The Merse

Was awesome today

Until the 80th minute none of them wanted to exploit the space

Very, very poor positionally which had nowt to do with what was in front of him- the diagonal ball is the jackpot pass every time

barton was very poor today (and by no means our worst) he did make a move forward though after about 75mins for a header that was offside and an off the ball run down the right that got found. nicky butt had more attacking intent. Kept passing it to them - he had a stinker

Couldn't have put it better myself - it was bleak until Shola came on - football 101 - dodgy defence vs 2 committed big lads = mayhem and probably goals - pity we only had 15 minutes of it

No he hasn't but if you think we are going to sign players of this ability every week you are living in cloud cuckoo land. IIRC it was you who was in tears when Keggy Keegan walked out. Ironically he left because he wasn't going to be able to sign players like Ben Arfa who make a season ticket worth paying for. Doesn't really make some of the reactions on here any less cringeworthy. I'm not too fussed what anyone else thinks tbh, but I was really looking forward to watching us this season because of this signing so I'm well pissed off. It's not like we've got a glut of talented players with killer end product who can win matches. Still I suppose we can enjoy Jonas dribbling round 3 players and then passing the ball to the opposition goalie. Or there's Routledge who can run...stop...then hit the defender in the balls with a feeble cross. While Nolan and Barton stand watching with a fag and a mars bar. Everyone is pissed off but the club is bigger than one player. Our season certainly isn't anywhere near over, Aye - the solace that should be taken is that we still gave the billion dollar team a hell of a game without him - its a real shame for the lad more than anything but the best we can do is get behind the boys so that if and when he returns we are safe from relegation and fighting for a respectable league position.

Its a strange thing why he isn't really shining, against Blackpool, for instance, he had the full back absolutely bricking it after about ten minutes but then he seemed to back off as if it was too easy. When you watch him he is not just a kick and run merchant so it must be in his head - its a real shame because he should be awesome

collymores i find is actually a good pundit when he isn't pimping some daft idea (like the no relegation idea) Aye that Matterface was gannin mental about the tackle tbf both have given a fair judgment of the game and not trotted out the usual pundit bollox

On talksport Matterface thought de jong should hav seen red and stan didn't think it was a penalty

f***ing hell, some people really do go out of their way just to have a go at our own players. Agreed, that post reached almost Kevin Nolan-esque levels of shitness. Seemed a suitable comparison as Perch has broken a premier league record for bookings and has looked a little short of the quality required

Henry is obviously out of his depth and in the same way that Perch does the odd mental tackle Henry plays in a higher contact area of the pitch but both are eqully as poor

Should provide another giggle for the MOTD pundits.................

Hopefully they might approach the game in an arrogant manner and allow us a bit of time to get a foothold

Is totally correct - never going to shine with Nolan as an alleged strike partner - wrong personnel - I would even prefer shola along side rather than Nolan

Smith was truly awful but the rest of the team weren't much better - couple that with charlie adam having the freedom of sjp and a defeat is the more likely result

I thought Jonas was poor and Routledge was our best midfielder if only he had been given the ball more often

He should have played on their number three cos routledge totally had his number and beat him every time - but the midfield just played it down the middle time after time - if you see a weakness like that you should act on it - personally i think it was just a bad day at the office - here's hoping anyway

I watched Gyan at the stadium MK when he played in the wc2010 warm up game when they played Latvia I think- he is quite powerful but not very accurate - I wouldn't say he is lightening fast either - didn't really stand out for me and on that performance (he may of been havin a mare like) I wouldn't have priced him above 4 mill

It always amazes me that such an incoherent buffoon as Mcdonald who can barely disguise his spite and bitterness towards the club is given airtime let alone listened to.

Tiote has a height advantage which if you are going to replace Nolan for Ben Arfa you would need (or whoever else)

Maybe in the same way Arevalo was a back up to Tiote

Lol,nice one. The Shearer/Hanson mutual w*** off display on MOTD last night whilst having a right old giggle about the shocking treatment of Joey Barton was crass to say the least.Displayed fully the ignorance of the pair of pratts to the extreme.Had it been Barton dishing out the treatment I'm sure Hanson and co would have been baying for blood/psychiatric reports. Totally agree - there is obviously nothing more hilarious than watching a player being targetted for physical abuse which could have easily resulted in serious injury - fair play to Joey for not losing his head and to Chris for not making a big deal out of it but Shearer can f**k off - in the process of losing the shreds of credibility that he still retained. As for punditry in general I am sick of listening to these ex-pros who can't even string a coherent sentence together let alone research the subject they are getting paid to comment on.

Charlie Nicholas was laughing today when he was summing up the match on ssn talking about how battered and bruised Craddock and Berra(?) were - It would seem he rates Carroll I reckon he has improved his diet because he looks ridiculously strong - maybe he has had some tips from jose but whatever it is their are some worried central defenders Started eating raw chickens.

I reckon he has improved his diet because he looks ridiculously strong - maybe he has had some tips from jose but whatever it is their are some worried central defenders

One of the great dilemmas of mercurial talent is that it is rarely produced for the entire game - Robert, Ginola et al produced moments, its only the true world class that can dictate a game on a regular basis - as such you either build a team around him or enjoy the flashes of brilliance