de Jong

[Duckman]

Thought he was quality tonight and with a run of games looks to be getting back to his best.

couldnt agree more.

however, im curious about the barry-ndj pairing....its a bit too defensive for how we had been playing this season...
i dont know if its a coincidence or not that when Barry came off (and we were therefore only using 1 DFM) that
the goals came in....

I think it may have had more to do with them playing with 10 men.

yaya took gareths place, you could see james showing two as he was coming on.

I think it was tactical, playing barry/ndj, cause porto had to attack, and we pressed them high.

after the second goal nazis just fell apart.

[phips]

Thought he was quality tonight and with a run of games looks to be getting back to his best.

couldnt agree more.

however, im curious about the barry-ndj pairing....its a bit too defensive for how we had been playing this season...
i dont know if its a coincidence or not that when Barry came off (and we were therefore only using 1 DFM) that
the goals came in....

I think it may have had more to do with them playing with 10 men.

There is, of course, that.

I like NDJ for sure...I hope he plays more, as long as its not at the expense of our attacking prowess.

[zuricity]

struck me as average tonight

[Nickyboy]

Barry went straight down the tunnel when he went off, probably carrying a knock

[The Original Special One]

Thought he was quality tonight and with a run of games looks to be getting back to his best.

Agreed; and I have a funny feeling that Mancini has ever-so-quietly restored him to guaranteed starter status
And I think this could serve to ensure that there'll be no return to the Sunderland-style 'muggings' which might have proven so costly to our title ambitions

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

I thought that was his best game for us for some time. We were too defensive last night though, and invited them back into the game.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

Agreed he was a lot better. We won't always nick a goal after 20 secs tho and I fear going back to leaving him on too long when we're needing a goal.

[sheblue]

its good that he is hitting a bit of form cos over the next two months we will need his grit more than ever.

[Im_Spartacus]

its good that he is hitting a bit of form cos over the next two months we will need his grit more than ever.

If we want to grind out draws, yes we will need his grit. But what he gives us in grit, we lack for in inventiveness.

Last night it was Nasri, Kun and Silva up front, and for large parts of the game all were anonymous because firstly we couldnt get the ball to them, and when they got the ball they had little or no support. I can't help feeling that the pressure we were under from Porto would have been no worse had we had James Milner playing from the start, who has the engine and guile to put a shift in at each end of the pitch.

If we would have been under no less pressure - lets face it Porto passed right through our midfield for much of the game, you have to wonder why stick with Nigel, when attacking them in a more coherent manner would have automatically released the pressure, as seen by the 2nd goal.

To avoid the sunderland style muggings, we just need to remember how to put the ball in the net

[ashton287]

He has got some form back but I just not think there is a place for him in the starting line up anymore. He slows us own too much and gives the ball away bringing pressure on us.

Only use I can see for him is on the bench and coming on to sure things up when we lose control of a game. But we all know bob doesn't like conceding goals and he would probably risk a hard won 1-0 rather than a 5-1 stroll in the park so he will be getting more game time.