Cronky

Fining Ba isn't going to help us keep him, he's right not to fine him. Unfortunately the desire to keep Ba happy has played a major part in Pardew's thinking over the last few months, and the team has suffered for it.

Probably because he said nothing of note. That is sooooooooooooo not the point. The rule is there for a reason and if Ba is allowed to ignore it with impunity, how can the club enforce it with the other players?

Regardless of the content of the interview or how it's been translated, it's been reported as 'unauthorised'. In that case, why has Pardew decided against fining him? There can't be one law for one player and another for the rest. This reminds me so much of how Pardew handled the Barton issue, where he was saying he had 'no problem' with a player who was making all sorts of critical remarks about the club. There are times when you have to put your foot down and take the consequences. The whole Ba thing should have been sorted out one way or the other in the summer.

I agree, only thing that worries me is it might take him a while to settle and lets say it takes a month for Cisse to get back to good form, where's our goals coming from?(if Ba goes I mean) It's a risk we'll have to take. If we don't change things, we're heading south.

I think Giroud was signed with some measure of desperation. Given Arsenal's wage / financial policy, he was the best one available. Ba would come into the same category. What Arsenal really need to hitch them on to the next level is a Bergkamp / Henry / Van Persie, but they can't land or keep ones of that quality any more.

Sturridge may develop into a very good player. The problem is he already thinks that he is one. I don't understand the fuss about Ince. I can see him being a disappointment if he gets transferred to one of the major clubs.

What the fuck? That is absolutely ridiculous conjecture man. Just because it's conjecture doesn't mean it isn't true. Ba has been tarting himself around by various means to other clubs for the last few months. Pardew compounded the problem by promising him he can play in his favourite position as a way of persuading him to stay. It all reminds me of that situation a few years ago when Shearer threatened to leave if his status was demoted to that of a squad player. He should have been told to leave if that's how he felt, but instead the club pandered to him. We could debate what quality he was bringing to the team, and how good the alternatives were, but the fact is that failing to deal with the situation properly coincided with our decline. This isn't our only problem, but it is very corrosive to team spirit when a player looks to be dictating to the management, rather than the other way round.

I see the problem as one of balance rather than numbers. We have four DMs in Tiote, Bigi, Perch and Anita, and no-one who really attacks the box from the centre. Also three centre-forwards in Ba, Cisse and Shola, and no-one with pace and movement who creates from deeper. From what I've seen of Remy, he's just what we need.

Nope. Me2.

Either way there's no point in playing Cisse out wide. It was his best performance in that position yesterday and he was still poor. He struggles to control the ball in tight spaces and can't get past his man. It's daft.

Got to comment on those two scores. There was nothing wrong with Santon's positioning for the first goal. It was a great pass and the player would have been offside if Colo hadn't played him on. Colo worries about the space behind him and often ends up out of the line. For the second, Santon could have done better but you also have to look at Garcia's free header, courtesy of Colo and Perch. Perchy at least tried to put in some kind of a challenge, but Colo has no confidence at set pieces and didn't even put in an effort. Santon did a lot of good work going forward as well.

We went down fighting, but it's still a worry. We're not creating much down the centre, and we're heavily reliant on crosses and set pieces. Again the balance in the midfield looked wrong. Marveaux should start.

And incidentally, broken record time, a secondary striker with pace and energy that could link with the midfield would make a difference to our counter-attacking play. I don't think the main issue is the coaching. The balance of the squad, in both midfield and attack, doesn't look right. Particularly when we're without our best passer of the ball (Yohan) and our best runner with the ball. (Hatem)

Quick attacking play after a transition depends on players having the skill to pass the ball forward quickly and accurately, with the faith that the players making the forward runs can bring the ball under control when played at them with pace. When you pick a midfield of Tiote, Perch, Jonas and Anita is it any wonder that our counter-attacking is so weak. A lot of passes end up designed to retain possession rather than shift it forward into dangerous positions. Opposing players know that putting our players under just a little bit of pressure will be enough to force them into a negative pass. Over the last few weeks, it's begun to feel like the rest of the league has been moving forward, and we're getting left behind. The January transfer window will be crucial.

I've still got an open mind on this lad. He seems a decent all-rounder, but I can't spot any feature in his game that raises him above the ordinary.

Of his type, as good as I've ever seen.

He didn't try to control it. He made a good tackle and got unlucky as the ball rolled to Duff. Second was a great ball by f***ing Duff again would've been hard to defend for even someone taller than him. Definitely wasn't s*** today. The first he didn't try to clear the ball. A little mistake there. Second, is definitely his fault. G. Nev has pointed it out too. Rodallega was his man and he scored a free header at the near post. That's the defenders fault. Yep. He didn't put in any kind of a challenge at all. His game has improved a lot since he came here, but one area that hasn't is his defending of set pieces. He just doesn't fancy it.

And then he wouldn't be able to beat a man because all he does is cut in? It takes real skill to beat a man on the outside. Get bored of players who cut in and do nowt being over rated. Still agree he'd be better on the right than Simpson who is rubbish going forward. I wasn't thinking particularly of him beating his man on the outside. It's more about getting his cross in more quickly. For sure, there are advantages and disadvantages either way. If we had a good right back, I could understand it though. But we don't.

Nice one.

I'd really like to see Santon moved to the right. There were a number of situations tonight where we really needed him to be able to use his left foot, and he couldn't.

This is all getting way too silly. Colo was the one at fault for both goals tonight.

No point in blaming Williamson. The first goal came after two weak challenges from Colo. Williamson can't be blamed for trying to block the shot. For the second goal, Colo was beaten all ends up by the man he was marking. He can't defend set pieces. I just don't know what we're getting from Tiote. He slows the play up when in possession and often loses it. His range of passing is poor. If he was great at protecting the back four I wouldn't mind, but we were often exposed tonight. Cisse and Ba - we've been through all that before. We played better tonight than we have done for a few weeks tbh, and so it's worrying that we still lost to an average side.

In the last 10 minutes, we've been playing better than I expected, given Pardew's selection. All the same, we're lucky to be only a goal down. Tiote has given the ball away three times in very dangerous positions. He's a worry. Very frustrating that we have to see Cisse look like Bambi on ice for 30 minutes before being switched to his rightful position in the centre. It's like Pardew has to go through the motions of giving Ba his way before making the adjustment.

Okay. I was meaning he's not a diver. Unlike CR.

One quality that I think separates Messi from the other greats is his temperament. He never seems to lose his enthusiasm or his focus. All the time on the pitch, it's like he's itching to get involved. He doesn't cheat, moan at his team-mates, get discouraged, angry or intimidated.