Frazzle

There's a few dodgy selections but he doesn't exactly have a lot of options. I don't agree with what he's done but if he wanted to play 4-5-1 who else could he pick?

Don't know why everyone is worried about Perch playing, it's not like he'll be on the field all game.

Taylor on the left and Williamson in the middle is a change less. Taylor's not really a full back though, if he has to play there I would rather it was on the right.

That's 3 changes for 1 player. We don't have a back up left back, reshuffles likes that are inevitable.

Fair enough, I guess I'm frustrated there's a chance he could leave. It would be a nightmare.

Sorry

This. It's fair enough commenting on an article but all the speculating on what's going through Carroll's and Ashley's minds is just tiresome. Who know what Carroll wants to do? People are commenting as it everything is set in stone.

I doubt the 25 game clause is written in a way that if he doesn't play 25 games we can't buy him and Marseille won't sell him to us. it means that if he plays that ammount of games and agree terms with the player then the price is set. if he plays less we can still negotiate a price in the normal manner. If he plays 25 games we have to buy him for £5m. If he doesn't we don't have to buy him but we do have first option at £5m. Either way, if we want him, we will only pay £5m.

If he puts his balls in the right areas not many women can deal with Andy.

My prediction: Arsenal 4-3 Chelsea

Yeah I've watched it again now. Can't excuse it, bad defending.

I haven't seen it again since the match so I haven't seen the line tbh.

How is he to blame for the second goal? He could've got across to Tevez quicker but Coloccini was the one marking him all game, he should've bust a gut to get goal side but he was just ball watching. The first goal was essentially 2 v 1.

Is Iniesta the one lying down?

Is there any evidence at all of this? I haven't seen him 'spazz out' since he's came back into the team. The defender who seems to have made the biggest errors seems to be Campbell but I guess that's down to Taylor.

I was agreeing with you. Fair enough

Coloccini is a much better defender than Taylor. He's as likely to make a mistake but he reads the game much better than Taylor does and he's better at fitting into a defensive unit than Taylor. I've never disputed that and I'm not sure why you've quoted me to say that. I agree Colo is our best centre back/

Do you not remember how he was rated on here when we got relegated? Even now though I've seen people retrospectively begin to blame Taylor for Colo's shortcomings that season.

Ok Alf. Feel free to point out what you disagree with.

He hasn't had a good game for as long as I can remember. You're missing the point. It seems that everyone is willing to overlook Taylor's weaknesses due to some bizarre sense of loyalty. The relegation season, you say? Was that the relegation season where he was (supposedly) close to leaving the club? He did well in the Championship when he played. So did Shola. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out the common denominator. You point out Colo's weaknesses, so it's obvious you are able to critically analyse a player. So why not turn your talents to Taylor, who has played nearly 150 games for the club. He cant help that he grew up here ffs. He is a fan of the club, he has only been a pro at one club (apart from being out on loan) so he is hardly a Wayne Rooney/Carlos Tevez type character when it comes to kissing the crest of the club he plays for. You make it sound like its a bad thing that he has scored goals for us. "* Conveniently ignoring the fact that he was born in Greenwich, obviously" = Who conveniently forgets this? Any examples? Most of us class him, Shola, Kaz Lua Lua as Geordies but then people liked me classed Terry Butcher as English. I thought it was obvious that I was being flippant - evidently not. What I mean is that people are willing to overlook all of his quite apparent failings for reasons I cannot understand, so I've attributed it to what I perceive to be "local lad loyalty". I'd love it if he turns out to be a world beater, but I suspect that he'll just be another mid-table defender. I admitted Taylor has weaknesses I just said they aren't as pronounced as some on here claim. People seem to have an irrational hatred of the bloke which in turn means the turn on him after every game. You say he hasn't had a good game but where are the mistakes? "Was that the relegation season where he was (supposedly) close to leaving the club?" What's that got to do with my argument? He was one of our better players that season although that's not saying much. In the first half of the Championship he was as good as Coloccini was, granted its a rubbish league but you can only beat what's in front of you. Now, since he's came back we've had couple of very good results and a couple of bad ones, Taylor's performances have been fairly consistent throughout those games.

It's the same crap that gets trotted out without any real evidence though. Since Taylor's came back into the team where have his massive errors been? In fact, taking last season into account, when was the last time he played really badly? The relegation season? Even then he was one of the better players in the team. Who gives a s*** if he kisses the badge every so often? Barton does it all the time despite having no real connection to the club and despite letting the club down time and time again while picking up probably double what Taylor earned in the same time. If we're picking on CBs let's have a look at Coloccini's weaknesses. Getting muscled off the ball by Jason Roberts, stepping up against West Ham and letting them run in behind, and getting outmuscled by Elmander to name a few. All CBs make mistakes and have weaknesses, Taylor has them but not as bad as some on here make out. Ask most neutrals what they think of Taylor and I'm sure they'd say average PL CB.

As long as Coloccini and Williamson don't serve up crap like Blackburn and Bolton they can stay in the team.

Considering most CB won't hit their peak until 29/30/31 he is still relatively young. He a better player than when he first started playing so I don't get where this whole 'he won't learn from his mistakes' comes from.

Well point out what other mistakes he's made then? And continue to gloss over the mistakes Harper made in the past. I pointed out Hart's kicking because you used it as an argument against Krul's selection. I didn't say it led to a goal but then neither have any of Krul's other kicks have they? And you were apparently looking beyond Krul's error yesterday.

I don't think our play changed that much when Ranger came on. It wasn't as noticeable as against Liverpool and in the first half we still played well and created a couple of decent chances.