SoccerHQ

Mancini is like an Italian Benitez to me. Take today, ten minutes to go and losing to Wolves, he brings Zabaleta on and moves Boateng to central midfield as he can't bare not to have two holding midfielders not on the pitch. I still expect Man. City to finish 4th but under a different manager.

Spurs two players off winning the league? Yeah right.

Why isn't the Fonz starting?

Just think two years ago Spurs were bottom with 2 points from 8 games and a strikeforce of Bent, Dos Santos, Pavlychenko and Frazier Campbell. Just shows how much can change in football in a short space of time.

I actually think before long he'll replace Barry as the attacking of the three midfielders with De Jong and Toure behind him.

As predicted Warnock misses the Burnley game! Most nailed on booking of the season he got today.

I still maintain the best time to judge Ireland is when Gabby is back. He needs a fast forward for the pacy throughballs, I didn't just dream up the goals he set up for Robinho did I?

From what I've seen of Albrighton he fades from the game quite badly in the second half so think there's a case of having him as an impact sub. That and he's young so will need resting.

I'll confidently say we'll see the best of him once Gabby is back and playing regularly. What I like about Ireland is when he receives the ball he's always immediately looking for a forward pass so instead of a stationary Carew, a speedy Gabby is just what he needs for the through balls.

I'll confidently say we'll see the best of him once Gabby is back and playing regularly. What I like about Ireland is when he receives the ball he's always immediately looking for a forward pass so instead of a stationary Carew, a speedy Gabby is just what he needs for the through balls.

Warnock seems to have been booked every game this season! Most obvious thing is to be booked at Sunderland so he misses the Burnley game.

Pretty happy with that. Not a great game that suddenly came to life in the last 15 minutes. Chelsea were crap yet will still win this league with ease. Very good clean sheet for the defence especially as I think Warnock pulled up at the end and still battled on. Collins was my MOTM, tremendous performance. I'd have put Carlos on ahead of Clark but young Clark's performance apart from a few sloppy performances showed why Centre half is comfortably the strongest area at our club. The main thing really is we need Gabby back a.s.a.p (or anyone other than Carew in the lone forward role). That's when you'll see the best of Ireland, who I thought showed some glimpses of his ability but needs a pacy forward to make the most of those good throughballs.

1-1. Drogba being out is a huge boost for us as Anelka likes to drift wide and Kakuta is unknown. If we can nulify Chelsea they have little on the bench to change things. I'd bring in Ireland and move Young back out wide as he can get at Ferreria imo.

He disappeared at Stoke in the second half. We should be playing Ireland in the free role. Would VDV be as effective for Spurs in a central midfield two, of course he wouldn't.

Won't De Jong get a 3 match ban as the ref didn't give him a yellow?

I must be the only one who thinks Young isn't all that in the free role, he dosen't play enough through balls for the striker for a start. I'd rather see Young out wide and Ireland in the hole a.s.a.p tbh. Albrighton's doing well but fades badly in the second half so I'd look at using him as an impact sub.

Nah draw for me, if either win they'll be a point behind us if we lose to Chelsea. I think the big thing for Everton is they've tightened it up in defence. Distin had a poor start to the season as did Jagielka but both are playing much better. If Everton can keep more clean sheets and keep Cahill fit (I hear he has a knee problem) they'll nick a few more games 1-0.

He did well against Blackburn so dosen't look good to me that he can't make the bench for the next two games.

He has to be playing off the striker a.s.a.p...Young dosen't influence the game enough for me in the free role. That Van Der Vaart fella is playing quite well in the free role, it's not hard.

Gomes has improved in so many areas including crosses since his first season. I'd rather have Cudicini in goal on saturday as he'd flap at more Albrighton and Young crosses than Gomes will imo.

Yeah daysaver on the bus is £3.50, valid for as many bus routes as you need to go on.

Poor Woody, one of the best around when he was fit. Yeah, Gallas has took the last two months of the season the previous two years for Arsenal off so don't expect him to be around for the finish!

I thought Defoe was injured? Yeah I'd agree with that team as Palacios and Bassong are decent prem players but neither are champions league standard imo. One problem with that is I've seen nothing in Defoe's career that suggests he's suddenly going to morph into an effective Drogba type leader of the line, always works much better in a two upfront.

Well judging by his performance against Arsenal, Bentley wouldn't be much use for Spurs's youth team. Dawson, Gomes and Defoe are big misses. I do find it strange that you're bemoaning Woodgate, King and Gallas being injured. Woodgate's on the verge of retiring, King obviously can't play every 3 days and Gallas was very injury prone at Arsenal so not sure why you're surprised they're all injured. Few Spurs fans I know think the main problem is they don't have a striker who really excels playing as a lone striker. Both Crouch and Pav can both do it up to a point but neither are Torres or Drogba standard.

Really good piece by Samuel in the Mail today, echoing what Mancini said last week of Man. City not having a big team mentality. After they beat Chelsea twice last season, their next few games included drawing with Bolton and Sunderland and losing to Everton and Spurs. Even this season after they took 4 points from Spurs and Liverpool, they followed it up with 1 point from Sunderland and Blackburn. Chelsea on the other hand went on an 19 match unbeaten run. So City can raise themselves for the big games but do they have it in them to reel off 4-5 wins in a row and consistantly dispatch the likes of Bolton, Blackburn etc. I think not so I agree 4th and no higher this season.