Gallowgate Toon

Timing??? I mean the timing of the subs is a bit too late, they bring the right people on but just too late. They made changes around 75 mins today but we needed a change after 65 mins in my opinion.

Our line-up and positional tactics were perfect today and imo should be used for the next 10 games, regardless of Owen. Harper - 6.5 - He certainly ain't no Shay but is solid enough. I'm sure he'll be fine after a couple more games but he looks a little lethargic and his kicking leaves much to be desired. S. Taylor - 6.5 - Dealt with Ronaldo well enough imo he's still pretty rash though and his positioning can be a bit crap to say the least. Colo - 7 - Had a great first half imo and for the first time in a while he looked better than Bassong, some great interceptions and good strength against Rooney. Reminded me of Colo we saw earlier this season, a classy defender. Bassong - 7 - Was good but looked dodgy to me in first half, looked edgy as he gave away some easy passes. Improved a lot in the second half though. Enrique - 8 - Was a joy to watch today, and i think it's a testament to his recent performances that Fergie put Ronaldo against Taylor instead. My MOTM. R. Taylor - 6 - Would have been higher if it weren't for the mistake but i think he's a good player and he should be in our side still when injuries are sorted. Smith - 6.5 - Had a decent game, some good tackles but some stupid tackles, just a younger Nicky Butt but i thought he looked promising. Geremi - 7 - Was excellent in ball distribution, shame he moves slower than anything in the universe. Jonas - 7.5 - People say he 'looks' a good player, but he is so much more. Anyone with that dribbling ability, that gave a team like Man U so many problems is a good player, some good passing and a couple of decent crosses. Lovenkrands - 7 - Loved the way we played him 'in the hole'. Was perfect as when we defended he dropped into midfield and made it harder for them to score but as soon as we got the ball he used that pace to support Martins. This is the way we should play away from home imo. Martins - 7 - In the first half was fantastic displayed great touch, technique, vision and skill and gave the best defenders in the Prem a real run for their money, faded a lot after an hour though. Caroll - 6 - Didn't do much. Lua Lua - Not enough time.

Our build up tactics are pretty diabolical tbh, from Harper all we do is hoof it to Martins who was never going to win a header against Vidic. I was however impressed with the way Lovenkrands was deployed today. He started him CF but utilised his pace well, when we defended Love dropped back making a 5 man midfield but when we attacked he was straight up there with Martins running at pace. I thought this was extremely clever on Hughton's part. On subs, they're much better than JK's but the timing is still a bit off.

Although Ryan Taylor screwed up i still think he's looked a canny player for us and he should be accommodated into the team for his set-pieces alone.

My thoughts exactly, liability if there ever was one. Distinctly remember Colo saving his bacon a lot when Bassong wasn't in the frame for us.

You don't do zonal marking in that situation, you man mark you don't just leave a man because there's a bit of empty space, that's stupid. Taylor should have communicated to Colo that the man was coming because in man for man marking Gardner is Taylor's man, now he shouldn't have been running with him everywhere but he should've known exactly where he was, and he did see him but failed to communicate the danger, how is that Coloccini's fault. CB's aren't meant to track the run of a LM or any midfielder for that matter, especially when playing against a 4-4-2.

Simple fact Gardner is a LM, therefore he would be up against a RB, now i wasn't expecting ST to run along with him everywhere, but if you know who you're meant to be marking then your eye must be on that player for most of the time, seeing where they are etc. Now ST should've known where Gardner was, he didn't have anyone else to mark and he should've seen the danger earlier on and told Colo to go to him. He doesn't have eyes in the back of his head, people seem to expect that as he cost 10m but the truth is he's just a human being. This ball playing crap, i've seen plenty of evidence o suggest that Colo is as good technically as some forward players. What are you expecting him to do? play a 50 yard through ball, no movement ahead, nobody to pass to therefore stupid punt which loses the ball.

Nicky Butt is really boiling my piss, he's going to be 35 soon but he's as irrational as an 18 year old, he gives needless free kicks away in dangerous areas, starts fights even though we have virtually nobody in reserve and runs around like a tit when he's supposed to be our holding midfielder, it's pathetic that we've given him a contract extension when even Brum didn't want him.

Purely depends on who's playing in front of you tbh. How can he pass it when nobody is there?

Yes but they may have poor attitude because it looks to me from the quotes that have been posted that he's been trying to make them into something their not. They're flair players, they don't track back a lot, they use their tricks and technique to beat people, looks to me like Jose has tried to coach it out of them consequently losing confidence etc. I'm not saying he's the sole person to blame for them being shit they obviously have dug their own holes but i think it would be unfair to blame it all on them.

Was young then tbh, some players just have mentaility issues at that age. It's easy to see why the same has happened to Mancini as well tbh, he was a cracking player at Roma, but suddenly he was shit at Inter, i don't think that's a coincidence.

Of course he is. Just ask Bobby Robson who tried to bring him here as his no 2 a long time back. He's out of our league now, but that's how the cookie crumbles. Fergie's better imo. In terms of ability, absolutely. What levels the playing field for me is the player attraction Jose brings to the table. More players want to work with Mourinho Totally disagree with the second sentence. Mourinho would best be described as an autocratic manager, everything is on his terms and it's his way or the highway and players don't like that. You can see with Quaresma and Mancini that Jose can really muck players up. He tries them to mould them into something totally different, taking away their edge. People say Quaresma can't cut it in the high leagues against big teams, that' bull tbh he played exceptionally well in the Champions League against some really tough opposition for Porto, you could see he was an immense talent. Fergie on the other hand gets the best out of his players, lets them play their games gives them creative, that's why in my opinion he's a better coach and i think players prefer to play for him.

http://www.nufc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10278~1554888,00.html I'd love to see who'd win that race.

The best out and out striker in the world is David Villa. He has everything: clnical finishing, good pace, great skills, intelligence, technique, selfnessness, flair, fantastic vision, passing, strength, good shooting and for a small guy he can header, plus he can take brilliant set pieces. Very under-rated imo as he's been consistently scoring tons of goals for the last 5 seasons, there is only one better player in the world and that is Messi.

Just makes me wonder when the wage cap will be put into football, i can't wait for the day as it seriously needs to be put in there. Footballers wouldn't be such cunts if they had less money.

This. Quaresma has 2 big flaws in his game imo, 1. He's not disciplined/particularly intelligent and 2. He's too much of a homeboy. He never settles anywhere, it is obvious that moving to Barca at a young age was not suitable for him at the time he didn't have the mental ability to hack it then. I think he does now but Italy isn't the right league. Out of the 3 big leagues it's the one that suits him the least, I think if he went back to Spain right now he'd do well there and i think he'll do well here, as long as he settles right. IMO because of his homesickness it would always have taken him a season to settle, and it sounds like Inter (fans, Mourinho and everyone else) have been bastards to him, which obviously hasn't helped his confidence. He's a very talented footballer and tbh Portugal is still a pretty decent league and i've seen much worse players come out of there and do well in the big 3. The other thing with Quaresma was whenever i saw him play in CL against some top teams like Chelsea he always shone, showed real ability and made lots of teams nervous. Something obviously isn't fundamentally right with him when he makes a move, perhaps it is because he likes to be the big fish but it's puzzling that a player with so much ability has failed so miserably.

Away from the premier league Aguero is a class player to watch, although admittedly i haven't seen as much of him this season.

No worries about him, Colo has him sussed down to a tee, same with Robinho.

The club has just made an £8 million profit on this transfer window how can they not afford £2.7mil?

Xisco looks different to the last time i saw him.

Nicky Butt really does bring us down, he has glaringly obvious mistakes that he makes a la their 1st goal, but there's also the subtle ones, like running round like tit and leaving massive gaps in the middle. It's truly amazing to watch how different Butt is to Nolan, you'd never think he was 8 years older.

I know it's harsh, but it in my opinion it's a blessing in disguise, the sooner he's away from the club the better. Get well soon though.

NUFC - Shearer in his prime and Jonathon Woodgate he was possibly the classiest defender i've ever seen play bar Nesta, he made defending good to watch. Out of the current team when Martins is having a good game he's brilliant. Premiership - Fabregas, Gerrard, Van Persie and Torres. All time - Henry and Ronaldo.

I think Lovenkrands and Oba either side of Viduka would be pretty tasty in a Mourinho version of 4-3-3 when he was at Chelsea. I think I mentioned it somewhere in one of the other threads as well. Obviously this would make it hard to accomodate Nolan which would be a disaster of course løvenkrands needs to play wide left....he could be ok in that position you mentioned! up front middle or right wing would never work! My teacher at school is a Rangers fan and said Lovenkrands is shite on the wing as he can't cross to save his life, his best position is CF.

The standard of player doesn't matter? Could it be that Xisco is not much cop like his La Liga record shows. I am happy with Jonas, Colo looks decent when Bassong is at his side, you cant win them all. Maybe it is new for you but we have had a few players who just have not cut it here Glyn Hodges lasted 83 days, John Robertson a striker with a far greater record than Xisco lasted 12 games & he played in the SPL when it was decent. I don't think Xisco is going to get 12 games though but thats life, should Wise/TJ be burnt at the stake? Not at all as people rush into things near the end of a transfer window. Based on what? On his 3 seasons seasons with Depor, he only ever really started in one season and that was 07/08 throughout his other years he was either loaned out or played sparingly as a substitute getting experience. Iirc last season he started 23 games and scored 11 goals and he didn't even finish a full game, now for someone who was 21 at the time playing in one of the toughest leagues in the world that's impressive, compared to 'Big Andy' who has never shown to me an ounce of promise, he is Pele. It's absolutely shocking Carroll plays ahead of him, but then again Joe Kinnear is our manager.