Hughesy

Just a quick tactical question - if we line up a in a 4-2-3-1 formation, as people seem to want (I want this as well, may I hasten to add) and it looks something like this: Krul Debuchy Taylor Colo Santon Tiote Anita HBA Cabaye Marveaux Cisse Where does the cover for the full backs come in? At the moment Santon and Simpson look horribly exposed. Do we expect Tiote and Anita to shift over (and then leave the centre backs open) or are we expecting HBA and Marveaux to track back (something which people have openly stated they shouldn't be wasting their time doing)?

I don't care how this goes down - I would go out and ask Man City how much they want for Lescott and pay it (or his wages if it is a loan deal).

Just get him to keep running at Jagielka.

Looks like we are signing Laurent Blanc as well from that photo.

Seems to remove any doubt re Ba's lack of commitment to us. Sooner he pisses off the better.

If a defender is told to be on the line, I don't regard it as a great achievement that he manages to clear the ball. defenders are sometimes told to be on the line for corners but from open play clearing off the line is just good positional play. just because you don't think he's good enough doesn't mean you need to find try and find fault with every facet of his play even when he's done something good. Not really trying to find fault with everything he does - I just don't regard his clearances off the line as being a particular strength of his game or something that he needs special praise for. Especially from a corner.

If a defender is told to be on the line, I don't regard it as a great achievement that he manages to clear the ball.

Dunno like. I'd never start the Shearer turned you down chant, but I think it's a worth an airing when they're singing about him. They're obsessed with the man and clearly never gotten over his rejection - they seem unable to comprehend anyone not wanting to play for the greatest club in the world and not able to handle even that kind of failure. Exactly this.

For a recently turned 19 year old kid, he is some player. Can't wait to see how much better he will get.

Just call the glory hunting c***s for what they are. No point getting wound up by a bunch of table top supporters. They are all my soon to be inlaws...so that might be frowned upon.

Going to be watching this with various man utd fans out in Singapore. Going to be a nightmare.

Aye, the obvious difference in quality and quantity between their squads and ours has nothing to do with it.. Odd that was overlooked..

Yeah - would be a fucking nightmare if he scored the goal to win us 3 points again.

Taylor's got more to his game than you have indicated above. Not suggesting he is the next Beckenbauer, but you are making sound like some league 2 clogger. He is far better on the ball thab you are giving him credit for.

Don't think anyone would be gloating if hughton wasn't doing well.

That's got to be league only as I'm sure he had one season where he played more than 40 games in total. It's still disgraceful. You've got to go back to 2008 for the last time he played half the season or more. Disgraceful is a bit harsh. It's not like he is somebody who is going to look to avoid like some we've had. Didn't he try and play when he did his Achilles??

It's been a big problem since we signed Jonas, actually. It's been a big problem since Robert and Solano left..

Given a choice, I'd have C Ronaldo over Romario in my team every day of the week.

Eh? I thought he was doing really well?

Didn't think it was too bad a song to be honest..

Exactly this. Amazing the number of people who don't seem to grasp this particular argument.

Hence the 'don't let him leave the training ground' - just get him to practise it until he masters it. It's what you'd do in any other job.

How many goals has Demba scored outside the box for us? I know he has hit some good shots from inside the box - Man Utd at home, Reading away, Spurs at home, but I can't remember anything from outside the box. I only ask because he often seems to get the ball in space just outside the box and then hits a pretty disappointing effort at goal. More often than not he seemed to snatch at it.

Sums up the mentality of some on here.

Cisse certainly isn't half the player Ba is. Not by a long stretch.