Wullie

He was discussing racism within English football though, of course he would differentiate between black and white in that context. I wouldn't have even known that 'coloured' is a frowned-upon term now tbh. What a silly petty world we live in where somebody has to apologise for that.

Doing a laughable disservice to Ba to suggest that he needs another big bloke on the field to be able to lash in a HBA reverse pass, or whack a free kick into the top corner, or kill a lofted pass from Cabaye stone dead before sliding it under the goalkeeper. Have you heard yourselves? Or actually opened your eyes and watched him play? The bloke could play up top with me every week and still come away with a brace, he does not crave the aura of Leon Best.

The problem is today, despite the claims that 4-4-2 is dead and all that (which I don't believe), I have never seen anything other than that formation implemented successfully at NUFC. Trying anything else has simply ended up resembling an ultra negative 4-5-1 and a striker ploughing a lone furrow fifty yards further forward than everyone else. I know that's not how it has to be but that's certainly all it's ever been at NUFC in my time.

Created a great chance for Tiote too, the only attacking player we have who can deliver a ball with whip and pace from a wide position.

Please tell me he hasn't really said that.

We were conceding too many set piece goals even before Taylor got injured tbf, though it's hardly helped.

Infuriating that he'd rather howk it out for a throw in than use his right foot.

I thought we were dreadful from start to finish.

Had no choice to be fair, Ben Arfa certainly can't play there.

He'd be a good centre half if he wasn't a short-arse. A very poor footballing full back unfortunately, no delivery whatsoever. Ryan Taylor should be playing there simply for that.

Play him on the left and move Jonas to the right. We're simply not getting enough quality into the box. Having a manager who claims that a player who has played as a left winger his entire career can't play there is an embarrassment. Give him a DVD of last year's game at Goodison ffs.

We'll whack it long and get fuck all. Ben Arfa might get twenty minutes if he's lucky.

Currently looks like he could be on the fields for weeks on end and not get a sniff of a chance.

Ba looked at Best and was inspired to belt the free kick into the top corner.

You be happy with it all you like, 1 point from the last two home games is totally unacceptable. What's our form, 2 points from 18? He's thrown the good start down the toilet.

Played more long ball stuff tonight than in any game under Allardyce. Utter dross.

He's an absolute embarrassment. Sorted out the home form his fans reckon.

Might have read it wrong but some bloke on there was talking about leaving the league.

It's got to be one of the most bizarre things to be proud of, your skin colour. What the fuck is that? "Brown (Hair) Supremacy" "Proud To Have Quite Long Fingers" "Hairy Chest Alliance"

Fair enough, personally I don't pay attention to any of that, didn't even know about it, I just think he's done a good job for NUFC and been one of only three consistent team members in a period where we've come from right down in the doldrums to where we are now and has been a big part of the team spirit that has carried right through. He's not a great player by any stretch of the imagination but he's never hid, played nearly every game across three massive seasons for us, played out of position when asked and never been an ounce of bother despite looking like he might be a prime candidate for it on the surface. If we didn't sign footballers who were arrogant, we'd barely be able to put a squad together. I say all this as someone who really disliked him as a player when he first arrived too, thought he was barely a Championship player but he's an average Premier League full back, which is absolutely fine for where we've been in recent times. Just get a bit sick of people saying they hate our players, even on a personal level, who've done nothing to deserve it, Guthrie and Lovenkrands are another two examples. Now Alan Smith - there's somebody we can all be united in detesting.

and fuck off.....i hate the manc twat. He is shite and im still dreaming of Santon and Cissokho as our fullbacks... What on Earth is to hate about him?

I'm absolutely sick he'll still play against us mind, that's the main reason I wanted him banned. Gutted.

Yes. Yes they can.

We're not shooting enough from the edge of the area, Cabaye was peppering the goal from distance early on, can't even remember his last effort now other than his goal against Wigan, although he has been playing deeper while Tiote's been out. Other than Ba off the post the closest we came to scoring on Saturday was Jonas who has notched several from outside the area for us, which goes to show you don't have to be Laurent Robert to have a dig. That was another reason actually which made Pardew's reasoning for not bringing HBA on on Saturday look even more ridiculous. An effort from range might have been the only way past Swansea's defence and we know how well he can hit them. While I'm not a huge fan of Jermain Defoe as a first XI striker, I love watching how easy it is for him when he picks the ball up 20 yards out, he makes it look like he could stick it in the corner 99 times out of 100 without the keeper getting near it. He doesn't have fantastic technique or a rocket shot but he hits it low, hard and into the corners and that generally gets the job done.

He's done well all season, been fairly consistent at what he's good at but my only concern would be that he seems to be getting less and less likely to score every week. I'd be interested to know how many chances he's had since his goal at Villa, I bet it's less than 5, very different to the back end of last season and start of this where he was finding it very easy getting on the end of stuff. Interestingly the Villa game was the one before Ba got off the mark with his hat trick against Blackburn, Best may see himself as more useful trying to create chances and space for Ba than himself. He is good at that but I'd like to see him looking a greater threat. We don't have enough goals from elsewhere to accommodate a striker who's not getting goals or even chances and we can't depend on Ba entirely.