shurlock

I don't think he's beyond a mistake - in open field, he's good defensively. Around the box, he has to work on his game -perhaps because what he relies on in other parts of the pitch -aggression and quick recovery- work less well. Sometimes he overcompensates, standing off players and letting them inside.

He's a better defender than Johnson - the criticism of Clyne before he came to us is that he didn't go forward enough. Outside the box very forwards get the better of him -probably because he can trust his pace and be quite aggressive; closer to goal, in and around the box, his positional game needs work. Let's not forget that in order to press, our midfield gets quite narrow which does our fullbacks no favours.

Not necessarily - its about the ability of runners from deep going past Lambert like Clyne did yesterday. Or Lallana's chance where he was narrowly offside. Morgan has begun to do it; Davis does occasionally (recall Lambert's through ball to him at Reading), though defending is their priority. Lambert was decent yesterday - Jrod and Lallana aren't doing enough, too lightweight. If we stay up and we stick with Lambert, powerful runners are a must.

Was awesome today - best player on the pitch.

At least, he was winning balls and holding up play, however deep. Much better than Swansea and WBA. Jrod was anonymous today -like he has been for the last few games. Lallana was marginally more effective but he is miles away from being able to take a game by the scruff of the neck and change it. Again, a defender was our most dangerous player. That's saying a lot.

"Everyone", "masterstroke". Behave. Leave the wilful horse**** to the expert bulls****rs on here.

MP has been doing it for a while. Don't think many people have lost any sleep over it, provoking little or no comment. It does show that Nige was his own man in interviews rather than under orders to maintain a Swiss culture of secrecy (which I occasionally thought). MP's response to transfer rumours is funnier. Gives nothing away but, endearingly, goes to great lengths to explain why a rumour isn't true rather than a simple, peremptory f**k off.

So was Gervinho which isn't really saying much.

Jermain Lens

Zabaletta was decent.

It's slightly more effective when you play someone close to him, someone quick and sharp to capitalise on the 50-50s. Remember him being totally ineffective in the first half at Cardiff last season but that changed once De Ridder was pushed closer to him. At the moment he's too isolated for us to take advantage of the second ball.

You mean his season-ending injury?

We've played some pretty direct sides of late -Wham, Norwich, Reading, Newcastle etc, so his aerial ability has come in handy. He's deserved his place in the starting line-up. I also think Cork's brilliant form has papered over the cracks in the defense. Take him out and you get a more accurate picture of our CB's ability. Hooiveld cannot deal with players running at him, even Jason bloody Scotland - IMO his forced or unintended substitution against Liverpool was one of the biggest blessings in disguise, one of the main reasons we won the game. The third goal on Saturday epitomised everything: the way Long ran past him was frightening and would not have been out of place in a video game. Even without Saturday's horror show, I would have been in two minds about starting him against a pacey Spurs side. His distribution is not as bad as people say. Bit of a hoofer (like many CBs) but can also hit an exquisite diagonal ball. Lastly, he comes across as bit of a bottler who cracks under pressure. Mistakes pile up with hm, each getting worse than the last and he can be quite quick to start pointing the finger.

Why wouldn't you leave our best fullback in his natural position? With Bale tearing down the left, surely we want our right handside to be as strong as possible?

And they've jammed some last minute results -us, newcastle, qpr etc.

That over the long haul of a 38 game season, a c**ts hair is likely to separate 10th and lower mid table, that the conclusions you can draw about the difference in quality is likely to be limited? As ever, glad for your informed critique.

Is it? so a team doesn't improve over the course of a season? We are a totally different side from the one that took only 4 points from the first ten games. Or am I cherry picking the form guide? Your implicit suggestion is that we don't have the quality to finish 10th - I would say that given how tight it is around those places, there is ultimately very little difference in quality.

I look to Turkish for all the inside scoops. If it wasn't for Turkish, I would have never known that Nik Nak picks the team.

Alas this makes zero sense at all. So over the course of a 38 game season where the difference between 10th and 12th-15th is likely to be vanishingly small, perhaps 3-4 points, we are definitively one but not the other. B*****ks. A bit of luck, some momentum here and there, is likely to determine such fine margins. Now if we're talking 7th or 8th where there is quite a steep jump in points -and presumably quality, I might understand. But 10th? You're talking s**te as usual. For the sake of disclosure, I never said we would finish 10th. I've found the whole discussion boring.

If Bale is playing on the left, even if he's drifting into more central positions, I'd rather Clyne stay where he is. We need to be as strong on the right hand side as possible.

It's a bit more complicated than that, something which the so-called 'realists' on here in their blinkered stubborness fail to understand, preferring to build their own straw men. Track the history: Boruc was asked a number of leading questions -the chairman has high ambitions etc- and the question of CL football came up. Yoshida was then asked your team mate has gone on record saying x, y, z. Rather than undermining him, saying he's speaking complete **** or calling the journo a knob for setting Boruc up in the first place, he again deferred diplomatically with why not. Or consider MP's statement that its important to aim for the stars. You seriously believe this means that the club is falling for its own hype? Once again, too many hot and bothered simpletons reading too much into innocuous statements, cod-psychology and the time-honoured need to present a positive and united front to the media. After all, those very same players will say they're taking one game at a time -and are focused on the here and now. Which vacuous cliche is it? I agree that we are 3 or 4 top class players off from challenging the top half - if they click (no guarantees), I would be delighted with a top 6-8 finish. But first let's finish this season and make sure we get over the line as quickly and confidently as possible.

Throw in the fact that wolves were losing too. Spent more time singing about their relegation than anything else.

I thought you had a crisis of conscience last season when you bet on the Leicester-Wham game and spent your blood money at Waitrose? Never again and all that.

Why is it poor all round? Our points haul under MP, extended over a season, would be comfortably enough for a top half finish.

Its saturday night in norwich - don't you have a cleft-lipped relative or someone to cozy up with? Give us a break ffs.