Cronky

Sordell's looked a decent player to me. I'll be interested to see how he does here.

Not really Sturridge's fault. His best work is out wide, but he's been asked to play as a central striker. We're not getting anyone into that area. On the plus side, it's good to see us at least try and pass the ball. Sturridge is better through the middle, I would say. That's where he played his best football for Bolton, imo. Think he's a player that definitely needs a partner though. Yeah, you can play him down the middle in a 4-4-2, but in a 4-3-3 the central striker is more isolated and he's struggled to get involved. Except when he moves out wide, of course.

Not really Sturridge's fault. His best work is out wide, but he's been asked to play as a central striker. We're not getting anyone into that area. On the plus side, it's good to see us at least try and pass the ball.

Rodgers is trying to sound like he's in control of the situation when he's clearly lost it. He does seem to have a very definite idea of how he wants the team to play. There are one or two old dogs in that squad who might not be receptive to these new tricks. Carroll's not the only one who might struggle to adjust.

Nowt new really. Sounds like they'd consider a loan if he was going abroad. It makes no sense to lend him out to a rival club.

At the moment, he's a big asset to a lower-to-mid table Premiership team, because although he's not that versatile, he is guaranteed to cause defences a certain amount of trouble. If your aim is survival or consolidation (as was the case with us when we came up), then he's your man. For teams who are aiming to win things, his movement doesn't look good enough for the kind of intricate interpassing and swapping of positions that teams like that use to open up defences. And they're the clubs who pay big wages and transfer fees. He's yet to prove that he can make that jump. Liverpool thought he could and have now changed their minds. None of the mega-clubs seem to think he's ready. Ashley, the arch-gambler, seems willing to take the chance. He could be proved right of course. Me, I'd go for Hoilett.

I don't think we're behaving any worse than anyone else, and probably better than some. Although clubs aren't supposed to contact players, agents approach clubs and are approached by them, and that's how it works. If you don't do it, you get left behind. Where I think we do well is work out in advance which players are nearing the end of their contracts and might become available cheaply. Over a long period, we then work on attracting those players to the club. We don't reach the end of the season and then start chucking money around on players who happen to have acquired big reputations over the previous few months. Pro-active rather than reactive.

I think Liverpool bought him at the wrong time and are now selling him at the wrong time. But IMO our money would be better spent elsewhere. It's only a bargain if you want it.

He's definitely better central. Another player more suited to a 4-3-3. I would sort of agree that he's given off a bit of a playmaker vibe so far, but he's only played like half a dozen games sporadically for us, it's hardly enough to start pigeonholing him into positions. He was only on for 15 minutes tonight, but he oozed class and confidence every time he touched the ball. I'd really like us to find a place for him. I'd agree that he'd be better suited to 4-3-3. I would like too but where ? I'd try him somewhere like this - ........Cisse Marveaux...Cabaye.....Ben Arfa .......Tiote......Jonas

He looked a bit nervous tonight, but gained in composure as the game went on. I'd like to have seen more of him. Promising.

He's definitely better central. Another player more suited to a 4-3-3. I would sort of agree that he's given off a bit of a playmaker vibe so far, but he's only played like half a dozen games sporadically for us, it's hardly enough to start pigeonholing him into positions. He was only on for 15 minutes tonight, but he oozed class and confidence every time he touched the ball. I'd really like us to find a place for him. I'd agree that he'd be better suited to 4-3-3.

It's the same old issue with me - I'd much prefer us to buy a striker who can play deeper and / or wider. Hoilett, Moses and Zaha were the ones I thought we might have our eye on.

Eh, no it doesn't. A criminal and football investigation are completely different and the fact it happened in a football match means the FA needs to investigate it or it'd bring the whole game disripute. They are different but not 'completely' different. The whole thing has already been investigated in grim detail, and it boils down to whether someone can really say in this case - okay it's not been proved beyond reasonable doubt, but it's okay to punish him on the balance of probabilities. I don't think so. There have been various episodes over the last few years where Terry's character has come into question, and this is yet another. But he does have certain rights, and unless you can stand up for the rights of someone like him, it starts to become difficult to stand up for anyone.

I suspect Terry was guilty but you shouldn't be tried twice for the same offence unless something new comes to light. A further trial by the FA feels too much like that.

# Hmm.... Bellamy and Barton together. Light blue touchpaper and......

It all seems to be a matter of pride. Being on Man U's books allowed him to maintain the delusion that he was still a top player, even though he wasn't playing. His problem with dropping into the Championship is that he'd have to publicly admit that he's past it. He'd rather give up playing than do that, which as you say isn't a good reflection on him. His best friend needs to have a word with him. He's fooling nobody and he's just making himself look stupid.

Regardless of the formation, you should try and avoid playing two centre forward-types IMO. That's the issue with Ba and Cisse. One of them is bound to lose some effectiveness if you play them together.

Shearer did for his last 5 years at SJP. And for the last 2 of those years it was pretty disastrous, not to mention the longer-term damage.

If Ba is insisting on playing centrally, then he can go. You can't have a player trying to dictate to the manager like that.

In fairness to Pardew, he can't say he wouldn't be interested in taking on Carroll because that would be portrayed in the media as a put-down for the player. All he can do is duck the question. Rodgers has handled the situation badly. There was no point in saying anything other than he admired the player and he was looking forward to working with him. What goes on behind the scenes is a different matter.

I assume that at the moment, Hoilett is trying to keep his options open in the hope that a Champs League club comes in for him and / or someone coughs up massive wages. There's bound to be lots of interest around. I'd agree with Toptoon that he's just what we need. Whether there's other issues that are causing people to hesitate (attitude etc) I don't know. I'd definitely take a punt if we get the opportunity and we can keep it within our wage structure. PS - his agent is also his father, which always seems to create problems. Nobody's good enough / paying enough for my boy.

It sounds like we're under-bidding because we're confident that he doesn't want to sign for anyone else.

An interesting signing. It's not easy for an 18 year old to hold down a regular first team place in central midfield, even in a struggling Championship side.

I saw him play in central midfield once, and he looked more comfortable there than I've ever seen him play in defence. He's actually quite a skilful player. They're obviously convinced he's a defender, but I'm not convinced he's going to make it there at the level we're aiming for.

I'd agree, but as a free agent I think he'll just go with the money, and we won't be the biggest payers.