Teasy

Well yeah if he was getting 30 goals a season he could play as shit as he wants like, goes without saying

Certainly if he started, perhaps he could play near the end if the game is settled but yeah could still be a risk. Its not a crazy decision if that's all it is.

Can't understand that like, if we lost today we'd be right back in trouble again. I'd rather go out of Europe than have to worry about relegation again. Nowt to do with wether I think Ben Arfa should play, just saying I think winning today is more important personally.

Well I disagree, but I went into why in the other thread so I won't go on about it.

The Anzhi game is more important than this game?? Or do you just mean we need Ben Arfa more against Anzhi than we need him today?

He shouldn't be playing much of the game against Anzhi if he can't play today. How can you be happy that he's now going to be even further behind match fitness? Match fitness will come its important after being out for so long he is managed properly and Anzhi is the priority as far as HBA is concerned Of course we have to be careful. Doesn't mean anyone should be happy that he's picked up a knock and so can't gain more match fitness today. Its going to be nothing but set him further back. Also Anzhi shouldn't be any more of a priority for Ben Arfa as any other match at the moment.

He'll probably start up front and play 90 minutes plus extra time against Anzhi, Pardews a walking contradiction after all.

He shouldn't be playing much of the game against Anzhi if he can't play today. How can you be happy that he's now going to be even further behind match fitness?

No they'd be expecting him to play on a normal pitch in this country for 10-20 minutes to gain fitness. Not 60 minutes thousands of miles away on a pitch Pardew himself said could cause injuries. It's funny because when the teams were confirmed on Thursday I seem to remember more joy at the inclusion of Ben Arfa than anger Of course people were excited to see him play. But I don't remember many having a go before hand by saying "Pardew has to involve Ben Arfa today", like many did against Swansea. Anyone who did was fucking mental IMO.

Of course we don't neen Ben Arfa to have a great chance of beating Stoke, not the point really. Him getting 20 minutes or so against this lot today could have put him much closer to full fitness. Nobody wants him to play today if he's got a knock, its how he got that knock that people are questioning.

No they'd be expecting him to play on a normal pitch in this country for 10-20 minutes to gain fitness. Not 60 minutes thousands of miles away on a pitch Pardew himself said could cause injuries.

I normally play on Legend, fucking ridiculously difficult.

If true, then what on fucking earth was Pardew thinking. But its Ryder, so probably fine

What difficulty you playing on like?

Though to be fair I doubt Remy would score as many if he was out wide left rather then right up front.

It won't fix the underlying financial problems in Football (ones that have been their for decades). Just saying its not pointless, their's nothing I hate more than the Chelsea/Man City takeover scenarios and I think if it was allowed to happen again that would be it for me and Football (certainly close to it anyway). They've sponsored absolutely everything they own right to the limits of believability and beyond and its gained them a relatively small extra sum of cash per season (£10-15m more than the going rate). I'd rather have these clubs having to do their utmost to funnel some limited extra funds into the club than have then simply allowed to put whatever they want in at the drop of a hat. I wish they were investigated and stopped completely, but obviously that isn't going to happen because the games run by crooks. Also what would you have liked them to put in place to stop the possibility of Man City or anyone else going to court against any FFP rules?

But it won't even do that if they can self sponsor hundreds of millions which would normally only bring in a small % of that. That's over 10 seasons, £40m per season for naming rights on the shirt, stadium and training complex (maybe £10m-15m per season more than you'd expect for a club in their situation). In the first 3 years of the Abu Dhabi ownership Man City spent over £400m on fees and probably another couple of hundred million went on extra wages on top of what they could normally afford. Even a ridiculous sponsorship deal like that doesn't scrape the surface on what it costs to do what they did neither would an allowed loss of £33m per season. Also does anyone know if that £33m allowed loss is only just an initial thing for a certain number of seasons once FFP kicks in?, or is it a constant for every season after it kicks in? These FFP rules will never stop overspending, but they do limit it at least. They aren't good enough at all and should do more, but I'm still in the somethings better than nothing camp.

Not very effective doesn't equal worth fuck all. If all it does is make another Man City situation impossible than its still done something good, as it is it could very well do more than that. I wonder why Man City haven't spent massively again to sustain their trophy run?

Nothings actually happened yet..

We were battering them until the 80th minute, once they came back into it that was the time to change things. Waiting until the 89th minute was pointless.

Dont kid yourself, he'd reject it and wait for the inevitable increased offer to come in, then do the same again until he's milked them for an astronomical fee. If they wont pay that kind of fee then he wont be going there IMO. Unless he requests the move, which seems incredibly unlikely.

I suppose he was deliberately sabotaging us on any of the occasions when he completely fucked up the starting line up or made the perfectly wrong substitutions that led to us throwing away points? People suggesting he might do the wrong thing doesn't mean they think he's doing it with malice. Its just that they don't trust his judgment anymore. Also doesn't help when he says stupid things like "Player X is in terrific condition but lacks match fitness, so he won't be involved in the next match".

I hope he's just in mind game mode, but I wouldn't put it past him to be that cautious.

They've name Hawkeye and Goal Ref, but also said other companies are free to bid. Oh I thought they would have come to a decision on which technology they're using considering they've approved the use of it and confirmed when its going to start being used. Hopefully they don't go with Hawkeye as that seems like the wrong technology to use IMO.