The College Dropout

I used to think his presence meant something positive. Some defensive protection.....

Very good passer of the ball. Makes the wrong decision at times but is far more positive on the ball than someone like Jenas ever was and is already a better passer than the likes of Parker. Biggest surprise of the season for me. You don't really get young English/African lads playing in the lower leagues with such technique.

I don't think we concede 3 goals from open-play against Man Utd. with Tiote imo. Always said we are too light in the middle without him. IMO Anita, Cabaye & Bigi need a tough-tackler alongside them. I'm pretty certain with everyone fit Pard's will go Tiote-Anita-Cabaye. With Bigi & Marv looking to replace Tiote and Cabs if we need a goal. IMO Marv has looked a better playmaker than Cabaye, he can carry the ball and pass but Cabs works so much harder.

Probably something like this....club would be happy to move him on before he gets pas 28 so they can get the 7.5m....his dodgy knee is going to put people off after he passes 28. That doesn't mean they have a decent replacement lined up though....they don't think past the immediate cash grab.. He & the club want Ba to sign or leave. It's that simple. They're all gambling men and they have a weak hand. Keeping it in the public may encourage Ba to sign or entice someone to buy. They know they're only 18 months away from letting him go for free.

Situation is made very difficult with the fact, Ba isn't desperate to leave. He's looking for the right move/a big payday but would happily re-evaluate his options in 12-18 months. The club would much rather he leave or sign a proper contract. Pard's isn't in control of transfers so whatever he does in the press is just desperate. He just wants to be given the best squad possible and atm he must reckon Remy in - Ba out for 7.5m would happen and be a decent deal as he knows if Ba leaves in summer '14 there might not be a cash-bought replacement. Realistically Ba could score 50 goals in that time.

HOW IS THAT NOT A RED?

Tell you what. Bigi, Marv and Anita are among our very best passers. Only Cabs + HBA are close.

Aye we barely create any chances at all but this system is custom built for Ba. I mean swapping he and Cisse will solve all our problems. in fact, les sell him. The cahnt.

Pardew is safety first and tbf Marv isn't the hardest worker. With the players we have available, someone like 'Arry would look at Marv and see a match winner. Someone with a set of keys to unlock defences. Not our Pards.

one One more than anyone else on the pitch tbf. Marv looked good thouh.

How's that ever going to happen, though? Ba leaving? How is Cisse ever going to start scoring again? Come on, man. He's either going to have to start scoring as a winger or in a partnership with Ba - neither will happen on a consistent basis. Heavens forbid, score alongside another striker.

Both are/were playing central. Ba has taken his chances, Cisse hasn't. I am pro 4-4-3/4-5-1/4-2-3-1 as anyone but I don't believe the only reason Cisse isn't scoring is because Ba isn't playing on the left. If Cisse starts banging them in I will change my mind but so far Ba is the one who has EARNED that central role. He has forced the issue but as he is walking the walk I can't see how anyone can take issue with him. If he kicked off to play centrally then failed then fair enough but he has scored the majority of our goals and justified his request. If we play better with one up top it shouldn't be the one who is performing that is dropped. Clap for this man.

See, I think that a good manager doesn't even say this kind of thing publicly. No problem at all challenging Cisse to find his best, but why are you telling us? “Sometimes with players you need to show loyalty and sometimes you need to show faith – I will always do that with my strikers. “But there does come a point when I have to say ‘OK, let’s try something new.’ Shola is knocking on the door at the minute. He wants to have a go and that’s something I will need to look closely at over the next couple of games.” I lose faith in the man when his idea of something new is putting a lesser player into the same system that has us flirting with relegation. This I can agree with but we don't have many options.

I wonder about this as well. I still don't 100% believe that Pards is playing Ba central just to keep him happy though... there must be actual football reasons that he believes in as well. Goals, bro. Pardew probably has as much confidence in Cisse recently as Cisse does in himself, which is understandable. It's a self-fulfilling prophesy though isn't it? You play a pure frontman wide and he won't get any goals, and he won't have any confidence. Spot on, he was bound to start this season still on cloud 9 but from the off he was not played where he was amazing last season, if he is not going to play where he is best then bench him and play a formation that suits Ba and the rest of the squad OR start him and bench Ba or play Ba in another role. If he cannot get both scoring then play one or the other. Err... he started the season upfront. He played solely as a striker until the Everton game.

I wonder about this as well. I still don't 100% believe that Pards is playing Ba central just to keep him happy though... there must be actual football reasons that he believes in as well. I mean, what could those footballing reasons be? Cisse's been scoring loads and half of Ba's goals have come off his arse.. wait....

Arsenal strikers imo pacy & strong, or exceptionally technically gifted #10. RVP, Bergkamp, Henry, Adebayour, Wright, Wiltord heck even Kanu could do some amazing things. Giroud's not fast and he doesn't have that Arsenal touch, Dennis, Robin & Nwankwu have. Imo Berbatov's an Arsenal man, Sturridge could've been an Arsenal man. Giroud's not. Not to say he won't go on to be a great player for them but he marks a shift from the traditional mould. Nothing wrong with that. People have said they need a no-dilly striker on their books and he might be the man.

Tbf Wenger's signed Giroud & Chamakh who are never Arsenal players and can't score.

Simpson's been defending pretty well recently. certainly better than Davide.

Aye 'Arry will come in.

Santon and Colo have been worse defensively these last few weeks. At the moment i'd drop Santon for fergie a) as a kick up the arse. He's been somewhat at fault for a few goals these last few games b) some bloody width. IMO Santon's not at that level where he needs to play even if he's in bad form like Krul, Colo, Tiote, Cabaye, HBA, one of the Demba's. That's our spine.

HBA's natural inclination is not to provide width. On the left he still looks to surge into the box and cutback/dink a ball-in. He needs someone to provide an overlap. He can go outside but that's not his natural game ala Robert or Solano. There's no other option that having our fullbacks provide width imo. You can blame Danny for his delivery at Fulham but look how he provided an outball. Santon never does that for us.

A little surprised by the Sturridge to L'pool deal.

They're not scoring against decent teams the way they should. I'd be shocked if they didn't try to strengthen in the summer. Going for the rest of the season with Walcott as their best striker is ill-advised.

I agree but Wenger imo is desperate. He brought in Arteta last season because he needed someone. Demba's Frenchness and PL experience is a huge advantage. Much like the Arteta deal he needs someone to come in and excel straight away. Looks like he has a choice between Huntelaar & Ba, both are established players in their late twenties. Neither are special in general technical build-up play but both are great finishers. Out of both of them, I reckon he'd plunge for Ba.