Segun Oluwaniyi

When was the last time that there was so little separation between a Champions League spot and missing out on Europe entirely? All this joy and we could conceivably receive absolutely nothing in return because Heitinga bundles one in off his sternum.

I think it is just visual bias, but I can't see anyway that Shelvey and Spearing should be playing for a team fighting for honours or professional athletes at all. Look at them, ffs.

Was he offside, btw? We never received a proper replay of the incident. I thought he definitely was.

Wow, not only even on points, but we have the exact same record in the league as Spurs. Chelsea too, if they win (hopefully not). Every right to be up there.

"Bolton boss Owen Coyle is fuming with the officials at Newcastle. I'm not too sure why. Maybe he wants that Hatem Ben Arfa goal ruled out on the grounds of fairness. It was too good. " This team is so fantastic right now. I hate that I have to return to real life in an hour.

:lol: "error" Cisse is loving football right now.

I can't remember ever seeing a better goal in an NUFC match. What a man! What a goal! So brilliant.

He'll come good when his behaviour and lack of work effort begin to threaten his six-figure weekly wage. I honestly think this is the way his career will progress. As long as he is catered for and is one of the highest paid players in the world without having had to accomplish anything, he won't have reason to change. Too much, too soon for someone who is already fragile mentally.

That Everton team looks awful in my personal opinion, but they'll probably win anyway as it is past the New Year.

It's (as far as I know) unheard of that a top athlete manages to return to his/her sport after a major heart issue. As much as I want to believe he'd one day be back on the pitch at a top level, I can't imagine a club would let him back on the pitch no matter how much he wanted it. Big difference between your average joe doing a normal job after something like this and athletes that have to train and put a strain on their body beyond normality virtually every day. Kanu had major heart surgery sixteen years ago and still plays. Fadiga collapsed while training for Bolton and had to receive a defibrillator and continued his career. Evander Sno had a heart attack on the pitch and still plays. Loic Remy's transfer to Marseille was held up by the discovery of a potential heart defect and he is still a top player.

I think it's almost become the main tournament in countries that have basically been priced out of the Champions League - particularly Portugal who almost have a monopoly on it, but also Russia, Holland, Ukraine, even Germany to an extent. It helps a nation looking to improve its CL status as well. The dominance of Portuguese sides in the Europa League and the continued lacklustre and rubbish showings by French sides have led Portugal to pass France in the UEFA coefficients despite French sides probably having slightly better performances in the Champions League the past few years. and get rid of the seeding. if the top rated spanish team gets drawn against the top rated german team then so be it. An unseeded knockout draw is possibly the worst way of deciding anything. I actually enjoy the way it is formatted now. The group stage can potentially be tedious, but the five rounds of knockout football are usually a very interesting mix of good teams (not rubbish from parts unknown as they are eliminated in qualifiers and the groups) playing a good amount of fairly even matches. Definitely more entertaining than the CL.

Wiltord as well.

If he is not I will be very very p*ssed off. Should be three matches. Yup. Anyone see Jelavic yesterday as well? Perch got so much stick for supposedly faking injury...coverage of Jelavic? Next to none... It happened in match no one cares about, involved players no one cares about, and occured against a team no one cares about. (in terms on media and the national/worldwide interest) Why would you expect coverage of this? Umm...because its blatant cheating, its got nothing to do with the teams involved ffs I'm not disagreeing with you, all actions should carry the same weight regardless of who they take place against. I am telling you why this incident will receive no coverage when placed against something that occured in a globally televised match with one of the league's most famous teams.

If he is not I will be very very p*ssed off. Should be three matches. Yup. Anyone see Jelavic yesterday as well? Perch got so much stick for supposedly faking injury...coverage of Jelavic? Next to none... It happened in match no one cares about, involved players no one cares about, and occured against a team no one cares about. (in terms on media and the national/worldwide interest) Why would you expect coverage of this?

They haven't lost this game or the title because of Balotelli, ffs. They've barely had the ball in the second half. He has been literally irrelevant in this game.

Couldn't even beat us this season.... They also lost 6-1 at home to their main competitors, failed to qualify from a simple Champions League group and accomplished nothing of note in the Europa League.

Manchester United are going to be the worst English champions in recent memory. My hate for them is exceptionally deep.

It's not a penalty, it's offside. Where did the bloody red card come from anyway? In what world would that be a professional foul. The referee has simply ruined the match for no reason.

Never assume anything. Playing wide left crosses for Cisse against Norwich. Knocks a lovely ball through for Ben Arfa for the first against WBA and has a really good game. Next match, left-back against Bellamy; does enough. The next match, back into midfield and is excellent throughout. A consummate professional. Not the most talented player I've seen for us but one of the very best. Can I assume you started following us in the Championship season? Or spent the duration of the last twenty years in an injury related comatose condition? I like Jonas very much and I think he is would be a wonderful player to keep around here for many years as a squad member due to his relentless work effort and versatility. However, he isn't actually incisive and threatening enough to play wide in a 4-3-3, he lacks the requisite close control and consistent passing to be a starter in central midfield, and he isn't up to par defensively as a leftback. Ideally, he would be a highly used reserve. Playing wide left crosses for Cisse against Norwich. Knocks a lovely ball through for Ben Arfa for the first against WBA and has a really good game. Next match, left-back against Bellamy; does enough. The next match, back into midfield and is excellent throughout. A consummate professional. Not the most talented player I've seen for us but one of the very best. Can I assume you started following us in the Championship season? Or spent the duration of the last twenty years in an injury related comatose condition? I like Jonas very much and I think he is would be a wonderful player to keep around here for many years as a squad member due to his relentless work effort and versatility. However, he isn't actually incisive and threatening enough to play wide in a 4-3-3, he lacks the requisite close control and consistent passing to be a starter in central midfield, and he isn't up to par defensively as a leftback. Ideally, he would be a highly used reserve. You can assume as you wish. 'He isn't actually incisive' - the ball for Ben Arfa for the first against West Brom. 'He isn't threatening' - the cross for Cisse against Norwich. 'He isn't up to par as a left back' - No s*** Sherlock, but he does it. Buffoon. You admit that he isn't up to par as a left back, but then mention two decent pieces of play that occurred as a left back as evidence of him being a good enough centre midfielder and wide forward? He isn't prolific at all in terms of goals and assists (except against Wolves). This is fine as a wide man in a defensive minded 4-4-2, and he has performed admirably in this role for us before. In the 4-3-3 we play now, all of the front three have to be goal threats, imo and he is not this. In the centre, I just don't think he really has the skill or physicality to consistently compete there. He can compensate for this at times (especially against inferior teams) because he does a lot of running, but this is not the best position for his abilities at all. He was not a left-back against WBA. You've lost this argument. You have no evidence to support your assertions, simply generalised remarks, whereas I've told you recent and relevant specifics; you cannot rebut them. I could go further back but it simply would not be worth it. Alright, boss. I've honestly never had the other party in an argument tell me that I've lost and expect that to end things. "Evidence"? How am I meant to refute three things that physically happened? Do you want me to go watch tapes of the matches and point out situations where he hasn't produced a chance from a threatening position, played clumsily in midfield, or was inadequate at leftback? If you want evidence of his lack of goal threat, he's scored less than ten goals in four years. You cannot definitively win a football argument by citing past examples of singular plays made by a player, this is not how the game works given its cooperative and fluid nature. All we can actually do is make inferences and "generalised remarks" about what we believe and what we have seen. I don't think he is at all ideal as a starter in a 4-3-3 for a number of reasons (that I've listed above). I think this a much better support for a football conversation than three specific sequences of play.

Never assume anything. Playing wide left crosses for Cisse against Norwich. Knocks a lovely ball through for Ben Arfa for the first against WBA and has a really good game. Next match, left-back against Bellamy; does enough. The next match, back into midfield and is excellent throughout. A consummate professional. Not the most talented player I've seen for us but one of the very best. Can I assume you started following us in the Championship season? Or spent the duration of the last twenty years in an injury related comatose condition? I like Jonas very much and I think he is would be a wonderful player to keep around here for many years as a squad member due to his relentless work effort and versatility. However, he isn't actually incisive and threatening enough to play wide in a 4-3-3, he lacks the requisite close control and consistent passing to be a starter in central midfield, and he isn't up to par defensively as a leftback. Ideally, he would be a highly used reserve. Playing wide left crosses for Cisse against Norwich. Knocks a lovely ball through for Ben Arfa for the first against WBA and has a really good game. Next match, left-back against Bellamy; does enough. The next match, back into midfield and is excellent throughout. A consummate professional. Not the most talented player I've seen for us but one of the very best. Can I assume you started following us in the Championship season? Or spent the duration of the last twenty years in an injury related comatose condition? I like Jonas very much and I think he is would be a wonderful player to keep around here for many years as a squad member due to his relentless work effort and versatility. However, he isn't actually incisive and threatening enough to play wide in a 4-3-3, he lacks the requisite close control and consistent passing to be a starter in central midfield, and he isn't up to par defensively as a leftback. Ideally, he would be a highly used reserve. You can assume as you wish. 'He isn't actually incisive' - the ball for Ben Arfa for the first against West Brom. 'He isn't threatening' - the cross for Cisse against Norwich. 'He isn't up to par as a left back' - No s*** Sherlock, but he does it. Buffoon. You admit that he isn't up to par as a left back, but then mention two decent pieces of play that occurred as a left back as evidence of him being a good enough centre midfielder and wide forward? He isn't prolific at all in terms of goals and assists (except against Wolves). This is fine as a wide man in a defensive minded 4-4-2, and he has performed admirably in this role for us before. In the 4-3-3 we play now, all of the front three have to be goal threats, imo and he is not this. In the centre, I just don't think he really has the skill or physicality to consistently compete there. He can compensate for this at times (especially against inferior teams) because he does a lot of running, but this is not the best position for his abilities at all.

This is a terrible argument. The guy is tedious, let Wearside return.

Playing wide left crosses for Cisse against Norwich. Knocks a lovely ball through for Ben Arfa for the first against WBA and has a really good game. Next match, left-back against Bellamy; does enough. The next match, back into midfield and is excellent throughout. A consummate professional. Not the most talented player I've seen for us but one of the very best. Can I assume you started following us in the Championship season? Or spent the duration of the last twenty years in an injury related comatose condition? I like Jonas very much and I think he is would be a wonderful player to keep around here for many years as a squad member due to his relentless work effort and versatility. However, he isn't actually incisive and threatening enough to play wide in a 4-3-3, he lacks the requisite close control and consistent passing to be a starter in central midfield, and he isn't up to par defensively as a leftback. Ideally, he would be a highly used reserve.

would be great but supposedly going to Inter isn't he? So I've read. Could probably do with staying in Argentina a bit longer IMO, play in the topflight for starters. http://www.investmentinsider.eu/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Euros.jpg

Just checking the Montpellier score and remembered that Younes Belhanda is one of my favourite players in the league. Can play the position of either Cabaye or Ben Arfa though he may be more of a target once we are pushing on from CL qualification. Does play for Morocco,but the qualification for the 2013 tournament is going to be completely mad, so I wouldn't put stock in a certain team qualifying until it is certain.

Our defence has to do their job, too. We wouldn't have won without great workrate all over the team in recent games. Yeah but Chelsea aren't a good team these days. Don't be so daft, they obviously aren't performing at the moment but they're still a quality side. Actually they are performing quite well. Since they removed the manager, they have played ten matches and won eight of them only dropping points away to Man City and away to Spurs, both of whom are currently in the top four. Today they made massive changes to the team and struggled, but do not be mistaken. They've looked a lot more cohesive of late and it will take a great performance from us to beat them in London and push above them in the table.