Stottie

We're definitely riding our luck at the moment and the pointers are to a long season, not to an improvement on last year. We're creating little and people won't keep missing point blank headers against us. The hopeful side of the coin sees the injured or off the pace lads like Tiote, Ben Arfa, Marveaux, Ba etc making an sustained impact. The terrified side of the coin sees an injury to Colo. Even just a straight red before three of the easier games we would be a big loss. I hope the 4-4-2 and hoofing it long is just a stop-gap from Pardew, because we'll get nowhere with it. That should be fecking obvious from the lack of a knock-down collector for starters.

The team was badly set up and performed poorly. Shola never looks uninjured, but he looked more than normal injured yesterday and made us a man short. Both wide players were poor, and we were completely swamped down Ryan Taylor's side. Better players than SWP and Boothroyd would have scored first half when our sole idea was hoof it long and watch it come back. Second half the new Peter Reid fluffed two easy headers, but they pretty much ran out of steam, not surprisingly given their hard pressing game. After his free kick goals, it would have been hard to drop RTaylor for someone from another league, but not now after that performance. With a better LB and anyone but Shola, I don't think we would have been under the kosh as much, which should let the more capable lads do better than they managed last night. That all said, we earned a point from some great last-ditch defending, so remember the value of that and maybe not dwell on the rest.

The banana skin and headlines were avoided so lets all move on. He did better than our wide lads, but was no great shakes.

He's definitely off the pace, but deserves lots of faith after last season. We were overrun by a hard pressing team yesterday, so it was hard work for the lads in the middle.

Rooney stepped up brilliantly when Cronaldo left and to his massive credit started heading them in left, right and center, a skill he must have worked on and nobody thought he possessed. He followed it with a half season dip though, with a timely spit of the dummy for more cash. Shearer meanwhile scored thirty a season for three seasons. That's what I call doing it for an extended period. Again to Rooney's credit he's started doing it in the big games, like the Citeh overhead kick and the CL final after being abject in the other Barca one and twice at the World Cup. I think he's still got something to prove though to be a real great.

I would say Shearer over Rooney because Shearer at one time was unplayable for an extended period. As was Henry and Christiano Ronaldo, if you're talking Premiership era forwards. Rooney has never quite hit that level, though he's been close in a couple of spells. Shearer also scored against absolutely everyone. Among present strikers, the most notable for doing so is Darren Bent. Rooney's record against Chelsea, Liverpool, and normal Arsenal (not that shambles last week) isn't all that good. Shearer was one of the greatest crossers of the ball to play for modern-era NUFC. Pure goalscorer-type comments do him an injustice. He also scored dozens and dozens from outside the box, something pure goalscorers like Lineker and van Nistelrooy never managed. He's absolutely shocking as a pundit though, it has to be said. One big thing Rooney has that Shearer didn't is that he allows the team to defend from the front, virtually a tactical necessity at the highest level now. Teams press much more now than they did ten-fifteen years ago, and Rooney's workrate is just the job for that. Before anyone jumps in, he also has incredible touch, vision, power, and a fantastic football brain. I really wish he would go and play in La Liga or even Serie A as a true role model for future England players. I think he would progress further there than in the Premiership.

Wolves away is Oct 1st, the day before my birthday. Please let it happen!

Deary me. That looks turbosh!t.

Some new bodies for the Arse but four suspensions already this season would be my major concern. They've got to stop spitting the dummy.

If they're changing it, would it need to be on that planning application that did the rounds? Ferking tw@ts if they are, btw.

His own agent lies at least as much as Ashley and Dekka. When he signed, wasn't there a snag until we paid his Citeh loyalty bonus? Basically he's just on the lookout for number one. He's just clever enough to know what fans want to hear.

Oh that's a six for the window, not for how the Carroll money wasn't spent.

Maybe a six in total. A striker and it would have been eight. If Bendnar to the makems is taken into account maybe drop that to five and a half. First 11 looks fine, but there's not a lot below that. I've not read all of this thread but the biggest pluses are Colo and Tiote not being sold. If Ashley simply wants to sell the club, a summer with no big money spent is maybe the best way forward. I just hope there is someone out there with the means and desire to move the club forward.

Hope its Barton in the center. From what I've seen, we should get a result.

Aye, great cross and unlucky with that shot.

Dzeko looking Shearer-esque there.

Nice ball to Ba for the second. A mixed bag though today, and we might struggle against a team with a stronger left side. Worth sticking with against a typical Prem side though, I would have thought.

Ducking for cover, but it looks like he could well score more league goals in 2011 than Carroll.

Get the feck in!!! Well done lads!!

Neil is going to do a Pissi!

LEON IS THE BEST!!!

Nice one Besty! Great striker's goal(*) Wasn't Birtles total garbage after his big move to Manure? (*) Assuming your name is Suarez, Torres, etc. Andy Johnson even.

Does this Nolan do a chicken dance too?

Time to stick a one million or two million price tag on methinks. Just enough for spite and not enough to stop it if this is what's going to happen. And if he goes there, it tells you all you need to know about "best English midfielder" and "top 4 interest". I wonder which division him and Nolan will be playing in next season. I wouldn't bet on it being the top one.

A big one for them now is the danger of slipping out of the top four. The drop in income from losing CL football makes it much more difficult to get back in. Harder to attract top four level players too, esp. from overseas where you can get them cheaper and are allowed to shop if you have already have English players like Wilshere, Ramsey, Walcott, Gibbs, etc.