Gallowgate Toon

This.

Gutted i'm missing his full home debut. Think he'll tear them a new one on his own tomorrow, his movement and close control will be too much for their defence and it'll open the game right up for our other players to capitalise at least. Quite fancy him to score again as well.

The "diabolical loss" should have been a resounding home win, we just didn't score when we should have. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. We had a few half decent chances but it was a performance lacking in drive and creativity and a very poor loss that has made us hard to predict with 2 totally juxtaposing outcomes. All i'm saying is, i can see why he made that prediction with those recent home results, i don't actually agree with it and think we'll win comfortably.

One home defeat in 19 months, and a 6-0 home win a month ago and we have 'doubts' over our home form. No point in stating 19 months when 12 were spent in a far inferior division. Secondly i'm saying since our Blackpool result our home form looks a bit shakey but i'm not saying that from my personal point of view, i'm saying it from Lawro's. Look at it this way, 2 homes games this season, one resounding win another a diabolical loss, we're a bit of an enigma so far so he's not going to stick his neck out. You said we've in poor home form, i thought 'form' was usually decided on the most recent run of results. You decided the topic of conversation, not me. Yes, form is the recent run of results but if you stick a home in front of it that makes our 'home form' which takes away our recent away results. And i never said our home form was 'poor', i said we had a stigma attached after the Blackpool game as to whether we could break down teams at home, when we're the side that is supposed to press the opposition defence.

One home defeat in 19 months, and a 6-0 home win a month ago and we have 'doubts' over our home form. No point in stating 19 months when 12 were spent in a far inferior division. Secondly i'm saying since our Blackpool result our home form looks a bit shakey but i'm not saying that from my personal point of view as i know that Blackpool was just a blip (and we'll win on Sunday imo), i'm saying it from Lawro's. Look at it this way, 2 homes games this season, one resounding win another a diabolical loss, we're a bit of an enigma so far so he's not going to stick his neck out.

Not surprised at Lawro's prediction like, he stuck his neck out (rightly so) for the Blackpool game and it backfired. After our great away wins, we still have the tiny stigma over our home form, there seems to be doubts that we can break teams down when we're the possession side, the only way to lose that tag is stuff them on Sunday.

To be fair to him, he was up against some extremely seasoned performers in Ramires, Zhrikov and Benayoun. I've not seen anything of him really but i get the kind of feeling that he's a player the team needs to be based around. It's only been 2 games and yeah he wasn't great against Accrington but we played hoofball and bypassed the midfield 90% of the time, how can a creative midfielder really dominate in such a scrappy game? He looks to have good technique, vision and a very strong physique, there's a lot of potential there.

I agree apart from that bit. I don't think he's going to shut him out completely or anything and Perch isn't the greatest by any stretch but i think this is the type of player Perch is most suited to. Etherington is weaker for a start and he's not particuarly skillful or intelligent either, he's more of a knock it past and sprint type and i'd fancy Perch up against him purely because he's got the better physical attributes. Ryan Taylor is a mess of a defender, who will get slaughtered because he's so slow. Do we have anyone else?

I'm quietly confident in getting a good result. I am wary of a repeat of Blackpool but we're not the same team, the 2 new lads just totally change the way we play when we're attacking and it'll be too much for Stoke imo. It won't be a pretty game but i think we have 2 able players to nullify their biggest threats, Williamson marking Jones and Carroll on Shawcross. They love to get the ball out wide and whip balls in. They won't score a goal from open play as long we nullify the source, their wingers. I'm confident Enrique will keep Pennant quiet and have faith that Perch has the attributes to minimise Etherington's threat. 3-0, with 2 goals coming late on in the 2nd half.

Perch's positioning is shocking - Etherington will destroy both of them, at least Taylor offers us something going forward His positioning won't come into play this game because Stoke don't play that way. It will be a straight up battle with Etherington, who likes to get the ball deep and run at people, playing Taylor is like a lamb to slaughter.

Playing Ryan Taylor against Etherington is suicide, he'll get done for pace over and over. Perch is quick and seems to be strong at making recovery tackles, this type of match is suited perfectly to Perch's game.

Their arrogance about their team and the derby is laughable, they are adamant their side is vastly superior to ours yet they have one of the shittest midfields in the Premiership. Honestly apart from Mensah and Bent, there's nobody else i'd take.

He just seems so happy and it's being reflected in his performances, looks so comfortable and a calm head even when under the cosh.

For a lad that can't cross a ball, he put in a decent corner tonight.

Was an excellent cross tbh, pretty surprised considering his usual inconsistency.

His left is pretty terrible but his right isn't that bad. If we played those 3 in a fluid system he wouldn't really have to put crosses in, we'd be playing a lot more to his strengths where he would have options ahead of him with the greater space and if he cuts in on his right he does have the ability to have a decent pop at goal and contrary to conformist belief he has an eye for a through ball too. He's not a great player but he can be a great asset to our team as a whole, especially away from home, we've just never played to his strengths.

I'd like to see Hughton experiment with the side a bit tonight, mixing in some of the players from Saturday and a couple of reserves. We're not going to win the cup and the league is a priority, this as much as anything is just a good chance for Hughton to learn more about Tiote and Ben Arfa. Defence: Have Krul in goal as he needs the match practice. Put Ryan Taylor in at right back and Kadar in at left-back and take out either one of Colo/Williamson and replace with Campbell. Midfield: Keep Routledge on the right wing and start Tiote as well but take out Barton and play Vuckic and start Gutierrez on the left. I'd replace Tiote with Smith after an hour. Attack: I'd like to see Ben Arfa playing in the second striker position behind Ranger who i think physcially has all the attributes to play as a lone striker with his pace, strength and generally decent link-up play. I would take off Ben Arfa after an hour though and give Loven a run out, just to avoid injury and fatigue. Krul Taylor Williamson Campbell Kadar Routledge Tiote Vuckic Gutierrez Ben Arfa Ranger

Jonas should be an automatic starter when we play away from home imo, Nolan played well against Everton but we'll have far sterner tests over the rest of the season and i still see him as a luxury passenger away from home. Jonas' strengths are his dribbling/retention, stamina, pace, link-up play with Enrique and willingness to defend when he's up for it. In a sense he's the perfect winger when you're in a frenetic, end-to-end slog of a match and need as much time to breathe and regroup as much as possible. I think teams would be scared of our counter-attacking pace in Ben Arfa, Routledge and Jonas as well, they'll certainly be a lot more cautious when in attack and if they do underestimate us we have the ability to punish them. At home it's a different story though, Nolan should start for now as he is more effective in terms of goals and is more of a direct threat. People slate Jonas but he's not anywhere near as bad as some make out, i think he's a good player who's been given a job that is unfortunately above his station as until Ben Arfa came in, he was seen as our chief creator in a sense and a lot of attacking pressure was placed on him. Now although i think he's good, he's not good enough to be the focal point of our attack as he doesn't have enough of 'instinct' or know how. I do think it's a bit unfair to judge him until he's had a chance of playing with Ben Arfa and Tiote though, they create so much more space and provide much better options and everyone could see the impact that had on our players against Everton, maybe that's exactly what Jonas needs to fulfill his potential.

The thing that impressed me most about him was his attitude tbh in both defensive and attacking play. He doesn't have a reputation for any of his defensive attributes but he wasn't afraid to get his foot in at times and his tracking back was really good to see when we were under pressure. In terms of attacking you can tell he has a great football brain. You get plenty of players who are technically gifted but are 'headless chickens', receiving the ball and just trying to dribble past everyone without thinking but he is nothing like that. Granted, he went on some impressive runs but more often than not he'd get the ball, look up and make a pass. He doesn't speak a word of English apparently but he was orchestrating our possession play, even when he wasn't on the ball he was constantly pointing out to other players the options around them and it's been a long time since i've seen someone do that.

It's not quite the same though. Jonas is an excellent dribbler but he doesn't really go anywhere with it and it rarely opens up an opportunity. The run MOTD highlighted, should have led to a Carroll goal is a direct threat to the opposition where as Jonas' are more of an 'indirect' threat.

He played well but i agree with the sentiment that he didn't really do an awful lot, it was more a case of he didn't do anything wrong rather than doing a lot of good stuff. I'm okay with him in the team as long as we're winning but i'd still prefer to see him phased out of the middle the more Ben Arfa settles in and Jonas return to the left, at least for away games. People will automatically say Nolan is more effective than Jonas but look at the effect a bit more space (made by Ben Arfa and Tiote) had on Nolan's performance, it could make all the difference for Jonas too.

It's not like we were never under the cosh at all yesterday and when there were long balls being hoofed about and increased pressure, Colo was still excellent. Of course he will look better with this midfield but you can't really take much away from him yesterday or really at all this season , he's looked strong, quick and very intelligent so far, long may it continue.

Love how much Colo seems so happy to be with us right now, was brilliant today.

Fucking love Ben Arfa me.

They have the possession but don't look potent in any way, no real chances.