Memphis

Big test of our ability to manage his personality. This has the potential to go very wrong - we could overcoach him to be too timid, taking his edge away and blunting his important aggression. On the other hand, we could fail to control his aggression and end up with a player that's not to be trusted on the pitch. Methinks Steve Black and the psychological team will have a real job on their hands in the time he's suspended.

By no means is it entirely Krul's fault. But I've gone back and looked at seasons past and the pass charts are more or less the same. It's much more understandable in this game but the one last year, for example, against QPR is mind-blowing (in fairness, Riviere was the targetman, so, yikes). It's a failure to either a) improve what is an important aspect of Krul's game or b) modify the tactics/personnel so it doesn't have to be such a huge problem (or c) both). It's an indictment on Krul's poor long passing but it's also an indictment on our team's continued inability to generate play from the back. McClaren has tried to do that a bit more this season but there is still no cohesive link between the back 5 and the midfield, leaving Krul to punt it upfield, generally inaccurately. The charts against Southampton and Swansea look very similar. We've got to find a better way to start attacks from back to front.

Van Morrison - Gloria: "Flooooo-rian TH-A-U-V-I-N Flo-oo-oooooooo-rian TH-A-U-V-I-N"

http://i.snag.gy/lpHTu.jpg Great shot-stopper and such but that is shocking.

He's alive!

Memphis. As in the city. Never envisioned at all when I registered with it (been a good 10 yrs to the day almost) that there would be any other interpretation.

Ha! Had a feeling that might be coming...

I'm of two minds here - love the point, love the determination and what appeared to be a much more organized back 5. I didn't - and haven't - loved the 4-2-3-1 we've been sticking with and I don't think it suits us particularly well. We were aided in large part by facing a sluggish, pointless Rooney and a mostly insipid attack. I thought after the first 15 minutes we were pretty sound defensively, albeit riding our luck at times. Considering Mbemba's never a RB, he did OK against Memphis and crossed it beautifully for Mitrovic's thumping header. A miraculously effective performance by Colo and Taylor, Haidara (for the most part), too. I didn't like the way Colback and Anita, especially Colback, were separated so much from the back 4. They didn't really do enough working to allow us to transition effectively from defence into attack. So often we would get the ball back only to see the defenders stranded without an outlet, giving the ball back quickly - or cycling it back to Krul for one of his inevitably poor hoofs. We didn't set up particularly well to allow our midfielders any time on the ball or too many decent options to move the ball to. We never really created enough natural width to generate crosses or decent balls for Mitrovic to attack. Though Wijnaldum did well again considering what he had to work with, Perez, too. Terrific workrate from them. I'd prefer to see us in a 4-1-4-1 (or even a diamond) with Anita as the DM, Thauvin and Sissoko out wide, Wijnaldum inside with Perez playing slightly behind Mitrovic. Aarons would be a natural impact sub or even a starter depending on the situation. I think that would helps us retain a little more threat while still being solid at the back. Colback's just not good enough, doesn't provide enough to be in the 11. Our plan of widening the centre backs and dropping Anita or Colback to receive the ball and attempt to play it out from the back was sussed out very easily today - we didn't have a Plan B. That's a bit worrying. They pressed us high and we didn't have the cohesion to provide outlets so the ball ended up heading back to Krul far too often for aimless punts (or, worse, giving it right back to them in our final third). Still, caveats aside, any point at OT is a great one. Any clean sheet, too. We've certainly got far better individual talents than we've had in years. In a few weeks, I think we'll start to see a much more cohesive product on the pitch.

“He wanted to know exactly his role, and exactly what he needed to do, which is very rare for players. They normally just turn up and play. I was delighted with that." -McClaren on Thauvin Pretty damning indictment of most players. Although to be fair, I'm guessing if Thauvin had asked Carver or Pardew the specifics of his role, he'd have been met with a "show me some magic" and "be a spark".

Payet is 6 years older, is he not? Part of the price of the deal is the potential involved, whether that is realised here or not.

Seems weird to be signing him. I never envisioned it would actually ever happen. We are persistent, if nothing else. One way or another, if we're linked to you, we'll sign you. Someday, Dirk Kuyt, someday...

I'm struggling to be too upset by this. I don't think we've seen anywhere near the best from Cabella, bar a half here or there -- and while Zidedine Zidane would have struggled under the management of Pardew/Carver, I still have my doubts as to whether Cabella's truly cut out for this league. Might be his mentality, might be the lack of pace, lack of physicality, I don't know. He's certainly a talented player but something appears to be missing and we don't appear to have the patience to wait for it to emerge -- if it ever would. So if his loan is a makeweight in this deal, I'm fine with it. If the option to buy is 8-10m, just my guess, but seems reasonable, then the total cost of the deal would make far more sense. If they're paying Cabella's wages, and I'm sure they are, that helps to explain it, too. Regarding Thauvin, his strengths are ones we need to be buying. His weaknesses are ones we've had trouble with in the past. Certainly a risk. But if he can play as a pacy, classy winger with actual end product, that would be huge for us. Other than Aarons, who is tremendously exciting but largely unproven, we don't have that. From what we've seen of McClaren's setup, we need it desperately. More importantly, Mitrovic needs it -- and the club needs to be bringing the best out of 13m strikers. It makes sense. It obviously doesn't eliminate our need for a defender, particularly a fullback, but we do have a separate need for a player like Thauvin, so as long as this doesn't come at the FB's expense, it's a net positive.

Easy to be negative as a knee-jerk reaction to this one, so I will be. It was a dereliction of duty to give Coloccini another year on his contract. It bodes so poorly for us over the next two seasons -- the guy is finished. It was clear last year, it's even clearer now. He can't jump, he's lost two steps of pace, and his positioning continues to be awful. He will hold us back, no matter what, and the worst part is that his alternatives are somehow worse than he is. Janmaat. What a joke of a match. Should be embarrassed, probably isn't. Wijnaldum wasn't up to it today against a very well-prepared and technically excellent midfield. Presumably there's much more to come but he was poor today. Colback was his usual self out there. Haidara is nowhere near Premier League quality. We only crafted 2 or 3 even halfway decent moves before the sending off, and even those were tame by comparison to Swansea. For all the talk of innovation and Cathro and fresh thinking, we look very much the same as we did last season. We're comfortably slower in all but about 2 spots on the pitch compared with most opponents, we don't seem to understand how to build an attack from back to front -- the only real danger this year has come from one counter attack. The movement continues to be stilted and predictable when it's even there at all. I guess it really hits home how poor we are as a squad, but man, today was depressing. We are easily 5 or 6 decent players away from being a top 10 team, most of them defenders.

Good 40 minutes from Janmaat. Plays Gomis on, gets skinned by Montero constantly, two dumb yellows, and that's that. We are still miles away from being competitive with teams like Swansea. 2-2 draw with Southampton at home looks a lot less appealing now that they've played their 2nd game. Need new ideas. We already look stale.

Thought we were quite good in the main. Wijnaldum's movement and energy were excellent until they weren't. Was really encouraged by the way we played out of the back, with the two CBs splitting, allowing Anita - who was steady and neat - to receive the ball from deep while also allowing our FBs to get well forward. Both CBs can play the ball, which is a nice luxury, shame Colo is about 4 years past his prime. In theory, with better players than Colo and Haidara, that could be a nice platform. Mbemba was phenomenal in the second half, towering header to clear it away from Pelle when Pelle was 6 yards out. Nice anticipation and looks comfortable on the ball. Was at fault for the first but also was unclear about positions of Colo and Janmaat. As the game went on, that improved. Kept a nice line in the second half, too. Decent movement in the attacking areas although we tried too hard to play it down the flanks without great wingers. Still not fast enough overall in our passing, got caught in possession too often against the high pressure of Southampton. But there were some good one-twos, Sissoko was excellent before fading, and you can see there is a lot of potential for improvement. Good game overall, would have taken a point at the beginning of the day, defence being what it was. Our preseason US chuckle fest didn't help.

Just showering and this popped into my head (I had been on the beach, to be fair, might have gotten too much sun) To the tune of "Do-wah-diddy-diddy-dum-diddy-doo" Came to Toon after leaving PSV Singing Ooh Wij-nald-i-diddy-dum-diddy-doo Scoring goals just as natural as can be Singing Ooh Wij-nald-i-diddy-dum-diddy-doo He can pass (he can pass) He can score (he can score) He can pass, he can score, he can do it all and more

“I wanted to score and was doing everything to score but I was a little unlucky. Maybe it will happen on Saturday, or if not then against Southampton – that is the most important game and I am sure I will score in that one." Love this guy.

He's so bland on MOTD but he's brilliant on Twitter.

Elvis - Return to Sender Chancel Mbemba His age unknown Might be 20 Might be old The lad's from Congo Gave Willo the sack Don't ask his age because those papers keep coming back Flew over from Belgium He's the next Kompany His bones say 20 But his face looks 43

There didn't seem to be much negotiation for Mbemba or Mitrovic on the transfer fee - certainly not by our standards. Could it be that we are smart enough to establish a good relationship with Anderlecht going forward, knowing that players like Tielemans will be moving soon enough?

Catapult body monitors. They record heart rate, exertion levels, speed, etc.

We have zero squad depth, especially in defence.

LOLando AARONS is the punch in a turdbowl

Shades of Leyton Orient here

I think this is very much the case. Surely he wouldn't put out this ludicrous back 4 otherwise.