OTF

Couldn't even crack it for a bench spot in the Birmingham derby now that Bentley has arrived. Wonder whether that's a sign that he'll go, or if they've shifted him out of sight out of mind till the end of January hoping that he signs a new deal with them. Interestingly Villa are now supposedly interested.

He only played 11 games for us in his first premier league and started banging them away straight away in the Championship - like the Hat trick at Ipswich. I was including his 21 games for Bolton in that season as well. Funny how quickly he found his scoring boots in the Championship. Thankfully hasn't taken them off since getting back in the Premier League.

This thread started in a valley and has gone downhill from there.

Is that Ronaldinho far right? 'Power' Ranger.

Yeh it's a great celebration - a proper piss take and sometimes that's applicable - like when scoring past the mackems or putting the third past West Ham before half time, Anyway 10 goals from Nolan is exceptional - we've been crying out for a goal scoring midfielder for years but I'm not sure he fits that category due to the manner in which he gets his goals - cheeky. Hilarious at Wigan when we started chanting 'Lets all do the Nolan' 5000 toon fans doing the Funky chicken! I hope they did that today! It's crazy how far he's come along as a goal scorer for us in recent times. When we bought him from Bolton he was a spent force, well off his game. I've served up my fair share of criticism in his direction, but I'll stand up and say that I've largely been wrong. Doesn't do a lot of running, isn't a great passer of the ball nor a good tackler, but he's a good leader and has a great effect on others. Plus he has a canny knack for scoring for us, and does the little things that make a difference, like upsetting opposing goal keeper during free-kicks and corners, and generally getting into the head of the opposition. Hard to fathom that he didn't score a single goal in the 32 games in the year that we bought him.

Smith did have a good start to last season. So he should only pay back 7/8ths of what he's been paid.

Gosling should also figure into things. On the strength of his 10 minutes against Sunderland he didn't look much, but it would be ridiculous to judge him on that. Was good to get him on the pitch for us, so next game he plays won't be his debut.

Guthrie for sure. He's been poor in a few games for us this season, and seems to have been frazzled off the field by something according to our resident peeping pud, but he was quite good yesterday and is a good passer of the ball (compared to Smith he's Xabi Alonso). Is sometimes ffound wanting too much time on the ball which can cost us on fast breaks, but generally he values possession much more than Smith. Smith's not even a better tackler, they both tackle like forwards, the only thing that Smith offers is that he must annoy the fuck out of opposition players nattering on always and being excessively physical.

I don't mind Krul or Harper but neither of them really stand out as being better than the other. Krul has made some bad mistakes, and seemingly continues to chance it/miss-kick it badly with his clearances. Harper isn't good at holding onto shots, and pushing them into dangerous positions. Krul too has shaky hands at times. Fraser Forster could be the anwser otherwise I'm not too bothered either way with Krul or Harper - whoever communicates best with our defense - something that's hard to tell when watching.

It's rare that a goal celebration is so so bad that's it's good. The look on his face during his celebrations is priceless, and he can always fall back on the origins as a decent excuse. Must be infuriating to watch for our opposition.

How does Bent score so many? At one stage from one of our corners or free-kicks he had the ball in a dangerous position with PLENTY of space to work with and only Enrique between him and Harper. Enrique didn't even have to do anything special or move particularly quick to dispossess him.. was like taking candy from a baby. Looks to me like him and Gyan together doesn't work.

Has become a lot better at not just bombing towards the box when we have the ball (Nolan). Coloccini had a fantastic game, seems to be extremely confident at the moment, would have been great if his early snap shot hadn't been cleared off the line. Positionally did very well, and seems to have a good relationship with Williamson as a central defender as well as a very handy one with Enrique. His biggest problem IMO is against someone quick with skills on the ball, he doesn't have the quickest feet but is normally able to make up for it with good positioning. Enrique looked good pushing up on a couple of occasions but needs to be aware of short passes that he can make before darting into space. A few times he beat a couple of players but eventually lost out when two or three of them closed in from the front. A short pass to Barton or Nolan inside and he could use his speed to get back in space. Fluffed his lines also when he could have cut it across to an unmarked best in the box also, after Enrique made a great run and Jonas played him a very good ball. Noticed a few people saying Jonas had a bad game, on the contrary I think he had a good game. Earned a fair share of fouls and always troubled them on the dribble, his passing and crossing was also better than usual.

I too would like to know what song he was planning on getting played. Maybe the jokes on us though and there was no song, cause he knew they'd never win?

Not dredging back through the thread, but damn were they poor today. We should really have won. That chance that Shola missed early on.. Very disappointing to have conceded like that at the end. It wasn't the fact that we drew, but the way in which we did it. Any Sunderland fan who says anything about is dense and has some nerve. They should thank their lucky stars and say nothing more about it.

Though if you gave Butt time on the ball he could usually pick out a pass.

Agree that the pressure is on them. Problem is this is a good chance for them to beat us depending on who we put out. Fair chance they will bottle it I reckon.

Even if he's not going to play I'd stick him on the bench to play on their minds a little. If he actually is out, that's a lot of responsibility on Shola and Kevin Nolan.

I can verify it. He was at the ground at 6pm according to my sources. Sure it wasn't Shola Ameobi's kid?

Very different players (SWP and Barton). One issue is that SWP doesn't play frequently enough to judge how good he is at the top of his game. Moving Barton back into the centre is surely a target despite him performing well in a slightly wider role (he doesn't get too far wide that often).

Does seeem to have a good effect on others when he plays (not all of the time), but I still worry about his mobility and on the ball ability particularly when Tiote is not available to play alongside him. At his best as a pleyer IMO when he's reacting instinctively in and around the box.

With SWP I'dd have him here no questions asked - but on a loan. At 29 being so reliant on speed and being so small I'd say before too long he'll pick up an injury and the older he gets the longer it will take and the more he'll lose in recovering. Contracted to Man City until 2013.

I dont think I have ever seen him dive in. Didn't mean dive to the ground... Mean he's not patient doesn't jockey.

It's like punching the air in celebration, then getting charged because you could have potentially hit someone. You're undoing Alex's hard work tbh Because Alex has as much to do with your shite analogy as Tiote has to do with Eduardo being tackled. There's no limit on how fast you can run, jump etc in football so your analogy doesn't work. Driving at 120mph is illegal, running and jumping at whatever speed you like isn't.

The ball was in Tiote's possession (under his foot) when the contact occurred. Prior to that noone was in contact with the ball.