Neil

Going forward perhaps. Defensively I doubt it.

Aye, you should be managing England like Ronaldo. And Newcastle too. Says you, who's never criticised a manager on here. Simpson's a poor PL RB. Got nothing to do with that. It's the idea that you act as if your opinion is ALWAYS right and if anyone disagrees with it, they're idiots or completely clueless. Think alot of yourself like don't you. And that has exactly what to do with me saying Capello would be horribly wrong to pick Simpson? You don't rate Simpson so Capello is 'clueless' for picking him, when in reality he has been very consistent since he returned from injury and a call-up for being in-form is probably just (and this is coming from someone who doesn't really rate him). You seriously saying Simpson is worthy of an England call-up? Genuine question as I haven't watched all of your games. Being in form does not necessarily mean you're actually good at your job.

Simpson for England. I'd rather have Phil Neville there. Hell, I might even rather have Hibbert there.

Err, get to the back of the "we need a striker" line.

"Welcome to Manchester."

Pathetic. in what way ? we've heard it all before from joey, he gives great interview then does this sort of thing, he even has cheerleaders who want him applauded for not assaulting someone in 18months. whenever i think of the joey fan club i think of chris rocks "niggers" set. You guys must live in some kind of fantasy cukoo land. I personally give Joey Barton credit because I feel he has come a long way. He is no longer getting into trouble off the field, which was very much standard previously, and even on the pitch he has taken a lot and has handled himself quite well (Wolves game for example) for the most part. Why people suddenly expect him to turn into some kind of saint I will never know, ridiculously unrealistic. Even players who do not have the kind of problems he has had, sometimes show poor judgement and lash out. It happens almost every week for goodness sake. Fellaini just yesterday and Huddlestone's stamp a week ago also, just off the top of my head. Obviously what he did wasn't right but at least he's acknowledged his mistake and has admitted he has to continue to try to learn to control himself better. Some people on here seriously need to get off their high horses. God knows what some of you lot get up to in your everyday lives. I'm sure your all perfect yourselves. Jesus. Well I dunno about you but I have this totally unrealistic expectation that a player on my team wouldn't punch an opposition player. This doesn't happen every week and you're the one living in "fantasy cuckoo land" if you're seriously trying to mount any sort of defence here. Defence? Did you even read what I wrote at all. The guy made a mistake. It doesn't mean he's the same old Joey Barton as you lot are claiming, because in my opinion he isn't. If you can't recognise that he has come a long way than that's your problem. If your expecting the guy to become a saint and never have any hiccups along the way then you are living in fairy tale land in my opinion, yes. That's not real life I'm afraid. He's come a decent way. Then he threw it all away with a stonkingly stupid moment last night. Do I think he's regretting it? Of course I do. Do I think he's made progress in the past few months? Of course I do. He may not be the "old Joey Barton." But he's sure as hell an idiot.

Pathetic. in what way ? we've heard it all before from joey, he gives great interview then does this sort of thing, he even has cheerleaders who want him applauded for not assaulting someone in 18months. whenever i think of the joey fan club i think of chris rocks "niggers" set. You guys must live in some kind of fantasy cukoo land. I personally give Joey Barton credit because I feel he has come a long way. He is no longer getting into trouble off the field, which was very much standard previously, and even on the pitch he has taken a lot and has handled himself quite well (Wolves game for example) for the most part. Why people suddenly expect him to turn into some kind of saint I will never know, ridiculously unrealistic. Even players who do not have the kind of problems he has had, sometimes show poor judgement and lash out. It happens almost every week for goodness sake. Fellaini just yesterday and Huddlestone's stamp a week ago also, just off the top of my head. Obviously what he did wasn't right but at least he's acknowledged his mistake and has admitted he has to continue to try to learn to control himself better. Some people on here seriously need to get off their high horses. God knows what some of you lot get up to in your everyday lives. I'm sure your all perfect yourselves. Jesus. Well I dunno about you but I have this totally unrealistic expectation that a player on my team wouldn't punch an opposition player. This doesn't happen every week and you're the one living in "fantasy cuckoo land" if you're seriously trying to mount any sort of defence here.

Well, yeah. I think more than anything Barton has put a big hole in the trust many people put in him with regards to becoming a less angry, more contained professional footballer.

I thought it was a decent article.

As far as I'm concerned, Barton has been an absolute idiot. More so because he's actually looked calm and collected this year so far. It was an act of total madness and will rightly see questions about his temperament being raised again.

you must've checked the odds for 1-2 ? mattypnufc must have made a fortune on Wednesday. Or whatever he's called.

With the performances/results against Blackpool, Stoke, Wigan and Blackburn, I'm afraid I see no reason why you'll suddenly turn in a good performance here. 0-0.

Decent defender, haven't seen every game this season but enough to suggest he will be pretty solid at this level. £4.5m. ....he's English you say? Well then. £12m.

Wasn't it that cunt Paul Robinson? He fouled Fellaini and the ref turned a blind eye for the umpteenth time so he'd had enough and kicked him in the bollocks Shouldn't have done it like and we're going to miss him while he's suspended... but I can understand why he lashed out. He played very well too, made a huge difference to having Heitinga there. It is indeeed a shame because considering he's been out since, what, Birmingham, 5 weeks-ish, he played very well, certainly one of our best players. But unfortunately a moment of madness means he's fucked us over. I don't know about Heitinga... sometimes I think he's doing a good job in there (awful tactics from Moyes against Blackpool taking Heitinga, who had Adam quiet all game, off with 25 minutes to go - Adam ran the show from then on), and sometimes I think he looks completely clueless.

Is he the brother of Chris Smalling? I've heard they look similar.

Eh? But that's the point I'm making. If we hadn't of made two massive errors we would of probably won the game, but we did and as a consequence we lost. Our defence essentially cost us the game. Same as our defeats have cost us climbing the league. Well, yes, defeats do tend to prevent you climbing up the league. Never mind.

It's going down the same lines of "if we had beat them we'd be higher in the league". It's a completely empty point to make. If Samba hadn't have completely misjudged the ball, Carroll wouldn't have scored? It's nonsensical.

Once again, can't help but feel that the media (in this case MoTD) has chosen to shine a light on this incident and refer it publicly to the FA. Conversely, Cattermole going forehead-to-forehead with the referee or any number of other incidents..... media discretion = power, IMO. I don't think there's any excuse for the incident tonight - Barton or not. I do however agree the fact it is Barton will mean this incident is talked about more than say, for example as you mention Cattermole (albeit he has a reputation for being a twat himself).

First part: true. Second part: pretty meaningless statement.

You know he's made it when the commentator describes a goal as a "trademark header".

The likes of Delfouneso, Bannan, Clark and Albrighton would probably have never got a look in under O'Neill. Well none of those players would be part of a 70th minute Heskey <===> Carew switch, so yep, I agree.

Fair play to Villa for getting their young lads a proper chance.

You'll enjoy Fellaini's red card. It was a, err, playful kick into what looked rather a painful area of the Bolton player (Holden I think).

Lovely finish from Harewood.