Tom28

Nothing quite like the feeling you get when you wake up and its game day....COYR!!!

Even if he went, I'm sure Cortese would find us a manager who would take us on to another level again. Not worried.

He's not. Pelligrini has said so today and said he's been left out because he needs 'to do more'.

Not a rumour, but Micah Richards would be a good acquisition in my opinion, as a centre back. He can't get in the City squad at the moment.

Ideal world yes. Buyers market, no. I suspect Yoshi, as Japanese starting CB will be a lot easier to shift than Jos who has had a poor season this season. I don't think either are good enough but if we need to make space in the squad by getting rid of one of them, then Yoshi is more likely to go in my view.

KD Chambers Fonte Yoshida Fox Schneiderlin JWP Reed Ramirez Lambert Gallagher Subs: Gazza, Clyne, Hooiveld, Cork, Davis, Lallana, Rodriguez Against a team in a league below, who are chasing promotion and therefore likely to rest a few too, I think we should do the same but also I think we should adjust the formation and be more attacking with two up top for this one. I don;t think we need two holding midfielders against a side that will come and park the bus.

In: Fernando Torres 30th Jan Out: Billy Sharp 7th Jan

It's a really tough one for me. No doubting that Le Tissier was a one man team for many years and almost single handedly kept us up year on year. Lambert's story though; where he came from, the punt we took on an ageing striker, the amount we spent on him considering we were League One, the way he's adapted through the leagues, the way he's moved his game on, becoming the joint top English goalscorer in the Premier League in his first season when everyone doubted he would cut it, and then culminating in his scoring within minutes of making his England debut and then contributing to the team reaching the World Cup finals. That story has to be the greatest individual story in our clubs history for me. I like how he doesn't think that story has ended either. There's every chance he goes to the World Cup. And, who knows, the FA Cup....I wouldn't bet against him. Then again, coming back to Matty, his goals and skill will stick in the memory forever. That Blackburn goal, the Newcastle goals, the chip against Utd, the Arsenal goal in his final game, the Wimbledon free kick....I couldn't argue with anyone saying Matty is our best ever player. I'm sitting on the fence.

I think the team picks itself at the moment. As a lot have already suggested... Davis, Clyne, Fonte, Lovren, Shaw, Cork, Morgan, Davis, Lallana, Rodriguez, Lambert. Subs: Gazza, Chambers, Yoshida, JWP, Reed, Ramirez, Gallagher I think we may see Ramirez at half time if we go behind in the first half. I've been pretty disappointed with him generally since he's arrived at the club, but I can't deny he looked good on Sunday. His goal aside, he looked to get on the ball, and on the ball he looked a threat. I really hope it's a turning point, but sadly, he has shown flashes before and then gone unnoticed for a few games so I'm not holding my breath.

He has to be referring to Lambert. There's definitely something not right with him. He's just not the player he was a couple of months ago, and the player he has been the whole time he has been with us. Even his goal against Spurs didn't seem to mean much to him.

On MNF tonight Carragher and Neville picked their players, manager, goal, performance, young player etc of the season. Carragher and Nevilles both picked Suarez for best player and Kasami for best goal. For best signing, Carragher went with Negredo. Neville went with our very own Dejan Lovren. Young player Carragher went with Barkley. Neville's went with Januzaj. Carragher went with Martinez for best Manager. Neville went with Rodgers. He mentioned MP but said he had 'tailed off'. In their respective teams of the year, Carragher included Lovren and Shaw. Neville included Lovren and Lallana and mentioned that he'd picked Baines over Shaw because Baines had more assists. They both agreed on Coleman, Lovren, Ramsey, Toure, Rooney, Aguero and Suarez. Good to see some of our players get recognition. Neville loves Lallana. Carragher seemed bemused Neville had gone for Lallana over Barkley. They both love Shaw and Lovren.

Suarez Aguero Ramsey Yaya Sturridge

Anyone saying Golac is just wrong. Not because he wasn't good; he was. But you put our current team up against the Southampton greats of years gone by, in their prime, the current lot would run them ragged. It's a different game now. The fitness levels have changed so much. In terms of pure ability you may be right, but in terms of the best, you have to take fitness into it and on that basis yes I think Clyne is the best we've had.

I'm probably in the minority, from what I can tell, in that I really don't want us to splash out buy lots of players. I would far rather we build through the academy. We appear to have a wealth of full backs, midfielders, and forwards coming through the U21's and U18's at the moment, and so the policy that MP appears to be sticking to that we will strengthen the squad through the academy is one I support. However, that policy doesn't work when you have a position of weakness in the first team that is also a position of weakness in your academy. I'm talking about centre back. As lovely as they are, Jos and Maya aren't sufficient cover and in an ideal world, you'd like Fonte to be the cover for another starting centre back. In the U21's we've got Stephen and Turnbull, both of whom signed long term contracts last summer. The club clearly saw something in them to give them those deals but I watch all the U21 highlights and they've both made their fair share of mistakes this season. There was a stage earlier in the season where Martin Hunters interviews sounded like a broken record complaining about our defensive performances, and he singled the two of them out on a couple of occasions. We do appear to have improved defensively in recent weeks at that level though. In summary, I'm more than happy that we use the academy to strengthen the squad but I really feel as though we need to buy a top quality centre back in January. We should look to move Maya on; he's probably easier to sell than Jos but then we would lose the EA Sports deal so it may be a business decision.

Lots of posts tonight that are player bashing so thought I'd break the trend. Thought the young lad looked very lively when he came on. He's clearly a unit and can play the target man role, and he showed that with a couple of nice lay offs to keep the play flowing. He was also looking to play off the shoulder on a few occasions too and was found by a good pass from Lallana which created an opening for him. Although he didn't convert, anyone watching him warm up pre-game will know he has a hell of a shot on him. Given Lamberts abject performance again (he must be carrying an injury) I'd be tempted to give Gallagher the start at Cardiff if Osvaldo isn't back.

Gazza Clyne Fonte Lovren Shaw Morgan Cork Lallana Davis JRod Lambert Subs: Cropper, Chambers, Yoshida, JWP, Ramirez, Osvaldo, Gallagher 3-1 win

If Hooiveld hadn't mis-kicked then we could easily have won 1-0. If Rodriguez had buried that header at the back post at 1-1 then we could have easily won 2-1. If Davis' shot had been 2 inches to the right we could have won 2-1. If's, but's, maybe's. Gazza has done ok for a young lad not expected to play this season. Give him a break. That back pass from Lallana was hardly easy for him to deal with with a man bearing down on him in a stadium like St James' Park. Composure for him will come in time and through experience; there's no way for him to get that without playing. I think when Boruc comes back, and Davis is fit again, we should loan him out to get some game time. I genuinely think he could be a fantastic keeper for us.

The way Cork played on Saturday I think offers MP a plan B when Wanyama comes back in. More often than not, I think it would a choice of 2 from 3. However, I think the plan B could be to play all three of them, with Cork sitting and holding and Wanyama and Schneiderlin breaking and joining attacks late. Wanyama had a half decent goalscoring ratio at Celtic and we have seen from Schneiderlin that he can score goals by breaking into the box and supporting attacks (Wigan away, Liverpool home, Hull home, and I think there are more). I also think that have players joining attacks from deep makes us less predictable. At home this season against the lower table clubs, we've looked quite predictable at times and easy to defend against when teams park the bus.

Lambert win percentage when he starts is 50%. Osvaldo's is 37.5%. All 6 of our wins have come when Lambert has started. When they both start, win percentage is 60%. We have scored 1.33 goals per game when Lambert has played. We have scored 1 goal per game when Osvaldo has played. We have scored 1 goal per game in the games when they've both started. We have obtained 1.75 ppg in Lamberts 12 starts; and 1.5 ppg in Osvaldo's 8 starts. We have obtained 2 ppg when they have both started. Stats aren't everything, and I'm sure you could find stats that paint a totally different picture. But these stats support my view that both should play. Those writing off Lambert are either a) a bit simple or b) on a wind up. I totally agree that he was off his game at Arsenal and at home to Villa but to say 'he's now past it' or 'a liability' is ridiculous. It's just your typical knee-jerk reaction from the simple minded amongst us.

Dropping Lambert is madness in my view. He's one of our more creative players.

I would find room for both of them. Lambert in the 10, Osvaldo in the 9. J-rod and Lallana in the 7 and 11 (Acknowledging that they all rotate anyway). Morgan and Wanyama in the holding positions. I think that is our strongest line up when everyone is fully fit. Creates a very strong subs bench: JWP, Davis, Ramirez, Cork (plus defensive subs).

If I was looking for 2 negatives I would say; 1) Poor defensively for the goal we conceded. First off, Chambers, for as good as a game he had, got caught ball watching and allowed Kolarov to get a step ahead on the outside so he could deliver the cross. It wasn't a particularly good cross either but managed to beat 5 players on its way to Aguero. Only two realistically could have got a touch on it but facing their own goal decided not to. And then when the shot came in, it was pretty central and only a yard or so from Gazzaniga. It beat him pretty easily. 2) No I can't think of another negative. We were absolute class.

Cork for me today was unbelievably good today. To be fair, every single one of them was superb. No one had an average or poor game. Brilliant performance.

Whoosh

No, they're not. So what if illegal tyres resulted in causing an accident that wipes out an entire family. It's an easy mistake to make not to check your tyres, or to leave it until you get caught for having illegal tyres before replacing them. It's just bad luck if they caused an accident. The same goes for driving without insurance. So what if you hit someone and disable them them for life and not be able to afford any compensation. It's not like you meant for that to happen; doesn't make you a criminal. And driving without a valid MOT....it's easy to forget to put your car in for an MOT. So what if you're a few days late when your wheel shaft snaps on the motorway causing a pile up. Doesn't make you a criminal....