midds

Good. People need to see it.

We were as bad as they were good. So far this season when we've played well we've been straight into the opposition to give them no time on the ball. We didn't do that at any stage today and that was down to us as much as it was down to Spurs. Again, I'd go along with that, we were really poor and couldn't cope with their movement and pace. We missed Cabaye and Tiote but we definitely caught Spurs at the wrong time. It happens and we have to move on.

It would have given him much needed football time with the other players, something Obertan has had more than enough of. Agreed but it's a bit of a moot point. We didn't lose because of the decision to start Obertan instead of Ben Arfa but we may as well have brought him on at HT to give him some time on the park. I just think when you drop HBA to the bench, it's a tacit admission to the opposition that you're frightened of them and that sets the tone. I have no doubt we were in the dressing room talking about the threat of Bale - I want them in the dressing room talking about the threat of HBA and what they're going to have to do to combat his ability, maybe even have Bale dropping a bit deeper to double up, which helps us defensively if anything. Any manager seeing Obertan on the team sheet has one less item on his team talk because they know he poses no threat whatsoever. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have Obertan anywhere near the first XI but starting HBA wouldn't have affected the result today at all. We got blown away early and that had nothing to do with the team Pardew picked. Any XI available to him would have been blown away because of the way Spurs started the game.

Thanks for that.

It would have given him much needed football time with the other players, something Obertan has had more than enough of. Agreed but it's a bit of a moot point. We didn't lose because of the decision to start Obertan instead of Ben Arfa but we may as well have brought him on at HT to give him some time on the park.

The game was lost within 15 minutes. Replacing Obertan with Ben Arfa wouldn't have made the slightest fucking difference imo.

Thankfully our season didn't hinge on getting a result from Tottenham away. There are 3 good sides in the league and we've already played 2 of them home and away getting 5 points from the 5 games so far. I can totally understand why people are fucked off but look at that league table and tell me we've had a bad season. We're surpassing all of our expectations and tonight's bumming doesn't change that. They're better than us but there are 39 points still to play for with 2 very winnable home games to come. We take it on the chin and move on, fuck it.

Can see Suarez going to Real this summer. They'll fit hand in glove.

Got dicked today but let's no kid ourselves that replacing Obertan with Ben Arfa would have changed the result. We were out of the game after 6 minutes. Not about to start pissing my knickers because of today either. We got dicked, we move on and look to take 6 points from Wolves and the mackems.

Just an awful day/performance/result. Spurs started quickly and we couldn't get near them, they were fantastic. We were poor but i think Spurs would have beaten most teams in the country being in the mood they were. It didn't tell us anything we didn't already know though. Spurs are comfortably better than us. Guthrie and Perch isn't a good enough replacement CM for Tiote and Cabaye, pace killed us, we've got several players who aren't good enough to match our ambitions etc. Thankfully a few teams around us lost too so the damage is negligible and the table doesn't look to different to what it did this morning. Just got to hope that Pardew gets them organised in the break and we take points from the next 2 home games. Write today off and look forward.

Honestly thought both would go back down due to not scoring enough. They will both need to invest though as they've taken a lot of managers by surprise this season but that won't happen next year. Refreshing to watch though.

Go Compare it with Sky's Sports Centre.

It's fucking never, ever, ever their fault is it? Joke of a club.

Hope Man U absolutely dick them today. 3 or 4 nowt.

The lad needs games and hopefully he'll get plenty of them at Cardiff. With a bit of luck he'll do well and go out on loan for a whole season then come back to us a much better player. He's not going to improve sitting on our bench so we may as well send him out.

His wife looks a bit masculine.

Instead of who? Instead of Sunderland. Supports Newcastle, lives 8 minutes down the road from the Newcastle training ground! I got that bit. I meant which one of Cabaye or Tiote would you like to see dropped to make way for him to play?

Instead of who?

Far less of a liability at CM than CB. Nothing flash by any stretch of the imagination but did ok against Villa. I'd rather play him than someone like Smith. Couldn't trust him for more than the odd match or 2 like...

Really really REALLY hope that all of the black players in the league have agreed to a pact where they go in late and dangerously on Square. Some sort of unspoken rule to get the horrible cunt kicked, literally, out of the league. This would please me.

Talented? He's the anti-Shola!!!

He's everything Shola isn't.

I try really hard not to go OTT when rating our players, I really do. We've got some cracking players at the club at the minute but these 2 could become fucking lethal. Pace, power, movement - not jut movement but intelligent movement and both can shoot the lights out from < 20 yards out. Get Tiote and Cabaye functioning behind them and keep Coloccini and Krul fit and we've got the makings of a great team. Very, very positive after seeing that today.

What a player we've got. You get what you pay for and hats off to Ashley and Pardew for coughing up. If shola plays we lose that.

By its very nature football ebb and flows. They're on a fantastic run, full of confidence, scoring goals and keeping clean sheets. It will turn back for them as they're not good enough to keep winning week after week. They'll have a run of games where things don't go their way soon enough and they'll drop points in gas they're currently winning. Sets the derby up though. Both teams can go into it without worrying about dropping down the league.