Cronky

Fair point on the first one. Tiote's goal against Man City, clearly should have stood IMO. But it had pundits and experts, disagreeing. I'm not having the second point, though. You honestly think, that with a video replay, with multiple angles, where they can draw a line across the pitch. It wouldn't be possible to see if a player's foot, head, knee or whatever, is offside? On the second point - There aren't that many camera angles that are useful for offside, in practice. For the vast majority of the time, it would be effective, but you still occasionally get examples where it's hard to tell whether, say, someone's shoulder is ahead of the last defender. Line across the pitch or no line.

It really depends on what's on offer elsewhere. The Everton job might fall vacant, and he'd probably like to move back to Merseyside. Rafa has got us defending a lot better now. That's only partly down to better organisation in the back four. Our closing down further up the pitch looks a bit more systematic and organised than before. Previously, we seemed to have random, unco-ordinated efforts from individuals which were easily dealt with. It's still a problem, but not as big a one as before. He's not a manager that's created a strong impression on me before, but I can see now why he's well liked by the Scousers.

In looking at the five-game run in, we've got our two worst games over with, and had the confidence boost of being unbeaten. Villa have given up and Palace are safe, so there's every chance of two wins there. The odds are that by the final game, Leicester will have won the league, and Spurs will have secured a CL place, so they won't be busting a gut. 7 points or even 9 isn't unrealistic. It'll come down to how Sunderland deal with the pressure and also - let's face it - who gets that little bit of luck.

He's done okay for a young, 3rd choice keeper. It's hard to judge, because he's looked a bit nervous at times, but that's understandable in the circs.

Even offsides aren't always clear cut. There's judgements about whether a player is influencing play, and even whether some part of their ball-playing anatomy is beyond the last defender.

It'll be interesting to see how HBA and Sturridge get on. They'll need a second ball on the pitch for the other nine.

The Aguero decision was obviously wrong, but consider the number of times we argue amongst ourselves on here about decisions, despite having watched several replays from different angles. Likewise so-called experts in TV studios. Too many decisions in football are matters of opinion, not fact.

Where did Lascelles say that? In the programme for tonights game I'm taken aback by this. Regardless of whether it's true or not, a club shouldn't be allowing one player to criticise another in the official match programme. If the team and the manager are supportive of Lascelles with this, then Shelvey is finished here.

I think we've forgotten how to do things like that TBH, for now I'll settle for some loud cheering when we do something good. I'm only going by how it sounded on the tv, but the crowd seemed very tense. They got behind the team when we were attacking and applauded good play, but every time there was a mistake or a piece of poor play there was this loud, angry groan. I know football crowds have the tendency to go for emotional extremes, but this was very pronounced. The team looks better organised and in better spirits, but were still not as relaxed as you'd like. There were several instances of players going for the same ball, or leaving it for one another, which are sure signs of a team playing on the edge of their nerves.

An unpopular opinion I know, but Quinn does talk a lot of sense, and doesn't just spout cliches. Henry's opinions, like Robbie Savage, are usually either obvious or wrong. Sometimes both. And yeah, yeah, I should know.

We looked much better defensively, and I think that's the Rafa effect. Naturally I'm pleased with the point. We're still hanging in there. I just get so frustrated with our lack of technical ability. We waste so many opportunities to launch attacks.

Man City definitely look vulnerable. They're playing with their usual style against lower ranked teams - like 80% ought to be enough. Tiote, apart from one poor mistake, is doing a good job.

A number of people seem to be laying into Moss after the Leicester game, but refs have been treating Leicester and Vardy in particular with kid gloves all season, and it's about time someone showed a bit of courage. The decision that he got wrong was giving the penalty against Carroll, when perhaps his courage failed him.

If he was playing in a team that was usually better than the opposition, he'd be fine because he'd have a bit more time and space in which to operate. In a team that's struggling, his lack of mobility and pace gets exposed.

It sounds like that public rant last week has done him some good. He's given himself the message that he can make a difference.

Shelvey reminds me of Nicky Butt, with this pattern of losing possession by playing the pass that was only possible half a second before.

Not a great performance, but hopefully that's a confidence-booster. We got that vital first goal, and we should have then been able to hit them on the break. Trouble is, whenever we had a turnover, we weren't technically good enough, or maybe composed enough, to take advantage. We just gave it away. So I'm not surprised about the 34% possession stat. It changed when Mitrovic and Perez came on. I understand the point that Cisse is more mobile than Mitrovic, but the guy doesn't play with his brain and hasn't much physical presence. There's some hope left because looking at the remaining fixtures Villa are down and Palace are safe, so they won't be busting a gut. Hopefully, Spurs will have lost out to Leicester but secured a CL place, so will have nothing to play for. City are more interested in the Champions League. The only one that looks doomed is the Scousers away.

He's always defended in a passive way. Keeping goalside even if it means standing yards off his opponent, concentrating on blocking the shot rather than intercepting or tackling. He constantly makes the mistake of being afraid to make a mistake. At first on his return, I thought he was showing a bit more initiative, but he's reverted to type.

Some people in here are furious. Insulted, ffs "He's lying to us". What? An addict in denial? Never. The fact he's in denial doesn't make me angry. What does irk me is that he's been giving it '11 months clean and everyone jumps on me for this blip'. Does anyone like being taken for a fool? have you any idea about alcoholism ? as a alcoholic you have a blip every now and again its part and parcel of the recovery and my wife works in that field and has been on courses given by experts ,im not getting at you so don't take it personal but it is not a easy thing to rid yourself of as you can imagine but the lad has as everyone is aware huge problems to overcome and his family by all accounts seem to do f*** all to help him Funnily enough, when I was living with my grandparents (before my grandfather's liver gave up) in Pyrford, I somehow found myself going out with a girl whose dad was a sports lawyer. Through him, we got tickets for a sports dinner at The Grosvenor and Gascoigne was at our table. The 'journalist' Harry Harris was also at our table and when HH went for a leak, Gazza decided to as well - into the pitcher of lager that Harris was topping up from. No-one said a word and, boy, did I get it in the neck from my then girlfriend later on for not saying anything... I'm a bit surprised by that story. I've never been in that precise situation, but why didn't anyone say or do anything?

Rose has improved a lot, both going forward and defending. I'd be amazed if he's not first choice at LB now. I wouldn't risk Stones in a major tournament just yet. They are mostly knock-out in structure and one slip can lead to two years work down the pan.

Yeah, we started to play better once he got involved. Drinkwater - Milner - Barkley - Lallana. There doesn't feel like a natural blend there.

Everyone knows that his problems were around before he gave up playing. But being a footballer gave him some sort of discipline and purpose in life which just about kept him on the right side of coping. Now it's gone, and it seems he's got nothing to fall back on.

The unusual thing about Cruyff was that despite that gangly physique, he was able to show the kind of explosive power that you associate with smaller, stockier players with a low centre of gravity, like Pele and Maradona. His change of pace and direction was exceptional. A feature of the Cruyff turn was that he was five yards past that Swedish defender before the poor sap realised what had happened. It wasn't just a matter of clever footwork.

I suspect the underlying problem is that he's not been able to find anything in his life to fill the gap of being a footballer. Temperamentally, he's not suited to coaching or managing, and it's hard to imagine what skills he offers to other avenues of work. It's a bit like Best. I don't doubt that he's tried to give up alcohol, but it seems that he then has to cope with boredom and depression. And so the cycle goes on.

If everyone is fit and available - Elliott Janmatt Mbemba Colo Dummett Shelvey Colback Townsend Wijnaldum Ayoze Mitrovic I don't really like our back four but our best bet is to go for familiar combinations in defence. Essential to have Georginio down the middle and going forward, because he's our best goal threat. And yes, I've picked Colback ha ha ha.