Shak

Agree. Especially as there's been many games when one of Tiote or Cabaye have been out or we had to play with Ba as a lone striker. Nolan behind Ba could have worked. Think it's been the right thing to sell him, looking at the longer term, though. In the same way that Nolan was looking to cash in on his best ever season, the club did the best thing by cashing in on him at his peak. He'll still get into double figures for West Ham this season and help them back into the Premiership. We've used his squad place for another couple of players, good deals all around. Absolutely. I was concerned when he left, mainly because i valued his place at the club as Captain more than anything else - and didn't think anyone would adequately step in. And whilst i said we'd be doing as well if he were still here, it's been a positive move for all parties, like you say. I honestly think if he'd have stayed and wasn't getting a game he'd have been a bad influence around the place. I'd agree but i think he'd still have played most games. It's a bit of a pointless discussion, i know. He was dreadful playing just off the striker though, he was too easy to pick up. Needed to be in CM with two strikers to occupy CB's.

http://images.mirror.co.uk/upl/m4/feb2009/6/0/Image_1_for_Newcastle_United_vs_Everton_gallery_965339370.jpg Remember a few people on here saying it wasn't that bad a tackle at the time, absolutely woeful challenge.

Cambodia. Fucking rats, cockroaches mosquitos and lizards everywhere mind, so it's not all fun and games.

http://travelony.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/img_4787.jpg Which one are you? Have fun anyway mate, looks good if you're into that sort of thing.

Mid 20's with a wee breeze where I am.

How the christ does he have us 13 points behind Wolves? They're 19th and we're 5th FFS. Wolves fans must hate him.

DEMBII ffs. And I don't think Guthrie and Cabaye is an ideal partnership in the middle tbh. Cabaye ends up playing the more defensive of the roles as Guthrie can't, honestly, and his game is restricted as a result.

I'd wank in a bag and send it to Pardew as a sign of my gratitude if we came 4th. We should all do that, actually.

I remember being really excited about Kluivert and Bellamy. They played together, looked class, and the partnership was never tried again.

Start cheering for Equitorial Guinea.

Tiote and Guthrie would be fine too. Cabaye isn't as big a miss as Tiote is, with how he's played this year Guthrie is a very good replacement for Cabaye. We do look a great deal softer with Tiote out though, we don't have anyone who's even half as much an animal as him in CM.

I'd wank myself silly and miss the first half if that was announced tbh.

We did get one for Ferdinand's really good tackle on Ben Arfa, tbf.

Larsson is way better.

Don't buy into the passive personality thing at all. I'm a very laid back guy but put me in a game of 5 a side and I'm going to get stuck in and to an observer it would probably look like I give a shit. I'm sure plenty of other footballers are pretty laid back off the pitch, how come they all manage to look bothered?

Wonder if Pardew will switch back to 4-4-2, three games in a row now we've started 4-5-1. If he does go 4-5-1 I'd like Krul Simpson Colo Williamson Santon Perch Taylor Guthrie Ben Arfa Jonas Ba Think we'll see 4-4-2 though with the same back four and Taylor Guthrie Perch Jonas Shola Ba

this. baffling what's even more baffling is how he comes up with performances like spurs this year, was quality That's why people dislike him so much, he'd have been capable of playing like he did against Spurs on a regular basis if he had any sense of determination whatsoever. He has got talent, lots of it in fact, but he doesn't have the heart/drive to actually put in the hard work needed to be a player on a consistent basis. Just cruises along on auto pilot, doing the bare minimum necessary to keep his job. Most of us would run through fucking brick walls to be a footballer, it's no wonder that seeing such a waster on a consistent basis pisses people off.

It is womblemaster tbf.

Some part of me thinks it's encouraging to see Pardew changing the system to accomodate Ben Arfa, even though i think that without Ba, Tiote and Cisse we haven't a hope of currently fielding an effective 4-5-1. Another part of me can't come to terms with the idea that he has such a lack of trust in Ben Arfa to play wide in a 4-4-2 that he'd force the rest of the team into an unsuitable formation to try and protect him. It's not like Obertan is a fucking defensive colossus or something. Sounds like he was shite yesterday though, will be benched for Sunday I imagine.

Just came online at last, saw we won 2-0 and was like 'Nice job lads, big result'. Then I went to page 64 and burst out laughing at the comments. Sounds like a woeful performance and the jammiest win ever, beautiful.

I will say that I think it's mad that we've started doing this when Tiote, Cisse and Ba are away, three of the most important players in our squad for making this work.

Aye, this business that the ref is infallible is nonsense. No problem with Cabaye getting a ban, but the system in general is a shambles tbh.

Maybe he does want to go 4-4-2 long term Seems strange that he'd try and use this formation now if so though, he's basically playing two players out of position (Jonas and Best) to try it when a 4-4-2 with the same personnel made much more sense. Also, we have a lot of central midfielders for just two roles.

I'm not sure, it's still a midfield role afterall and I think it'd be a little too deep for Demba for my liking.

Did he really say that? Big Sam-tastic tbh if so, hope I'm being whooshed.