Lenny

Joey Barton wasn't actually playing.....

Caroll was lazy as fuck when he came on. Brilliant effort from everyone (bar Caroll) to be fair, its a hell of an ask to have 10 men hold off a team like Man City for 80 mins. Gutted we didnt win.

I'm not particularly a fan of Burley, but good on him for speaking his mind. The whole officiating today was fucking diabolical. How the fuck a linesman for a televised premier league standard football match can fail to see a foul from two yards away is just beyond me. Referee's should have a standard of fitness to be a pre-requisite of the job because he was miles away from the play.

Couldn't agree less there, he looks particularly good one on one, just waits and steps in to take the ball away. Looks like a top central defender in a team in disarray to me. Think I posted a similar response to this a while ago. Winning one on ones appears to be one of his real strengths. I cant recall seeing many defenders that win one on ones to the extent he does.

You would of thought Coloccini has had a great season so far with statements like that. Well I personally believe that statement will turn out to be correct. Not that it is actually saying much. Based on? Based on what I've seen of him of course. I think you are judging him quite harshly looking at what you've said above.

You would of thought Coloccini has had a great season so far with statements like that. Well I personally believe that statement will turn out to be correct. Not that it is actually saying much.

Beye will make more space for him now he's back by overlapping him, pulling the opposition out of position and letting him float some balls in from deep. Good point, hopefully you are correct.

Geremi tends to either lose the ball or give it away with a poor pass if he is closed down quickly. He's only really effective if he has time on the ball and he doesnt particularly make space for himself to have the time.

Beye has just recently said he's been playing on pain all pre-season leading up to now so I can imagine that would have affected his performances. I'm sure Beye will back to how he was last season after a few games back in the side.

I haven't seen anything from Guthrie to suggest he offers the side the defensive cover that Butt does or better positive passing then Geremi does. Not quite sure what Keegan saw in Guthrie personally wouldn't have him anywhere near the side. Wow, I couldnt disagree with this more.

I would personally be quite pissed off if Guthrie makes way and Butt retains his place.

Thats the lineup I just jotted down on a post-it (bored at work). I think Butt will probably be in there though. Edit: I had Bassong in for Enrique

Sunny Thanet!

I honestly fail to see how someone can feign a 6 month injury. If someone has lots of little injuries I'd be suspect but not a long injury. Maybe I'm being naive.

So are you implying that he is feigning a 6 month injury and that the medical staff aren't adequate enough to notice? Cant really see it to be honest. Fair enough his injuries are appalling but its not like its a little injury keeping him out.

My knowledge of the back room staff isn't as in depth as some one here, but I was under the impression that Jiminez was one of the few that has actually done a decent job? I'm of the assumption that he was the one that has found the likes of Jonas and Bassong along with the youngsters. I thought it was Wise that undermined Keegan's position.

Sorry but am I missing something here, if he wants to be better understood surely he should learn their language, not apply their maneurisms to his. Besides, if he's speaking a foreign language in Holland there will be subtitles, no? He just sounds fucking stupid. The people that speak English will understand him, and the people that don't, wont, regardless of how he speaks.

Just saw his goal on .co.uk, was stunning!

The depth of the squad isn't as bad as people make out, its the quality of the first team that is our problem. With everyone fit we'd have a pretty strong looking bench, and some "name" players wouldn't even make it. We have too many players who should be good, but just aren't.

He looked unbelievably slow yesterday, but to his credit he did well on a couple of occassions. He looks like he is absolutely crushed of confidence mind. Understandable given that no one has any faith in him whatsoever.

I think Collocini has done well for us given the circumstances. He's made a few mistakes where he's not had the time he's used to but he will get used to it, he just needs time. Couldn't disagree more with the "panic whenever someone runs at him" comment because thats probably his strongest point, he seems to win most one on ones. We really should be giving players like him a chance because you can see he's got class about him.

You are aware that keyboards have a Backspace key aren't you? Decent result, quite possibly could have won that. Good effort and should prove a confidence boost.

This threads a little quiet so close to KO. I'd go with: Given Geremi Colo Bassong Enrique Duff Butt Guthrie N'Zogbia Owen Xisco Though, I reckon Taylor will be in for Bassong, and Ameobi will be in for Xisco.

Oh right I see, I was of the assumption he was pretty much out of the picture for us for the foreseeable. So that means there is the potential for Butt not to be in our team pretty soon (although going by JK's comments that's not likely to happen).

Says on .com that Barton is serving his 5th game of a 6 game ban.... I thought it was 12???