Lenny

I thought Taylor quietly got on with his job against Liverpool. He's not really done anything that stands out as spectacular or terrible since he's been back playing.

Colo + either Williamson or Taylor.

Am I the only one that finds those quotes a little Souness-esq regarding the weight of the shirt and bringing professionals in etc...

I think people too often assume that Nolan's lack of pace means he doesn't make himself available for passes, but he so often goes un-noticed because he receives a pass, and then releases it. He doesn't often misplace a pass, or take a horrible touch. I've always said that every technical attribute of Nolan's is premier league standard, easily, it's just his pace that lets him down.

Krul - 6 Simpson - 7 Campbell - 3 Taylor - 7 Enrique - 7 Jonas - 5 Barton - 8.5 Nolan - 7.5 Tiote - 7.5 Carroll - 8 Ameobi - 3 Ranger - 7.5

I was cracking up when Barton was give Torres the hand jestures!

He does this so often, comes on, just sort of throws himself towards the ball, and somehow completely unsettles defenders causing them to fuck up. Did more in his first few minutes than Shola, who was a waste of space, did all game.

Was shocking today, clumsy, mistimed everything and looked like he constantly had a mistake in him.

Our 3 most important players scored today!

I completely disagree with that. A lot of times Guthrie just stood there watching today whilst everything was going on around him. Nolan may not be the most mobile of players but he does make himself available to receive a pass.

Sounds very much like the captain he replaced today. Except our captain scores goals and drives the rest of our team on and off the pitch....

Even after 20 minutes I noticed Guthrie just standing there whilst Tiote was looking for a pass, he made no effort to move into space for him. He was decent in the first half when he was on the ball, but that was it. I'm going to stop going on about Guthrie now, I think my opinion of him is clear...

Routledge is frustrating as hell. I was certain he'd do well this season, but he seems to have no belief in his ability to beat his man 90% of the time. As a result he hesitates and nullifies any advantage his pace gives us. If he had a bit of belief he'd be very effective for us.

I thought Shola started well, made some intelligent passes and put himself about a bit. Thought he was actually a bit unlucky with the chance he missed as well. He seemed to fade as soon as he took a dodgy touch of the ball, looked like he'd lost confidence and kept doing it. Maybe Souness was right, and the crowd groan affected him.

The rest of the midfield handled them fine, Guthrie was definitely the weak link. I don't think he was awful, but he wasn't very good. So Guthrie isn't as good as Jonas or Tiote? Well we all knew that. Nolan and Barton wouldn't have done much better in that CM space today. I personally think barton would have. BTW,wheres this "guthrie can't do right" statement come from? the impression I've always had is that the vast majority of posters on here have been very patient with him. too patient imo. He comes out and gives a decent performance and all anybody has is criticism for him. I've never seen 'the usual suspects' give him any prasie whatsoever. Strange, we must be reading varying opinions at different times, but particularly at the beginning of this season I saw lots of people picking hypothetical teams for the new season with a few transfers etc with Guthrie still in the team. I've just completely run out of patience with the guy, as I said above. For all his technical abilities, hes too slow, takes too long to make his mind up for the league he's in.

This is true, and in light of this fact we should stop discussing our players and our opinions of them.

The rest of the midfield handled them fine, Guthrie was definitely the weak link. I don't think he was awful, but he wasn't very good. So Guthrie isn't as good as Jonas or Tiote? Well we all knew that. Nolan and Barton wouldn't have done much better in that CM space today. I personally think barton would have. BTW,wheres this "guthrie can't do right" statement come from? the impression I've always had is that the vast majority of posters on here have been very patient with him. too patient imo.

Despite a couple of decent passes and tackles ,I wasn't impressed with guthrie. Not only does he have no pace but he slows the play right down so frequently. He's often lazy and just stands around waiting for the ball.My patience is up with him to be honest,I thought there was some potential in there when I first saw him,but I don't like seeing him in our team now.

Dover away in the FA Cup please, about 30 mile trip for me!

What a cunt.

I get the same feeling when Carroll scores as when Shearer did, it just means that little bit more.

Shut up!

Bad luck for him coming into the season tbf, he looked pretty decent in pre season. Regardless of his ability, it would have done his confidence a lot of good, and wouldn't have been surprised if we'd seen better than we saw from him last year.

Obviously hyperbole from Redknapp, but it's obviously meant as a compliment to Hughton more than him being a twat.

That's four teams off the top of my head this season that have been shit against us. Aston Villa, West Ham, Sunderland and now Arsenal have all been below par for their standards. It can't just be that they've played shit, we are making these teams look bad.