thewellander

Thank heavens Tiote is back for this game. Still, I can't see Chelsea dropping three games in a row and Ancelotti will likely rest a number of their key players for their mid-week game, since they've already qualified for the next round and are playing at home against the weakest team in their group.

Saylor ahead of Sol for me. He needs more match fitness and is someone who will be with us a lot longer than Sol.

i think we'll see.....

 

krul

 

simpson

colo

williamson

enrique

 

routledge

tiote

guthrie

jonas

 

nolan

 

carroll

This is how I think Hughton will go too.

We lost this game because of two very bad errors that we were punished for. This is the type of game that the lads need to walk away from having learned a lesson and move on. As I said before, it's a long season and we're bound to get poor results. We're in 5th place now, but we're not a Top 5 team. Hopefully we recover and get back to earning points on Saturday.

I don't think there's any comparison between dirty tackles and punching someone when play is stopped. It was a stupid move by an immature player and it deserves to be punished.

Seriously, how hard is it to play for 90 minutes and not punch somebody? It's just plain stupid and irresponsible. His ban could very well cost us points, which might be very costly towards the end of the season.

Oh well. This is bound to happen during a season. Hope we can bounce back against Fulham on the weekend

Tiote gave the ball away again.

Blackburn are starting to cause problems.

Best part was afterwards when Barton kept slapping him in the chest to illustrate to the referee what happened. Legend.

I definitely think it's too early for a club like Spurs to come in for Hughton. But if Ashley messes this up, he won't have trouble finding another job and I'm sure he realizes this.

Still, I can't help but feel that Chris is a reasonable person and all this contract talk is just a tempest in a teapot.

We need cover for LB and another striker for me.

Agreed.

Losing Carroll or Enrique would be a huge blow. Otherwise we have decent (or at least half decent) cover.

He looked miles better than our other two options. Just delighted to have him back in the starting lineup.

I'm happy for Hughton. He's a class act. They really should offer him a new contract now and stop all the needless speculation. Even before today it was obvious that he's the right man for the job.

Happy as f--- that Simpson is back.

No more Nolan bashing. The man's a legend.

Shola! What a goal.

How does it give us a better chance of staying up?

 

Because fewer teams might go down.

How does losing a team in the Championship mean fewer teams would be relegated from the Premier League? The Championship will still promote three and receive three from the Premier League. The Championship will need to have an extra team added to it and it would come from the lower league. It will have no effect on Premier League teams, as far as I can see.

Raylor is the better option at the moment. He's a better defender, better going forward and decent on set pieces. And that's not praise for Raylor so much as an indictment of Perch.

Sorry if this has been posted earlier, but I just read on the official site that Guthrie and Simpson are back to full training and could be available for Stoke. Unlikely, but good news that these two players are close to match fitness. Maybe we'll see one of them on the bench.

I think it's highly likely that Raylor will start at RB, but I expect the team to look pretty much the same as the group that started at Everton otherwise. I think we should win this game. I'm optimistic.

I'm generally optimistic about all our signings, but I really thought that Smith was a great signing for us when he came. Same goes for Duff. Wrong on both accounts, though I think there's an argument that Smith has been a good leader in the locker room and has contributed to our success in that way.

I would never have guessed that he's younger than I am. Jesus Christ.

Wolves played a dirty game. They can't be proud of that performance. Shame they managed to get under our lads' skin at the end.

Whose wife did Barton shag on Wolves? They've been trying to kill him.

Here comes Shola.

Whichever foot he uses Perch always looks as though it's on his wrong foot.

LOL. I'm quite impressed with him though, tbh. He's done well having never played at this level.