrard' according to someone.

Here you go Chaddy -

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restraining_order

Not like you to have a dig at folk Eh Chris

This from you of all people.

Might as well start a thread as Kinder has now the U'21's into the cup final (anyone know where & when it is BTW?)

U'18's won at Newcastle

http://www.nufc.co.uk/page/Match/Report/AcademyReport/0,,10278~4547946,00.html

The conspiracy theory fruit loops are leaving this thread alone so this could be the place were normal folk can talk about the new Academy chief.

Terrific achievement in getting the U21s to the cup final, all the best to Mr Kinder.

I reckon that's what Eddie Davies will choose to do at Bolton - although I have no evidence whatsoever to back that up. I wish I had so much money that £151 million didn't matter!

I can't see it being on the Venky's list of options though.

How very ignorant of you.

Gower actually said in a Radio Times interview magazine: "How can you have a clash of cultures when you're playing against a country with no culture?"

Unfair really because the real Australians (those nice indigenous chaps in the outback) do have their own culture. I think he was referring to the descendants of convicts but I couldn't possibly comment.

The epithet 'convict' doesn't apply to the freely settled colony of South Australia

Botham, before the series also predicted a 5-0 win for England and said some fairly disrespectful things about the Australian's.

As for Gower he has recently said that Australia is a country with no culture and that the people have an animal mentality.

I stand corrected then!

I'm surprised Botham said that as 3-0 clearly flattered England in the Old Dart so to suggest a cleansweep in the Aussie's backyard would seem a bit fanciful. As for Gower's comments then they are inaccurate as well as a bit daft. Clearly, a young country like Australia can't match Europe for culture but if he were to sample the laneways of Melbourne he would see that the cafe culture and galleries there match anything in the UK outside of London.

This is wonderful to watch at the moment, superb cricket by Australia and fight back after losing 3-0 against recently the #1 Test playing nation in the world.

Has anyone heard from Beefy or David Gower? Tall cool glasses of class and dignity

I haven't seen anything that Gower has said that might be disrespectful to the Aussies or inflammatory. Botham suggested after the Brisbane capitulation that England might respond aggressively in Adelaide. That went well didn't it? Nothing that either have said that might be deemed undignified although I stand to be corrected.

Some non cricket writers in the UK penned some disrespectful nonsense after the last two Ashes series but they have someway to go to match some of the gutter stuff the Aussie hacks have been churning out since the Poms arrived Down Under.

Test wise I read that Steve Finn has been rigorously going through his paces in the nets over the past couple of days. He has had a dip since doing really well in 2010/11 and Perth might be the place to rediscover his mojo. He isn't express but he is sharp and can send the ball down from 7' plus. On the WACA's bouncy track he might get the Aussies jumping about a bit.

That Yorkshire dressing room with Close, Illingworth, Trueman and Boycott must have been something else. No place for any fancy dans and wimps I'd suggest...... and most definietly no place for any black or brown players either. Maybe Clive Lloyds treatment of Close was down to racism by both sides.

Add Botham, Gough and Flintoff and you have the basis of a Northern team that would be more than happy to face down Aussie posturing.

We all hate losing but the Australian media has no class when it comes to winning. I feel sorry for you living there but at least you can access some decent quality British ournalism online.

I bought the 'Weekly Guardian' to read during lunch. $6 well spent.

Chris, 100% of the newspapers in Adelaide are Murdoch. They want to sensationalise everything.

Years ago the Australian was a good newspaper (funnily enough) started up by Murdoch, but it has become a laughing stock and the leader of the pack against the ABC.

Australian MSM is a joke.

Anyway, back to the cricket....

signs of a fightback. I don't expect England to win, but at least they are trying.

At least the penny seems to have dropped with Joe Root.

On Saturday morning, before he gave his wicket away, Root was exasperating the locals by stonewalling the Aussie quicks. This prompted a shout of ' Have a go Ellen Degeneres!'

....and that is different from the sports press reporting in England?

I think not...

oh, and the sports press reporting in Sydney is nothing short of... opinions of a reporter.... one wonders whether they went to the game. There are (and were) a few exceptions, Jim Maxwell (ABC) being one, and Peter Roebuck (deceased) was another.

There has been some Aussie baiting in the English tabloids but even the Sun has an excellent cricket writer in John Etheridge who manages to report on the game with balance and fairness. Here in Adelaide the only alternative to the local rag is 'The Australian'. To be fair, I haven't read their reports but the headlines didn't look much different to those in the more low rent local tabloid.

Yes, some of the gloating in the English tabloids was a bit cringeworthy during the previous two Ashes series but at least you don't have too far to look for an alternative in the UK.

Rubbish.

It's as though you'd been in the sheds after the game. Not.

I note you didn't make the same comment after the RLWC win by the Aussies.

When Aussies lose, they are harder on themselves, and look for ways to improve.

There was a lot of introspection after a series of Ashes losses, lots of fiddling around the edges, but eventually they went back to basics, and it looks (only looks) at this stage that it might be working.

Time will tell.

Maybe the more metropolitan Sydney press is a little more circumspect and introspective than than the big country town media in Adelaide. Back in 2010/11 you'd have thought cricket wasn't played in Australia, now the xenophobic gloating is quite spiteful.