M4

Would have been in line with his alleged obsession with only playing him in the middle, or as a number 10.

Ben Arfa should have been on much sooner than when Tioté broke down. Could have come on for either Obertan or Jonas (today for the latter especially who was producing nothing). Once Tioté was to come off then push Benny in the middle.

One of the big things against Zidane is that he never had the consistency at club level that the Barca three have shown.

Nah, Sewelly's got this nailed. Zidane was class but he's also overrated in terms of the "best ever" debate.

For as much of a dick Pepe is, his red card was pretty harsh/unlucky. Must be scary playing in La Liga as a defender. You can get sent off at any instant and by doing nothing

For the Boxing Day match! But Bolton aren't the right kind of opponent for him to play against

Missing out on the West Brom game will be the perfect motivation for HBA.

DS12? Why did he change squad number then?

By the way, this was our first clean sheet in 8 games. Basically since the last time he played.

Every time I hear about him needing more time before he can play, about him not being ready yet it reminds me of that joke about a guy who buys a house near a rail road. He's told "don't worry, after three nights you won't even notice the trains any more". So he says "I'll spend the first three nights at the hotel". All he needs is to play.

Shame. Could hear Alanis singing in the distance. She must have headed back now

45 decent minutes should be enough to see him guaranteed a start the next ten games straight

Even then, the change should have come much sooner.

To think you could get sent off for doing what Cabaye did twice is pretty worrying.

Exactly. There's no guarantees in anything. Pardew was always going to have two tests today: What team he'd pick and then what changes he'd make if needed. All in all he passed the first. But in the last 25-20 minutes when the game was dying he failed to do anything.

Having Ben Arfa ahead of Santon today would probably have been much more productive than having Jonas.

Next game is his chance.

People will do that with most players they hope to see start. Of course he's not going to score every game or even play well every game, but it's about putting all the elements in place to make a good result as likely as possible. Last couple of games it doesn't seem Pardew has done that.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/57363000/jpg/_57363034_sat_17th_nov.jpg

If Tiote is available that means the player along side him will be in a position to play higher up, behind the two front men and as a real number 10. Wonder who Pardew will pick to start.

Probably the only decision Pardew got right. (Seeing as the one to drop Raylor for forced).

Was he parodying himself today? No excuse for making the same mistakes as last week.

Jonas is amazing in games like Stoke. Games when we need more creativity going forward not so much.

Sammy "apparently he's amazing in training"? It's an Ameobi trademark.

He's decided he's not even going to play HBA in central midfield now