Cronky

I think we've learned by now that the inclusion of the word 'consortium' is a sure-fire indication that the story is bullshit.

He did just before the impact, still Gomes got the ball before brining down Carrick. It was the wrong decision to give a penalty but in my opinion nowhere near the scandal people make it out to be. Yep. This idea that making a mistake means that the ref is incompetent is really tiresome. I can understand a manager getting annoyed but why the panel of so-called experts have to join in the dumbing down I don't know.

I think he's a bad loser, like Souness. That's fine as a player, but a manager has to keep calm when things aren't going well or players aren't doing what you want them to do. He's got ability, but that's what he needs to learn.

The great thing with JB is that he's not scared of any situation. He'll always go on the pitch thinking he's the best player out there and determined to show it. Showing fighting spirit and determination is fine, but we don't have a player in midfield at the moment who can really drive us forward. So providing it's not going to cause a relapse of his injury, I'd pitch him in.

He's amazing to watch, isn't he. Normally a player who struggles to get involved in a game but who produces moments of great skill isn't, in practice, always worth the bother to a top side. But Arshavin seems to be an exception, because those moments are so exceptional. The trajectory that he got on the ball for his second goal looked impossible to me, given his position in relation to the ball. Yet running at speed, he executed it perfectly.

Barton is a very positive player who can get a team going. We really need him because we're not getting any leadership or inspiration from the experienced players at the moment. Mentioning no names, Nicky and Micky.

I can't remember a more exciting half of football than that second period tonight. Arshavin's second was unbelievable. Goal of the season for me.

I really disagree with that. Owen has never been a technically gifted player. His touch on the ball and his passing isn't particularly good at all. In the past, he's relied on his athleticism, but now that he's lost the edge off his pace, the reality is he's just an average Premiership striker. I keep hearing about 'the service' being poor, but it didn't seem to stop Martins getting on the end of a few chances.

Yes please. Capello has the right approach - always make decisions on what you see in front of you. Forget about reputations or what other people might think.

Three at the back is so rarely used by anyone now, whether here or on the continent. It seems to me that it has to be used as an attacking formation, because if it ends up as a 5-3-2 the midfield just ends up getting overrun. We just aren't good enough or confident enough to make it work at the moment.

Shearer has shown a lot more enterprise in his formations than I was expecting, so credit for that. I'd seen him as a straight 4-4-2 man. A big problem is that his most senior players and the ones he's relying on for leadership - Butt and Owen - aren't delivering. Butt frustrates the hell out of me, and personally I'd drop him, but we don't really have an equivelent DM so I'd admit that the alternatives might not work out that much better. However, where I think Shearer has a serious and potentially costly blind spot is Owen. It feels like he's the first name on the sheet and the rest of the team have to fit around him. The whole idea of 'let's all create chances for Michael to bang in' feels like a naive and outdated approach. Teams have to be fluid and strikers have to be able to create for others as well as finish.

Thought he looked well, and talked a fair bit of sense too, refreshing to have some opinions instead of usual cliched bullshit from the likes of Dixon, Lawrenson etc. What did he say abt us? That in the last 3 games we've played we've only played well in the last 25 mins of the games and need to play like that from the start, that we look nervous and are scared to score the first goal but when we've ended up conceding first we have then relaxed a bit and started to play. Thinks/hopes are home games will save us. He's right on all counts, to be fair.

I don't think Owen got on the end of a single chance today, whereas Martins got on the end of three or four in the half hour he was on. When Owen plays up front with a target man, our strategy seems to be to play the ball long in the hope that Owen gets on the end of flick-ons. It's Seventies football and it can't work any more. Owen doesn't play well as a withdrawn striker in a 4-4-2, so if he has to play the best idea is to have him in that free role in a 4-3-1-2 that was tried last season. It's not the way I'd go, because we don't have Barton back yet. But I think it's what we're in for next week.

We looked a different side after Smith came on. Having someone in there that looks confident and can pass the ball meant we could play it through the midfield. Nolan just looks very uncertain over his role in the side. He looks like he's been instructed to do nothing. Martins didn't look like a player who'd had to cry off with a groin strain last week. Likewise Viduka looked as fit I've seen him this last two years. Owen is there on reputation alone. If his name was Joe Bloggs, he'd be on the bench.

The team as a whole looks strong on set pieces, which is Spurs' soft underbelly. We can win this one. I'd never have seen Shearer as a 3-5-2 man. Obviously less of a conservative than I'd thought.

Someone hasn't seen Rocky. Like that one.

If Viduka's fit, that looks like a well-balanced side. Even so, I'd be inclined to play Carroll because Spurs aren't too clever on set pieces.

I genuinely dont think footballers think like that. They are obviously driven by money of course but I think when it comes to doing stuff on the pitch, what gets them going is massaging their ego's to make them feel "special" thats not it. these guys have been playing football everyday since they were 5-6 years old. they have done literally nothing else in their life and by the time you get to the end of your career your motivation really dries up. Someone like viduka doesn't even need the money anymore so there is another motivating factor gone. sports are no longer fun when u play them that much. it becomes like a job. and I am sure everyone has not wanted to go to work at some point. Those are fair points, but with Viduka we're not just talking about a player who's not playing well - he hasn't been playing at all. The vast majority of top professionals do care about whether or not they're in the first team. They'd never have had the drive to reach the top in the first place if they hadn't. With Viduka, I sometimes feel there's a bit missing. He's so talented, he's been able to get away with this kind of behaviour, but what could he have achieved if he'd put heart and soul into it.

Its more likely based on the training sessions that he looks over and the opinions of the other coaches there. If Viduka has got off his sick bed and is starting to produce in training then you have to wonder what was going on before. There's a hint in Shearer's statement that the previous regime were content to let Viduka drift off and weren't motivating him. Even if that's Shearer's view, I'm still not convinced. If you're being paid £3 million a year you shouldn't need persuading to play football. What's more, it's a widespread opinion among fans of Viduka's previous clubs, that he only gets his finger out when his contract is due to run out.

I couldn't name a team, but I'd definitely nominate Robinho for worst buy. It looks to me like he doesn't respect his manager or his team-mates, and he'd rather be somewhere else. They spent £30 million and the whole team has slipped backwards since he arrived.

If Shearer is able to get a good performance out of Viduka we should make him manager for life here and now. This season, he's looked unfit and unmotivated. I just worry that Shearer is basing his judgement on the Viduka of three years ago.

I do feel that the DOF system can work, but there has to be a lot of trust between manager and DOF, and preferably they should already have experience of working in partnership together. Appointing two strangers seems very hazardous. So Dalglish / Shearer may be okay.

It's up to Big Al to keep the players focused on the job in hand, and not worry what else is going on. And as a very focused player himself, I think he can do it.

I don't know, it's the club that I gave my heart to at the age of 9. I was born in Newcastle, but we left when I was very young. I moved around a lot as a kid, to Aberdeen, Dunfermline, London, Brisbane and eventually Manchester, but I didn't take the easy option of supporting Man U. And I think the reason was that my mother had very good memories of her time at Newcastle. She remembers it as the place where the people were the most friendly, most generous and most helpful to a young mum. Aah. Just wanted to share that with you.

Possibly Irving Nattrass, but I'm too old to remember. (sigh)