ohmelads

2-0. West Brom have been poor in my opinion but we have been utter utter dosh*t. They won't get an easier 3 points this season. Really worried by our lack of depth. Guthrie stretchered off.

This lot are shaky at the back if we just have a f*cking go at them. I'd like to see Enrique and Simpson getting forward a bit more and helping the wingers out. They've barely crossed half way. We're losing, we have to have a go.

Ameobi off Lovenkrands on. Sensible decision but highlights our lack of squad depth. Corner. Howay lads!

Now that our 0-0 gameplan has failed I'm wondering when we are going to have a go at them. Really you would not think we are the team behind given the attitude of both teams. Guthrie will never get goals or assists if he can't get himself within 40 yards of their goal. He is way too deep to have any influence. As for his contribution off the ball, the less said the better. The forwards are dropping into our own half to try and see any of the ball. They've all been very poor. We are still in this game and West Brom's defence have looked unsure when put under any kind of pressure. Believe it or not there may be a result in this for us but major changes are needed from Hughton at half time.

Half time sub is needed. Swap Ameobi for Ranger. This is desperate stuff it really is.

This is a gutless performance, lacking quality AND fight. We are making them look good. Their defence has looked shaky the rare times we've strayed forward.

Noone put a foot in. 1-0. We've been standing off them all game, it was going to happen. Absolutely noone is prepared to slide or stick a foot in, we just back off onto our own 18 yard box every time. The midfield is theirs.

We're sitting very deep, basically we have conceded the midfield to them and putting 9 or 10 behind the ball, hacking it long whenever they press us. Very shaky start.

A lot will depend on injuries to key players and what we do/don't do in the transfer window, so it's very hard to say. We're a couple of injuries away from a huge struggle but we're a couple of signings away from turning these draws into wins. I think 12th to 14th based on what we've seen so far.

Russia could turn out alright, everyone will be pissed up on cheap vodka and there'll be passionate interest from home crowds, plus their team may do OK. England and Spain undoubtedly had more to offer though, not just in terms of visiting fans but in putting on a spectacle due to their stadia and so on and proximity to countries whose fans will happily travel in big numbers to support the event. Qatar on the other hand looks like being even worse than South Africa, which was the worst world cup I've ever seen in terms of passion, quality of football, everything. The home nation will get spanked, tepid interest from home fans, culture/religion that forbids alcohol, hard to get to, hottest 2 months of the year in Qatar means insane heat. One of the worst places you could have hosted a world cup. It's all well and good having these air-con stadiums but where will players train in 50+c temperatures? I am sure there will be temporary law changes and designated boozing areas for foreigners but I can see fan numbers being far lower than they would be elsewhere. Really the aim should be to promote football by providing excellent entertainment. It should be awarded on merit. Hopefully after Qatar FIFA will no longer be able to use their excuse of 'spreading the game around the world'. The aim should be to host it in passionate countries who will put on a good show without money being the primary objective, but we all know FIFA doesn't work that way.

His age and the fact he relies heavily on pace would be a major downside, not to mention his attitude and scoring record in England all count against him. Teams would fear seeing him on the team lineup more than Ameobi, Ranger, Best et al, however we could have said the same thing about Martins. He does seem to be scoring a lot of goals over there though. A gamble but on the right terms (sensible fee/wages) maybe worth a punt. Would certainly bring in attributes we really lack at the moment, and as you say him and Carroll on song would be a handful for defenders.

Campbell is gone at the end of the season, and Kadar is totally unproven. That "new striker" money would be needer for a defender to replace Taylor. So you're looking at either a sub-standard cheap replacement (see Kadar, Perch, Simpson, R.Taylor), or a cheap new striker (see Lovenkrands, Best). I'd rather just tie the player down to a new contract and put all our funds into strengthening the first team. I'm sceptical about these wage demands, the club seem to have a brinkmanship and cavalier way of dealing which may pocket a few pennies but doesn't always put the club's interests first. Transfer listing Taylor was a perfect example, all outsiders thought it was strange and if anything lowers the value of the player. Really how often do you see clubs doing that?

I'd start with this too. Gives West Brom the twin towers to deal with, who are a nightmare for most defences when they are both on song. Hopefully Shola can be a little more effective against West Brom. Barton was a revelation on the right hopefully he can continue where he left off (before Blackburn) supplying those Beckham like crosses and this also gives us a more solid 4 man midfield protecting our defence more. Barton also seemed positionally brilliant. Knew when to be out wide, when to drift inside and how to link up with Simpson. Ranger and/or Routledge on as impact subs if needs be in case Shola or a midfielder aren't up to scratch. Subs: Krul, Kadar, Perch, Smith, Routledge, Ranger, Best We can win this one . We need lots of service to the twin towers. Barton Pinging over his wonderfully accurate crosses and free kicks. Hopefully Jonas and Enrique having the beating of their men and geting crosses in too and a very mobile central paring of Tiote and Guthrie slotting their passes both through the midldle and out to the wings. Really fancy Carroll to score at least one header in this one and we are due another Barton screamer from outside the box. Should be a really good game this one. Really looking forward to it. Hopefully no indisipline from us. Sensible post but a few things I'm not sure about. I would agree Barton protects the right back more than Routledge, which is important away from home espescially given the form Chris Brunt is in. However I think we're becoming very predictable with just one winger and balls from Barton to Carroll every time. Teams do watch our highlights and spot patterns of play, you have to have other options. Routledge and Jonas does offer more balance even if the crosses are wayward. I wouldn't have considered Routledge but I thought he was good against Chelsea and has played his way into contention. Barton and Tiote in the middle gives us a good engine room. Guthrie is tidy on the ball, but just can't impose himself enough for a central midfielder, he is sluggish and second to too many balls. With Barton and Tiote in there I'd fancy our chances of winning the midfield battle. Brunt will be a threat on the left wing. Barton will contain him better than Routledge, however Routledge's pace and dribbling may cause more problems and force him to drop back a bit where he is less effective. It depends if we are going for containment or going for the win. It's away but it's West Brom, I think we should go for the points. Barton inside and Routledge out wide, round pegs in round holes and all that. Ameobi was very poor against Chelsea, he did almost nothing right and I'd be tempted to give Ranger a chance up front. He's a bit of an unknown quantity to them, he has different qualities to Ameobi even if he is raw, and might just give us a different dimension.

Be very disappointed if he walks away for nowt. Campbell's in his final season and I'm not totally convinced Colo and Willo are the answer. People get on like it's a) easy to find a top defender b) top defenders want to come to us and c) Mike Ashley will pay for the transfer fee/wages of a top defender. He could easily be replaced by another Perch/Simpson kind of signing, or even a Kadar. Does anyone seriously think Ashley will open up the cheque book? If he does, it'll affect our spending in other areas, like right wing or up front.

Spain has 4, but 2 are biased towards Real Madrid and two towards Barca, basically. They are not much better than what you get on the back of the British rags to be fair, except there is more of it. They are officially sports newspapers but they must be at least 80% footy talk. I suppose there would be demand for a British daily sports paper like the Spanish ones, I also wonder why it hasn't happened.

FFS, can people stop saying stuff like this about all our decent players. This. Getting so f***ing old now. This small-time club mentality is being created by our fans on here more than anything. We sold Given and N'Zogbia because they wanted to go. We sold Milner because £12 million was a ridiculous fee for him. The only problem there was it was a shame it wasn't reinvested. Can anyone tell me any other players we've sold because they were in good form and Ashley thought we'd cash in? f*** me, I understand we're always kind of on the edge of our seats with Ashley, but it's so annoying that our own fans class us as a selling club with absolutely nothing to prove it. Agree with the sentiment but it's not really backed up by your examples. Milner was sold and not replaced - hence it was a sale for cash, the actions of a selling club. I believe Ashley intends to see the club have a West Ham style system as opposed to an Arsenal one - ie scout/nurture good talent on the cheap and sell at a profit. Still, talk of Tiote leaving is a bit premature!

If Nolan is out I would agree. Routledge is a risk away from home but after the way he and Guthrie played I think it makes sense to play Barton through the middle and keep Routledge out wide. Chris Brunt is a big threat out wide however so Hughton might put Barton on the wing again to protect Simpson a bit more. They've just had a big win after a poor run of results, they're as unpredictable as us.

Too early to say. This game suited him because we sat deep meaning not much space behind him for through balls or balls over the top. He was able to rely on his aeriel dominance and reading of the game. In a game where we hold a higher line and go for the win, he may find his lack of pace and mobility more exposed. Very solid performance from him and Taylor though, hoping for more of the same.

Hard to say, as he'd probably have played instead of Ameobi who wasted some good opportunities.

Outplayed in midfield but defended very well, which restricted them to only a few chances. Campbell and Taylor showed a more no-nonsense style as opposed to Colo-Willi. The fact we were sitting back probably suited them as they are both good in the air. The full backs also deserve praise, Enrique in particular was outstanding. Campbell's lack of pace may be exposed when we push forward at teams and there is more space behind him, but he and Taylor look promising on today's evidence and the other two will have to work hard to get back into the team. All our crossing was from deep and Carroll had little to work with all day. The better balls fell to Ameobi who was wasteful. Routledge was decent, Jonas didn't have one of his better days giving the ball away in his own half a few times but hard working as always. Tiote very solid, Guthrie started well but faded. We might have nicked it on another day, but we can't complain at all with a point. Good result.

I reckon Taylor gets a lot of stick because he came through the ranks and had a very promising start against Arsenal and so on, and people tipped him to become a top defender in the English game, but instead he was just ... OK. People felt disillusioned and turned on him because he was a young defender who made some mistakes, even though he was in an absolute shipwreck of a team working under many different managers. His fist pumping style and so on like he was running the show did him no favours. There are many defenders worse than him in the Premier League. Williamson has made errors and been punished and in a week it's forgotten. If Taylor had been on the end of a 5-1 hammering at Bolton Wanderers and earned himself a 3 match ban the knives would be out. But there's a better feeling by the fans towards this current team and people seem to assosciate Taylor with the old team that took us down, which is a bit unfair as he's a passionate and hard working player. I don't think there's much in it between them and I actually think Taylor might be the better defender. The difference is Taylor has been here through times when we've had some shocking defences and been decimated with injuries, he's played alongside the Ramages, Huntingtons, Boumsongs and Craig Moores of this world, hell he's even played alongside Ronny Johnsen and Robbie Elliott! Not to mention a ton of different full backs alongside him from Hughes to Carr to Babayaro to Geremi, Duff, Beye, N'Zogbia, Solano etc! People assosciate him with those days under Souness, Roeder, Kinnear. He grew up in that mess of a team. While Williamson came here and was part of a steady back four for months on end, something Taylor has barely had here, and mostly in a lower division where we cantered to the finish line. Look at Taylor's performances in that team and he was good. I think some people are not being fair when they judge both players.

Both. Why not? We're shipping too many soft goals, and have two experienced Premier League defenders sat on the bench. The defence has had some good performances thrown in there but too many cheap goals have cost us in games where we deserved to win on the balance of play and chances. The defending has let us down on plenty of occasions this season and this has been up til now masked by a few good performances. They've been a mixed bag but a Bolton scoreline was coming sooner or later. Most teams in this division have a powerful forward and if you're fielding Williamson and Coloccini every week, anybody is going to fancy their chances of winning aeriel balls and therefore coming to St James and causing us problems. We can't be going into games every week needing 2 or 3 goals to win. We shipped two at home to Blackpool, Stoke, Wigan and Blackburn, all games we could and perhaps should have got something from. We've just shipped 5 away to Bolton and 3 of them were gifts. Coloccini and Williamson are not bad defenders but their form has definitely dipped, both look low on confidence. That's the last thing we need. We are fortunate to have competition in that area - use it. Question marks remain over whether Campbell will still have the legs and the desire for the challenge, but we'll only find out by giving him a chance. I think he and Taylor could have the makings of a decent pairing, they will certainly bring different qualities and a more no-nonsense style.

I agree, it doesn't hurt to give the best kids a chance from the bench, if they're considered good enough and could give more options to the manager. Other teams do it, Man Utd for example ease their kids in this way. Seems like the club don't feel he's ready but are reluctant to let him leave on loan in case we get caught short with injuries. As a result he is not really getting a chance at all. Perhaps when Gosling returns to match fitness he will be loaned out for the second half of the season.

City would be mad to lose Johnson, he is one of the brightest talents in their squard and I can't believe he doesn't get more games. He will easily find a top club if he leaves. With us doing better than many expected so far and only a point behind Spurs I can't see them doing us any favours. Any loan signings would surely command a fee and sizeable wages.

Understandable question marks. Not been playing regularly, a long time since he last scored in the Prem, injury prone, and turned his nose up at us (apparently) just a few months ago. Having said that, I'd still say he's worth a punt given our options at the moment. Hughton will have a small kitty, pehaps sod all, and he will have to pull something out of the bag. We could do worse than Keane on loan for sure, but it's a signing that would offer no guarantees. Look at the number of so called top players who have let us down in recent years - most had something in common, they were journeymen past their best and lacked the drive to succeed at yet another club. Keane could easily be the next on a long list to wash up at our club and do bugger all. With us looking so weak on the right side, Hughton may take a look at his forwards (he has plenty but they're average at best) and decide he at least has numbers there, while we are lacking both numbers and quality at right midfield. If Carroll gets a serious injury we are f*cked, and it is true that a decent goalscorer will keep us up, but finding someone capable of replacing Carroll would be very difficult. Ideally, we could bring in both: a right winger and a striker that would improve the squad and, hopefully, the first team too. But I think Hughton will be operating on a shoestring.