Lake Palmer aka Monk wrote:
Why would I want to pick anyone else over Nolan when the team wins 3 nil ?

Nolan deserving his place has got fuck all to do with his leadership. That's a load of shit in my opinion. He deserves his place because he did his job so well the team were able to win 3 nil. End of.

Your problem is you can't understand what he did in the game. Its like too massive a concept for your brain, you're short circuiting.
No... my problem is that Song and Noble are better at protecting the back 4 and passing; both plus Kayoute are better in terms of all-round energy and driving forward with the ball their feet.  Amalfitano and Downing are better at scoring and creating and passing.

He's a good second striker / poacher if played behind the striker - but surely we all agree Downng deserves that role this year?

As a more general midfielder I don't believe he is particularly good at anything.

So far all people seem to have been able to say to 'prove' his worth is goals, leadership and that he runs around lots and works hard.  Given the goals have dried up and running around and working hard in midfield is a given then surely he is there for his leadership and nothing more?

He's a good little squad player to have in our current position, but he should be getting a little bit less game time - especially if him getting game-time is forcing Downing back out wide. 

And maybe if we had a side that featured someone like Amalfitano who is very comfortable on the ball and keeping possession we wouldn't need someone like Nolan running around trying to get the ball back quite so much?