Dr Gloom

If you think Nolan would have done better than Cabaye alongside Tiote tonight then you're an idiot. That was exactly the sort of game that would have passed Nolan by. Barton is a better footballer than Obertan, dont think that needs pointing out to anyone. Ba looked good when he came on, showed some nice touches. Wrong. Nolan looked good alongside tiote last year in a 442 precisely because he did what cabaye didn't do tonight - took up advanced positions. We were over run in centre mid tonight not just because we were outnumbered but also because we had two players sitting deep we were just in inviting pressure on to us. It didn't help that there was no support from the wingers and fuck all to aim at up front but the point stands - cabaye and Nolan Aden never going to work as a partnership in hat formation as long as they both play sitting in front of the back four. I'm not writing cabaye off, still early days and he will improve with better players around him, but we haven't seen him boss a game yet. I never once suggested that he didnt have good games alongside Tiote. Against that pace and playing against a 3 tonight, Nolan would have been shite. You remain an idiot for a. not getting that point and b. interpreting my post as 'Ba is better than Carroll'. you're wrong. nolan would have been better than cabaye was last night. at least he would understand the need to take up an advanced role. i'm not writing cabaye off btw. he might turn out to be a good player, but it seems obvious that he can't play in a 442 alongside a holding player like tiote as he wants to take take up those deep positions too. Cabaye and Tiote were up against 3 players as we tried (and failed) to play with some width. This has been explained to you a few times now but you dont seem to understand it. If Nolan was asked to do that role, his lack of pace and stamina would have exposed Tiote on his own time and again. I'm not interested in whether you're writing Cabaye off, am just struck by the shitness of your analysis. you're wrong. i remember us playing the same formation last season with tiote and nolan in a central 2 together against midfield 3s and to my surprise it worked. the main reason being was tiote had the engine to mop up behind nolan and wasn't exposed by his pack of pace. nolan taking up advanced positions and supporting the front men in turn on took midfielders with him, making tiote's job easier and giving us a link tot he front two. cabaye made the fact we were outnumbered in midfield even more of a problem by playing so deep that their midfielders had the freedom of loftus road to operate. when you play a 4-4-2 with wingers, it's suicidal to play with both your central midfielders so deep. pretty basic analysis tbh. Which game are you referring to? Nolan and Tiote played in a central 2 against a pacey 3 man midfield last season and bossed it? Talking through your arse, you didnt even account for their 3 in midfield last night until it was repeatedly pointed out to you. i can't remember every formation we came up against in every game last season but you hardly have to given most teams in the premier league play with three central midfielders these days and other than at the start (when nolan played as a support striker) we played the majority of last season with two strikers and nolan and tiote in the middle of a 4-4-2. i was sceptical - i didn't think it would work as nolan's legs looked like they were going. but tbf to nolan it did work, mainly because he understood how to operate alongside tiote. something cabaye hasn't so far. i can't remember you pointing anything out to me tbh, other than replying my point about cabaye, ba and obertan doing a poorer job than the players they replaced.

Again, it was me and Parky pointing this out to you last night, now you're playing it back to me as you're own. Mug.

If you think Nolan would have done better than Cabaye alongside Tiote tonight then you're an idiot. That was exactly the sort of game that would have passed Nolan by. Barton is a better footballer than Obertan, dont think that needs pointing out to anyone. Ba looked good when he came on, showed some nice touches. Wrong. Nolan looked good alongside tiote last year in a 442 precisely because he did what cabaye didn't do tonight - took up advanced positions. We were over run in centre mid tonight not just because we were outnumbered but also because we had two players sitting deep we were just in inviting pressure on to us. It didn't help that there was no support from the wingers and fuck all to aim at up front but the point stands - cabaye and Nolan Aden never going to work as a partnership in hat formation as long as they both play sitting in front of the back four. I'm not writing cabaye off, still early days and he will improve with better players around him, but we haven't seen him boss a game yet. I never once suggested that he didnt have good games alongside Tiote. Against that pace and playing against a 3 tonight, Nolan would have been shite. You remain an idiot for a. not getting that point and b. interpreting my post as 'Ba is better than Carroll'. you're wrong. nolan would have been better than cabaye was last night. at least he would understand the need to take up an advanced role. i'm not writing cabaye off btw. he might turn out to be a good player, but it seems obvious that he can't play in a 442 alongside a holding player like tiote as he wants to take take up those deep positions too. I think it would perhaps be a different kettle of fish if it was 4-4-2 / 4-4-1-1 with Ben Arfa dropping off the main striker. I think you're onto something though. We're playing with two wide men who are genuine wingers (without getting into how good they actually are). So we now have Cabaye instead of Nolan, with the former seemingly more comfortable in a deeper role, and we have Obertan instead of Barton, so where you had the latter coming inside more and helping out in the middle of the park you now have a player who wants to stay on the wing. Add to this Best and Shola and (again not even assessing whether they are good enough) you have two strikers who don't really want drop off and play 'in the hole', because they know they can't basically. So the net result is a very heavy workload placed on two central mids who are still getting used to playing together. agreed. if the two central midfielders are going to sit so deep, they need forward players closer to them - either one of the front men has to drop off and link the play or one of the midfielders has to take up a more advanced position. it would help if the strikers and wingers weren't as crap as ours were last night mind. i reckon a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-4-1-1 are the only way tiote and cabaye are going to work playing alongside each other. unless cabaye realises that in a 4-4-2 he has to play further ahead of tiote.

If you think Nolan would have done better than Cabaye alongside Tiote tonight then you're an idiot. That was exactly the sort of game that would have passed Nolan by. Barton is a better footballer than Obertan, dont think that needs pointing out to anyone. Ba looked good when he came on, showed some nice touches. Wrong. Nolan looked good alongside tiote last year in a 442 precisely because he did what cabaye didn't do tonight - took up advanced positions. We were over run in centre mid tonight not just because we were outnumbered but also because we had two players sitting deep we were just in inviting pressure on to us. It didn't help that there was no support from the wingers and fuck all to aim at up front but the point stands - cabaye and Nolan Aden never going to work as a partnership in hat formation as long as they both play sitting in front of the back four. I'm not writing cabaye off, still early days and he will improve with better players around him, but we haven't seen him boss a game yet. I never once suggested that he didnt have good games alongside Tiote. Against that pace and playing against a 3 tonight, Nolan would have been shite. You remain an idiot for a. not getting that point and b. interpreting my post as 'Ba is better than Carroll'. you're wrong. nolan would have been better than cabaye was last night. at least he would understand the need to take up an advanced role. i'm not writing cabaye off btw. he might turn out to be a good player, but it seems obvious that he can't play in a 442 alongside a holding player like tiote as he wants to take take up those deep positions too. Cabaye and Tiote were up against 3 players as we tried (and failed) to play with some width. This has been explained to you a few times now but you dont seem to understand it. If Nolan was asked to do that role, his lack of pace and stamina would have exposed Tiote on his own time and again. I'm not interested in whether you're writing Cabaye off, am just struck by the shitness of your analysis. you're wrong. i remember us playing the same formation last season with tiote and nolan in a central 2 together against midfield 3s and to my surprise it worked. the main reason being was tiote had the engine to mop up behind nolan and wasn't exposed by his pack of pace. nolan taking up advanced positions and supporting the front men in turn on took midfielders with him, making tiote's job easier and giving us a link tot he front two. cabaye made the fact we were outnumbered in midfield even more of a problem by playing so deep that their midfielders had the freedom of loftus road to operate. when you play a 4-4-2 with wingers, it's suicidal to play with both your central midfielders so deep. pretty basic analysis tbh.

I've got a new boss and his turn of phrase is grating already. He's always on about "throwing ideas into the mix" in our morning news conference. "throwing it out there" is another personal favourite as is "being across something". What does that even mean? "So Dan, are you across the Vickers report?" Across it? I've read it but not sure how that equates to being across it. A, I around it? Over it? Under it? You tell me gaffer. He's got this really deep monotone voice too. He's a really shit communicator and he happens to have replaced the most charasmatic boss I've ever had.

i'm not nolan's biggest fan either tbf.

If you think Nolan would have done better than Cabaye alongside Tiote tonight then you're an idiot. That was exactly the sort of game that would have passed Nolan by. Barton is a better footballer than Obertan, dont think that needs pointing out to anyone. Ba looked good when he came on, showed some nice touches. Wrong. Nolan looked good alongside tiote last year in a 442 precisely because he did what cabaye didn't do tonight - took up advanced positions. We were over run in centre mid tonight not just because we were outnumbered but also because we had two players sitting deep we were just in inviting pressure on to us. It didn't help that there was no support from the wingers and fuck all to aim at up front but the point stands - cabaye and Nolan Aden never going to work as a partnership in hat formation as long as they both play sitting in front of the back four. I'm not writing cabaye off, still early days and he will improve with better players around him, but we haven't seen him boss a game yet. I never once suggested that he didnt have good games alongside Tiote. Against that pace and playing against a 3 tonight, Nolan would have been shite. You remain an idiot for a. not getting that point and b. interpreting my post as 'Ba is better than Carroll'. you're wrong. nolan would have been better than cabaye was last night. at least he would understand the need to take up an advanced role. i'm not writing cabaye off btw. he might turn out to be a good player, but it seems obvious that he can't play in a 442 alongside a holding player like tiote as he wants to take take up those deep positions too.

Ps, i reckon you're the idiot if you think ba is an improvement on Carroll.

If you think Nolan would have done better than Cabaye alongside Tiote tonight then you're an idiot. That was exactly the sort of game that would have passed Nolan by. Barton is a better footballer than Obertan, dont think that needs pointing out to anyone. Ba looked good when he came on, showed some nice touches. Wrong. Nolan looked good alongside tiote last year in a 442 precisely because he did what cabaye didn't do tonight - took up advanced positions. We were over run in centre mid tonight not just because we were outnumbered but also because we had two players sitting deep we were just in inviting pressure on to us. It didn't help that there was no support from the wingers and fuck all to aim at up front but the point stands - cabaye and Nolan Aden never going to work as a partnership in hat formation as long as they both play sitting in front of the back four. I'm not writing cabaye off, still early days and he will improve with better players around him, but we haven't seen him boss a game yet.

The only way is down

I haven't been that impressed by any of our new signings so far - obertan, ba and cabaye all look like poorer players than barton, Carroll and Nolan - the players they have replaced. Still early days like so time for them all to improve, particularly cabaye. Obertan does look a bit of a headless chicken though for all his pace. Says it all that the player i was most excited to see warming up was shola's kid brother. He's even got his own song already too. Desperate times.

Think he's referring to that slightly homo erotic profile pic tbh saltwater

The had the whole middle of the park to themselves. Moby and Best don't run back to harry tackle and Cabby and Tiote were too deep. They were both sat as deep as each other in a line with a massive gap before our front two. School boy basically. Cant see those two ever working together in a 442. You need a more advanced central midfielder in that formation. It's an archaic system anyways. Get a deano style 4231 formation on the go for our next home match.

Not sure what game you were watching, only one of our fullbacks was gash tonight. Simpson is a decent defender, and he works up and down his flank and can put a decent cross in. He is far from our worst problem. Wright-Phillips is pretty gash, but he showed us all how shit Ryan Taylor is at defending. When he came over to the left flank and attacked Simpson he didnt have much joy. Id take a gash player like wright Phillips ahead of any of the midfielders we had on show today.

Tiote and cabaye don't look like a midfield 2 in a 442 that can work. They both sit too deep to work together. There was no midfielder playing inbetween the lines and bombing on to join the front two. Taylor can take a good set piece but he has never been a left back. Bench him. Obertan had a stinker. Sammy ameobi did more in his brief cameo than obertan did in the whole game. The less said about the strikers, the better. Krul looked shaky too. Struggling for positives other than we stole a point we didn't deserve. I still think that despite the good start, we've got a pretty horrible season of football ahead of us.

Gosling had been out since March 2010 tbf. looked short of fitness and touch against a league 1 side. Best used off the bench until he gets his sharpness back.

gosling was hopeless last time out tbf.

jesus wept tbh. i know you don't change a winning team and all that santon must be half fit or shit if he can't get a game ahead of taylor at left back.

is that what you'd call a 2-3-2-1-2 ??? an ambitious formation even by deano's standards

I can just picture CT reading this through tears as he tucks into a family size KfC bucket, the weight watchers book acting as a beer mat for his 7th lager of the night.

You need to rethink your lifestyle not buy a few packets of reduced calorie wotsits. The first step isto cleanse your body of all toxins. This means no booze and a 24 hour fast. If you're serious about improving your health and digestion you'll do this. Time to stop making excuses, Hate to say I told you so CT, but I told you so. Weight watchers is never going to work. Still happy to give you advice and a training plan offered many pages ago... 3 days of HIIT and 3 days of full body a week should sort him. \o/ Yup. You could even throw in a few beers and junk meals CT is addicted to if you did that much training.

You need to rethink your lifestyle not buy a few packets of reduced calorie wotsits. The first step isto cleanse your body of all toxins. This means no booze and a 24 hour fast. Then you must spend 12 hours in the airing cupboard chanting OM Nom Nom. Finally complete the treatment by greeting the sun in the nude and ritually flushing your system by sticking the garden hose up your bottom. If you're serious about improving your health and digestion you'll do this. Time to stop making excuses, Hate to say I told you so CT, but I told you so. Weight watchers is never going to work. Still happy to give you advice and a training plan offered many pages ago...

Fucking twats. No remorse or apology at all for not replacing Carroll. Not even any sympathy for our disappointment. Cunts basically. The copy-whipped hacks at the chronicle couldn't have made their lives easier mind.

What's Big Ron up to these days? i heard barry fry's looking for a new job and would relish the challenge.

He's called you a miserable do gooder pc brigade cunt I'd take him off ignore and argue about that if I were you you're nothing but a fancy dan lecturer, you