Hughesy

I think he should start to be more selfish and take more shots.

Can't see any reason to get rid of him. He's shown enough to be kept on - his wages are hardly going to be astronomical.

In a team full of terrible performances today, there is absolutely no way he was one of our worst performers.

But it's a perfectly valid opinion to think that both Haidara and Santon are better LBs than Dummett. It's nothing at all to do with nationality. I can't understand why you would think anyone would unfavourably judge a local player because they are local. It's completely nonsensical.

How is Dummett an easy target? If anything, I would think he gets more leeway because he's local. I think people watch him play and don't think he is that good.

People having different opinions doesn't make them weak minded.

Yeah, he was pretty effective as an RM in our s*** formation last season, but it's not where he's best or where I want to see him. His style was to overrun the ball, but then win it again as he's built to crush pretty much every LB in a 50/50, before drilling a low cross/cutback. Not ineffective, but not exactly good to watch. Completely agree - just saying that even in the wrong position and playing badly, he was still incredibly effective despite some people swearing blind that he was crap.

Think I was on holiday in Singapore and got a text about it. I had always been fairly disparaging about people being upset about famous people dying before that, but I was absolutely amazed about how much it affected me.

Isn't there that stat about Sissoko creating the most chances in the PL last year or something? Even when he was playing badly, he was still a massive threat. Think this was it - http://eplindex.com/53792/epl-2013-14-most-creative-midfielders-nasri-hazard-coutinho.html Obviously not top of chances created but pretty impressive.

Absolutely spot on. Even domestically, I don't think he is that close to Shearer. If Shearer hadn't had those two serious injuries, you could easily add at least 60 more PL goals to his record, if not more.

Really reluctant to bite on this, but are people genuinely suggesting that Paul Dummett is a better centre half than MYM?

Given the way he was dominated by Fletcher in the derby (and the fact he hasn't got any taller since then) and isn't the quickest in the world, I'm rather worried about him dealing with Carroll (and Sakho or Valencia, if fit) at the weekend.

He's done well in this spell at centre half, but he was appalling when he played at centre half against Sunderland so I am not yet convinced that he's quite as good as some are making out. There is absolutely no way that he should be starting ahead of Haidara at left back though.

It was brilliant.

I just don't get someone like Collins John. I remember seeing him score all those goals for Fulham and looking like a very good prospect and then he ends being on trial at Crawley Town. Is someone like him just not very good to begin with and got lucky?

I actually think the supposed lack of work rate from HBA was one of those myths that built up without any real evidence. I always thought he worked pretty hard for the team to be honest. I genuinely can't think of many matches where he neglected his defensive duties to the extent people claim he did.

I have no idea what he is talking about in that interview. Our work rate is amazing, but we have stopped pressing high up the pitch yet at the same time doing more running and working harder; we are like Bayern Munich, but we let the opposition have the ball all the time.

Not sure where you got your stats from, but his best ever season for any club was at Blackburn where he scored 13 league goals in 27 matches (17 goals in all competitions in 32 games - 4 goals against Huddersfield (then in League 1) and QPR (who finished 21st in the Championship)). He's never been prolific as his finishing wasn't good enough. He was helped enormously by Shearer and vice versa.

If Bellamy had treated and respected Bobby in the way that he should have done, then he might have a point (even if the stories about how we treated Bobby are grossly exaggerated). As it is, he can piss off.

I think that's a bit of myth due to the fact that Bellamy's finishing when he was with us was so erratic. Without as prolific a striker as Shearer, Bellamy would have struggled due to his poor goal return. He was a 1 in 3 striker for us and for a top 4 team, that isn't quite good enough by itself. So I think they both benefitted basically.. Souness didn't think much of his finishing and while he wasn't clinical, he was much more than a finisher. He dragged defences all over the place by pulling out wide, ran on to Shearer's flicks perfectly, crossed brilliantly from wide and was a cracking striker of the ball from distance with that left foot. That's kind of my point. Bellamy did things Shearer couldn't do and vice versa. What I am saying is that because Bellamy didn't have great finishing skills (I still have nightmares over the number of chances (especially one on ones) that he would miss), he needed a striker alongside him to be prolific.

I think that's a bit of myth due to the fact that Bellamy's finishing when he was with us was so erratic. Without as prolific a striker as Shearer, Bellamy would have struggled due to his poor goal return. He was a 1 in 3 striker for us and for a top 4 team, that isn't quite good enough by itself. So I think they both benefitted basically..

Shearer and Bellamy complemented each other brilliantly in that team. They both provided what the other needed and helped cover up the weaknesses in the other's game.

That makes for grim (but also amusing) reading.

Big b****** of a French central midfielder who plays for Toulouse, 20 years old and just recently got his first two caps for France. Have to admit he's one of those players who I got on FM a few times and turned into an absolute beast and have since kept my eye on where possible. Does actually look like he could be a tremendous player and is surely in line for a move to a "big club" in the near future. Interesting.

Not really sure how you come to that analysis to be honest. It wasn't a stellar performance but it was perfectly ok and he's been pretty good this season. You're a pretty harsh critic if his performance yesterday was enough to make you question his ability.