Ashley17

Why the fuck is Jo playing, did Mancini starting writing Johnson and get distracted? Great strike from Zabaleta that mind

On the Alex/Terry thing - Alex needs surgery but they've put it off for a week so he could play today, then when Terry is back in midweek they'll cart Alex off for surgery. Terry's injury is one that can flare up from time to time so they can risk him as he could be absolutely fine (or he could be fucked..)

Hopefully this is a lesson learned by Hughton, if Nolan's going to play in central midfield he needs Tiote with him to do everything else. Sol should now come in at the back with a view to calming things down, Steve Taylor probably won't help in that respect. Enough of this Guthrie on the wing shit, he's not a winger, and if he's in the team purely to take a set piece then play him in his natural position for fuck sake. Shola...not good enough but him and Carroll is our best front 2 by far, Lovenkrands is poor and Ranger is raw, Best & Xisco I won't even start on. Carroll goes from strength to strength. He's carrying the side at the minute and I hope he doesn't burn out, especially with this groin injury. It's unthinkable what would happen if he was injured for any length of time. He's going to have to rough up Chelsea's centre backs next week, whoever they are, if we are to have any chance of not losing.

If Rooney's on his game I don't see a place for a big man alongside him, I think we look far more dangerous with a poacher such as Defoe, someone who Rooney can feed, against the shit teams especially - Bulgaria being the most recent example. A big man is more useful against the better teams as it's more important to keep hold of the ball when you get it, as you might not see it again for a few minutes once it's gone.

Long time since I've felt this negative about the national football team. Fortunately, I don't have to think about it now until February. We've got some talented players, but we've also got some fucking shit. Too many bits and pieces footballers like Lescott, Barry, Milner, Lennon etc. Thought Carroll did well tbh, could probably be a fixture in the squad. Shame Wilshire was injured, I'd like to see him start in Barry's place in the future game, especially against shit teams. Against Montenegro we played a back 4 and a defensive midfielder against one striker - senseless IMO.

Wednesday night before Blackburn was the strangest it's ever been pre-game. Absolutely flat as a fart...I know it's a midweek game but we'd just turned over Arsenal. Even local hero seemed quieter Just set the tone for the whole night really, the crowd was pretty good once it got going admittedly.

Wilshere has had his weetabix for a young lad like, absolutely ferocious in the tackle and seems pretty strong too. Good for the future of England given that he's also great on the ball, might need to calm down a bit like.

That's Sinister as fuck

Outstanding result and team performance, can't fault any of them. Tiote, Carroll & the back 5 all superb. Barton, Jonas & Nolan all put in canny shifts and it looks like Shola has really matured as a player, fewer stupid fouls and the sense to drop into midfield at times. Back to back home games now against two teams we've got absymal records against in recent times. Blackburn have the perfect team to stop the Carroll/Shola combination so it will be interesting to see what we do.

Yep, agree with all that but he never signalled an advantage, which would mean he either didn't see the handball or deemed it accidental. Which is why when the linesman had his flag up afterwards Clattenburg should have taken that as a get out of jail free card and say the linesmen gave a free kick, nobody could really have argued with it, he practically picked it up ffs.

I don't think he is though. He sees the linesman waving the flag and puts two and two together - I mean how often does the linesman flag and the decision not be given?! The linesman didn't flag until Nani put the ball in. Exactly. That in itself was confusing, but having seen ESPN pick it apart afterwards it's clear in my opinion that it's Gomes at fault for presuming he'd been given a freekick - and arguably Clattenburg for not signalling an advantage.

It's a stupid incident, Nani clearly handles the ball but if Clattenburg doesn't give a freekick Gomes has no right to make the decision and give himself the freekick - which he was trying to take 10 yards further forward in the first place. Agree though that common sense should have prevailed, Nani has basically gained a goal from handling the ball.

I really like Guthrie but he has shown fuck all in the 2 games he has featured in this season, he was absolutely gash on Wednesday. Like Dave says, he barely looks fit, and he seems distracted. He is young though and granted one of his games this season was on the right, where he should never be played. I also seem to remember being dissapointed with him in the pre-season games I saw, giving the ball away a lot. I'd have him playing reserve games to get some match sharpness as he certainly wouldn't be in my first 11 at present and we have better options off the bench.

Doubt it. Routledge and Guthrie will be the wingers IMO. Vuckic isn't the most mobile and has been shunted onto the wing before. Playing him in the middle of a 4-4-2 against Arsenal alongside Smith is just asking for trouble. And playing with our best players on the bench isn't?!? My name's Jonny Hall and I hate squad rotation. I'm in the "save players for the mackems game" camp so I obviously have a different opinion on the team to you, i.e. I am happy, you are furious. I'm just saying, if he's rotated the squad, his last thoughts are going to be with how bad a midfield pairing of Vuckic and Smith will be - if he was that concerned, he'd have played Barton and Tiote. Well no, it's been demonstrated in this thread how many different connotations this 11 could line up, so he has options and can pick the best position for each of this 11. It's not like he throws 11 names down on the page and goes "well, that'll have to do then."

Doubt it. Routledge and Guthrie will be the wingers IMO. Vuckic isn't the most mobile and has been shunted onto the wing before. Playing him in the middle of a 4-4-2 against Arsenal alongside Smith is just asking for trouble. And playing with our best players on the bench isn't?!? My name's Jonny Hall and I hate squad rotation. I'm in the "save players for the mackems game" camp so I obviously have a different opinion on the team to you, i.e. I am happy, you are furious.

Doubt it. Routledge and Guthrie will be the wingers IMO. Vuckic isn't the most mobile and has been shunted onto the wing before. Playing him in the middle of a 4-4-2 against Arsenal alongside Smith is just asking for trouble.

I'm almost certain it'll be Vuckic on the left & Routledge on the right.

Dunne OG

I was on the way home from work tonight and thought "fuck, no football tonight....nevermind it'll be back next week." But of course it fucking won't be, because we lose two weeks for this shit. Two fucking weeks! Fuck off internationals.

2 up front and we'll win. 4-5-1 and we won't. Nolan in centre midfield in a 4-4-2 will be a fail as they'll pass round him all day. Work it out Chris.

ESPN has Ben Arfa on the right and Jonas left.

Could be a lot worse. Carroll probably wouldn't win a lot off Kompany anyway.

Krul; Perch, Coloccini, Williamson, Enrique; Gutierrez, Tiote, Barton, Ben Arfa; Nolan; Ameobi.

I bet Hughton's had one of his brainstorms and the team has many changes. Daft things like Ryan Taylor and Alan Smith. I dread the confirmation now.