OTF

In his defense there was a LOT of space down our right for them to exploit. He was pulled in too narrow a lot of the time though, contributing to that. Needs to close the space on the right out better but needs more communication from our central defenders. Despite him not having a great game he still effectively shut down Valencia. PL definitely not too much of a step for him, but there's only so much a left back can do.

No doubt, would be interesting to see a midfield of Routledge, Guthrie, Ben Arfa, Jonas with Lovenkrands and Carroll up front. Jonas and Routledge aren't good crossers of the ball but Jonas in particular can combine well with other players. Having someone pacy and skillful inside him with Enrique potentially overlapping should be good. We won't see that though, as we'll no doubt have Nolan chugging along in midfield when he's not deployed behind a lone striker in away matches (or matches against top sides).

Agree, he did some excellent things, looked spritely on the ball but failed to deliver anything despite getting into dangerous positions. After beating his man, which he does far more often than not, he needs to be looking for passing options drawing another man making the pass and then breaking into space. Instead he continues with the ball trying to beat another player, and so on. It would help if he had someone in central midfield who can spray a pass accurately, but first things first he has to actually get the ball to them. He and Jonas are two frustrating players. I was quite annoyed with Enrique towards the end where he held onto the ball and made a silly attempted pass back to Coloccini. Should have never turned back goalwards. Clearly a very good player who pretty much nullified Valencia, but needs to appreciate that it's not the Championship anymore.

3-0, at least par for the course with our handicap. Shame we didn't get on the scoresheet we had enough chances to have done so. Smith was a waste out there, it's a shame that Guthrie wasn't available (I assume picked up some sort of knock?). I'd probably have rathered see Vuckic out there, and he surely would have been more effective at keeping posession. At least we tried to play our game against them; but sadly for us our game seems to be occassionally getting the ball into good positions and then wasting it.

Yeah the SkySports site has this: Possible starting XIs: Man Utd: Van der Sar, O'Shea, Vidic, Evans, Fabio, Scholes, Carrick, Park, Valencia, Rooney, Owen. Newcastle: Harper, Perch, Ryan Taylor, Coloccini, Enrique, Gutierrez, Nolan, Barton, Guthrie, Smith, Carroll. Still retarded as that probably puts Perch in the centre of defense with Ryan Taylor right fullback. I can see Routledge being left out though, with either Guthrie or Barton on the right to facilitate Smith 'shielding' the defense.....and by shielding I mean running around chasing shadows a second behind the ball, attempting slide tackles all over the place. Hopefully though we'll see Routledge on the right with Smith at best on the bench and Guthrie and Barton through the middle.

They're so much better than us

Wow, that's piss poor from Sky. Missed our best player and the first name on our team sheet.

well at least you won't be freezing . . . . . .

Jesus wept ... "Respect for privacy" - surely he's taking the piss there.

I'll be watching at 5AM right through regardless of the score and resulting pain. Thankfully it's warmed up the last couple of nights/mornings so here's hoping I'm not freezing and disappointed.

A player, or a good player? Shola was desperate to re-sign for us.

..and then for damage control Hughton takes Routledge off and replaces him with Alan Smith, who not wanting to be outdone by Barton, is also sent off before the half time whistle for a mistimed 'challenge'.

90% going to be Harper, Perch, Coloccini, Williamson, Enrique, Jonas, Guthrie, Barton, Routledge, Nolan, Carroll Only change that I could see being possible is bringing in Smith and moving Barton or Guthrie to the right replacing Routledge. That's a horrible change to make IMO for the record, but it's something I could see Hughton doing.

If he does go to Cardiff I wonder what percentage of his wage they'd be paying, surely only something pissy. Man City's wage bill must be ridiculously huge - I'd love to see the actual figures. The amounts they're supposed to be paying for Yaya Toure and the like are absurd. Even with Cardiff's contribution Man City will probably be paying Bellamy a solid 60k a week - can you imagine paying 60k a week for one of your players to play elsewhere? You can appreciate what City are trying to do, but it really seems like they've done a pretty poor job of it considering the money they've spent and the wages they're paying. Oh to be able to piss that much money up the wall...

After the goal that Almunia conceded they ought to be in a hurry to get a keeper in. Cracking shot from Ngog, but beaten nearpost by a shot that he easily got a hand to is not good enough. Reina's looked much worse, but the way it happened there's not a lot he really could have done - must have felt like a right tit about it, that would have been a very valuable three points for Liverpool. Edit - Oh, love the way they cut to Given in the stands after Hart made an impressive save.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/t...ity/8915964.stm Cardiff bloody City? Can we not offer a better package than them? His family live in Cardiff. So, no. That's assuming he wants to be near his family (and that they want him to be near to them).

Yeah, they've just posted some more breaking news - Roeder is closely monitoring Dirk Kuyt.

Exactly, I'd sooner give Xisco or Ranger a solid run in the side than inflate the wage bill unnessecarily with a player who doesn't improve our first 11 in a position where we're well covered with mediocrity already. No disrespect to him He had a pretty decent pre-season apparently. If he was used as a right winger last season then he won't even get a chance to play there for Everton this season as they're unlikely to have as many midfielders injured this time around. Up front there's usually only one forward and he's behind the yak, Saha and Beckford (for the time being).

He's not THAT good, I don't think. If he was he would be attracting interest from elsewhere. Good player no doubt, but not so good that it's unrealistic for us to get him in our current shape.

Wasn't in the Everton side at all last night - though you could question whether he would get into it regardless. On those stats he hasn't started many games, most he comes on as a late sub. For the record I don't think we should be interested in him, another mediocre striker? No thanks. 2009-10 League: 6 starts, 5 subs, 1 goal, 2 assists

Would prefer a captain who's ability puts them in the starting 11 regardless of formation. For what we have though, he's not a bad choice.

Realistically we are short at least one defensive midfield player, with no 'specialist' in the squad.

No doubt would be best mates with Nolan after that horrible challenge two seasons back

All the bullshit speculation and he said / they said is very annoying, but I'm sure both clubs are enjoying it immensely. I see why we could easily think that we'd have a serious interest in this player as he seemingly adds what we're currently missing from our squad. But on the other hand a signing like this is not at all realistic under the current management, even if it's only on loan. Certainly not expecting anything of this now. I think next transfer window I'll steer clear of all the rubbish, because ultimately that's all it usually amounts to being.

Simply because of the comment regarding pace, ability to play on the break and being able to crack a shot. Immediately made me think of Martins. Bellamy is no doubt a more well rounded player, but at 6 years his senior he bloody well should be. How do you think Defoe compares to Bellamy?