A Plea To Curbs

Please, please get rid of Shaun Bartlett. He came on at St Andrews and was awful, he started against Hartlepool and was so poor he was replaced at half-time and against Spurs on Saturday he was absolutely dire when replacing the injured Darren Bent. Dazza's double against the Spudz took his tally to seven in seven in the Premiership, one more than Bartlett scored in the whole of last season. But it is not just in the goalscoring department the Shaun is letting us down. Against Spurs he was lazy and disinterested. If he doesn't want to be here then get rid - and soon. Even in the short time he was on the pitch he managed to miss two gilt-edged chances, one of which he took with the 'wrong' foot, completely missed the target and then tried to claim a corner to hid his embarrassment.

The problem is we have three 'strikers' in Bartlett, JJ and Lisbie whom together are not fit to tie even one of Bent's laces and they probably wouldn't even manage that. Lisbie is so poor that Norwich are pleading that we take him back and none of these three would manage ten goals a season in the Championship, perhaps not even between them. For what good they are they might as well leave. Bothroyd is as yet unproven and so we are left with diddly-squat if Dazza is injured or we want to play 4-4-2. In January another decent striker is an absolute must above all else. We should 'gamble' on another player from the Championship as Bent has proved that the step-up can be made.

We have still made a great start to the season and it shouldn't be forgotton that only three other teams have had a better start in Premier League history; Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea. We have much to look forward to this season.