Mr Logic

One thing I wonder about.. did #1 - De Jong decide to do that by himself #2 - A few Man City players identified HBA as the main threat and suggested a clatter might reduce his enthusiasm for the game. #3 - Mancini highlights HBA as a main threat in team talk ~ De Jong acts alone from that. #4 - Mancini suggests the clatter in team talk before game.

Gutted...

Not enjoying this heart-stopping high line again though.

Jonas' celebration. Class

Unbelivable start, ffs. HBA is fucked..

Good one from Tiote, milner flattened.

Jonas

Tiote getting a hug from one of the Toure brothers there.

Hope they're right. Hughton is obviously trying to accomodate HBA and the next logical thing is to try him on the right if you're not trying him in the centre.

I wonder if Nolan was in the Tottenham squad would 'Arry would play him in place of VDV?

Possibly clearing by 13:00 hrs (BBC Weather)

Only seen Enrique/HBA combo in one full game plus two part games. Bit early to be making definitive statements I feel.

I would cling to the hope there was an element of doubt for a long time I think, but if it was blatant I'd be disgusted.

Surprising given his goal for them against Norway and the managers previous comments, thought he'd make the squad at least.

It was all very FM-tastic, first the player defends the managers tactics and then the manager bigs up the player. It's all going to end in tears, I just hope it's not 50k geordies weeping come April.

Game is tailor-made to try HBA out in the central position as they're footballers and not spoilers. Nolan will do less than usual against such players. It will be Nolan to play of course.

Pretty much how I feel. Can't for the life of me see what Hughton is seeing. His comments today regarding how important Nolan was gave me a shiver, if he can't see HBA would offer so much more in the same position, ....I just don't get it.

Hard to argue against Nolan's undue influence after reading something like that. And playing in the same position HBA wouldn't? Bizzare given HBA is clearly twice the player Nolan is - if not thrice.

This morning I briefly wondered if he was an amatuer hypnotist who had practiced on Hughton a bit... the alternative is Hughton is blind.

Carroll still has the potential to create space. If he's being marked by both CD he comes deeper to pick the ball up in midfield, at least one defender will go with him. But he needs the ball to feet more often than head in such a situation - even if all it means is he becomes the one in a one two. HBA's pass to Nolan against Everton, where Nolan was marginaly offside, and HBA kept running into the box, he was there so quick and in lots of space if Nolan's shot had been spilt or a return pass was coming. So personally speaking I'm sure HBA would improve the game of Carroll just by playing in the hole rather than Nolan.

Well that's the crux of the matter really. Carroll doesn't fit the role of a lone striker in a 4-2-3-1. He is suitable as one of 2 forwards in a 4-4-2 though. Is that what Parky was asking, should we be playing a 4-4-2 system?

4-4-2 is dead, and a lot of the teams that visit us at St James' would be delighted if we played a 4-4-2.

There must be care on some level or they wouldn't even be signing promising young players, presumably at that age it's the parents you have to convince as much as anything else that it's the right move and their offspring is going to be well looked after and have a good training/future. I agree it would be a lot better if they thought to include the fans in all their news about the youth team though. It surprises me that we can sign a lad with so much potential if a club like ManU and Sir Alex were seriously interested though.

I see quite a few people saying he'll learn from his mistakes but considering the length of time he's been in football he should already know some things without needing to learn them now. Chucking high balls to Carroll was never going to be very effective against Stoke. Then there's the limited movement of Carroll and Nolan up front, so our creative passers had little to aim for, no space was created. You could argue he doesn't have the players to play up front but Ranger would have been more effctive than Carroll today. Subbing off Barfa and then Tiote was just bizarre, he played into Stokes hands. There is a problem with Barfa coming inside in that it prevents Enrique bombing forward, but that wouldn't of course be a problem if Barfa was playing in Nolans position and Jonas was on the wing.