Shak

Did we get a free kick?

Aren't the officials well within their rights to send him to the stands for berating them? I'd do that all the time if I were a ref.

Not sure whether I'm happy I missed this or not. Sounds like an utter shambles.

Kickoff 2AM my time.

Go home leffe you are drunk. Talking complete drivel, how exactly were we supposed to know that Taylor would get injured again? Any sane person would look at his injury history and figure he was due a good run of being healthy, no way we could have known Williamson would feature so much.

Fuck sake, what a pile of shite. If Shola wants to go he should be allowed, Pardew is some spa.

http://cdn.ksk.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/PrepareYourAnus.jpg

I'm not sure you're being entirely serious, but anyway. The difference is that Ba is well able to play effectively out on the flank while Cisse looks completely unsuited to the role. When Cisse has played out wide he's looked hopeless, while when Ba plays there he looks very comfortable in the role and has helped the team play some of it's best football. The only thing missing from his performances was the goals. I'd be very confident that should we move Cisse back into the middle of a front three then the goals would start flowing again. Not at the same ridiculous rate he was banging them in last year, but play him in that role and he wouldn't be looking like the donkey he's come across as in the last few months. Would he have scored as many as Ba this year? Hard to know, but I doubt he'd have been far off. We wouldn't have had an absolute passenger in the team either (which is what Cisse has been all year), and it would also have allowed Ben Arfa play in a more advanced role than he's been finding himself in all year. But yeah, as long as Demba gets more goals for himself then that's the main thing, and anyone who has a problem with his insistence on playing central hurting the team as a whole is obviously a moron! (I realise that that last sentence is patronizing, but no more so than your "let's get rid of our best goalscorer!!" posts tbh)

And Anita and Jonas. Four defensive midfielders, only one of whom has any real composure on the ball and can make strong passes forward. At least Anita is a creative player, someone you can give the ball to and hope he'll make something happen. You could also make the argument that Jonas is a winger and might cause them problems out wide. You'd be wrong, but you'd at least have some sort of leg to stand on. Perch and Tiote though... they're pure ball winners who don't do anything else. And we started both of them at home to the worst team in the league. Anita's 'creative' in the first phase of an attack. It's why a CM triumvirate of Anita, Tiote and Perch is never going to work - because all three of them, if you look at their best attributes, should be the first man to get the ball once it's out of defense. Anita spent the majority of the game a few yards loitering outside the box, and it was just a waste. He wasn't getting the ball at the right time and we suffered as a team because of that. He should have been about 20 yards deeper. Just another typical display of Pardew getting his players all wrong. If he's going to insist on playing this static 4-4-2/whatever the hell it is, he could at least get it somewhat right: Ba Cisse Obertan Marveaux Anita Tiote We could even play Obertan and Marveaux on their natural sides if we really wanted to go fucking wild.

Plays. What, you didn't see that post route he ran? Awesome bootleg to get in position for the goal http://www.gifsforum.com/images/gif/i'm%20out%20of%20here/grand/seinfeld-George-Costanza-im-out-of-here-eccbc87e4b5ce2fe28308fd9f2a7baf3-345.gif

And Anita and Jonas. Four defensive midfielders, only one of whom has any real composure on the ball and can make strong passes forward. At least Anita is a creative player, someone you can give the ball to and hope he'll make something happen. You could also make the argument that Jonas is a winger and might cause them problems out wide. You'd be wrong, but you'd at least have some sort of leg to stand on. Perch and Tiote though... they're pure ball winners who don't do anything else. And we started both of them at home to the worst team in the league.

Plays.

Starting both Perch and Tiote in this game man, fuck sake.

Love the idea that he's furiously trying to find ways to keep excluding him.

Aye, thought Santon was very good today tbh. Didn't have a whole lot to do defensively, he did snuff out one dangerous break QPR had in the first half though. Going forward he looked one of the most likely of our lot to make something happen and ultimately the goal came from a good run infield that he made. Given that he had Jonas standing next to him, adding nothing of note and in fact hindering the play more often than not, all day I don't think Santon could really have done a lot more.

He's rubbish. Can see why he wanted Carroll back so badly, the only way we seem capable of mustering any offensive threat is when we have a big lump of a striker up top to win long balls.

Take any three points in our situation. Wasn't pretty, but fuck it. Wonderful goal from Shola, top class.

Couple of times I've started posts and just thought "fuck it, this will take half an hour." We're absolutely shite at everything, basically.

Gripping stuff. I've taken to reordering the depth chart on my roster in Madden NFL for the XBox, managed to bring in a couple of decent free agents.

We're quality man, nothing I'd rather be doing at 2.30 AM on Saturday night.

You need a what? http://i.imgur.com/NWueF.gif

My socks would be blown well and truly off. Aye. I've never actually seen the lad play or anything, but still.

Encouraging news, would be great seeing him and Ben Arfa either side in an attacking trio.

I think his ideal team would play 4-4-2 and be a "direct" side, allowing them to keep their shape defensively. I only think he's changed it because it was becoming impossible to justify continuing to play that way.