Cronky

That's the signal to go 4-4-2.

He had problems with injuries, so it's difficult to tell how things would have gone for him. What I'm sure Sir Bob was looking at was his pace. He and Bellamy together could have been a real handful - worth the gamble, let's say. Whatever, allowing Shearer to effectively choose his own time of departure was a costly strategic error.

The conversation between Robson and Shepherd in 2003, when Sir Bob proposed that we accept Liverpool's offer for Shearer and use the proceeds to buy Emile Mpenza. Robson and Shearer were headed on a collision course, but Shepherd had the dream of Shearer taking over as manager, and of course he was the local hero. We backed the wrong man.

Always been a good shot-stopper. Slightly dodgy on crosses. We needed the former last night and he stepped up.

Yeah, they couldn't summon up the energy to celebrate the shoot-out properly. Where was the mad rush at the keeper, ending with him disappearing under a pile of delirious bodies, eh? That sounded a bit homo-erotic, didn't it? Hmm.....

At times it looked like we were trying to walk the ball into the net, and some of the tackling looked tentative. BUT ..... it's good to see a few players coming back to fitness and we're still in it. The season's not dead.

It looked to me like most of the team had half an eye on Tuesday's game. It looked a bit half-hearted. I can't blame the players, but it's sometimes difficult to raise your game after a poor performance like that.

I've quoted this before, but I feel impelled to do so again - 'Past success is only briefly a glad memory. It quickly becomes an accusing finger'. That's taken from 'The Football Man' by Arthur Hopcraft, in his section on Managers. I was 13 when I first read the book and that leapt out at me as a truism even at that young age. Nothing's changed and it applies now to Eddie. His past achievements have created a yardstick which can quickly become an unwelcome burden.

And I've got a feeling that his best position ultimately isn't full back. Perhaps Eddie can't afford to risk him defensively and he doesn't have the experience to play in midfield.

We don't have a fit striker, there's no cover in midfield and we're having to field a raw 17 year old. The back four has always been slow and now they're inevitably not getting the same protection as before. Simple as. With the resources available, Eddie is still doing a great job. The underlying idea seems to be that the likes of Bournemouth are poor sides who we should be beating comfortably even with half the first team out. That's nonsense. The margins between victory and defeat at this level can be very fine.

I felt that Eddie had looked a bit more tense over the last few weeks. I'd attributed it to the poor run of results and the criticism that was coming his way (more from the media than the supporters, I think) Now I wonder if the Ashworth situation was playing on his mind. Knowing that any conversation that he had with Ashworth might be used for the benefit of a rival club a short time afterwards is a difficult position to be in. No wonder he wants it resolved quickly. As he says himself, he very much believes in the value of a long-term commitment. It's how he's handled his own career, apart from that brief hiatus with Burnley. This will be disappointing for him. On the related issue, I'm not sure how things will work out for Ashworth. The structure at Man U is very unusual, and in any event, is there much wrong with the Man U youth set up? Genuine question. With these top clubs, you are never going to get more than 2 or 3 players into the first team, and they've done that with Garnacho and Mainoo. The main problem is instability in the first team, with players and managers being replaced with big fees by others who aren't any better.

Change the punishment for a deliberate foul against a player in a scoring position outside the area. Instead of a red and a free kick, award a penalty and either a yellow or a red depending on the nature of the foul. Before anyone starts, there is nothing sacrosanct about the principle that a penalty can only be awarded for a foul in the area. Refs already have to distinguish between 'goalscoring position' fouls and the others, so it's perfectly practical. I don't know why it hasn't been tried. A penalty is a much better compensation when a player has been deprived of a shot on goal. A sending off for a non-violent foul also seems unnecessary. The penalty would be punishment enough.

Shit happens. Just as we raided Brighton, so we in turn get raided by a bigger club. It looks like moving forward from the position that we're in now will be a slow process due to FFP. He's decided to take this opportunity whilst it's there. You only have one life. How it'll work out there is another matter. It's an unusual structure with the Glazers as majority shareholders, but Ratcliffe running the football side, albeit with one of the Glazers on his panel. And then there's Brailsford and his input. Could get messy.

I'd say he's still young in terms of his ambition, energy and desire to improve. It's interesting that he says he looks for a desire for self-improvement in assessing players, because that's very much part of his own make-up. Age isn't just a matter of years - it's the freshness that you bring to your job, and that's still very much there. It's striking that he spent 10 years in his first job - if you discount that brief spell at Burnley. He also looks committed to a long stay here. I sense that even if the likes of Chelsea or Man U came knocking, he'd be reluctant to leave. Family is important to him, and perhaps he doesn't want to be carting them round the country, or being absent from them during the week, as some managers end up doing. He's the antithesis of the 'large than life' football manager, but beneath the exterior there's that passion to succeed. I think what I'm driving at is you can't assess this man by the usual criteria. It's like he's self-made.

The main areas of debate seem to be whether players have been unwisely rushed back from injury, and whether Eddie should have used his subs bench more. The first issue isn't a matter of science - there's always an element of risk, and we're really not in a position to say whether Eddie and/or the medical staff have gone too far. Personally, I think Eddie tends to err on the side of caution, compared to other managers. His own playing career was ruined by a return from injury that turned out to be premature. Our subs bench has looked very weak over the last few weeks, there's no question of that. There's a case for saying he should have used Tino or Hall more, but they're both inexperienced and it's not as though we have a first team full of stars that can compensate. Eddie relies a lot on team-work, and he has a way of holding players back until they're fully integrated into his systems. Bruno and Gordon struggled to get starts at first, and now look at them. The main voices questioning Eddie seem to emanate from the Metropolitan media. Because we're owned by the Saudis and have reached the Champions League, the journos are expecting our owners to react as though we were Man City. The expectations that should exist with our current squad are entirely different. Eddie has brains and balls in abundance and we could not be in better hands IMO.

The reality is that we're not that good and Luton aren't that bad.

Ever since the Howe revolution started, I've been wondering why we don't concede more goals. The back four lacks pace, neither of our first choice full backs are great defensively, and no-one in the midfield is a strong tackler. I've put it down to good organisation, the finer points of which are not within my grasp. Our current midfield of Miley-Longstaff-Bruno looks vulnerable, and with all the changes we've had to make with injuries, our general organisation looks more shaky. Last season, we were fortunate in having a lot of stability, but luck has turned against us this time round. We look very exposed on the break. Luton are a strong, athletic side who have now got their act together and produced some good results. Yesterday's result can't be a complete surprise. I think this season is a write-off as far as the league is concerned. We can still hope for a good cup run.

It's clear from the sudden drop in transfer activity this window that clubs are now taking FFP seriously. They do believe that the Premiership will act and that any punishment will stick. It may still crumple under challenge but the important thing is that clubs are acting as if it won't. I think that Everton were operating under the assumption that if they only went a little bit over the limit, or could plead that some of their decisions were justified by other criteria, that they would get away with it. The message is no, because otherwise it would be unfair on the clubs who made the sacrifices entailed by sticking to the letter of the laws. Notts Forest seem to be trying to do a similar thing by saying that they delayed selling someone so they could get more money. Well tough. Why should they gain an advantage over a club that felt they had to sell at an inopportune time in order to stick to the regs?

There are signs that, with the big inflation of transfer fees for players of average ability, that the spending limits need to be adjusted a bit. Most clubs need to be struggling. It doesn't have to be a big increase.

Apparently we've enquired about signing the Spurs left back. We texted Levy the message - 'How much is Udogie in the window?' (Those that don't get it, ask your parents)

Hopefully Isak will be back soon, but one of the bonuses of that game was that the front three of Miggy, Gordon and Murphy actually looked dangerous. That's something I never expected to be typing this time yesterday. I thought Miley did well in the first half, but struggles defensively - naturally enough, given his age. But there's much more to come from him going forward, and I think we'll see it fairly soon. A big win for Eddie, who has had to weather a bit of a storm this last few weeks. Beneath the surface, I thought he was quite emotional at the end. Tactically, he won the battle with Emery hands down. It feels like we're back. I'm getting a bit emotional now (sniff)

The spirit and the confidence was there from the get go. Not to mention the tactics. We're back!

Best half of football I've seen in ages from us. We're taking good advantage of Villa's high back line.

I think that young Mainoo is a cracking player. A great future beckons.

Clearly, Eddie has more faith in Livramento than Hall, even when it comes to the left back position. Livramento makes mistakes with his positioning but is a good athlete and often recovers. That may be the difference, at the moment, between the two players. But I also wonder whether Hall would do better if played further forward into the midfield. I think he himself has said that he ultimately sees himself as a midfielder. His chief assets seem to be his touch on the ball and his passing, so it does make some kind of sense. I have the nagging feeling that this lad is going to come good at some stage in his career, but it may not be with us.