Hughesy

I want to see a replay of it.

5 out of 10 is an average mark. Unsurprisingly given after an average performance..... I get the concept of 5 being an average mark. Thanks for letting me know though. In the marks that were given - Jonas scored our lowest with a 5. There is no way anyone watching that game could have said Jonas was our worst player. He was one of our better players and had good game. He was a constant threat to the West Ham defence and took a huge amount of pressure of our defence with his ball retention and energy. Worthy of a 5?? Bollocks.

As if Jonas deserved a 5. What a load of rubbish.

Jonas a 5?? Seriously...??

But was amazingly quick when doing it...!! Maybe we should get Nolan to use Tiote's running style?

He was absolutely brilliant today. That's all.

Think you are going to have to explain that one. I didn't like Dyer as a footballer or an individual. I certainly don't regard myself a bigger tosser than Dyer.

Selling Dyer was a brilliant move. Not that I want to start a Dyer debate again, but even at his 'peak' he was hideously overrated. As people have pointed out - he is now bound to score against us.

Thoughts on the chipped ball Carroll fluffed? Wow, one nice ball in 90 mins of football. Well worth 65k a week he's on I fear entering debate with you could be a bad idea but here goes. I didn't say he was value for money, nor did I say that his 65k a week is money well spent, but when we have a midfielder who can produce a ball of that quality just once in a game that is deemed a poor one, I'm happy for now. Like much of the squad he's had an indifferent season, when he's played well we've won. He's far from a fantastic player, but he at least seems to hold a semblance of ability when it comes to playing through balls and creating. It appears to be a bit of a theme here but players are either very good or very bad, there is no middle ground. Personally I rate Barton as a solid player with potential to be very good, Wigan is the worst I've seen him play. Exactly this. When Barton plays well, we play well.

Minimum salary cap and maximum salary cap. Those teams which want to max the cap out can, those who choose not to, then fair enough. But it will have to be agreed with The clubs and players union. and I hate to say it but TV money would probs have an influance on it. How does the minimum salary cap work?

Maybe I was taken in by their constant announcements about how they planned to break even in x number of years...!! I still think their finances aren't as bad as they were though.

Alternatively you have a system which FIFA have proposed which could be interpreted as being made to maintain the current status quo. Can't say I've read the plans in detail, but if the amount you can spend on wages is linked to 50% of turnover, that pretty much ends (however unlikely it is anyway) anyone without 50k+ stadium the chance of EVER winning the league. At least, as it currently stands, a billionaire could buy Blackpool and buy his way to the title by spending huge sums. But I agree - there isn't exactly an easy answer.

I see your point - but the hypothetical company wouldn't go bust if the same hypothetical rich owner was supporting it. It would be exactly the same situation we have now. I suppose Chelsea is a good example. I don't have their latest financial figures to hand, but I assume that they are now closer to having a sustainable business model than they did 4 years ago. So... Roman invested money to propel Chelsea to a situation whereby they could start to run themselves properly. The only way to do this was to invest heavily and take heavy losses on the chin, until they could become a club that broke even. That is a perfectly legitimate way to run a business. There aren't any regulations stopping you doing that in business. But we can leave it there. I sense I am fighting a lone battle.

Again - an example of how the showbusiness market is currently working. In 10 years time, they might be earning more or they might be earning less. It will simply be a calculation of what the market thinks they should be earning. Maybe football will go the same way and salaries will start to be linked to the financial performance of the club...

No footballer is worth 200k a week, f*** me man, the game will seriously suffer if this is the s*** thats happening with players an agents. The clubs, the owners of the clubs, the players/ players union/TV all have a collective responsibility to keep the league competitive. Paying greedy one track minded footballers 200k a week is not one of the ways to do this. Whats going to happen when UEFA enforce the new rules? How will Man City and other funded clubs like themselves resolve rediculous wage structures? Dont just sit and think "this is great its man citys turn now". It not great for the league as a whole, it will turn fans away. Who is to say the next TV deal with Sky wont be less ?? We have massive cuts and peopel losing jobs coming up. f***ing thinking about it for a second man. I have 'fucking' thought about it. What I don't understand is your view that players shouldn't be paid what they are worth in the market. Wages are, like it or not, affected by whatever clubs are willing to pay. If clubs don't think Rooney is worth 200k a week - they won't pay him 200k a week and Rooney will have to be happy with whatever Man United are willing to offer him. I also still don't understand why you think football should any different from certain other entertainment industries? Football is an entertainment industry. When people think football costs too much, people will stop going and then revenues will fall. Then there will be a realignment of wages etc etc. It is the nature of most, if not all, economic cycles. And quite why players should have any sense of moral obligation not to be paid as much as they want is beyond me. The players don't owe the fans any sense of moral obligation. They are employees of the club and perfectly entitled to negotiate a contract in any fashion they wish.

I just don't get that. We live in a free market, where people are paid what they are worth. Who are you to say no footballer is worth 200k a week? Are film stars 'worth' £10 million a film? Are pop stars worth £4 million an album (plucking these figures out of the air now...)? Are F1 drivers worth £20 million a year? Are basketball players worth £20 million a year? Do you think the above are all sitting there doing it for the love of cinema/music/ sport? No... and why should they? Football is a global business. This whole idea that footballers shouldn't be allowed to maximise their earnings is outdated and overly simplistic.

I'll never quite understand how or why people criticise players for leaving for money. If I was Rooney and was acknowledged as being one of the top 10 players in the world and saw other such players being paid double what I was, I would want parity with them (see Messi, Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic's wage for example). It's the same in any job - if you are not paid the market rate for your skills, you are bound to be unhappy. I would be pretty annoyed if someone as good as me was being paid double my salary. People just seem to apply a different set of rules to footballers and I can't work out why. Football is a job to most footballers. End of.

We pass the ball around fine, we just can't ever seem to find that creative spark to unlock a defence. I would say the football is better than what we saw under Fat Sam.

I agree.

If you go beyond the win = good game, loss = bad game then there's a bit more to it than that. Like the rest of our central midfielders apart from Tiote, Barton doesn't sprint, he casually strolls along then stops after passing the ball. It's why he never gets beyond the forwards to get into the penalty area. He's got goods ability on the ball but in the premier the opposition won't allow you to play at half tempo and that's what Barton does. Believe it or not, I wasn't actually analysing Barton's performances simply on whether we won or not...

Me too, I had them in my accumulator for each league's winners. As did I...

I think Barton has played well this season. He's not a world beater and not the player he seemed he might become 4-5 years ago, but let's face it - he is the best we have in that position. I want to see Guthrie put pressure on Barton, but at the moment, Barton is the better pick. Let's see how he plays in the next few games before we start casting him out of the team.

So he's had some good games early on this season, and had, god forbid, 2 bad games in a row and people are suddenly saying he is rubbish? The fickleness of some people on this board sometimes....

Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham. Seems very London-centric...

Think is - it really wouldn't delay the game. Such a non argument.