Lenny

didnt get the ball at all and took the man.

Good performance again from Beye, Cacapa played well as well. Does piss me off the commentators sayin cacapa has been poor so far, he's had one mad 15 minutes and otherwise been very solid.

Would not be bothered to see Owen out if we got Anelka in, would like Arshavin, maybe Ben Haim.

Or our 'keepers have had their achilles heel firmly exposed. As someone else aid yesterday we suffer more than our fair share of 'unstoppable' free kicks/long range shots. Given's postioning is at fault more often than not these days. He comes out too far cause he's a dwarf. A Dwarf? He's over 6 foot aint he? My main concern with Given is the amount of times he comes running out and then gets caught out by someone having a go from range.

I dont think any Arsenal players were particularly bad last night, we were just actually good.

I think that our main problem up front is that while we do have a pretty decent set of strikers, you cant really rely on any of them to perform week in week out. Owen is pretty much always out injured and needs decent service, Viduka looks useless unless he is 100% fit and you just don't really know what you are going to get from Martins, one time he will skin his opponent, the next he will get dispossessed easily. In terms of consistency of performance I think that Smith would be most likely to offer that kind of performance every week because you know what you are going to get from him. His only problem is that he will probably score the least goals out of all of our strikers. He would be a good mainstay in the team if the other striker could make up for his lack of goals; and based on how he played yesterday Owen would have been best suited to him because of the quality of his movement. I actually voted Smith/Martins though because I think that you want a partnership that will last and they are the two that are most likely to stay fit for a decent period of time.

I think he's looked very busy, played some good passes and worked hard. Looks like he's got pretty decent vision in his passing.

Smith, Barton and Milner have had good games, everyone has been determined, unlucky to be losing really.

Oh right, thought he was back for some reason. Stick Taylor in for him then, if he's not available, same as what you said above.

Is Emre fit? How did Barton play in the last game? Id prob go: Given Beye Rozenhal Faye Enrique Milner Butt Emre/Barton N'Zogbia Martins Smith Not really a fan of Butt but he's probably been our best midfielder this season.

I wouldnt say no for £2-£3m. Would allow N'Zogbia to be used in LM and give time for Enrique to settle, and isnt an undroppable player so Enrique could come in when ready.

Nope

Maybe but the positives in his play from left back have been when he's been pushing on, not actually his defending.

erm... I kinda agree with him. England's problem isnt a lack of ability at player level, its just that when you put them all together, and have managers that insist on playing people based on name and not what would best balance the team, we're shit!

I would have had, and still would have Allardyce out of all of them. He strikes me as the most thorough. Whoever came in was always going to have a big task on their hands getting the team to gell so quickly. A lot of people said at the beginning of the season that they were willing to give the new manager time, but we are not even halfway through the first season in what is obviously a long term plan and people are talking about who they'd rather have.

If we was to bring in someone like Anelka in, or somoene that can offer a bit of individual creativity and consistency I wouldnt be opposed to seeing Owen leave, it would certainly put an end to the crap surrounding him every day. Cant say Id be happy seein him doin well for another prem team though!!

seen him literally once or twice but looked pretty decent. worth a big ass £7m punt!

Heard a few others say he had one of his better games for us yesterday.

I reckon Cacapa would have been first on most peoples teamsheets before the Portsmouth game. Mine would be: Given Enrique Emre (if given a run of games for us I think he could turn out to be our most influential player)

Dyer and Bellamy have had loads of leg injuries and are still quick, it just depends really on nature of the leg injury. Edit: didnt Dyer break his leg at Ipswich as well?

Coming back from an injury is going to affect your match stamina, not your outright pace (unless the injury has actually caused you to lose some of it). If the injury hasnt affected his body then it will be an injection of pace, just not for a whole game to start with.

I dont think you can really judge Duff much from last season, he may not have played too well, but no-one around him was playing any good either, and the injuries caused his season to be very stop/start.

Where has it been reported Martins isnt in the squad? would be shocking if true, especially seeing as Owen isnt exactly setting the world alight. I reckon we'll draw this one, I just feel its the wrong time for this kind of fixture to come along for us. Not actually gonna be able to watch either, I have to leave for football at 12.45!!!

As much as Id love us to sign Berbatov I really cant see it. Would have absolutely no problem being proven wrong though.

If we win our next game we will be on an avergae 2 points a game, which over a season you would imagine would be enough to get you champions league football. Admittedly we've not come up against any big teams yet, but its not a bad return.