Cronky

If anyone was at fault, it was Taylor, who missed his header. After that, anything can happen, and the roll of the ball went against us. Very unlucky, because we looked by far the more likely to score. They'll come at us at for the first 10 minutes of the second half, but if we can weather that storm, we should be okay.

But the big question is - which one? The other five look a good unit, though I think I'd go for - ..............Barry Oxlade-C....Gerrard.....Wilshere .............Rooney ............Welbeck with Barkley and Sturridge knocking at the door. For once, we have some good options going forward, if everyone's fit. It's the defence that's dodgy.

Carrick Yee-ees, a possibility, but he's not great on the defensive side. If you look at Everton, they've lost the fewest number of games and conceded the fewest number of goals of any Premiership side. Man City, from looking very strong in defence, now look vulnerable in away games. You couldn't say that it's all down to Barry, but he is the best player that England have who is a complete natural in that position.

There's plenty of talent in attack and midfield, but the defence doesn't look great and it bothers me that we don't seem to have a midfielder who plays in that anchor role, protecting the centre backs. I'll get mauled for this, but Barry has been dismissed too early and should be in there. It'll detract from our attacking strength, but in recent games opposing teams have just been able to go right through us, and the top sides could have a field day in Brazil. The alternative is Gerrard, but that's not ideal because he's basically an attacking player. I'm not aware of any other candidates.

I can't say I've been impressed by what I've seen of De Jong (admittedly little), but Cisse looks like a busted flush. I can't see any harm in a swap.

Interesting collection of names there, because it's not always the big name signings that work out best. Owen's signing was the height of insanity. It still has me shaking my head. £17m for a player who only a few days before had made it clear that he only wanted to come here on loan. Even at that time, I thought it was twice as much as the player was really worth.

Ben Arfa was an exciting transfer because it dragged on so long and there was such a lot of drama and ups and downs before it happened. But I remember being very excited when Andy Cole signed. I saw him play for Bristol City against us, and our defenders just couldn't handle him. I thought then he'd be a great player to get and when it happened a few months later, I felt that it was the last piece of the promotion jigsaw. I'm pretty sure his performance in that game convinced Keegan to try and get him. That was a great time to be a supporter of this club. Having come so close to Division three the previous season, the momentum had completely swung.

There was an incident a few weeks ago - I think against Southampton - which to my mind really indicated something missing in his play. There was a high ball into the opposition box, and a defender was the clear favourite to head it away, but Cisse was in a position to challenge and at least put his opponent off, which might have left something for a team-mate. Instead he backed off five yards, hoping to be the player that got on the end of the defender's clearance, but he was in no-man's land and it was completely the wrong call. People are right when they say he has a dodgy first touch, but he also needs to be more team-orientated.

Yeah, I agree. A really tough choice, but I'd have more faith in Sir Les to deliver.

Why is the De Jong story hard to believe? He's out of favour at his club, he's a previous target and he doesn't look good enough to attract the CL clubs. Sounds like our kinda guy.

Big, strong, fast and skilful - pretty much the complete striker is my memory of him. His career spanned the same period as Pele, so I think he was a bit overshadowed. Had there been no Pele, he'd have been regarded as the best player in the world.

Why is everyone having a go at a player who only came on for the last 5 minutes when we were already behind? Surely there are some more appropriate scapegoats out there?

With more money coming into the Premiership, it gets easier and easier for clubs to recruit good, ready-made players from abroad, and that inevitably makes it harder for young players to break through the ranks in the top division. The standard is now so high, that unless you're a Wilshere or a Barkley, it's very difficult, and of course clubs don't want to take risks about their place in the Premiership. It looks increasingly like players of talent will have to work their way through the lower divisions, perhaps on loan, until they get their chance at about 24.

It's just not practical to ask refs to distinguish between fake and genuine injuries. I found the list of most bookings for simulation since August 2008 very interesting - •Tottenham - 13 •Chelsea - 12 •Manchester United - 12 •Arsenal - 8 •Liverpool - 8 Why distinguish? Just have a blanket rule, if you go down injured for more than X seconds, say 10, then you are off the pitch for the next 5 minutes. If you are injured, you will get subbed anyway.. if it's 50/50, that's good time for medical team to assess their multi-million pound asset to make sure he's not going to make himself worse, and the play-actors just give their team a disadvantage. I think it's a good idea. I think the main problem here - and it's a problem even in the current set-up - is that when a player goes down injured after being fouled and then has to wait before they can get back on, an advantage is handed to the offending team.

It's just not practical to ask refs to distinguish between fake and genuine injuries. I found the list of most bookings for simulation since August 2008 very interesting - •Tottenham - 13 •Chelsea - 12 •Manchester United - 12 •Arsenal - 8 •Liverpool - 8

The story behind the injury is even more tragic than you might suppose. When it first happened, the club sent him to a general surgeon who also had a seat on the Board. The bloke wasn't properly qualified and Green was given entirely the wrong treatment. After six weeks, Tony Green finally persuaded the Board to send him to a specialist, who took one look at the knee and operated on it within hours. The amateurish way in which the club was run in those days greatly reduced his chances of recovery.

Suarez. No contest.

Have to disagree with this. Think we pass the ball well from defence and midfield, it's just the options and movement in final 3rd which isn't up to scratch and is poor. We can dominate possession when we intend to do it, sadly we just aren't asked to do that enough for whatever reason Pardew thinks. We seem to spend a lot of time knocking the ball between the back four and the midfield, with players running backwards into space to receive the ball, rather than forward. Anyone can do that kind of passing. Of the front six that started against Arsenal, we only had one player, in Cabaye, who can pass the ball well.

Sounds like Ben Arfa. Not quite as skilful but three times the work rate. Sounds like Bellamy More skilful, just as quick, less mad.

Sounds like Ben Arfa. Not quite as skilful but three times the work rate.

Nothing brings us oldies out like a Tony Green thread. Anyone who saw him would have him in their all-time top five. He had amazing acceleration and a change of direction that would take him past opposing players before they'd have time to react. Breathtaking to watch.

Whatever our other qualities, we are one of the worst passing sides in the Premiership. No amount of stats will convince me otherwise.

I've just had a look at it again and the only place where it looks zonal is around Giroud because neither Colo nor Santon were dealing with him. The other three attackers in the line were all being marked. I wasn't a defender but to me it makes no sense to go zonal when the ball's going to be played in behind you like that.

Willo was marking Mertesaker. Giroud was in between Colo and Santon and neither took any responsibility. I think Santon as the man behind Giroud was in the better position to defend but I'd also question Colo's leadership in that situation. It was a good free kick but terrible that no defender got within a foot of Giroud and he was just able to stroll on to the ball. If Willo had been one of the defenders he'd have grabbed hold of Giroud and stuck to him like a limpet. It's what street-wise defenders do and with the pair of them being so close it's difficult for a ref to work out who's doing what. It was always inevitable that as soon as a goal gets scored and Willo is within five yards of the situation, that he's going to get the blame. But in reality he was trying to clear up other people's mess.

We deserved a draw for our efforts, but their players are far superior on the ball and that's the difference between the sides. It was a great free kick for the goal, but Colo's lack of ability and leadership at set pieces was exposed again. Neither he nor Santon took any responsibility for Giroud and it was left to Willo to try and clean up the mess.