CanadaSaint

I know Saint Charlie doesn't agree but I'm not convinced that MP rates JWP as much as we do - moved out of midfield and to RB against Arsenal (needlessly IMO), pulled off just after the hour at Chelsea, withdrawn before half time against Villa, and substituted at the break today. I'm hoping it's because the absence of the Schneiderlin/Wanyana duo is making it difficult for JWP to play his game, but MP seems rather quick to give him the hook. Thoughts?

Given what we started with (which, to me, was inexplicable unless MP was protecting minor knocks) and what we had on the bench, it was always likely to be "a game of two halves". So I was happy we didn't get buried before half time but disappointed that we didn't win it in the end. But, as James said just above, draws from our last two games are excellent results considering our injury list. MP is a smart cookie and I'm sure he's learning as he goes along about what (and who) works and what (and who) doesn't.

The Independent is reporting that "Arsène Wenger declared after his players conceded six goals to Manchester City that Manuel Pellegrini’s side were “not unbeatable” and no better than Everton and Southampton."

Lehmann it is then. Can't wait for the window to open.

What makes the modern game much harder for developing young players, especially keepers, is the fact that if they're not in the first team they're generally not playing at all, and young keepers have to play in order to progress. It would do Gazza the world of good to go out on loan somewhere decent, but we've lacked the depth to be able to do that. On top of this, I lack conviction about our specialized goalkeeper coaching. Davis still has retained the same faults (poor on crosses, vulnerable at the near post), Boruc - although a very good keeper - is still being undone by his own over-confidence which at times borders on criminal casualness, and Gazza's reading of situations has barely improved. Still, they should be okay if they get into a punch-up.

Good post, Ohio. There's a reason why keepers peak in their late-twenties/early-thirties. It's because they've developed the ability - often through harsh experience - to read situations correctly before reacting to them, and the confidence that comes from this acquired skill. Gazza hasn't had that luxury, and the PL can be a brutal division if you're still learning. Let's not forget that Jack Butland - for whom many teams were ready to open the bank vault not very long ago - is hardly setting the world alight.

I was rather disappointed in Shaw today - for the first time this season. He looked good going forward and has everything he needs to be a superstar, but he was caught upfield too often for my liking and much more than he is usually. What magnified this issue - or possibly made it appear to be a problem this week - is that he had Jos, not Lovren, behind him.

It's a measure of how far we've come that we earned a deserved draw against bang-in-form Newcastle at St. James' Park when we started without six of our first choice players and with three teenagers on the pitch. Amazing, really.

I thought he was sitting on three. I think Wanyama was on four.

Superb piece of refereeing.

I hope MP had a good reason for changing the side that outplayed City for a fair chunk of last week's game but it'll take two subs to do that. If we'd kept the same team I think the score would have been reversed. Still, I like the changes and think we can win this.

We have enough on the bench to make this a game of two very different halves. We have too many water carriers in midfield and nowhere near enough creativity.

True, and I think I'd trust Lovren to deal with the change more than I'd trust Jos, but Lovren has been so solid on the left that I'd rather not see him move. Then again, Jos and a still-learning Chambers who pushes up a lot makes me a little queasy as well. Still, MP has everyone dovetailing so well that we can probably accommodate this kind of change reasonably comfortably.

Presumably Jos will play on the right side of Lovren, which will be a change for him.

What I'd really like to know is who the hell THEVMAN is! Amazing.

I hope you're right - especially as Newcastle aren't that strong on set pieces, but MP's decision to move him from midfield to RB against Arsenal was very strange considering where that game was going to be won or lost.

I'm not sure that MP is as convinced about JWP as we are, so that could be one option.

Rickie didn't seem too happy when he trudged off at the end, not even acknowledging the crowd who were buzzing about how well we had played. I think he realized that Osvaldo's goal and Rodriguez's speed and trickery could well result in more days starting on the bench and - consequently - a diminishing chance of being on the plane to Brazil. As much as I love the guy and all the skills and vision he brings, it's hard to fault Pochettino for taking that approach.

Perhaps the "circus act" is the one in the pub.

Whatever the result, however good or bad the game (I've been to loads of them), I will remember it for the rest of my life. Because tomorrow I'll have the privilege of being one of 32,500 people who stand to honour Nelson Mandela. Suddenly, the game and the result seem a little less important than they did yesterday.

My concern goes beyond Gazzaniga and into our goalkeeper coaching. It seems to me that our keepers retain their faults and don't progress much. Granted, it's difficult to address faults when the keeper in question is not getting any pressurized playing time, but (among other things) Kelvin is still perpetually vulnerable at the near post and weak on crosses, Boruc doesn't always read situations well and takes his confidence too far and into dangerous areas, and Gazza has not progressed much beyond the half-cooked but promising keeper we saw a year or more ago. On top of that, our academy doesn't seem to produce quality keepers on anything like the same level as quality outfielders. In a well-funded PL set-up, these are coaching problems as well as keeper problems.

A big part of goalkeeping is down to the R-A-R process - Read, Adjust, React. That's Read the play, Adjust to the possible implications for you, and React when it's necessary to do so. The good keepers do it in that sequence - but others rely on good reactions to cover for poor reading of situations or poor adjustments. Great keepers never seem to be in a rush because they've read everything so well that they're prepared for the eventualities. We haven't seen much of Gazza recently but I think his reading of situations needs a lot of improvement; that's quite normal for a young keeper because "keeper maturity" generally comes in their 28-32 years. That would explain why Gazza did the advance then retreat number last night - he didn't read the situation very well before he started to adjust to it. For me, he's a decent-looking work in progress. But Boruc is an example of how great reactions can compensate for questionable reading, so he's far from fault-free. There have been numerous instances in which his reading was dodgy - starting with the goal before the "water bottle incident", and continuing up to the Stoke and Arsenal mis-reads. A brilliant save doesn't always signify great goalkeeping, because the need for it could have been created by faulty reading or adjustment. Interested to hear other perspectives on this.

God, you're a bundle of joy on a chilly winter morning after a tough loss.

Fair comment, but in the absence of any information to the contrary, the Ward-Prowse withdrawal tonight - before half time - was tactical and not forced. MP pulled him out of midfield and moved him to RB against Arsenal, so impacting (adversely IMO) two area of the pitch. I'm not saying that JWP is ready to take on the fulcrum role yet - he has so much to learn - but that we don't have anyone doing it when MP makes changes like that, and Davis sure as hell won't do it effectively even if he does bring other good things to the table.

Davis is a very good journeyman midfielder, but that's all he is. If we rely on him to be our main creative force, which we did tonight, we'll see more games like this - lots of possession but little ability to turn it into goals. If our management sees Davis rather than Ward-Prowse as the fulcrum for our attacking game, as suggested by the tactical substitution before half time, which also reduced our set piece effectivenes by 50% or more, then we might have another problem. Don't get me wrong - I really like Pochettino, but he does some very strange things and IMO is being out-managed a little too often and a little too easily for my liking.