Gallowgate Toon

Butt was atrocious once again. Pass after pass to nowhere, it's such a shame that Shearer can drop MO but he can't drop ginger Nicky. He is the huge weak link in our side: Slow, weak, irrational, no skill and old. He and Nolan couldn't keep up today with a much better midfield than Boro's, and that's been the problem all season, a weak as piss, slow as piss midfield. Teams that are actually decent just breeze past us nullifying th defensive prowess, and can easily stand off us because they know shit all will be created. Because the midfield is crap, the forwards suffer with a lack of football, instead receiving balls that are above head height and are really not going anywhere. Today Guthrie should've been in the middle with Nolan (he was alright on the ball) that's such an improvement and it would have killed 2 birds with 1 stone because another issue was the right, we didn't have a real RM, Guthrie naturally went into the middle leaving Beye on his own and made us more predictable as we then had to pretty much go down th left.

Any player who can't score goals should never be considered for such an advanced position. He could though, we've just never seen him in that position enough. When he was running at the Boro players the other night and won us that free kick, he looked threatening. All i'm saying is give it a chance, it might work.

He'd be much better playing behind 2 strikers imo, a bit like the Owen role last season. He makes intelligent runs, can run at the defence making space for strikers, he can play decent through balls see Martins vs. Popey and he can still get back and defend. Him, Martins and Viduka as a front 3 next season would be class imo.

Hilarious stuff. I love the bit that suggests it's Shearer's fault for sticking him on the right wing. Nah, i said he had a very small part to play, which he did. Have you not asked yourself why Joey Barton, our best midfielder was stuck RW when Smith and Butt were still together. IF the manager wanted more protection from wingers to the back 4, why didn't he put Smith there?

I think the whole thing has been a bit OTT tbh. People are acting like he's committed assault again and is about to go back to prison. I find it laughable that some have even suggested his psychological complex that makes him always need to the centre of attention. The truth is Barton does care about this football club, yes he certainly isn't the brightest but he has passion and if you took that out of him he wouldn't be the player he is. The Guthrie tackle on Fagan springs to mind, he like Barton was immensely frustrated at the game, the situation we were in and the result and he hit out and let his emotions get the better of him. The exact same thing has happened on Sunday, Barton a player who thinks he can really make a difference is stuck out on the right, the result is a foregone conclusion and he's also losing to a team who are his local rivals, and he's taken it out on the player who has pissed him off the most. I actually feel sorry for Barton this time, he is without doubt a talented footballer and he showed that during the first 45, he's done something silly nobody can deny that but i feel he's being vindicated to the max here. The tackle itself was hardly that bad being 50/50 red, at worst it was pretty reckless challenge, but dangerous? definitely not, he has won the ball 20 years ago he may not have even been booked. From this everyone has over-reacted, the post-game bust-up is hardly an uncommon feature, players and managers have words all the time just like colleagues and managers do in an office, it is after all human nature to disagree. Joey's comments were obviously not the best but let's not forget Shearer himself was hardly a shrinking violet intially calling Barton s***, which got the reaction of s*** manager, s*** tactics if the reports are to be believed. Shearer himself also has to take a portion of the blame albeit a small one. He should have learnt from this, that some players require more care and attention than others and it was hardly a huge mistake but playing Barton RM wasn't wise, because it has obviously led to some of the frustration. He knew Barton thought he could make a difference for th rest of the season and Al even said himself he's itching to get back from what he'd seen in training but then he plays him out of position and it wasn't that hard to foresee that such an eager player wouldn't react well to being played in a position where he can't do much. It must be something about the area because Rooney used to be the same when he played in midfield. It's a shame really because Barton is a loss in footballing terms, i do have a sneaky feeling he will be a Newcastle player next season, because people will hopefully realise this has been a mass dramatisation once the dust has settled but because a fit and happy Joey Barton could be a potentially excellent player.

Ironically i thought he got better as the game went on. First 10 mins he was nervy but after that he seemed to settle a lot. I was actually impressed in some bits particularly with some good aggressive tackles etc.

It was only a yellow IMO but it's a shame because Joey was looking good in attack while playing AM, I can see why Al put him RM but I don't agree with it. I think a lot of Joey's frustration came from being stuck out there.

Why do we never play football on the floor anymore?

I hope to god Smith and Butt don't play together next week or ever again. Why cn't managers see that Butt is such a liability? and pairing him with Smith? absolutely no attacking nous and no defensive cover, disaster.

Looked good until he was shifted to RW, honestly how can Barton not have played CM in that second half. Half the reason he's probably done that tackle is out of frustration of not playing in the position he should rightfully be in. If Shearer can drop Owen he has to drop Butt, it's clear as day he is a huge problem for us.

Repuation not the tackle, should be appealed and as he did get a fair share of the ball, it may be reduced to only 1 game, here's hoping.

Elabourate. Where do i start, he's shown potential in having a decent starting line up and making a correct substitution. However... He should have known that Duff would be left stranded a lot and therefore should have started Gutierrez. He seems to be oblivious to the fact that the reason we lose games is through Smith and Butt playing together. They are awful they offer nothing forward and are equally as bad defensively, they are supposed to be anchors but all they do is run round tire themselves out and leave gaping holes in front of our defence. The reason Gerrard had so much room is because, particularly in the first half hey ran out trying to protect our wingers and left the whole middle open. Granted this goes hand in hand with my first point that there wasn't going to be enough cover initially and Gutierrez is a very good tracker. Thirdly is his handling of the team after half time, the change of formation was questionble as i think he should have brought Gutierrez on for a straight Loven swap and keep the current formation working at least for a few minutes. Instead 4-4-2 and Barton our only cretive midfielder, who actually created things in the first half is shifted to RW? wtf? if he wanted some more defensive cover on that flank play Smith there don't waste our attacking talent. Consequently Barton has got frustrated and hit out, and harshly imo was sent off. Hopefully on review he only gets one game ban as he got the ball first, so it's not deemed as too 'dangerous', but again his reputation may preceed him. Granted for the next game he will start with Smith and Butt, and we'll again not win. Stopped reading after you contradicted yourselves within 3 sentences. I haven't actually i never said it was a fucking class staring line up have i? I said it was 'decent' which it was, but it could have been better, which it could of.

Elabourate. Where do i start, he's shown potential in having a decent starting line up and making a correct substitution. However... He should have known that Duff would be left stranded a lot and therefore should have started Gutierrez. He seems to be oblivious to the fact that the reason we lose games is through Smith and Butt playing together. They are awful they offer nothing forward and are equally as bad defensively, they are supposed to be anchors but all they do is run round tire themselves out and leave gaping holes in front of our defence. The reason Gerrard had so much room is because, particularly in the first half hey ran out trying to protect our wingers and left the whole middle open. Granted this goes hand in hand with my first point that there wasn't going to be enough cover initially and Gutierrez is a very good tracker. Thirdly is his handling of the team after half time, the change of formation was questionble as i think he should have brought Gutierrez on for a straight Loven swap and keep the current formation working at least for a few minutes. Instead 4-4-2 and Barton our only cretive midfielder, who actually created things in the first half is shifted to RW? wtf? if he wanted some more defensive cover on that flank play Smith there don't waste our attacking talent. Consequently Barton has got frustrated and hit out, and harshly imo was sent off. Hopefully on review he only gets one game ban as he got the ball first, so it's not deemed as too 'dangerous', but again his reputation may preceed him. Granted for the next game he will start with Smith and Butt, and we'll again not win.

Shearer's made some glaring errors again tbh, he's shown potential but tbh he is way out of his depth.

Quite pleased tbh mean they might try dead hard against Hull, Pulis won't let them be complacent.

We'll get more chance this game tbh Liverpool will play to win and i'd stick with 4-3-3 and attack them back. No point in going for the point imo, Jonas and Barton should start alongside either Guthrie or Smith, this will compensate for the lack of movement in the side and Barton will come and get the ball and it may spark all the hiders into life. Fancy we'll get a goal here whether that's enough i'm not sure, but the confidence alone from a goal would be great.

We saw the importance of 2 things today: 1. Mark Viduka and 2. A decent passing midfield that made our 4-4-3 work last season. Once Viduka went off our retention was poor and creativity disappeared. I thought his decision to take him off was poor and when I saw Carroll my heart sunk. At that point our midfield was hiding and we needed some drive, Barton for me was the obvious choice as he would have taken the game tothem. I think the midfield choice from the off was crap tbh Jonas and Guthrie should have started. Tonight showed how vital the midfield was last season. Today our 3 were too defensive from the off too afraid to run and lacking in creativity, being too predictable and lacking conviction. on the upside I don't think we'll be relegated and I thought Colo played well.

We saw the real Jonas against Man U, he had a team that was playing well with him so he wasn't trying hard to create, and he didn't have to worry about defesive duties either.

Meh we beat Pompey 3-0, and Boro are just shite. Fulham have a poor away record, 2 won all season? Can't see us losing any of them.

Did a predictor today, i honestly think we won't be relegated. I had us to beat Pompey, Fulham and Boro and nick a point at Villa. We finished 15th level on 40 points with Pompey, just better goal difference. The Mackems finshed in 17th with 37 and Hull went down with 35. Hull and Boro have horrible run ins for the rest of the season, and the mackems ain't too special either.

He doesn't have much of an end product though. Owen playing in that role is proven to have one. He doesn't when it comes to crosses, but remember Villa? He was in the box and on the byline for Martins second. His movement against Stoke got him into those areas and i think he'd have plenty of end product if he played in that position properly. He has all the attributes for it imo and his short passing range is pretty decent a la Spurs with the ball into Martins which should have been a pen.

Would play him behind Viduka and Martins when they are fit. I think he'd do a much better job than Owen who is good in that role, but i think Jonas can do better. Jonas did some good passes against Spurs post-substitution and he has intelligent movement a la Stoke when he ran into the channels frequently and caused problems. I think this role would suit him well and i'd even try it out if he was behind Owen and Oba, the pace and movement and skill that particularly Jonas has would have a lot of teams scared.

He like Owen needs good support, and with Krancjar out i can't see them threatening tbh.

Tbh i'd consider dropping Owen and get Colo back in. My team would depend on the fitness of Barton and Enrique but if they're fit. Harper Beye Bassng Colo Enrique Guthrie Smith Barton Jonas Martins Viduka If Jose is still out stick Duff LB, and if Barton's out get Jonas in his position and put Owen behind Oba and Duke.

To be fair, the system today might have worked in training. Training isn't really a good indicator of what formations and tactics work best, you have to try them out in a competitive match, unfortunately we don't have too many of them left. To be fair it didn't work against Stoke, so why would it work with a team that likes to play it out wide to very fast wingers. It makes that formation extremely ineffective.