Andy

Not sure how Chelsea "deserve" the goal - all they'd done until then was pass the ball about their midfield.

Not much wrong with that valuation in the current market... Young English striker, carrying shit loads of hype, who's scoring goals in a poor team and generally giving defences a battering -- as long as we're still a premiership team, £25 million is not far away from what we should be looking for, especially if the likes of City come in.

Not really. If he does, it won't be for us.

except always look a decent standrad premier centre half, something the jury is still out on with williamson. Is it? Williamson looks like a steady Premier League centre half to me. Certianly has more composure than Taylor. i disagree, taylor is much better on the ball and as good defensivly as williamson. No he isn't. Taylor is rash and gung-ho at the best of times - blood-and-thunder is not akin to "good defending".

Anyone told the toon-chavs that Neesy doesn't condone their actions? I can't see them smashing up any more cars if they're made aware of this. In fact, they'll probably reform and become successful doctors, lawyers and the like within only a few years. Thank God Neesy has finally spoken-out.

I don't think EthiGeordie's a fake account. I could be wrong though.

Wow, he's a huge midfield DESTROYER, he's about two foot bigger than the goals for fuck's sake.

Pedantic post Dave, but why do you spell "crack" "craic" ? Crack has been a Geordie expression for as long as anyone knows and long,long before the Irish hijacked it and it became trendy to spell it "craic". Both spellings are fine. "Crack" would tend to refer to conversation, as in "did he have any crack?", whereas "craic" would generally refer to a fun pastime - mainly adopted in this sense by the Irish.

Yeah because the hoofing from the other members of the back four is so constructive. So you'd rather we faffed on with the ball around our own box? Did you see Tiote's mistake on Wednesday? Tend to agree with you on this, although it's dependent on which player it is doing the faffing. I'm fine with Colo doing it, because he rarely fucks up... Enrique worries me a bit sometimes. Generally I prefer to see the ball passed out when possible though; hoofing it is generally the best way to gift the ball back to the opposition and encourage pressure.

yawn It's true. They've found a way of playing that suits their players and it gets them the results they need. It's exactly what we need, as right now we don't have a Plan B. ... And yet they've still managed to lose seven games this season. Only Man U and Spurs have left the Britannia Stadium with 3 points this season - including Fulham and Blackburn. That's the form that will keep them up. Doesn't matter if the points come home or away, as long as they come.

yawn It's true. They've found a way of playing that suits their players and it gets them the results they need. It's exactly what we need, as right now we don't have a Plan B. ... And yet they've still managed to lose seven games this season.

He hasn't been sensational but he's shown enough quality (and worked hard enough) recently to earn himself a "free" one, for me anyway. Needs to keep working on removing it from his game completely though.

Bit of a stupid thing to do, last night... Unless he needed some proper time off for Christmas shopping, in which case it was quite wise tbf.

Williamson was more at fault, to be fair. The first ball was a forgivable one to lose out on, the second one was a straight-on challenge. Rare mistake from both of them, sure they'll come through it.

"The injured Shola Ameobi"

I felt that, unlike previous games, Barton struggled in that position against Arsenal. His lack of pace was shown up against athletic opponents. Not that he was our worst player, but he had dominated the opposition in his previous games. There was a rumour that we were after Jonathan Legear, from Anderlecht. From snippets, he looked the right player in the right position. Anyone know much about him? Eh? Barton was one of our best players on Sunday by far and, withTiote, almost completely neutralised Arsenal's Barcelona-esque midfield. I agree with this... Not as effective going forward maybe, but we aren't going to be playing Arsenal at the Emirates every week - he had a different job to do and did it well.

It's not rubbish - I'm just trying to keep my feet on the ground. Just because we've won three on the bounce doesn't mean we're now the best team in the world - the way people on this forum instantly swipe at you the second you dare even think about a bit of criticism would suggest some think we are. Poor players don't become good players in the space of 2 weeks - I can't help but be hesitant. I don't think people disagreeing with your proposed changes means they think we're the best team in the world - that's a pretty big leap, like! Don't know where you got that from. Has it crossed your mind that your assumption about poor players becoming good players might be based on faulty initial assumptions? Even as a possibility, I mean? Personally I've never believed in the concept of over-achieving - you're either able of performing to a certain level, or you're not. These players are clearly capable of playing very well in the system we're employing over a sustained period of time (270 minutes and counting) - there's nothing deceptive or misleading about it. They may mistakes in the future, I'm sure they will in fact, but to then say they were playing above themselves seems irrational IMO. Not really. It happens all the time. Do you think we're better than Arsenal? Because I don't, yet the result shows otherwise - if they weren't playing above themselves then we're a better side than Arsenal. The FA Cup is a perfect example of it. Smaller teams beating bigger teams. They play out of their skin, fight for everything and get the upset. They're not good enough to play in teh higher leagues and if they did, they'd probably get beat every week. But for those games they play above themselves as footballers and get the result. I don't think it's irrational at all. You're missing steps in your logic again - I didn't say that was the best Arsenal could play. Are you tired? Step away from the forum and get a coffee man! I guess we'll find out on Wednesday and Saturday then. See if we get a Sunderland performance, or a Stoke/Wigan one. I'll be delighted if we win, but I'm not hopeful that this team can perform again so soon. You're a right negative fucker these days like. From what I've seen, it's less to do with the players playing above themselves and more to do with the players playing in an improved, considerably more balanced formation, with better organisation and preparation, as well as with more confidence - and, of course, with better footballers around them with the likes of Tiote in the team.

Admire Tevez and Silva for their ability... As a club, I pretty much loathe them due to the arrogance of their fans nowadays - the way a lot of them go on you'd think they'd won everything there is to win over the last few seasons.

what fixtures Well done for the sharp edit.

So much hate! Was always a hard tie this. Shots Rosenborg: 20 Atleticó Madrid: 6 12 to 9 according to Sky Sports

Without wanting to take anything away from Bale's performance, Maicon playing as he has so far this season is not one of the best right backs in the world in any sense other than reputation.

I can remember the thread on here when we went top of this.

This.

Well, thankfully for Andy Carroll, and the rest of us, you have an utterly tremendous record of being wrong.