Rich

It would have been just after Enrique lost the ball badly early-doors, instead of playing it back to Harper. Nowt to debate IMO.

Actually, just seen this:

I'm not happy if there is someone good playing. Not happy at all. I'm getting apprehensive and scared of being s***, someone comfort me please. Be glad the opposition this time won't be randomly bringing someone who was one of the best academy prospects in America, or something along those lines. Either way, he was head and shoulders above anyone. [/swipe] He was only in the College All-Star Team for the Mid-West... (could be in the MLS draft next year, apparently.) The other lad in midfield? Or the one who bagged a hattrick? The other lad. I told him to take it easy like. Only brought them along because I knew we'd be short on numbers (won't be there next time). Who have you got in midfield with you, come to think of it?

I'm not happy if there is someone good playing. Not happy at all. I'm getting apprehensive and scared of being s***, someone comfort me please. Be glad the opposition this time won't be randomly bringing someone who was one of the best academy prospects in America, or something along those lines. Either way, he was head and shoulders above anyone. [/swipe] He was only in the College All-Star Team for the Mid-West... (could be in the MLS draft next year, apparently.)

I'll have a bit of this like. Weather not meant to be great, unfortunately.

Enrique's.

Zog wanted to go and had been trying to get away for years, man. Pointless crying over spilled milk, especially milk of that brand. It's a shame he wasn't properly replaced like, that's what people should be narked about.

I agree they're our best chances, but awful fixtures to play? Hull's fixtures include Boro and Sunderland away, Stoke at home and Bolton away Sunderland's Hull home, West Brom away, Bolton away, Portsmouth home. Not easy for them, but some good chances for points, of course points will be distributed when they play each in 2 weeks and one has a 5 point head start and the other 3. Don't know why I look. eugh. I wouldn't fancy Hull at Boro, Sunderland OR Bolton, to be honest, especially at Bolton. Their confidence is shot and they don't have the quality necessary. Stoke at home represents a decent chance for them, but then they are appalling at home and Stoke are a horrible, hard team to play against. That means I'd obviously fancy Sunderland to beat Hull at the SOL and probably West Brom away, but outside of that I can't see any games where they are clear favourites, even Portsmouth at home won't be easy with the run that the Mackems find themselves on. Bolton away is an "awful" game, if you ask me, for many, many reasons!

He's been overweight for ages.

Will have an ask. Usually it's not at our end since the switch.

You can definitely see the pedigree of his training like, you're not wrong there. It was a laugh comparing his half-time preparation with that of Edgar/Carroll... well, it wasn't, but you know what I mean.

Bolton!?

Also, I do agree with you Tray, but I think AS just wanted to "be brave" and go for it as we were at home and he'd spoken of not seeing this as a "no chance" match. Setting out at 4-4-2 with Owen and Oba and Loven/Jonas on the flanks certainly gave that impression, although it didn't exactly transpire that way on the park. I personally think we were fucking atrocious, especially compared to the games against Arsenal and Man Utd (well a combined total of about 105 minutes of those games, at least). Created absolutely bugger all, didn't get the crowd going at all with anything to inspire them and just looked entirely one-dimensional (long ball). Awful first game for him though, really, as Chelsea are the ultimate party-poopers. Let's move on and see how we do against lesser teams.

Butt was excellent today in certain aspects of his game, seemed well up for the challenge and even avoided a yellow card (although he should definitely have had one for scything down Malouda after we'd fucked up yet another corner.)

Could tell he isn't a natural centre-half (not rocket science like, I know!), but I thought he handled the occasion very well (considering it's his first full game for fucking ages) and was partnered with a player who is unfortunately a liability at this point in time. Taylor and Enrique weren't exactly stellar defensively today, either, so he had a lot resting on his shoulders. Was thrilling to see him get the back-four together immediately pre-game and dish out a pep-talk to them, though, and it was well-noted again that he was the only player to make a definitive effort to applaud the Gallowgate End post-match (as he often does). As far as character goes, you don't get much better than him, especially within this group of players. Performance-wise he was solid enough, although did get a bit rag-tag at times and was beaten in the air on a few occasions by Anelka, but like I always say - players aren't perfect. I was worried when I saw the team-sheet with him and Colo partnered together, but, especially first half, they did alright (although Chelsea were hardly cooking with gas). Disagree that he's a better CB than RB, but would definitely say that he's just a very good all-round footballer - and in particular defender.

Hull and Sunderland represent our redemption as I can't see any other teams down there staying down there due to their fixtures. These two abominations are on awful runs though and are poor teams with awful fixtures to play. Delighted to see only 1 point between them today especially when you consider Hull were at home to a team below them and Sunderland were playing West Ham's reserve team.

Disco could probably manage it if Sir Alan could get him confident and get him to understand the job.

This simply fucking cannot be allowed to continue to be our only answer to high-priced central defenders who do not perform consistently or excellently every week, no fucking way. We've paid £12m for this lad, a huge investment, much like it was with Boumsong before him and Bramble before that, and the club will not survive if it keeps buying these sorts of players and selling them at a huge loss after bad form. Concerted efforts must be made to help these players regain their form and maintain their confidence, if at all possible, instead of constantly aborting. Right, honestly, Coloccini has been a fucking abomination recently as a central defender, I know this. I saw it today, I saw it at Hull and I've seen it against Arsenal and numerous times prior. However, this is a 5'11" central defender from Argentina, dropped by Mara-fucking-dona from his national squad playing in a brand new country, a brand new league and at a brand new club. He didn't speak the language when he arrived, found himself thrust into his debut at Old Trafford about 24 hours after signing (48?) and has since, to my knowledge, been doing his best to learn the lingo. Take a minute to think how this may have affected him and subsequently his performances... please... He has played every single game this season (and did so last season for Deportivo). He has not hidden, unlike I'm certain a vast, vast majority of this squad WOULD do if they were suffering on-field as he has been recently. For those things he does deserve a hell of a lot of credit. However, it is evident that he is suffering from shattered confidence and is constantly having the weaknesses in his game exposed by opposing teams (his lack of pace and his diminutive stature for a central defender). These things can be countered though with a bit of tactical nouse and organisation, which I hope the future (immediate and long-term) will bring. It must be noted though that it does not help that he has not been able to attain any respite - much like Boumsong before him - due to injuries and the general idiocy of the people managing this football club prior to Shearer's return. He needs an arm around him, to possibly be "rested" for a few games if Bassong and Taylor are fit to return imminently (which they appear to be and which is timed very nicely for an aerial bombardment from Stoke), but he does not deserve to be completely written off. He has had some very good games and shown some very good signs of being a good footballer and a good defender. You do not lose that ability, but you do lose your form and psychologically you suffer. It's that side we need to work on, because he could undoubtedly still be a very good/big player for us. I don't envy what he's been thrust into this season, though, and the same goes for what happened to Boumsong (who also had a few extremely bright spells in amongst the chaos).

Fucking appalling today in terms of distribution, but when has Harper ever been good at this? I have seen it mentioned as one of his strengths over Given (who was apparently a poor "kicker" despite good proficiency with both feet from what I remember seeing of him) but personally I've never seen it. He takes too long, is too indecisive and generally lacks any technique or direction with his kicking - both from stationary positions, back-passes and with his drop-kicks. I've been hoping against hope that he'd step into this role as number one with ease and show us all that he could have been England's goalkeeper, but honestly, all I'm seeing is a goalkeeper very similar to Shay Given, but not quite at his level - which is honestly all I can ever remember seeing in Harper. Doesn't command any more than Given does, doesn't communicate any more than Given does, doesn't display any more leadership/professionalism than Given does. Again, I've criticised people on the past for picking out small faults with generally good players, but I must say it's easy to see why it happens when people are wound-up/frustrated about what they've seen on a match-day. Think there were a number of players who didn't step up to the occasion today - not by a long chalk - and unfortunately Harper was one of them. Must mention that he did make some good stops late on, though, particularly from Kalou when one-on-one. Game was over by then like.

I don't believe it will. Martins has really started to annoy me as of late, but just having his presence on the pitch adds a whole new dimension to the team. Owen and Carroll up front to me just makes us so one dimensional. Play all 3. Even though Carroll appears to be an arsehole of the highest magnitude and his half-time soirees on the pitch are, quite frankly, a fucking embarrassment for a professional footballer. (Has anyone ever watched the lad during these inspirational times?)

How I miss your beautiful shape and wonderful execution. I'm not convinced that any central midfield pairing available to us is capable of effectively bossing/dominating any of the midfields we will face between now and the end of the season. Even when Barton returns (and I assume most people would pick him with Guthrie) I fear that we're still too slow, small and weak in that central area to ever see any (regular) effective contributions coming from it. Further to that, I'm not convinced that the players we have at our disposal in that area are good enough footballers to get by without the above characteristics, although the difference Danny Guthrie made in there when he came on today was easily noticeable. Credit goes to him for constantly wanting the ball, for that lovely shoulder-drop he has that buys him an extra second or two on the ball when he has it, and for his constant desire to pass and move. I don't think the lad is a world-beater by any stretch, but you can tell he knows how to play the fucking game. I think that the players in our squad generally, and the players we currently have fit in particular, simply do not perform at their best in a 4-4-2 because we don't have two wingers worthy of the name or, as mentioned, two central midfielders with the physical/technical attributes to be able to compete with most other Premiership combinations (asking Butt and Nolan to battle with Essien, Lampard and Mikel today was only ever going to see one outcome - did anyone see Kevin Nolan do anything useful, by the way?) If the F.A.B. gets his arse in any fit shape to move about (even slightly) on a football pitch and Owen and Martins remain fit then I hope to Jesus we give this a try again. Failing the mighty Viduka gracing us with his portly presence, I wouldn't even mind seeing Carroll or Xisco given a try in his role. Fucking hell, even Shola... Pie in the sky, though, I fear.

Incredibly frustrating today, but was being asked to challenge Alex, Ivanovic and Terry for long-balls for the entire game. I can forgive him for that, at least. What I struggle to forgive is his lack of application and want to close opposing defenders down and his absolute fucking refusal to work the fucking channels like a player of his pace should be doing all fucking day long. Been a while since he had me tearing my hair out, in fairness, but today he most definitely did. Seemed unaffected by the Shearer-factor, unlike his strike partner who was buzzing about and looking twice the player he has been for a good while (although I do appreciate that isn't hard to do after recent "performances".) Let's hope it was just a bad day at the office for him, as he should be vital to us.

Aye. Felt sorry for him at times today again as he seemed to be the only one doing any running/hassling and showing any heart at times - although Owen and Butt from the front six deserve credit for doing the same. However, it must also be noted that he does a lot of simple stuff badly at times, which will hopefully improve with confidence. I just think he's showing the strain of literally being our only creative force. He gets no support from his central midfielders, Enrique is getting better at helping him out but still appears a frustrating team-mate to have (very lax at times, shows odd decision making as well) and he still gets kicked to fuck by most teams we play. He's not as brilliant as was made out when we got him and he had that debut against Man United, but he's still about the best we can offer out wide and is still a good player. Can't fault his application/attitude either, which is something you couldn't really say about 75% of the rest of the squad.

Don't usually agree with Parky, but with him 100% on this. The bloke needs a break.

Utterly average footballers, as it was clear from the off. Can surely only get better though?