Chez

offside or not, he still has to score those. Good move, started by a composed pass by McCarthy.

this formation isn't working defensively, they look like they will score with every attack, but at least it feels like we have bodies forward/a threat in attack.

this three up front thing looks terrible so far

what an absolute joke of a start. shambles from front to back.

Sure. Surprised we have not copied what we did at City, where we did pretty well. The form Salah is in, the formation may not matter. Hope he has an off day.

Did we play 5 at the back earlier in the season against City? Hope Lyanco has a stormer. Gonna need everyone to play well to be honest. Armstrong did well when moved to the left side last week. he could play in the hole too, but cant see all three strikers pushed right up all the time. I remember WBA absolutely blitzing us at SMS one season when they played three forwards all pushed right up. We didn't know what to do. Liverpool might have more answers. We will see. We'll get a result...somehow.

if a keeper throws it from one end to the other and it goes straight in, does that count? I am guessing not.

not many victories at Anfield, but when they happen they provide tremendous joy. Obviously the Shane Long semi immediately springs to mind, but the 2003 league game, with Ormerod and Svensson scoring, was one that sticks out for me. We were a good side at that time and certainly weren't holding on for grim life, but even so a win there was extremely rare so it was an amazing victory. I missed the 2-3 victory in 1998. Anyone go to that game?

The big sides (specifically Liverpool and City) don't come unstuck often at home. Palace seem to cause City a few issues and I always think that is because when they do get a chance to break (which isn't often) they have players with pace and skill to actually make those opportunities count. We don't have a Zaha, and maybe we don't even have a Townsend type either (pace and the odd worldie), but Redmond and Walcott are going to give you a bit more pace than Ely. Its hard to know how to beat Liverpool at Anfield, but I would certainly be studying what Brighton did well.

our kits have been so shit in recent years, the only solace has been knowing it would change after 12 months. The cost of kids kits has become ridiculous. Buying new ones every year is mental. I'm finding more and more people happy to buy `fake' versions. I've said it many times, the word Club should be removed from the company name. Ownership could not give a fuck about fans. Fans money is all that matters. Brentford seem to have the right idea.

Interesting that Brentford have decided their shirt will be used for two seasons - to reduce cost for fans and be more environmentally sustainable. Good idea if you ask me.

From the press conference Stevens is back in training, but no chance he will play Saturday - needs more time to get sharpness Stuart Armstrong still injured and wont play Mussa is back in training (probably on bench) McCarthy had a bad game, but Ralf mentioned his match winning saves in other games and wont drop him on the basis of one bad display Tella still learning and pointed to him being a little careless with possession ("sloppy")

hope that coin toss is close to the goal line.

Are there any `hard' men in top level football these days? Powerful athletes with the more skill the better. Romeu lacks Morgans pace across the ground, but his all round game is decent. No idea where you get the idea that his passing is frequently off target. He tends to be very careful with the ball. We miss him when he doesn't play. Diallo has ability too, but his passing on Saturday was horrible. He should have been subbed IMO, but as you asked, I have no qualms whatsoever with the captain being taken off at any point in any game. The captain's role in football is largely ceremonial. Captains shouldn't get special treatment. I disagree about tactics going wrong in the later stages. The keep ball tactic created a golden chance to score for Walcott. Hoof it long and maybe something happens, maybe not. What went wrong is we were absolutely shit in most of the second half and no matter what the manager did to try and change it, we continued to be shit. Players did not do their jobs.

never felt safer than when we had those two in nets. Both made so many outstanding saves too. Even when Boruc fucked up at Arsenal I felt that was more of a one off. As well as Forster did, I really didn't think Boric needed replacing.

I know its hard to look past the two goals, but one thing that was noticeable was McCarthy's willingness to come off his line to claim crosses. He made a complete horlicks of it for one corner, flapping at thin air and they may well have scored. He did though come for a couple of others that helped totally diffuse a couple of attacks. Nothing outstanding, but some keepers, and I am thinking about Forster here, simply don't come deep for those. You may not concede, you may not even be able to point a finger at the keeper if you do concede, but at the top level, managers do notice these things. Keepers not putting themselves out there to help prevent situations. Its not as obvious as glaring mistakes, but it does matter. Got to say that there does seem to be a lot of errors by keepers. Are these balls moving faster than ever? Check out Darlow's pathetic attempt at stopping Toney's goal.

he's 30 not 35. If the game was getting away from us, which is was, then Diallo and JWP were equally to blame and options to come off. Lyanco was shite. He didn't do a job at all. He was massively at fault for their goal, and in the Norwich chance before the goal, which McCarthy saves at the near post, watch how he dives in (its a fraction after Gilmour does his juggling on half way line) and gets done. Maybe all CBs get sucked in there, but its a regular thing that he needs to taper.

Slight difference being that Ings had one more year on his contract, so every game and goal helped add £s to his price. Forster walks this summer, so putting him in the shop window does nothing for us. It would be mad if Ralph is not picking his best keeper so as to ensure one signs for us in the summer. Pick the best guy each week and worry about keepers in the summer. If one or both want out, let them go. We have a great opportunity in the summer to upgrade. A shed load of wages will be available to get a new guy or two in.

I can only guess Walcott for Adams was because something had to change (the ball was not sticking up front) and Ralf thought some `pace' up front to run the channels might help give us an outlet. Lyanco for Romeo was to enable us to go five at the back, but I have no idea why Diallo wasn't the one to come off. Maybe Ralf thinks he tires quicker than Diallo. Anyone got any better ideas?

his game has always been based on blistering pace and lot of great off the ball runs. Last season he still looked quick and his work rate was good, getting up and down the line and doing a great job for the side. He was certainly no world beater, but he did OK. Without that terrific pace, and I've yet to see it since he has come back into the side, I am not sure he brings anything to the party. So the question I have is, is he still getting his full sharpness back or has he lost a yard never to return.

Let's hope our CBs can win every single header in the six yard box and no one shoots low. To be fair, he has performed pretty well in the cup games, but IMO we need two new keepers not one.

is that true. First 20 of second half we were shite, Norwich dominated and the 11 on the pitch were not doing their job. I didn't see any significant improvement after any of the changes to personnel or shape, but we weren't worse.You could argue that other changes might have made a better impact, but we will never know.

do me a favour.

Walcott wasn't dismal. He just wasn't any good, but he is getting far too much stick. I guess we need a whipping boy. If he was starting games I'd be moaning too probably, but for now, him coming of the bench is not the worst thing in the world. I get the impression he is still feeing his way back after what was quite a long injury. Whether he ever gets back to a player that can provide a threat at thus level I am not sure. equally, I thought Armstrong did well on the left, finding some nice pockets of space and cause them a few problems.

sure, what I was trying to say (in response to a post wondering "what does Ralph do to make us worse) is, I don't really know how a manager can make you worse by his half time team talk. It's all about what the opponent does. To be fair to Ralph, he has reacted well in the last month to when we have looked in trouble. He has made sub and changed shapes pretty quickly and sometimes to good effect. Last season he did nothing, maybe because he had no bench