OTF

Tis true, but only works if you don't expect it.

Glad we don't have to watch that.

Trademark Taylor to go missing when they're in a dangerous position. Wonder who he pointed at afterwards? Anyway, 1-1 is not bad. We've looked half decent in patches. Ameobi has looked poor, Routledge has no end product and Jonas hasn't been involved enough. On the flip-side Tiote has been good (spare what could easily have been a penalty), Guthrie's a different player in the middle. Their movement is so dangerous when they get forward, we need to be anticipating their runs and defending not only where the ball is but also where the ball is going to be.

Not exactly played much of late. Wasn't great defending but we need to be cutting that off before the last man TBH.

Damn. Krul had that if it wasn't deflected. Up to Hughton to not let that get them down for the second half. We've created chances and looked good in patches. They've definitely got the ability to go right through us with their movement up front, particularly when their wide men drift inside a little. We're not quick enough reacting to their one touch instinctive passing.

Can't see Shola lasting the match. PIcked up a knock to the leg before, limping a little. Nice stepover in the box by him... not. Def does bother the defenders though. Tiote maybe a little lucky there, though not sure whether it was a penalty. That's the kind of decision that often goes against you when playing the big 4 would have been crushing if it was given.

Drogba horrible horrible dive... against his countryman as well. Perfect candidate for a retrofit yellow TBH if FIFA wanted to cut that sort of behaviour out.

Ameobi

Tiote getting the commentators curse... has been playing well.

Jonas should have layed it into the path of Guthrie who can actually hit a shot, unlike the Argentine (bless him) .

Got lucky there... very scrappy in the box, somehow eventually cleared it.

Guthrie's playing very well. Mix up between Shola and Carroll cost us a good chance.

Their central mids have been rubbish so far, but looks like goals in their wingers and forwards if we keep letting them get in close to our box with space.

Krul just had a brain freeze... got away with it luckily..

Guthrie playing well. A zillion times better in central midfield unsurprisingly.

Concentration now... they are cutting through us relatively easy at times...

hahahahahah you beauty!!!!!

Captain Shola should have put it across the front. Tiote's wearing a scarf...

Their central midfield is not that good. That's where it will be decided.

Have to love how jovial Jonas always is before matches.

I don't like the whole system where-by the bigger clubs purchase large amounts of promising young players and then farm them out until they're ready to play. They may represent good short term value for the loaning sides, and good potential for a long term return for the bigger club but on the whole it aids to further reduce the tribalism of football teams. It's much better to have an attachment to a player, and if that can't be with a player who has come through the local ranks at least let it be with someone who is there for more than a season or two. Loaning out some players in the champonship to provide cover was perfectly acceptable in my opinion. Van aanholt came in very handy, and even Fitz Hall figured a few times. With the Ben Arfa deal if it's a loan with established terms for a purchase at the discretion of the loaning club then there's absolutely nothing wrong with that!

Damn straight.

Whatever your attitude to him he has the perfect chance now to come into the side and show us what he is capable of. Consecutive matches alongside Sol Campbell (assuming Sol stays fit for the entire time) is something he probably should have been getting 3 or so seasons back, but it's better late than never hey!

Lots of similarities between Spanish aand Portugese. The last Brazillian we had here was hardly a world beater, nor the last Portugese one. I don't like Anderson at all, seems like a raging tosser, but that would change if we signed him.

<hits head against desk> He actually doesn't make a massive number of challenges. Having to make challenges should be a last resort of a good defensive midfielder. They're not bad tackles, it's just plain ill discipline. If you don't think that can be taken out of a players game (thourgh coaching or maturity of the player) then you might as well say that you can't coach a player to do or not do anything. By all means make tackles when you need to, some of them might not be perfectly executed but DON'T simply stick your leg out when you're beaten and leave it there intentionally giving away a foul. You will get yellows for cynical challenges like these. I can imagine you saying you can't teach a goalkeeper not to handle the ball outside the box because he handles the ball a lot. Excercise judgement. Before you counter with some nonsense that you can't excercise judgement in the heat of battle in the midfield, know this, they aren't the challenges I'm talking about. And I'm out on this issue. Don't make me take pictures of some of the incidents I'm talking about.