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.

Illustrates what good balls the two crosses from Brittain were.

We need not to lose this one.

By hook or by crook we need points from the next two games.

Yeah, he’s quick over 10 yards but he’s not fast over 30/40 yards. He has to play nearer the goal and where the action is.

Skeeter Davis - The End Of The World

I like him, I always have to be honest. When he’s “ on it “ he’s a handful for any defence. We’d be foolish to let him go out of the door without making a real effort to sign him.

Maybe our luck has changed. That was a really poor penalty. The idea of the stuttering approach to the ball is to get the keeper moving one way and then pass the ball to the other side. Johnson did the first part ok but inexplicably passed the ball straight at Pears ! When did one of our keepers last save a pen ? On such small events your season can change. Fergie was one loss from being fired and got a stroke of luck. Ditto with Howard Kendall in his first spell at Everton. They were losing 1-0 in the FA Cup at Oxford and all the talk was of Kendall being sacked in the morning. Then an Oxford player inexplicably passed a ball back to the keeper that went straight to Adrian Heath in front of goal. He slotted it home and they got a draw. They won the replay and then they were off and running, winning trophies etc.

I can still see all the goals now, clear as a bell.

He out jumped Sir Keith but the German guy had only just come on, Keith had been playing in the baking heat for two hours. My mum could have kept the first one out. Peter Bonetti went to pieces after that.

Hedges got up well to put the ball back into the mixer for Sammi’s goal. For those of a certain age it reminded me of England v West Germany in the 1970 World Cup.

It might only be for today but when I saw how the team was set up I saw a line up that made sense for once. No square pegs in rounds holes and a shape that plays to our strengths. Long May it continue.

He’d have other clubs interested for sure.

I like it. Wait whilst Pep finds out.

That’s why we have 5 subs. They could field a second team that would probably end up in the top six.