The College Dropout

He was superb today, won me over. Pardew let him off the shackles and he was a joy. Really wish we had a Solano type wide player to pick up some of those balls no homo.

The French Paul Scholes sounds about right, too. Pops up with some awful tackles at times. True.

Nothing so far, you must have missed his shot against Fulham and his his other attacking moves (forward runs) before this? Meireles (whose not an attacking midfielder) makes more of those in 1 match than Cabaye has in 4. I didn't mean it literally and he still has time to settle in. I just don't understand the love-in with him thus far.

Must he always be compared to Nile just because he's a black attacking player? They're nothing alike. I get it.

That's what I meant, from what I have seen of both of them in our games, they both play deep and don't seem to suit each others game. Might be a bit premature to say that but not been encouraged by their partnership so far. In isolation I think Cabaye is a good player and a better footballer than Nolan, but Nolan would gamble often and take an opposition midfielder back with him, leaving more space for Tiote and the full backs, so would be more valuable for the team. That was highlighted last night when we literally didn't pick up a second ball after hitting it forward. As I said we're only four games in but it's a bit worrying for me. Really think we need another player in there. Course we miss Barton who would tuck in and act as a third CM too. Totally agree with this.

Thought he was one of the worst performers last night. He runs around but he doesn't gobble up ground effectively, he basically just chases. I don't know whether he's been told to sit or that's his natural style of play but he is too deep, he doesn't make an impression on the opposition midfielders to go backwards. Worst of all he has the tendency to go anonymous, seemed like 5-10 minutes went by in the second half that he barely did anything except lose possession in one of the 3 times we managed to string 3 forward passes together. He doesn't make himself open for a pass enough for my liking. He's contributed to our defensive strength but we need him as an attacking force as he's offered nothing thus far. Needs to show some dynamism, forward runs or passes. Not sure he and Tiote compliment each other as they both sit so deep. I remember we had Speed & Jenas playing very deep the season we finished 5th and we where a lot more solid that year although we conceded plenty of late goals. Problem here is that we don't have Robert, Solano, Shearer & Bellamy to shoulder the attacking burden. And in any case that seemed a thought-out decision by SBR and we played a particular way. Pardew on the other hand.....

Palacios is a good player anyway.

Too many "bottlers" in the side afraid to use the ball for any purpose. Simpson and Raylor want shot of the damn thing asap. Obertan & Cabaye go missing. Best's a poacher and Shola is shit. Tiote's not the greatest on the ball and he keeps getting caught in possession but atleast he was visible unlike Cabaye. I'd start Sammy ahead of Obertan as he actually looks like he wants the ball and will attempt to beat a man.

He hasn't been convicted of anything so he hasn't been proven to have done anything wrong. Plus the Barton twitter stuff was bigger than just his individual statements.

The new lads are all quite handsome. Cabaye Santon Marveaux Abeid Sammy makes you appreciate exactly how handsome Shola actually is. Oh yeah.. no homo.

I think it's a good signing. Yossi is a true professional. Rosicky (arguably Arshavin too) is finished and they need him out the squad. Straight replacement for one of them. Still need some more players though.

Calling him Dyer is a big compliment at this stage.

They must be looking at how much 20m can do for them and not how easy it is for Mikel to obtain. They could make that 5 times over with some ease. It sounds perverse but that sounds like good news.

I can't remember seeing a player run as fast when he chased that ball down. Everyone pretty much went ''WHAT THE f***!!'' Including Sagna. Aye I was bad laughing, it was a genuine shock moment. What do people think of his general play? My brother reckons he's a bit lazy. He didn't seem all that lazy. There was one moment where he chased down a ball and it bounced in a way that made him think Sagna or whoever had got the ball and he just stood still whereas if he'd turned around he'd have seen that he could have got the ball. When an attacking move broke down near him he'd start walking back when he needed to have ran. He did this at least 3 times.

Cabaye took a corner and a freekick. Both shit.

Don't know where these good ratings for Raylor are coming from. Within 10 minutes it was obvious he was our weakest link and Arsenal continued attacking his side. Gervinho and Arshavin beat him a good 3-4 times but wasted the delivery. As the game went on Jonas protected him greatly but Raylor was still shit.

That side was our most athletic in recent years. On the break, simply terrifying. He wasn't Paul Scholes but looking back he was a fantastic player for us. Simple passes but always looked for the ball. Solano-Dyer-Speed-Robert the best midfield we've had in a long time. We've had plenty of CM's since. Jenas, Parker, Butt, Smith, Geremi, Bowyer, Barton and many more. However none proved to be as good for us as Dyer. Out of everyone from that midfield/front 6 Dyer's contribution has been the most overlooked.

Predictably not overly impressive but nor worrying either. It might be that he just needs time to adapt to the pace of the Premiership but he doesn't seem to have a great engine on him. Joey picked up a lot of his slack but he may just need extra fitness. Kept possession well and got better as the game went on. Having Shola upfront doesn't really help. Definitely think we should play with a 3 man midfield.

Sturridge on more than Smith, Colo & Barton? Pretty sure atleast one of those lads will earn over 50k.....

The worst teams to watch are Blackburn and Brum so I hope they go down. As pathetic a team Wigan are, they are entertaining even if it is just getting beat 4-0 3 times a season.

If Fergie really wants one of their players he'll sign him. Carrick, Berbatov & Keane all sold for big money top top 4 sides.

I don't think we need creativity in the middle tbh. If we have an energetic central midfielder who is comfortable playing a short passing game we would be fine. We need creativity from wide areas. kranjcar is a great call. More than anything we need options. Right now if the midfield 4 isn't working then we will struggle.

Matt Jarvis would be excellent. O'Hara too. Truthly N'Zogbia is the best player mentioned there. If he or Rodallega has a good game, Wigan get points. Not sure about his attitude though.