Sifu

Absolutely.

That's odd considering that there was a story in the French press about a couple of months ago saying that Ben Arfa stays behind after training to work on his fitness. I'm under the impression that the lad really wants to play plus he should have that incentive of trying to make the Euro 2012 French squad (probably an outside chance admittedly). Hopefully we'll see him on Wednesday.

The People with their "story". Douglas' tweet is a bit worrying but I guess like Skeletor has said, it'll probably be Bassong considering his history with us.

A massive 11 points today with 7 players to play.

Admittedly this was so apart from his free kick for Colo's chance. Still a few great balls from him, like that one to Best which led to Ba's chance hitting the post. Will be a miss on Wednesday but like Disco said, he could do with a rest.

Surely Pardew has seen the light now? Santon has to start from now on. Okay, he hasn't really been tested defensively yet but I'm confident he'll do well.

Was a lovely piece of skill. Like some of you have said, he is our most important player.

Most likely a load of bollocks like.

Bullshit.

I didn't chat to anyone but saw a few famous faces. Got the lift up with Lovenkrands, his misses and kids. Saw Beardsley, Dabizas, Mick Martin, Beresford and Shearer. Nice

Disappointing from him today (towards the end of the game anyway). Puzzling substitutions. Whilst I agree that taking Tiote off and bringing Vuckic on was probably a precaution given that Tiote had just went down (cramp in the end), you just can't excuse leaving a player like Ben Arfa on the bench imo. We were lacking a cutting edge in attack, we had drifted away in the second half and we needed an extra dimension in the final third. Sammy is a great prospect for the future but he isn't one we should bring on to change a game. Pardew really needs to explain himself about the whole Ben Arfa situation. I said today before the game that I wasn't worried about Ben Arfa at all and that he'll be fine in the end. Starting to doubt what I said now.

Great to have him back

You can make your name out :thup: You actually chat to any ex-players/rich/famous people?

Was pretty good in the first half, then just drifted away in the second half. All in all though, was a much better performance than last week's.

Must win game really especially with our traditional Boxing Day loss coming up.

One of the positives from today's game. Looked good going forward and looked good on the ball (misplaced a few in the first half but got better in the second half). Promising. Pardew has to see the light now like. Santon > Raylor.

I wonder if Pardew is going to do another one of those phone-ins on BBC Radio Newcastle. Needs to be asked about this.

Loan

Aye, was definitely cramp.

Puzzling stuff. Guess Pardew really does think he's a number 10 and nothing more

Overall, was solid enough tbf.

Still raw. Will more than likely develop in the next few years or so but apart from his pace, he can't really change games!

Looked as if he wanted to stay on and Pardew was just taking a precaution by taking him off.

So f***ing disappointing. It was such a frustrating second half, there was that lack of cutting edge. ie. a certain Ben Arfa would have added an extra dimension to our play. Pardew's substitutions were just plain weird. Vuckic coming on was the strangest of them all like (though guess he was taking a precaution by taking Tiote off). Really disappointing result. We should have won considering our dominance in the first half. WBA becomes a really massive game now - must win imo.

Vuckic coming could be something to do with Tiote having to go off. Looked like Vuckic was last minute decision.