How refreshing....

[Del]

... for the first time in god knows how long to actually be going into an away fixture with a genuine belief we may win!!

Under Hughes i think he must have got in the players heads that a team should win home matches and "anything away is a bonus"... meaning they would think a point is great and subconsiously play for one and invariably end up losing. With Harry and most good managers they ignore the home / away factor and see any match as a chance for 3 points and go for a win.... we must do this. I think if we go for teams away it will play into our hands as they will need to come out and open up as at home and we can break with incisive passing in the middle and catch teams when they have players committed forward.

Imagine if Harry does tonight in his first game what Mark Huighes failed to do in 10 months... win away.

[silvercue]

Just have to hope pitch isn't water-logged, that would be a real shame. The sooner we play this game the better and they have two of their top players out too.

[MattyRangers]

Who they got out ?

[silvercue]

Who they got out ?

I heard that O'Shea and Cattermole were out. OK, not Messi and Ronaldo, but they are two leaders they have on the pitch.

[12321]

'....anything away is a bonus' is not a bad approach PROVIDING you're winning the home games. The Chinese whisper somehow mutated to 'anything is a bonus' and to be fair to the players they took that one on board. Great to hear a straight talker now after all the months of tranquilliser speak....

[silvercue]

I would be OK with 0-0 to be honest. A win would be great though. I would prefer an away 0-0 and a home win vs Villa than the other way round.

[MattyRangers]

I heard that O'Shea and Cattermole were out. OK, not Messi and Ronaldo, but they are two leaders they have on the pitch.

Defiantly . Cattermole a big miss for them if he is out he's the sort to stop ale and Granero playing like they can (if they start for us of course).

[maddix]

O Shea will be a big miss for them at set pieces ....the only way I can see them scoring tonight .

Perfect time to be playing them .....similar scenario to the reverse fixture at LR last year (new manager for them ) ........... look at the roll of form they went on after beating us ....3 pts tonight and and it sets up perfectly for Villa at home and Wigan away .

Go Harry and work your magic !!