Cronky

He wasn't strong enough for the Premiership, but I thought he'd end up playing at a higher level than where he is now. It was a very strange buy, and one where I think Freddie took the lead, although Sir Bob was happy to agree to it. We already had Jenas as a young CM who needed to be blooded into the side. We were never going to be able to develop both as first team players in CM at the same time.

People like Boularouze had number 10 (or 9? ) once. (Was it at Chelsea?) And I remember Jens Lehmann (yes, the goalkeeper) taking Nr. 9 in a qualifying campaign for Germany as he was still number 2 but refused to take number 12 as usually the second choice goalkeeper would do. and famously ardiles wore no.1 in '78 (argentina squad was done alphabetically) I must out-anorak you here and point out that it was no 2.

IIRC, Lovenkrands came on for Smith, and Nolan went into Smith's position. Later, Ben Arfa came on for Jonas.

Until his name was mentioned with 20 minutes to go, I didn't realise he was playing.

Perhaps he didn't want to spoil Houllier's enthusiasm for taking the player off his hands by actually showing him how he was playing now.

I really struggle to make the choice, but I'd give it to Shearer, on his mental strength and football brain.

I picked Rooney, as the best in that more withdrawn striker role, to partner Torres. But I have this bad feeling now that we may have already seen the best of him. His personal life seems to be in a mess, and that's affecting his form. With the way his career, on and off the field, has progressed, he must have thought that he was invincible. He has shown amazing mental strength in the past, but he's not a machine and the current situation now seems to have got the better of him. He needs to change, and I'm not sure he can. I hope he doesn't go the way of Best and Gazza - I've always thought he was stronger than either of those characters - but how he gets through this current crisis will determine the rest of his career.

Both very good in that target man role, but I picked Torres in my Premiership XI. His pace and skill are quite exceptional for a number 9.

Surely, even those who don't think Keegan did anything wrong can agree that in hindsight it was probably best for all concerned that he didn't come back. Wasnt one of the reasons everyone was furious at Ashley when Keegan went was because he was doing a really good job up till that point? And everyone knew hes a quality manager? Everyone?

Disappointed but not surprised that so few people have picked Gerrard. He seems destined to spend his entire career propping up the Liverpool team. I do wonder how he'd have fared given the chance in a better side.

His main attribute is that ability to use his pace and strength to get past the full back into the space behind. He wouldn't be able to use that down the centre. Also, with those long legs of his, he finds it difficult to deliver a quick pass. He usually has to set himself, by which time a defender is often able to get a block in. I think that problem would be even worse in the centre, and he'd just end up losing the ball.

Schmiechel Bosingwa Adams Ferdinand Clichy Essien Gerrard Keane Kewell Rooney Torres

If you have £16-99 to spare, do not spend it on this book. I've just read it and it's abysmal. It is a self-indulgent ramble. I thought with the bloke having been an insider at one stage, we were going to have some fresh insights into what was going on behind the scenes. Nope. He spends most of his time giving a tedious fan's-type view of events on the pitch over the last 20 years. In case anyone thinks I'm biased, his view of Ashley is generally sympathetic - ie made some bad mistakes but now deserves the fans' support. His major beef is with the Halls and Shepherd, the theme being that they treated the club as a cash cow.

But if Ben Arfa replaces Nolan, you're talking about sticking with the same system anyway. Kevin Nolan may get 8 goals and assist 3 or 4. Gutierrez will typically get 1 or 2 goals and 3 or 4 assists in a decent league. So who would Ben Arfa most beneficially replace? Someone who scores goals, or someone who "creates space" and "relieves pressure"? By my count Ben Arfa has 18 careerer assists over 6 seasons and 170 appearances btw, so I don't know but perhaps hoping he's going to get 15 this season is maybe expecting a little too much? I guess as long as Ben Arfa adapts quickly to a new position, team, country and league, hits the form of his life, maintains it, stays fit, can create his own chances, doesn't let his head drop when we're losing, when he's not getting the ball, or when he's targeted by the opposition, and has the typical strong gaelic mentality and maturity to handle the pressure of carrying the rest of the team, we'll be fine. On the other hand, I hope we haven't put our single egg in a basket and counted it as a chicken already. So much of our hope for this season seems to be pinned on this lad. Thank goodness no-one wanted to buy him. Although we're talking about Ben Arfa replacing Nolan in attack, I think the style of play would change quite a bit. It looks like Ben Arfa likes to drop deep and then run at a defence, or feed the ball forward into space, whereas Nolan tends to stay up alongside Carroll, looking for knock-downs. Basically, Ben Arfa is more the creator, Nolan the finisher, from that position. We'd have to make sure that our midfield players were ready to run into the space that Ben Arfa creates. I'd have a go at putting Nolan into midfield with Ben Arfa up front, in the hope that Nolan would be able to also make runs into the box, along with Barton, and make use of Ben Arfa's creativity. Of course, Tiote might be a better option, but we haven't seen him yet. Nolan does look fitter than last year, albeit one-paced. Smith is the one that is really holding us back.

Yeah, I agree. Blackpool are old opponents and had us well sussed. They knew we weren't great at playing the ball through the middle, and relied a lot on our wide men. They stifled us in the midfield and we ended up relying on long balls up to Carroll. It's not a bad weapon to have, but if it's your only weapon then you're going to struggle. We knew last year if we got promoted, we'd have to broaden our attacking threat a bit.

He played what? 25 minutes tops? Howay man, at least save this for his first full game. Even before he took the field, Hughton had to start thinking about how best to use him. We're all armchair managers, and those are just my thoughts at the moment. Apart from anything else, the wide positions aren't the weakest area of the team. We need someone to inject a bit of pace and unpredictability down the middle.

Ideally, for that second striker role around Carroll, you want someone with some pace and / or trickery. Nolan is getting by on his ability to read the game well and get on the end of chances. He doesn't offer much else. When Lovenkrands came on, he went back into CM in place of Smith, IIRC, and I think that's his better position at this level. Even there, although he works hard, his lack of pace and ability to control the ball when closed down are significant problems. Nolan isn't the worst player in the side, but he is operating in the spine of the team and his presence does limit our options.

We know we've got a player now, and it's a matter of getting the best out of him. It seemed that he can go past defenders either side, and can deal with opponents either getting tight or backing off. I'd have thought the best chance for the opposition is to deny him the ball in the first place. In which case, I'd give him the licence to roam and look for the ball rather than be stuck on the wing. It'll mean adjusting our approach and building the team around him, because at the moment our secondary striker - whether it be Nolan or Lovenkrands - seems to play fairly close to Carroll.

Gazza springs to mind. No-one else really. I've watched the last few minutes of the game, and those two runs that he made just before Blackpool scored. It's actually very difficult for defenders to tell what he's going to do or which way he's going to move. Most players give something away by a dip of the shoulder or something, but he can set off or turn round from a standing position in the blink of an eye. I'm not sure what his flat-out sprinting speed is like, but he has an ability to accelerate very suddenly which will leave a lot of defenders flat-footed. When he received the ball with his back to goal in the penalty area, there were four Blackpool players around him, but none came close to getting a challenge in. A difficulty is that just as the opposition will have difficulty in reading him, so will his team mates. They'll need a bit of time to get used to one another.

We have to bear in mind that only one of our new players was starting yesterday. We knew that the old side would struggle at this level, and that's why the new lads have been brought in. For reasons of fitness or lack of training with the rest of the side, we haven't seen much of them, but that will change. We saw last season that Blackpool can play good football. I think they'll still struggle in the second half of the season, but they're not cannon fodder by any means.

I've played it over a few times now. Believe me, his first contact is with the ball. Trouble was the only contact with the ball was a little flick with the end of his boot, whereas the follow through on to the player's shin was very obvious and only a split second afterwards. You can't say it was a bad decision, and you could say it was a reckless challenge. But he did touch the ball first.

I thought Smith was a bit unlucky. It looked like he got the ball before making contact with the man, but it would have been a difficult spot for the ref. It looked like Blackpool got their tactics right. They stifled us pretty effectively and played some decent stuff themselves. In games like that we need plenty of movement in midfield and that's where Smith doesn't come in. I liked the flashes of skill from Ben Arfa - he's a very good runner with the ball. The others will have to learn that it's okay to give him the ball even when he doesn't have much space. He can actually take advantage of players getting tight on him.

It sounds ridiculous. They really needed someone who could get in there right away and make their mark. Curbishley's reputation seems to have been badly harmed by his spell at West Ham - quite unjustly. I felt he was the obvious choice.

Perhaps it wasn't the real England team that we were watching in South Africa, eh?

In the last two games, we really looked like a team. Unlike during the World Cup, we showed plenty of energy and confidence. We had two notable absentees in Lampard and Terry, but I now wonder whether that was a blessing in disguise. Without Lampard, we looked more fluent and pacey going forward. But the performances did also make me think about how much the controversy surrounding Terry affected team morale previously. It's not so much sympathy for Wayne Bridge as whether Terry adjusted to being demoted from the captaincy and accepted Gerrard in his place. There have been rumours that he wasn't very supportive of Gerrard and that there were splits in the camp. I don't know how true that was, but we certainly look a happier bunch without him.