Unbelievable

Tiote turn > Parker pirouette

Ooooohhhhhhh

Come on... Need to get a second and put the game to bed..

Best winning a fair amount of headers..

Phew...

It was the best green could do England's number 1 man..

Shouldn't have doubted Chris' judgement..

Good assist Lovelyhands..

YES!!! BESTIE!!!

Well done Enrique

Good pressure Jonas and Loven

Yes

Phew...

Good play Best..

Good post. The only thing really missing in our attacking setup in the way you've described above is somebody who excels at taking direct free kicks, as with Carroll's arial ability and Ben Arfa's quality at dribbling and running at defenders we are bound to get into a few good FK positions every match. A dead ball specialist* who could really worry the opposition whenever they foul is in the final third would be something to look out for when we try to strengthen other positions. A lot of matches are decided by set pieces, and I feel we don't have much to offer currently in terms of a direct threat from set pieces (other than Raylor who is hardly ever on the pitch).. * Not David Beckham please

This as well. I don't think the LW position suits him. Just because he's left footed doesn't mean he should play on the left wing. Same thing happened to Van Persie at Feyenoord earlier in his career; got played LW because of his left peg, when it was clear he was much more suited to play centrally. Somehow I don't think people would put him RW if he was right footed.. Just give him a license to roam and he will be devastating.

Hahaha, calm down Dave. Seriously, I think that could work. In sensible format it would be: Barton Nolan Tiote Gutierrez Ben Arfa Carroll But Nolan with licence to get forward unmarked (what he does best), Ben Arfa with licence to roam and create (what he does best) and Carroll up there to hold the ball up and/or play those two in as runners. We still have width, with good quality in Barton and the, er, running power of Jonas. It's a settled, reasonably balanced midfield which we know can get results, and our best striker up there causing mayhem. Ben Arfa then slots in and is simply told to be creative and not have to worry about working back. Good post. The part in bold made me chuckle.. I think this is our best formation unless we get an out and out striker to partner Carroll up front.

Probably not to the standard as Carroll, but on the day we've just signed a France international with the ability to be a world beater for about £4m, this comment surprises me. Are you more surprised by my comment than by the fact that Ben Arfa has joined us, because I know I still can't quite believe the latter. Why would a player of his ability be hell bent on joining us of all clubs? I am very happy he was, but I don't think it will be a very common occurrence, do you? Tiote £3.5m? Our last two signings, potential top class players, for £7.5m. I wouldn't say Tiote came with the same pedigree as did Ben Arfa. Most of you didn't even know him ffs.. If your point is about taking gambles on up and coming players rather than has beens I fully agree (see my opinion on Bentley), but I don't see what that has to do with keeping Carroll?

Probably not to the standard as Carroll, but on the day we've just signed a France international with the ability to be a world beater for about £4m, this comment surprises me. Are you more surprised by my comment than by the fact that Ben Arfa has joined us, because I know I still can't quite believe the latter. Why would a player of his ability be hell bent on joining us of all clubs? I am very happy he was, but I don't think it will be a very common occurrence, do you?

That would be absolutely insane. There's no price I would sell Carroll for right now - our main guarantee against relegation, local lad and future England star, unplayable on his day, etc etc. There's no profit to be had in selling Carroll at this point, and I still think he's not going anywhere. It's just the usual transfer window speculation. Well ya we would be relegated if we didn't replace him, that's why I said I agree only if the 30M will be reinvested to strengthen the team all over. Carrol has massive potential but he is far from the finish product. It is the Geordie hero part that is making us overestimate his ability. We can get a better non English striker for 20M. Disagree, I've heard many impartial commentators talk about him as a future star, people with nothing to do with NUFC and who usually spend their time criticising us. Yes, we could stay up if we bought £30m pounds-worth of average players, but to achieve anything approaching success or progress we need to retain players like Carroll. Actually, there are no players like Carroll, so we need to keep him specifically! 30M pounds of average players? How much do you think players like VDV cost Spurs? Even Dzeko the most sought striker in Europe only cost 27M and that is by City's inflated standard. No players like Carroll? What do you mean? He is the best striker in the world? Which striker do you realistically think we can replace him with who a) is on the same level as him and b) would want to join us in our current predicament for c) wages that fit our operating model?

That would be absolutely insane. There's no price I would sell Carroll for right now - our main guarantee against relegation, local lad and future England star, unplayable on his day, etc etc. There's no profit to be had in selling Carroll at this point, and I still think he's not going anywhere. It's just the usual transfer window speculation. Agreed. Providing he wants to stay we've got him on a long term contract, so as long as he keeps progressing he should only become more valuable in the next few years, and hopefully the club can progress along with him.

Unbelievable!

Mmmmm, not the best results for us today then...

'almost open goal'? Must have imagined the pressure from the goalkeeper and defender then. That wa an open goal, but Nolan's against City was a 'difficult chance' (as described by some)? Ah ok. The keeper was sprawling on the ground after saving Barton's shot hence the use of the word "almost"