Flip

some people will stop at nothing to acknowledge a good performance by our 'figures of hate' another shocking statement. imo, Santon showed more positive qualities in 15 mins than Simpson did in 75. I saw it, with my own eyes, it happened, imo I completely agree with you DrV, I thought the Santon switch was an astute decision at the time (Bale looked to be getting more space against a flagging/stretched Simpson) and Santon is not exactly short of attacking flair. My post to HowK was about his steadfast refusal to acknowledge Shola's contribution, crediting the change in performance solely to Ben Arfa (and Santon) instead...because they're 'cool' players Fair do's man,Shola was f***ing unreal like He was, sucks that we can't get that Shola even three times a season. Its always one great game and then 25 average ones with a possible goal from a penalty.

Ben Arfa has to start against Wigan. I don't care if he puts Best or Obertan on the bench. Rather Obertan tbh, but we just have to get this guy going so he can bum the top teams when we play them in 3 straight weekends.

only area we are lacking decent backup is defence imo. we have marveaux and ben arfa on the bench! that should show that we have depth But we have Obertan in the Starting XI

Looks overweight, uninterested and egoistic.

Deserves a lot of praise. People go on about him going missing. But fucking hell, he doesn't need to appear if he just keeps spreading those balls around. Class.

Eh? He did the exactly same thing last week against Wolves but the blind ref gave them a freekick instead.

Krul Santon/Raylor Saylor Colo Santon/Raylor Marv Cabaye Tiote Jonas Barfa Ba Not sure its fair on Best, but this is a game to introduce Barfa, and Simpson & Alienhead needs to give space for Santon and Marv.

How important isn't he? Seems to do that little dribbling by the sideline like Enrique used to do, but never gets caught in possession. Class player, class hair and class captain.

Such a frustrating player. Maybe the most frustrating player I've seen with this shirt for many years. Seems to make the team better with his running and so on, but is absolutely shit as a footballer durng 95% of the game. After 5 games he's more frustrating than Shola.

How can anyone disagree with the fact that we bossed the first half is beyond idiotic. We might not have created anything, but to go down 1-0 was an injustice towards the way we played in that half. Absolutely bossed a top 4 contender with passing the ball around and letting them chase. Great performance, good result and bring on Wigan, Stoke and Everton. Massive 3 games before we play the BIG 3.

Ben Arfa tried to kill us today.

It's like 5 year olds defending there from the Taylors. Fucking hell. Pardew time to make some magic.

Need to get Ben Arfa. No kidding, either Obertan or Best off and both are playing well. We need something special. Those two won't provide us with something special.

Smart play by Ade, stupid by Taylor. Spot on.

Aye, totally s*** play by him. Done nowt this game. Not sure if serious, but ARE YOU f***ing KIDDING ME? Been our best player this half along with Tiote. Spreading the ball around and making us pass. Class performance from whole team. Want Barfa in for Obertan though. Obertans been on the ball about 4 times as much. Look at the game, Cabaye is opening up the pitch. Obertan wouldn't touch the ball twice if it wasn't for Cabaye.

Nah tiote and Cabaye are dominating that middle fo the park.

Aye, totally s*** play by him. Done nowt this game. Not sure if serious, but ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? Been our best player this half along with Tiote. Spreading the ball around and making us pass. Class performance from whole team. Want Barfa in for Obertan though.

FUCKING DISAPPOINTING THAT, after playing so well.

I disagree. He has been very consistent this season. He doesn't go missing, people have to realize that just because he hasn't got a shot on goal or so he hasn't gone missing. His running and marking along with Tiote has helped us recover so much possession and his simple and accurate passing game has helped our team develop a bit of confidence. He is so confident on the ball and always makes the simplest of it all mixed with brilliance at time that it helps our team. It's so nice to finally have some ball passing instead of running and attacking from the wide or just lumping it to a striker. He's a class player and has been very impressive this season.

How about beating Slovenia 2-1 away from home and Serbia (a Serbia with Vidic, Ivanovic, Jovanovic, Stankovic, Krasic, Zigic etc.) 3-1 away from home, and matching Italy at home even though they lost? Beating Northern Ireland 4-1 at home is a very respectable result too I mean Italy beat them 3-0. Not saying Ireland don't have enough to beat them, but don't take Estonias great games away from them and Ireland really shouldn't underestimates. The delegates laughing happy at the draw were being really disrespectful.

Nah, one SHIT side and one average side. Arsenal clearly being the average.

Went to Tallinn a few months back, loved the place, people were so friendly and the food was great. Is football the number one sport over there? I think that basketball is the most popular sport. Football is second, but Estonian league attendances are absolutely terrible. Read somewhere it was 188 or so in average per game couple of season back. Love it. Ireland will be in big trouble if they underestimate Estonia. Ireland is no doubt a better team on paper, but that doesn't say a lot and by the looks of the Irish delegates laughing shows that no one believes in Estonia, yet they were probably in the most difficult qualifying group playing 3 World Cup teams. We'll see, I think Estonia will upset. But it won't be easy for sure for Ireland. In the end it will all depend on if Richard Dunne wants to score an own goal or not.

Wow, Ireland are in trouble. Will underestimate Estonia and most probably lose. Estonia have beaten Northern Ireland 2-1 and Slovenia 2-1 away from home. Even if Estonia lost to Faroe Islands it was their only real bad result this year. They almost beat Italy and beat Serbia away from home. Four points from Serbia Six points from Northern Ireland Three points from Slovenia All this suggest Ireland will be in great toruble if Estonia has a good day.

s*** post Stu Honestly, very good post.