Gallowgate Toon

Was a lifeless display tbh. The players looked like rabbits in headlights and it turned out to ne a real anti-climax. Nicky Butt was dire and I'd much rather see Nolan with Guthrie who looked good when he came on. Duff was shocking, that is all.

Thought he was playing well today apart from the mistake, he wasn't at fault for the 2nd either. The first goal came from todays big problem, the midfield, Butt and Nolan were abysmal, the worst CM pairing i've ever witnessed.

It's different when the player loves the club imo, because other great players i.e Roy Keane don't put their heart and soul into it because they love their other club too much, and they're waiting for the opportunity to take that one over instead. Recent history suggests that a Newcastle man is the only one that can really manage the team.

I wouldn't mind Oba taking pens when he's scoring goals regularly, but when he hasn't scored for a couple of months he's the last person i'd want to take one.

It's strange how much things have chnaged when you read the first few pages of this... http://www.deportivo-la-coruna.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6227&highlight=coloccini

Rubbish and how short you rmemory is. A few good games by Taylor and a few bad games by Coloccini and the former is suddenly a better defender. You need to cast your memory to some of the goals we conceded earlier in the season to make a better comparision. Yes Taylor has been good in the last couple of games and Yes Colo has been off form, but to say that Taylor is the better player overall is laughable Colo is weak as piss in the air, in the tackle and at marking players and backs off constantly, ball watches and drops far too deep, often while his fellow defenders are trying to hold their line or trying to play off-side, so yeah Taylor who is good in the air, strong in the tackle, isn't a soft touch physically and who can read play (covering for Colo for example when he goes on his constant walk-about) is a better defender and with it not as much of a liability. As for a few bad games... he's been piss poor all season except for one or two decent games. Nearly every forward he has faced, has given him a tough time. He was absolutely shocking yesterday and showed zero heart on several occasions, turning his back on the man or ball like a tart. I noticed after the break he put his body in the way a few times, something must have been said in the dressing room and rightly so. Harper looked furious with him several times throughout the match. The last line i agree with, he was much improved for the first fifteen minutes of the half until the 2nd goal. I think it was interesting how he changed after half time. He came out and until the 2nd goal went in, he was looking pretty good he made some very good interceptions, won some headers against Bendtner and he looked more confident without Bassong, after the second though his head totally dropped like everyone else's. I don't think it is as much Bassong that is making him play badly but perhaps the way he's being told to defend, it's very possible that Hughton and co. have been asking him to defend a particular way when partnering Bassong. Colo doesn't look like a sweeper to me, he's very much a front line defender, he'll nick the ball head on from a runner and make interceptions and will challenge for headers etc and he did this a lot pre-christmas. Yesterday he seemed to perform this role again after half time and he looked totally different. I think there's a lot more to this than meets the eye with this as he seemed to have settled well at the beginning when he was the 'main' defender but has gone downhill since then.

He was probably talking about leftbacks tucking in to track runs down the left, not rightbacks running across the central defence to track runs down the opposite flank. No because it was when Clichy blocked Lovenkrands who was on the right side of the penalty area, which is the opposite side he was meant to be defending on.

Was he? Was he not? Coloccini was an absolute beast for Depor especially in his last 2 seasons. Last season gets a special mention because he was brilliant. In what way was he beast? Was he making thunderous challenges? Was he dominating opponents in the air? Was he commanding the back four with his lovely perm? Yes.

Some of Taylor's heroics yesterday however prove that the goal against Bolton was his fault. When Arshavin was clean through and Taylor blocked it from the RB position, that's exactly what he should have done with Gardner. And the Setanta commentator Burley? proved that's what Taylor should have done with the comment to do with Gael Clichy 'that's exactly what a fullback should do, be fully aware of runners, not be on their heels watching play from the side instead tracking runs to prevent goals'.

Was he? Was he not? Coloccini was an absolute beast for Depor especially in his last 2 seasons. Last season gets a special mention because he was brilliant.

Depends on the league you're come from Colo has spent his career briefly in Argentina, a little time in Italy and a large proportion in Spain. He was too young to cut it at Milan but in Spain he was seen as a very good player for Atletico and Villereal. He was Depor's captain and best player by a mile and the only reason they didn't finish in a solid European spot was down to the mediocrity of other positions. For them he looked a totally different player, he was their team captain and was very vocal, he marshalled their defence superbly well and looked a top notch defender. The main point with this though is that he's spent a lot of time in the Spanish league which is the polar opposite to the Premiership, it's been ok for Beye and Bassong because the French league is quick, frenetic and young and when they came here it wasn't that hard to adapt. For Colo though the Spanish league is pedestrian in comparison and has a very different attitude which will obviously take longer to get used to. Something else people should probably realise when comparing Colo to Bassong is how differently these 2 must be thinking right now. This was Colo's big move, into a team that was billed to be challenging for a European spot under Keegan for Bassong though he came here to learn his trade and whatever happened was a bonus for him whether we were up in the top 4 or rock bottom it would still have been a step up and considered a personal success, no wonder he looks so demoralised.

yes a proper manager would and it wasn't really a mistake. he's not going to sub someone as soon as they go down injured. taylor should have known he couldn't carry on and said straight away. Suggest you read the post again, as i clearly said he was off the field for a good couple of minutes, they spent all that time strapping him up to get subbed again straight away, they must have known they were going to change him with Geremi getting up then Owen getting up so why waste that time? Whatever way you look at it their dallying was the straw the broke the camel's back. so the player told them he could play on,unless the swelling is immediate or a bone is sticking through it's hard for a physio to tell, the player has the say and he obviously said he could play on. owen got up because lovenkrantz was hobbling about aswell. Don't think he did he was nearly in tears, and if you spend that amount of time strapping someone up then surely it's not wise to put them on. Plus he went on for 1 minute then came straigh off again, surely not the intentions of a lad that wanted so desperately to be on.

yes a proper manager would and it wasn't really a mistake. he's not going to sub someone as soon as they go down injured. taylor should have known he couldn't carry on and said straight away. Suggest you read the post again, as i clearly said he was off the field for a good couple of minutes, they spent all that time strapping him up to get subbed again straight away, they must have known they were going to change him with Geremi getting up then Owen getting up so why waste that time? Whatever way you look at it their dallying was the straw the broke the camel's back.

hughton's ineptitude lost us the game yesterday. Taylor was off the pitch for a good couple of mins but then when he came back on he got subbed immediately, their dallying cost us the game and a proper manager wouldn't have made such an amateur mistake.

looks so under confident atm I actually thought he was having a decent game until the second went it.interestingly when bass went off I thought he looked better making some great interceptions and some nice hwaders. Can't blame the players for yday was the management fault for the 2nd and after that the heads well and truly dropped.

Doesn't matter. If someone shoots from 30 yards out towards the left side of the goal, and another player is in an offside position on the other side of the goal and the goalkeeper saves it but only as far as the offside player and he taps it in, it's still offside. Yeah but that's easily interfering with play. IMO the decision was right at the time, Gallas was no interference at all to the phase of play, yes when the ball was kicked but play was ahead of him. The rule after that is supposed to stand is if it hits off an opposing player then it won't be offside. Good call i reckon.

Shooting will be down to confidence like, as much as people say he's never scored a lot he seems to get it on target at least for Argentina and i'm pretty sure he scored all his 5 goals last season iirc?

And Spanish. I agree. I think he's Spanish too. Spanish as in the relaxed approach to life, kissing each other when saying hello or goodbye, similar to the French and Italians tbh.

And Spanish.

I think he was thinking we're in the shitter, i have no idea what i'm doing, the players don't have any respect for me, i'm not a manager but in one of the most pressured jobs in football, what the fuck am i supposed to do? With the Owen thing i can see why he did it, an act of desperation really it makes sense in a way to play him, just to nick something. I personally wouldn't of as Lovenkrands and Martins should be the starters away from home imo, plus MO is crap when he's fit. BUT Geremi, Smith and Butt in the same side, i don't care how spineless or stupid you are, that is the most ridiculous thing i've ever seen on a football pitch. We're in a relegation fight, we need more than a point against the sides we should be beating but we go there playing 2! destroyers they've been woeful at the KC so why not risk it, we're not in a position to not take up opportunities like that. There's an obvious angle as to why Hughton did it, we're in the shit so get as much experience in as possible, but honestly everyone knows that's just not the way it works you need more than just experience to beat the drop.

Nah check his record everywhere he has been, goal scoring record is abysmal for a winger. Well yeah it's not ever been great but he scored a few last season for Mallorca iirc. On deliveries and assists he played with Mallorca last season, who had the top scorer in the division with Guiza, he must have set him up a few times?

We should switch around our wingers much more imo, Jonas can actually deliver on his right foot. Admittedly not spectacularly but he put in a decent couple with his right yesterday. His shooting is much more to do with confidence than anything else imo. I'm not sure how much people realise football is a confidence game. Colo will improve, CB and CM are undoubtedly the hardest positions to adapt to when moving from a foreign league that is very slow because that's where the pace of the game is really felt. Bassong's been ok because the French league, players wise is quite young and the games can be quite frenetic in pace. On Martins i think we're seeing a totally different player to 2 seasons ago, his general confidence is much higher and the improvements in his overall game of late have been great, his touch, awareness and most of all passing have improved a lot. It's a shame however his run intelligence hasn't improved much, he made a great one against Hull and nearly scored he should be looking to do that a lot more often.

Was hoping Quaresma might start today.

It's probably more to do with a lack of confidence than anything, see his goal against France and for Mallorca, although he didn't score loads they did well last season and he got a couple of goals and a few assists iirc.

He's not gay man, Andy Hunter's right when he's in town he's always with girls and i'm pretty sure i read someone on here that 'he's a right hit with the ladies' after they saw him at Oba's birthday party. Wouldn't matter anyway, wouldn't have changed the fact that he's a decent footballer when given a chance.