KaKa

Owen can no longer be guaranteed a place in the team by just being fit. He has to be fit and firing for his club like everyone else. Well done Capello. Quite significant that the number 10 jersey is no longer Owen's anymore too.

Do you think Arsene might be kicking himself a bit? Didn't Bentley ask to leave ... in fact from what I remember he pretty much demanded it! Besides is he really better than any of the players in their first team right now?

Always makes himself available for the ball. Knows what his strong points are and always plays within himself, never forces the situation, and so hardly ever gets caught on the ball or misplaces a pass. Brilliant freekicks and corners. Brilliant technique on the ball. Was excellent and influential out wide and then through the middle. Very, very impressive player.

4-5-1 was the formation tonight and it stayed that way throughout all the substitutions that were made. Owen might be done as he won't be played as a lone striker by Capello I don't think, and he can't play out wide.

I'll tell you what was a pleasant surprise yesterday. After he scored his energy levels went up another 50% and you could see he was buzzing. That was a huge sign for me. Believe me I have been very dissapointed with Owen, but that was a significant sign yesterday. I think his moral has been way down, not just due to his injuries, but also due to consecutive seasons under Souness, Roeder and Allardyce. I think the pressure of scoring has also got to him quite a bit lately. He looked a lot better after he scored and even in his interview after the game yesterday he seemed a lot more enthusiastic than usual. There could be life in the old dog yet, and I certainly didn't anticipate that. I think as we continue to play better football and build confidence in ourselves as a team, we will probably see him improve quite a bit, both in his actual play as well as his demeanour.

I'm reluctant to agree with you, but I know what you mean. Faye has looked immense at the back for us for the most part and I am nervous as hell with Taylor who even when he's playing well is liable to a costly gaffe. I think it was Keefaz who suggested Faye and Barton as centre mids. and I think that's quite tasty. Both have physical presence, Faye's athleticism alongside Barton's box to box running would make us much harder to crack. Add Martins up front and you have a counter-attack option again. For me, away from home Martins should be the first name on the sheet ahead of Owen or Viduka for that reason alone. Exactly, and I like Cacapa but I feel the same way about him too! At any point they might get outmuscled off the ball no matter how well they are going. Faye getting pushed around is a no-no, never happening. He intimidates other team's strikers.

Keegan really has to be smart with the return of Faye, Beye and Martins. His decisions will determine exactly how well the remainder of our season goes and to be fair he will have some tough choices to make, and he will have to be brave. Beye is the easiest decision, as he should slot straight back into the right back position. Now comes the hard part ... Faye, I think he has to go in at centre back. We have nothing else like him back there. An absolute beast and a huge presence for us, he dominates in the air and he never gets rattled or bullied off the ball, he actually scares other teams strikers. He sets the tone in defence and everyone plays with a bit more confidence back there when he is in defence. There is certainly an argument to have him in midfield due to the patheticness of Nicky Butt, but for the moment I think it is more important to have a stronger back four, to allow for a more competent midfield unit. Here's what I mean ... I believe with Faye in defence we will be able to better afford the probable risk of playing both Emre and Barton together in midfield and we absolutely have to give this partnership a chance now. I think this partnership in midfield will be our only real chance to wake up our attacking play, and Faye in defence will be crucial to this. Last of all ... Martins, the time is now to play Martins and Owen upfront. With Barton and Emre in midfield, this partnership will have a chance I believe it's time we just went with it. I'm tired of waiting for that moment of brilliance for the huffing and puffing Viduka, and I'm tired of watching Alan Smith try and fail to convince everyone he is committed, by fouling every defender in sight. Martins should be the first striker on the pitch, his overall attributes are vital to a team that lacks speed and dynamic play. Of the remaining three strikers Owen is the best bet to partner Martins. He has been making more of an effort I believe, and he can still be a danger in the box. Martins can do the hard work of pressuring defenders and running the channels, as well as being a goal threat, and Owen can then just concentrate on being in the right spot in the box. Here's hoping it all works out.

Happy to see you're still not doling out lectures on why it would have been silly to buy in the Jan window. I didn't lecture anybody, just said that we shouldn't buy unless we can get the right players. No point in buying Robbie Savage to replace Butt is there? Nobody mentioned Savage. FOI it is alaways difficult to get good players, you have to show ambition and make financial commitments. You make it even moredifficult for yourself if you finish 4th bottom of the league or infact get relegated. KK himself said we could have had 4/5 players, clearly it's his call. But IMO we really should have tried for an alterneate central midfielder...Time will tell. I think if Redknapp had taken the job, Diarra would have come here, but even as Keegan was being installed, he was signing for Portsmouth. It's clearly a position that needs to be strengthened but we need real quality in there, if Keegan doesn't try and sign someone in the summer it'll be fair to criticise. For the moment, we will need to get Faye in there against the better teams. I know we could do with him in defence, but we'll get over-run in midfield otherwise. You make a good point with Diarra. We should have nailed him. The most painful thing that we lost out on him. Especially having seen a good bit of him this season. Funny thing is though, there were actually some idiots saying he wouldn't improve us as he couldn't get into the Arsenal team and we ought to stop buying the top 4's cast offs. Unbelievably infuriating.

Emre is nothingness personified. Does absolutely nothing. Didn't make himself available for the ball and when he did happen upon it did nothing with it. Any team that loses to us really should feel ashamed. We are so so terrible. Why Keegan keeps talking about our talented team is beyond me. He really has to stop with that stuff.

Wow ... you are very easily pleased aren't you.

Our team definitely has the lowest IQ in the whole freakin' league. I was sat there wondering the exact same thing. Brainless bunch of has beens. Do people realise we have to change the whole team completely? Taylor, Zoggy and Enrique are the only real must keeps.

To think Diarra could have replaced Butt in the team. It is absolutely inexcusable for Butt to be in this team. Are managers scared to drop him because he is a senior player? You had freakin' Allardyce talking about him being our best and most consistent player this season! WHY?!!!

Given out too. He is the worst kicker of the ball on planet Earth.

Let's not forget Boateng didn't play today. When will this guy get dropped? Mr. ex ManU experienced guy. To hell with it man. I almost hurt myself today lamenting his awful play. Bloody worthless player.

People going on about how good Boro were today? If they had a striker they would be in the top half. They play the ball around well and are miles are ahead of us. No Mido, no Alves, no Tuncay, no Boateng?!!!!!! and they did that too us?!!!! With a light weight striker upfront alone. Southgate messed up today. If they had come to play from the beginning they would have probably beat us.

Nah ... I'm tired of taking the little positives. I'm over the edge now, these bitches really are worthless, they can all fuck off! We must have the biggest collection of idiots in the premiership. Just flat out people that do stupid things over and over and over and over again. Nicky Butt ... words fail me. Slow of body, mind, spirit and soul. He is slowness and slowness is him. We know he played at Man U, but seriously, fuck that and fuck experience. HE IS SHIT! Get him off the fucking pitch. WHY CAN'T ANY MANAGER SEE HE IS LETTING THE TEAM DOWN?

Butt should just go to blazes he is killing us out there, seriously wtf?!!!! Is no one going to drop this piece of shit? What are our strikers also dwelling on the ball in shooting positions?!!! Viduka? Shoot the bastard ball! Owen too at the end! SHOOT! What the hell was that? We couldn't beat these guys at home without Mido or Alves? Martins has to come straight back into this team, even if it means him and Owen upfront. Viduka is refusing to shoot, Smith can't shoot and Owen will only shoot if he is two yards close to the goal. GO TO FREAKIN' BLAZES YOU WORTHLESS CRAP TOSSERS. MY God ...

FUCK YOU BUTT. FUCK YOU. SHOOT THE BALL OWEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The problem is simple. Our defenders aren't doing a great job of passing the ball through to midfield as Boro are pressing high up the pitch. Therefore, when we pass it back to Given we need him to kick the ball somewhat accurately into the midfield or up to Smith. Given's kicking however has been absolutely shocking and it is constantly inviting more pressure onto us.

No Mido either! Come on boys let's do it and do it well.

It will end up being something a bit more like this I reckon with Duff and Emre switched around i.e. Emre the most forward of the lot. I think Carr and Zoggy will be encouraged to bomb forward. Let's see what happens. There's no point saying Sam would have been slaughtered if he picked that team. The difference will be in what they are told to do out there, and how they are asked to play. We have a lot of people out ther who can pass the ball around so if we take advantage it could really work. Keep the faith. Let's see how it works

I have to say that we were spectacularly fortunate with Keegan being so familiar with a lot of the players we currently have. His familiarity with Barton from their time at Man City is huge for us, as well as his familiarity with Emre as he said he actually tried to sign Emre while he was at Man City and Emre was aware of this too! Central midfield is our biggest problem, and for Keegan to know so much about arguably our two most talented central midfielders, bodes very well for us. I think were going to be fine because of this, and I really hope we have a smashing performance today and really kick on from here. It will just start to clear all the media negativity and allow us to begin to really pull away from our current league position.

It would be poetic justice if we win 3 - 0 or 4 - 0, playing some quality passing football, with the exact same players he had under him. They are trying to set us up to look stupid with Sam there and I hope it backfires spectacularly.

I think it'll be tougher than some people seem to think, Boro are not a bad side. They won't defend though, like Bolton did, they don't play that way, especially with Rochemback and Arca in the middle, so I think there'll be chances for us there. I do actually think we'll beat them, but I'm nervous because we are in a bit of trouble if we don't. I really hope Enrique plays (Viduka too) and one of Milner or Duff is dropped. Do that and I think we'll be comfortable. Enrique is crucial. It will be interesting to see who Keegan puts on the wings if Enrique is fit and playing. Especially as we now have all our CMs back and so Zoggy shouldn't be needed to fill in at CM. I would hope for Barton and Emre in the middle with Zoggy and Duff on the wings.

Sensational interview. So much to look forward too.