Back in the day Norwich we’re a pretty average second division team, Watford ditto in the third and Brentford in the fourth. Rochdale have never been higher than the old third division but it’s amazing how many current Premier League teams I’ve seen playing there in the league. Some, like Wolves, Brentford, Brighton and Burnley in the old fourth.

I don’t know to be honest. She’s gone out at the moment, I’ll ask her when she gets back. When she criticises my English I always say “ We’ll it’s better than your Engineering “.

Games like the one against Chelsea you know that you won’t get many chances so when they come along you’ve absolutely got to take them. Especially when it’s still 0-0. I thought MacNeill should have at least hit the target, with it being on his favoured foot.

The second tier of English football, that’s were we’re at for the moment. Never mind banging the ball into the far top corner I’d be happy if the buggers could actually land a corner in the danger zone. They’ve got enough to aim at !

Quite possibly. On the other hand could it be that the English language is pretty complicated when you go into detail ? There’s a big block of posh new apartments that have been built near me. “ Jacob Bright Mew’s “ . Every time I walk past I think should I get some “ Tippex “ and whiten out the apostrophe?

Chaddy, they are world class players not Div 2 journeymen. Just because Arjen Robben could cut inside and put a 20 yarder into the far top corner regularly it doesn’t mean that Giles can.

Thanks Tony. That’s an excellent report. We seem to have exactly the same ideas about the game and how it should be played. I saw it just as you wrote it there. I thought the ref gave us very little but maybe that’s because Fulham played him much better than we did. Van Hecke had his hands full with Metrovic but at least he kept him scoreless. He’ll be a better player for that experience. He never stopped trying. If you’re going to go deep with the centre forward you’ve got to stop the pass being made at the least. It’s like in rugby league, if you come out of the defensive line you’ve got to make the interception.

That James is one hell of a player.

Or “accidentally “ bumped into him as he did with Van Persie.

I’ve just quizzed Mrs Shoelaces about this and she agrees with you. I’m still not 100% with punctuation, I’d have either not used an apostrophe or put it between the r and the s in Rovers. More teaching required.

That’s one of his major failings. He doesn’t gamble, but he only reacts.

That’s what I thought. Aren’t - Mrs Shoelaces is a retired English teacher. She’s drummed it into me. The apostrophe replaces the missing o.

Like any striker he needs service. With the five at the back and Travis and Johnson in midfield it’s not happpening.

We never seem to play him there. Even against Fulham he was coming in off the left most of the time.

How are we playing him ?

I don’t like left footers playing on the right wing. You know what they’re going to do every time, cut back inside and swing a cross in that’s alway bending towards the goalkeeper and away from the strikers. I prefer the crosses that bend away from the keeper and towards the strikers.

He’ll end up playing on the right wing again with Gally out on the left. As a right winger he’s like a fish riding a bike.

I’d rather see what Hedges can offer. We know what Giles can or can’t do.

Refs can cure that with what they have in their back pocket. He should have booked two or three of their players as soon as they all got around him.

I’ll always be a fan but my level of commitment varies with my faith in the club moving forward. Obviously the last ten years has been a rocky ride for us all. I’ve said this before and I might be in a minority of one but I’d have sacked him when he got us promoted. I think he’s a very limited manager/coach who is pretty unlikely to take us to the next stage. The last few seasons haven’t proved me wrong. We’ve had a great two months this season but the wheels are coming off now and he’s scratching his head as to how to put things right.

I think he’s had long enough to do something with the players he’s had. Time for a change. I don’t dislike him as a person I just think he’s taken us as far as he can. It’s all getting stale.

The ref was rattled by the time Dolan went down, Fulham had been all over him from the first whistle. He was obviously thinking “ The next chance I get a card is coming out “. What happened to this “ not surrounding the officials “ edict. It was ridiculous yesterday.

Looks like we have to fit Giles in somewhere. Given his complete lack of a right foot I suggest Right Back.

After the first time Van Hecke tracked him into midfield and got done like a kipper I though we need to change this. Either Johnson picks him up when he comes into midfield or we just let him go and keep our shape. At least he was moving away from goal and a good way out. The same thing must have happened half a dozen times and Van Hecke didn’t get the ball once. Each time he got out manoeuvred by Mitrovic. They had a plan for playing against three centre halves right from the off and we didn’t have an answer. Solving problems like that is what you pay the man on the touch line to do.

At this level the manager can make a massive difference.