Cronky

Kane looks like a traditional English centre forward, but he does produce these unpredictable moments, off his own bat, that can throw a defence. He created his goal out of a nothing situation where all you could see coming was a prod back to a midfield player. The one criticism you could make is that at times he has his head down and he's trying to do too much on his own. Last night, he tried a shot from a ridiculous distance and insisted on taking a free kick on the edge of the area, when I think it should have been left to someone else. But I guess that's the flipside of the confidence that he has, which is a big strength of his. In time, that side of his game will iron out. What impressed me last night was the creative passing combinations that our midfield produced, and it showed the value of picking players with technical ability. In the past we've relied too much on athleticism. Lallana plays a big part in knitting moves together, whereas Sterling tends to play as an individual.

I've always been a big fan of Rooney, but I have to admit to having my doubts now. Man United seem to be playing better without him as well. Injuries and being over-used have played their part in depriving him of that pace that he had in the early days, and now the competition for places is really hotting up with these good young players coming through. On ability, I'd have him in the squad, but it may be a problem for him and for others if you have a big name captain like him around, but he's not getting picked. I wouldn't write him off just yet though.

We've got so many good young players in the midfield positions - Dier, Alli, Wilshere, Barkley, Oxlade-C, Welbeck, Lallana, Sterling. The defence might let us down again, but I really enjoyed watching us play tonight. It's not often over the years that I could say that about watching England.

I don't think we need to play both Henderson and Dier. I'd bring on Barkley for Henderson. Clyne isn't an international full back. But we're doing well.

He belongs in that elite company with Pele , Maradona and Messi. Arguably he's the greatest of them all, for what he brought to a team through his captaincy. Dutch football was third rate before he came along.

It'd be interesting to spend time with Wilkins, getting him to explain that selection. Ince wasn't that great, but Alli for Platt is bold. Wilshere is exceptional, but along with a lot of young Arsenal players, he's struggled for fitness. Along with Ox-C, Ramsey and Walcott, you wonder whether Wenger, with his youth policy, over-plays them at this high level at too young an age, and they end up with problems.

I think only one of Wijnaldum or Sissoko should play. They have similar weaknesses, but Wijnaldum has the better all-round quality.

Yaya Toure is a bit of a freak. Someone that big and strong who still retains such a good touch on the ball is a rarity. And most of the time, he only seems to be giving 80%. When he can be bothered, he can completely dominate the midfield. Increasingly in the Premiership, you can't afford to have players in CM who are weak technically. And Sissoko is weak technically.

Defenders have sussed him out. They know his first touch is very poor, so if they pressure him and close down his space right away, he'll struggle to keep possession.

The media seemed to be closing in on him. Personally, I think he's still got it and Arsenal would be mad to get rid of him. I always felt that the best way of boosting their title chances would have been for them to be knocked out of the Champions League early. It'll now surely happen, but a bit too late. I just don't think they've got the quality in depth to chase both Premiership and Champions League. Not that it's a bad squad, but the CL is extremely demanding.

*sour grapes alert* Kinda. There were definitely some parallels with their game at our place - they won 1-0, with a goal from a set-piece, and only managed two shots on target. Our game was a bit different though. We should have at least had a couple of goals in the first 20 mins but Schmeichel had a blinder. They came back into it for a bit, then we really should have had the game won before the goal. It was a more stark version of their play this year - we had 62% possession, 21 shots, 16 corners. They got everyone back and looked to hit us on the counter with long balls. And yes, the ref was very generous to them, honestly. They are definitely able to switch their game up when required, but it's still the same basic template. Tight at the back, force the oppo into crosses from out wide which the big guys or Schmeichel can deal with. Kante is everywhere. Look to break at speed either with the wingers or with long balls into the channels for Vardy. Everybody working hard and pressing when they don't have the ball, happy to dole out little niggly fouls, happy to play for free-kicks around the box. They are very well-drilled, both at the back and up front, which is greatly helped by the fact that they have been playing almost exactly the same team all year. Eleven players have started more than 20 league games, and seven of those have played at least 28 of the 30. Compare that to your team (five started more than 20, two started at least 28 (Gini and Janmaat). Yeah, that's a good summary. From other games as well as this, I've had the feeling that referees are being a bit lenient with them, for some reason. The likes of Vardy and Mahrez are clever at getting free kicks, and in midfield they're getting away with some borderline challenges.

Just doesn't look sharp enough where it really matters. He's worked on his fitness but it still doesn't look enough for this league.

Hard to disagree.

We've been a bit unlucky not to score. Wijnaldum looks much better down the middle. The same flaws are there but at least we don't look quite so scared. It's interesting watching Leicester. They're deadly in the final third, but no better than average in other respects. But this may just be a year when the big clubs haven't hit form and that's going to be enough. Fingers crossed - we can still get something from this.

The key is sorting out the defence, and that will be a problem for any manager. If he can get Lascelles and Taylor into a solid combination then he'll deserve the job for life.

Where have you been for two years? Yeah, welcome back. Your contributions were always interesting, whether I agreed with them or not.

Honestly man, how can you be that thick? The appointment of Benitez will at least excite the players as well as the supporters, which wouldn't be the case with Pearson, whatever his abilities. I can understand Schmeichel's point, even though I don't agree with it. It will have been a while since Benitez managed a club in our situation, and with this standard of player. He's a very good long term appointment, but he also has the short-term task of keeping us up this season with the existing squad. But it's important that the doom and gloom has been lifted.

Agree, thing is also that being a top manager is as much about personality/implementation as it is about the right theories. Even if McClaren had an idea of how to improve us, he never seemed to have the ability to galvanise people and get his ideas across properly. A tough task given our embedded culture of failure, admittedly. Hopefully Rafa's reputation/personality is big enough to carry him through. I can remember noting, when McClaren was appointed, that there was a pattern in some of his jobs, whereby if he got off to a good start, he'd build on it, but if he didn't, things could go belly-up very quickly. Maybe he's a team builder, but not a man for a crisis. Benitez would be a powerful statement to players that the club had potential in the longer term. Whether he can turn this situation around in such limited time is a different matter.

He was given the task of raising a sinking ship. Despite the money spent, the squad still doesn't seem to have a good balance. Some of the signings (eg Mitrovic, Mbemba) have been getting used to a new league, and it takes a while for any new squad to get used to playing together, and for a manager to find the right combinations. Plus there's a big weakness at centre back which wasn't addressed. So overall, he's taking too much of the blame. However, it feels like the pressure on McClaren and the players is so great that a change is the right move if we're to maximise the chances of survival.

He's not our worst player, but it's a problem when a lot of our attacks go through him, and his control of the ball is so unreliable. I said a few weeks ago that we need to try something different. The balance of the midfield doesn't look right.

I thought they were saying different things, albeit not incompatible. Shearer wanted to stress that McClaren was handicapped through having to accept another person's (ie Carr's) decisions on transfers. McClaren has had his successes as a manager, but perhaps he's not a fire-fighter, and that's what we need right now.

It's looking grim now. Two out of ourselves, Norwich and the Mackems will drop, and our neighbours seem to be doing the best at the moment. It's not fair to blame McClaren, in that the slide began long before he arrived, and it can take more than one season to turn that kind of momentum around. The biggest (but not the only) problem is the defence. If you're insecure at the back, that saps the confidence of the entire side. It feels like we have to begin again from scratch in that area.

Brilliant game. City look the better side, but Liverpool look destined to win somehow. Just to give them the kiss of death.

Man City and Chelsea, for the way in which outside oil money is giving them an advantage and distorting the competition. Sunderland, because they hate us so much.

I'm a bit surprised Arsenal aren't way ahead. They play entertaining, skilful football and they develop young players. They're self-sufficient, with no sugardaddy giving them an artificial advantage from outside the game. What's not to like. Apart from them being in London.