rogerbarton

Just don't get why we didn't bring another striker in during the transfer window, even ON the last day the likes of Gudjohnsen were available. Wouldn't have minded having Martins back for a bit either. Kuqi could turn out to be all right, though, always thought he put in a good shift when I saw him. And we all know what happened with Sibierski!

I do like Jonas. He strikes me as a good fella. Even when he's diving about he looks quite apologetic for winning the free kick. I agree with the points made about his overall contribution to the team. He can be very frustrating and has no end product, but I still think he's an important player for us. Not sure what will happen when Ben Arfa's back to fitness though, what with the success of Barton on the right (considering that Jonas played on the right side quite a bit in his first season here). Best case scenario is obviously if Ben Arfa could play off the main striker.

Does anyone know if there's anywhere to watch the full match again online (or download it)?

I really just don't understand how we went through a transfer window where Pardew started off by saying we desperately needed new bodies and lost more players than we gained. Fair enough, Xisco was never going to do much (although the lad could have finally got a run-in with our current predicament) but I really don't get why we let Routledge go. He's ever got the end product, granted, but he's come in very useful in several games this season. The lad's got a lot of pace and puts in a decent shift. He's the kind of player who is a good impact sub, could have helped force the games against Sunderland and Tottenham at the end. And, as Pardew himself said at the start of the window, we probably needed another striker to add to Carroll ANYWAY, let alone considering that we knew he'd be out for a further month at least after the window closed (and ultimately were going to sell him), PLUS that Ameobi was our only other proven PL goalscorer (with a debatable record anyway). I think the boy Ranger could come good if he gets his first goal, but none of our current crop of available strikers are ever going to bash in the goals solidly in this division. Aliadiere isn't the answer, we're going to have to rely on the likes of Nolan to chip in and link up with the strikers.

Seems as though Liverpool were probably in touch with Ashley about Carroll as soon as they found out about Torres' transfer request and the fat man couldn't resist pocketing himself such a giant sum of money. One of the greatest shames about the whole thing is that we're not going to see another Shearer, a local hero, someone who could be our number nine and spend his entire career here serving the fans and banging in the goals. Of course Ashley has absolutely no idea of this and even if he did, he wouldn't care one iota. He's screwing all of us over, for whatever reason (I still can't quite get my head around the idea that he thought he could buy into a football club and treat it as a business to make profit) and we can't make any progress until he leaves the club. Of course, on the plus side, his stinginess will probably mean we're on a better financial footing whenever he does finally get out of our club.