M4

There you go... you're falling into the "big man" trap aswell! The man can't jump, having him as keeper would worse than having Martins in goal

I'd like to echo what Brummie posted last night: "Chelsea, on pretty much any level you care to look at it, are a vile club." This only adds to it whether he left or he was sacked actually. A very fitting outcome.

... and Barca pile on late on Lyon, Henry netting!

PS: fucking Pattison!

^ Bit harsh... he does seem to like his horsies though Having personally gone through the whole serious footballing knee injury thing, thought it was very interesting.

Did he fuck. He said it shouldn't be a peno, aye, but he still clearly tried to score it. I thought he did score it? Saved by Seaman, rebound knocked in by McAteer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biE_xQRQUQM ... don't know why he quoted it though

Are you kidding? Er... it is. No so sure, Sam will probably have Viduka and Ameobi start.

Same kind of trouble Shearer had during his first season at Newcastle no? If so (and if true) then let's see, Alan was out for just over a month, so Owen could be out for a year!

exactly... it's sickening. Yet always the same with Porto.

Porto are some of the worst and regular cheats the world has ever seen though tbf!

Huh, very cool indeed.

Ok... clearly just a wum now, you went too far

What? He had a poor game yesterday, with his delivery especially, but he's been our best player this season so far. Moron.

^ claims that he is a "good squad player", that we should keep him "just in case", or should play "only in an emergency" annoy me greatly too. The comparison with Bramble is clear... at the end of the day, he's shit. He's had about 6 years at the club as first team squad man, is now in his mid-20s... he might come along with the odd goal, but the risk-reward equation is far too askew. He simply should not be playing and we should get shot of him. Had he not been out on loan, I would have prefered Carroll to start if Sam wants a big man up front.

I have no problem with him coming off the bench from time to time... But if he is on the bench from the start then the starting attack has to be worth it and make sense. ie have Owen+Viduka or Owen+Smith up top. Having Shola is like a double whammy, straight out of the Roeder/Souness school of logic. What annoys me more isn't so much the fact Ameobi played yesterday, but the fact Allardyce fell for the Shola=big man who wins headers etc.. trap. After his contribution in the Wigan game, I thought Martins deserved to start last night.

Still a great squad player though for some...

Shola = useless... meh that's old news man. Been telling everyone since 2005. I've always jokingly referred to Adebayor as a rich man's Ameobi. At the start of his Arsenal days he would score the odd goal, but be very poor in overall play. Often not keeping up with other's skills or plays and giving the ball away. But after the start of this season it's a laughable comparison. Adebayor has learned and worked hard and looks a quality player at the moment. Shola has been the exact same player since 2003. Amazes me how people can still have any lingering hope he will learn anything. Maybe another hip operation would do the trick

That's a valid argument when you draw 0-0 at home to Villa... not when you lose (patheticaly) to a team who recently lost 6-0.

... well if this defeat means Shola will never play again for us, then it will have been totally worth it! Sadly I have doubts of that happening. My Allar-faith has taken a bit hit tonight. PS: I hate international breaks too!

worst under the new regime aye. This is pretty standard by last season's... standards.

nah thats bullshit. we've played shite tonight, but i'm not going to start a witchhunt against our only decent manager since bob on the basis of one defeat. utter fucking bullshit. I still have complete faith in him... but as I said he has to take a lot of the blame for this particular fiasco. I really question his team selection, very unsettling anyone can make a mistake though. Definitely... hopefully he can learn from it.

nah thats bullshit. we've played shite tonight, but i'm not going to start a witchhunt against our only decent manager since bob on the basis of one defeat. utter fucking bullshit. I still have complete faith in him... but as I said he has to take a lot of the blame for this particular fiasco. I really question his team selection, very unsettling

Exactly. From the nonsensical team selection to the dire performance on the pitch... depressing. Allardyce has to take a lot of the blame if we don't get anything from this.

Gutted for Roze.... could have been a quality finish