The College Dropout

So many things where right today. We actually came out with a bang. Pressing strongly. Looking to score.

Got a big mention just now. Good work there by Pardew.

Totally agree. Best striker since Shearer and people here would be happy to see him sold or moved wide.

Madras point is that MOVEMENT is the key to any formation. Atm, if we moved to a 4-3-3 it would be rigid as hell, no movement and thus barely an improvement on our 4-4-2.

Big Sam has had the chance to build a side in his image with WHU, with some backing in the transfer market. Here he had "good" players like Owen and Martins but he played a style that didn't suit them and ultimately paid the price. Sounds similar to our current situation. I'm sure we'd be further up the league if we signed AC like.Not that I want that but that's Pardew's style.

So you're worried about us getting into a relegation battle but not worried about us actually going down because of that time we actually went down? Can see us finishing 13-16th at worst. 16th is a relegation battle. We were miraculously shit when we got relegated and we where 1 point off safety. We won't be that shit again. Not having 3 managers in one season will help like.

A lot of words. A lot of shit imo there Tmonkey.

Yep passing and moving would be lovely. Not being so flat is another thing. We have isolated strikers. Often low width. Our 4-4-2 is only close to working with Cabaye-Tiote who won't play together until mid February at the best of times.

I think this is all down to Pardew & the Fat Man. Pardew should tell Tiote to keep it simple and the Fat Man should have signed another midfielder who will look to make things happen like Guthrie attempted instead of another DM.

People have this notion that Pardew plays a 4-4-2 for Ba. No, one of the reasons he plays a 4-4-2 is that he wants both his goalscorers in goalscoring positions at all times. Pardew is wrong for that because it's not working. If one of the strikers should be sacrificed it should be Cisse. And by sacrificed I mean the bench. Ba looks knackered by 60 minutes anyway so Cisse would have his opportunities. If Maybe he's scoring, then we can talk about moving Ba wide.

Your comparing the best team in the world to a team coached by Diego Maradona. Apples and Oranges mate. He's more or less the EXACT same type of player Ba is. Ba's not Drogba either but he's managed to BE A GOALSCORER this season. Ba's a finisher and he's finished chances, Cisse hasn't. Ba hasn't had great service either but he's scored goals. He's scored from the scraps we've given him and he'll score as long he's played centrally in any system atm. I can't say the same for Cisse. I'll repeat. Cisse was scoring freely in a 4-4-2 last season. I can think of 3 goals off the top of my head. His confidence is gone and that will only return once he starts putting a few away.

the problem is Cisse HAS been playing up front. Not by himself but he's been up front and has not been scoring. He was scoring in a 4-4-2 last season. Ba should stay in the middle and someone else should go wide. Cisse's general play won't improve, neither will his finishing if we play him central of a 3. If you play a 4-3-3 and the middle striker is not scoring, most likely you'll have poor results. We can't carry that with Cisse.

It's not like we have been creating bucket loads of chances for Ba. The 4-4-2 the way we play it has both of them in prime positions to score. Only 1 does it regularly and it's Ba. Cisse hasn't done anything this season to suggest he should be starting.

When we where winning? When we kept clean sheets? Steven Taylor didn't play during our best period, is Williamson better than him too? Playing alongside Cisse doesn't suit Ba much either but he's still managed to score goals. If any should be dropped or moved wide it should be Cisse. I haven't seen ANYTHING from Cisse this season that suggests he should play up top by himself. We where 4-4-2 several times at the end of last season when he was on fire. Including the debut goal and the Chelsea match. Cisse hasn't shown anything to suggest he can play wide, playing him there would be strange. Other than Ben Arfa, who will be on the other wing, Ba is the only competent player on our books who can play as a wide forward. Aye, Cisse should be on the bench. His performances have been poor.

Would be nice to see a Tiote-Cabaye-HBA trident. Either way Tiote should keep it simple and IMO he should be told not to do that if he's taken it on his own behest. His short passes according to the stats are pretty decent, especially the lateral passes.

When we where winning? When we kept clean sheets? Steven Taylor didn't play during our best period, is Williamson better than him too? Playing alongside Cisse doesn't suit Ba much either but he's still managed to score goals. If any should be dropped or moved wide it should be Cisse. I haven't seen ANYTHING from Cisse this season that suggests he should play up top by himself. We where 4-4-2 several times at the end of last season when he was on fire. Including the debut goal and the Chelsea match.

This is largely not his personal fault. He's basically our playmaker at this point. We all saw it coming, Tiote would receive the ball more and he would be forced to attempt hollywood balls because the strikers are so far away and he'll be the only one to try and make something happen. He's not being told to keep it simple and his long passes is him trying to push the game. I don't mind the box-to-box aspect. He's a powerhouse and always shows for the ball but he should be told and have the option to keep it simple. You want him to flex on the opposition but keep it simple when he's on the ball. Agree with the Parker comparison. Roeder thought he was our Stevie G and Parker was never that. Furthermore, Parker like Tiote doesn't hide in football matches therefore he's very visible for criticism. If Tiote is the destroyer, creator and engine what does Jonas do? from the youtube videos of Anita he's the most pure DM we have. Anita the Dm, Tiote box to box, Cabaye with more attacking intent. imo.

He's the only player scoring and people want him out wide. Insane.

Scapegoat despite being one of our better performers.

According to Fabregas (and when you see some of the goals they concede) Wenger rarely talks about the opposition at all. they don't look to specifically stop the opposition.

He hasn't always been a first teamer. He spent a good while on the bench our first year back iirc.

I'm not worried about relegation at all. There's worse in the league. Remember how shit we where when we went down? Even then we only needed another point to survive. A relegation battle? Maybe yes.

Not smallest, just the weakest in the air. Evra's one of the smallest at Man United.

Think we are more likely to beat Stoke than Wigan atm. Against another side that don't want to play football we might do well. Didn't work against WHU but that was better than what happened against the teams that play football.

Passing and moving would be nice.