Krul 5 - fine other than first goal howler
R.Taylor 4 - far too much room allowed to Vela
Perch 6 - best game for us, did fine
Williamson 5 - tried his best
Kadar 5 - didn't look comfortable
Routledge 3 - full of shit
Smith 6 - strong in the tackle and unlucky not to score
Guthrie 5 - faded badly and gifted them a goal
Vuckic 5 - glimpses of quality
Lovenkrands 4 - contributed bugger all other than drifting offside like a Sunday morning player
Ranger 5 - mixed bag
Subs:
Gutierrez 5 - had a go
Carroll 6 - gave us attacking impetus
Barton 5 - popped up everywhere, too late to impact the game
Goal 1: Spawny own goal
Goal 2: Should have been ruled out for a foul
Goal 3: Individual error, good finish
Goal 4: Spawny through ball (intended for Emmanuel-Thomas who stretched and missed it) and good finish
Arsenal were anything but mercurial or brilliant there. We were poor in the second half for large parts but unlucky imo.
Mind, Huntington wrongly took the fall for the defeat at Alkmaar. It was Carr's decision to just duck out at the 11th hour that saw him hoyed in at the deep end. The Chronicle were a fucking disgrace, marking him at 2/10 or whatever the day after.
I don't get how he can split media opinion so much. One day it's all "Hughton's understated good job at Newcastle" and the next it's "Hughton faces the axe from Ashley over poor results".
I think the team in 17th place this season will need about 38 or 39 points. That's 10 wins and 8/9 draws, or 11 wins and 5/6 draws... and so on - you can go back the other way and say 9 wins x draws or even further back - but whatever the makeup of these points, I think we'll get them and quite possibly a few more on top.
I think we'll get about 43 points this season.
This post will almost certainly make me look either brilliant or terribly foolish come May, guess we'll see.