Rich

really ? yes more investment would be nice but if we played as we 'know' we are capable would this conversation be happening ? In truth, we played to our supposed capability about half-a-dozen times last season. The vast majority of the time was a struggle similar to this, except we were conceding a few less and scoring a few more. There is at least one glaring weakness in the first team, quite probably two, and we are woefully short of options up front. To say our current situation has "sod all" to do with a lack of investment (or ambition) is wrong. It has a fair bit to do with it.

"Sod all" might be over-egging the pudding a bit.

really? Do you? Or are you going to continue to highlight a very vague Cabaye incident? The movement around the lad is horrendous. To clarify I'm not on the HBA is shit/not a team player side of the argument, but how about when we broke and he had Demba Ba to his right (movement around him) for a relatively easy set up and he overhit it towards the corner flag? He should have done better there, but in fairness that whole break came because of his brilliance in the first place. Thought we had another Bolton goal on our hands.

Cabaye should have scored imo in 1st half. Ah yeah, knew there'd be one. That was the best chance we had.

Nine efforts on goal, but how many of them were genuine chances that we've fashioned? The attempts on goal I remember were all either from distance or from set-plays, and none of them bar the Ba one (came out of nothing) really troubled them. That header from Ba and the tame effort from Williamson were the only two I recall from inside of their box.

Still can't understand why we weren't in for Diame on a free transfer, seems to me like he would compliment Tiote and Cabaye excellently in the middle and he fits all of our usual criteria for a move. He is erratic and somewhat inconsistent, but he's a fucking good player. A powerful runner from the centre of midfield is a huge asset in the modern game - we don't have one.

Perch was estimated to be out for a month, he won't be back.

Results. There's a difference.

Krul Santon Williamson Taylor Ferguson Anita Tiote Cabaye Cisse Ba Ben Arfa Wide as fuck Keegan 4-3-3 with Cisse in the Owen role, Ba in the Viduka role and Ben Arfa in the Martins role. Basically just something in a 4-3-3 where the front three have some fucking licence to roam and create. /desperate

In terms of his own standards he was disappointing because of his final ball, but in comparison to the rest of the team - perhaps Santon and Ba excepted from an attacking POV - he was in a different league, yet again. He was consistently beating multiple players in a single dribble and looking like our only chance of creating a breakthrough at times. To call him "shit" is scandalous.

Don't know how on Earth a performance like that can be described as "shit". Fuck me.

Duff and Boumsong? I doubt it. Eh?

Did we ever have Solano, Boumsong, Moore and Babayaro as a quartet?

Edgar, Ramage, Taylor and Huntington say "hi". Could actually list you about five or six of our defences from that time for similar effect, but I think that one may have been the worst

No idea what to expect from that selection at all. In theory I can see the logic at adding more pace to the team and attempting to provide us with some natural width - which let's be honest we have completely lacked all season due to playing Jonas and Ben Arfa on their "wrong sides" (to use a Pardism) and having Santon and Simpson as the fullbacks - but it does look lightweight on paper. If we start as though we're up for it and we can get the ball out wide enough we'll win this comfortably. 3-1 or something like that. Howay the lads.

I am win. Again.

They've definitely curtailed the training footage on the website, it used to be a dead giveaway for team selection and I'm assuming it was readily used by opposition analysts to predict the team we would put out. Well ones with any ingenuity about them at least. Don't think it's much of a stretch to say that someone inside the coaching staff noticed this and had a word. They've also actively made the training slideshows more confusing to decipher in terms of the selection of pictures used and the times they were taken during the session. This is good really, because it shows we've got someone in there who knows the crack. That was the first time in ages there's been anything meaningful on there in terms of tactical setup and drills being shown, so maybe Pardew has just given the green light on this occasion knowing that Big Sam and his army of analysts will probably predict the team anyway (he'll have one who has that as his major responsibility and who probably has something like a 95%+ hit rate). Or maybe he's throwing a curveball. We'll see.

Ah, just seen it mentioned on the last page. Soz.

Think we might see Ferguson starting this one, you know? Krul Simpson Williamson S. Taylor Santon Ben Arfa Cabaye Jonas Ferguson Cisse Ba First inkling was when he didn't feature at all in Brugge, especially when Tavernier was picked ahead of him at LB, and then just watching Pardew's pre-match press conference on NUFC TV there it repeatedly shows a training setup where the front six I've put up there are working on a crossing drill with Taylor, Simpson and Santon. All of them in position. I'm assuming Williamson is resting after going off injured in Brugge.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2229418/FC-Bruges-v-Newcastle-Cheick-Tiote-best-behaviour.html#ixzz2BaFwJWii Quite like the sound of that from Pardew. Time for the likes of Marveaux to show something.

Funny enough I actually did have 4 points after uni today LOL. I needed them though, had a fuckin' tough exam . Uni? Honestly thought you were about 54 20?

Yep, very well done Celtic. The Watt sub was ideal. Total school football tactics, but it worked a treat. Get someone quick and hoik it over the top for them to run after.

To think we kept KrulHarper over him makes me feel sick. FYP He didn't want to stay to be second choice, rightly enough, so it's a total moot point. He's definitely a good 'keeper though.

To think we kept Krul over him makes me feel sick.

If we're going 4-2-3-1 as we have tended to in Europe then I'd prefer to see Amalfitano or Marveaux in the attacking central slot, instead of going with Anita-Bigirimana-Tiote like last time. Could have made that clearer.