ohmelads

This is our biggest concern because Ben Arfa was clearly signed instead of a new forward (due to his quality, availability and versatility I expect) and he is now out for most of the season. Hughton couldn't really legislate for that, it's just a major blow. In January I think Ashley will have to get the cheque book out for a striker because we need one anyway and even moreso now with Ben Arfa's injury. Move on the dead wood like Xisco and Best and use those wages to bring someone in.

We were undone by a great individual goal and an awful referee. Most neutrals agree we deserved something from the game and were unlucky. I think Hughton got his tactics spot on yesterday and this in spite of losing a key player 4 minutes into the game and going behind soon after to a bullsh*t penalty. Credit where it's due for Hughton, it was a good performance which nullified City's threats for long periods and created chances of our own. A cruel defeat in a very difficult fixture.

Huge blow to our season. Massive. Just got to hope he comes back 100%. Not everyone does after an injury like this. People can lose a bit of confidence in their body, just look at Fernando Torres. And you can also lose a yard of pace, like Shearer after his leg break. There's no doubt City had a gameplan to go in hard on Ben Arfa. I'm certain that if that tackle had been by one of our lot and resulted in a leg break the ref wouldn't have hesitated to produce a red. He gave every decision to the home side yesterday and got them all wrong. Anything but a home win to the 'big' teams and these refs are worried they'll be in the papers on Monday morning. Screw over the 'less important' teams and noone really cares. All we want is a fair referee every weekend, is it so much to ask? I hope this news will galvanize the squad because we will be relying on teamwork from now on. We've just lost probably our most gifted and creative player. Get well soon Hatem.

Hard to argue with any of that. We should really be going 4-4-2 against Stoke and Blackpool at home though, and I feel we have paid the price for over-respecting these teams. When weaker teams come to our ground, we look like we can put these teams on the back foot and should look to take advantage. Carroll on his own, it plays into these teams' hands. That was Hughton's mistake, but hopefully we will have two up top for Wigan at home. As for Man City, that's more the sort of game you'd expect the 5 man midfield.

Over the 6 games, I think he's struggling a bit. But in spite of the own goal yesterday I thought he did alright to be honest. When Steven Taylor's fit I think he'll be first choice in that position, simply because he can defend better than the other three. In the meantime, I think I'd drop Perch for Raylor or Simpson. He looks like handy backup to have in defence and may improve, but so far I can see teams targetting him. Certainly at home against the Stokes and Blackpools, Raylor is likely to put better balls into the box for Carroll.

It felt like someone had to go to accommodate Nolan and it wasn't gonna be Ben Arfa, so Gutierrez went. He hasn't been great but he tracks back, has pace, carries the ball well and links up well with Enrique. Ben Arfa has clearly shown he prefers to operate from the middle and drift out wide now and again. So frutrating because Stoke looked very vulnerable down the right, but out only natural left winger was on the bench. At home we must have players like Gutierrez starting. We don't exactly have a wealth of riches in that position, in fact we've got bugger all so why drop him. Just didn't make any sense to me. Will be interesting against City because there's more reason to pack the midfield for that one. If we do go 4-5-1 I'd rather see Routledge dropped than Gutierrez. At home in a 4-4-2 I see no reason why both shouldn't play.

Routledge hasn't really been good enough but he offers something other players can't which is pace and the ability to carry the ball forward and get us into dangerous positions or win free kicks and corners. He's in the team because of a lack of wingers at the club. Nolan on the other hand, he's not a bad footballer, does the simple things well and knows his limitations, he gets into good positions and can finish. In a team that is all over the opposition he will get goals but in a dogfight you have to question what he brings to the table that can justify his inclusion. He gets outmuscled as a forward and can't beat a man, and gets outran in midfield. I think he'd be a good squad player to have for his versatility and the fact he can play but he doesn't really do enough to make any position his own. We simply need the movement up front and the industry in midfield too much. And the fact we have to shuffle the formation to fit him in takes the p*ss a bit. He is the captain and that suggests he is seen as an important first teamer which is going to give us problems. We're showing teams like Blackpool and Stoke too much respect and we got 0 pts from those games. We have got to go at these teams at home with Routledge and Gutierrez on the wings and the little and large up front with Ben Arfa and Carroll.

Agree about the lack of movement up front. Carroll's partly to blame, it wasn't one of his better games. We really need a more attacking shape against teams like Stoke and Blackpool at home. 4-4-2 with Ben Arfa central off Carroll with Gutierrez on the wing would give us more options in the final third. We weren't lacking width but we were lacking runs into the box. I thought Hughton was a little bit negative with the formation but to be fair we were playing good stuff in the first half. It was good to see us utterly control the half. I thought Hughton's subs weren't bad to be fair, Ben Arfa and Tiote weren't getting into the game and he had to do something because Stoke were getting into the game more and more. I thought the players took too long to react to Stoke's second half revival. We should have been slowing the game down and keeping possession, frustrating them and hitting them on the counter. In other words using our lead. Stoke looked more up for it second half and we have been mugged a bit really because we didn't deserve to lose. As for Pulis's comments about play acting, I'm not sure what game he was watching. It's a bit rich coming from him given the amount of time wasting Rory Delap does drying the ball and dusting himself off for a f*cking throw in. If he takes 20 or 30 seconds to take a throw in he should be booked.

Absolutely we have to go for it. We can beat any of the teams left in it on our day, espescially given Arsenal and Man Utd tend to play a younger team. Draw them at home and who knows? Last year I thought this was a big distraction because we had a 46 game season - 8 more than Prem clubs. But the Carling Cup is not a long competition - the route to the final is quite short.

They've got worse and worse. Lawrenson has always been an awful pundit, he's just a miserable sarcastic c*nt. Lee Dixon's usually alright, tends to offer a bit of insight.

Give Krul his chance. Bring Forster back or bring in a backup keeper on loan, from Chelsea or someone. I think we should look at the greater good here, we have a good young keeper who has waited patiently for his chance. If we take a former player who f***ed off as we were fighting the drop and throw him back into the first team, it sends out completely the wrong message. I like to think we have moved on from that relegation season and entered a new era. Imagine Given came in and had a couple of bad games - people would be on his back straight away. He'd be under the spotlight, it would bring unwanted attention. Imagine he comes in, plays brilliantly, and after a couple of months buggers off back to City. It would make a mockery of Krul's role at the club. If the club thinks Krul isn't good enough to deputise for a couple of months then he shouldn't have been on the bench. From the little I've seen of him he looks like a quality young keeper who simply needs games. Surely there is a recall clause in Forster's contract? It would have been madness to send him out on loan without one.

I'll be amazed if he doesn't make changes after a 2-0 home defeat to Blackpool. I'd like to see Ben Arfa off Carroll in a 4-4-2, but I think he might leave Ben Arfa til the second half and pack the midfield with a view to grinding a draw or nicking a 1-0 win. It's a toughie because Everton have quality in midfield which will tempt Hughton to put an extra man in there but I think we need to give them something to worry about up front or we will be under pressure all game.

Not a bad shout. When's the last time he played there though? It'll most likely be Ryan Taylor to come in. I still maintain Steven Taylor is the best right back at the club, he walks into the team at right back if he's fully fit. I'm just not convinced by the other three defensively, and they certainly don't offer enough going forward to make up for it. The Perch signing is a bit of a strange one as was the Leon Best signing. Players we didn't espescially need.

If fit, I reckon it'd be Shola first choice to replace Carroll, with Nolan, Ben Arfa, Loven or whoever playing off him. Xisco or Best if they ever turn up. I reckon he sees Ranger in the same 'big striker' category as Shola and Carroll - don't see him getting many games unless they're both crocked. I'm surprised he hasn't been sent out on loan with a recall clause to be honest, he has real potential but he's at the age where he really needs games to develop. I agree most of these are not names that will scare opposition managers. We have no choice but to see what happens between now and January. Xisco and Best at the moment look like dead wood so the aim would probably be to offload both and bring a new forward in.

We really need Ben Arfa to be a hit up front because other than Carroll, our other strikers are mediocre at best in this division. We really needed a Premiership quality forward but we also needed cover on the wings. I think the club saw Ben Arfa as a way of killing two birds with one stone and a chance to bring in a quality player at the same time. He needs to hit the ground running for our sake though and a lot will probably depend on him and Carroll staying fit.

We are creating chances but the massive priority in the transfer window was always going to be finding a striker who can bang in 15-20 goals this season. Carroll seems to be improving and fills some of the gap, but we needed more quality up front. We didn't sign an out and out striker so I get the impressiong Ben Arfa is our new striker, he just happens to be versatile which is a bonus because we're light on wingers. Can't fault Hughton for picking the same team at Blackpool, his forwards let him down really although it wasn't a good performance either. We need to address this in the next game, get more pace, flair and quality up front because Everton will come out and attack us and if we have height and pace up front we might have chances to hit them on the counter. As countless people have said, I was worried when Nolan was given the captaincy because he is a very droppable player and probably wouldn't feature in most people's best XI. It's high time he was dropped/'rested' for Ben Arfa. I'd keep both our wingers as they are because they're our only pace and creativity really. So Nolan has to go. As for Tiote, hard to say as I have no idea what he's like. It's easy saying drop Smith for him but what if he's been signed as cheap cover? He's 24 and was a bench player in the Dutch league so I'm curious whether he was brought in as a potential first team player for us.

It's his injury record that gets me. I can accept him being a sub-standard player who will play well once in a while, a squad filler who will command a smaller salary and not whinge about regular games but the fact is at times we have been low on players and he's not even available to come in. If he were fit all season I'd accept his role in the squad but due to his injuries he is worth replacing. I think if anything the sheer turnover of injury prone strikers (Bellamy, Kluivert, Owen, Martins, Viduka...) has maintained his presence at the club because we never had the luxury of selling our backup. Now I believe that situation has changed - OK we are not blessed with star strikers but we have bodies who can play there. It goes without saying that if we could get Ameobi, Best and Xisco off the wagebill and replace them with one capable, injury-free striker we'd be better off overall.

Way too early to say they're forgiven, we were favourites to come back up because we should never have gone down in the first place. I thought they struck a bit lucky with Hughton. Let's be honest at the time he looked like a cheap appointment and a yes man who was grateful to be in the job - someone who wouldn't ask awkward questions. Most of us expected a fight to get out of the Championship but in the end he cruised it. Fair play they backed him in January and they've done alright in this window, but it's still very early in the season to make a judgement. They have far from redeemed themselves yet - though I will give them credit that they seem to have (touch wood) learned from some of their mistakes. They're not mouthing off to the press on a regular basis or patronising fans and they're giving their manager a fighting chance in the transfer market. But the gut feeling is they are still blagging it and learning as they go along.

Tough decision for Hughton. We need Ben Arfa match fit quickly and he'll only get that by starting games. Blackpool at home is a good place to throw someone in as there is a chance of goals and plenty touches of the ball, as good a place as any to get off to a winning start and get fitness and confidence. However, if you change a team that is playing well to throw in a player who isn't match fit you run the risk of it all backfiring on you. People talk about ruthless managers but they don't often throw in unfit players because of their reputation. I remember Ferguson bought Evra and Vidic in January but they didn't really settle in until the following season. If you're being ruthless then you drop the player with the bigger profile which is Ben Arfa and stick with the team that's performing for you. Ferguson stuck with Fletcher years back when he was lesser known in spite of bigger names on his bench, because the player was performing. If we're losing/drawing and need creativity, Ben Arfa's a great option off the bench, fresh legs and all that. If we're winning comfortably, he can come on and have a debut playing without any pressure. I'd probably stick with the team which is doing the business and bring Ben Arfa on as sub, and I believe that's what Huhton will do. And I say that as someone who doesn't particularly like Nolan, but credit where it's due he's playing well, linking up well with players around him and on current form deserves to be in the starting lineup.

They've made a decent fist of this transfer window and the club is not the circus that it was, but the rebuilding is still happening and they will be judged on how that pans out. They're rebuilding a mess they largely created and until that's done and there's genuine progress, the jury's out. I still believe from all their comments that their blueprint is to make us a bit of a West Ham, a selling club who produce or find young talent and sell them on at a profit. It's not an ambitious model and I think their original plan, naive as it sounds, was to come here and make a quick buck. Now, that's turned to clawing back his money. Long term, I'd love us to have a new owner. But credit where it's due, I think they have given the manager a fighting chance this time around, and I have confidence in this squad to stay up. More of the same in January would be good, but you always feel with these guys that they're ready to drop a major bollock at any time.

Need to see what Ben Arfa and Tiote are like really, particularly which position Ben Arfa is most effective in. Think it'll be 4-4-2 at home and against weaker Prem teams and 4-5-1 against the big boys.

Well scraping survival would indicate we're not a stable Premier League team yet and could be in for another scrap the following season. Would send the same message out to current and prospective players. Contrast that with a midtable finish which would put out a totally different message and would be something solid to build upon as upposed to scraping above the likes of Blackpool. I think the aim should be mid-table stability. Anything more a bonus. Anything less, we'll fight it out with the other teams down there. I think it sets the wrong mindset targetting mere survival - for Blackpool fair enough but for ourselves I think we must aim higher.

Agreed. Perhaps the intention is to move someone on in the January transfer window, which is roughly when Gosling is expected to be fully fit? How to fit Tiote-Barton-Smith-Guthrie-Gosling into two positions I have no idea. Maybe we will line up 4-5-1 a lot more this season with Carroll the lone front man and Ben Arfa and Gutierrez in the wide positions? That would facilitate 3 centre mids, which is where Hughton has stocked up on players. More confusing for me is why Nolan was handed the captain's armband. If anything, surely Ben Arfa's signing puts his position under real threat? We have a glut of centre mids and quite a few strikers. Carroll could do with some pace and running alongside him and Nolan's one of our slowest and least energetic players, while I don't see a place for him in midfield with 5 centre mids fighting for 2 spots already. Unless Ben Arfa is expected to take Routledge's place on the right wing?

Always felt a forward was a massive priority in this window, but I may have underestimated Carroll's ability to step up and improve. If Ben Arfa can provide a goal threat and supplement Carroll well, then we have a promising forward line. We appear to have a team spirit and that may grind us some results when our key players are missing. That will be key in determining our season. We also have competition for places in most areas of the park. Overall I'm fairly happy, and believe we have the quality to survive. We should be aiming for midtable stability with this squad, not merely survival.

The one thing a season down there gave us that survival wouldn't is it has given players a second chance who may have been moved on otherwise. Players like Enrique and Coloccini have a much better relationship with the fansand are showing more confidence. Similarly, Carroll got the games he needed to develop a lot more quickly. He might not have got half as many games in the Prem. And last but not least, Hughton has learnt his trade and cut his teeth as a manager. He has been afforded the time to stamp his own authority on the squad and earn respect from fans and players. Someone needed the time and circumstances to do that and in the Premier League there is far more pressure. For Hughton and Andy Carroll in particular, relegation was a major opportunity and one they took with both hands. I hope both can make the step up and lead the club forward from here.