OTF

Wigan 1 QPR 0 Villa 2 Wolves 0 Blackburn 1 Everton 2 Chelsea 4 Norwich 0 Swansea 1 Sunderland 1 Liverpool 2 Bolton 0 Newcastle 1 Fulham 0 Tottenham 0 Man City 1 West Brom 0 Stoke 1 Man Utd 2 Arsenal 0

On the phone to Mike Ashley to find the dimensions of our bore hole tbh, short of water in Ireland they are.

That's it with Gosling in this game. Marveaux on the other hand really valued possession and seldom gave it away. The sign of a composed player, playing at a comfortable level. Of course it would be foolish to write anyone let alone Gosling off after such a small amount of time on the pitch after coming back from injury, especially when they've been moved around so much they've probably forgotten what their preferred position is. Everyone can have a bad game as well. Worth noting that Raylor would have finished the game with a goal, an assist and a penalty win if the officials were competent. He's not a defender, least of all a left sided one, but with Barton's exit imminent his delivery could come in handy from the right when deployed in midfield, somewhat restricting the negative impact of the lesser aspects of his game.

And don't discount our £20M free signing Demba Ba, who thus far looks worth every penny.

That's him cup tied then, no way we'll be in for him now as we'll need him for our champions league fix... viewing parties.

Ah who gives a shite. On it's own sure. But in the context of everything - why even be talking to a goal keeper? All resources should be working on filling the positions where we have no one or no depth. Instead they're out chancing their arm looking for bargains and doing so illegally.

Aye I was thinking that. He knocked the ball past their centre half at one point and looked like he was running in wellies to get past him. Slow to get going or change direction I think because of the size of him, decent pace once he gets going.

Now Charlton have lodged an official complaint about an illegal approach for Elliot. FFS.

Abysmal first half, entertaining from then on. Krul had a fantastic game, kept us in it in particular with that save from the Coloccini deflection. A lot of poor signs particularly in relation to Gosling and Ba. Best scored a legitimate goal but was extremely wasteful otherwise. Lovenkrands was at best ok in tiny spells but otherwise was anonymous out there. Marveaux had a go and will really benefit from having other attack minded players inside him to work off - I'm thinking HBA there. Vuckic and in particular Sameobi looked dangerous when they came on, not afraid to take on their players then put dangerous balls into the area.

Wonderful finish.

That's a free-kick anywhere else on the field is all I'll say.

Great left back that lad.

Krul, fantastic save.

Vuckic on, goalscoring danger.

Krul has been exceptional. Gosling, exceptionally woeful.

Time to make a change I'd say, before it's full blown code red panic stations.

That shot from Best was right out of my school of finishing.

Shockingly poor attempt from Best into an open net. ... And then offside. It was a very tight call though. We're pushing our pace now, have to keep this up.

I'd be looking to get Vuckic out there replacing either of Ba or Best. When we have the ball have him operate from the top of midfield. When they have it have him pressing their last man.

Scunthorpe are dictating play here. I thought they might have a bright period but then die out. Even after the goal I thought they might then try to protect their lead but credit to them they've kept the intencity and still dictated the game pressing high. When you play a team that tries to boss where on the field the game is played by pressing high if you can't play your way out of your area then you need to push back and pitn the pressure on them at their own end. Guarantee, with the exception of Ryan Taylor that their defenders will be less composed than ours on the ball. Unfortunately our forwards look gash so far.

Indeed but more than 46 points this season will tend to completely undermine that. Am not saying we will at all. Still doesn't explain what he 'thinks' he is doing either. Am not saying I know either, I just object to being told that I am an apologist for whatever that is. I've never accused you of that. It's good to try to understand the reasons behind the moves we've seen at the club under the ownership of Mike Ashley. For that a counter view or alternate analysis can be a good thing. In the end though a bigger picture emerged quite some time ago, that that dictates that you really cannot apply reason to the decisions that are made by Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias. 46 points for me will not undermine it. I'll be happy to get as many points as possible, but whatever the team achieve on the field it will be in spite of and not because of Ashley.

The prevalent narrative is clear. Ashley is a chancer who doesn't know what he's doing. Each situation that the club finds itself in can be traced directly back to it.

At work, looking from me phone, posting is a pain from the phone btw. And it is definitely ALL about the money. For Joey of course it is. That's not even in question. Increased wages and a lengthy contract thanks to some blow in owner who just bought a club. Same circumstances under which he joined us, except Man City didn't have the decency to gift wrap him and give him away like Ashley did.

"When Joey was rewarded with a free-transfer" - That's exactly what it was for him. A reward.

This is truly a masterstroke. The same person who openly claims to not know whether a formation has been changed, that blindly believes what the 'media' says is apparently a savant when it comes to judging the talent of players, regardless of the fact that everyone knew that the player had the talent but was yet to show it here on a consistent basis. The same savant who blew the trumpet of Lua Lua after probably seeing less than a game of him actually playing just because there was an accompanying fluff piece talking up his talents. Did the same in relation to Ferguson filling in at left back. Thanks for the laugh.