Centre forward is the hardest position to play on the pitch. That’s why good ones go for big bucks. If you’re playing against two centre halves it’s harder still. The service you get from the rest of the team will make or break you. Regarding your first sentence - as I say, I didn’t see the game last night, but other people are saying on another night the score could have been really embarrassing.

I quite like that formation. I’m left wondering why it didn’t work better last night.

What worries me is we appear to be trying to play a Big Sam type game without us having the sort of players required to pull it off.

I didn’t watch last nights game but the was the inference I got. Regarding your second point, Sammi probably could. Not everybody like Dolan out wide but those two are probably our best bet at the moment.

I suppose Sammi isn’t a natural fit in a rigid 4-4-2 , unless he plays in the Dolan role with Gallagher.

We ought to have the tools to play a more direct style of football but that’s expecting Gally to play a more traditional centre forwards role and he rarely does. He’s too easily dominated by physical centre halves. He’s more of an old style inside right than a centre forward. If that bit of the plan isn’t working the rest of the plan struggles.

What about Gilsenan ?

Good teams score at the death, poor teams concede at the death. That’s always been the case as long as I’ve been involved in football. It’s a state of mind. It’s the first thing Eustace needs to address.

Same old story - go behind and it’s over. What ever happened to scoring the last minute goals to steal a point or even a win ? A distant memory I’m afraid.

Bob B Soxx And The Blue Jeans - Why Do Lovers Break Each Other Hearts. A little known Spector classic.

Ernie K Doe - Mother-In-Law

That would be madness. Without a sell on we should have walked away.

Rick Springfield - Jessie’s Girl

The Hollies - Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress

I can’t watch stuff like that anymore. I find it too upsetting. Like watching “ The Boys From The Blackstuff “ again.

Yeah, I remember than cup game against Big Club last season. For an hour we were having the best of it and should have been out of sight. Then they brought that big striker on ) Jutkiewicz ? ) launched everything towards him, got players in and around him for the flick ons. By passed midfield completely, and we couldn’t deal with it.

That was how I started out as school boy player. My youth team had graduated to 4-2-4 shortly after that and has had the works team I joined. 1 2. 5. 6. 3 4. 10 7. 8. 9. 11

It’s the modern way. I don’t like it, put Dolan on the half way line and they’d have to bring back at least one player, probably two, to defend with him. He’s more good there than in our box. How many pens have you seen given away by forwards trying to defend set pieces in the penalty area ? It also means the keeper is surrounded by almost two full teams and the chances of him ever getting a clean clearance on the ball is nil.

As per usual the instructions on the site didn’t work for me so I was incommunicado for a day. Everything seems to work at the moment.

Regarding the subs, that’s how I saw it. Made sense to me.

Charlton got subbed because he’d just let Franz Beckenbauer run away from him from the half way line to score the first goal. His legs had gone. Don’t fall for the myth we were winning 2-0 when Charlton got subbed, we weren’t, we’d just gone to 2-1 when he got the shepherds crook.

I thought it was Chris Kiowamya ( spelling ) that scored the goals ?

Johnny Restivo - The Shape I’m In

At least they were like for like. Wether they are good enough is another story.

On another subject I thought the substitutions made much more sense yesterday.