Cronky

The offside count was 7-1 against City. When you consider Bayern's dominance of possession and territory, that says a lot about their organisation and intelligence.

Pardew brought it up post-match tbf. The simple truth, and as a manager you'd be mad not to act on it. But Cardiff is probably the wrong game for Williamson as apparently they have small fast strikers. Unless Pardew feels either Mapou or Colo aren't giving 100%, in which case he really doesn't appear to have a handle on the squad at all. That's a reasonable point, but Mapou and Colo were so exceptionally shit on Monday, as individuals and as a combo, that there are other considerations. Williamson did well on Monday, and it's important that the squad get the message that if you play well, you get picked. What was striking on Monday was that the two centre backs were avoiding responsibility and leaving things to one another. Whoever you're playing, that will lead to disaster. Trying and failing is acceptable. Hiding on the field is not. It's dispiriting to the rest of the team. Willo isn't particularly mouthy, but I think he's a better communicator than the rest. And communication was sadly lacking on Monday. Williamson and Colo have played together several times before, and whilst they have their weaknesses, they have at least worked out a division of roles and know what to expect from one another.

Pardew brought it up post-match tbf. The simple truth, and as a manager you'd be mad not to act on it.

I can't see that Ashley would 'need an excuse' to sack Pardew. There wouldn't be a public outcry if Pardew went - only if Kinnear took his place, which I don't think will happen. I just think Ashley was prepared to give Pardew another season to put things right. Kinnear was appointed as Ashley's personal football adviser. What Ashley habitually seems to under-estimate is the political issues that come with these kinds of decisions in football clubs. If that kind of move was made within the management structure of Sports Direct, no-one would give a damn. But a football club is an institution in the public eye, and that has repercussions.

I'm looking for some indication that you've actually understood my point about Taylor's style of defending, but disagree with it.

Well I'm not sure about that, but as I said, that's not a big issue for me. My main point is that Williamson actually defends in a different way. You haven't commented on that.

I'll repeat a point I've made before. Despite his power and athleticism, Taylor does not seem to impose himself enough on the game. He tends to back off, staying goalside to avoid getting beaten, relying on blocking rather than intercepting or tackling. In terms of general ability, Williamson probably doesn't have anything over Taylor. (His distribution may be a bit better, but both are poor so I won't labour that point) In fact Taylor is stronger and quicker. But in terms of his style of defending, Williamson is much more pro-active. Crucially, he gets closer to his opponent. He's less worried about making mistakes and takes more initiative.

When Mapou arrived, a lot of us thought he would be Colo's replacement rather than his partner, given his style of play. In the usual way of pairing centre backs, it would be one of Mapou / Colo with Taylor or Williamson. I think all that people are saying is Colo and Mapou may not be the best combination, and that partnering one or the other with someone more rugged would be better. At the moment, Willo is the only candidate there. FWIW, I don't think Willo is half as bad as many have made him out to be. Certainly, there are just as many drawbacks in picking Taylor.

Obviously with centre backs, it's important to get the right combination. It was very noticeable last night that Colo started playing better once Williamson came on.

Gouffran was a positive. He kept possession well under pressure and showed he could last the 90 minutes. Surely a certain starter next week.

Supposed to be. The rumour was that Pardew had him lined up and Kinnear blocked it, which is a worry. If true, Pardew presumably realised we needed someone a bit more imposing in that position, but was undermined.

Taylor is our strongest centre back, but he's not very decisive and he tends to be reactive in his defending, concentrating on staying goal-side and blocking shots rather than intercepting or making challenges. He'd have backed off from Lukaku just as much as Colo or Mbiwa did tonight. Williamson made a difference because he was not scared of Lukaku. Whatever you might think of his basic ability, you can rely on him to at least try and take charge. In finding the best combination, that counts for something. I mean, I'd rather we had another option, but we don't.

Judging from Pardew's post-match comments, this game may be a turning point in his thinking. He was talking about making a couple of changes in defence, which I assume means bringing in players who are mentally a bit stronger and more reliable. Get used to it, guys, because I'm sure one of them will be Williamson. The other might be Dummett. There's an old saying that a team is strong from the defence forwards and the middle outwards. We really need to go back to basics.

I also thought Santon looked poor in defence. I'd give Dummett a go.

His distribution is just too poor to be playing at this level sadly. Even when he's under no pressure he still lumps it. I know the movement in front of him is terrible but he's like a race horse with blinkers he can knock a simple ball to our full backs. and another indictment on Pardew is how poor our off the ball movement has been under Pardew. 3 years and we are no further forward than the day he took over. Dont get me wrong, he is woeful. But by his standards i thought he did quite well. It's going to be painful for many to admit it, but we really needed him, and he made a big difference. He does at least try to take charge of situations. He won't always succeed, but at least it's better than seeing two terrified centre backs permanently two yards away from making a challenge.

No really, I think that's simply wrong. Everton kept going, and kept creating chances. It was our defending that changed. Really, when you think of Debuchy, Colo, Mbiwa and Santon, they're all a bit flimsy and reactive in the way they defend. We do need someone in there who can at least try and take charge, and that's what Willo will offer.

Everton really weren't that great. They were talking about scintillating football, but we handed them all three goals. For sure, they're better than we are, but the second half showed the gap isn't that huge. I don't think Everton 'switched off'. We started playing as a team.

Williamson made a big difference to our defending. Whatever his limitations, at least he gets close to his opponent and he's decisive. Yanga-Mbiwa and Colo haven't seemed like a good combination in theory, but we've run with it. They got found out tonight.

There's no leadership out there. I haven't seen much sign of the players communicating or geeing each other up.

Everton haven't had to do a lot to get their three goals. Our defence looks terrible. Colo looks scared stiff of Lukaku. The third goal was comical. Indecision by Santon for the first goal. Gouffran has held on to the ball well. That decision looks a good one. What we're not seeing is passes played to feet to players in between the opposition defence and midfield. We're either playing it long or trying to work it down the wings. I don't think Tiote and Anita are a good combination.

Pleased to see Gouffy given a chance ahead of Cisse. Disappointed to see Tiote and Anita together. I can understand the need to protect the defence, but I can only see us struggling to use possession with those two. I hope we'll see Sammy at some stage. It's probably sensible not to pick Benny and Sammy together. Not yet anyway.

You've drifted towards the idea that it's Ashley's fault that Cisse isn't playing well. I sense that Cisse is becoming isolated, but my guess is that it's more complicated than a loss of confidence. He acquired a big reputation in the early months, that he hasn't been able to live up to. However, he's still acting like he's a prince who's been turned into a frog, and any day, when his so-called form returns or when his team-mates present him with more chances, it's all going to change. In reality, he's an ordinary striker who hit a lucky streak early on. If he comes to terms with that and knuckles down, things will improve. If he keeps operating in a fantasy world, they won't.

The other thing I can remember about Gowling was that in the 1960s he actually played for Man United when he was still a University student and was registered as an amateur. Not something that's likely to happen today.

Sounds like Nolan. A midfield poacher is rare. How on earth anyone can liken Alan Gowling to Nolan is beyond belief. Granted when we signed Gowling from Man U, he was a reserve midfielder, but we converted him to a striker and he scored a phenomenal number of goals in fact only Andy Cole beat his record of scoring more than 40 goals in one season, as I recall I was only a nippa but remember Gowling as gash in a Shola kind of way. Certainly didnt bang them in like Andy Cole and dont think he was signed from Man Utd He was at least twice the players Shola is.....he looked awkward but was far more effective, but Cole was a far more dangerous striker over several seasons during his career...Gowling never bettered his goals return at NUFC anywhere else during his career, either after or before he joined us. My memory of Gowling is that you could always rely on him for 100% effort, and to at least try and make all the right decisions on the pitch. Unfortunately, he didn't have much in the way of talent - though what he had, he stretched to the limit.

How he gets such good footwork out from under those long spindly legs, I don't know. The cross was amazing. His chief asset is his ability to go past an opponent, and that gets harder, the higher a player rises in the game. But I think he has enough in his locker to adapt to that. Time to give him a proper chance.