The Merse

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

So he was at fault for 3 of the 2 goals in the 3-0 defeat at Man U in your opinion. By that logic, he was probably the one that contributed the most to our defeat. As if he had saved those it would have been 1-0 and we'd have a very slight chance of a piss taking equaliser. NO. A few of our players contributed to those goals, it's unfair to single Harper out. As I said, when he starts losing us games he should be dropped. Harpers dodgy back has affected his agility, but he is not costing us games - as you say, until then I think it would be best to stick with him