Shak

Definitely needs to be used only as a midfielder, barring an emergency, which I suspect he will. Will be a great squad player with us mostly using 4-3-3. Be interesting to see what happens when Barton gets back should Smith keep this form up. Great performance.

One shocking one where he was away and just ambled towards it, allowing Faye to come in and win the ball. Had he had his arse in gear for that we could have scored as they looked exposed at the back.

Midfield was very good in general, Smith-Butt and Geremi are a very physical trio in there and will give anyone a tough time. Geremi's set pieces were a bit disappointing and you could blame him for their goal if you're being uber-critical but all in all a solid first game as captain. Rozenhal was great, reads the game fantastically and will be a great partner for Taylor if he maintains form like today. I've said Martins should do well out wide in a 4-3-3 and today shows it very well. Still has a few blonde moments with the ball but took his first goal brilliantly and did well for the second too.

Been watching it on Setanta, missed the first goal but have to say it was excellent stuff from us. Completely outplayed them in the first half, type of steely performance we've not produced amywhere near enough over the years. Second half was lethargic, but the job was done. Can take a positive from how well we dealt with conceeding the goal. They didn't really threaten again the rest of the game. Delighted, well done lads.

According to that Nobby "is about to enter the final year of his contract". Is that the one year contract he only signed this summer then? Crap southern journalism again Pedantic, to say the very least.

Squad depth ftw?

Tottenham Hotsocks FTW, you're all going down. My squad is so good that I'm not revealing it until after the deadline.

Shola's was on the right foot. Got it played in with his back to goal, held off the defender and buried it with his right foot in the bottom left corner. Chez's right.

He was awesome. I remember everyone raving about him after that, thinking he'd really push on. Excellent display from him the whole match, up front by himself. He bullied Desailly at SJP and scored an excellent goal from outside the box. He was closely marked and held Desailly off and scored on the turn. Someone might remember when that was? Err, that was Shearer. Ameobi's goal in that match was a left foot shot from about 15 yards out iirc, into the bottom corner? Err, no it wasnt, it was right foot just on the edge of the area, Leazes end and it went into bottom right. Ball from mid-way, chests it down and turns Desailly. I'll bet money on it. You're both right, they both scored quality goals in that match. Shearer's overshadowed Shola's as it was better, but Shola's was still a quality goal as well.

So what's his reasong apart from 'Nobody Likes England'? How old is he? Giving it to France again so soon would be ridiculous, even Italy would be chancing it a bit. Still though, what a pleb.

He was awesome. I remember everyone raving about him after that, thinking he'd really push on. Excellent display from him the whole match, up front by himself. He bullied Desailly at SJP and scored an excellent goal from outside the box. He was closely marked and held Desailly off and scored on the turn. Someone might remember when that was? It was Drogba-esque tbh. Not saying i'm a massive fan but he has shown he has got ability in the past. That was the game where Shearer scored the beauty as well, I think? Three seasons ago I believe, maybe even more. Anyone who thinks he's completely useless needs to have a word in all honesty. Just because he's inconsistent and generally seems to underperform doesn't mean you have to pretend he's woeful or anything. Some of the abuse Shola gets on here is shocking, and a disgrace, in all honesty.

Praying he comes good this season, I'm expecting more frustration though. He'll get plenty of games this season though. Allardyce will want a target man on the pitch at all times where possible and Shola is second in the queue to Viduka for that spot. If we get more of the same from Shola this year and Viduka picks up injuries we could be in trouble, as I can't see Martins, Smith or Owen doing well up front by themselves. I'd also be sceptical of any pairing from those three names being effective, barring smith and Owen possibly. On the bright side, it's really make or break for Shola over the next 2 years I think. By then I'm expecting Carroll should be ready to contribute in some form, and if Shola doens't produce over the next two years he'll be off.

Carr will get spat on and Zoggy will ge moaned to death I'm sure The Zog can more than hold his own in that department. And they'll be playing on the opposite sides, anyway.

Very worried about our full-backs in this one, reckon Diouf and Anelka will cause them all sorts of problems.

Niggers you say? Sorry I meant naggers. Actually hurt myself laughing first time I saw that, a moment of pure television genius.

Appalling referee tbh

'People Who Annoy You' The epsidoe is called 'With Apologies to Jesse Jackson'. Get it watched. IMMEDIATELY.

Yes, but we're trying to function in the real world at the moment. Personally think the singing section is a fantastic idea. Though, as someone said, I'd rather a few smaller singing sections than one big fuck-off one. Spread them around, one in each stand. It's a lot easier to sing along with others than it is to start chants yourself. If we had a decent noise coming from a few sections at all times, it would definitely help the rest of the ground to get in the mood for it. Spreading them around would also encourage others to sing better than one big section IMO, as you'd have noise all around the stadium rather than just coming from one stand.

A truly brilliant solution to the problem. http://nufcblog.com/dyer-deal-will-still-be-done-after-clubs-calm-down/ They're offering 6m, we want 8m. So a fee of 7m should keep everyone happy, apparently.

God bless Setanta Ireland.

7th would be my guess. We'll be much improved, but others will too so it won't be easy making the Top 6. It'll be nip and tuck and I can see us finishing anywhere between 5th and 10th very easily, 7th seems a likely outcome.

People having a go. Put him in the squad, give him a run out by all means. Sure he's not ready as an international CB yet, but it's a friendly and he looks a very good prospect. Can't see how it does him any harm, good if he gets the squad. Doubt he'll play anyway, few others still fit who are in line for a look at some point. But a few days with the squad won't do him any harm if he gets called up. Drew a lot of praise in the U-21, think he's got a good chance.

So many spaces, and yet no width.

I've my heart set on this guy at this point. Big hardy, cynical fucker. Reckon if we really want him, we'll get him. His recent quotes are maybe a sign the deal has been in doubt, but I don't believe Sevilla have all of a sudden decided to give him a massively improved offer. Get him signed.

How many CB's are you anticipating we'll need? Enough to keep Ramage out the team. Fair point, better get 3 more just in case. One more would do though, 4 CB's should be enough. I think Huntington and possibly Edgar will have moved ahead of Ramage in the pecking order at CB before long though, so not to worry.