Mick

Until now Harper hasn't even had the comfort of being dropped after a bad game, he was dropped as soon as Given came back, regardless of his form. Giving him a bad game before being dropped is a step forward for Harper.

1. Chelsea 2. Man United 3. Liverpool 4. Arsenal 5. Newcastle 6. Man City 7. Everton 8. Spurs 9. Villa 10. Blackburn 11. Portsmouth 12. West Ham 13. Middlesboro 14. Wigan 15. Bolton 16. Fulham 17. Sunderland 18. Birmingham 19. Reading 20. Derby

Ashley doesn't look as if he "is already disillusioned."

Harpers ambition might be to play regularly for Newcastle, how would packing his bags help him achieve that?

Harper should be like the other 10 players in the team, he should be picked on merit and while he's doing a good job the shirt should be his to lose.

Allardyce will get money if he needs it and if we're in a position to take the club into the UEFA or even better if we're in 5th place come January. I have no doubt that he will be backed if and when he asks for money, especially as Ashley seems to be turning up on a regular basis.

I'd guess that Pattison is ahead of Troisi because he's got more experience and Allardyce is protecting Troisi for now because we've got so many new players who are still learning to play together.

I've only seen his pre-season games but he looks like he could play through the middle as someone who could pick the ball up from the defence and take it to the forwards if he can get his passing right.

It's just good actually seeing us use tactics, I think we've used them more so far this season than we have for years. They might not be working all of the time but Allardyce is still seeing what his players can do, he'll learn what works best as he gets to see his players perform in more games.

I like what I've seen of Troisi, I think he's got a lot to learn but he does read the game well and has a good centre of gravity, a bit like Emre in that respect, he can turn quickly with the ball without going to ground. Why was he not on the bench today? It would have made more sense than Pattison.

I think we'll have a good idea by Christmas if Emre is going to become an important player for us, if not then he could be gone in January. He's got to be given a chance under Allardyce, it would be stupid to get rid of him before seeing what a good manager can do with him.

The whole club is making massive strides both on and off the pitch, we actually look as if we're going to build something with good foundations, it's a long time since we've looked like doing that. I sometimes have my doubts about Allardyce, 4-3-3 and the long ball looked like it was here to stay but he's changed it around for our last couple of games and we've looked better for it. I have no problem with using different formations, in fact I'm all for it, I love seeing teams change formations during games to keep the opposition thinking and I can see us doing that, the two week break should do us good in that respect as Allardyce will have seen his players in real games and will have a chance to do a bit of work with them, he can make some adjustments to our game and then try them against Derby in just over two weeks, I can’t wait to see it.

We've brought so many players in who will be playing regularly that they will need months to gel, the fact that we're doing so will in the league is very encouraging. Once Enrique is getting a regular game we can move N'Zogbia to left wing and Milner to the right, I think Owen and Martins can do a job up front. I'd love Emre to become that playmaker but I'm not going to hold my breath on him doing it.

I'm not sure if Ashly had anything to with us signing Smith, I hope if he did then it was only in giving the go-ahead to spend the cash. I think what we do in the January window will depend on our league position, I'm sure if we're in the position that we are now then money will be spent in an attempt to gain one more league place come the end of the season, I've got no doubt that we'll spend when the time is right.

The comments about appointing Gullit might be more valid if he was a one off but he wasn't. The fact that all but one manager who worked under Shepherd failed is damning, to me it's not necessarily the wrong appointment but the wrong person to work for. What would you think of yourself if you kept appointing people, some who had achieved success under a previous employer but failed while working for you? Would you say that they were shite or would you start to think that maybe you were a part of the problem? If anybody on here has people working for them they’ll understand this, if I, or anybody else, keep employing people who fail then I’ll/they’ll be seen as part of the problem and I’d agree with that being right. You’re only as good as the people who work for you, what they’ve done in the past is no reflection on you, only what they do while working for you.

I wouldn't be surprised to see him in that formation.

I agree with that, Allardyce can now get to work and forget about the window, we just need a settled side palying well, it couldn't have gone much better.

Barton reminds me of the player Bowyer was for Leeds but not us, I expect that kind of game from him.

I hope you're right, when I've seen Barton he's usually running with the ball rather than making a killer pass.

Fixed.

They may create things but none of those are likely to be splitting the opposition defence with a pass from midfield, we need some creativity in the centre and so far Emre hasn't done that often enough for us to be confident that he'll start doing it when he gets back in the team, at least he'll have the benefit of working for a better manager than last season.

I rate our forwards, my fear is not giving them the opportunity to show how good they are.

I can't remember the last time I could say this but we do look to have good strength in depth, if we do well up to Christmas then we might just put the icing on the cake and get some creativity in as quite a few teams will be out of Europe by then.

I'm gutted that he's gone, going to West Ham is about as bad as it gets, I hope he has a blinder for them but I'd love to see them go down.

Did you check the sister site forum? I'm sure they had the news first.