Pyro Pete

"How many headers did Henry win on Sat? I could count .... none. " That must have been a different Henry scoring Arsenal''s second goal then. I think most fans are so disappointed in Svensson''s poor performances BECAUSE he scored a few goals at the end of last season. Not the other way around. Personally I think Svensson benefitted hugely from the 4-3-3 formation last season. Huck''s running with the ball occupied the left side of defences, while McKenzie''s movement drew defender''s out of position in the middle. Svensson was often the spare man at the back post, with time and space to score the goals that helped us get promoted. In a 4-4-2 against Premiership defences (including Palace) Svensson has looked half the player he was. Notice against Palace and Man Utd how Huckerby got to the touchline, pulled the ball back across the six yard box for a simple tap-in yet no-one was there to provide the finish. Doherty by comparison has made a huge impact for a defender playing up front in an unfamiliar team. Simply by having strength, height and the ability to keep possession. He''s not the answer, but he is a better option than Svensson right now. Meanwhile I hope Svensson improves in the reserves and comes back a better player to show he can perform at this level.

What''s wrong with the new Jarrold Stand exactly? I''ve been seated in it since it opened and have a great view. What did you expect, something akin to the Guggenheim in Bilbao?

Forget the "striker" name tag. We wanted a goal scorer, pure and simple. If Huckerby gets injured our season is over. I''m very disappointed Worthy was unable to bring in the one thing we really needed, a quality goal scorer.

I''ll pop into Asda first thing tomorrow and have a good look around the car park just in case.

That pesky Rick Waghorn. He''s missed all the action of the past few weeks and now he''s back he wants some attention. Write out the following a hundred times Waghorn! "I must not raise fan''s hopes with misleading headlines" Then stand in the corner and think about what you''ve done. It''s not just us you have let down, it''s yourself.

I see we weren''t the only team shafted by a referee at the weekend either. In the Blackburn/Man Utd game Fergie got an extra minute added to injury time, Saha handballs and Smith duly equalises with 20 seconds remaining. Shocking. Then there''s Villa v Newcastle where Sorrenson makes a save with his hands outside the area and only gets a yellow card! What is wrong with these ref''s?

The BBC website says it''s midnight: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/3613326.stm

It''s funny you mention that because I''ve just been looking at a website that sells football t-shirts. And would you believe it, there on the Arsenal page is a "Graham Poll Fan Club " T-shirt in red! http://shop.football.co.uk/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=1171 I may go for this Ginger Pele t-shirt however: http://shop.football.co.uk/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=1062 Fans who visit Highbury may want this one though: http://shop.football.co.uk/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=956

Yesterday we had two Arsenal fans near us who stood up, shouted abuse and tried to intimidate everyone around them each time Arsenal scored. This was in the Jarrold Stand near the river end. As this is an area where a lot of families with young kids sit it was a very pretty disappointing to see the stewards standing around doing nothing about it for 45 minutes. At half time the pair were either ejected or moved to the away end, but on another day it would have ended in violence long before then. If the stewards are incapable of dealing with hooligans promptly then the police should have been called. Can we do anything to stop this sort of thing happening again?

After such a bad result I thought I would focus on one very clear positive. I was very impressed with Youssef Safri''s second half performance today. He showed good touch, control and a wide range of passing. His positioning was good, he showed he can tackle and was more than willing to get stuck in when necessary. In short, he looks like the man to partner Francis in midfield. Sadly that will probably mean dropping Holt if Worthy sticks to a 4-4-2 formation. But I hate to say it, Holt has looked out of his depth at times so far this season.

Apparently Earnshaw is off to West Brom for £3.5 million. See link below: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/cardiff_city/3607710.stm

Hey, I''m not having that. That''s an insult to Muppets. Check the prediction league and you''ll find my bunch of muppets are a respectable 87th thank you very much.

Champions vs Champions If our lot play at their peek and Arsenal continue to make the same basic defensive errors they did against Boro'' then we have a chance. Put any team under pressure long enough and they will buckle. As Niall Quinn said after the Toon game, Worthington''s hardest task this season will be convincing the team that they are good enough to match and beat teams of this standard. Against Man Utd they started as if they didn''t believe it, but by the end they showed they damn well could. So for me self belief is the key to an upset. Let''s convince them from the stands that they can win.

stuart thomas I lived in Manchester for several years and made friends with loads of true mancunian fans of the reds. I can tell you aren''t one of them by your bad attitude and your arrogance. I shared many a pint with Man Utd fans discussing games of days gone by, how they pipped us to the first Premier League title and so on. And the respect true Utd fans showed for my club only exposes sad little whining glory hunters like you. If Utd went down to Division 2 like Citeh did, your kind would be the first to jump ship and no doubt swap the red shirt for a Chelsea blue one. As for Man Utd fans outnumbering Citeh fans 3 to 1 in Manchester? Keep dreaming in that Theatre of Dreams (which you''ve probably never been to anyway).

Great photo''s Peter. From all the singing I heard on the tv I thought the away fans were superb last night. But I really do think Newcastle should have provided opera glasses for you lot. The players look like ants!

When did Bellamy ever have his feet on he ground? He''s always been a bit nutty. Just look at the way he dragged Edworthy to his feet when he was injured. Fleming and co had a right go at him for that. I didn''t like his cocky "I hope we don''t hammer city" comments beforehand. And it shows he meant none of it anyway by his comments afterwards. Clearly Bellamy is upset that Robson is looking for other strikers and that''s put him under pressure. Rooney would be mad to sign for that lot anyway, but it shows Bellamy isn''t necessarily first choice in his manager''s eyes and that''s got to hurt.

"but in place of hu pyro? surely u cant leave out doherty????????????? " ncfc4eva, With Bentley having to sit out the Arsenal game I think Huckerby could move to the left with Leon going up front with Doherty (if he is still played as a striker). Not sure how our midfield would cope defensively, but last season it worked and we need to keep playing to our strengths as last night showed.

2-2 and still both Leon and Huckerby had clear cut chances to score! I hope those pundits who said we would struggle to make chances feel very small now. Our first win is just around the corner.

I have to say well done to Worthington for having the guts to drop Helveg tonight and play Edworthy. His defensive work was excellent (great goal line clearance), and his attacking play made sure Newcastle had plenty to think about when they lost possession. He could of been low in confidence having missed the Old Trafford game and only appearing as a sub against Palace but not a bit of it. He pushed Francis all the way for man of the match. Now if only McKenzie could be given a chance to shine too.

Francis was quality once again. He must have covered more ground than anyone else on that pitch. He really is rising to the occasion superbly well, and for me gets better with every game. Keep it up!

I''m relieved to hear that I''ve not been the only one having trouble accessing this site since the season has started. I have been getting the half loaded pages too - long threads are a nightmare as I only get the first few messages despite constantly refreshing the page. Using Mozilla Firefox I''ve found opening a new tab (middle click) for viewing each individual thread helps a bit, so I don''t have to constantly load up the main thread list page. I reckon I have posted twice as many messages during the close season because the site would actualy load properly. Shame it''s gone slow again since everyone is back from their hol''s.

I''m off to Asda later so I''ll let you know if I see him in car park.

How anyone could blame Helveg for the second goal is beyond me! Maybe for the first goal he is partly at fault. Ok it''s his job to stop crosses if he can, but against the best left winger in the Premiership we could expect some to get past him. It''s then down to our centre backs to mark up tightly and win the aerial battle. But look at how much space Smith was in for both the goals. Fleming was supposed to be marking Smith and was nowhere near him on each occasion. I think Helveg is doing fine so far. His karate trip on Giggs was hilarious.

Braintree canary, I have to agree with much what you write. These are the players I think have performed well overall in our opening two games: Greeno, Drury, Helveg, Charlton, Francis, McVeigh, Huckerby & McKenzie. Not so well: Svensson, Johnson, Bentley, and to a lesser degree Fleming and Holt. Looking at that list it''s clear that our creative and attacking element of our team are not working. McVeigh has come on in both games and added a cutting edege neither Bentley nor Johnson have been able to provide as yet. Huckerby needs support. On the defensive side we will have to wait and see what Doherty can add. Similarly with Safri when he will inevitably replace Holt in the middle. If McKenzie isn''t going to get a chance up front then can we have a new centre forward please Worthy!

You could be right there silver fox. While Fleming has played well overall in the past two games, for all three goals we have conceded so far it has been Fleming who has been caught out of position at the back. I don''t want to be too harsh as it''s early days, but how much space was Smith in when he nodded on for Utd''s first goal yesterday? Same for the second. A bit of pressure makes a big difference. Utd have paid top dollar for Smith for a reason so, as I say, I can''t be too critical at this stage. But in the Premiership we will be meeting top strikers every week and the least our defence can do is keep tight to them and put them under pressure - Henry excepted maybe! On the positive side Charlton has been a big plus so far for me.