Cronky

Hagi was one of the best passers of a football that I've seen. I recall he wasn't very strong or fast, and that lack of athleticism probably prevented from joining the ranks of the all-time greats. But very, very skilful on the ball.

For the first goal, it was his decision-making rather than his kicking technique that was at fault. He should have hit the ball into the stands. The second was the sort of spill that even the best keeper will occasionally make. Overall, his shot-stopping was up to its usual good standard.

Important points that haven't been mentioned much. The fitness thing has been a real mystery, I know some of them had a longer break (Cabaye for one) but the intensity and high tempo has been singularly missing. I do wonder whether Cabaye has had a niggling injury for a while, and it's now caught up with him. He hasn't shown the energy of last season. If players have two games a week, there's a greater risk of injury and naturally they won't be as fresh as any opposition that's only played once. The drop off in fitness may be only slight, but at the top level that can be the difference between being first to the ball and being second.

Cisse can hold the ball up. Playing up front on his own at Freiburg he was brilliant at it. I've never seen him play for Freiburg, but I simply don't believe that. He's absolutely terrible at it, even worse than Ba. Me neither but i would imagine when he played up front on his own at Freiberg he wasn't having balls fired at his head and instead was getting balls played through midfield and then down the side of centre backs for him to run on too. In short our biggest problem is not creating any good opportunities for our strikers to do something. We have no system or plan of attack to break down and unlock opponents defense. When harem and Cabaye are injured or off forum we are basically f**k. The lack of investment in senior players last summer is now bearing it's results and I blame Ashley for this. With those two absent we don't create anything down the centre. The only threat we had today came from the wings, and a lot of that was from fairly deep crosses.

What evidence is there to back up the idea that Pardew has 'no real say' on recruitment? I think that's nonsense. Who gets brought in depends a lot on finances and how much other clubs and players are asking for, but that's the same with any club. I don't think anyone gets targeted without Pardew's say-so.

Cisse can hold the ball up. Playing up front on his own at Freiburg he was brilliant at it. I've never seen him play for Freiburg, but I simply don't believe that. He's absolutely terrible at it, even worse than Ba. Me neither but i would imagine when he played up front on his own at Freiberg he wasn't having balls fired at his head and instead was getting balls played through midfield and then down the side of centre backs for him to run on too. I wasn't particularly wanting to single out Cisse in my original post. My point was that you need at least one of your midfielders to link with the strikers, and one of your strikers to link with the midfield. Otherwise not much happens. For sure, Cisse doesn't win many long balls, but he's been struggling to control balls that have been played to his feet. I'm sure the general set up of the team hasn't helped his confidence, but he really does look like a specialist finisher.

Fifth place flattered us a lot last season, and some of the changes that we should have made over the summer, we now have to try and do in January. The chief aim seemed to be to concentrate on keeping the players that we had, when in fact some of the players weren't as good as was widely thought. Pardew has to take some blame for that inaction. We needed to bring in a more mobile and skilful striker who could link well with the midfield. Ba and Cisse don't work well as a combination, and one of them could have been sacrificed to bring a new man in. Ba was doing all the grumbling and should have been told to lump it or go. The policy of trying to please him has backfired. He doesn't look that interested at the moment, and team morale has been harmed. The Tiote - Cabaye combination has been over-rated. Tiote slows down possession, and Cabaye is more of a playmaker than an attacking midfielder. We could have done with someone who really attacks the box from centre midfield. We were unlucky today in that our three most skilful players were absent, and that amplified the problem. Given the players at our disposal, I don't think the problem was tactics or motivation. It was a lack of quality in key areas, for which bad planning over the summer is largely to blame. Time to hold our nerve though. Let's stick with Pardew.

I thought he more or less did say that, in media-speak.

Two defensive midfielders in the centre and two centre forwards who can't hold the ball up. Not a recipe for building attacks.

We're terrible. Midfield and attack looks a skill free zone. The slightest pressure and we lose the ball.

You had to be a real old git to get that one. 1961 - 69.

Northampton Town?

Regardless of whether the stats are right, it's a very negative message to give to the players just before the game. It's like he himself has lost confidence. I can see heads dropping if we go behind.

Not sure, I'll take another look.

If true, I'm pleased to hear we're after a striker. Our main priority should be to liven up our attack. I hope we're not just looking for 'cover' though. There's little point in that. From my Dennis-style scouting mission, Aubameyang looks good and pacey. Let's hope he's another one of Yohan's friends.

He slagged Ben Arfa off in the press, I don't know what, if anything was said face to face. I wouldn't have said that he 'slagged him off' at all. He gave him the message that he needed to improve some aspects of his game, but it was delivered in a constructive way, with every faith that he could eventually deliver. Where I don't think Pardew was strong enough was with characters who were throwing their weight around ie Ba and Barton. He didn't seem to want to confront them, and instead made all sorts of conciliatory noises in public, I suppose because he rated them as players and wanted to keep them on board. Despite Barton's ability, we've been better off without him, and I think the same may be true of Ba.

He's done it here with Ben Arfa and Ranger. Well with Ranger, it's clearly been ineffective so far, and with Ben Arfa, I'd say it's been more a paternal arm-around-the-shoulder. The player who needed the boot was Ba, and I don't think it's happened.

There are plenty of indications from Pardew's record with other clubs that he has some ability. We're going through a bad patch, but that can happen in football and there's reasons to believe that he can turn it round. What I'm unsure about with Pardew is his ability to deliver a boot up the arse when it's needed. He comes across as a diplomat, and while that may have been fine when he joined the club in difficult circumstances, there are times when the iron fist is needed. Otherwise, he seems a clever and hard-working bloke. I'm sure he understands what's going wrong at the moment.

I'd like us to have a striker with better pace and movement than our current options - a Bellamy type. If that meant trading in Cisse or Ba, I'd do it. I've not got much idea who's affordable and available that would fit the bill though. I've not seen Sissokho, but a midfielder that could attack the box would be a big asset. The obvious - replace Simpson. I don't know why we didn't go for Clyne when he was available, by the way. I've gone right off Tiote. Given the chance, I'd trade him in for a DM who was more secure in possession and who could pass the ball forward quicker. We can't really wait for Bigi.

He had a poor game, but he doesn't stand much chance when he's paired with another DM. He looks very much a specialist in that position, and he looked a bit lost yesterday, searching for a role.

Thought he was reasonably lively tbh. Unlucky on the 'goal' that was ruled out, it was very close. Same here. He looked better in his preferred role, staying on the line of the last defender, but his hold-up play and linking with his team-mates was poor. It's a bit of a worry.

It doesn't work having two DMs and then trying to play a passing game. Sammy looked nervous, like the pressure is on him after his initial good performances. He just needs to relax again. Amalfitano really struggled. Admittedly he came on when the team was falling apart, but I don't think he's going to be one of Carr's successes. Absolutely shit defending by Taylor for their goal. It often looks like he's so scared of getting beaten that he concentrates on staying two yards goal-side. It cost him in that instance. The one bright-ish spark was Marveaux. At least he kept his composure and showed some good touches.

Pardew seems to think that with this 4-2-3-1 formation, he can get away with playing two defensive midfielders, and I don't think he can. We're not getting enough from Bigi and Anita. Fortunately, the opposition don't look like they could score if they played for a week.

It sounds like Ramires told Mikel what he thought he'd heard, without checking it out with his team mates first. Mikel reacted by bursting into Clattenburg's room and confronting him. When the other Chelsea players don't back Ramires up, he then probably feels he still has to stick to his story, because otherwise he's dropped Mikel in it. When Ramires does that, Chelsea feel they have no choice but to make a complaint, because of their obligations as an employer. All a sorry mess.

Maybe players always seem better when they're at another club, but Nolan looked a stone lighter and a yard quicker.