ChrisMcQuillan

To be fair to Duff, he's been the ONLY player we've had in pre-season initiating dangerous, attacking runs and actually beating the man. He can also cross again. Definitely him over Milner/N'Zogbia. Perhaps in a 4-3-3 Barton could flourish on the left, but if we do opt for 4-4-2 then he'd definitely be left wing for me on current form. It's not scintillating, but relatively speaking he's playing like Cantona in a Craggy Island All-Priests Over-75 Indoor Football Challenge Match team.

Definitely don't mind that starting eleven at all, but I'd use Harper instead of Given to be honest. He has not set a foot wrong since coming in to take over from Given. That's probably fair, they're pretty interchangable in my mind. Nice to have both of them. We are blessed with keepers since Krul and Forster both look promising.

Whilst I am more than concerned about lack of depth in the squad (Man Utd can beat whoever they like with their 3rd string in pre-season, seemingly), I thought to myself who would be my first choice 11 next year? -----------------Given----------------- Beye----Coloccini---Faye--Enrique Guttierez---Barton/Guthrie---Duff ----Owen-----Viduka----Martins---- Therefore, my second XI would be: ------------------Harper------------------ Taylor----Bassong---Cacapa---Edgar Milner-----Butt-----Guthrie----N'Zogbia ------------Carroll---Donaldson---------- Makes you think about who we had on the pitch tonight, really.

I actually thought Edgar had come on leaps and bounds compared to how he played for us last year. Taylor/Edgar are reasonable cover, at current form, for Faye/Coloccini and Beye respectively. Milner, on current form, shouldn't get near our team. Ameobi and Smith? Hopefully they'll become lolly-pop men; it's more their pace.

Squad list shows N'Zogbia at left back and Enrique on bench, but the text suggests the opposite.

Smith and Ameobi? Geremi at right back? No Given? No Martins? 5-0 defeat, anyone?

Before the rain, he was one of the brightest players on the pitch. Now they're all like slugs on ice skates.

Martins v The Spuds

He's not creative, never has been. Emre or Arshavin?

Great, we lose our only really creative midfielder; and also possibly a blow to our bid in bringing Arda Turan to the Toon. Wonderful. We need Arshavin or someone of that calibre to come in to replace, and fast. I was worried by Kev's comments about "actually, we have a strong base here, it might be okay." Not what we need to hear.