mozy

It was more, 'I've been told that the fans up here always want us to go for the win, but the players need to be a bit smarter in the last 10 minutes'. Or something like that. Quite a good example of him looking at something in a completely different way to Pardew actually.

Your first point is pretty fucking stupid. If you only judge players by highlight reel contributions then sure, that was his performance. But if you conveniently ignore every other small contribution then hey, it fits the narrative. Colback is supposed to be Alan Smith, Nicky Butt. The typical clogger who can't control a ball and spends most of the game trying to win back posession from his own giveaways. Anita is supposed to be Phillip Cocu, Daley Blind. The super technical DM who lives between his own centre-backs and does nothing other than 'play the right way'. The reality is that both players are a hell of a lot fucking similar than their stereotypes and do predominantly the same job in a midfield.

The counter attack wasn't totally his fault like, rubbish pass to him.

But he is at least decent in all of the categories you describe above. He's currently our best allround CM (let's wait until Gini settles) so I can totally understand why he's picked to play. Do yo really think he is decent - I would say borderline average at best and I still say if he plays the majority of games then the team will end up absolutely nowhere. Can't believe some people actually think he is ok and the worrying thing is I actually think McCLaren will play him in every game. The amount of stupid free kicks he gives away is bordering on thickness and always in dangerous positions. He doesn't create anything and all he does is slow play down every time he gets the ball. In my opinion there was five players in that team who shouldn't be anywhere near it Colback, Anita, Colo, Hiadara and Obertan. If these continue to play over a period of time then there is no way this team is going to be anywhere apart from at the bottom end. If the question was do I think a team with Jack Colback starting in CM can finish in the top 7/8 of the Premier League then yes, absolutely. It's the old glue guy argument from Basketball, just doing most things to a decent standard.

Not sure if serious?

But he is at least decent in all of the categories you describe above. He's currently our best allround CM (let's wait until Gini settles) so I can totally understand why he's picked to play.

He's an absolute boss defending on the ground, that much is clear already.

Thought he had a good game on the whole, both defensively and with the ball. The negatives being a couple of misplaced passes and some typically dogshit set penis.

Played well, I stand by saying that his place in the team is RW or not at all.

My shite stream ony started working after about 40 mins, but Anita seemed to have had an excellent game up until his injury. Light years better than Tiote anyway.

Slightly misleading to call it RW (I always envisage a RW to be very wide in a 4 or 5 or wide in a forward 3). But that slot on the right side of a 3 behind a target man does seem the position to which he is best suited. Let's hope it is. That's a really good point actually. I would hope McClaren sees him (and anyone who plays the nominal RW, LW) operating in and around the penalty area, rather than glued to the touchline or chasing hopeful punts over the fullback.

Sissoko isn't good enough to play in the centre ahead of de Jong or Wijnaldum, so RW is his spot.

Some of Sven's teams were fantastic, it's all been pretty rank since then.

I can imagine every manager looks at Obertan and thinks 'There is a good player in there somewhere, I have to at least try and persevere to improve them'. In fairness to Obertan, during Pardew's miracle 6 game run last season, he actually looked somewhat dangerous. Like enough to actually make the opposition bother to mark him.

Call it crossed wires, I had a recollection of reading posts of that nature alongside a bright orange DP.

He was the other one! It wasn't a personal dig specifically, but I don't think there is a great talent gap from Lingard to other young wingers that have been mentioned.

Name one apart from Jetro Willems please! ?? You're drunk! Someone called Boetius?

Whether Colback starts or doesn't is the least of our worries.

What makes Lingard any less qualified than the hoards of random Dutch kids you've been peddling for us?

Seems inevitable we will be playing a 4-2-3-1 so assuming that to be the case: Krul Janmaat Taylor Coloccini Haidara Anita Wijnaldum Sissoko De Jong Perez Mitrovic It's a tad unfair to just throw Mbemba straight in, I'd rather sacrifice some possible short term pain to let him settle in properly. The only other dilemma was between Aarons and Sissoko (Perez would have switched over). Sissoko gets the nod for being less likely to come off injured.

Typical shite from Ryder.

He played for Honduras at the WC so he's probably an angry fellow.

I say OTT because the general NO consensus seems to bag him up with Williamson, Obertan etc as being genuinely useless at PL level. In reality he isn't that bad, he's just bang average. He's still a premier league player on ability though, unlike those 2.

It's not, he's a CM who is inferior to Wijnaldum and Sissoko. What's the point of forcing him into a position he's not very good at ( DM) and completely imbalance the midfield when we have actual DMs and then free up the other players? It's really not that hard to understand, if he could play DM to a decent standard and not run around like a headless chicken instead of holding his position fair enough but he doesn't. I don't disagree with anything you and others have said, but it's still OTT hate. He should be a backup CM to Wijnaldum going forward.

The Colback hate so OTT. I guess it does create the hope he will be more of a rotation player rather than automatic starter though.