Keener window-cleaner

I don't get it that some say he wont cut it in the Premier League. He has already done that, he had a great first half of a season with Hull that warranted a fairly big money move to West Ham where he was supposed to replace Payet. Now that it didn't go well for him at West Ham doesn't make him a bad player. I think he is real quality and has been in most of our games. He had a spell where he was below par, like when he played with injured ribs or what it was. He is not the fastest, but he is a very intelligent player. He is one of few who always wants the ball, has really good technique and is able to pick out passes. Does he have 6 assists already or what is it? His set plays are quality as well and he works hard for the team, you often see him tracking back helping out the full back. I was really glad to see him score a couple yesterday. He is exactly the player Grealish needs, someone to pass and move with, someone who understands the runs and picks out passes instead of just kicking it forward. If we are unhappy with Snodgrass, remember the times when we have had Hutton as make shift RW or Bacuna playing there! I don't think there are many better RW in the division than Snodgrass. I think we should count ourselves really lucky that he wanted to drop down a division and play for us.

PLayed in his best position today, bossing our half of the pitch and allowing Grealish and Hourihane to go forward more. Would love to see Grealish and Onomah in front of him!

Impressive that he scored one header and won another for the second goal against the perhaps tallest cb pairing in the league!

Wow it actually looked like he could play football and not just run today!

I just wanna give him a big hug, I love watching him play football. Really glad to see him play in a more central mf role, he sees more of the ball, makes us a passing team instead of hoofing it, he dictates play, goes on Messiesque runs, creates chances and is just fantastic!!

Wonderful!! Finally something to cheer about and some good attacking football to enjoy!

A super goal and an assist for the second, both headers as well. I liked it when he got the ball in the middle of the pitch and just ran against their defence, he did that in the first game for us a year ago and I thought wow, hopefuly he gets some more confidence now and kicks on!

The 4-1-4-1 seems to be working quite well, Jedinak mopping it up and Grealish and Hourihane in more advanced positions. Chester again being immense, the back heel to Adomah in the bulid up to the first goal was class!

We were as poor as usual until Hogan scored, after that we started playing football, not just hoofing it. I relly like that we finally are playing Grealish in a more central mf role, he is the big difference to us keeping some posssesion and actually looking dangerous. He is such a gifted footballer!

There was a moment at around the 60-65th minute that I think summed it up quite well, at the time I thought I wish I could make a gif of it. Hogan dropped back in the middle of their half and made himself available - Hutton who had the ball Huttons it to him, it was more or less a shot or a clearence in chest height that Hogan tried to control, but had no chance. I think Hogan is getting too much stick, he isn't a hold up player, he's a lurker who makes sprints behind the defence. Except to a certain extent Snodgrass we do not have any players who can pick out those passes. Nor do we have a style of play where we pass the ball around looking to unlock the defence, where the players know what to do when a team mate has the ball and paitiently trying to find a through ball. We are a defensively drilled team that hoofes the ball and relies on an individual performance by two or three players. I think Hogan can be compared with Darren Bent. He was great for us in a team that was playing well and creating chances, with Young, Downing, Milner etc, but when they left he looked lost. I was surprised by Hogan's price tag, seemed far too much, but I still think he can be a good player for us, that would require us to radically change our playing style and having more good passers in midfield though...

Surly Jesus would be worth more than £12m? If he can walk on water imagine what he could do on a football pitch!

We'd probably only play one of them up front, isolated, so no problem, wouldn't have anyone to pass to nevertheless :-D

Perhaps off topic in this thread, but I think that in the last games that McCallister stepped in he more or less reaped the reward of the work that had been done over the year, of which McCallister himself played a part of course. We had a settled playing style, the players looked like they knew what to do and we played some good football.

So there is actually a club called Al Shebab?

I think he is a liability in defence. It's so much more than just winning headers. I thought our defence looked lost a couple of time in the last game, and although I can't specifically point out that he was at fault, he just gave me a feeling of uncertainty. I'm not confident when he's about to pass the ball, especially not when he is the last man, and I'm not sure if he reads the game like a cb, covering for the other cb, making interceptions at the right moments etc. I love him as an anchor in a three man midfield, and when he comes on to close the game, and I love his attitude and professionalism, but I don't rate him as a cb.

I think Houllier was a great manager, took some time for the players to adapt to his style of play but the way we played towards the end of that season was the best I have seen us play in many years.

Ok, this just makes me even more irritated. I'm off getting drunk instead.

You would have expected our management team to get it by half time that it wasn't working and bring on Hogan directly. It didn't look like he was knackered at the end, so he could have made the whole half. Otherwise bring on Gabby the last 10. In the short time Hogan was on he at least took up a couple of good positions in the box and was at the end of a few crosses. It didn't get very close, but it was at least some attempts to score. It's a crazy idea, but who knows, with the whole 45 min perhaps he would have gotten on the end of a couple of more crosses, and with the help of god perhaps even manage to score. I've heard he has done that before at some time.

I'd imagine it's like going to work every day and not getting any assignements. One day you come in, all others are home sick and you think yes! Today is the day, finally I get to do something! But what happens? The boss calls in a school kid to do the work. You go back home after another day of just sitting around doing nothing, feeling unwanted and useless.

We started the season awful just sitting back defending, then there was much preassure on Bruce, he changes the tactics and we played more expansive and attacking for a couple of games and got some good results. Since then we have step by step gone back to the cautious defensive Bruce tactics. Time to cranck up the preassure on him again it seems.

Half time pep talk: Ok, great job lads, exactly like we talked about. Continue like this. And remember what we said, when you have the ball, don't do anything with it, just kick it away. When a team mate has the ball, don't move, hide and be prepared to run back and defend. Ok, great let's go get them!

Great tactics, long ball up to no one. With 6 midfielders you would expect us to at least dominate the midfield, but nope.

Has Hogan had problems with his gates as well or whats going on?

I hope Adomah continues to play left wing, he has been fantastic in that position, would be a mistake to disrupt that by playing him in another position imo. Onomah could probably do a job up front, but It must be like a real punch in the stomach for Hogan, can't get a game even when all other strikers are out... he is on the bench so he must be ready. Very strange this.

Could be a good balance if he is paired with Micah Richards then, as he is about 10 kg too heavy from being a Championship centre half!