Sifu

Makes the latter part of my post look a bit silly. Still though, a bit too much Chelsea love on Twitter.

A backup role for Simpson will do me. Squad depth ftw.

Bienvenue Mathieu Can't wait to see him in action. We should, of course, give him time to settle - he's not going to hit the ground running straighaway but I can't help but feel optimistic about the near future. A French international RB should be an improvement on Simpson. Logic dictates that anyway. Bon courage

Just basically like to repeat the above. Ba was a brilliant servant for us and was one of the reasons why we had such a successful season last year. Free transfer and we got 29 goals out of him in a season and a half. That's some return. At his best (especially the first half of last season), he was basically the best striker we had since Shearer - that's not an exaggeration btw. The way in which he's left though does leave a somewhat bitter taste in the mouth - why the fuck did he do all those interviews? His comments on the Chelsea website are somewhat disrespectful to us too. He and his agents have not conducted themselves in the correct manner at all, guess that's football for you. Again, thanks for the good times Demba and I'll leave it at that.

Oh Mike...

He then goes on about Taylor coming back from injury. Like a new signing! ffs i knew it was too good to be true. To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction. Something like that.

Positive quotes there from Pardew, that's the first time I've paid attention to one of his quotes from this season...

Kudos, Dave, kudos. Luckily Tapatalk showed me the full thread title, wasn't fooled Ah so it looks like we've (finally) brought him in then, ça me fait plaisir...

He's going nowhere like, very confident about that. It hasn't been the best of times for the club like and Colo is more than likely, like everyone else, frustrated and pissed off with our current situation. When you're a captain of a club and all you're seeing is a steadily sinking ship, you can't help but feel a bit disheartened.

Activity!

On the balance of play, Everton definitely deserved their win tonight. And that is indicative of our current situation.

What the f*** does that even mean? Obviously a player passing a medical is vital otherwise what's the point? Pardew doesn't half come out with some s***. By far the worst "speaker" we've ever had as manager in my time supporting the club. He spoke some sense last season. This season however...I mentally switch off whenever he speaks.

Think this "break" to the ACoN could help him. If the Ivory Coast win then we could very well see a happy rejuvenated Tiote. Just a thought mind.

5 - this next month will be crucial, could very well turn our season around [/misplacedoptimism] There are still some teams shitter than us but things are becoming rather concerning, we'll be fine, just.

1-0 morale-boosting win.

Thanks for the good times Demba. The manner in which he's leaving is a bit shitty like (that is, doing interview after interview about him possibly leaving) - it's going to sour the relationship between the fans and himself imo.

Started almost every game this season hasn't he? Pretty much. He shouldn't start against Brighton tbh, needs a rest.

It was a desperate attempt to get the owner's attention IMO. Maybe but bringing on Ranger was a massive facepalm moment. Pretty sure everyone in the pub was looking at me in confusion.

Inexplicable tactics tonight. Why start Shola from the off, Alan, why?! This month is going to be very crucial for him. His biggest test to date.

It's a good thing we've got Cabaye here really otherwise I wouldn't have envisaged Debuchy ever coming here. Having said that, it will be a happy day when he signs.

Bleurgh, another horrendous evening. Absolutely pathetic defending and what a very shit performance. Once again we did fuck all in the final third. Starting Shola from the off was probably the worst decision ever and to keep Cissé on the right wing for the whole game, man...speechless. We can't do anything right. This month is going to be very crucial, I'd take mid-table right now.

Wait what?

Still Cabaye for me like

I initially opted for Smith because he didn't really do anything on the pitch apart from a few "tackles" but tbf to him, he did do something useful off the pitch/in the dressing room. But having thought about it, Owen was by far the worst signing of the last decade, he didn't deliver when it mattered (the 08/09 season) and he completely abandoned us imo - he just gave up when the going got tough. Some captain he turned out to be. Owen basically epitomised what was wrong with the club at the time - overpaid s**** who couldn't give a f*** about the cause. £17 million - what a f***ing waste of money.

Bientôt, mes amis, bientôt. From the sounds of things we could get this sorted by the week (and hopefully in time to make his debut agains Brighton). Mind you though, hope he doesn't get put off by tomorrow's game