Cronky

Bit of an eye-opener how poor Hearts are. None of their players look like they'd get in the Spurs reserve team. I'm trying to work out whether they're Championship or League One standard.

Amazingly, a lot of people already think they know the answer to that.

2 points - Neither Ashley nor Llambias pick the transfer targets. Clearly someone at the club has watched this lad and thinks he has potential. Let's suspend judgement until we actually see him play.

Possibly a replacement for Forster. I can't see that buying this lad is going to stop us signing a left back or striker. He's not going to cost the earth surely. And let's actually wait till we see this lad play before we judge whether it's a good move.

Against Arsenal, Shola looked better than Ba in the target man role. If Ba wants that spot, he needs to prove himself. Obertan's pace will be very useful playing away, so I'd start him as well.

I think there's a fair amount of incompetence mixed in with the naivete. That's not to say that the transfer market isn't a complex place but you need to have someone who knows what they are doing fronting the negotiations. I really doubt that Llambias is up to it if the deal is not straightforward. When you add in the other stuff you hear such as the logistics of the US tour and the strange story about the bonuses it all points in one direction. Ashley could solve quite a few problems if he binned Del and brought in a proper chief executive who knows how to work the transfer market and how to run a football club. Seems to me like Del does know how to work the transfer market, at least in the way that Ashley wants him to. He plays hard ball and looks for bargains, he's probably doing his job well in Ashley's eyes. The advice that Llambias is being bombarded with is to just pay whatever the other club is asking for so that the uncertainty is over as soon as possible. We'd all like the waiting to be over, but it's not a sensible way of running a football club, unless money's no object. In the final days of the transfer window, buyers and sellers will be playing this game of brinkmanship, holding out till the last minute for the deal that they'd ideally like. It's a question of who blinks first. There's every reason to think that this is all that's happening now.

A year long loan signing wouldn't be a bad idea. At Shane Ferguson's current rate of progress, I reckon he'll be ready for the first team in a year. It sounds like at the moment, Bridge is the contingency plan.

I'd agree. It looks like he hangs on to the ball too much and his decision-making is poor. Wenger has a habit of improving players, so you'd better hope it's a long-term job.

Very disappointed if this is true. It's a kneejerk response to a media over-reaction. The players that intervened were genuinely trying to pull the two players apart and it all ended peaceably.

Regarding that, the ball was still in play when Joey Barton picked him up by the shirt and dragged him several yards inside the penalty box. Shouldn´t Arsenal have gotten a penalty out of that? Ummm..... I can't see any reason why not. If Joey was booked for manhandling Gervinho, then it was a foul and therefore a pen. Interesting.

Another point that I've not heard made is that when Gervinho lost the ball, Joey was in a very good position to start and / or support a counter attack. Instead, he turned his back on the ball and confronted Gervinho. It was like his grievance with his opponent was more important than helping his team to win the game. Several times over the last few months, he seems to have lost the plot.

Whether it was enough to knock the man down, or whether it was enough to even hurt wor Joey... Gervinho raised his hand to his face and that is a red card. Absolutely stone-wall, plain and simple. You just cannot do that in football and it's pretty much the only 'red card offense' in the game that cannot be argued. If Joey hadn't gone down, Gervinho might've got away with it, and then it's an injustice. Aye, maybe he was a touch out of line by pulling him up previously, and you say it was bound to gauge a reaction... but it shouldn't have provoked a slap. That's just bang out of line. Especially when it was sheer gamesmanship from Gervinho in the first place. It's ridiculous the extent people will go to have a go at the guy. Honestly... are we even forgetting the actual fundamentals of it? The very act could've secured the fucking point itself! Jesus. It's wound me up, this whole thing. One of our players provides the team with a great advantage, without breaking any real laws of the game - and he gets slandered with shite like "i wish he wasn't at our club." I wish we had more like him. By the letter of the law, the ref was right. If you hit an opponent, it's a red. If you grab hold of an opponent, generally it's a yellow. There's something that really jars with me about Joey's behaviour though. He was full of moral outrage when he grabbed hold of Gervinho and hauled him to his feet, then he indulged in equally questionable behaviour himself. He often seems to demand much better behaviour from other people, than he demands from himself.

Just watch a recording of the game, having been away. The game was played at a cracking pace, and pleasingly we were able to live with it. Ba and Shola didn't look any better as a combo in practice than they would in theory. Ba had trouble asserting himself physically down the middle, which surprised me. Tiote seemed to struggle, either through lack of fitness or through playing a bit further forward than usual, not sure which. Cabaye looks a good player. Barton was good too. Obertan seemed to be liberated and was very positive.

I think there's a difference between going down when you're fouled so that the ref notices it, and pretending you're hurt in order to get an opponent sent off. Perhaps it's only a question of degree, but it's still there. Joey should also not have grabbed hold of Gervinho and tried to haul him up. Most players would have reacted to being manhandled like that. Milking the attention afterwards is the icing on the cake. I really don't want this bloke at our club any more.

@CaulkinTheTimes Told last night that #NUFC were waiting for Pieters go-ahead before sanctioning Enrique to #LFC. Should find out more from Pardew in a bit. Looks to me like Enrique is on the brink of signing and we're not even close to that stage with anyone yet. Looks to me like neither player has signed yet.

This is the biggest load of crap any of you will read today. I thought it was pretty near the mark. The Shola hatred is over the top from some quarters. He's not good enough to start but he has scored important goals for us in the past. As a back up option he is ok imo. It's pretty much spot on. Similar levels of striker include people like James Beattie and Cameron Jerome, who don't have obvious weaknesses and look more capable, but never give defences the problems that Shola does. The paradox with Shola is that although he's not great at bringing the ball under control, when he does get the ball between his feet, he's useful. With his strength, his quick feet and those long legs which can nick the ball away from defenders at the last second, he can create chances for himself and others. People just get angry with him for the clumsy moments.

For the sake of balance, it should be added -'but failed and ended up in considerable financial trouble.'

This is the biggest load of crap any of you will read today. Would you like to share with the rest of us your explanation for why he's survived at the club so long? If he's as bad as you make out, he seems to have fooled quite a number of managers.

I'm not surprised. He may miscontrol the ball more than most, but in certain situations, he can cause problems for even the best defenders. Successive managers have rated him more highly than the supporters, and I think that's the reason why. You can find plenty of strikers whose weaknesses aren't so glaring, but who don't actually have anything in their armoury that the better defences can't handle comfortably. It's just a different way of assessing a player.

This based on that Telegraph piece? No, come on Dave. This sorry saga has been unfolding over quite a few months, with Pardew regularly in the conciliatory role, and Joey and the owner at loggerheads.

It does sound like Pardew is prepared to give him one more chance, but Ashley / Llambias still aren't convinced. FWIW, I think Ashley-Llambias are right. How many times does it really pay off, to allow a player to behave badly on an ongoing basis, but still keep him at the club because of his ability. Not many. It's a team game.

I wasn't good enough to play it.

FYP. I don't particularly like the word, mind. It says to me they're not yet a star.

And he could just as easily change his tune a month later. I can't see that he's worth the risk.

I think Joey's pride has been hurt by a) not being given a new contract when he had been acting like he was a leader and an essential member of the team and b) the thought of having to pay second fiddle to a bunch of Frenchmen rather than leading them. I just can't see Joey making the necessary moves. It doesn't look like a bigger or equivilent club is in for him, so I believe he'd like to stay, but unless he was prepared to swallow a large element of his general attitudes and persona, I could only see further episodes of aggravation ahead. Pardew is talking about conciliation, but I doubt that that is Joey's language, at heart. He strongly feels the need to win, or at least not to look like he's been beaten.