Wullie

It's a big problem, not least because opposition teams can just double up on the genuine threat down the left from Enrique, Jonas and Martins safe in the knowledge that we can't switch the play to any effect. Can't get my head round not trying to bring in Lua Lua in this situation. If he turns out not to be good enough, fair enough - I'd rather find out than watch dross like Duff and Geremi try and do a job they're clearly not cut out for.

Knew that would happen ffs.

I'll be mighty pissed off if Shay has suddenly discovered how to save in a shootout.

Bit like me saying I want to win the lottery even though I don't play it. Only if you consider buying hundreds of millions of pounds worth of lottery tickets to be not playing it. I reckon if I did that I'd have more chance of winning than the chance of us being a regular top six Premiership club under the current regime. Mind you, I'd have that if I bought one.

Bit like me saying I want to win the lottery even though I don't play it.

Contradicted yourself there, Smith's lax as fuck. Don't be kidded by the weekly moronic lunge.

Doesn't matter. If someone shoots from 30 yards out towards the left side of the goal, and another player is in an offside position on the other side of the goal and the goalkeeper saves it but only as far as the offside player and he taps it in, it's still offside. Makes sense when you put it like that. I'm still not sure this active-inactive thing is very clear though and anything that upsets Phil Brown is fine by me.

Devil's advocate time, it's interesting, it is offside, at least it should be, and I'd be shouting blue murder if that happened to us but when the ball leaves the head of the Arsenal player (Djourou?), is Gallas "active"? If Myhill doesn't get a touch, the ball wouldn't have looped to Gallas so how can he be active at that point? If it had gone in off the first Arsenal head, let's say, it would have been allowed - so it is only the goalkeeper's interference that allows Gallas to head in, meaning that it is legal because the last touch was from a Hull player?

The one serenading his shorts looks suspiciously like Steve Harper.

It's two games because it's his second red. Usually it would only be a one game ban.

Sounds like he's been reading my plan for when Lee Cattermole next comes to SJP.

:lol: Class. That term should be used more in commentary iyam.

Can't even imagine what it would be like to be at an away game and score when everyone's got a drink in their hand. Hard enough managing to stay in your own row.

Like that.

Always irks me to see Spurs winning, especially the way things are the bottom, but Villa deserve nothing less than they're getting at the moment. Presumably O'Neill will be telling them to lose from now on so they don't have to qualify for that pesky UEFA Cup again.

We must not collapse against Arsenal or Chelsea. Our goal difference could be a massive asset come the last day.

That's Owen when he's fit. When he's not, he won't even touch the ball.

Yeah, the tackle on Gerrard was a definite red and the one on Martins (if I remember correctly) was stopping a probably chance, but not an obvious goal scoring opportunity. The commentary team I had on yesterday (can't remember who) were adamant it wasn't a red card because Rio was behind Vidic and therefore Vidic wasn't "last man". I wish the people who are supposed to be telling me about the game would learn the rules - moreso when they started going on about Man Utd losing Vidic for three games.

His record at Leeds was similar to Shola's. He is, and always has been (other than a brief purple patch when he came onto the scene), utter dross imo. Can remember him playing really well, and scoring a really beautiful finish in that 7-0 win against Roma, or whatever it was. His last competitive goal... Scored a belter for England B just before we signed him as well, played up front with Owen and scored a first time 20 yarder that flew in. I think that was his last shot on target.

Aye but with Beye being a much better footballer than him he can sit back on the bench as far as I'm concerned. ah no doubt, i meant become a rb for the rest of his career. he'll start at RB against arsenal imo though. He's doing alright there because he knows how to get forward (I'd see him up front ahead of Ameobi tbh). If Arshavin turns it on again though, he'll tear him a new arsehole cos the lad can't defend. Surely then we should play our best defender against the Russian. Bassong would put Arshavin in his pocket, would he not? Aye, Fergie is always moving Rio and Vidic to full back against tricky wingers. Aye, almost as often as you move the goalposts. If Arshavin is going to make mincemeat of Taylor we’ll lose by a hatful. So why not get one of our best defenders to mark the Russian out of the game and let Taylor worry about Bartender? Why give our worst defender the hardest task? He's not our worst defender. He's s*** though. And I don't think we should be moving our best (left footed) centre half to right back, no. I think that's a stupid idea. So you’d go for Taylor in the full knowledge Arshavin will tear him an arsehole!? I’d be interested to see how you ranked our defenders? Is Edgar a better defender than Taylor, is Enrique better than Collocini? As Dave says, if Habib's available then I'd pick him. If not, then Ryan Taylor. Is that the same Ryan Taylor who gifted MU three points last week? Aye that's him.

His record at Leeds was similar to Shola's. He is, and always has been (other than a brief purple patch when he came onto the scene), utter dross imo.

Aye but with Beye being a much better footballer than him he can sit back on the bench as far as I'm concerned. ah no doubt, i meant become a rb for the rest of his career. he'll start at RB against arsenal imo though. He's doing alright there because he knows how to get forward (I'd see him up front ahead of Ameobi tbh). If Arshavin turns it on again though, he'll tear him a new arsehole cos the lad can't defend. Surely then we should play our best defender against the Russian. Bassong would put Arshavin in his pocket, would he not? Aye, Fergie is always moving Rio and Vidic to full back against tricky wingers. Aye, almost as often as you move the goalposts. If Arshavin is going to make mincemeat of Taylor we’ll lose by a hatful. So why not get one of our best defenders to mark the Russian out of the game and let Taylor worry about Bartender? Why give our worst defender the hardest task? He's not our worst defender. He's s*** though. And I don't think we should be moving our best (left footed) centre half to right back, no. I think that's a stupid idea. So you’d go for Taylor in the full knowledge Arshavin will tear him an arsehole!? I’d be interested to see how you ranked our defenders? Is Edgar a better defender than Taylor, is Enrique better than Collocini? As Dave says, if Habib's available then I'd pick him. If not, then Ryan Taylor.

Or somewhere in between? Taylor made his full league debut in 2005 at the tender age of 19. Since when he’s had the opportunity to learn his trade by partnering Boumsong, Bramble, Moore, Onyewu, Rozenthal and Cacapa. He’s also been regularly played out of position, and under at least five managers with differing approaches to the game. It’s no surprise his decision making hasn‘t improved. Taylor has all the attributes of a top centre half, except composure. He tries too hard, unlike Bassong who just concentrates on the basics and looks all the better for it. Unfortunately for Taylor the senior pros at the club don’t show any real leadership, and he feels compelled to step into the breach. Probably because he actually cares about what happens to NUFC. Taylor has suffered because far too much has been asked of him. Bassong was utter garbage at left back, which is why he hasn’t been asked to play their again. Taylor on the other hand makes a decent stab at playing out of position so gets asked to sacrifice his own development for the good of the team time and time again. Taylor gets a lot of unwarranted flack. He’s a good player with the right attitude, who‘d blossom at a stable club. If NUFC is to a future we need hang on to players like Steven Taylor. Without wishing to sound harsh, that's a load of rubbish. No it's not. What are "all the attributes" that Taylor has to be a top centre half? Bassong being "utter garbage" at left back is a laugh as well. Him not playing there since probably has more to do with the fact that he's the best centre half at the club by a country mile and the best left back being fit. His passing was certainly laughable, and left backs need to be able to pass the ball. Whereas a centre half can get away with being a bit crap. Bassong has played very well this season. He sticks to what he’s good at and let’s the rest of the team worry about the more complicated stuff. If he'd had been asked to fulfil the role Taylor plays in the team he’d probably have struggled badly. That makes no sense whatsoever. What role are you talking about, centre half? What are these attributes of Taylor's? Everything apart form real pace and the aforementioned composure. The role I’m talking about is one of leadership. The man who has to remind the slackers that winning matters. The man who has to show the quitters that there’s still hope. Taylor’s not up to the job atm, but nobody else is doing it. If he just focused on doing the bare minimum, like Bassong does, he’d be become a far better defender. What on Earth are you talking about, "the bare minimum"? He does his job, centre half and he does it well. Let's not pretend that Taylor's shabby defending over 100+ appearances is due to him being too busy doing the fist pumping and the shirt throwing to actually defend. The fact that you think Taylor has nearly everything is bizarre. Who was it who scored the goal that earned us a point today? That’s right it was Steven Taylor. During open play he took the decision to break forward and get in the box. Faced with the same choice Bassong would have elected to hang back and let somebody else worry about getting something out of the game. Taylor tries to influence events, Bassong merely reacts to them. This isn’t a criticism of Bassong. He knows his limits, Taylor doesn’t. Taylor sees himself as the team’s heart, but he’s not ready for the role and it affects his decision making. So what's his excuse when he's not trying to be centre forward? If you've got a defender who's too busy trying to be the hero up front than do his job then he's a liability, pure and simple.

Aye but with Beye being a much better footballer than him he can sit back on the bench as far as I'm concerned. ah no doubt, i meant become a rb for the rest of his career. he'll start at RB against arsenal imo though. He's doing alright there because he knows how to get forward (I'd see him up front ahead of Ameobi tbh). If Arshavin turns it on again though, he'll tear him a new arsehole cos the lad can't defend. Surely then we should play our best defender against the Russian. Bassong would put Arshavin in his pocket, would he not? Aye, Fergie is always moving Rio and Vidic to full back against tricky wingers. Aye, almost as often as you move the goalposts. If Arshavin is going to make mincemeat of Taylor we’ll lose by a hatful. So why not get one of our best defenders to mark the Russian out of the game and let Taylor worry about Bartender? Why give our worst defender the hardest task? He's not our worst defender. He's shit though. And I don't think we should be moving our best (left footed) centre half to right back, no. I think that's a stupid idea.

What's to be taken with a pinch of salt though? Hughton's already signed up for the future, we know JFK has the offer on the table, the only real news in the article is Calderwood's offer, which I don't have any reason to doubt. It just looks worse when it's put down in print I suppose. Unless JFK decides otherwise, these men are going to be running our club for the foreseeable and we have to bend over and take it.