Well looks like another lay off. What a suprise. He is a match winner and without him I cannot see anything but a defeat against Spurs. I said on the earlier thread that our midfield duo of McClen and Acuna will not be able to cope with Poyet, Anderton etc. It will be boys against men.

IF Dyer has a long lay off then I fear for our season. We could manage without him for a few games but he has made a massive difference to us and other teams are scared of him. Before his return, Robert was the the thorn in the side of defenders but just as he went off the boil Dyer took over.

Sorry to be so despondent but as someone on here said recently......How can it be that the midfield situation has been left. One MF out on loan, 3 injured and no sign of any replacements.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

Answers

see my rant on thread above Lynda

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

As someone pointed out earlier, we did ok without Dyer through the first half of the season, so I wouldn't be too despondent. Granted his return gave us that extra spark and that will be missed. If we're really not going to be able to buy another player, or get one one loan, before the end of the season, I think YBR might need to be a little more creative in using what he's got. I agree Acuna AND McClen in MF are hopeless. It's got to be one or the other plus someone with more experience/strength.

Then again, maybe crafty ole Bobby is trying to make his point to the board...STUMP UP DA CASH! ;-)

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

I wish I could put a positive spin on it Ciara but I just had a horrible feeling that we would get a crucial injury at some point which would mess up the season.

Does anyone know when Speed is due back and Lee for that matter?

I take your point about us still winning without Dyer but recently he has been the match winner. As stated above, Robert seemed to be doing this when he first arrived but he's just not doing it now, I would feel happier if we had ANY kind of stand-in but we haven't. MClen and Acuna were like headless chickens on Sunday against a second division team.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

Lee's return is as always - he has just missed a return for the last two weeks. In other words dont hold your breath

Speed will miss Bolton and Saints - two absolutely crucial games - and Dyer who knows. Hopefully only Spurs.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

Pete that's it now - I have truly worked myself into a rage about this and will have to go and calm down.

Why why why??????????

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

Time to be positive .....

There is no way we can cope without Shearer in the team, it means we have no proven forward to lead the line ...... Shola step forward

This year, there is no way we can cope without Dyer, Jamie McClen step forward.

Okay, not that serious, but just because Spurs have beaten us once doesn't mean it'll happen again, they'd be above us in the league if they were better than us, they are 8th/9th best side so far and capable of wining well but clearly not consistent. Our away record is identical to their home record so looks banker draw to me.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

I always feel better when you lot start panicking as well :))

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

I'm not:-))

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

Ok...how about this then....

In the 7 games I've seen this season i've NOT seen us win....

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

stop drinking so much before the game

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

I think we'd be deluding ourselves if winning at WHL was anything more than an optimistic hope, IMO, despite Arse and Leeds.

At the same time, though, it only needs Robert to get on top of his game and losing Dyer could be less of a handicap, although Robert being starved could be a problem. Then, it won't make much difference how much he's up for it, he'll be much less effective if he has to seek the ball himself.

Not a lot we can do about the defense so I think it'll be the contributions of Bellamy and Robert that'll go a long way to keeping the pressure off. I think we'll have done well if we can come away with a draw.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

We got away with the early part of the season but it was Dyer's return that made us into a good team. I still think we should have kept Bassedas as cover & given him a few games in the creative role to see if he was up tp the job.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

You're right Dave, we definitely should have kept Bassedas. The idea of relying on Dyer, Speed and Lee to remain fit is astonishing given their respective injury histories and ages. I certainly wouldn't write off the Spurs game yet, but it's worth noting that early in the season without Dyer we had some pretty chunky slices of luck to get us up into the upper reaches. With Dyer we've been terrific and have deserved every point we've won. In his absence (and missing Speed won't help either) I fear we'll look like a mid-table side. We can still win games but we're highly unlikely to do so as consistently as we did early in the season.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

We did OK early in the season because we had Speed and Lee doing the biz in m/f - despite their many detractors. KD's dynamism has taken us on from that position and he has more than adequately replaced RL.

The problem now is that all three are injured, and we have no other appropriate choices in the squad.

While I'm irritated about the situation with Bassedas given the current position, in truth his availability wouldn't really make that much difference.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

I don't think that's necessarily true. HOw many matches has he ever gotten to play in his preferred position? And how did he do on those rare occasions? I honestly can't remember myself, but I will never forget the performance against Leeds. Midfield of Bassedas and Acuna, helluva performance! I wish we had the chance to see if that would be normal for them, or if it was a one-off.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

We could do worse than use Bernard in left ctre midfield he has pace can tackle (sort of) , and can run for 90mins.

KB

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2002

How many matches did we play with Speed and Lee? as far as I remember Speed was out for quite some time and when he came back he kinda replaced Lee.....

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2002

Something always happens at WHL. Like players getting sent off etc. We'll probably lose. But the next two home games are the ones that matter. In any event, if we can keep their scoring opportunities to a minimum, we may be able to nick a draw.

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2002

Whoa, hold up there Gav, your glass suddenly looks half full. I'd better drink some for you There, do you feel better now? :-))

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2002

Official site puts squad down to 19, so, going by who's now missing, looks like we are f**ked!.

Just in case you might have been feeling a bit more cheerful Lynda. ;- {E}

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2002

How are you feeling now Lynda?

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2002