[GiRTh]

I recognise the pretty boy.

How are Stevenage doing?

[Dan_]

9th at the moment but with games in hand, started the season awfully and didnt win until september but ever since then we have been mainly winning and we are now into the final of the FA Trophy and still chasing a play-off place but in recent weeks we just seem a bit off our best and lost the last couple of games, midfield is missing a couple key players at the moment.Still 0-0 tonight though.

[GiRTh]

Do you think you'll go up next season?

[Dan_]

I've not given up hope on this season quite yet but we would proably be stronger next season.

1-0 up Paul Hakim with his first goal for the club

[Dan_]

Bloody hell about 7 mins of injury time the ref added on but it's all over now.1-0 win at 3rd placed York, get in there .Upto 7th in the table now with 2 games in hand.

[Jay]

Aldershot 1-0 Weymouth

First win in 5 games, played alot better then we have done in previous matches goal game in the second half from Rhys Day. Nice way to send the manager off with a decent performance.

[BigSister]

Yay well done Dan and Jay ^_^
Oh i know about injury time Dan they put 5 mins on at accy on saturday and announcer said "The referee has indicitated 5 minutes of stoppage time and what is that for I have no idea"

[Dan_]

Lmao, stupid refs always do it when you're winning but not losing.

[BigSister]

I know *shakes head* so annoying and its worse when your down to 10 men too

[GiRTh]

Well done all you guys.

[Jay]

Andorra 0-3 England

Poor performance first half only created 2 or 3 chances, second half alot better moved the ball alot quicker and created alot more chances, still not a decent performance but we got the 3 points and hopefully can move on and get some more points, the 2 games against Russia and the game against Croatia are so crucial for our quailfication.

[Mike]

Im glad we won in the end but we cant continue playing the way we do, im sure everyone would agree that really we should be hitting teams like Andorra for 5 or 6.

[Dan_]

I see Gerrard scores 2 without having Lampard getting in his way .Awful first half and I felt sorry for the fans having to endure that and no suprises they voiced their frustration.2nd half was better but still not great.

Next game I'd go with:

Robinson
G.Neville Ferdinand Terry A.Cole
Lennon Gerrard Hargreaves J.Cole
Defoe Nugent.

Great result for Northern Ireland against Sweden.

[GiRTh]

How can Macca justify dropping Lampard. First Beckham now Lampard. How can a top manager not get the best out of these players.

[Dan_]

Lampards not had a good game in a while for England and he was injured anyway.

[GiRTh]

I understand what you're saying, my question was somewhat rhetorical. The point is, I personally think that the best managers know - in order to consistently win - they'll need all their quality players. MacClaren, when he was appointed, immediately dropped one of the best footballers this country has produced in 20 years and is on the verge of dropping another. At the time when he dropped Beckham I thought his only saving grace was that England were in an easy group. Now, I'm not so sure.

I don't get all this garbage about wanting to go in a different direction. We're not making a sitcom here, we're trying to qualify for a major tournament. Lennon and Downing are not ready and MacClaren should not be experimenting in tournament qualifiers.

[Dan_]

I never saw the point in totally dropping Beckham either to be honest, it's not like he was getting to an age where he was not going to be around for Euro's which I could have at least understood as it would be building a team for then but he's still only about 31 and as he's shown at Real Madrid this season he can still produce at the top level.

Downing always seems to look so nervy for England, like he's never willing to take the full back on, he's a hard working player but not really upto it at the moment.I reckon Lennon is good enough though,he does need to work on the consistency of his crosses though, being played on the left wing against Israel was not exactly the wisest move.

[Siouxsie]

what about the black cats ?

[Jay]

Originally posted by Siouxsie
what about the black cats ?

Yeh they are on a good run, fancy them for automatic promotion along with Derby.

[Siouxsie]

keanoooooooooooooo has done wonders for us

[GiRTh]

Originally posted by Dan_
I never saw the point in totally dropping Beckham either to be honest, it's not like he was getting to an age where he was not going to be around for Euro's which I could have at least understood as it would be building a team for then but he's still only about 31 and as he's shown at Real Madrid this season he can still produce at the top level.

Downing always seems to look so nervy for England, like he's never willing to take the full back on, he's a hard working player but not really upto it at the moment.I reckon Lennon is good enough though,he does need to work on the consistency of his crosses though, being played on the left wing against Israel was not exactly the wisest move.

I agree with just about everything you say her. You're right, Lennon is good enough. He gets the penetration and needs to work on his crosses. Downing will be a good player too.

The thing that frustrates me about MacClaren is the he lackt the intelligence and imagination to utilise his best players. So we have the situtation where Steve Gerrard is playing better but the team is still no good enough.

[Siouxsie]

we need to win today come on the lads

[Jay]

Aldershot 2-0 St Albans

Totally outplayed them today i think in the whole match they said 5 shots 3 of which were off target our defence looked strong, goals came from Darren Barnard and John Grant, we are unbeaten in 3

[Dan_]

Very poor performance from Stevenage today compounded by an incompetent ref and linesman.A 3-0 loss to a side like Crawley is bad at this stage of the season and I can see changes for tuesdays game at home to Kidderminster.

[Siouxsie]

we won 1-0 Keanooooooooooooo

the Makem revolution begins

The Red and white army is marching to the top