Best defense in the league!

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but we are the only team to have nor conceded a goal yet this season (except Tottenham who haven't played yet). I am sure that I am not the only one who is delighted that for once we don't have an error prone back line and once we get a new left back we will be even more solid.

The best thing about our two clean sheets is that Krul hasn't made many saves. This shows that our defenders have dominated against two tough oppositions. Van Persie got 18 goals last season and Gyan got 10, but our defense kept them both quiet. For me our best player out of our first two games has been Steven Taylor, just outshining Coloccini. If we can keep both these fit for the majority of the season then I think them two alone can keep us up.

Lets hope we get a clean sheet next Sunday and three more points...howay the lads!

 

If we can keep both these fit for the majority of the season then I think them two alone can qualify us for the Champions League*

 

Many apologies

 

Who are you mr scouse mouse- what was your old name?

 

Coloccini's Back Pocket
Coloccini - el Capitano

 

I struggle to keep up with all these new names floating around

 

Unsung hero of our defence is Simpson, he has his critics but has done well and cleared a certain goal off the line (and didn't use his arm to do it)

 

It was easier to keep up to date with people when Rep was here, as you could tell who was who by their Rep power.

 

I see the 'Equipo de Collocinis' has split up then

How about a reunion at Xmas?

 

He has been very good. Long may it continue. I think if Saylor carries on like he has started this season, maybe an England call-up could come his way! Obviously Crapello would have to actually watch us play!

 

Taylor and Colo for top scorers too? Taylor with his goals from set pieces, and Colo once he gets those volleys from corners right.

 

What I really appreciated from Pardew is that he adapted the defence to cope with the tall conor wickham by bringing on Williamson. Against the small nippy strikers i would always play taylor but against tall strikers i would play williamson

 

Disagree completely here. Taylor is smaller than Willo, but in my opinion is much better at heading than Williamson. Taylor rarely misses a header. Although, with Sunderland piling players forward, I do think that bringing Williamson on was a good bit of managing!

 

Yeah but we need much more than defence, Birmingham had a class defence last year but didn't score enough goals.

 

Could be our downfall, I'd be inclined to say our midfield is much better though so in theroy we should create more chances for our forwards.

 

We have a better strike force now than what they had and we are still getting one more through the door hopefully.

 

i reckon you can't underestimate the difference having tiote AND Cabaye will have on our defence this year too. they're both very capable defensive midfielders which will definitely help our defense a lot this year. i see them being a double edged sword. as they can both defend well when needed and cabaye will be the architect of a lot of attacking moves forward when we're in possesion

 

Barton, Tiote and Cabaye are all aggressive players with good tackling ability. I'd settle for 1 or 2-0 wins and being tough to beat then thrashing teams 5-0 and then losing to the likes of Stoke and Blackburn...

I think we should try and make St James into a fortress again.

 

agreed. i see us dominating a lot of midfield battle this year with that little trio. they're all capable of doing everything. tackling well, great passers, gritty and all of them have tremendous engines.

 

I'm more worried about bookings and the subsequent suspensions this year. Barton's been booked twice already so by October we could have a suspension. Cabaye will pick up a few bookings I can imagine. Tiote, obviously, will (as well as the African Cup of Nations).