Kanj

He was still getting chances too, which still boggles my mind as people seem to totally gloss over that fact. He was just missing them. Obviously he was having to work harder and run a fair bit more in terms of tracking back but there were also plenty of occasions where he swapped with Cisse for prolonged periods and it was Cisse doing the donkey work. He was miss kicking, snatching at shots, hitting the bar a few times or getting tripped in box before he was going to tee up etc. had he scored those hed be perfectly fine in the role. But he seems to think it was the role vs his own inability to score / get a break.

To be honest they both are pretty average at passing, controlling, etc in terms of general play. Obviously one looks better than the other when the confidence is up and they are scoring. When Ba was on his run of scoring last season and earlier this season his general play looked pretty good (more so last season) and when Cisse was scoring he was putting the ball about very smoothly. His touch has looked off this campaign, and most definitely looked better last night.

Looked quicker for some reason tonight...

Despite his shortcomings in terms of passing etc, he put in a fucking class shift grafting all over the pitch, trying to tackle etc. His anticipation for the cough up and finish were superb. He did this same thing vs Maritomiobi and was marginally offside. He's got a superb attitude despite having 0 chances in front of goal and being out of form. Great performance from such a likable guy and talent. But again, he should be the focal point and we should playing to his brilliant finishing ability.

Yes Yes Yes Yes please.

Good and nice lad but terrible footballer. He's clearly peaked his career with us last season. He needs to be way down the pecking order and sold.

How about the fucking man open up the strings a-bit and sign some players on Jan 1.

Hit fitness levels are insane

Marv should have been on around 65 mintues

I hate to disappoint you but it's unlikely this'll happen just saw AP confirm he wouldn't play. Sorry.

I still stand behind him. Cisse scoring today was huge for us and him. Hatem back on Monday, our lads will get this together. Its alarming, its scary - but they'll do this. They have to.

I dont even know what to say. I'm just truly gutted right now.

Cisse is fucking working his arse off man

FFS that lineup

1-2 to us. Cisse and Ba both score and we turn our f***ing season around starting today.

Ethi has got to be on the wind up

Selfishly it would help us compete with signings, and the old argument of a player leaving for CL football would be moot if we were to get our act together and challenge for top 7 each year. But yeah, agree with those who are saying it would really kill the competition. to this idea.

Holy f*** (nline)

this page of posts man

Yep. Not fit to be first choice. Criminal, absolutely criminal that we didn't get one more over the line in the summer. Just makes the summer that much more damning evidence of how the board has got it all wrong in terms of player recruitment and sales. Taylor is a good player but has proved himself to be nothing more than a squad rotation player, his injury record is utterly shit.

Our high pressure and closing-down was ridiculous. We absolutely bossed them the entire match, literally felt like we were taking the piss too.

Watched it again, its fucking hilarious man. It def is worse than I thought.

He should really just be on the pitch with complete freedom to play his game. Sure put him on the right of a front 3 or behind the two central strikers and just ask that he comes back to help out in defense when he can/we need it. But other than that, he'll quickly identify who who can take and what he can do and just dominate. Give him some observations when he can and give him a quick run-down at half-time on some things he could improve on or things he could take advantage on.

Joey man.

This pretty much sums up how I feel. Me too, superb post. True that Moyes didn't have Ben Arfa and Ba et al... but he also didn't have Williamson or Simpson et al. Cracking post that - really find myself agreeing with this.