goodrobotusses

Amoo scored for Bury too, apparently.

Straight on the Twitter, that one.

Yep. Credit to the fella. Carragher was improved today also. 1. Lucas 2. Enrique 3. Suarez (although one of his weaker games for us)

That whole 'Barca DNA' thing, yeah. That was kind of where I was going with my Spanish NT comment. Villa looked a seamless part of that style of tiki-taka, whereas a traditional centre forward type like Torres always looked like a spare part.

I actually misread what you'd written. Thought you'd meant he isn't dynamic. That said, don't get the "flying winger" reference, nor why Villa not being as good as or similar to Messi makes him replaceable. Barcelona haven't had a "flying winger" since Overmars, really. He can play in the middle or wide-forward in a system that requires either of those things. So, no, he's not a winger or targetman or playmaker, but given Barca only utilise one of those things, it's no big deal really. I fail to see a tactical reason for letting him go, given how well the team has functioned with him as a part of it. So sorry, brother, just failing to see what evidence there is that Guardiola would replace him other than pure supposition and a slight desire of yours to seem 'ahead of the curve'. It reminds me of the arguments Liverpool fans make against Dirk Kuyt based on what he isn't (quick, skillful) rather than what he is (intelligent, mentally strong and bloody awesome). Villa is a fantastic player (one of the top ten in the world for me), works in their system and the financial reasons thing seems to be plucked out of thin air. The player is probably on a wedge, granted, but he's 30 in the next transfer window so isn't going to be worth the same amount as he would have been this summer gone. Given he's highly professional, apparently well-liked at the club and has performed well (occasional dips in form aside), it's just weird to suggest that Guardiola would bin him.

Villa adapted to playing on the left of a front three pretty well. As a forward he looked far more comfortable within the Spanish national team's slower possession-based system than Torres, so suits Barca as well as any striker. As for dynamic, I'm not quite sure what you're getting at – he doesn't seem any less or more dynamic than Barca's other players. All well and good Pep wanting a team entirely consisting of midfielders, but I think Villa is being done a massive disservice based on the fact he's gone from being a 30-40 goal a season striker to a 20-25 goal a season wide-forward (I don't have his goalscoring figures to hand, so excuse me if they're a little off).

Didn't we agree to sell McManaman to Barca the season before he went to Madrid?

The public interest argument for Terry was based on the fact he'd been awarded 'Father of the Year' though ("a misleading statement or action"). I don't know anything about this Ferdinand thing, mind – don't tend to keep up with the tabs. EDIT: I just used Media Law in an actual conversation, wow.

It's the senior sports journos who hate getting called out on Twitter (Barclay, Winter et al). They're used to casually tossing their opinions over the parapet and being oblivious to any reaction. In fairness to Hayward, at least he's stuck about on Twitter (unlike 'Flouncey' Barclay) and generally responds to people (unlike Winter). Still chats a lot of s****, mind.

Aye. Let's apply that reasoning to every technical player that has ever come from a foreign league, and then sign Karl Henry instead.

Modric is definitely more mobile and far, far more agile. He's the best CM in the league for me.

Bow to the infographic! http://i55.tinypic.com/zveip3.jpg

They were very good together in the second half of last season.

I'd be happy with that.

Physically, no, but in terms of game intelligence I'd say he is.

Their ability to keep the ball would have made them good options at CM in a 4-3-3 though. Neither here nor there now, mind.

Henderson a better passer?

Oh, I definitely agree with this. Everything I'm saying is to be filed under "this is where we are right now". Fully understand that the team is a work in progress and should be judged as such.

I can assure you I've read no stats or data (they make my eyes bleed and my brain cry), but to suggest United don't dominate possession in most league games is surprising. Apart from the Chelsea match they've generally controlled possession in every game this season. Or at least that's my impression viewing through the naked eye without the aid of stats. They are exceptional after the turnover, breaking with speed and quality – as all great teams do – but they still control and stamp their personality on most league matches.

Fear? I don't think under Rafa we ever went out afraid of our opposition. Homework was done and plans put in place to nullify their strengths and expose their weaknesses, but I don't think you could ever accuse Rafa's Liverpool of playing with fear.

I don't think the teams at the top of the table play at 100mph though. They squeeze and dominate opponents, keep the ball and their greater attacking quality tells nine times out of ten.

I think that at the moment Adam and Henderson lack a bit of nous, yeah. We're clearly a work in progress, but a better team than Wolves would have punished us – especially as we were so profligate in front of goal. Still, three points is most important.

Or we might have thrown away daft goals in the games that we did win. Pie in the sky.

I agree that in those matches we did control things much better, but we used players like Meireles and Maxi who were better at keeping the ball and recycling possession rather than looking to play at 100mph constantly.

I think concerns about our inability to dictate the tempo of matches stem from many years of being excellent at it under Rafa. We're a lot more uncontrolled than then, and while it can make for more 'exciting' games it's not good for the ticker. The big worry is getting found out against better sides (i.e. Spurs). Our attacking play was decent, but greatly aided by a pretty awful defensive performance by Wolves – first half especially.