John P

Nah, he'd have Ben Arfa in the reserves.

He'll have to get in the queue I'm afraid.

Is there not some sort of rule about 'excessive force' being worthy of a red card? Rooney knew exactly what he was doing, you could see the anger on his face and there was nothing on his mind other than trying to boot Colo. Therefore should have been a red in my opinion for violent conduct.

Anyone else think we should have another banning poll for wireside?

NETD? Christ almighty.

I'm becoming more and more convinced that Wireside is a joke account. Becoming quite pathetic now really.

Went with £2.50 on the exact same myself. Please tell me you're some sort of betting god?

Got a free £10 bet and put it on Real Madrid, Bayern, Man Utd, Man City and Inter. Returns £100.

In the first half he was doing a lot of work to block passes from their centre backs to the midifield by getting across and not necessarily putting pressure on the man with the ball, but getting his body in the right position to block the pass. I thought he did that quite well and it isn't something I've seen him do before. Might be part of what Pardew is alluding to in those comments.

Clyne played left back for the U-21s the last two times I've seen them play and looked pretty good, so theoretically he could play left side (despite also being right footed) and Santon could play right side.

He's still not as dreamy as Cabaye. What's happened to MimiFrench by the way? Would be good to get her opinion on Giroud and Traore (despite the terrible sources).

But what does the font of all French football knowledge think?

I still think he's at his best when he's got a midfield "boss" next to him. I think big characters like Cabaye and Tiote give Danny the confidence to express himself without worrying about having to be the playmaker. i think a midfield of three, cabaye tiote and guthrie would be very good. or a midfield of five with them three in the middle. full of mad energy and technique. the only thing thats really missing from this combination of the three is possible someone that can really dribble past players, but we got our wingers and hatem, to do that stuff. It would probably be a good system to use against Man City if Tiote and Cabaye are fit. One of Cabaye and Guthrie would have to make a real effort to support Ba though, as he could get very isolated if they all played their natural game (I think Cabaye and Guthrie are naturally similar players who like to dictate the play and score their goals from 20ish yards rather than really push forward and support the attack.) Would be an interesting system to use away from home against the better teams though if we could get it to work with Jonas and Obertan on the wings and Ba up top.

I still think he's at his best when he's got a midfield "boss" next to him. I think big characters like Cabaye and Tiote give Danny the confidence to express himself without worrying about having to be the playmaker. Yep, has probably played a part in his performances this season. Although he was still the one on Saturday who was trying to take control of the midfield for us after Cabaye had gone off.

Fair enough, I had it in my head that he was actually injured for the next few games. Has shown a good attitude this season when called upon anyway.

Wasn't he actually out injured for a few weeks afterwards though?

I think people were way too harsh on Guthrie after the WBA game last season and completely ignored how he had done for us before that. His first season with us he had some very good games and showed a fair bit of ability I thought, but like everyone else, his form suffered as that shambolic season came to its end. In the championship I thought he was one of our better players as well, he was absolutely running the show for us in the second half of the season and dominating in midfield, chipping in with a fair few assists. Last season he had a bad game against WBA, but then followed it with some good ones (Spurs at home (I think?) and Man Utd at home he was good). And this season, he's been called on without having hardly any match fitness and performed admirably in two tough games. Hope he keeps it up, im a fan and he can be a very useful backup to Tiote and Cabaye.

Been taking some negativity pills this morning?

Will player values change at all during the international break? I want to get Van Persie in for Rooney but obviously want to wait until the internationals are over in case of injury before making my transfers if I can.

Potato.

Lovely cross field ball from Smith to set him up

Tiote picked up more bookings than any Prem player last season and the mags are starting to call him a liability Read more: http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showthread.php?t=641421&page=3#ixzz1ce44JCtq

Shame after the Stoke game. Maybe a chance to get Ferguson on the bench to replace Marveaux?

I got a student ticket for my girlfriend (who lives in Leeds) by getting her to scan her student card (both sides) and I just printed that off and took it in. Was worried it would be a problem but it wasn't at all. Like I said earlier in the thread, they seem a lot more accommodating in terms of students for this offer.

Loads of the coaches (John Carver, Steve Stone, Derek Wright and a few others I recognise from training photos) were in Osborne's tonight being very jovial. One of them (who I didn't recognise) let off a monster fart when I was at the bar, which led to much merriment amongst the rest of them. I think the squad will be in for a fairly easy session tomorrow due to their sore heads.