Kanji

He was tremendous man, glad you've brought that up. It always takes players different amount of time to adapt to the premier league, some come in and slot in straight away and some don't. Before his sending off he looked absolutely the player I thought he would be for us. We need to find an accomplished, experienced organizing centre half that a strong enough to handle your Benteke type CFs as well as be the right partner for Mapou going forward.

I clapped him off because from where I was sitting it looked like he'd played well and been sent off harshly. I still think it was harsh but I wouldn't have clapped him off if I'd seen him putting his hand on Suarez because that was asking for a card. Imo, in those situations you take the risk of them scoring and not giving the referee a decision to make. It is the logical conclusion but in the heat of the moment and as a defender you do what you can to stop goals... Better defenders make the right decisions though in those situations. You can coach that out of him. He played marvelous leading up to it.

Taylor or Dummett then...what about Curtis Good?

No need to call him a donkey. Nothing wrong with showing support for a young lad who's new to the club who we've paid good money for to do well and rally around his good performance leading up to the send-off. It was silly decision by him, calling him a donkey is a bit rude no? There's also nothing wrong in getting angry at a player much older, much senior than him doing the same thing when he should be more experienced than to do that. Taylor's send-off this season was deliberately elbowing his man on the opening night of the league. Mapou put his arm on Suarez and "dragged" him down trying to defend a goal scoring opportunity. Big fucking difference between the two as well.

I touched upon this in the Mike Ashley thread, I'd support any ownership coming in and wanting to build a winning club - be it, Man City type big spending or measured annual investment with a commitment to putting a winning team on the pitch. In the end, I just don't want an owner messing about with the fans like our current one clearly has done. But I draw the line when the club's name is changed, colors are messed with and the badge is re-done that removes the history of the club (If we somehow had a 3rd kit with one of our older badges or something like that, I'd not be opposed to that...but would defer my opinion on badge/history items to the local supporters...) That's really where I stand on the matter of ownership.

I'm proud of the effort and fight, it showed me these guys care and just maybe we start putting in some consistent performances? Going down a man in our recent history generally means we fall apart. Not yesterday, we fought incredibly hard to try and win the match, ultimately getting 1 point.

As a professional player you'd think players would take pride in not going down like a gun was fired at first sign of contact in the box to gain a penalty kick and send off your opponent. I recall years ago Robbie Fowler getting a penalty in his favor which he did not agree with and he pleaded for it to not be a penalty. You just don't see that anymore man it's a shame. Way too many fouls and cards these days, people say "it's rule of the game" Etc, but well..,those rules are crap and need some changing. It's senseless stuff how many yellows were brandished today for soft tackles. I'll always point to the Callum Macca tackle not getting a single punishment, card nothing. But Mapou puts his hand on the back/arm of Suarez who goes down instantly and it's within the rules to send him off. Great rules.

What really boils my blood is exactly what you said in the first sentence Mick; players should be embarrassed going down with that type of contact. Hand on arm and he goes down screaming and flailing his arms. Can't stand Suarez, I don't even give a fuck about his "brilliance" anymore, despise everything about that prick.

He looked a leader out there today

Remy & HBA are going to tear these lot apart.

I think the fact he played so good before the sending off will do wonders for him. Pards should absolutely be saying to him "Look, what happened happened, but you staying on and we would have won the match, you were tremendous. Soon as you're back from suspension, go show everyone that type of performance again"

Man if only he made that pass to Hatem when he made that excellent tackle in the middle of the park... Thought the captain's armband suited him today, he was shouting about - looked a real leader out there.

This for me, if Taylor/Colo can't play...Dummett or Good at CB?

He's a shouter and organizer - watch him whenever they have the ball he's holding his position and barking orders to his fellow CB to hold the line, move up, etc. He's essential to us right now, crazy enough.

:rant:Scratching my head about this fella. There are times every pass and dribble works...then there are times like the last 3 times he's played where nothing works.

I'm wondering if Tiote was hurt and got up and ran forward? Thought he was.... His confidence shouldn't be shattered; he didn't get undone for a half and we conceded a ton or something - he played wonderfully before the red which he can learn from.

Thought he was down, hurt or something?

He looks like the Cabaye I remember from his first season. He's playing with a point to prove, awesome stuff.

The worst thing you do from this is beat down on Mapou after team put in a shift to get a point. The best thing you do is to big up a young man's confidence and tell him he was outstanding before the send off and that's the type of football that validates why we signed him and why we believe in him to be a future star for the club.

You CAN forgive it when we got a point from it and you realize he's our player and he'll learn from this, we need him to. The potential is all there to see.

He just looks a real class player in the making. I'm urging him to cement himself as our future LB, yes at the expense of Santon....I sound mad, but I just really like this kid.

He's a fighter, its what I really like about him. He played well against speedy and tricky wide players and held his positional discipline.

We were, but if Mapou doesn't take down Suarez and he scores - I'm wondering if we would have fought back or would have layed down. The sending off almost felt like the players thought they were wronged by the ref so they were fighting together. But totally hear what you are saying Bimp mate.

Of course they were for the taking.... we had the lead twice. With that said a draw was a fair result in the end, if only we would defend like that most weeks and we'd be alright. Nice to see Debuchy and Santon not out of position constantly for once. I'm seriously thinking the organizing influence of Big Mike has made a hell of a difference. I also think AP has probably instructed the backs to not venture as far forward, it was very clear Debuchy wasn't bombing on as much, only at more of the right times.

I'm with this post. I also just hate the soft overdramatic contacts that become more than they should. Call me old school at heart. I know what you mean, it's not really a foul that's worthy of a red. The problem is that you have to have a punishment that stops people just bringing down every forward who's through on goal. Yeah, and I won't even pretend say I know what a better way or better solution would be. If we want to talk letter of the law with Mapou's red, then Gerrard's professional foul on Remy should have seen yellow with letter of law and he should have went off, right?