benjii

Dunno. Will wait until I've seen him play a bit more. Probably neither given that: a) Camara was an excellent Premier League quality player; and b) Ali Dia was a joke.

Yeah, it really helps. Thanks. I was worried you were going to just post a monotonous, borish, dumb-headed, one-track piece of drivel. But, no! Instead you really helped.

Absolutely. Thought Docherty was the best opposition player I've seen this season.

It was a strange call to retake it. "Strange" meaning, "completely wrong".

She wields sod all power. This is a low-profile stitch up. If they'd wanted someone to wield power, Blair would've been the Pres.

was used after Antonio went off. What did those who saw the game think? Certainly it suited Lallana and Connolly was able to link with him really well. We looked dangerous. On the other hand, we probably defended too narrowly. Thought it was quite a brave call by Pards but was surprised we didn't change to a 4-5-1 later.

Yes, it must. Absolutely. Must indeed. Musty, musty, must.

They're out in force tonight!

Clueless.

Nah, he was good.

Exactly (and some missed chances first half). There was nothing inherently wrong with the defence today. KD didn't really have a save to make, goals aside, despite their possession.

I agree but don't think that reflects our play today at all. Against Charlton and Brighton I agree, we were one dimensional, but today we used it pretty well.

I think we're all agreed that mid-table is the likely finish.

Anyone who truly thinks we might go down is acting like a complete pussy IMO.

Trotman was good today.

I expect he is. I expect he's also planning to put Murty back in the team when he's fit. HTH.

I've just decided my 8 for Trotman was too high. Should be a 7. Docherty deserved an 8 for them. Too good for League One.

Ok, firstly it's Connolly. Secondly, congrats to both teams on producing an excellent match in awful weather. Some ratings: KD - 5 - Unlucky with the penalty. Didn't really have much to do, despite Norwich's second half possession they hardly managed an effort on goal. Unfortunately he appeared to mess up the one thing he did have to do, but it can't have been easy in that weather. LJ - 5 - Was having a decent game until the stupid challenge for the first goal. Sat too deep when moved to the base of the diamond. Trotman - 8 - Got on the end of everything. Couple of sloppy moments but overall, very good. Jaidi - 7 - Mostly in control. Harding - 6 - Decent but at fault, like many of the team for sitting off his man too much in second half. Antonio - 5 - Couple of decent runs but plenty of sloppiness too. Shouldn't start unless the other team has a pants left back IMO. Hammond - 7 - Provided a lot more bite than last week. Scheiderlin - 7 - Decent game but just needs to get a bit more offensive confidence when playing in a central two. Actually looked good going forwards when moved into the left of the diamond. Lallana - 8 - Quality. Team mates can give him the ball under pressure and know he will use it well. Very well taken goal. Connolly - 9 - MOM. First time he's looked properly match fit IMO and was the best player on the pitch. Dropped off short and always wanted the ball. Made us play better than the one dimensional stuff against Charlton and Brighton. Brilliant goal too. Lambert - 5 - Docherty did well against him. Was unlucky with a couple of touches. We should have wrapped this up in the first half. Unfortunately we didn't and a couple of errors let us down. Don't listen to anyone going over the top about throwing points away blah, blah, blah. Apart from the errors we actually soaked up the pressure pretty comfortably and looked likely to get one on the break. We played well. Norwich played well in the second half. It was a good match.

Lol - whilst I don't doubt FIFA would prefer France, Portugal etc in the finals than Ireland and Bosnia I don't buy this for one moment. If that was the case then why not simply give the penalty when Anelka went down? It was probably a dive but you see them given.

Nothing wrong with that IMO. He's a world class player and deserved to be amongst Aresenal's highest earners. Clearly they were trying to take advantage of him and he could get a better deal elsewhere. Fair play. Also, it's a book. Written and sold for commercial reasons. Some parts of it may be exagerated for effect.

Ahh, I see. The FA Cup. Of course. Was thinking of "les (bien) Bleues".

Why is Ashley Cole so unpopular? I've never understood that. Apart from jealousy, of course.

19C - your fixation with golf is quite funny.

Cheers depot.

I've never really found the Irish to have the chip of jealousy on the shoulder the way the Scots and Welsh do. Apart from that IRA bunch, of course.