Sifu

Sums it up. Keegan is about the only thing good about ESPN's coverage.

A draw (and an early knock to Van Persie) would be nice.

Thank you Clint! He wasn't my captain but still!

AVB's sacking isn't really a surprise tbh (especially with Abramovich calling the shots above). But in a rebuilding sort of sense, it definitely is the wrong decision to sack him now. After all, the way I saw it, he was in the process of rebuilding the Chelsea team and getting rid of/phasing out the old, declining players (Terry/Lampard) which would have been a benefit for Chelsea's long-term aspirations. Sometimes, you just have to sacrifice short-term success in order to be successful in the long-term. Guess Abramovich didn't see things this way and in the end, in his mind, results haven't been good enough. The players should share some of the blame as well, their hyper-inflated egos have got the better of them and the club.

Fits in well at Sunderland then.

Got the tactics completely wrong in the first half. There were simply too many long balls in the first half and that really restricted our play - it gave our front two and our midfield no chance to get into the game and this worked in the mackems' favour. Really negative thinking and this led to an atrocious showing from the team. However, he did make the right changes in the second half, most notably changing our style of play to a passing and moving game - this troubled the mackems from the off and could have arguably won us the game. Ben Arfa being brought on definitely changed things for the better for us (it can be argued that his presence helped us to play a passing game, almost as if the lad was dictating our play). Thus, there is that feeling that starting him from the beginning could have probably given us a different result. It's one of those "what ifs", isn't it? Pardew seems to have since acknowledged his mistake in this instance (not starting Ben Arfa) so that could be a sign of some forward thinking. Hopefully Pardew will learn from today (I know this has pretty much been said every time things have gone wrong but I still have confidence in Pardew to do the right thing). I really hope he's turned the corner today in terms of his tactics. He should really be learning new things game by game (that is the hope anyway). Live and learn.

Yep, passing it along the deck with some nice movement will be the key.

Hehe, get in Shola.

Ryan Taylor was no better on the left than Santon was in the first, Santon was one of the few players in the first half who wanted to run with the ball and make a pass. I didn't understand the Santon substitution btw - I didn't agree with it at all. Would probably have gone with what others have said in other threads - taking Simpson off (he was on a yellow card and did have a bit of a overzealous temper today I thought) and moving Santon to RB with Raylor at LB.

Not one of his best games today but having the ball launched towards his chest instead of to his feet was always going to be a detriment to his play like. Got to say though, I'm not worried about Ba whatsoever. He'll be fine. On another note, the Cissé-Ba partnership will click in time like, it still needs to develop and that can properly happen if we play it on the deck with a lot of passing and movement. This will get the best out of them, long balls for one to chest down to the other simply won't work most of the time.

Was pretty much anonymous out there. Was better when we was moved to LB imo, linked with Jonas well at times. I have mentioned this before, I can understand Raylor starting if we wanted to play a more "conservative" game. Today, however, was not one of those games where a "conservative" approach would have been the best option. Today was more rather about running at/attacking what is/was an unfrightening mackem team.

He's really looking worse (or rather, his performances are declining) by the game. That shirt pulling that gave away the penalty to the mackems was really idiotic. However, he was better in the second half. Still, some worrying signs. To me, it really looks as if that Williamson is s**** when the whole team is s**** but good when the team looks good - guess he needs confidence from others playing well and draws inspiration from that? (I really have no idea what I've just said there tbh). I still have some faith in him, I think.

So, my summation: We were terrible, absolutely terrible in the first half. The tactics were all wrong - the amount of direct football we played was annoying and it caused the mackems no problem whatsoever. They deserved their lead tbh. Ben Arfa's introduction definitely changed things for the better in the second half, we actually started to play some football - something which troubled the mackems. Sure, Sessegnon's red card helped our cause but in end, the standard of football we played in the second half was miles better than what we've seen recently. It was encouraging stuff and I hope Pardew learns from today (for example, I hope he now sees the merits in starting/giving an extended run of games to Ben Arfa - he can really make a difference). Thank fuck for Shola btw! He really saved the day, he truly is the mackem destroyer. Wish he had taken the penalty though. In the end, at least we didn't lose. A decent, deserved point in the end but still can't help but think what could have been had we been positive from the beginning (by that I mean, passing and playing). Lessons have been learned from today, hopefully.

He was sent off for being a cunt.

Any reason why he was brought off? Was it down to an injury or was it just a tactical substitution?

His introduction changed the game for the better for us. He made a huge difference to our attacking play - we started passing the ball better, we kept possession well most of the time and that ultimately led to chances for us. Positive. Sure, he did lose the ball a few times but everything he did in an attacking sense outweighed such a negative. He simply has to play and MUST START the remaining 11 games. Pardew must have seen the light now, surely? Run of games = fitness improves = sharpness improves = better chance of being an influence on play.

Wasn't it his 50th goal for us today as well?

Thank f*** for Shola the mackem destroyer eh? Really saved the day.

Simply put.

Surprisingly still relaxed. Though will probably be a nervous wreck come kick off!

No we f***ing don't man! We're the home team FFS. Why don't we make THEM have to take into account our offensive players? Why isn't it MON the one who is saying "They have a young boy Hetem who has made a big impact and looks like he could be the new *insert generic name here*. We have to take that in to account."? It's f***ing pathetic, man, it's James f***ing McClean, we are actually going to keep Ben Arfa on the bench because of James f***ing McClean Mate, that quote was fake/made up!

Have you put any money on him this week? Not yet, but I will.

Whoa, the resemblance is uncanny!

Have you put any money on him this week?

Less than 12 hours until kick off.