BigWalrus

What about the number of our own attacks he has broken up by putting a simple pass out for a throw in? Simpson is a horrible footballer. He can't pass, he is terrible at cutting out crosses, he is cowardly when it comes to positioning and has a non-existent first touch. He is incredibly fortunate to have earned so much money from being so poor.

I bet Natalie Sawyer has a proper hairy, garden-like rat.

Yes, that was my point. He's at his best when he is as far away from the ball as possible. For example, at home playing on his Xbox or tweaking Tulisa's nipple.

Aye it would have been the gig in 2008. Saw them in London too, supported by the Wurzels I think. And there was another uni gig about 2006 ish...frightening how long ago that is now.

Just makes a change from pictures of people swearing or a pair of plastic tits.

Like this?

That's where Danny Simpson comes in. He's at his absolute best when he's off the ball.

Got tickets for Neil Young and Mark Knopfler up here and also Muse at the Emirates. I was looking at British Sea Power too, I've seen some quality gigs of theirs. The last one was a bit disappointing though (at Newcastle Uni). I remember a woman with an SLR standing at the front being forcibly protected from the crowd by her bloke. Any sort of movement wasn't tolerated by the bouncers. I remember a gig of theirs at a church in town just down from Swan House roundabout, that was canny.

Also, Phil, can I just say that you have the friendliest avatar I've ever seen, on any message board in history!

To be fair, Santon is only 20 or 21, whereas Debuchy is 27. I like Debuchy though, but Santon can use age and lack of experience to excuse his positional weaknesses, Debuchy should have it sorted by now. He does have a bit of a reputation for being poor positionally, but his pace and ability going forwards stops it from being too significant to his overall game.

Agreed...although I think with experience Debuchy might have avoided even the tangle.

They did the same against us. 2 shots on goal vs 10 for us. Bastards!

That Le Fondre is something of a wonder-sub. Fuck me.

I hope not. It's about time he finished melting.

Reading haven't had a shot all game. Not even an off-target shot.

A secure defence isn't created by simply adding more defenders. All that serves to do is reduce your outlets to play out of defence and invite more and more pressure. A strong defensive performance must be matched across the pitch. You can't simply stick an extra defender in there and give the midfielders a free role. As has been suggested, stopping Juan Mata could be crucial - this will depend on the performance of Sissoko / Perch / Anita (delete depending on who plays!) in the deeper midfield role more than it will on Coloccini, Taylor or Mbiwa.

While most of us were hiding behind our settees and biting our nails down to the skin, you were making notes about Shola's success at winning long balls! Brilliant.

The bloke we bought the house from had a prepay meter in, where you top up on a card when you need electricity and gas. We got that ripped out and a direct debit set up with British Gas. We switched to Scottish Power after about 2 years or so, but we never received a single bill from BG for electricity. They billed us correctly for the gas, but nothing whatsoever for the electric. Equally as incompetent, but sometimes their fuckups work in your favour.

Haha that description is spot on. I remember going to Leicester away in the Championship. We parked near the ground and went to a national chain pub which no doubt put on a carvery on a Sunday. There was a table of 7 or 8 lads, 18-25 year old, all with a bottle of rose wine each. Who the f*ck goes on an away trip and drinks rose wine?

Tricky one to predict. Chelsea are inconsistent at the best of times, but can tear anyone apart on their day. We, on the other hand, come into the game on the back of a huge, huge win at Villa. I would imagine the entire side will be the same as the one we started at Villa with. I can't see it being changed too much. You could make a case for Mbiwa starting in place of Taylor maybe.

My view too. As much as we'd all enjoy tearing teams apart, the team will grow stronger together by making the small steps together.

Eranu indeed, and congratulations Mr Pardew

Maybe Pardew was talking to him after he lost his temper after that horrible challenge, raking down the back of his legs. That was a horrible challenge that went completely unpunished.

Jonas and Gouffran kept their wing backs pegged in their own half for the first 45. They both faded in the second, but there's a hell of a lot more to his game than that. His cross led to the goal from Cabaye for instance. Not a particularly brilliant cross, but it made an impact.

Villa couldn't have played like that for 90 minutes, they'd have run out of steam after a half like that.