Pata

I didn't say he never loses it. But people only mention it when he loses it. For example Tiote lost it many times in far more dangerous positions today. And today HBA didn't lose it in dangerous positions.

He doesn't lose it any more often than the other fuckers, it just gets noticed more because of the expectancy when he has the ball, and because Pardew's drawn attention to it. He lost it countless times today, but like said totally outweighed by what he does when he doesn't miss control it, pass it to an opposing player, fall over or run into a cul-de-sac. It's a myth created by Pardew that he loses it so often. Seriously everybody loses the ball but people only pay attention when it's HBA thinking 'Hmm, Pardew has a point I guess'.

Absolutely. Ridiculous.

Yep, hoofing the ball to the front 2 whilst the midfield is sitting deep is s***. Once we started using Jonas and Benny on the wings and stopped hoofing, we were all over the tramps. First half was the worst we've played all season and shouldn't be forgotten. Real test for Pardew to get us play well for the rest of the season.

Were you even watching the same game? Santon did bugger all. The two wide players on each side, HBA/Simpson and Taylor/Jonas, all linked up really well and were the source of just about every one of our chances from there on. The subs were perfect. You can't have Simpson and linking well at the same sentence. It was all HBA and Simpson had no part in it. I was shocked when Santon was taken off, Simpson was booked and Santon did well first half. Should've been Raylor or Simpson coming off.

and so he should he's been useless since he came back from Acon You've been useless half a year already FFS.

It was a proper punch, not a slap so I don't mind the reaction.

David fucking Pleat, shut up FFS!!!

WTF Santon off?

What a morning! Noticed this thread and celebrated like crazy, then someone mentions Krul in this thread, I check the Krul thread and celebrate again.

Or with shoulder, couldn't really tell.

Weird bounce.

How can Castro get yellow card??? Busquets was trying to tackle him.

1-1 Leverkusen scores!!

There's too many things affecting the results. It's bit different to start at home against Blackburn compared to Man City away for starters.

IMO it doesn't matter if it wouldn't have made a difference. Sure we lose today 99% of times even if HBA would have started but it's a concern that even today when it was clear choice between Obertan and HBA he goes with Obertan who's done nothing all season. It sends the wrong message from the start. Afterwards it's easy to say we should have gone 4-5-1 with HBA and Abeid starting in places of Cisse and Obertan. But it shouldn't have been so hard to see Obertan shouldn't have started regardless the formation even pre-match.

100% agree with this, not sure starting him would have made a difference either, without Tiote & Cabaye in the starting Benny is a luxury we cannot afford. How the fuck can we afford Obertan then? HBA has something to give offensively, Obertan has something to give to fucking UFO hunters. I wouldn't be critisicing Pardew for starting Taylor, but I'll sure criticise him for starting Obertan.

I think to say he would never have played professionally is overstating it but he's an incredibly poor footballer in terms of what he can do with the ball at his feet, which is surprising when you consider which academy he came up through, and right to the top of it too. I honestly don't think it is. Like I said in my last post, had he been born in any other decent footballing nation he wouldn't have made it, he'd have been laughed at for his ability on the ball. You can get away with lack of pace, size, whatever you want to name, if you're good on the ball. If you're not, there's nowhere to hide and not a lot you can fall back on. I was at a coaching event a few weeks back with the England U17 manager who gave a presentation on how they are trying to change the footballing philosophy in this country. Whilst listening to him speak, the first player that came into my head that would be redundant if the FA can implement the change in philosophy was Simpson. They want every player on the pitch to be capable of actually playing football. They want the fullbacks to become more attack minded but still be able to defend. They're the two things that related most to Simpson. If he was coming through the ranks in 10-15 years time, again if the FA can get everything into place and develop their ideas properly, he wouldn't stand a chance. On the ball, he's woefully inept. He's s*** scared of the ball being anywhere near him and his distribution is embarrassing. He adds nothing going forward and his crossing is farcical. His control and first touch are poor. It genuinely makes you feel like there's a bomb in the ball when he has it at his feet. You can actually see the panic appear across his face when he's placed under the tiniest bit of pressure. Off the ball he isn't much better either. Everyone knows his backing off is terrible. His positional awareness for someone who's played in that position all of his life is awful. His lack of nous and footballing brain doesn't help his cause either. He just generally doesn't seem to think about what he's doing. Then to top it all off, his attitude stinks. If you make an error or are out of position, fine, it happens, but work your bollocks off to get back into position and make up for it. The amount of time I've seen Simpson just jogging back to get back into position this season has been embarrassing. That's before the constant whinging on the pitch and the pointing and blaming of team mates, even when it's quite clearly his own fault. To fit right in with the current national set up, he's got a massive ego and an overinflated opinion of himself too. Rather than bleating about players who are better than him and for an England call up that is a million miles away, why not try and improve as a player to then actually have a right to clamour for that call up. He does for me sum up what's wrong with football in this country and I'm glad that with a bit of work, a player with his limited ability should become a thing of the past over the next decade or so. I don't think it's that bad wanting a professional footballer to be capable of actually playing football, do you? Superb post, exactly my thoughts.

It's clear he's going. My frustration of him not even getting a chance is slowly turning to sadness. It's rare for us to get someone as talented as he is and then he isn't even being given a chance and at the same time we watch Obertan, Shola and co. f*** up game after game.

Can you imagine someone telling us last season that he won't get a game and then list all the players that have been picked ahead of him?

Great post.

That leaves Simpson on the pitch so no.

Spurs taking the piss really now, bringing in some grey-haired coach.

Exactly.

Compared to the shower of s*** constantly being played before him he's Messi, Pele, Eusabio and Beardsley all wrapped up in one player. He didn't look like that in the last few games he played somehow. Becoming the the most overrated player of all time on here. Ridiculous. Have you noticed the list of players that's been picked ahead of him this year?