OTF

Carragher at fault? Bad start.

That's quite an impressive slide Allardyce is taking them on. With a head that size it will take an equally impressive force to put a stop to it. I'd imagine that failure to be promoted would be financial suicide for them given their wage bill is probably more than ours.

Liverpool: Jones, Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Agger, Gerrard, Spearing, Henderson, Downing, Carroll, Suarez. Subs: Gulacsi, Enrique, Maxi, Kuyt, Shelvey, Kelly, Bellamy. Everton: Howard; Neville, Distin, Heitinga, Baines; Gueye, GIbson, Osman, Fellaini; Cahill; Jelavic. Subs: Hahnemann, Hibbert, Jagielka, Stracqualursi, McFadden, Coleman, Anichebe. Enrique on the bench for Liverpool again. Carroll starting.

Is there a phone friendly version out there?

I think Liverpool will find another gear for Everton but even still it will be a tough match where it's fairly likely that there will be a bunch of contentious refereeing decisions. Struggling to be going for a Liverpool win but if Everton go through we then have to hope they don't win pending their opponents final position on the table.

Actually I think they were, my memory is that he effortlessly dispossesed someone as his first defensive involvement while I sat smugly smiling to myself. Cut to later in the season against Portsmouth and my look had changed more than slightly. Steven Taylor is a good defender who loves a block and is very handy at corners. Throws his body into defending which can be both a blessing and a curse. Never fit for long enough to fully establish his credentials unfortunately. To be fair to him he looked very good up until the Portsmouth battering and he went to bits from there, not that I recall saying what Leazes claims I said and he really isn't in a position to point the finger when he thought Souness was a top boss and better than Keegan. Not much motivation to come back from that at the twilight of his career when he was largely here to bump up his retirement fund. Sol Campbell will have thankfully been the last of that sort of transfer move under Ashley's ownership.

Actually I think they were, my memory is that he effortlessly dispossesed someone as his first defensive involvement while I sat smugly smiling to myself. Cut to later in the season against Portsmouth and my look had changed more than slightly. Steven Taylor is a good defender who loves a block and is very handy at corners. Throws his body into defending which can be both a blessing and a curse. Never fit for long enough to fully establish his credentials unfortunately.

Pardew has vastly exceeded all of my expectations. So much so that some of the things that annoyed me about him in the early days now only endear me to him further. He's not perfect, but nobody is and all that you can ask is that mistakes are learned from. For the most part that has been the case with Pardew - he now changes things up earlier in the piece if things aren't working as an example.

I don't think anyone could mount a realistic argument against the current financial state and direction that the club has taken. Certainly individual aspects could be improved on in isolation but on the whole it has been a remarkable turnaround not only from after the relegation, but from the point we were at when Ashley took over. I find it quite remarkable that we're in this position when you consider all the mistakes and PR disasters that have been made, including the continued lies and ambiguous misleading statements that the club have released. The biggest worry I have is that supporter sentiment could quite easily swing if the forward momentum isn't maintained or if the run of good results begins to falter. It's easy to forgive some pretty ordinary actions in the face of wonderful results and a team truly United.

I don't mind either way. Are you actually suggesting that my viewpoint is illegitimate or incorrect or do you have some sort of axe to grind?

I would of thought being a Newcastle fan you wouldn't need to ask how good he is. Or are you a Ben Arfa fan that follows Newcastle because he's here? didn;t you say that you thought Cacapa was the best central defender on the books at the time he was here ? He did look very good for at least 5 minutes.

I'll write the eulogy if you're writing the jokes. You'd need someone to post about why a eulogy wasn't necessary first.

Aye, that's a rather wordy way of saying that Pardew fills out the team sheet. Which in turn is a very basic way of saying 'i havent got a fucking scooby about what management actually means'. Might as well read the eulogy for humour while you're there champ

Read the book today (on Kindle) and watched the movie tonight. I agree with your analysis of the book. The movie was disappointing, poor character development, shitty special effects, lack of suitable gore, over use of the incredibly dodgy intentional shaky cam to substitute for special effects etc.

Aye, that's a rather wordy way of saying that Pardew fills out the team sheet.

Crossing/long passes are his weakest attributes so taking them away would Improve him on the whole. Have always said that I think he's at his best when he can make short passes, with more space to operate his dribbling should also be even more effective.

Santon should be competing with Simpson for right back next season, either could then be cover for a new left back. Santon's defensive positioning and tackling has been suspect, but he had his best performance for us last start so is hopefully beginning to settle in the faster paced league. He's vastly superior getting forward, but the problem with that is he's not particularly hard working or tireless and so takes a while to get back into position. If Guthrie goes it will be for more money to a lower ranked club where he'll need to prove himself again. He may well do that but as others have said I think we'll be the biggest club he'll play for (liverwho?). Ashley won't pay overs for him or reward him for his 'loyalty' particularly with some promising youngsters coming through and with our record of signing continental players. Forster will go, no sense for him in coming back to deputise for Krul as he has no chance of unseating him. It will only hurt us if whatsisname has to play due to injury as he's been poor from the extremely limited amount I have seen.

...or somehow contributed to his current level of play. Also please excuse my autocorrection horrors that keep getting me.

My contention is that the performances that he was giving were consistent with what was to be expected from someone who has been out for so long and hadn't had a chance to adjust to the league. I also believe that his in reading defensive contribution is a result of not only gaining proper match fitness, but also confidence is his legs after his injuries. On top of that I think having been a more central player in the team will naturally lead someone to want to put more effort into the other parts of their game - just as a defender will get forward on occassion an attacking player will give more attention to defensive duties. As I said earlier I'm just ecstatic that we're getting these sort of performances out of Ben Arfa. I pipe up because people incorrectly point to the performances as evidence that Pardew choosing not to play Ben Arfa earlier in the piece was justified.

Err, that's a fact how exactly? What we know is that Ben Arfa's ability has brought spectacular results. All that was required for that was to give him sufficient time on the pitch to regain fitness, sharpness, touch and to form combinations with his team mates. Look at Pardew's treatment of Obertan? Why do you think that has so starkly constrained the treatment of Ben Arfa? For me it comes down to two things - Obertan was Pardew's choice and so the pressure was on him for Obertan to perform, and two, Ben Arfa is not the type of person to be wholly compliant to the demands of a manager. Pardew clearly favors those sort of players (eg. Perch). Ben Arfa was played sporadically and it was only when there was no other options that he began to see regular time on the pitch (not just pressure filled cameos). With that time on the pitch he has produced in spades and is now happy, fit and at the top of his game. When he's in that state it won't really matter who the manager is, he'd be a dream to have in the side. I like Pardew but I don't think he has handled Ben Arfa particularly well. At least, I think, he has treated him on par with others in the side only in the way that attitude and application is given a higher regard than skill and creativity. Best is another example of this.

Can keep Ben Arfa company.

He's enthusiastic and fit and has injected that enthusiasm when he has come on. Custom fit as a late sub at this stage of his career, but still should be getting full games under his belt in the reserves.

I think Jones was spared a red by the proximity of other Liverpool players when he committed the foul. Can't understand how he didn't hold onto that ball in the first place. He was at one stage a pretty good keeper, hope he's at his best on the weekend.

In 2007 Emerton would have been a decent signing.

We'd be mad to let him go without at least throwing our hat into the ring particularly on the eve of European football. Villa had a crack at having ambition, failed, and have subsequently pulled their heads in. Guthrie's a handy player but struggles with motivation at times. At the peak of his fitness at the moment it makes a huge difference to his contribution.