EskWeston

Our defensive stats are not bad at all really, it is clear that our problems lie further up the pitch, if anything we miss Essien, and some more quality from our wingers.

We had enough chances to win that game and should have done, but we did not play well enough at all. Certain players not performing well enough and still getting picked ahead of others is not helping matters. Watching Carlton Cole manhandling the massive JT and Alex made me remember what a fantastic prospect he was, could have been moulded into Drogba mark 2, i thought Carlton Cole was fantastic for West Ham yesterday.

Totally agree, even playing a 4-3-3 we have everyone wanting to drop deep. We play 4 central midfielders and 1 winger with a striker all of whom are dropping deep. For me the basic problem is the same one that Jose suffered with and Grant did, and that is trying to accomodate Mikel, Lampard, Ballack and Deco in the same team, have the guts to leave 1 or more on the bench and give us some thrust upfront. In my mind given the problems we are having at home we should be playing a 4-4-2 all the time at home now: ..........................Cech......................... Bosingwa.....Carvalho...Terry...........A.Cole J.Cole........Lampard......Mikel............Kalou ...................Drogba....Anelka................. With variations in the playing staff.

There is a lot to be frustrated about. Deco and Ballack not pulling their weight at the moment. We need to stop trying to accomodate certain players. Yesterday we should have played 4-4-2 with Lampard, Mikel, Kalou and Cole in the midfield with Drogba and Anelka upfront.

Most ridiculous one for me was when an Aussie fan asked if there would be a game before the main game.

4-4-2 for tonight? It is very possible to compat any negative tactics by Cluj. But what would the midfield be? flat 4 in midfield or a diamond with no wingers? Kalou.......Ballack......Deco..........J.Cole Or ...................J.Cole................. .....Deco..................Ballack.... ..................Mikel...................

One problem we have is that we have a squad with a lot of players who are getting on a bit age wise. Carvalho, Lampard, Ballack, Deco, Drogba all will need replacing in a couple of years. If we were going to use our youngsters to replace them then they should be in the first team squad now! So we are going to have to dig deep for some big players sooner rather than later. Who knows what our spending policy in going to be in the fututre? January - wil there be any decent players available anyway? I think there will be a lot of activity in the summer though.

Came and played a couple of reserve games. I think i saw an article the other day that he has gone back to Portugal. The trouble for him was that even in the reserves there are better players than him (Sinclair, Stoch, Kakuta) so it was clear there was no point for him to stay.

Scolari didn't have much other choice really. The problem was that once he was on he never got the ball to have a chance to make an impact.

I really do feel they want Scolari to build something in the next 3 years and i DO think his job is safe. We have had a bit of a tough time recently but overall we have had a very good season so far and i think we will turn it back round again very soon.

Chuffed for him. The lad is a huge talent and i am waiting for him to be properly utilised in the first team to see what he can do. Speed, skill and an eye for goal. This lad can turn defenders inside out on the run like what we used to see from Robben. Would love to see him given more chances, especially in the light of recent performances from our current wingers.

Square pegs for round holes and all that! If we want more from our wings then we need better wingers or our current wingers to perform much better.

I would say with his personality he would not be scared to lay into anyone if needed. Our lack of performing players on the wings has been a concern for a long while now, probably since the days of Robben and Duff. I would think come summer there will quite a few changes made now Scolari has had time to see what these players are all about.

There is no doubt that we are underperforming at the moment. And there are some players who are not pulling their weight. But lets also remember that Scolari has done a lot of good for our team, we have had a great start to this season and played some wonderful football. I am sure he will pull us out of this soon enough.

Stoch, Sinclair and Di Santo are always in and around the first team. There really is no excuse to not play them.

Wish it was away! Just down the road for me is Southend! We should win for sure, chance to give some youngsters a start as well, they will probably be more up for it anyway than some of our players at the moment. Di Santo, Sinclair and Stoch to start! Also Mancienne is back from loan by then.

Lets not get Carried away yet and start calling for Scolari's head. Look at our bench Sunday, and what plan B was there? Personally i would have had Deco off and Stoch on sooner. Malouda is once again becoming a liability and waste of space. Carvalho, Essien, J.Cole and Drogba! 4 massive first team players for us missing. Take the equivelant out of any other team and they would struggle worse than what we have. But it is becomming a worry that we creating so few chances in a game to score.

Well he did that he understands that people make mistakes, but said he wanted the ref and lino to apologise for cocking up so badly. Which is fiar enough.

Great move for him. A loss for us. He was an excellant coach and it will be hard to replace him in the reserves. I liked him a lot and so did the players. I am sure he will have a geat future in the game as a first team boss.

Stupid points by the old Bearded fool. Ask Michael Woods and Tom Taiwo if they would prefer to get regular football with Leeds now in League 1 or take a bit longer time to get into the Premiership Champions first team. He has already written them off which is ludicrous as both have tons of potential and have every chance of making it still.

Kalou would play the lead striker role. He would be able to do it as well.

Your right, we need to get our home form back on track in this game. No idea who is going to be available for this one but i am sure we are going to be able to put a very decent side together that is more than capable of going out and getting the 3 points.

I don't think anyone would disagree with the point that the spitting was a horrible and stupid thing to do. But the ban was massively excessive, and it is good that the ban has been overturned.

Good news, and also good to see that common sense can prevail at times.

Definately playing it safe, we have some quality youngsters who would love the chance to show what they can do. Even Di Santo who impressed in pre season and who looked more than capable against Liverpool can't get chances and that is with only 1 of our other strikers available. I wouldn't be as dissapointed if Scolari hadn't been saying when he joined about how he was all for giving youngsters a chance, but he did and he has had the chances and not taken them.