ohmelads

Yeah I noticed Sam told Oba and Milner to switch flanks within the first 15 or so minutes because you could see straight away that Young had been told to give Carr a hard time and Oba wasn't giving him enough protection.

Apart from his one comedy moment, can you give any examples to back that up? He was beaten in the air once or twice by Carew, but stood his ground. He was leading the defence yesterday, his positioning was excellent and he was playing it out along the ground, which is more than can be said for Rozehnal who was part of the problem with his long balls costing us possession and putting people under pressure. I thought Rozehnal "got away with it" a few times where he let players outmuscle him or get goal side of him, and he broke ranks once or twice as he got drawn towards the ball. I don't want to be too critical of him because he does have qualities, he's certainly quick, tall, seems to have a decent enough reading of the game and he's a calm head at the back, but as Sam alluded to before the Bolton game he can't afford to be doing these things in the Premiership because once managers are aware of his weaknesses they will look to expose him. Hopefully in time he'll get to grips with what the Premiership is all about, I think he has what it takes. Getting back to Taylor, I thought he was very solid yesterday and certainly didn't look like a 21 year old in the heart of our defence. Very professional performance, barring his one 'moment'.

I agree about Dyer, I was a bit surprised at all the reaction when he left, because Smith is not a like for like replacement. We've lost valuable pace and direct running from midfield and people were happy about it, but yesterday provided a small reality check I think. I do believe Zoggy coming into midfield when Enrique's available will give us more options though, as we can go with two genuine wingers, an option not available to us yesterday and one Villa took advantage of I thought.

A lot of money and wages for a 31-year old. I tend to think though that the cost of sticking with a sh*te player like Carr can be greater over the course of an entire season. Belletti will be more effective at both ends of the field, but represents a very short term solution.

Is this the way things are going to be all season? This thread is a knee jerk reaction itself, there's hardly any doom and gloom about man. Most people were philosophical after the match and admitted there's work needs to be done. Then I read all this stuff like "ffs it's week 2 chill out man your fickle as f*** you". Why don't we just call a spade a spade, give Sam/the team praise where they've done a good job, and constructive criticism where they haven't? To say "we did have our chances" sounds good but it's not true and I doubt any neutral watching that match or any Villa fan would agree with that assertion. Taking a step back, 4 points from 6 is a decent enough start, but there's a lot of work to be done yet and most of the reactions I've heard/read were in relation to the performance and not the result, which is fair enough.

He did cut inside way too much, but I thought he felt a bit uncomfortable taking risks because of the huge gap he'd be leaving behind him. The couple of times he tried to skin his man in the first half he skipped past him with ease. Whether Sam told him to go easy or whether it was his own doing, we don't know. Like against Sampdoria, move him onto the wing and he'll be a lot more willing to take players on and make things happen. When Enrique is in the team and N'Zogbia can play left wing we'll see him taking on players more I think, as we did when he moved up to the wing against Sampdoria and changed the game.

I think the vast majority of the fans in the ground agreed yesterday that we needed to go two up front with two wingers quite early in the game. While there's 2 points to gain and 1 to lose, Sam's a cautious manager who would rather not lose the game and I think our approach reflected that. However there will be poor teams who come to St James' hoping we line up like that because they will do the same and look to cancel each other out and maybe nick a winner. We need to be prepared to go 4-4-2 when sides like Wigan come looking to stifle us.

Milner's actually one of our most creative players. His crosses have improved unbelievably and his control of the ball is quite supreme now. His development as a player over the past couple of seasons is unparalleled with anyone else in the squad. I don't think he lost the ball easily once. Even when he was being marked by two players late in the game, he always made sure he got something out of it, even if it was just a throw-in. If you're going to whinge, at least make sure you know what you're whinging about. The forum's gone berserk in one day just because we drew to a solid team which was organised by someone reknowned for being one of the most solid managers in the game. It's two games into the season. We have 4 points, which is 2 more than Manyoo have, 1 more than Spurs have and 3 more than Villa have. RELAX! Our transfer spending isn't over, our new signings are still adapting and our defence kept a clean sheet yesterday. We're also missing our vice-captain who's also our most consistent performer, our 'best' striker is not near match-fit and we're playing our best left-winger at left-back. The best is yet to come, the world's not ending, it's not going to go downhill for here, just be patient and lower your expectations. Good points. I espescially agree on Milner, how anyone can criticise him at the moment is beyond me. In some ways yesterday's result was needed, because there were too many fans who needed to take a step back. This game presented more questions than answers. Can Martins play in that deeper wide right/left role? Personally, I think he needs to be playing further up the pitch to be effective. Noone was ever going to set him free with a through/long ball yesterday because he always picked it up with defenders to beat. Time will tell. Will 4-3-3 work? In time probably, but at home I think we need to be prepared to go for 3 points against teams like Villa. The team was crying out for wingers yesterday, and something more than Viduka to aim at, but we were paranoid of losing the midfield. Part of the reason we lost the midfield at times was because their defence wasn't at all scared of Viduka's "pace" and pushed right up, leaving us outnumbered in that area. Two strikers up front and I doubt Villa would have had that luxury. When Owen came on, Villa sat a bit deeper. Villa would also have been happy about our lack of width or pace in midfield/up front as it made their job a lot easier. Villa deserve some credit for a thoroughly professional away performance. But we made them look good because we never asked any questions of them. Teams shouldn't be coming to St James' and getting an easy ride like that. It was the performance that got me more than the result, 4 points out of 6 is a decent enough start but there's a reason we're almost 10 hours without a goal at St James' and it's because of tepid performances like this. Lots to work on.

If Allardyce is going to be heavily praised for what he's achieved, I think he has to take a bit of constructive criticism for what went on out there today. Quite simply there was no movement, no pace, no width, for large parts of the game we were playing way too deep, it was desperate stuff. I'm a bit surprised by all the positive reaction on Rozehnal. He's impressed me in pre-season, and I know there's always supposed to be the benefit of the doubt with new (and foreign) signings, but I thought he didn't take enough responsibility today, and left Taylor doing a lot of the work. He gets pulled out of position quite easily, bombs forwards for 'all or nothing' tackles and shy's out of the odd balls that centre backs really should be winning. He didn't have a bad game, no major mistakes to speak of, but he's not deserving of all this praise. For a defender who wears white boots and apparently fancies himself as a cultured ballplaying defender, he did an awful lot of hoof and hope when the likes of Butt, Smith and Geremi were giving him options. Taylor made one shocking mistake which could have been costly, but apart from that he was solid, and yet he doesn't get a mention. Seems to be the way at the moment. Milner deserves a mention, as the only player in black and white willing to find space and run at people. Zog tried to make forays forward but cut inside way too much. Viduka looked way off the pace and was rightly replaced by Ameobi. Martins had another one of those days, he needs to be playing further up the pitch to be effective. There's still a lot of hard work to be done. We didn't stretch them and never deserved anything more than a point. Throughout the game we were hoping for a 30 yard screamer, a corner, a free-kick, a dodgy pen. A goal was never going to come from open play, we could have played for hours. I hate to say it but we could really have done with Dyer and Solano today. It's all well and good having shiny new players but the pace, directness and creativity of those two was in bloody short supply today.

From our favourite local journalist today:

Good news. The BBC site did have him as a starter earlier, but then changed his name for Meite. Looks like Faye once again hasn't travelled.

Tbf it's mostly just people on here trying to appear cynical and clever. Talk to people in town and the vast majority will tell you they're happy for him. The criticism of Taylor on here is over the top, it really is.

Tbh mate you come across as very typical of the Sky Sports middle class prawn sandwich fan yourself. What's the matter, don't want to be assosciated with the riff raff? Sounds like you should be watching it at home, on Sky Sports.

You had better be f*cking joking.

He has to understand the fans' frustration, the club's record signing for £16M, one of the biggest names in English football, and he barely plays in two years yet seemingly rushes back from injury when England come calling. I suspect he'd have left given the chance, but I won't hold that against him because I believe he's a professional who will always give 100% on the pitch. I just hope he answers his critics on the pitch, if he does that he'll get the praise he deserves, you can be sure of that.

Agree 100% with all that.

Maybe not, but by the time Woodgate and Ferdinand were 19 it was fairly obvious that they were exceptional. Both had full caps at that age too. To be fair in recent years it's been very difficult for any young centre back to get anywhere near the England side, even Carragher has struggled to get a game and has retired early as a result. Some players respond well to an England call up, others like Jenas feel they've "made it" as someone said earlier and become very complacent. Taylor, ever since he came into the Newcastle side, has been overcompetitive and desperate to succeed, determined to nail down a place in the team with every performance. I think a taste of action with the England team will only give him more encouragement to keep going, and will be a great experience for him as well.

Agree with your sentiments. Some people don't seem to like Taylor because of his character, but I'd much rather see a player so desperate to win every game he plays in than someone like Jenas. If Taylor is inexperienced it's because at times he is overcompetitive, but I've seen far worse attributes in players of his age. With a better defence around him, better midfield in front of him, better management and now England recognition, this is the season for him to step up to the next level. He strikes me as a lot more determined than the likes of Jenas, I think this is great news for him and for us.

I think this game could see Enrique, Cacapa and any other new signings (Faye?) getting their first starts for us. I don't see them getting a start tomorrow or away to Boro (barring injuries), so this game seems like a perfect opportunity for them to get off to a winning start, a very winnable game shall we say at home, followed by another home fixture to Wigan. Seems like the perfect time, they should be around full fitness by then.

Most people know he'd rather be wearing a black and white one given half a chance. I know, I don't have anything against him personally, but while he's a mackem I hope everything goes wrong for him on the pitch.

I find it impossible to wish Chopra well while he's wearing a red and white shirt.

No idea of the statistics but I'd say far more shocks happen when a big team is away from home. I'm usually grateful for any home draw, even against the big teams, as I always see it as a chance to put them out on our ground rather than play them in a neutral venue or even at theirs later in the tournament. My attitude is usually if we lose a game like this we simply don't deserve to be in the tournament. We'll need to put out a decent team, but I think there's room for a few fringe players with a strong bench.

Don't see the need for a scoreboard, football is a low scoring game, is it really so difficult to keep track of the score?

Not the easiest out there, but it's at home. I'd have taken that.

Refs tend to give the benefit of the doubt to the major teams because if they don't give the decision and they're found to be wrong the media backlash is even worse. I think it becomes a natural reaction to err on the side of caution and give stuff the way of the 'big team'. Not just in this country or even this sport. Can you imagine Chelsea, Liverpool or Man Utd were denied a blatant pen in the last minute because the ref had doubts, the ref would take a hammering in the media and his reputation would suffer. It's a lot easier to give decisions the way of the big guns and be called one or two names for that, because it dies down a lot quicker. The same goes for big players too. We still talk about Shearer being sent off by Rennie for doing nothing wrong. If that had been a lesser player, who would still talk about it? Or even remember which ref had given it? (Of course, you do get one or two refs who seem to enjoy sending off big names). If we got ourselves among the top 4 clubs in this league consistently over 5 or 10 years we would see more of these decisions and 'benefit of the doubt' coming our way too.