I guess most have said it, but to add my two penny worth:

Nolan did ok last night, I think his benefits of being in the side outdo the negatives. What he is is a good leader, he sticks to his job and tries 100% which may not be enough to keep him in the team week after week given there are better technical players than him that are missing or do the job better. I don't necessarily agree with Monl when he says he deserves his place in the team because we won 3 - 0, because he didn't score or contribute to the goals so by definition we could easily have drawn that game ....

The first half was very drab and aside from Collins and Valencia there was too much lethargy and the ba;; was just not moved quick enough. in part due to the lack of movement but Noble in particular played too many sideways and backwards passes which as we saw last year results in loss of possession or the hoof upfield as we get squeezed up the park. As BFS said Noble looked tired of mind and body so in truth should he not have been rested given he wasn't that great against Everton in midweek either?

I thought Valencia and Carroll second half looked a good combo, and it definitely upsets the balance playing him wide left and Downing out of his favourite and most effective position. Dropping Nolan back with Song after Noble went off and changing things made all the difference.

What I think we all tend to forget is that we are still building a team and we are going to get the odd game where the team are off the boil, and that hasn't happened much at all this season so shouldn't we all be pleased with that? Or have we all become like Spurs fans and expect to punch above our weight in every game. One thing to remember - where were we last year and would we have won that game last year ... No ....