Hughesy

and stats are all they are. poor passes and mis hit shots become assists. Eh? assists mean nowt, a poor pass to someone who scores will be counted as an assist, sholas header against the mackems 8yds out unmarked and going wide because nolan was there was an assist when in reality it was a poor header. I can guarantee you that he didn't produce 22 poor passes that resulted in goals. They are good stats and show that for 2 seasons he was pretty damn good.

and stats are all they are. poor passes and mis hit shots become assists. Eh?

so is ryan taylors when in form. bentley had a very good couple of month at blackburn and people went way over board about him. He's a bit better than a 'very good couple of months'.

Benjani and McCarthy certainly aren't. Not the current versions.

Like a new signing...

Rubbish. Criticising his managerial ability is fair enough but he's done nowt wrong with regards to those two. Agreed. Pardew has done nothing wrong in relation to Enrique and Ranger. Ranger clearly needs a kick up the backside. And quick.

Great news re the Zog.

What's to say he wouldn't be better on the left? He does his best work coming inside and working the channels, anway. I realise you are a fan of Routledge but I just don't see what Routledge offers on the right let alone the left. He has one trick (flick the ball inside and then shift it outside) that sometimes comes off, but is worked out by any left back with a semblance of intelligence. He wouldn't even be able to do this on the left, so his ability to beat a man would be diminished. However, my biggest problems with Routledge are: 1) His technique is awful. You might criticise Jonas, but at least he can trap a ball. You play it into Routledge's feet and more often than not the ball bounces away to the opposition. If he tries to lay it off first time, the ball ends up looping up to no-one in particular. 2) His positioning and awareness is dire. Bearing in mind the above, I cannot understand why he always positions himself to receive the ball with his back to goal. He is not strong enough or skilful enough to do this. He has to work this out and learn to receive the ball facing the correct way. So bar him cutting in (which isn't really going to help the supply to Carroll), I can't see any advantages to him playing on the left.

Routledge on the left would be an unmitigated disaster. He's bad enough on the right.

Definitely lacked urgency today.

We look incapable of playing with any urgency, it's been the same for a number of years now. We always look like we've got all the time in the world, when we're 1-0 down with 5 minutes to go. The only urgency we showed was in stoppage time when we had that series of corners. Too little too late.

What worried me was the fact that no-one seemed to know what to do when we were chasing the game. They looked clueless.

There clearly isn't a hard and fast rule on backing off or closing down. It entirely depends on the situation. However, I do think Colo has a tendency to be a bit indecisive in this regard. Think it was Bale today who was running at goal and Colo was our only defender near him. Colo just backed off until Bale got to the penalty area....

We did it quite a few times today actually. Coloccini especially kept backing off.

Basically - Pardew 100% right in everything he has said about Ranger.

Played well today. Agree that he could have done better with the goals, but the shots were both hit well.

Missed Jose so much today. Don't think Perch crossed into their half today and when he did it was only to cut back and pass it inside. Meant Jonas was completely isolated and we had no threat down the left. Routledge was absolutely abysmal today. His touch is awful and I can't work out why he keeps on coming to get the ball with his back to goal. He can't hold the ball up because he is so weak and his touch isn't good enough to lay it off first time. He needs to play to his strengths i.e. get the ball facing the full back and run at him. Generally our team needs to learn to attack with more pace. We need to encourage our wingers and central midfielders to either shift the ball quickly or, if they can't do that, head for space when they see it. We are so ponderous with the ball at times, it's embarrassing.

What great lads they seem.

I can't remember him ever trying to hide from the ball. Take it you haven't been at any games this season then! If you've been at the games this season, you haven't been watching all that closely.

With hindsight - West Ham one is a bit harsh. Still think he should have done better on it though. To be honest - this is all getting a bit ridiculous. Quite simply I don't think Krul has played that well for us and I think at the moment Harper would be better. I think Krul will become a very good goalie, but at the moment I would favour Harper's experience over Krul's youth. It's my opinion (shared by a few others), it isn't a kneejerk reaction and really isn't that unreasonable a suggestion.

Quite a few of Krul's kicks have led to chances for other teams in previous games. I've commented on it before. Hart's miskicks didn't. Hart was trying to drill low planing kicks out to wingers in space for a counter attack. Krul passed the ball to Tevez just outside our area. Completely and utterly different situations. As for specific Krul mistakes - off the top of my head (without having had the chance to look at them again) Ithink he's been sloppy on the following goals: Arsenal og in League Cup West Ham goal West Brom 2nd goal Sunderland goal Chelsea League Cup 1st Man City yesterday That is obviously not mentioning errors he has made that could have lead to goals.

You think Harper's kicking is good? I'm pretty sure he got slagged off for it time and time again in the past. I think Hart put about three balls directly out of play yesterday better get Given back in the team. Then Hart again once Given makes a mistake. Don't think Hart's kicking led to a goal did it? I've already said my view that Krul should be dropped is based on more than the hideous error yesterday. So no - you shouldn't drop a player after one mistake. Be interested to see where anyone has said that.

How can it be a pointless argument? Krul made a huge rick that led to us going 1-0 down within 2 minutes. That has quite a direct effect on the result.

I agree with this. If Krul's mistakes become more frequent, he needs to be dropped, because they are now beginning to cost us points. What points have they cost us? Because the second goal against Man City wasn't his fault nor was Nolan's miss or Carroll's miss or the third goal. It's typical of the collective bi-polar disorder of this forum that anytime and player does well he's the best around and as soon as he makes a mistake he's totally rubbish. There's never any middle ground. Nobody is saying he's 'totally rubbish'. You can't deny the mistake had an impact on the game though. Did it cost us points? Yes

I think Krul is a good keeper for his age. But, I don't actually think he has been anything other than ok since he came into the team, with a tendency to be a bit rash and careless at time. As well as having below average kicking. At the moment, I think Harper is a more consistent keeper and should come back in the team. So I've been looking at the bigger picture perfectly well thanks.