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A midfield and attack of: Routledge Nolan/Barton Guthrie/Tiote Jonas Ben Arfa Carroll Looks a better balance and far more threatening with Ban Arfa there, we should certainly cause the opposition more problems. Yes keep Jonas on the left not sure he's all that when it comes to shooting (he's a better provider) and as said he links up nicely with Enrique and gets back to deffend.

If that's how Villa line-up, playing two strikers is a must. Agreed, i fancy Carroll in the air against those two CB's. We can't expect Carroll to do it all on his own though he needs support and Lovenkrands should be the man to support him as unfortunately he's the best we have for that position, untill Arfa gets here on the 31st. Big Mike w who looks comanding i the air thus far has his work cut out for him marking Carew who i have a feeling will score against us again.

Based on that: Harper Perch Colocinni Williamson Enrique Routledge Nolan Barton Jonas Carroll Lovenkrands Even better if we can get Guthrie in there. Thats what i'm expecting too. I agree Guthrie would improve things in the center taking Nolan's place but can't see CH dropping Nolan. If he starts old cloggers Smith and Nolan i can't see us winning and we may even get hammered. It would be better if we could replace Perch too with Tavernier or R Taylor but again its doubtfull. Ben Arfa and Rios amongst others in there would be better still! Pull your finger out fat Mike!

We need to test our strongest team availiable with an eye on the the Man u game so i'd start it and go for it. Start making changes at half time: Team 1 Harper *Perch Williamson Colo Jose Routledge Guthrie Nolan Jonas Loven Carroll or Team 2 Harper Perch* Williamson Colo Jose Routledge Barton Guthrie Jonas Nolan Carroll *Not sure who our strongest Right back is at this stage. Perch Raylor or Tavernier Be positive and start with team 1 if it all goes wrong we'll know to start team 2 against man u. If it works maybe we should consider starting with team 1.

Good test for our 1st team, i'd start with: Harper Perch Williamson Colo Enrique Rout Nolan Guthrie Jonas/Vuckik Carroll Ameobi We also want to give Krul or Forster, Ranger, Loven, R Taylor, Barton and possibly Xisco too a run out ideally imo

Agree with this. We do need to strengthen our squad but central defence and goalkeepers are our strongest positions and i can't see us aquiring better than we already have here or tinkering with our back five. We have more urgent priorities.

Agree with this. Rate him or not he's our best finisher. We should definately keep him as we may need a player who is capable of sticking the ball in the back of the net next year. He does seem to play better in a 451 and next year just as this year there may be games where we need to play 451 (i.e. Chelski away) and games we need to play 442 (i.e. west brom at home). Either way his scoring ability could prove handy. He is a bit on the slow side and has debateable fitness compared to other premiership midfielders its true. However in the past few games his confidence has risen again and he's looked a good player. He seems to have a positive effect on other players too, very good for morale and the team.

He played 4-4-2 at home, with 2 wingers, 2 attacking centre midfielders, a quick striker with a tall striker and went for the win. What else is he gonna do? Well if your Souness there are no Wingers in the modern game apparently so forget them for starters and if your sam alladyce you play 1 goalie 9 defenders one striker and hope to nick it. He could have started Butt etc and played some tactics from hell like previous managers above. I think CH deserves credit.

So what are you going to mark CH down for? He did everything right did he not? We should have romped it today and would have if Routeldge and Loven brought their shooting boots.

That really does say it all about you. He should have had a hatrick and had several golden oppourtunities and coulden't even get a shot even on target from memory. He also took extra touches taking the ball out of play and misplaced several passes. He had a mare of a game when against poor oposition he should have really made them pay considering the chances he had. On another day it could all go right for him but today it certainly didn't.

That really does say it all about you. I'm sorry but who are you? Do i know you ? I stand by what i say. i.e. Hughton did pick the best possible team in my opinion. Routledge also had a bit of a nightmare game (Hughton is not mystic meg, he can't pick the starting line up after the game you know, Routledge could have had a blinder). You know exactly who will have a good game and who will have a bad game before they kick off i suppose?

Bit harsh on Routledge like, he had a bad game I agree, but hes added a totally different dimension to our team after signing. Natural pace and creativity. I don't disagree with what your saying. The lad has bags of pace and looks to create and we desperately needed a player like him as we were a bit predictable with so much going down our left wing before he arrived. Going on tonights bad performance and a few others lately, he may struggle next season. However yes he has had good games too where he has really torn poor teams/players appart. Lets hope CH can improve him and he can perform well consistantly. I have my doubts though as he looks like he's good at championship level but will once again lack the quality needed when we are in the Premiership next season.

Harper 7 - Nothing wrong, not much to do. Simpson 6 - Ok ish stands off players too long. Not a premiership quality player Colo 7.5 cool as a cucumber. Williamson - 6.5 shaky at times. Poor passing. Enrique - 9 a class above the rest. Awesome defending, runs forward and through balls, lovelypants should have scored twice from these at least. Jonas 9 see Enrique Guthrie 8 good game Nolan 8 Didn't do much other than score again, but our best finisher and what a great finish tonight. Routledge 4 - A mare, could have had a hatrick but coulden't hit a barn door, not a premiership player. Fast but lacks intellegence and class. Carroll 7 - Not one of his best games but some good touches. Lovenkrands 6 Good pen and good movement from him, but another one who could have had a hatrick, but put several good chances over the bar. Keep them low ffs. Hughton 9.5 - Picked best possible team again and best possible tactics.

Few could reasonably argue that CH has not now earned the right to manage us in the prem next season. I'd take 17th right now for next year in the prem and if the team plays well and achieves at least that he can hopefully build from there. It will depend on who he is able to bring in, tactics and most importantly results. We have good base of players: Keepers i have every faith in:Harper, Krul and Forster Right Backs: Possibly our weakest defensive link we should look to improve on Simpson and Taylor. Although better than previous premiership RB's Steven Car etc CB's: Taylor, Williamson, Colo, Kadar, Hall arguably our strongest positions Left Back: If we manage to hold on to Enrique i'll be delighted. Kadar to cover Left Wing: Jonas is our best player in my opinion (see Enrique) - We need a young up and coming quick back up here. CM - Our weakest positions at the moment, Guthrie needs a top quality partner here. Barton the psycho will no doubt prove a liability, Smith and Butt are clearly passed it and Nolan's a bit slow. If he renews Butt's contact he's crazy and we probably will not be able to off load Smith or Barton because who is going to pay them what we do? Right Wing - Routledge is quick and good in the championship but it remains to be seen how effective he will be for us in the Premiership. CF - Carroll (see Routledge) he needs to support a really good quality partner a Martins or Bellamy type player, Shola will no doubt be injured and inconsistant, Lovenkrands deserves his chance but i see him as a back up. Please CH do not go for Harewood set your sights higher. Priorities 1. A really top quality CM. 2. A really top quality striker. 3. Back up on the LW If CH managed to solve priorities 1,2 & 3 he'll have done well. Team next year: Krul Harper Taylor Williamson Hall? Kadar Simpson Taylor? Colo Enrique Taylor Smith Pancrate? Barton Nolan ?? Routledge Guthrie ?? Jonas Ranger Loven Shola ?? Carroll Subs: Krul, Kadar, Williamson, Raylor, Loven + 2?

Harper 7 - Very solid. Not much to do. Simpson 6.5 - Not terrible but seems the weakest link in our otherwise very strong defence. Allows players to get crosses in too often by standing off them for too long and lumps high hopefull balls when he could play it to feet. Coloccini 8 Good however let Tyson have a free volley at goal which he luckily messed up. Williamson 8.5 - Impressive. Enrique 9.5 - MOM What a player! We'll do very very well to hold on to him next year. Routledge 8 - Good most of the time. So fast, but lacks that little bit of intelligence and class touch at times. Nolan 7 - One of his better performances. Guthrie 8 - Another good performance in his favoured position. Needs a quality partner for next year. Jonas 8 - A constant thorn in forests side. Best player in this league for me. Again we will do well to hold on to him and Enrique. Lovenkrands 7 - Some good play. Carroll 7 - Needs to learn when to shoot early. As usual some very good hold up play and won alot of headers. Definately gives us another dimension. Ameobi 9 - Won us the game. Great turn and pin point accurate shot for first goal and loved the cheeky back heal for our second. Barton - Not on long enough to grade. Hughton 9 - Special mention for CH who picked the best possible team, employed the best tactics and made all the right decisions last night.

Harper 6 - Other than spill the ball for their first did well. No chance for their second wonder goal. Simpson 6 - Ok but doesn't close people down quick enough see their second. Coloccini 6.5 - Fairly Solid Hall 6.5 - really impressed shame he pulled his hamstring. Enrique 7.5 - Way too good for this league, a class above. Routledge 6 - Quick but lacks that final bit of quality. Good in this league, but will below average in the premiership. Guthrie 6 - Missed a sitter, played some good balls and played some bad. Nolan 6 - Missed a sitter and did little else Gutierrez 8 - Absolutely brilliant at times, our best player this season imo, way too good for this league takes the absolute piss out of everyone. But some terrible passing at times today. Carroll 7.5 - Scored one out of two good chances that fell his way. Excellent hold up play, flick on's and lay off's bringing others into the game. Best 4 - Missed at least 4 very good chances could easily have had 2 or 3 today and did little else. Ranger deserves a chance instead. Subs: Kadar 6.5 - pretty good.

That could be a mistake as we are playing well and with such confidence at the moment. As Enrique said in his post above yours. We should just go for it. Carroll needs someone up front with him prefferably with pace. We always seem to make things hard for ourselves when we play 451 to accomodate Butt, Smith and Nolan. I'm thinking Jonas and Routledge should really tear into them and create alot for us..

I think that is what he'll go for. I'd personally take a gamble with the under used and under rated (by some) Nile Ranger instead of Best. He needs to gain experience by playing more. But best is CH's signing so can't see it personally. If he plays Butt instead of Guthrie its a big step backwards for the team and could cost us points. Butt, Smith and Nolan are all pretty equally slow, static and fairly ineffective in the middle. The only difference is Nolan has that lovely knack of sticking the ball in the back of the net and has scored 13 goals, which is impressive, so it may as well be him that starts with Guthrie, who is looking more and more impressive now he's stating to settle in his preffered position.

!00% agree with this. We tore Cardiff a new one with this team and its arguably the best we've played all season Having Routledge and Jonas down the flanks with Guthrie CM makes us much more balanced, dangerous, less predictable and creative. A force to be reckoned with in this league. If he drops Guthrie and plays two or all of the old cloggers Smith Butt and Nolan instead i will be hopping mad This could cost us dearly as they haven't got the legs.

At this precise moment in time there is not much between them. If i had to pick two I'd go Ranger plus Carroll. Play Shola if either prove after a period of games not up to it. Looking ahead Ranger and Carroll both have the potential to improve given the oppourtunity. With Mcloven and Shola what you see is what you get. We really need a couple of really good strikers especially if Ranger and Carroll do not improve. Shola and Mcloven will definately not be good enough in the future.

Agree with most of this, a tad generous for Taylor but Ranger and surprisingly Pancrate did make us look alot better and possibly could have done more given longer. Butt, Smith and Nolan in midfield at the same time and Guthrie left wing What the hell was CH thinking? Terrible choice. We desperatly need legs in CM, for starters play Guthrie there Chris. We desperately need a high energy, high quality center midfielder. I'd like to see something like: Harper Simpson Collo Williamson Van Aanholt Routledge Guthrie ? Jonas Moses/Ranger Carroll/Ameobi

I think he'll opt for this too. We are really struggling in the middle with Smith and Nolan we need Guthrie's legs and creativity there and its so obvious to everyone bar CH. I can't wait to see who he'll opt for in the middle. I'm not a big fan of Smith particularly but i doubt he'll be dropped. Lots of pace on the flanks with Jonas (hopefully) and Routledge. Carroll is awkward to play against and gives us another dimension (option) in the air winning headers, holding the ball up etc. So its all set for Nolan to do what he does best (all be it not for a while) and stick the ball in the back of the net. I'd like to see Ranger on at some point again as the lad clearly has potential. Leicester 0 - 1 Newcastle (Nolan scoring written all over it).

Ranger scores!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds good, someone text Big Chris. Agree with this. or maybeRoutledge on Lovenkrands off, Nolan up front for Lovelypants (Lovelypants normally scores when i start telling everyone hhe should come off).

Agreed. For us Jonas, Enrique and S. Taylor should all be definately be in there. Harper, Nolan, Collo would also have a good chance of making it. Nolan stands a chance just for his quality finishing really, which has made all the difference in many games for us. Nolan will probably get in because those looking at the stats won't look too far past his goal scoring record. He can be very average when he's not scoring. Guthrie i rate but he hasn't played well at times mainly due to being played out of position or not being played at all, so he shoulden't be in it.