TRon

Walker did give him a hard test but I only saw him beat him once. Much though I'd love him to flop at Anfield, I saw the whole game and he was still their best player. Not that it took much.

When King Kunny was preaching that Liverpool got what they deserved did he accept that he might have overspent on bog standard players and left out central cogs like Kuyt to accomodate them? If not I don't know why his adoring fans are kissing his arse and saying what an honest interview it was.

Gosling could have done with playing. He's still struggling to get consistency with his fitness it seems.

It doesn't look great but I really don't care that much. Not signing the players we needed pissed me off far more.

Fuck knows what I wrote there. Too many big words must have scrambled my brain in mid-sentence.

He's always been self centred tbh. He has some fantastic qualities but he's not a team person. At Wigan he was given licence to roam but if he doesn't like the position he's assigned he'll barely put in 50%. McCleish seems like just the sort of old fashioned, unimaginative manager who would send bring put the worst in Zog, who does like a sulk now and then.

Very good point. That trio built most of our play down the left when he was here.

why is the ball missing in that picture?

Good point. I doubt that will fit in with the notion that this club is being destroyed purposely by a cockney spiv. So let's concentrate instead on what a crime it was to sell Nolan, our captain and inspiration.

Prepare for the deluge of people that think we're OK with Leon Best. I'd rather have £35m and Best tbh.

Good shout. We have Gosling, and Guthrie available. I'm sure they could do a job against a weak Championship side.

They lost which made me happy, but he was still their best player by a mile, which made me sad.

I think what I was most pleased with yesterday was how good he was with his feet. Seems to be growing in confidence with the tricks starting to come out, like the Cruyff turn for his goal against Fulham.

Looked at that way, you could say Torres is a target man as well, he also holds the ball well and brings others into play. The difference is both Rooney and Torres don't need to be huge as the ball is mostly played to feet. They can also run down channels and pick the ball up deep for the same reason. When we play two big men I think it's mostly because we plan of the big man flicking on the long balls and the other striker hopefully being somewhere close by.

I think they'll win the league as well but they don't look invincible any more. Chelsea could have scored a hatful if their finishing hadn't been so poor. They missed some real howlers.

Seems a lot of the time he comes off with minor knocks. Other than that, it's pretty normal for attacking players to be subbed off. True enough, but it seems he gets subbed regardless of whether he plays well or not, or is obviously injured or not. For the number of starts he had second half of last season and start of this it's an amazing stat iyam.. I think it's just Pardew likes to have a fresh big man on to close down defenders. Maybe he feels Best won't have enough gas in the tank to do it as effectively as a sub.

And his scuff. Forgot about that one. Chelsea have looked so much worse since Lukaku came on. He looks like a shit Shola tbh.

I'm thinking in terms of how we often have two 6ft plus strikers starting the game then wonder why there's no link between the midfield and forwards. The best teams don't play like this. Not that I have anything against big strikers if they are mobile, but I don't think that's the case with either Shola or Best.

Do we overhype it? Just watching Man U v Chelsea and I'm not sure I can see a player from either side who could be described as the traditional target man who holds the ball up and brings other players into play. Do we still put too much emphasis on a player's size and strength at Newcastle?

I think the turning point was the Ramirez miss. If they'd scored it would have given them a massive lift, instead Man U went down the other end Nani made it 2-0. Don't think Chelsea have been bad at all, but I'm not sure Lampard can match Man U's energy in midfield.

Same. Can't see Sunderland even scraping a point.

I think ours will be better by the end of the season. I think it will be close between ourselves and QPR in terms of who finishes higher up the table tbh. QPR have put together some decent players but it's quite short term and it hasn't been done cheaply. I still prefer our signings in the long run.

I think ours will be better by the end of the season.

Agreed. I also think he needs to play in games where the ball is being played on the deck. So far yesterday was the only time this has happened so he needs more games to gel with his team mates.

I'd give him 20-30 mins at most. By that time the game will have opened up and he's less likely to get clattered. Not that I want to wrap him in cotton wool but a gradual re-introduction would make sense to me.