tmonkey

Thought he had a decent first half, using his pace and dribbling to good effect, just can't cross for s***. Hope he stays with us this season though, because although I'd want us to sell if the offer was good, we definitely aren't going to get a replacement whilst we're in limbo. Regarding his pitiful crossing, I don't understand what these players do in training. How hard can it be to just loop a ball into the box with your left boot? He doesn't even need to be accurate or anything like that. Duff's crossing is s*** for example as it's floated in with no bend or pace, but he'll not cause as many hairs to be torn out from heads because at least he gets it into the area with a bit of height on a consistent enough basis. All Jonas has to do is chip it in first time, instead of checking back onto his right boot needlessly, and he's instantly a far less frustrating player, even if he's no more effective.

Number one for me - for now. Shown enough already that he has better qualities than Harper. Looked dodgey coming off his line, but then so does Harper, who cost us the first goal with a similarly poor attempt at coming out and punching the ball away.

Won plenty of tackles but still shows zero footballing ability. Throwing himself around and lunging into tackles is helpful when he pulls it off, but when Smith gets it wrong he'll be costly, not just in terms of fouls outside the box but in terms of getting only a small amount of the ball and therefore failing to stop the move (whilst also taking himself out of the play). The rest of the time he's too out of position to be able to lunge in. Crowd pleasing attributes, but ultimately nowhere near as useful as a proper midfield. Like Barton, who came on and demanded the ball off our shitter players, kept it in tight situations, then passed it forwards.

Shola also... Nolan, Raylor, Shola, and Coloccini. The latter should get a bit more faith than the others because he's shown more during his time here and he still has the excuse of being a foreigner who hasn't adjusted to this league...yet.

Coloccini is getting blamed for that goal, but come on, that was total shit flapping from Harper.

Fucking Houghton, we could have won this game.

Shola, fuck sake.

Quality play from Barton.

Oh come on Nolan.

Oh fuck off Houghton. Take Nolan off. FFS.

Ryan Taylor. O M F G.

Thanks for that Nolan. Thanks alot.

Barton on for Nolan. Come on, we can win this. Barton is a massive step up in terms of abilty.

Good save by Krul. It might be an "easy" save, but many keepers would have gone down anticipating a low shot and not reacted to the shot going over the top. E.g. Steve Harper.

All we did was pile players forward. It's as easy as that. Let's do it more often.

Holy shit Duff did something. Good finish.

Krul

He said something about them not getting goals i thought 99% sure he said they can't pass. He was talking about a lack of creativity in the team after agreeing with Linekar that there was also no pace.

He looks like he's playing in a way that will avoid injury. Which is unacceptable from him.

"Alan Smith, Butt, Nolan. Barton on the bench. None of them can pass the ball". Shearer's managerial potential just jumped up a few notches for me.

Geremi in midfield? Madness. He can pass alright, but he can't run for shit with his 50 year old legs. Which is why we field a midfielder like Nolan, who can't pass and has the stamina and mobility of a chain smoking pensioner.

Coloccini: Yes, yes, look at my positioning and the way I angle my body, you can only go one way, and when you do, I shall tackle you and win the ball. Yes, ye....wtf?? You weren't supposed to go that way! Cunt.

Nice cross from Jonas. Clearly gets lots of practice on his left foot in training.

Fucking hell Ryan Taylor. Why was he never this bad against us?

Poor from Coloccini in the air. Needs to get some distance on that. Also, why was Greening jogging in from midfield completely unmarked?