Cronky

Martin Samuel writes in a very entertaining way, but he does have this habit of demolishing straw men in order to produce punchy articles. Ed's views aren't particularly representative of NUFC supporters in general, I wouldn't say. The game benefits from both an international and a club dimension. Neither is more important than the other. I certainly wouldn't want to get a situation like in cricket or rugby union, where the club game is subservient.

In a 3 man midifeld do you really need Geremi Roz and Smith? To my mind, if you've got two of Geremi/Butt/Smith in there, that's enough defensive cover. You can afford to have an Emre in the middle, with Zog, Milner and Viduka as the front three. I suppose I'd tend to look at it the other way - that if you've only got three in the midfield, you can't afford to have someone who's tackling and work rate is suspect. I'd agree though that our particular threesome isn't ideal, and I think the addition of Barton will make a big difference. I think the 4-3-3 needs players who are a bit more versatile, because the wide players are expected to drop back. Really the formation ought to be called 4-3-2-1. Milner and Emre have played as withdrawn strikers in that space between midfield and striker, and I think that's where they're at their best. On the defence side, Beye and Enrique are both good going forward, and Roz has played quite a lot in midfield. So I think the balance between attacking and defensive players isn't as warped as you're suggesting.

I don't fully trust Emre in the midfield. Defensively he's weak and he often seems to play only in bursts. I thought he looked better (not brilliant, but better) on the occasions when he was a withdrawn striker, linking midfield and attack. If we're playing a 4-3-3, I'd put him further forward ie - Beye Taylor Faye Enrique Geremi Roz Smith Milner......Emre .........Viduka Use Zoggy and Martins as impact subs.

The funny thing is that Villa aren't actually playing that well. A major problem with a bad defence is it affects the confidence of the whole side. When that equaliser went in, the thought must have gone through the mind of every Spurs player - what's the point, if we can concede goals like that.

I didn't think either full back was given a lot of protection, and I wondered if there's a bit of a problem with the 4-3-3 when players are new to it. In a 4-4-2, it's clearly the responsibility of the wide midfield player to help the full back, but in a 4-3-3 does that job fall to the wide player in the midfield or the wide player in the front line? Sometimes against Man City and West Ham, it looked like the opposition was getting too much space out wide and I wondered whether the players were a bit unsure of who was doing what. In my playing days, no-one was trying anything but 4-4-2, so I genuinely don't know the answer here.

Apart from his goal, I actually thought he produced little. He wasted a good opportunity in the second half with a very poor shot into the side netting. You don't mind a miss if it's a reasonable attempt, but he was well wide. His link up play wasn't great. I mean, we now know what we'll get from him, so I don't really want to complain. He's quick and strong and that will sometimes enable him to score from a not very promising situation. Most of the time though, his ball control is poor and he doesn't read the game well.

See, I think this is rubbish, tbh. Not everything he tries comes off, but many of his passes are anything but negative. There are situations where a forward ball is on, but he's under a bit of pressure. Someone more comfortable with the ball would be able to make the pass. Butt usually does a Parker ie turns round to shield the ball, and then gives it to the back four. You couldn't call it a mistake, just a waste. You only get a certain number of good situations in a match, and it's important to take advantage.

I wouldn't call Butt useless because he generally does a good job defensively, but he's very poor in possession. He wastes a lot of good situations by passing badly, or negatively. The player in his position gets a lot of the ball and we shouldn't have someone there who can't pass.

I'd say Smith yeah, or Butt Smith has been better than both Geremi and Butt today, IMO. Definitely.

Viduka has been excellent. Although they're better than us in possession, we're getting chances. We're getting ripped apart down Zoggy's side. I'm not sure if the problem is his positioning, or whether he's not getting help. Difficult to know how this one is going to go.

That's close to the ugly truth. I don't think that Allardyce encourages the long ball, but our players end up resorting to it. Hopefully that will change when we get Barton back and the team develops a bit more confidence in one another.

Jol's record with young players is a good one. It's just a pity that he had to compare himself with Arsenal, who have been the best of all. A big advantage that Wenger has had is that he's built his teams on the back of a good defence. From Adams, to Campbell, to Toure, he's always had that backbone. And it's the Spurs defence that is holding them back at the moment. And of course there's that DOF position, which has caused problems both for Jol and Mourinho.

On Liverpool's financial situation - I'vesaiditbeforeandI'llsayitagain. Liverpool and Everton each building separate grounds at the same time is insanity. Initially, fans wouldn't like sharing a ground, but they get used to it quickly enough. It's not as though it's harmed AC Milan and Inter. With the Premiership now attracting players from all over the world, yes it's tougher for young English players to force their way in. I don't think that raising the bar is all bad though. The quality of the English players that do make it is going up.

Kind of think he's overstating the case. Blackburn were the biggest spenders of their era, in the same way that Chelsea are now. Trying to make out that it was a triumph against the odds, and all down to exceptional management, is stretching things a bit.

And he'll say "Because I ended up scoring 260 Premiership goals and I'm Newcastle's and the league's record goalscorer. Who are you?" And I'll say, 'Well, Alan, by that logic you should still be playing, because you still hold the records. And it doesn't matter who I am'.

I'll go along and ask him why he didn't retire earlier.

Yes, I think Big Sam has what it takes. In the way of the very top managers, he has his own vision of how to do things and he doesn't just follow the herd. He has good judgement, and deals with the situation that's in front of him, not the one he'd like to have. The club now has the resources which should, in time, allow them to compete at the very top. Two things can get in his way. One is bad luck, and that plays a bigger part in sport than we'd like to think. The second is whether he's able to keep faith in his own judgement despite being in a high pressure job where every mistake is highlighted and he gets bombarded by alternative opinions. It's a syndrome that's defeated every England manager, and every Man U manager after Busby until Ferguson came along.

Ashton and Rooney should be a great combination, and has to be tried some time. I suspect that for Russia, McClaren won't want a completely new strikeforce, and will go for Crouch and Rooney instead. Either way, McClaren's a lucky man, because if injuries hadn't intervened, he'd have gone with the flow and picked Heskey and Owen, which I think would have been a mistake.

He seems to have filled out a bit over the last year, and he impressed me in pre-season. I think he'll make the grade.

That's a very interesting article. I think Ashley's policy of clearing the debt and then running the club on business lines is the right approach. It's a bit annoying though to learn that the club had spent on the basis of future income and was teetering on the edge of serious trouble. The Halls at least recognised that they're reached the end of the road and were prepared to sell out to a bigger player. Shepherd was saying he'd never sell, having convinced himself that he was still the only man for the job despite the fact he clearly didn't have the resources. He's a stubborn fool who could have led us down the Ridsdale path.

It was interesting that Sam himself said after the West Ham game that he was very much finding out about his defenders. He's going to be trying things, making the odd mistake, and then learning as he goes. It's only when someone doesn't learn from their mistakes that you have to worry. But overall the defence still needs a lot of sorting out. We've looked weak and it's a good job that we haven't faced one of the top sides yet.

Whether we challenged him or backed off, we couldn't handle Dean Ashton all game. He was always a threat. He's a very good player, and should be in the England squad. I thought the back four was shaky throughout, and the main difference in the second half was that our midfield seemed to offer them a bit more protection. West Ham then had to commit more men forward, and as the game wore on, naturally found it more difficult to get back to cover. I think Big Sam is pretty much getting the best out of the players at his disposal, so credit to him for that. But goals change games and if we hadn't got the second goal when we did, somewhat against the run of play, we'd have been in a bit of trouble.

For me, Zoggy at LB is a mixture of the very good and the very poor. When he has space to get forward, he can really open things up for us with his pace. Defensively though, he's pretty horrendous. He often gives the ball away when not under any particular pressure, and lands us in the shit. His positioning (eg the Carlton Cole chance) is also very suspect. BUT, he now seems in the frame of mind to learn, and defensive skills can be taught. He reminds me a bit of Ashley Cole, and if he applies himself, he can reach that kind of standard.

I thought we were a bit lucky to get a win, overall. The back four had no protection from the midfield in the first half, for some reason, and West Ham looked the better footballing side. We went in ahead thanks to a header from Viduka that looked impossible, and Zoggy's pace for the second. We were better in the second half and made them battle for their chances. We looked like catching them on the break several times before we eventually got the third. The good thing is that we will get better, and if we're winning these kinds of contests that says a lot for our spirit and organisation. The passing through the midfield is still poor, and I think Barton will make a big difference. I disagree about Butt having a good game. He put in his usual share of challenges, but there were several times when he chose a negative ball when a pass forward was on. Owen looks a better all round player since his return from injury. He's slower but his link up play has improved immeasuarably.

I'd go for - .........Given Beye....Taylor....Cacapa....N'Zogbia Milner....Rozenhal...Smith.....Geremi ...............Owen....Viduka