Cronky

No, we're not. We should either try him with a target man or someone like Emre, Duff or Milner who can link with the midfield. Not with Owen. One thing I will say for Martins is that yesterday he looked positive and eager to get involved. Owen just had this nervous, haunted look about him - one that he's been carrying around with him for the last few weeks in fact - like he's not enjoying his football. How his team-mates are supposed to take encouragement from a Captain who looks like a trappist monk who'd rather be elsewhere, I don't know. Sorry to bang on about Owen, but dropping him is more significant than playing Martins.

I think it's Martins' footballing intelligence that people are questioning. We've got to try something different up front. Last season, Martins did quite well with Dyer behind him, and he looks a better bet at the head of a 4-5-1 than Owen did yesterday. But if we do play him, we've got to have someone who can link him with the rest of the midfield, which isn't Owen's kind of role. It's all about combinations. I get a bit worried when people start pinning their hopes on one particular individual, as though they could do things on their own. Zoggy is the other popular candidate for saviour, but it's about getting the whole team functioning better.

Its that tired old premise of football managers in relegation trouble. Pick the experienced players who have been there got the t shirt etc who will have the experience to keep their heads up in difficult times, and that may well be true, but in our case that will only work if the heads are up in the first place. We've probably got too many players who, either through age or past injury, are no longer at the peak of their careers. Whatever level of ability they may have as individuals, you can't afford to have too many in that category. In our squad, we have Viduka, Owen, Smith, Butt, Geremi, Carr, Duff and Beye. They're not all crap, but we need more balance. What makes it worse, is that a lot of the alternatives, like Zoggy, Taylor and Martins, are still a bit raw.

With Martins you get a certain package. His ball control, his link-up play and his reading of the game are all poor, but he's quick and strong, and once or twice in a game that will allow him to create or get on the end of a chance that would be beyond other players. For me, that's better than what Owen is offering at the moment, although there's not a lot in it. Owen is being snuffed out.

No way will Owen be dropped. I think you're right. And for once, he doesn't look like getting injured.

Buying high and selling low isn't the way to a fortune. I think he'll hang in there.

If Owen stays in the side, we'll go down. When he's there, it means that we have to play in a certain way, and that way isn't succeeding. Keegan has to change it.

Good decision. Keegan showing a bit of imagination. At last.

Every time I've seen Zoggy in the centre he's looked completely lost. If that's where he's playing, that's a bad decision.

I really don't think that Blatter should be using his position to comment on individual incidents like this. It's the job of the FA and the Premier League to sort out any disciplinary action that's needed. Whatever your view of the incident, no-one can say with anything like 100% certainty that Taylor was out to nobble Eduardo. Blatter just seems to talk from the top of his head like a pub bore. Today, he's reported as saying that Rangers and Celtic shouldn't play in the Premiership. Is there a rule against that? If so, does it apply to Swansea, Wrexham and Cardiff? Blatter just seems to want to stop the Premiership from getting any stronger, but if FIFA rules aren't being violated, shouldn't he be keeping out of it?

Collymore's a good shout. There was some arrogant streak in his personality that prevented him from reaching the level that he should have. As for the six above, I only know Gillespie and Fowler. Gillespie was never a major talent in the first place, and Fowler, for all his skill, wasn't particularly strong or quick. He had a good career, but there was always a ceiling to how much he was likely to achieve.

Whatever your opinion of Sir Bob, sacking him clearly didn't work. The decline continued and in fact accelerated. That indicates that there were other problems. IMO they were the related issues of Shearer carrying on too long and Shepherd interfering with the manager's job.

They each have very different approaches, but have achieved a lot of success in their own way, so it's difficult to compare. Wenger has done fantastically well to buck the trend and build a great young side through the ranks. I've often felt with him though that he had a great bit of luck when he first joined Arsenal, by inheriting the best back five that the English game has ever seen. That was the foundation of his success, and he's kept the momentum up. It might have been very different if he hadn't started with that advantage. With Fergie, you can say he's had money to spend and he's at England's biggest club, but that brings its pressure. When he joined Man U, they hadn't won the league for over 20 years. It was a similar situation to Liverpool now, only worse - many good men had come in and failed. It wasn't an easy job.

I don’t get the impression you’ve all been waiting with bated breath for this, but this is a top 12 of post-war managers in England, in terms of trophies won. Putting in Scottish trophies made things a bit complicated and distorted, especially considering I’d have had to include Souness. Missing out his Aberdeen achievements is to Ferguson’s cost, of course. I’ve also missed out one-off games like the Community Shield and the European Super Cup. To make it a bit fairer, it’s two points for winning the League or the European Cup, 1 point for any other trophy. Actual trophy numbers in brackets, and used as tie-breaker. Some of these names will mean more to us crinklies. I don’t think I’ve missed anyone. Pts Tro. 1. Alex Ferguson 28 (18) 2. Bob Paisley 22 (13) 3. Matt Busby 14 (8) 4. Brian Clough 12 (8) 5. Arsene Wenger 10 (7) 6. Kenny Dalglish 10 (6) 7. Bill Nicholson 9 (8) 8. George Graham 9 (7) 9. Bill Shankly 9 (6) 10. Don Revie 8 (6) 11. Stan Cullis 8 (5) 12. Jose Mourinho 7 (5) Interesting that Mourinho gets in there, after only three seasons, and you can make a strong case out for Cloughie, getting in at number 4 despite only managing Derby and Notts Forest - clubs he actually took up from the Second Division.

HTT - I first started following football in the late 60's, and even though we'd just won the World Cup, you heard journos complaining that the players were like robots and we weren't producing great individuals any more like Stanley Matthews, Tom Finney, Tommy Lawton etc I can't agree that the football is less entertaining or skilful today. Teams like Man U and Arsenal are brilliant to watch, and right the way down the league, standards have improved. All subjective of course.

It's just sinking in, 37 bloody trophies. Most managers go through their careers not winning anything. 10 would put you up in the elite. I'd be pretty sure that the number two would be Bob Paisley, with 19 ie half that number. I've got a nerdy desire to compile the top 10 when I've got time. That's unless someone beats me to it.

Football was certainly the most strenuous sport I played too. As others have said, it's the stopping, starting and changing of direction that does you, particularly when you're having to try to do it quicker than an opponent. On the issue of players being tired after a midweek game, I don't imagine there's a huge measurable difference in performance between the Wednesday and the Saturday game. The issue is that if they're up against opponents who haven't played in midweek, then that can tell in the later stages of the game. Athletically speaking, the players are very evenly matched, and a small advantage in stamina can have a significant effect at that level.

Like most, I prefer to watch Arsenal, but it's kind of hard to argue against 37 trophies.

I can only see Liverpool's movement being far too good for us, even though they've got a midweek game. It could be another embarrassment.

I've never thought of Enrique in midfield. I take your point about positive passing, but he doesn't really look like a potential midfield player to me. He's not afraid of taking responsibility though. I'd agree with what I think you're saying about Barton - he's the best we have at playing the defence-splitting pass, and he's therefore more difficult to replace than a lot of people think. He's fairly ambitious in what he tries and as a result he loses it quite often, but a couple of times on Saturday he played inch perfect passes first time which left Owen one on one. We don't look like scoring many from crosses or set pieces, however many we put in, and we really need that creativity down the centre. I don't have much doubt that Smith will be the replacement in midfield though. His passing is a lot better than he's given credit for, but obviously not as good as Barton's.

Jenas played the holding/defensive MF role under SBR. Who plays that role now? Nicky Butt. We sold Jenas for £7m, since then we have bought Alan Smith for £6m. Where were we then? Where are we now? No. Jenas was carried by Speed. Whenever Speed was out (as rare as it was), Jenas wasn't himself. When Speed left, Jenas became even shittier than he was. Obviously this is relative i.e. his shit is not equal to Alan Smith shit, but the point stands, his form deteriorated over the last couple of seasons of his stay and we got good money for him. That, to me, is good business. What we did with the money we got for him is another business altogether which is why I don't understand why you've mentioned Butt and Smith. Actually, if you were to truly consider Jenas' situation with consideration for his replacement, you'd have to realize that the £7m went towards signing Scott Parker, who was as good as Jenas (the version of him that we saw in the last couple of seasons) imo. Jenas did well at first, and then - as is the way with young, developing players - he needed to be given more responsibility and put in the anchor role instead of Speed. Souness didn't have sufficient confidence in him to do that, and he ended up being played all over the place. His game declined, the fans started to get at him, and naturally he wanted out. Souness was aware of his potential though, and wanted him to stay. Sometimes, with young players, you have to take a step back to take two steps forward down the line. We didn't do that with Jenas.

I'd agree on Bellamy. We really benefit from a quick, energetic hard-working player who can link up the attack with the midfield. Before CB, it was Beardsley. Last season, to a lesser extent, Dyer did a job for us in that role.

That's Barton's job, isn't it? How can you call him shite?

I'd agree that the spirit in the side looked good. Where the pressure told a bit was the finer points of decision-making - players taking another touch instead of hitting the ball first time (eg Duff), and then at the end, throwing everyone forward when a draw would have been better than nothing.

The first choice eleven that's emerging strikes me as too flimsy. A team has to win the ball (ie defend), keep the ball and use the ball. There are too many players in there who are good at using the ball, but not the other two. That front six won't work for that reason.