Arbeloa

[dww]

His positioning in the second half was laughable, especially when they attacked down the right or through the middle.

He had a stinker. He concedes more fouls than the rest of the squad put together, in his own half. I do think he's a decent all rounder, and offers more going forward than Carra would, but he needs to sort himself out with petty fouls.

I think he came across to cover a lot which he had to do as neither Agger nor Dossena where anywhere near where they should be. On occasion he was caught out but I genuinely thought for most of the time he was reasonably well placed. The silly fouls thing I agree with - he is nearly as bad as Pennant was last season at the minute.

[Lee]

Arbeloa seems to blow hot and cold. At times he's great and others he can be dodgy.

I still think that Finnan should have stayed and been our number one right-back. He may not have the legs but he's a good, solid defender and can whip in a great cross.

[el matador]

im not arbeloa's biggest fan but he didnt play that badly last night. You have to remember he was up against simao sabrosa who is a better winger than anything we have.

He is a tricky customer and arbeloa did ok against him all night. He needs to work on his positioning but when you have players with pace (and he does) then they tend to rely on that to get them out of bad situations instead of placing themselves properly on the pitch ie micah richards.

I thought yossi was rubbish last night and gave away pretty every ball he touched. Gerrard was off key again and im worried that he might be carrying another serious injury.

Other than that xabi was excellent, masher started rusty but grew into the match, agger did ok as did carra apart from his misjudgment for the goal and robbie keane looked sharp.

However Lucas really worries me. He came on last night and looked like he was asleep. One of his passes to arbeloa took about 10 seconds to travel 10 yards. He desperately needs first team football and we should send him out on loan somewhere for the sake of his career.

[Sarb]

im not arbeloa's biggest fan but he didnt play that badly last night. You have to remember he was up against simao sabrosa who is a better winger than anything we have.

He is a tricky customer and arbeloa did ok against him all night. He needs to work on his positioning but when you have players with pace (and he does) then they tend to rely on that to get them out of bad situations instead of placing themselves properly on the pitch ie micah richards.

I thought yossi was rubbish last night and gave away pretty every ball he touched. Gerrard was off key again and im worried that he might be carrying another serious injury.

Other than that xabi was excellent, masher started rusty but grew into the match, agger did ok as did carra apart from his misjudgment for the goal and robbie keane looked sharp.

However Lucas really worries me. He came on last night and looked like he was asleep. One of his passes to arbeloa took about 10 seconds to travel 10 yards. He desperately needs first team football and we should send him out on loan somewhere for the sake of his career.

We should never have bought him. Wasn't a player in a position we needed to be honest. It was a deal that didn't make sense, and still doesn't

[El Jefecito]

I think he came across to cover a lot which he had to do as neither Agger nor Dossena where anywhere near where they should be. On occasion he was caught out but I genuinely thought for most of the time he was reasonably well placed. The silly fouls thing I agree with - he is nearly as bad as Pennant was last season at the minute.

And that is exactly the point. We play zonal marking, so he had to go to the most vulnerable zone i.e. the one in front of the goal!!!!

As I said elsewhere, Yossi should have filled in, in the absence of that a CM should have tracked across. Both are more responsible for the goal than Arbeloa.

[rage]

We should never have bought him. Wasn't a player in a position we needed to be honest. It was a deal that didn't make sense, and still doesn't

i really think this is lucas's last season. in fact i hope it is. hope we can get 5 million pounds for him, promote plessis and put the money towards a right sided midfilder.

[Parm]

But he was ok when we beat,

The Mancs at home

Marseille away

Everton at Goodison

PSV at home

oh and he played against the other blue Manc ****e when we beat them aswell.

What are you trying to say??

hes ok, does a job and gets forward when he can.

[Tee]

I think he has had an excellent season and is making the RB position his own. Sure he gets caught out but football today is such a high level no player is infallible now and again.

Have to also hold my hands up and say Dossena is starting to look 'settled' though I remain unconvinced about his future.

[FatTony]

He had a stinker, drawn into the centre on a few occassions which could've cost us, he looked nervous throughout, has never looked great and needs to buck his ideas up.

Saying that he's always been "OK" never awful. His positioning lets him down.

[anfieldanfield]

I like him.

[rage]

having thought about this for some time i think arbeloa is a step back on the finnan that rafa inherited when he came here. can't really say that for any other position, mind, apart from right midfield where i don't think its any better than what houllier left behind.

i reckon arbeloa's value in spain must be 7 million easy. we could/should improve on him next summer.

[El Jefecito]

He had a stinker, drawn into the centre on a few occassions which could've cost us, he looked nervous throughout, has never looked great and needs to buck his ideas up.

Saying that he's always been "OK" never awful. His positioning lets him down.

It's called zonal marking. That's what you are supposed to do when others go missing.

[FatTony]

It's called zonal marking.

No ****?

[El Jefecito]

No ****?

No really, with zonal marking you have to cover the most vulnerable zone, which is usually the one directly in front of goal.

[MrMichael]

Did well against the Chavs (along with everyone else) and was excellent tonight imo.... not that Pompey did a lot of attacking down the wings, or anywhere else for that matter... but I do think he's having a lot more good games than bad these days.