Gallowgate Toon

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.

He's been class, looks a very decent midfielder.

Carroll is going to have some tough competition at set pieces today with Fellaini, it's going to be an interesting watch.

Not really, unless he plans on dropping Enrique and Coloccini. The group photo at the end looks like the end of team session to me. Edit: Sorry photo 2 of 9.

Judging by the new training pictures, it'll be the same team (orange bib 'theory').

No surprise there, he clearly said he thought we played well and were just unlucky not to win.

His passing isn't bad, seen him play some lovely reverse passes on numerous occasions and he's nifty with the outside of his boot it's just that nobody makes a run ahead of him to do these passes. The problem for Jonas is the way we play, he'd be a lot more effective with a striker that moves ahead of him and a CM that can keep up as i think Jonas suffers from a lack of options. His crossing is only poor with his left foot, he has a decent delivery on his right tbh but i don't see why this is Jonas' fault some of the best players in the world are ridiculously one-footed it's just their managers play to their strengths. His shooting isn't terrible either, he can hit them even Stevie G would have been over the moon with that strike last season.

After Hughton's recent comments about Ben Arfa it looks like we'll be starting Kev as a second striker for a little while yet with Hughton citing HBA's lack of English as a stumbling block.

Who says the way we're playing right now is the most effective considering the squad we have? One player playing in the focal point of our attack will of course affect the way we play as a team, never underestimate movement upfront, it is the key to opening space and creating chances. Nolan is NOT playing as an orthodox striker, his job is to provide a link between attack and midfield and create space. The kind of striker you described plays in a 4-4-2 and plays off the shoulder of defenders and is usually classed as a fox in the box (Michael Owen, RVN those types of players). People slated Barton yesterday (eventhough he played well in the 2nd half) for sloppy passing but imagine if you're him and you look up to our strike force, Nolan never dropped deep to make himself available or made any type of run to aim a ball at and he never will because he doesn't have what it takes against this standard of defender. He scored twice against Villa but was absolutely crap for the first hour, constantly caught in possession etc and he's fluffed great chances in the last 2 games. Look at Vela's goal yesterday, Barton has the ability to provide a pass like that but is Kevin Nolan going to make a similar run? Doubt it but Ben Arfa will if he sees the opportunity. When he came on against Blackpool, he constantly moved for the ball and made space for himself, if he does that we actually have something to pass to when on the attack and in him we have a player that will provide as well as chip in with some goals. Succesful football is about a system working well but our system is flawed and will be easy to defend against, i think we're already being found out with the current XI. Kevin Nolan may get 8 goals and assist 3 or 4 but what if Ben Arfa only gets 6 goals but creates 15? Surely that's more beneficial.

Mike Williamson in today's Northern Echo (http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/8387565.___It_just_wasn___t_our_day___/) said this about HBA: “Hatem is a hell of a player,” said the former Portsmouth and Watford defender. “He has great feet, a great strike and great vision. He is going to make a big impact on the team and the things you saw on the pitch, he’s been doing all week. “When you looked at the bench today you could see we’ve got a great squad now and I think that’s going to carry us through.