skryp2nit3

Not a post on this thread in three weeks. This man needs more love. Absolutely electric again today.

Very underwhelmed by his performance last night. There wasnt any tinge of excitement whenever he got the ball, you just felt like he wasnt gonna do anything with it and in truth, the one assist aside he did f all. Didnt look comfortable bringing the ball with his feet either, didnt look like he could beat a man, and didnt look like he had much pace. Perez came on and looked 10x the player. Even Atsu was trying and failing but Murphy is just very meh at the moment. Whatever it was that convinced Rafa to spend 14m on him issnt there atm and he needs to find it quick.

Can't help but think this was orchestrated by Rafa himself. Game plan was completely different from Rafa's style since day one, even when we were in the Championship. We just went for it and left ourselves open at the back so many times, which simply issnt Rafa's game. I couldnt believe what I was seeing really, 59% possession ffs! Knowing Rafa's meticulous and pragmatic ways he must know of the threat that West Ham poses and to set us up playing this openly can only end one way. Seems very much like Rafa's way of proving his point, hence his comments post game,ie they spent so much money on players, we couldnt match them individually and thats why we lost today. Was refreshing to see us go all gungho again but it exposed the limitations of the squad and the current set of players. 100% premeditated in my books. Add: If Rafa believed we would win playing this way he would've kept Mitro. Might have scored a few had some of the Perez chances fell to him.

For the 2nd goal, they showed an incorrect offside line from the last defender on TV and said Gayle's leg was slightly ahead. Not sure how this was even an debate, you cant be offside when you're behind the ball when its played and Gayle was yards onside.

Downright awful left foot swing but amazing instinct/improvisation on the right. Sums up pretty much everything we know about Papiss.

Baffling comments really. We counter-attacked from our own corner it seemed.

8 out of 10 goals from set pieces. 2 out of 10 goals from open play. 2 sides of the same coin. Weird shaped coin You dont get metaphors do you?

8 out of 10 goals from set pieces. 2 out of 10 goals from open play. 2 sides of the same coin.

At the risk of being shot, saw shades of Duff in Ritchie's performance tonight.

<3 Vurnon Benitaz surely?

I'm not sure why all this praise for Guthrie. He was technically a good player but had no heart or lungs for that matter. A better comparison would be to Colback. He was certainly better than him. Was just thinking about Guthrie. Would take him over any over our central pairing. Played a far more important role in our season finishing fifth than more people realize.

The dreaded shirt curse has struck me again. Got Shearer on the back of my championship shirt, he never returned as manager Got Jose Enrique on my shirt first season up, he left Got Nolan on my shirt second season up, he left I chose Coloccini this year because he is captain and just signed a 5 year deal. NOW HES LEAVING. Happened to me before, never had names printed before until Woodgate. He was sold within 5mths. Then Jenas, Bellars. Then I stopped getting names cuz I hated our squad (geremi duff owen butt smith viduka babayaro etc etc). They stayed all the way till our relegation. Then 10/11 I had Enrique and Carroll, both had left for Liverpool by the next summer. Last season seemed to have broken the curse though, I got Colo and Ben Arfa. This season I had Cabaye and Tiote, although I may have jinxed them a little. Not a great record definitely.

There's the problem. Since his first season he's been unable to show any sort of consistent good form, just a sprinkling of top performances. Ｈａｒｄｌｙ　ａ　ｌｉａｂｉｌｉｔｙ　ｌｉｋｅ　ｓｏｍｅ　ｓｕｇｇｅｓｔ　ｔｈｏｕｇｈ．　Ｓｏ　ｌｏｎｇ　ａｓ　ｈｅ　ｄｏｅｓｎｔ　ｇｅｔ　ｓｅｎｔ　ｏｆｆ　ｉｎ　ａ　ｇａｍｅ，　ｈｅ　ｃａｎ　ｄｏ　ｎｏ　ｗｏｒｓｅ　ｔｈａｎ　Ｂｉｇｉ，　Ｊｏｎａｓ，　Ｐｅｒｃｈ　ｏｒ　Ａｎｉｔａ．

What a random bump. Was just reminiscing about him while watching the villa man utd game. How we missed his guile in midfield. Fantastic little player.

An on form Tiote for us would be the difference between challenging for top 4 and top 6.

Reading between the lines: 1. Seydoux didnt say he's definitely not selling. 2. We do have an offer standing. Conclusion: Lille will sell for the right price but most likely not happening due to hardball by both parties.

This. No one has done the double over us this season. Jinxed now.

I don't think I'd have any sides left, they'd be laughed off. Like when they beat Hull with a reserve team and Duff scored an own goal?

Wasn't offisde. Cisse played it out with a cross/shot with Ba waiting in the middle.

Don't really get the malarkey about whether he meant it or not. Did he mean for the goal to go in like it did? Probably not. Did he mean to hit it with the outside of his boot, create as much swerve as possible and try to hit it pass Cech? Definitely. That's enough intent already to signify that it was not a fluke. Even Shearer when he scored his volley against Everton said he could've hit another 100 like that and not one would go in like it did. Does that mean that it was a fluke? Absolutely not. That's because the technique and the control that both Shearer and Cisse displayed in executing their respective shots were there for all to see.

Not sure why Cisse didnt try to go for the rebound off Ba's shot near the end, could've scored I reckon. Very reminiscent of Bellamy's against Feyenoord and his angle was better had he gone for it.

Seemed to remember him scoring another header against Liverpool away, turned out it was credited as an own goal to Agger.

Amazing what a single loss does to our confidence and expectations.

Wigan were really really good on the day. If that's how they've been playing for the past month then really they deserve to stay up. It was as though they were playing with 12 or even 13 men today. They simply outnumbered us in every area of the pitch in the first half. Their pressure and numbers were too much for us and we simply couldn't keep the ball. So credit to Wigan well deserved win for them even if everything they touched turned to gold against us.

Wigan's biggest home crowd this season at 22187. Apparently 8000 Newcastle fans made it to the game. Is that true?