ohmelads

Smith on the right again :S I think starting Ameobi is the correct decision if Viduka isn't fully fit, as harsh as that is on Martins. I'm also glad Taylor stays in the team.

I think it's very important that we have at least one Geordie on the playing staff who can link the history of the club and the passion of the fans back to the dressing room. I think that Taylor has the potential to be our John Terry or our Tony Adams, the heart beat of our club. We should pay him the going rate for promising young talent at our club, on a par with N'Zogbia or Milner, and I'd be disappointed if he was dissatisfied with that. Agree with that completely. Look at the top clubs around Europe. Maldini at Milan, Puyol at Barcelona, Kahn at Bayern, Man Utd's "class of 92", Carragher/Gerrard at Liverpool, Terry/Lampard at Chelsea, Raul at Real Madrid. I'm not saying Taylor has their ability, but then we aren't Milan or Barcelona either. The point remains the same.

Two wins on the bounce and suddenly things will look rosy again. Spurs still have it all to play for and can't be written off when you look at the quality in their squad, but they've put a huge amount of pressure on themselves by backing themselves in the media so much. I think scoring first and then losing affects the confidence of everyone in the team, people start asking questions of each other. We've had it at Newcastle for years. Spurs need to build from the back and get some clean sheets if they're going to turn things around. I think they have plenty of quality to be playing decent football and scoring goals. It's hard to look past the £16.5M spent on Bent when you look at the problems they have in other areas of the pitch. Still can't get my head around that one.

I think Liverpool will be title contenders this season, they ought to be, having spent a fortune to improve an already top squad. 0-0 at Pompey is not such a bad result. They tend to give the big teams a game at their place. If you want to win the title though, you have to consider that as 2 points dropped. I'd say Chelsea have a better squad. As for Man Utd, time will tell, but there's no doubt that Liverpool have closed the gap with their massive spending this summer.

Got into the Champions League with Andy O'Brien and Griffin in defence as well.

Aye that's a valid point, but it does seem strange to sell a first team player and replace him with a squad player who plays in a different position. He clearly has faith in Milner but if anything happens to him I do think it'll affect us. The fact we sold three wingers (if you count Luque) and bought three CMs suggests we are gearing up for a 4-3-3 formation by default, but the option to change to 4-4-2 is always a valuable one and it concerns me that we only have one right winger. If Milner gets injured, I think we'll be looking very limited in terms of a plan B. Surely one of the main features of a strong squad is having options to change a game? I don't see a great deal of that at the moment. The squad looks very strong in terms of handing an injury crisis and still putting out 11 decent players, and that's significant progress, but the next step IMO will be to improve our options.

If it were at home I might agree, but away from home there are no easy games in the Premiership. It's a cliche, but we seem to slip up at these sorts of places every single season.

Swap Viduka for Martins and that'd be my pick. I'd have Ameobi on the bench as well (in place of Butt or Smith, take your pick), in case Viduka gets injured or just can't be arsed.

I'd keep Taylor in at right back. Dropping someone after a good performance just because a new signing comes in usually isn't good practice. I expect him to take the same approach he took with Cacapa and Enrique and ease Beye into the team. Talking of Enrique, it's been more than long enough now, we need to get him playing because we have a tough run of games coming up. Starting against Derby would be preferable to starting him against Everton, Arsenal, Tottenham or Man City, who are all just around the corner. Smith should be dropped simply because he isn't a winger. Enrique's introduction would allow us to move Zoggy forward and switch Milner back to right wing. Viduka and Owen up front seems logical. In central midfield there's a selection issue with Emre returning. We need his creativity, and I'd be tempted to drop Butt and play Geremi alongside Emre. We are away, but after a 6-0 drubbing at Liverpool you can be sure Derby will be getting everyone behind the ball. Lastly, I'm not too fussed who plays in goal. Personally I'd bring Given back, but there's a good case for keeping Harper who has been very good so far.

I'd rather we went down the road of signing younger players as cover/competition. The cost of signing them can be offset by the significantly lower wages, and what they might lack in experience they can make up for in a desire to play for the club. Someone like Ze Maria as cover would only really be coming here for one reason and further reduces the chances of someone like Steven Taylor getting a game.

One dimensional? We have 3 players too similar to each in midfield. Some decent forwards and a bloke who can lift a ball but struggles to cross it. Seriously, Smith and Milner are good squad players. The other two we sold are far better suited to what we need right now and both played very well together in successful NUFC sides. Despite what the revisionists may have you believe. I agree with every word of that. Dyer's injuries and Solano's age/family issues meant there was a good case for selling both, but replacements were needed. Effectively two first team places were freed up but apparently Smith is a squad signing, so it's fair to say one of them was not replaced. In terms of their pace and guile, respectively I can't see that either were replaced when I look at the signings who came in. It leaves us with a job to do in January, but for now we can only hope Milner stays fit and on form. Considering Smith was the joint most expensive signing this year it seems strange that the vast majority of us probably wouldn't put him in our first XI.

The loss of Dyer and Solano without replacements took the shine off the transfer window for me. That pace and creativity has not been replaced. Smith came in, but we're yet to identify his role in the first XI, if he even has one. I think this is an issue which may well need addressed in January, because if Milner picks up an injury we will be back to putting square pegs in round holes. For all our squad depth, it just takes one injury for that to happen, which is disappointing. IMO it is the highest priority position for strengthening. I know there's a lot of talk about a classy player in the middle of the park. Well that'd be nice, but we've got loads of cover already for that position and would possibly have to break the bank to guarantee major improvement over the likes of Barton, Geremi et al, who are decent enough players. At right wing, a modest sum could go a long way to improving our options and many believe a decent sum would give us a significant improvement on Milner. I'm still a bit undecided on Milner, the arguments against him are very convincing but then there's no getting away from the fact he has been our most creative player on the ball this season and doesn't deserve to be singled out the way he is. Presuming we only have a few million to spend in January, I think a quick right winger would give us cover, competition and perhaps most importantly the option to change a game in our favour. If we're too one-dimensional we'll find ourselves dropping points to bottom-half teams who we can't break down and to get where we want to be, we can't afford to be doing that too often.

Viduka's contribution has been very limited so far. He simply doesn't have it in him to be doing the donkey work up front all on his own. He's never had that kind of workrate and certainly doesn't have the legs. Villa could effectively forget about him, he posed no kind of threat whatsoever. It was painful to watch, at times he looked like Shearer in his final season. Ameobi came on in the second half and showed more than Viduka had all game. Athletically Ameobi wins on most counts IMO but technically Viduka is miles ahead. I honestly believe there will be games where Ameobi is the better option as a lone front man. Ameobi may be a frustrating player in many ways but if we're hell bent on this 4-3-3 formation he'll be at least as effective as Viduka. Ideally I see this formation as a last resort, a means of stifling the best teams from playing, but if we must play it then Viduka's role must be reconsidered IMO. In a 4-4-2 though we can use him and Owen to their strengths.

You'll be fine.

The Sunday Sun have quotes from him saying he wants to go back to Galatasaray.

I don't think it's any coincidence that Emre came to life when played alongside Butt, because the two had clearly defined roles. Butt sat back, Emre got forward, there was a good balance there and we were playing some good football, in spite of all the injuries and limited options. Injuries and Parker's return put an end to all that, though. Sam has come in and sold Parker while keeping Emre, so he'll surely get a chance which I think is justified given his ability. Having seen how Sam has turned around players like Diouf and Anelka to some extent, it's worth seeing how Emre'll get on before we cut our losses.

Emre formed a good partnership with Butt and we picked up some good results with those two in the middle. It seems incredible that two successive managers would make the same mistake but I think that's what happened, as you say Parker was given attacking license while Emre was told to protect and it suited neither player. Because Roeder made Parker captain he didn't have the balls to drop him, and I remember Souness saying he thought Emre was a defensive midfielder. Emre's problems are obviously about consistency and injuries, one possibly to do with the other. Keep him fit and I think he'll find consistency. The main challenge for Allardyce will be to keep him fit all season. The thing I like about him is he sees things early, plays the ball early and spreads the play from flank to flank. One of the problems of recent seasons has been players like Parker and Jenas who weren't willing to take a chance and run at people or play ambitious passes, instead deciding to turn around and play it sideways or backwards. In the end both took flak from the fans and wanted out at the first opportunity, which I think tells us something about their characters. It just goes to show that our fans aren't just about big tackles but appreciate a player who can drive forward and take a chance now and again. We've really missed Emre and Barton so far, the sooner the two are available the better. I still believe Emre has the potential to be a crowd favourite here, but the injuries have to stop.

On form he's as good a shout as anyone. The England team is seldom really picked on form though.

I hope he hasn't been tapped up. I doubt he's asking for "John Terry wages", it might be that the club have taken his "geordie loyalty" for granted in an effort to trim the wage bill. Milner and Zog have just had new offers, I'd imagine he's comparing his to theirs. I really hope this is sorted out. It just goes to show that while Sam's efforts to bring in experience and short term guarantees are commendable, the long term future of the club must be secured. To lose Taylor over this would set a very poor precedent for a club well known for its poor youth development. The only promising youngster we get coming through the academy in years and we blow it, we can't afford that.

I think the situation should be judged in context. It's been a good start to the season, no doubt about that, but on paper it's also been a gentle introduction. Basically Derby is a must-win game in my book, because after that we face a revitalised West Ham followed by Man City, Everton and Spurs. Those games will give us a real measure of where we are. The only decent team we've faced (Villa) contained us very easily, so we still have a long way to go. Picking up the 'easy' points is what it's all about, I've always maintained that you don't need to be that good a side to finish high up, keep beating the bottom half teams and you're most of the way there. As you say this window has come at a good time the new arrivals, gives them a bit of time away from the spotlight to sort out their personal lives and get their sh*t together in time for Derby. We'll probably face an extremely cautious Derby side after their 6-0 thrashing, I wouldn't have thought they'll be very adventurous and they'll put a lot of bodies behind the ball. I'd go with 4-4-2 myself because of this. With Owen back it'll be very interesting to see what Sam picks for this match.

Baba and Carr are the final two wasters, still leaching off the club. The fact Sam has signed Beye and Enrique suggests he'll look to ship them out when some backup is found. Personally I can't wait, they're a symbol of where we've gone wrong in recent years.

Brilliant news. Still a bit of a rough diamond IMO but there is a lot there to work with, he could become brilliant. To think with Roeder in charge we probably wouldn't have him right now.

After a brilliant pre-season his form has dipped a bit. I don't think he's playing poorly as a few have suggested, rather just average. When Barton, Butt, Faye, Emre and Smith are all vying for those two or three positions then there may be times when he's not worthy of a first team place. Problem is there's no outstanding, undroppable player in our squad (yet). There are even calls to drop the likes of Owen and Given. One might yet emerge, but it could cause a stir taking the captaincy off Geremi permanently. I guess Sam will have to try and play down the significance of the armband early doors.

You can't trip someone over with your face. The keeper has taken a kick in the face and if anything Henry has fouled the keeper. If this had happened at the other end of the field Barcelona would have been livid. The camera behind the goal shows perfectly clearly that the only contact is between Henry's boot and the keeper's face. The referee is a good 30 yards back so perhaps he can be forgiven for giving the decision.

Controversial in what way? Controversial is putting it lightly, it is never a pen. Henry has passed the ball and realised noone is in the box so instead he has tried to wrap his leg around the keeper and flung himself to the floor. Absolute joke of a penalty. Absolute joke of a post. You cannot say Henry has tried to win a pen. It is clear to anyone who has watched it that although the pass was misplaced their is nothing Henry can do to get out of the way of the keeper who comes sliding out. I suggest you watch it again. Henry knew what he was doing, as diablo rightly points out there is nothing the keeper can do.