ohmelads

I do get the feeling that what we're witnessing may be a purple patch from Butt. A month or so of decent-to-good performances do not erase two years of utter shite so I for one will not be surprised if it doesn't last. I agree with you in theory but time will tell if Butt really has made a difference or if other factors have been at play. As far as I'm concerned it's far too early to tell. A bit of praise for turning around his performances is what he deserves, but to credit him with the club's turnaround is over the top IMO. I do agree with your main point about getting the ball moving a lot faster in central midfield though, and in this regard he has done what Parker has failed to do in terms of quick pass-and-move one- and two-touch football. It is twice as easy to create chances when the opposition are backpeddling and don't have bodies behind the ball, Parker likes to take five or ten touches before releasing the ball which gives our wingers the nightmare problem of unlocking a ten-man defence when they finally do get the ball from him. Parker is a quality footballer though, with a superb tackle, lots of determination, a great engine, decent technique and decent enough vision. I honestly think he could do a good job in one of the full-back positions if need be, probably better than Ramage or Huntington.

Looks no bigger than Martins in the photo. Shouldn't we be looking for a someone more in the mould of a target man, seeing as Ameobi is out for the season and the only physical presence we have up front is Sibierski? It doesn't sound like there's much in the kitty.

I agree with your sentiments, I don't think any of our players had a less than decent game yesterday so to single Parker out for criticism is totally unfair. Things have picked up lately but I think the next four games will prove a big test for Roeder and his side and should give us all a reality check as to how good or bad the (available) Newcastle team actually is. Spurs home, Bolton and Everton away then Man Utd home. The Tottenham game is massive because if we win it I can see us picking up at least 7 points from those games, if we lose it and have to play two tough away games it could all fall apart again. I feel it's all about momentum now, the spirited nature of the Chelsea defeats shouldn't have knocked us off our stride but I feel the Tottenham game will probably set the tone for the christmas schedule.

While Baba offers a bit more going forward, Huntington offers much more defensively. On current form I'd keep the young lad in for Tottenham.

Solano has been true captain material lately and I would continue with him at right back regardless of when Carr returns. Therefore, as a guaranteed starter, I'd give him the armband. He showed today what an intelligent player he is and a calm head. He has the respect of the players and the fans which is essential. Parker's pirouette is his biggest shortcoming as a player and he needs to sort it out asap. He has a lot in his locker but the ability to turn defence into attack in an instant is what the Premiership is all about. He must release the ball much much quicker. At the moment he holds up our counter attacks and it isn't that surprising that we have been countering with greater urgency when he hasn't been in midfield. It's a minor nuisance to his game though, and on his day he is still a top quality central midfielder capable of bossing the midfield. Just because we haven't got our team to click yet I certainly wouldn't write him off, this was his first game back from injury. Like many I nominated him to be captain but I'd have to say he hasn't been the best choice. For me, going on this season's performances, Solano or Given should be captain. A captain needn't be a central player, Neville captains Man Utd from right back and they're top of the table.

Much as I don't rate Roeder, it's too easy to say he should have made subs when none of us know what would have happened. While there were other factors in our second half decline I believe Chelsea took a grip of the game by bringing on Lampard, Ballack and Drogba, and there's no point kidding ourselves otherwise. Three world class players like that were always going to cause us problems. I would have liked to have seen us match their fresh legs a bit earlier but looking at our bench I wasn't entirely sure. Rossi never looks up for the fight to me, he knows he's going in a few days and I always feel he would rather score the consolation in a 2-1 defeat than help the team win and make no name for himself. Similarly Luque knows he is on the brink of leaving and I don't think we'd have seen much from him. Sibierski would have given us the height but by withdrawing a midfielder we may have been overran by their superior midfield, who knows. Up until the 79th minute free kick I still thought it was anyone's game and let's not forget that we were beaten by a set-piece today, not because we were outplayed in any way at all.

Carragher is nothing to look at in terms of technique but his positioning, reading of the game and tackling make him the quality, reliable defender he is. Same goes for many other established defenders in England. I'm not that fussed if Huntington isn't demonstrating much technique right now, it doesn't mean it's not there. A teenage central defender thrust into the first team and told to play full back against Chelsea is likely to play within himself and always go for the simple ball. I see what you mean in the case of Ramage, he has very limited footballing ability, but I'd say Taylor at right back demonstrated decent technique for a central defender. Give Huntington time, he may come out of his shell a bit more. Off the ball Huntington looks a canny prospect to me, always switched on and never caught out by Kalou. He held his own tonight.

I'd have to see it again but I thought it was a free-kick (never a yellow card though). Had they not moved the ball I doubt they would have even attempted the shot they did. But I agree our players should have went mental as they were sneakily gaining crucial yards and changing the angle of the kick.

We were outdone by gamesmanship at the end of the day. Robben was fouled in a crossing position, but Chelsea casually rolled it a good few yards back and suddenly it was an inviting angle for a shot. Everybody was amazed that the ref didn't do anything about this, it was shortsightedness which probably cost us the game. Nevertheless I was amazed we only put a few men in the wall (what was it - three?) for a free-kick from that distance. When I saw Drogba lining up to take it I thought to myself 'surely that's not our wall'. It's no use blaming Parker, there should have been at least another man in that wall, probably two. It was a childish mistake and we were punished, even if Chelsea did cheat to get the angle they did.

I won't bother making any predictions but the UEFA Cup still represents our best hope. To win the Carling Cup we will almost certainly have to beat two top class teams of proven Champions League standard, starting tonight. We are one of the most experienced teams in Europe left in the UEFA Cup and I still see that as our best hope.

It's more likely he'd put Huntington at LB with Taylor and Ramage in the centre. The official site are still reporting about Duff's fitness test. Who knows, maybe he'll make the bench. If needs must how about Emre at left back? I'd say he could do a job there, remember when Flamini had to fill in for Arsenal at left back.

No fog at all in Jarra.

He's an andaluz gypsy, it's not surprising he never settled here. My gooner mates are glad to see the back of him and hope the transfer becomes permanent, when he was in London he was always whinging about going back to his pueblito. I expect he'll spend the rest of his career in Spain as he wouldn't hack it anywhere else.

Reyes is a gypsy.

Tbh it wouldn't surprise me if we splash our moneyt on a winger and a goalkeeper.

Is Newcastle the sort of club that can afford to spend £5m on a striker to "have around" when we have such pressing urgencies in defence. With Owen returning possibly late in the season we have to consider that whoever comes in is likely to be rotated next season and I'd agree that we need someone with presence up front. But the problem with Crouch is he encourages a long ball game, we've seen that with Liverpool and England. I honestly think that Crouch would cost nearer £10m than £5m given that Liverpool paid £7m for him and his stock as an England player has risen since then. At that price we should stay well away.

Interesting debate this, I'm sure Parker's return will give Roeder a little bit of a headache. I'm a firm believer of playing players in form. But let's not forget that our recent upturn in fortunes has coincided with an easier run of games. Portsmouth, Reading, Watford, all at home. That's where our points have been coming from and we made very hard work of them with two very late winners in our last two home games. These next couple of weeks will provide a much bigger test and I must admit that I feel safer with the big guns on against the big teams, regardless of form.

Martins over time will show himself to be the better all round player. Johnson is a canny forward but a bit overrated, probably because he's English.

If we're going to spend big in any position I'd get a quality, proven central defender. Ramage just isn't good enough in any position in my view, Huntington is far too inexperienced to be considered a viable short term option and I don't rate Bramble or Moore. Moore I feel is overrated by many fans and Bramble will always go through good periods then bad periods, he's a confidence player and always will be. Taylor is the one who has big potential in my view but needs a quality partner alongside him. When we defend as a team we can keep clean sheets but we're sacrificing far too much going forward. When we've gone for goal we've leaked at the other end. We've scraped past Reading and Watford at home with goals in the dying minutes but this has papered over the cracks.

I've never understood this obsession with Lucas Neill. He's always seemed to be an average Premiership full back with a nasty streak to his game, yet his agent links him with Liverpool and one or two others and suddenly people assume he's a top player. Benitez and his board were willing to pay only £2m which says a lot IMO, I certainly wouldn't pay more than that.

I think the left of defence is a bigger problem than the right. Both Baba and Carr are not good enough but I believe in Solano and the young centre-backs we can get by more on the right than we can on the left. When Baba is out there is noone capable of filling in, even against shite opposition. There is still a definite need for a quality central defender though. If the money was available and we had to buy for three positions, I would go for a striker, a left back and a centre back.

Maybe you can make that case for N'Zogbia but not for Duff. In fact, with his Premiership experience, I'd go so far to say that Duff has even less of an excuse than Martins, who was making his home debut and playing only his second game in the Premier League.

He had a poor game, like most of the team. He also had a poor game against Villa, like most of the team. I don't think anyone can deny that. Come on though, they sound like drama queens. 'OMG lol one ov the worst numba 9 performances eva!!!1!11!!'. Complete overreaction. When the whole team plays poorly and they single out one player, while praising others for their shite performances (Duff and N'Zogbia were very poor) then you have to admit it looks like there's an agenda going on there. Yes all eyes were on Martins for his home debut, but Duff was equally under the spotlight and they have written utter bollocks about him. It's total double standards and makes Martins look like he stood out as the worst player on the pitch - which is nonsense.

Of course... "one of the most inept, clueless and woeful displays that the famous number 9 shirt has ever witnessed" Those comments are loaded with emotion, they're way over the top and if Martins was a Geordie, you know they'd write something like "he needs to start showing his £10m form soon" or something much tamer along those lines. I take it they weren't watching Shearer last season and some of his 'famous number nine' performances? Or indeed most of the season before that?

Duff was as bad as Martins against Fulham. The difference is he's Irish and Martins is Nigerian, hence why nufc.com have praised one and slagged the other. Their match reports are becoming very predictable, I rarely read them any more which is a shame because they used to be my favourite Newcastle website. In truth, both Duff and Martins were dreadful. Luque has only started 6 Premiership games and already his Newcastle career has been written off. If Martins takes as long to get his first goal, will he too be dropped, never to be seen again? The club can't sustain this sort of policy.