Cronky

Shame. He looks quite good. Presumably there's a catch, or he'd be in the Premiership.

You're all wrong.

I'll always remember Joey Barton's goal. After the game, it felt like we were a club reborn. Joey may have been a complete arse at times, but the ability was there.

Maybe Gouffy will recover a bit of his old form, down at this level.

I think the decision not to issue a red was the worst. Sometimes those handballs when a shot or cross is blocked are difficult to judge in real time, but he gave a free kick when Perez was in a clear goalscoring position, but only followed it up with a yellow. It wasn't the most aggressive foul you'll see, but it was clearly deliberate, and the red card should have been automatic regardless.

Yeah, great player, but unfortunately what chances he had of recovering from the injury were ruined by the amateurish medical attention provided by the club.

Reckon he'll be off to the Mackems for some reason. He'd be just right for us, but I'm sure he'll have several options amongst Premiership clubs.

Not long ago, Shelvey was playing for Liverpool and England. Now he's struggling to get into a Championship side. If he's going to get his career back on track, he needs to knuckle down, but I suspect that he's taking the easy option and thinking how unjust it all is.

Yep. And they were pointless fouls born of frustration. If he can't keep his composure and use his brain, he's not much use to us.

I think the pressure got to some of the players, with that build-up of how we were odds-on favourites to win the league. Fulham weren't that good but they did at times play with more freedom. Gayle did well in the sense of making the best of some difficult, isolated situations that he found himself in. Ayoze carried on his bad form from last season. He's trying to do something dramatic every time he gets the ball. Despite the fact that we were trying to play the ball on the deck a lot of the time, we rarely worked the ball into the space between their defence and midfield. The link between centre mid and attack wasn't really there, and maybe Diame will improve that. The build-up was usually quite deliberate so their defence was able to block our chances when they came. On another day, we could have had two pens and the opposition would have been down to 10 men after 20 minutes. But the ref wasn't strong enough to punish the home team, and that's what we might come across again in this division.

I'm looking forward to watching Gayle. He always looked handy when he came on for Palace. I still don't trust Mitrovic to stay on the field for 90 minutes. Hopefully Rafa will coach out that nasty side of his game, but I'm not confident.

His signing seemed to be a product of our obsession with the French market as value for money. It worked at first, but not any more.

Moody sod. We should have taken more notice of how he was treating Swansea, but I suppose at the time we were desperate.

Hopefully he'll stay because he feels that Rafa is improving him as a player. He lost his way a bit last season, and I did wonder whether that was to do with being linked with the likes of Spurs. He didn't seem to have the same focus.

I'm prepared to see how it goes. The lack of experience at the top end of the league and European football means he wouldn't have been my choice, but the England job has defeated much more glamorous candidates like Capello and Eriksson. Allardyce will be something different. I was pleased to hear him say he was looking for players who were flexible in the roles they can play. That was a problem this summer, with players like Sterling and Sturridge unable to adapt to what was going on around them.

That's the role he played for Holland in the last World Cup, and that's how I was basing my expectations. However, Premiership football is a different proposition in that role. On the other hand, we never really found a decent role for him in our side, though we tried different options. The player that I hoped he was going to be was Wanyama - a solid defensive unit down the centre who can still contribute to the attack, unlike Tiote. It didn't turn out that way. Some posters on here have talked about his technique, but that's his weaker area. He's a good athlete but lacks the more subtle skills.

How he compares with this, that or the other attacking midfielder isn't the point at issue. The fact is we ended up playing him wide left, a role where he was never, ever going to shine. I'd be interested to hear alternative theories as to how that happened. Other than McClaren doesn't know anything about football, preferably.

Fellaini may be the better comparison. And like Fellaini, he probably won't quite cut it at the top end of the Premiership, but would do well at the likes of Everton or Southampton. Possibly Liverpool, but his technique is only average and Klopp might well want more from him in that area. Having seen him play for Holland in the World Cup, I thought he was an excellent buy, and I saw him as filling Tiote's position as midfield anchorman. Turned out, he wasn't suited or ready for that role in the Premiership, but it felt like we couldn't play him as a box to box player either because we didn't have a decent midfield anchorman behind him who could take care of the defensive side in the centre. So with the intention of getting the best possible use of resources, McClaren put him wide left, where he struggled to get involved consistently. I don't go for the idea that he didn't care or didn't put in the effort. He just looked lost.

Very surprised at the fee. I'd have been happy just recouping our money.

Sounds sensible. Lack of a decent midfield anchorman cost us dear last season.

We'd be Caracas to buy him.

I think he'll do much better in a good side where he can play down the centre.

It looks like the best you can wish for him is a good recovery and a comfortable rest of his life. A continued career as a professional footballer seems like a pipe dream, when a break like that happens to someone in their 30s.

I enjoyed reading the article. I gather that on the continent, young players are much more likely to be trained in all sorts of different positions on the field - not with the aim of being used in a variety of ways, but to develop their understanding of the game, and to get them practising a range of skills. I think over here, players probably specialise too early. We definitely failed to adapt in the Iceland game. The opposition was preventing us from playing the ball into the areas between their midfield and defence, and what you need to counter that is defenders who can bring the ball forward and draw the opposition out of position, or thread an accurate pass through. Our back four couldn't do that. I think that's a major limitation in how our international teams can play. Our more skilful players can match the best of the rest, but you need technical ability throughout the side, because the opportunity to thread that telling pass might fall to a centre back. And when things go against you, you have to adapt, but a lot of our players don't have the versatility to do that. Lallana is a player with a range of skills who can use his head to adapt to all sorts of situations on the pitch. Dropping him and playing Sterling and Sturridge was a vote for brawn over brain.

Why? He's not an established prem player. Still a young guy looking for an opportunity to feature week in and week out, which he'd get with us. I just think he's good enough to play regularly in the Premiership, and for a decent side.