Phillip

I cannot find it either. What happened?

He seemed the closest non-moving Chelsea player to the Bordeaux bloke who scored on the corner, so he has to get some of the blame (along with JT, and everyone else besides Cech) for that.

I like Paulo a lot, but I would not go that far. I will say that in games where we need a draw, and will play defensively, Bossy should probably not start, since his defending can be woleful at times. But his runs down the right wing and crossing ability and shooting ability are second to none.

I kept waiting to see where Resevoir Dogs would end up, and was shocked that it did not make the list. Too bloody?

Being over here in the U.S. does not allow me to get all of the news on time, but I was shocked to see the West Ham v. Sunderland game on Sunday, and to see that the West Ham jerseys only had a player's number on the front. What happened, did they lose their shirt sponsor? Who was it? Do you think that it will be a sign of things to come, with the bad economy and all?

And it always seems that David James, Shay Given and Brad Friedel play their absolute best against us. I remember the 0-0 game against Blackburn last season, and Friedel's remarkable save against Essien. We took plenty of shots on goal yesterday, but too bad we did not test Shay Given much beyond that great save of Lamp's header.

Does hitting the wall 5 times out of 5 on dangerous free kicks mean anything to you? Lamps cannot be MoM just for that bad display.

Not so sure about that. Rooney missed a fairly easy one in the 2nd half, and should have given ManU all of the points. All in all, both us and ManU were unlucky, and so it's even in that regard.

The worst player on the pitch, at least in the first half, was Duff. Watching Bosingwa run past him again and again made me a bit sad for him. He did play much better in the second half, when the Magpies tightened things up at their end.

I also think that a key to this game was that we had probably 6 great free kick chances about 20 - 25 yards, and Lamps took all of them, I think, and not one of them was on goal. That is just inexcusable.

Yes, but the linesman last name is Scholes; I smell a conspiracy.

Are you serious? He was either the worst or the second worst, in my opinion (Deco was probably the worst).

OK, you are right. And also Ballack should have done much better with that "almost" sitter.

Naw, Anelka looked very good out there, but I will say that Malouda was the second best of those four, with Joe by far the worst.

Lofty, I don't think you watched the game, since Newcastle did not park the bus until the last 30 minutes, whereby that the was correct strategy under any circumstances.

I thought Mikel was very good out there, and was even passing forward a few times.

Not fair to say that Newcastle parked the bus -- they only did that for the last third of the game. They started the game with two strikers, and the first half was fairly end to end (though not much play at Given's end).

ManU is going to love these results -- puts them right back into the race. Frustrating game. My biggest observation is that Lamps should NEVER take any more free kicks -- he always hits the wall.

Anelka, I suppose (I did not see the game).

Something is wrong, Lofty. I do not see any choices.

No thank you. 120k a week? We will get more team dissention if he signs.

He is not perfect, but I am happy with his play. In the Roma game, yes the first goal came from a cross from his side of the field, but you cannot blame him, because: a) Mikel decided to pass directly to an opponent on our free kick, and ;) our center halves decided to not mark anyone when the cross came in. Is Bridgey as good as AC? No, but I feel comfortable with him in there.

I disagree, since until yesterday, Mikel has filled in well in Essien's role, and our back line is so much more deep now, we really have not missed the Bison too much.

I voted for Malouda, and am shocked that he got so few votes. Who made excellent passes to set up two tap-ins for Anelka? Malouda, that be! Joe Cole played well, and set up one goal well, but I saw Malouda holding the ball well, making some good defensive plays, and being very lively out there. Joe Cole did some of those same things, but it's just that there should have been a more even vote between the two for MoM, in my opinion.

I am coming to your way of thinking, PloKoon13. The ratmunchers are the worst.