Parsley

Nice move, poor cross by Beye.

COME ON

Just to dig up old bones; selling Milner wasn't the mistake, 'replacing him' with Xisco and Gonzalez was. Imo anyway... He was an alright player but £12m was far too good to turn down. That wasn't the mistake. £12 million in instalments though

He is utter, utter garbage. He really isn't. I'd definitely have him here.

Great goal from Anelka.

It's Paul Merson though

Harsh on Hughton imo. The fact that KK came out and said Chris was his first choice no.2 would indicate he has some ability.

They're criticising UEFA for having a Norwegian ref on Sky

Bullshit, Barca had 1 shot on target all day. Chelsea got their goal and stopped Barca doing anything.

2 or 3? Defender to replace Gallas, thats it tbh. Need another centre midfielder imo. Diaby, Song and Denilson just aren't good enough.

If I had a pound for everytime someone's said that during a match this season. He's not nearly as bad as some make out imo.

COME ON!! :frantic:

Fair play to Spurs, been impressive so far.

He's looking well up for it at the moment.

Xisco has one off the line!

That's awesome

I'd like to give Steven Taylor a go in centre mid - he's quick and can get up and down, good in the air and the tackle, will give 100% and will undoubtedly recognise the importance of protecting the back four. Can't be any worse than Nolan and Butt at least.

As someone mentioned in one of the other post-match threads, its clearly a stop-gap until Enrique's back in the side. With his return we'll go back to 4-3-3 indefinitely in my opinion.

Bloody hell. Cech duffs another one!

Did a really poor imitation of Hiddink's Dutch accent. Don't think I've cringed as much in my life.

Is Jose back for this then?

We're in trouble if they beat Fulham. Can't see them winning any others though.

Hull have a really tough run-in as well. Villa, Liverpool and ManUre to play as well as Sunderland and Bolton away. I think we'll edge it along with the Mackems.

We do have Spurs though..

Happy with a point tbh. Stoke are a horrible, horrible team to play against, especially on their home turf. I thought on the whole we defended alright when you consider how many of those long-throws and corners we had to deal with but going forward we were toothless and offered little. Carroll and Jonas were two inspired if somewhat obvious subs by Shearer and turned the game in our favour, both had a massive impact. Harper - 6 : Seemed shaky when dealing with set-pieces but was otherwise solid. Made a crucial save from Fuller in the first half. R. Taylor - 7: Covered a massive amount of ground. Delivery still needs work but is getting better - great crosses for Carroll, Shola and Owen stand out. Decent. Bassong - 7: A rock. Made Lawrence his absolute bitch. Edgar - 7: Was very worried about him starting in the centre but proved to be solid. Played it safe but to some success I thought. Beye - 7: So good in the tackle its just unbelievable. Can't wait to see him surging down the right for us again. Duff - 6: Gave it simple and didn't really trouble Wilkinson majorly on the left but got an assist and for that he deserves some credit. Nolan - 5: Poor really. Distribution was really bad today but he at least looked to break forward and make tackles. Guthrie - 5: Disappointing and largely anonymous. Didn't do anything wrong as such but was rightly substituted for Jonas. Butt - 6: Thought he was alright today actually. Passing still a mixed bag but looked to play it forward and did so to moderate success. Ameobi - 5: Fair play to Shola; he tracked back a fair bit and didn't look nearly as lax as we're used to but nonetheless failed to impose himself upon the Stoke back-line. The fact that Carroll scored and put one wide just 10 minutes after coming on speaks volumes. Owen - 6: Ran his socks off and looked interested. Retained possession well. Subs: Jonas - 7: Made a difference. Took men on and moved the ball well. Won several free-kicks central to both halting the Stoke vanguard and setting up attacks of our own. God knows why he didn't start. Carroll - 8: Legend. Magnificent header and a real hearty showing from the lad. MUST start ahead of Shola. So, we have a point. It's far from ideal and we're still in the shit but we didn't lose and are still ahead of Boro. The team showed character if not quality today and its something that can be built on. Shades of Birmingham last season about the match today.