TRon

What annoys me about Guthrie is he has some ability but it's wasted because he has zero desire and a heart tiny enough to make the Grinch jealous. Even if he has a blinder next time he starts I would still rather get rid, because the sad thing is his gutless, hide from the action display was entirely predictable.

Fell over in the middle of the pitch, with hardly anyone near him (or behind him in our colours). They ran up the pitch and scored. It's the first time I've seen him get an assist this season.

My vote would be change it to Danny Gutless.

Those two good games got us 6 points which in this league isn't to be sniffed at. If there is a better alternative at this moment then I would be happy to hear the case.

He's in the first team because he's done reasonably well of late, although his last couple of games have been poor, maybe because he's not fully fit. It's not like we've got much alternative in any case. Best and Lovenkrands are worse, Ranger is raw and at the end of the day less likely to score.

Amended the title of the thread for those who can't be bothered to read the actual post.

The pressure in midfield came only from Tiote. Guthrie just dropped back into general spaces without pressuring anyone.

Point me to your last thread so I may learn.

As centre back I mean. That's why I named the other three defenders in the main body of the post. Apologies if that wasn't clear enough (you dunderheads)

Steals sweets too. Definitely a very good player in there, sometimes looks like he doesn't know what to do but that's natural given his lack of experience. He has a lot to work with and is still very young (which makes it even more mental a few seem to have written him off already), with games he has a lot of potential to be very good and would actually suit Carroll imo. Agree with both Cajun and Wullie. Say what you like about him but the lad's a good footballer, he brings other people into the game. Not many 6ft centre forwards would look good on the wing, which is where Hughton has played him in some games this season but he has still done well. He has presence.

He has only started a couple of games but he still looks top drawer. Coloccini and Williamson have done well, Steve Taylor had a decent game today but Sol is a still class apart. The other three should be fighting for the right to play alongside him for me.

I'm not a big fan of Nolan but I prefer him to Guthrie. Usually I would prefer technique players but Nolan just puts in a lot more effort and has more physical presence.

Agree, crazy to have mentioned that as a flaw when he actually crossed one with the outside of his foot today. Not many have the skill or confidence to do it, and I was surprised to see it from Routledge tbh.

Poor game today, didn't look like he wanted to be there. I hope that was just down to lack of fitness.

Sums up everything I thought about him previously and rubber stamped today. For a relatively young player he seems to have the lungs of a pensioner. Dominated and bullied by the Chelsea midfield. He's never been the athletic type, similar to Nolan in that respect. You just never feel that they're as fit as they probably could be. Nolan isn't quick but he does run, even if it's slowly. Guthrie just seems to be standing still a lot of the time watching others run around. There were loads of times I was just willing him to make a run into the box but he just hung back always just behind the play. If Tiote is there why is he still sitting back so much?

It was one of his better performances today I thought. He's not a great player but tbf he was up against Cole and he kept him pretty busy for 90mins.

Sums up everything I thought about him previously and rubber stamped today. For a relatively young player he seems to have the lungs of a pensioner. Dominated and bullied by the Chelsea midfield.

Really looking forward to seeing Guthrie in the centre today. I reckon he goes missing in action in a lot of games but I would love to see him take this game by the scruff of the neck and prove me wrong. With Tiote alongside him he'll never have a better chance.

It wouldn't, though. That's what I'm saying. It really wouldn't. It's surprisingly inexpensive to be prepared contra not being prepared. Basically just adding a task to already exisiting jobs and maintaining a decent enough stock of grinders would see the cost of maintaining said grinders be less expensive than the cost of hell breaking loose every time it snows more than five centimetres. But that's the point, we don't normally get more than 5cm of snow. This our worst November for snow/bad weather since 1993, why be constantly prepared for something that happens once every 20 years? Inexpensive or not, it's pointless spending. Because anyone with any idea of the weather in this country would be aware that the coldest period would most likely be during winter.

Just hope the game isn't called off. Would be just our luck to miss out on playing the weakest Chelsea team for years.

Would have been even sweeter if we hadn't handed the fat bastard the points when Blackburn were up here.

I don't know what's worse, the kneejerk nature of this thread or the writing off of an 18 year old after a handful of first team runouts. If you and the rest of the "knee jerk thread" brigade actually read the OP you might have noticed that all I suggested was that Vukic be brought into the squad on match days. If he's so precious he can't even be sat on the bench when we've got half our midfield out with injuries and semi-cripples like Smith wandering round dazed on the pitch then what does that say about him? For what it's worth mate, I agree with you to an extent. I'd much rather have Vuckic playing than Smih for example who is going to offer nothing now nor in the future. He should definitely be on the bench ahead of some of the dross backup journeyman we have. I just think it's quite typical that threads of this nature turn up after a defeat, where we're building up anybody or anything as the solution to our problems. May have just been bad timing or misunderstanding on my behalf though. Fair do's. I don't think this is a case of knee jerk though as the problem of playing two slow central midfielders next to each other has been an ongoing thorn in the side for many here. Most of us are just desperate to get anyone who isn't half dead into that area so we can compete. Hopefully with Tiote being back it'll be a non-issue in a weeks time. FWIW, I still believe that Vukic is worth a place on the bench. He's a strong runner with an eye for goal. Could easily nick a point for us as a sub if used wisely.

I don't know what's worse, the kneejerk nature of this thread or the writing off of an 18 year old after a handful of first team runouts. If you and the rest of the "knee jerk thread" brigade actually read the OP you might have noticed that all I suggested was that Vukic be brought into the squad on match days. If he's so precious he can't even be sat on the bench when we've got half our midfield out with injuries and semi-cripples like Smith wandering round dazed on the pitch then what does that say about him?

It's not about if he's any worse than Smith - as Smith plays in a completely different position to him. The thought of watching Smith and Nolan operating in the same midfield again has horrified everyone so much they are clutching at straws. Seeing the Nicky Butt thread being bumped today didn't help either.

Can't even think of any youngsters appearing on the horizon that will suddenly have a breakout season that can play on the right. Not saying that's the answer, but it'd be great if it was an option. Ryan Taylor is an option if we are desperate. He'd probably lose the ball under the slightest pressure from the opposition though. He would be if he wasn't out for 3 months. Routledge it is then. Another one who seems over-awed playing for a big club.