Chez

handling errors early doors, woeful kicking throughout and slow off his line to the under hit backpass. I'm not worried about the handling errors, but he has to sort his kicking out otherwise our problems in goal will continue.

For the first time in a long while I'm kind of with Alpine. I came away from the ground wondering exactly how we didn't win the game. We deserved to as we were by far and away the better side. We stifled Arsenal brilliantly, but equally they were terrible. Sagna and Corzola gave the ball away under no pressure time after time and they weren't the only ones. I'm not taking anything away from our own display, but they really were there for the taking (because we had done so much to win the middle of the park) but we just didn't see really go for the jugular. No idea why we took Lambert off. He was ****ing all over their centre backs. Swap Rodriguez for Ramirez and go for it. Instead we bring Ward-Prowse on for Ramirez and we take our foot off their throat dropping deeper rather than pushing on. Strange. I guess this might seem harsh/greedy, bloody hell, I went into the game worried about a beating, I come away disappointed not to have won. We certainly have come a long long way in three years. Hopefully we can continue this form and beat Villa in two weeks time. Boruc 4 forget the two handling errors, it was his terrible kicking that concerned me more. He struggled to make the half way line and put us under pressure with some woeful slices and bad clearances. How slow was he to come out for the under-hit backpass. Great throw outs. Cork 8 I hate to see his talent wasted at rightback and I couldn't help think why not play Richardson there, but he had a very good game and kept us very solid. He's top notch no matter where he plays. Lack of overlapping didn't help Puncheon, but perhaps was right for the team. Yoshida 8 Since I slated him he has been first class defensively. Distribution still leaves a lot to be desired at times, but I can live with that. Fonte 8 another very good game, although our tactics and Arsenal made it easy for him as they hoofed it long to the tiny Walcott. Shaw 8 very assured again, but with every game he offers a little more offensively. By the end of the season he might be running games from left back like Bale did for us...hopefully Puncheon 6 not his best game for me (he's set high standards), nothing seemed to really go right, but he also didn't seem to want to take Gibbs on. Did Gibbs have him in his pocket at the Emirates? He did fashion the best chance himself, but on his swinger he just put his head down and hit and hoped when tucking it in the corner was what was required. Good defensively. Very honest tracking of runners. Morgan 8 very strong game Davis 8 also a very good game. He was very composed and more than competed with their three in the middle Guly 7 another good shift working hard up and down the line. Would like to see him offer himself at throw ins, he just stands there doing nothing. Didn't really penetrate offensively, but the balance of the side perhaps doesn't need a second attacking wide player Ramirez 7 not a lot came off for him, he often tries that little bit too hard, but I just love seeing him go for things. I just get the feeling that when it all clicks he is going to take a team apart. Felt our threat decreased when he and Lambert went off Lambert 8 dominated in the air. Unfortunately Ramirez dropped deep to collect so when the ball went long he wasn't there to take advantage of Lambert's headers. Do not understand the substitution. Rodriguez with Lambert near the end would have been my preference. Rodriguez a threat when he came on. He offers us something different as he runs the channels.

aye? But you have done exactly that. Guly scores we go 4-1 up, but who knows maybe Stoke get a 4-4 draw. Guly doesn't score own goal today but perhaps they pile men forward a la Stoke and score at a different point to get a 1-1 draw. You can't/shouldn't predict the unknown.

out if interest how many times has he actually played up front in the last year?

what a great shout. Expect we'd be a long way down the queue.

I'm afraid you don't know what you are talking about.

and yet he's still much more useful between the sticks than a Gazza with confidence shot. Maybe Boruc's legs/reactions have gone as well - we have no way of knowing

sure is. What's the way out?

Gazza might be the most highly rated by Adkins and he certainly has excellent reactions and shot stopping ability if the Newcastle save is anything to go by, but he HAD to be taken out of the side when he did as he'd completely lost all confidence. The schoolboy wall organising and handling error was bad enough, but from that moment on he was routed to his line and didn't know what he was doing. His kicking selection was terrible, he came for nothing, he didn't even come to the edge of his area to collect over-hit passes, He needs time to get his confidence back, perhaps even a spell out on loan, as he simply can not be trusted right now. If he comes back it needs to be after serious repairs to his mental state. Boruc looked slow off his line against Spurs (I know that is debatable, but that's my opinion) and he may have come off his line for the first West Ham goal, but that's debatable even in my own mind. I thought his kicking was poor that day. He didn't **** up but he just hacked at things and didn't get his body in the right position. The ball went anywhere. That said, I'm not sure any of these things are reasons to drop him so it has to be the bottle/fans incident, which is crazy. I wonder what his fitness is like. He has always been a big fella so it's hard to tell. Davis hasn't been quite nearly as bad as some suggest since he returned. Compared to Gazza he has looked much more assured and the defence have benefited from that. His kicking selections have been spot on, something that could not be said about Gazza (who had lost the plot by the Norwich game) but his reactions are certainly not as sharp as they once were. He still comes, gets blocked off and flaps, but at least he comes. He has swept brilliantly behind the back four, something that can't be said of the other two. That is all forgotten though as soon as he spills something. I thought the Fulham `error' wasn't even the worst mistake in that goal and I feel the second goal at Stoke wasn't a mistake at all (again my opinion). He did flap at times, but I've seen pretty much every keeper do the same against SToke. Keepers come for things there that they wouldn't normally because defenders are being beaten by Jones/Crouch/Huth etc. I think he'll retain the jersey.

I agree. The intent in the tackle and studs being up justified a red, but from what I could see on MOTD those studs didn't actually touch Cork, therefore there was no reason to roll around as if they had.

if they get relegated will the media start referencing the two relegations with him as manager rather than the one survival? Maybe a bit unfair as he has taken on a sinking ship, but get fed up of hearing about harry houdini

loan period ends shortly and West Ham are not renewing it. In the game at their place he was a total non entity. Based on that showing I don't want him anywhere near our first team. We can do much better for far less money.

that's a funny thread ands well deserved. Cork's actions were embarrassing.

Prutton's miss at WBA still lingers in the mind. if we go down again then Gazza's ****ups against Swansea and Norwich will be at the top of my list of memorable errors.

what position does Marin play?

Kenwyne against Jaidi would have been good to watch. Joe Jordan up against Michael Svensson also.

the only way to keep players is to pay them more than they can get elsewhere.

pretty sure there a good penalty claim for us when Puncheon's slipped pass was handled in the Stoke box.

you've got a point, League 1 spending certainly was huge, but was last season's spending also a record? I didn't know that.

all this is true. We needed to change our tactic from hoofing it down the channel (which worked brilliantly in the first half) to keeping it short and passing a lot more. Not easy to stop a side intent on hoofing it up to four or five huge lads. I don't think the subs would have made a difference. A modified tactic may have.

So many times on here you have said the performance doesn't matter, it is just about the result. So unless you are saying there is no excuse for losing to Sunderland, which sounds to me you expect us to not lose any game, then are contradicting yourself. Which is it?

I don't agree with this. Gazza continually made poor choices and wasn't all that accurate if you ask me. Davis' kicking is actually very good most of the time, not all the time. Gazza only played a few games and couldn't hack it. I don't care how accurate his kicking is, he bottled it.

fair enough. I just don't want to see Gazza given another chance this season. I have no problem with Boruc if he is fit.

talk me through the Swansea goal against us. Gazza ranks right up there with that clown keeper from MK Dons in terms distribution. Are you calling for Gazza's return ahead if Davis?

With Fonte playing well, Puncheon playing well, Guly playing well and now Jos playing well we are running out of ****as to blame for not winning every single game. I'm fed up of defending players like those against the barrage of abuse on here. I know Davis is not the best keeper out there, but there are actually posts on the main thread blaming him for the third goal.