Gallowgate Toon

One assist, one goal in one half An assist being a simple pass and the goal being a penalty? He's had the odd moment in the half but he's hardly shredded us to pieces like some are suggesting.

He's been fine apart from the penalty, harsh lesson but he's also tracked Hazard well and kept him relatively quiet. He's a good player and it's not been a mess of a debut.

After the Spurs result last week, we really should have started with 4-3-3 here, why would you want to give a team with so many good players on the ball the extra man to dictate? They're not the same team as last season, they've got far more movement and pace upfront before anyone brings that match up.

Anita's had Hazard, shame about the penalty.

Looks like Larsson will move into the middle with Cattermole, Johnson right with McClean left, Sessegnon central and Fletcher upfront. It doesn't offer a lot of protection for what isn't a great set of defenders, they relied on 2 banks of 4 to keep games tight last year.

When Pardew suggested we'd go 4-4-2 90% of the time with those Demba quotes, I hope this isn't one of those games. Chelsea have too much pace and penetration in their midfield and attack now and with Mata and Hazard likely to be cutting in a lot, I think it would be dangerous to go with only 2 central midfielders, especially with the likes of Lampard and Ramires also pushing forward. I know Anita played on Thursday but I think playing him and making him stick to Hazard when he cuts in would give us a real chance of a result, Anita's quick and agile enough to keep him quiet in my opinion. I saw a lot of Hazard last season and although he got 20 goals (half of them were penalties) I fear him far more as a creator than a direct threat to goal, he combines vision and dribbling very well. Either way I think we're going to get a result, even with their ridiculous levels of spending I feel there are still weaknesses there that we'll definitely exploit, like 2 defensively average centre backs. If we go 4-4-2 I think it'll be 2-2, if we go 4-3-3 I think we can sneak a one goal win.

Very good signing for them.

Pretty much everyone agrees they've improved with the signings they've made, there's just discussion on how much of an upgrade they are compared to last season, which is normal. There are still 9 better teams in the division in my opinion, I think they'll finish 10th which would be good for them.

Considering he's not as good a player as Ben Arfa, no he wouldn't.

http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showthread.php?t=725098 And so it begins...

I think we'll buy one more, hopefully it's either Debuchy or Douglas and that'll be us. I'd be happy with that personally.

Still got 7 goals in his last two seasons despite being a bit part player for Man City. Also has more pace than you give him credit for. He's not slow but he's not particularly quick either, so he doesn't really fit in with O'Neill's philosophy there. There were also comments that he has poor decision making too. Larsson got 7 goals last season and he wasn't playing for the best team in the division, checking last season's 6 in the league for Johnson, they don't really look great all things considered, all came in thumpings against poor opposition (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/player/_/id/55814/adam-johnson?cc=5739). The mackems are a different ball game that require far more input, something he's been noted to not do. To put it simply, he's 25 and has never consistently proven himself at a Premier League club, I don't think he's as significant an improvement as people make out.

I really just don't get the level of hype Johnson has, he's 25 years of age and all he has to show for it is a good half a season in the Championship and some goals and assists as a peripheral substitute at City, in what way does he deserve a 10 million pound price tag? It's interesting reading Blue Moon and speaking to City fans compared to opinions on here. The majority acknowledge that he has good technique but is lacking in other areas, he doesn't work hard on or off the pitch with an apparently poor attitude, he has questionable fitness, is too slow, disappears out of matches and has been easily nullified since opposition have figured out what he's all about on that right hand side. He just strikes me as a player who has the odd moment but overall flatters to deceive, a luxury player. Adding to that, he really doesn't seem to fit in to O'Neill's philosophy either. It's interesting looking at who he's going to replace too, which looks to be Larsson, an inferior footballer no doubt but someone who produced well in terms of goals and assists last season, in my opinion it'll statistically be a like for like swap. Fletcher is someone who I think will improve them though, yes they've paid over the odds but he offers what Bendtner did in terms of overall play and has a higher goal threat as well as being a hard worker. I think with him on board they'll snatch a top half finish.

Fletcher's an alright player and fits in with O'Neill's philosophy of working hard and whatnot but the fee is pathetic, as has been mentioned. Johnson's a strange one for MONg though as his work rate has seemingly been one of his biggest criticisms in his career to date, I can't see him getting away with not putting a shift in, it seems they already have to carry Sessegnon in that department.

Taking Ba out of the equation, Johnson still wouldn't be an option to fill a wide left role because he's never performed there at the top level, he does pretty much all of his damage on the right. Someone like Moses would be ideal, if Ba wasn't here.

I definitely would have had Anita in there on Hazard, he's got the pace to keep up with him and then there's the added bonus that he looks very good in possession too but I think it'll come too soon taking last night into account.

In no way did he play well in the second half. He was just less terrible than in the first half.His crossing is terrible, I keep hearing that he's allegedly super skillful but he only ever runs in a straight line and is incapable of completing anything but the simplest pass. I'm pretty sure he created our 2 best chances with his 'terrible' crossing... Alright, I've had several beers and the wife spent the entire match trying to talk to me about shoes, but from the little I can coherently recall the crosses he put in were s***, but their sunday league defence flapped all over the place and the ball dropped kindly. Against any team with even the merest semblance of competence, his crosses would have yielded nothing apart from jeers. Let's not praise him too highly for what were effectively a couple of floated, lofted chips that broke loose in the box. (I reserve the right to retract the above opinion in the light of any evidence that I wasn't paying proper attention due to excess beer / shoe related discussions. It's been a long day.) His crosses were fairly decent in my opinion but I was more impressed that he actually chose to take on his man more than anything. He was finally knocking it past and using that speed and if we can harness it, it will be an incredibly useful tool. The lad's not a bad footballer in terms of technique and ability but he's lacking in other areas, I hope tonight is a turning point for him. He's not good enough to be a league starter for us, that's for sure but as a sub and cup starter he could be very handy indeed.

What a load of s****.

We'll definitely score, they've looked poor at the back so far. Think we could do them on the break a la West Brom.

Looked decent, a couple of mistakes but that's expected from someone so young.

Agreed, was genuinely surprised to see him drive to the byline. We can make a useful player of him yet, I wonder what the catalyst was for him to be a bit more adventurous in that second half.

That's awful to hear regarding Obertan, I hate fans like that. The only time players deserve treatment like that is when they are complete leaching wankers who don't give their all for the team. Obertan does have his limitations but tonight was promising, he showed some conviction and belief in his pace and it was useful, he caused problems. He's not a bad egg on the whole though, he won't be on a massive wedge, so isn't just here for money and he does try, it's not his fault that he may not be up to scratch. As for the game, a decent result considering the personnel we had out. I really like Anita, he looks a good footballer and was my MOTM, the rest of the starters were decent to poor. Amalfitano looked very useful, he seems an intelligent player with good feet and I was impressed with Campbell's link up play too. Things feel good at the club right now, it's great we can send out a young side and they can do a job for us like tonight and it'll be a fantastic experience for some of those of those involved too. It's simply great to be back in Europe.

Good footballer, should really have started tonight as he put in some good displays in pre-season too.

In no way did he play well in the second half. He was just less terrible than in the first half.His crossing is terrible, I keep hearing that he's allegedly super skillful but he only ever runs in a straight line and is incapable of completing anything but the simplest pass. I'm pretty sure he created our 2 best chances with his 'terrible' crossing... I don't rate him but he had a good second half, ran at opposition and created some dangerous situations.

Played well in the second half, much more aggressive.