KaKa

Incidentally, anyone notice how monsieur HTT lies low for a few days anytime Oba has a decent outing? Probably concocting a new theory to dispell every good thing the guy did yesterday.

Nah ... couldn't see it. No room upstairs anyway.

Twat. Why don't you all stop moaning about people praising Martins. People go on about how unintelligent he is and how poor his footballing brain and his touch and movement are just as much also, and that is just as annoying. When he does well it is only fair that he gets his dues, even if slightly overboard. The guy made a huge difference yesterday and will continue to do so. I don't feel like we will struggle to create chances to score as well as score goals when he starts games.

I always felt Enrique got way too much heat for punting the ball upfield as there are never any options available to him. On the odd occassion when options are available he has shown the ability to play little one twos and get forward for sure.

Wait ... so you think Faye has never looked comfortable on the ball and has a confidence problem, but you think he should be dropped while Taylor remains in the team Multiply those problems you have identified in Faye by a million and that is Taylor, so if anything Taylor should be the one heading to the bench.

Henry is an absolutely awful character. Never happy and always moaning, and when the going gets tough he moans at his own teammates too. He whinged about Arsenal not having enough top players but look where they are, and he has run off to Barcelona to be with all his top players and they aren't doing all that great anyway. He also has some serious back issues too. We ought to be looking at upcoming players and not this bitter man who is on his way down. Heres to a bid for Benzema!

Just to add ... Only in situations where we cannot find any decent prem experienced players would I expect us to get in players from abroad, especially concerning our defence. I'm not having a go at Keegan either. I think Brown and Riise are alright as long as other defenders are brought in also.

Calm down Dave! Goodness. Keegan talked a fair bit about having players with premiership experience in January, and so I would expect him to continue to go after such players in the summer. Why does that make me mental?

If that is indeed the case then that is good news for sure, and I hope we then continue to work on this formation in training and try and push on with it and get some consistency.

Keegan is sound but he along with others before him seems to suffer from the big man + little man syndrome. And in my humble opinion ... if big man + little man = Newcastle upfront. then little man = Martins.

Well I really hope that is indeed the case and we see something similar to the second half the rest of the way then. On this one occassion I would love to be wrong, as I am a bit worried that with yesterday's lineup we didn't really seem to have a set of strikers 100% certain of their positons and roles upfront.

It seems as though people are convinced the 4-33- was planned, but I'm not so sure. It just looked like Martins decided to stop playing out wide in the second half because he wanted to try and score to get us back in the game. I didn't one time see Owen or Viduka drifting wide right as you would expect the other wide forward to do.

Wes Brown would be good but I would like him in along with someone else. Wes Brown alongside Taylor or Faye and I'm not sure if that would be enough to improve us back there.

Well it didn't look like a 4-3-3 to me at all. Geremi was clearly wide right all the time with Beye, Owen never came out wide and neither did Viduka. Martins joined in through the middle and Enrique didn't have any support wide left and so for the most part kept punting it up the pitch. That was what the second half looked like. In the first half however, Martins was out wide the majority of the time and I didn't see anything happening upfront between Viduka and Owen. We had one shot on goal the whole of the first half! Certainly looked like Martins just decided to stay through the middle in the second half to me. If it was a 4-3-3, which striker was playing wide right then? Certainly not Owen or Viduka. I'm concerned about our formation to say the least.

We have one left back at the moment and so I wouldn't see this as the end of Enrique, but rather some competition. Not that many great left backs out there, but if Keegan wants an attacking left back who is built for the premiership, with a shot even more venomous than Riise's then he should be ringing up Marseille pronto for Taye Taiwo. However, I fully expect this from Keegan. The old premiership experienced spiel will be replayed over and over again this summer. Expect the likes of Riise and Wes Brown for sure.

Unfortunately, both Sam and Keegan seem to want to play a bigger striker up front, so it does seem as though it will be a case of either Martins or Owen. Keegan went with a 4-4-2 yesterday with Martins on the left and it was poor in the first half, as Oba stayed wide. In the second half, due to his frustration with our poor play and the fact we were getting beat, Martins basically decided to play upfront with Viduka and Owen, and didn't stay wide at all. It led to us getting a goal back, but then we started losing shape and so Keegan took off Martins. At no point was it Keegans intention to play a 4-3-3. Therefore, if Martins stays out wide does the second 45 minutes then resemble the first 45? Would we then have folded as per usual? I was happy/relieved by the result yesterday, but I am worried that the formation didn't really work till Martins essentially decided to vacate his position, which Keegan didn't appear to want him to do. If Martins didn't do it though, I think we would have played like we did in the first half and lost. So yes, Keegan ought to pay Martins and Owen, but he will want either Viduka or Smith up there with one of them, and for me it has to be Martins. Simple.

Oh yeah, because Martins didn't look capable of troubling the keeper right? What a stupid thing to say! Actually Martins looked more capable of troubling the keeper than Owen did. Stop making stuff up in your head man.

His touch was good, his passing was sharp and he absolutely flew past defenders on a couple of occassions, as well as making some decent runs. I maintain there is an even better player in there than what we have seen so far, and I really hope we stay up and we keep him and find him a decent strike partner not named Owen.

If Keegan wanted another body in midfield he should have taken off Owen.

Geremi's crosses and set pieces are better in Africa than in Europe because his arthritis really kicks in in the colder climate. In Africa his joints are much more supple due to the warmer climate.

Poor Faye, surely he is allowed one glaring error this season, considering his teammates do it every single game. Taylor's powder puff header in the first half was particularly entertaining and but for shher fortune would have put us down 1 - 0.

Why do people say they could understand Martins coming off? The move that I would have understood would have been Owen coming off! Viduka could then still attempt to hold up the ball but we would still be able to utilize Martins pace over the top. I'm not happy at all about these provisions being made for Owen as it is dangerous and will cost us games.

Martins would have definitely been man of the match if he was played upfront more. The guy gets his shots off swiftly, with power and on target everytime. He is our most dangerous goal threat. He was pissed off at how things went in the first half that he rebelled and refused to stay out wide and he promptly took over the game and allowed us the chance to score. However, I can't help this was the reason Keegan took him off, as he wasn't happy with him neglecting his responsibilities on the wing.

Keegan has just said Geremi and Barton were outstanding with no mentionof Butt or Martins. God help us ...

Can I just say as well, as much as I despise Butt's ability, I have so much admiration for him for his performance today. The guy cares 100%, and as much as he gave the ball away today, he also won it back for us a hell of a lot. Was definitely the man of the match.