Unbelievable

Keeping a bit of possession now.. Good!

I don't think we have much of a choice tbf..

VDV should be booked for that..

Decent? Was great...

Good thing we let one go out on loan then...

Perch on, taking the piss now..

Then Ameobi misses a sitter.. Edit: well, not exactly, but still a fairly straight forward header..

Oooohhh, Shola almost with a fantastic curler...

When the action for the goal unfolded I thought it was Jonas at first glimpse. Obviously I was very surprised to see him control the ball like that and volley it in the back of the net. Almost more surprised to find out it was Colo. Fantastic!

23 minutes + ET

YES!! COLO WHAT A GOAL!!!

Just came in. How is it going so far?

Means nothing unfortunately. Remember Keegan saying the same thing regarding James Milner hours before Ashley sold him to Villa?

Because playing on the wing is only about crossing ability?

He played 5 games at Spurs and that was spread over a 3 or 4 year period in which he was loaned out twice. His assists record for us last season, which is more relevant than when he was 19 or 20 years old is one in almost every two games. In the Championship aye. This season, just under 1000 minutes played, 1 assist. So, if Nolan is out of the running for tomorrow, how would you line up in midfield, and who would you have on the bench to come on in midfield and make an impact?

Uh oh..

If we sold every player who had been poor in those games we wouldn't be able to fulfil our remaining fixtures. Routledge hasn't looked anything like a top flight winger all season. He's been decent if unspectacular. We all know he's no Messi, but he's better than whoever we've got in the reserves for that position I would assume..

I don't think his wages will have been so high as to be a hindrance to getting other players in. I just fail to see what's in it for us with this deal. I do. Really..? Can't have been on more than 15-20k a week surely?

I don't think his wages will have been so high as to be a hindrance to getting other players in. I just fail to see what's in it for us with this deal.

Agree. I don't think people are slagging him off as such, but I'm seeing people say he's not Premier League class but would keep him...why? During tomorrow's game if we lose a midfielder to injury, we have literally nobody to turn to. Reason enough to not let him go on loan and without a replacement in place. We have Gosling & Ferguson. Plus Tiote will only have one more game to go. We can also play Ranger on the right like we did at Chelsea. So you would genuinely rather play Ranger on the right than Routledge? If that's the case, I can't even take your argument seriously. He's an optimistic nut all right if he thinks we will not regret this if not replaced and Barton gets injured/suspended/jailed...

Agree. I don't think people are slagging him off as such, but I'm seeing people say he's not Premier League class but would keep him...why? During tomorrow's game if we lose a midfielder to injury, we have literally nobody to turn to. Reason enough to not let him go on loan and without a replacement in place. We have Gosling & Ferguson. Plus Tiote will only have one more game to go. We can also play Ranger on the right like we did at Chelsea. Gosling's out tomorrow Plus he hasn't played for ages. Absolutely no guarantee he will be a good option in that position in terms of fitness, positional ability and coming back from injury as good as before (even then, what has he really proven in the game?)

Agree. I don't think people are slagging him off as such, but I'm seeing people say he's not Premier League class but would keep him...why? During tomorrow's game if we lose a midfielder to injury, we have literally nobody to turn to. Reason enough to not let him go on loan and without a replacement in place. We have Gosling & Ferguson. Plus Tiote will only have one more game to go. We can also play Ranger on the right like we did at Chelsea. Out of all those, I would rate Routledge the best option for the right side of midfield still. Moving Jonas and Ferguson on the left will move Jonas to a position where he is less effective and have us relying on a lightweight 11 or something year old ffs..

Agree. I don't think people are slagging him off as such, but I'm seeing people say he's not Premier League class but would keep him...why? Because at this current time, we have nobody else who can play there other than Barton. Gosling & Jonas. Can hardly rely on Gosling at this moment, and if Jonas covers right who will play left. Besides, isn't Gosling a central midfielder by trade? Barton has worked out fine there, but I do remember the likes of Bowyer in that position looking half the player they looked in the middle. It's a specialist position, in which we have absolutely no cover now..

Agree. I don't think people are slagging him off as such, but I'm seeing people say he's not Premier League class but would keep him...why? During tomorrow's game if we lose a midfielder to injury, we have literally nobody to turn to. Reason enough to not let him go on loan and without a replacement in place. It's a no brainer really, even though this seems to have somehow escaped the no brainers in charge of the club..

Surprised about the animosity. We knew what we were getting when we got him and he did what we expected from him. Maybe not quite good enough at this level, but that's hardly his fault and I think we may regret it greatly if Barton is out for any amount of time. Also, he gave us pace, something few of our other players do which can be very useful from the bench in certain situation. Surprised and not happy with this development. We'd better replace him.