ohmelads

I won't get drawn into a 'my team is better than yours' debate, you're always going to see your players through the eyes of a Spurs fan and I'll see ours through the eyes of a Geordie. It's easy for you to point and say that youngsters with no Premiership experience will come in and do much better than Milner or Taylor over the next 10 years, but you have no yardstick by which you can say that at all. We've seen it before ourselves with Hugo Viana, he arrived as European Young Player of the Year and was wanted by Juventus. He too had "massive pedigree in his home country" yet he flopped massively. Now we've signed Enrique, Spain's under-21 left back, and we're hoping this turns out to be a success, but we're not shouting from the rooftops that he'll be better than Baines or whoever because we just don't know how good he is yet.

My head says Spurs' home advantage will see them through, but looking at the two midfields I think that battle could go either way and Everton have a better defence in my view. A defeat for Spurs wouldn't be the end of the world, but it would put them in a hole they'd really need to climb out of quickly. The pressure is on Spurs tonight, but I do think they'll shade it.

Or N'Zogbia, Taylor, Milner, Enrique? I see what you tried to do there, but people aren't going to fall for that on a Newcastle board. Dont forget the premiership's top scorer I wasn't going to include him, but seeing as he's happy to use Bent as an example, then yes Martins as well. His point doesn't stand up to scrutiny at all, I don't know why he thought noone would pick up on that on a Newcastle board.

Or N'Zogbia, Taylor, Milner, Enrique? I see what you tried to do there, but people aren't going to fall for that on a Newcastle board.

While there are many people jumping to conclusions after one weekend of matches, I reckon this game tonight could be a good yardstick by which to judge two teams who I feel could be close rivals of ours this season. Am I alone in hoping that Everton take all 3 points and leave Spurs asking questions of themselves? In terms of the resources at their disposal I think they're a bigger threat than Everton although I think Everton look a lot more organised and solid defensively. Should be an interesting game. Any thoughts?

Seen quite a few Spanish games from the Primera plus a couple from the Segunda and Segunda B. Needless to say the atmosphere was better in the lower leagues, but not the kind of attendances you'd find in the Championship for example, people just don't support their local teams anywhere near as much over there. In fact anywhere outside the big cities nearly everyone supports either Real or Barca, it's a real shame but that's the way it is.

Didn't Sam say there's nothing left in England and suggest we'll be looking abroad? Whether he really means that though is another matter.

I think Martins' away form might have something to do with the fact that when we're away, the home side is under pressure to push up and that leaves loads of space for quicker players to get onto long/through balls and get in behind them, espescially when we can break quickly. We were punished this way by Anelka after throwing bodies forward for a corner, despite being 3-0 up.

I think he'd improve the squad no end, but I don't think he'd significantly improve the first team and at 30, for £4m, it's a very short term signing. He's Everton's captain now isn't he? Can't see them selling. I think we can do better, but it wouldn't be the end of the world. He never gets injured, he's quite consistent, very versatile, English, a leader on and off the pitch.

Agree with this. If we get in one more central defender, I'd keep Ramage as 5th choice CB and loan the other two out until christmas. I haven't seen enough of Edgar to comment but Huntington really needs to go out on loan IMO if he's ever going to make it. He just doesn't look confident enough on the big stage, but that can be changed if he's playing every week in the Championship for example. I don't think he looks all that much to be honest, but a lot of that could have been down to confidence issues and playing out of position.

You don't need to be an expert on Thai politics to feel this guy deserves thorough investigation at the very least, considering the accusations made about him from various human rights groups. One way to look at it is that he killed some terrorists and drug dealers and then suppressed a military funded insurgency in the south. I dont know enough about it tbf. Same here, but what the human rights groups (who should be more impartial on Thai politics than Thaksin or his supporters) have been saying is enough for me to believe he's not the sort of guy I'd want in the Premiership. But then again, Abramovich hardly sounds squeaky clean yet everyone's bored of that now so I imagine Shinawatra will go the same way.

The Spanish rags seem confident something will be sorted out this week. Plenty of talk of a loan, though I don't see a lot of point in that. The hope would obviously be that he turns it on playing back in Spain and his price goes up again by which time we cut our losses, but we saw with Viana that it's just as likely his value will drop even further, and he'll be 30 when his loan expires.

You don't need to be an expert on Thai politics to feel this guy deserves thorough investigation at the very least, considering the accusations made about him from various human rights groups.

Can't say I've really noticed him either, though I rarely see Bolton play. He's versatile, but what's his best/preferred position?

Let's not forget just how good Owen is. I don't believe he should walk back into the team and I don't think 4-3-3 would be the best use of his talents, but he's still the best goalscorer in the squad and I'm very happy that he'll be on the bench for Villa. His movement and ability to take precious chances make him a very useful option coming off the bench because he can punish the slightest mistake from tiring defenders and will always find space. He proved at Real Madrid what a good impact sub he can be. Not to mention his return will keep the rest on their toes. Big boost for us ahead of the game.

http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/76077009.jpg?v=1&c=NewsMaker&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1935F875963FC567DB1C52E760880E823E6 I'm guessing it didn't go in, as getty haven't mentioned a goal. Cacapa warming up: http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/76076710.jpg?v=1&c=NewsMaker&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1935F875963FC567DB19E1B455287723018

Well I'm highlighting the worst case scenario, that if we're getting raped down both flanks we do have options to switch it around with Enrique and Geremi. N'Zogbia's pace will help him in a race but his defensive abilities look a bit suspect. Like many wingers when they're trying to defend he seems happy enough to stand off, giving the winger enough time to look up and pick out a dangerous cross. You can see he's a makeshift left back but if he does play hopefully this won't affect him, and I certainly prefer playing him there over someone like Ramage any day of the week. Giving Enrique his debut is a definite possibility, but a midfielder would have to be dropped and the way they've been playing, I don't think that'd be the best thing to do. Seeing Ashley Young getting the better of Finnan on the highlights did make me worry about Carr, but I'd still start him. I think starting the same 11 that controlled the game against Sampdoria and against Bolton would be the sensible thing to do, switching to 4-4-2 if need be.

This is my main concern. They will surely look to exploit our full back positions, where we'll probably have N'Zogbia, a makeshift left back, and Carr, who can be a liability at times and isn't the quickest. Hopefully Rozenhal can deal with Carew whose aeriel threat caused us problems here last time. If N'Zogbia is having trouble I expect Enrique will be on the bench to replace him at left back, while Geremi can always go to right back if Carr is getting murdered down that side, so we do have options. Enrique is said to be very quick and handled Messi no problem according to the Villarreal fans, so he might be the man for this game if Allardyce feels he's ready.

Struggling to think of a reason against this. As you point out, it'd be very handy to be able to put someone like Andy Carroll or Paul Huntington on the bench in case we unexpectedly hammer a team 4-0 and can find place for them in the last 15 or 20 minutes. With 5 subs, we wouldn't risk putting them on the bench (short of an injury crisis), and as a result they get no minutes on the pitch. I'm sure Chopra would have got more appearances for us if there had been 7 subs available for every match.

I think we'll see the same team but a different bench with Enrique and possibly Owen this time around. As with the Bolton game I think it's a case of getting at them early. With a new manager, first home game of the season, the players will have all the motivation they need. I'm quite confident about this one, but Villa are a decent side and have proven they can be a hard team to break down. With height in Carew and pace in the likes of Agbonlahor they have ingredients to give us problems, I just hope we'll have too much for them at home. It's tempting to go 4-4-2 and try to open the game up, letting our superior attacking players and home advantage do the talking, but I'd be happy enough to stick with the team, players and formation which have served us well in recent weeks.

According to .com: Change of thread title?

For once there are selection issues popping up all over, it's great to see such competition for places after almost an entire season of the whole team picking itself.

I didnt On the radio, he was definitely mentioned during the Man Utd match but I didn't hear what it was in relation to.

0-0. We're top of the league for a couple of days.

Think I just heard them mention Sam Allardyce on the match commentary.