HawK

Like a chubby scouse Sheringham

Rooney would work around him brilliantly. tbf, of what i've seen of rooney last 5 months, carroll should get ahead of him on form Uh oh, you've gone and done it now. Gonna see that quoted across the lands tomorrow. 'Delusional Geordies hail Carroll as better than Rooney after 2 games in the Prem'

Just wait till he goes 4-5 games without a goal then we'll be crying for the 'clinical finishing of Ameobi'.

Formed out of frustration I think more than anything, it's just a case of 'if only he could just cross it'. But then he'd be playing for Barca, not us.

Had balls to name the same eleven, something he's been asked to prove time and time again and he invariably delivers.

Hughton won't drop Colo, nor should he, he's our best CB. Keegan had the right idea, you always need one defender who can play the ball out from the back. This.

Good shout, modern day playmaker in the Glen Hoddle mould.

Williamson doesn't look out of place in the PL, could turn out to be a real steal. Aside from one error I thought he was one of our best players and was left cleaning up after a stunned Colo and an outclassed Perch.

Look what was on the bench man. Jesus Christ. Barton, Smith and Nolan were all going to play, given Guthrie and Loven were both injured. If we'd had a fully fit squad and he'd still plumped for a 4-5-1, i'd have been pretty disappointed. As it was, we were on a hiding to absolutely nothing against a side like Manu - cos their players will just run the midfield and create chances all day long. We won't be the only ones they take to pieces this season. I don't think I made my point clearly enough. Aaron Hughes was able to man-mark Francesco Totti in his prime, out of a game, on his debut (if I recall correctly). Is Aaron Hughes a world-beater, or on any kind of level similar to Totti? Of course not. Instructions can be given by the manager and strategies attempted to try to prevent if not limit the damage. The 3 stooges were invisible the whole game, I'm hoping that Hughton realises this and makes a big step up in tailoring game plans to counter opponents. When your team is stronger than theirs, you play to your strengths and you give people like Nolan a role behind the striker. When your team is weaker than theirs, you play to their weaknesses and exploit that. Where was the harassment of Rooney on his first Premier League game back from a disastrous World Cup? Are you honestly telling me Hughton didn't have a word with Joey Barton and ask him to get in his face a bit off the ball? There's so much that could have been done, that seems obvious. Even with limited player ability, a good manager can at least show what he's trying to achieve on the pitch. Maybe he did give instructions, and the players just did their own thing (as maybe they did all last season), but we got away with it because of the shite poor quality of the Championship. I just hope it's a big reality check and the players realise they aren't 'all-that', a la Mr 'I'm better than any English midfielder' Barton.

I'm worried. We all knew Nolan would go missing for the full 90 minutes. We all knew Perch was going to be exposed badly. And we all knew Smith was going to be chasing shadows all game. So why doesn't our Chris.

Sutton surely. Nah, that as an equation was Shearer, remainder Sutton. Sheringham and Shearer were both worthy of each other, Sutton wasn't imo. Load of bollocks. Sutton was the perfect foil for Shearer and I don't have the numbers to hand but goals to games he must have scored bucket loads more with Sutton than any other striker.

Surprised it's taken this many posts before he was mentioned. Maybe Coppell was thinking Big Dave was joking about the Black Mamba being part of the deal.

I want us to sign the best players we can afford that can keep us in this division. I'm just not sure he is one of those. what for 800k, are you seriously taking the piss? That is a fairly expensive loan fee to be honest. at that price there could be alternatives, maybe not with the ability or track record, but with some talent and no tendency of going missing... right, name these players then or would prefer an amdy faye signing Cleverley, Wellbeck, Wilshere ... what is wrong with you? mackem in disguise

Hope so, anything not to give it to Nolan who'd have to be shoe-horned in to the side subsequently.

Martins

when i was 6 i liked the black+white kit, being from essex there were no local teams to support

There are far more worrying positions than up front. With his pace and Carroll they'll get some goals between them at least, I'm far more worried about us getting steam rollered every single game in the middle of the park. Guthrie can cover for Nolan in the Champ, but Barton/Guthrie vs 2 of any Prem team will kill us.

Wow, anyone else just read that as 'Heroin' and get totally confused lol

Nee Shola? Has he ever been fit for long enough to be relied upon for anything, let alone scoring the goals to keep us up next season?

isn't that Gerard Pique and Francesco Totti? Zlatan and Pique, surely? +1

Wouldn't be too far fetched to say 30 as a reasonable estimation in hindsight, seeing what Carroll and Loven and other teams' strikers have done.

Pearce?

Take a step back every one screaming for Carroll's head. He's the best striker we have right now and is one of the key reasons we've been doing so well. Hughton could do a Souness and get rid, a la Bellamy, or he can manage the situation. Hughton will plump for the latter and diffuse this. Steven Taylor would have had as much to do with this as Andy Carroll, he's not stupid. You don't wind up someone who is obviously from the Joey Barton school of anger management and I can imagine Hughton will be just as livid with Taylor too. Don't hate on the lad for this, he is very young and is maturing in terms of his personality and learning adulthood let alone football in the first team of his home town club. Give the lad a break, get behind him, lets hope Hughton can steer this anger towards the opposition instead.

Was thinking about this recently and brought a good debate between me and a friend It seems for every power there's a good counter. What would yours be? There's lots of really great reasons why any one of a hundred abilities would be good to have. I'll plump with a telekinesis, pick up the ball and move it with the power of your mind into the goal.