Cronky

I'd always try and make room for Bellamy. He was great for us. I'd try a front six of - ........Shearer ...Bellamy.....Beardsley Lee.....Speed.... Barton Torn between Dyer's pace and Barton's skill though.

No Bellers?

He wasnt technically good at all. If he was, his loss of pace wouldnt have detracted from his game so much. And he was also extremely one footed. He was an instinctive finisher with pace in his prime. That's basically all there was to him. Injuries have bigger effect than pace. Players that lose their pace due to age rather than injuries tend to perform better. Technically he wasn't world class but that doesn't mean he wasn't good technically at all. Being a good finisher requires good technique too. I'm with Incognito on this one. Technically he was poor, but in his prime he was amazingly fast, and that's where he built his reputation. We bought him as his pace was going, at too high a price, and when he'd already said he didn't want to come. That's not Owen's fault, but it was one of the silliest transfers of all time and symptomatic of the madness that seems to overtake our club from time to time.

Whoever is administering the ban, we can take it as read that Ashley is setting the policy about journos. Throughout his business life, he's refused to be interviewed and he'd clearly rather live without them. Some of his ways have been eccentric and that's spilled over into the way he's run the club. Is he entirely in the wrong though? I don't think this is a battle that he can win on his own, but if other clubs were to take a similar line, we might just get a more responsible kind of journalism.

Well I guess you're right in that if you could reliably beat the teams outside the top four, you'd get a CL place regardless of how badly you do against the top four. But football, like life isn't like that. In any case, it would only work if the top four aren't going to do as well against the other teams as you are. The bigger flaw is underestimating the capacity of the likes of Hull to raise their game and give much better sides than us a run for their money on the day. There's no question that we've seen, over a number of years, that it's very difficult for clubs to break into that top four that was established in the very early days of the CL. It's been a self-perpetuating elite. Only Man City appear to have broken through, and that's only because they've spent obsene amounts of money. The likes of us, Everton and Spurs have had their moments, but not established themselves. But the idea that I really baulk at is 'fifth isn't good enough', especially when you hark back to Sir Bob's era. Getting rid of Sir Bob was a terrible mistake and a wasted opportunity, and it came about because of pressure brought about by the so-called failure of finishing fifth. And no-one can blame outsiders here, because the movement against Sir Bob came from local supporters, a local press, a local Chairman and a local captain. IMO we have to accept that if we do make a breakthrough, it'll need a longer term plan, and a bit of luck.

Who else has been banned? The only example I can think of is the local papers, over the Time 4 change march.

Ronaldo seriously man, take a break. Best ref couple years ago was form Uzbekistan ffs. Webb who is supposed to be the best from the fastest league in the world makes continuous mistakes on the international level. I think a good ref is a good ref no matter where he comes from. Belgium, Uzbekistan, Portugal have all produced good refs over the last couple of seasons and none have been in an extraordinary league. Jonas Eriksson isn't a bad ref, and I don't see how anyone can blame him for anything yesterday. Sure it looked outside the box, but 99% of the world's top referees would give a red card and I bet half would give a penalty. I'm convinced that the correct punishment for the foul in the goalscoring position, regardless of whether it's inside the area, should be a penalty and a yellow. That would cut this sort of controversy out, and be a much fairer punishment all round.

The frustrating thing I find with Barca is they don't always take advantage of turnovers by hitting teams with a fast break. They're more inclined to keep possession and then move forward slowly and patiently as a team, as though they were building an attack from any other situation. So yes, that lack of variety can be dull to watch. It's those moments where they play those quick interchanges of passes around the area that you wait for.

Hmm... As with the local rags, I think a complete ban is counter-productive. Clubs have to come to some sort of working relationship with the press. On the other hand, they're not entirely in the wrong here, are they? Let's not get in a lather about this. We can't complain when the press makes things up and then jump up and down when someone takes a stand.

He was the best. Sad that we didn't know what we had till it was gone.

The record of American owners getting involved in the Premiership isn't great. American sports are run in a different way and I'm not sure if they really know what they're getting into. Fenway have done reasonably well at Liverpool, but they had the advantage of picking the club up cheaply, with the previous owners taking the hit.

I watched a bit of Sunday Supplement and it was clear, as before, that Pardew's reputation is much higher outside the North East. The general verdict is that he's doing well in a difficult situation.

One or two more errors have crept into his game. He just needs to steady himself. He made that breakthrough the season before last, and the expectations are now a bit higher. I think he's put himself under a bit more pressure and keepers have to stay relaxed so that their judgement doesn't become impaired. I'm sure he'll come good again.

Yeah, you hear mixed reports about him. It's also a bit of a concern that he's been out of management for quite a while.

I can't see England hosting a World Cup for the forseeable future. It's pretty clear from the absurdity of Qatar being given the World Cup that the selection process is flawed and we're not hitting the right notes. I think there's also a perception that seeing we have the most popular and lucrative league in the Premiership, we shouldn't also get the World Cup.

Whether or not you think that Pardew is the son of Beelzebub, it's wilfully blind to ignore the fact that there are issues with Hatem. He has admitted as much himself, and no manager has been able to progress him beyond a certain stage, to fulfil his true potential. He's been given plenty of chances, in different roles within the side, and any promising beginning gets followed by a stumble. I enjoy watching him, and from a fan's point of view, I'd like him to stay. But I can understand if the club feel that it makes more sense to sell him and buy a replacement, than let his contract run down.

I can't see him settling into a DOF role. He'd end up trying to do the manager's job as well.

The Blackburn game was the killer. With Man U and Liverpool, we lost to good opposition, but we threw the Blackburn game away. It must surely have affected the players' inner belief.

The trouble is, despite the talent, he still plays like an 18 year old who's only just broken into the first team. Too many times, he doesn't play to the situation that's in front of him, and gives in to the temptation to try and beat an opponent. Developing that kind of judgement is something that a player has to learn by experience. A coach can only do so much. And as has been pointed out, other managers have found the same problem. He produces some great moments, but ultimately it's a team game.

Both were well before my time, but when I was a lad, it was Stanley Matthews who had the bigger reputation. Since then, Finney's stock has risen and now the balance of opinion seems to be that Finney was the better all-round player.

Looks like a good target man. He wins a lot of headers and he has a decent touch when laying the ball off. Not much pace and unlikely to go past an opponent though. I think he has to play in that advanced central position, not dropping deep or wide. I still think our best front three could be Gouffran-Remy-Sammy. If any of those are injured, you could put De Jong down the middle and shuffle the two remaining players wide.

He was set up with two gilt-edged chances to score last night and didn't take either. He doesn't set chances up for his team-mates and his link play is poor, so if his finishing is unreliable I can't see that he's worth his place.

Has he only just rumbled that Santon only uses his left foot to stand on?

What are you saying? That because the back up was slow in arriving, it's okay for him to blame someone else when he makes a bad pass?

He's a good player and he does lay on chances for his team-mates. The no-end-product line is a myth.