KaKa

Typical Shola ... so frustrating.

Guthrie on the right please. Don't dare put him in the middle!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Please Jesus not Guthrie!!!

Put a fork in Smith. He's done ...

What a mess from Shola.

Got to be careful with El Mohamady because he can cross the ball pretty well. Giving him a bit too much space.

Smith ...

Coloccini has been incredible.

It's really not funny Shola. Step it up please!

Enrique, lovely defending.

Smith is going to do something stupid isn't he. Really hope not.

Off the line ... so close.

Barton is doing a great job of coming deep and central to initiate the play, because Smith and Nolan aren't good at it. Good sign imo.

This is why I hate Shola ...

No Larsson and no Cameron Jerome for Birmingham. Pretty weird. Don't think either of them are injured are they?

Need a big, big performance from Kevin Nolan today. Not necessarily as a goalscorer either.

I wonder if it's actually worth having him not go forward as much just so he can at least try to make a nuisance of himself defensively, and help Smith out. Then just rely on Barton, Gutierrez, Best and Shola to try and make things happen. Nolan has to be more disciplined today for sure.

Smith just has to be told to sit and not dive in like he does. He should really have figured this out by now, but he just doesn't get it. Another worrying thing about the Smith and Nolan pairing is the build up play through midfield as they are both horrific at this. Posession might be an issue.

We will likely be forced to go long because of this, however, with Bramble and bad Rio in there, there will be some errors from them even from the long balls. That Henderson and Richardson midfield isn't that great, but as already stated their mobility far surpasses ours.

Alan Smith and Nolan in midfield. I just can't see us playing well unfortunately, as it will affect both our defending and our build up play going forward. Set pieces will be huge for us today. Hopefully, Sunderland play rubbish.

 

If Sunderland lose to us at home, without Tiote and Carroll in the team, they should never be allowed to live that down. It would be an absolute disgrace for them imo. Let's hope we pull it off somehow.

 

Is that team confirmed?

I think someone on here said they were told that it was. Sorry if I'm wrong. I guess we won't know for sure till game time. If Routledge had shown more, I would have been more confident of Barton being moved inside and Routledge starting on the wing. However, he's been so poor that Pardew is more likely to play the "experienced" Smith inside, which of course will not only mean nothing from Smith, but also nothing from Nolan.

Everton are below us and so would never have given us Yakubu.

Alan Smith and Nolan in midfield. I just can't see us playing well unfortunately, as it will affect both our defending and our build up play going forward. Set pieces will be huge for us today. Hopefully, Sunderland play rubbish.

If Sunderland lose to us at home, without Tiote and Carroll in the team, they should never be allowed to live that down. It would be an absolute disgrace for them imo. Let's hope we pull it off somehow.

To be fair to Owen he's seemed reasonably sharp when he's got on the pitch this season... he might do alright if he gets more game time.

 

Don't be absurd. The guy won't get on the pitch, and even if he manages it he will be invisible as usual.

 

Hate biased ignorant posts such as this.

Owen will not get on the pitch because he always gets injured in training. It is the reason he has hardly played at Man United, as he can't even get on the bench because he's always injured. Owen for a good number of years has been invisible on the pitch even when he does play, as he contributes nothing unless some scraps happen to fall to him in the box, and even now he misses these regularly.

There's your explanation, Mr. Unbiased and Unignorant. So stick it. Your hero Michael Owen is no more. Maybe he can take his impish self and become a jockey or something.

If Caroll is sold, could it be anywhere but bloody Spurs please. Despicable club.

To be fair to Owen he's seemed reasonably sharp when he's got on the pitch this season... he might do alright if he gets more game time.

Don't be absurd. The guy won't get on the pitch, and even if he manages it he will be invisible as usual.

Great goalscoring record too

 

He scored 3 league goals while at for Birmingham. Leave him where he is at.

 

Doesn't tell the whole story. Decent player.

 

Okay then. I saw him quite a bit  when he was at Birmingham he has decent turn of pace, zero understanding of team play & is a f***ing diaster in front of goal. I can 100% see whe Big Eck hardly played him towards the end of his loan spell & did not do this deal & why no other PL steamed in afterwards.

Don't agree at all.