James

Sad.

He should be seen in the same light as a player like Kevin Gallagher. Acknowledge that he played for us and contributed and ruffled no feathers and just an all round sound guy.

I like the look. He can hold the ball up and pay deep, interchange well with the midfield, and then bam, straight into the box ready for the follow up pass. Defenders will hate his runs, especially as Ba is up there too. For what it is worth, not expecting much from him this season. I'd imagine that he starts on the bench and will have to displace whoever initially starts next to Ba.

Just get up and get on with it.

He is a very intelligent defender because he knows his weaknesses, avoids putting himself in a situation that shows off his weaknesses and he uses the strengths of his team mates.

Involvement in the goal was key despite the rest though.

For every good thing he does two bad things. I am absolutely sick of his 'on ball in centre, stand, trap ball, i'm about to do something, trap the ball, there are players all around me to pass to, lets stand around, shall i run into that space that is still there? no, trap the ball again. OK, nothing has happenned for 15 seconds, better turn pass the ball one yard backwards to Danny Guthrie' routine. Then Guthrie plays the pass he should have played 12 seconds before.

Very good, but shame he has to keep cutting onto his right foot. Killed some promising moves that after some initial good work.

Exactly Ronaldo. After 21 matches, to be 6th ahead of Livepool, equal on points with Arsenal, and just 4 points behind Chelsea using half a squad that was in the Championship two seasons ago is outstanding. It was always going to be a difficult game given the circumstances. Outsiders were predicting a draw. And for what it is worth, Ben Arfa had some good touches and passes, but for much of the game he was poor, wasteful and selfish. Bringing him on only changed the game because we adapted a more fluid system, but it wasn't because of him.

Meltdown. Reality is that a succession of football managers have thought it best for him to be on the bench.

Do you ever smile SUPERTOON?

There is another reason for Ba needing such a low clause. Because of the insurance bill a buying club would have to pay (currently according to the Chronicle bringing the purchase bill up to 20m). So this represents a high fee for the buyer already. We aren't going to want to sell for that little so without the clause it would prevent him from a big money move if it ever became a possibility.

Insurance, don't forget the multi million insurance bill a transfer would require a buying club to pay.

I must be stupid then, did not understand a shit of that It is really simple. Clubs want insurance to cover wages while a player is injured, and transfer fee in case of premature retirement. Insurance companies set the bill based on how much the player is to be covered for. So the more a player costs the higher the insurance payment. Insurers want to make sure that the payment covers the risk. Therefore when Ba's knee is looked at they ask for a very high proportion of the requested cover to be paid. This was affordable for us, but not for Stoke or Stuttgart. West Ham were desperate and may not have taken full cover. Now for Ba to leave, he would need to be enticed with better pay and we get our fee. This rockets the insurance cost up so that it can only be a deal viable for the rich stupid or desperate.

The issue is quite simple. free transfer plus pay as you play element to the contract means a low insurance bill. If a club wants to pay the 7m and match the terms Ba would ask for, then the insurance fee will rocket presuming that the insurance payments are set to a high percentage of the fee accrued by a club for Ba over the duration of the contract. Say insurance figure for Ba after his poor medical is 20 percent of what we pay. At a 30,000 a week basic pay for three years plus 2m agent fee that is 1.3m insurance fee. Now for Ba to be willing to leave he wants a 4 year contract at 50000 a week basic pay, plus 3m for his agent. We get 7m. That makes an insurance bill of 4m.

I am sure there are lots of things goalkeeper coaches do to improve keepers that are beyond the knowledge of every day fans. I would imagine stuff like footwork, positioning and timing comes up a lot. Woodman is probably like a dancing coach/judge.

Interesting connection mentioned by Branson. Last time his brand sponsored a team, they got to the Fa Cup final and Pardew played for them.

Simpson an injury doubt apparently.

So Ben Arfa had said that he preferred not to play on the wing, and Pardew is now going to challenge this.

Just a few stats on Pardew's performance as manager which for me show very conclusively that he has done a good job so far considering what he started with. League Record: P42, W15(36%), D15(36%), L12(28%), F61(1.45 a game), A57(1.36 a game), 12 Clean Sheets(28%) All Competitions (After 90 mins): P47, W16(34%), D18(38%), L13(28%), F69(1.47), A66(1.40), 12 Clean Sheets(26%) All Competitions (Final Result): P47, W18(38%), D15(32%), L14(30%), F73 (1.55), A69(1.47), 12 Clean Sheets(26%) Last 38 League Games: P38, W13 (34%), D15(39%), L10(27%), F56(1.47), A51(1.37), 11 Clean Sheets(29%) League 2011/2012 Season: P20, W9(45%), D6(30%), L5(25%), F29(1.45), A25(1.25), 7 Clean Sheets (35%)

Even with a clause can someone really be expected to meet it and get him through a medical that can sanction that fee and a contract better than we are paying. When we lose Ba it will be much less than 10m in my opinion and will be during a decline.

I do think in the long term though we should improve by looking to have a left footer on the left instead of two right footed players.

We are overdue a Mackem Derby cup tie

It is come from Karren Brady saying that he asked for a release clause at West Ham so he probably got one at Newcastle.

Remie Streete