Sifu

I pretty much think this too. People have to remember that this is his first season in the PL so he is, I suppose, still getting to grips with the PL (especially the physicality aspect of it). He's still learning about the English game really (for example, the QPR/Brighton games were definitely lessons for him in terms of the challenges that happens week in and week out). Come next season (and when/if we play a passing game), I'm sure Yohan will be fine. He's definitely a quality player but unfortunately, Pardew's tactics of late have not been in favour of Cabaye's strengths. The long balls bypassing the midfield don't help whatsoever and it leaves Cabaye unable to influence the game. The passing game is the way to go if we are to get the best out of such a player. The fact that he plays so deep doesn't really help either, but like I've mentioned before:

Why isn't Cabaye taking our corners? Cabaye's corners (apart from the one Ba scored from against Wolves back in October) have been pretty poor tbh. No worse than Raylor's though??? When was the last time we scored from a corner.... Raylor's corners were better than Cabaye's to begin with but admittedly, the quality of them has declined a bit. The last time we scored from a corner was actually the one Ba scored from at Molinueux!

Why isn't Cabaye taking our corners? Cabaye's corners (apart from the one Ba scored from against Wolves back in October) have been pretty poor tbh.

We basically have to stop them from doing their stuff. That is, we need to pressurise them whenever one of their players gets the ball, as in don't give them time to play the killer pass to Van Persie or whatever. If we can do this, we can get a result imo.

Yep, I'd definitely go with this setup.

Was thinking along exactly those lines myself. He was the one I was most worried about; all I can remember of him is that he should have scored once, but didn't Yeah, really nervous. Almost identical position to the one BAE scored against us the other week. He had no conviction and very slowly guided it at goal rather than belting it in. He seemed fearless only a few months ago. He's still a young lad in the end so he'll take today as some key experience. The importance and the hype of the Derby really overwhelmed him.

I echo this sentiment. I don't think it would work. Think he'll still cut inside but will be on his weaker foot, so he'll spend a lot of time going sideways instead of forward and not be able to get as many shots off. Still though, he'll do better than Gutierrez has done as of late. Ben Arfa's best game for us was from the left wing so I can definitely see the merit in playing him out there (and at the same time, moving Jonas to the right).

I echo this sentiment.

And he missed that penalty.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/58865000/jpg/_58865159_sund-getty.jpg

Think it's becoming apparent that Saylor was as important as any player when it came to the passing game. The big lad did like to bring the ball out from the defence and pass it around.

Sounds positive. The bit in bold btw, how about starting him from the off Alan, instead of Raylor??? Please?

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.