Colos Short and Curlies

Wow, who is this? weak grip, 2/10 wnb

http://gifs.gifbin.com/g616774063.gif

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time to go I think, cant see him turning it around

The last 10 minutes showed why you always keep wingers on when chasing the game. I counted at least 3 occasions where we had the ball and no outlet out wide with 5 men bunched in a 10 yard circle. I think we need a change of manager unfortunately, but I just don't know who we could get right now (maybe DiMatteo as much as I hate him)

I don't think we've won one all season

Any player who is coming back from injury, having a goal drought, making their first appearance of the season, replacing a regular who has been off form......

4-3-3 or a variation of is our most potent formation, but it does naturally result in the front 3 and attacking midfielder 15-20 yards further upfield putting pressure on the 2 more defensive midfielders and defence. When you have a natural CF playing in a wide position this is exagerated more down his side as he's less likely to be tracking back effectively (see Cisse for the 4th (?) goal (Walcott's second)). Then you also have the issue of Tiote trying to be a complete CM and not just a shield in front of the back 4, its no wonder our RB's lack of positioning and CH's lack of pace is exposed. Debuchy and a pacey CH would help no doubt, as will the return of Ben Arfa on the right, but our midfield 3 still need sorting. Can Tiote revert back to last season's destroyer? Has Anita got the stamina to be the box to box midfielder? Can you play Anita, Cabaye, Marv and Ben Arfa in the same team? Krul Debuchy - Colo - Pacey CH - Santon Tiote Anita Cabaye Ben Arfa Marv Ba/Cisse Is the best we can hope for after Jan, but despite our numbers in CM, I still think we are one box to box CM and a left forward away from having the right personnel to compete with the top 5/6 teams with this formation. We need about 10 new players to play 4-4-2 effectively though

I'm going for a Cisse thunderbolt second half and then the freekick to go down as an OG to keep the record in place

FMP

Ba over the Bar?

As much as I find Soccer Saturday hilarious, I do get the feeling that they play it for laughs a bit and put on the squeals. Le Tiss on Boxing Day was comedy gold though, as was Stelling's 'You sound like an 8 year old boy' retort

Is Given still warming the bench at Villa?

On absolute radio today btw if it goes ahead

Its time to see if the Wigan players can do it on a cold December Monday night in Newcastle

I've never seen anyone exhibiting that attitude, but forgetting that, do you think Pardew should show a bit of faith in the system that brought us our best run of form and results in his entire time here? Especially considering how s*** we are. Do you think he should do it? I don't want to hear whether you think he will or not.. Also, do you think he should have started the season playing this way? Given that Cisse was still the in form striker and the way we finished last season. it wasn't just the formation, unless you think that 4-3-3 inherently gives movement ? It doesn't inherently give movement, but it places Ben Arfa in the opponents half of the field rather than picking the ball up on the edge of our 18 yard box and pushes Cabaye 15 yards further forward. 2 little tweaks which allow (or even promote) better movement and more coherent attacking play

I reckon we'd be OK in Jan - still in Europa League and most players/agents from overseas will go on last seasons position. The summer will be a different story though

It's 4, in the pl anyway

Its not just set pieces, our crossing (unless it hits the heels of the first man) is always drifting lightly away from goal and always between the pelanty spot and the edge of the box. So easy to defend against and so difficult to get anything towards goal from. And yes thats deliberate

We've not played them down there for a few years, we only finally beat them down there in their relegation season. Before that we had an awful record at Southampton. Our previous victory down there was summik like 1979. But that was the Dell! 1 loss, 2 wins and a 2 draws at St Marys

We've not a bad record at St Mary's, plumping for a 1-1 draw, probably coming from behind

Lots of depressed folk on here atm, but lets have a thread for what you would change to improve our play/position. The only rules are that ashley is here to stay and we aint going to throw £50m at the squad in January. Oh, and if you reckon a change of manager is needed, you need to say who you would get. For me the obvious problem is the style of play, long ball without a target man is stupid, and it obviously negates the ability of our better players so that has to go - I don't care if its 4-4-2, 4-5-1, 4-3-3 (or a variant of) or 2-2-6, we just need dynamic passing and movement with Ben Arfa being banned from being in his own half. I'd look to replace Simpson in Jan, he's not the worst RB in the league, but he's not strong enough if I'm having Ben Arfa as an attacker and not helping out. The obvious solution is Debuchy but I'm sure somebody can come up with a better option. any other signings should look to put pressure on the CB and CM positions - somebody who can provide a goal threat please! I dont think we need more flair in Midfield, if we release the shackles on Ben Arfa and Cabaye we would be better off going for power and legs in the middle of the park. I'd also be having a look at Pardew's position, he deserves a chance to turn this around after over achieving last year, but if there are no signs of change by Christmas I'd get rid. As for a replacement, we need a coach, not a manager, and someone who would look to promote attacking football. Being realistic we're not going to get Pep so we may need to look at a young up and coming guy to give a chance to. As I'm a sap for a club hero I'm going to put out Nobby Solano. He may be very very very raw, but you got the feeling from the way he approached the game that he would make a decent coach/manager and why not give him a chance. Of course if Jose wanted a proper challenge I'd plump for him After typing this, my solutions (bar the Nobby curve ball) seem pretty obvious, you'd hope that a paid professional could spot the same

whoopie! A shot from inside the 6 yard box!

The main problem with us playing long ball, is that we are rubbish at it. No target man and no players buzzing around to pick up the pieces. Coupled with the number of times that opposition strikers pick up the second ball against us, the question needs to be asked if all of our players play within a 10 yard radius of the centre circle? Also an interesting bit in F365 today - we've not scored from a set piece this season, only had 4 shots from within the 6 yard box and have only socred onece from our last 270 corners!

Sounds like they did tbh: "Immediately following the Premier League fixture against West Ham United on Sunday the Club went through the normal communication channels to advise the Senegalese Federation that both Papiss and Demba Ba would not be available for the international friendly match between Niger and Senegal scheduled for Wednesday, 14th November 2012, due to injury." No idea what 'normal communication channels' are in this case but we're claiming we got in touch. I'm not convinced - weren't most people of the impression Cisse would be off on international duty? I don't know the facts either of course, but even if Senegal did have a grudge against us, they'd need something to work with in order to lodge this claim, some failure/incompetence in procedure. Not sure of the exact regulations tbh, I'd need to have a little dig for them. They've obviously got FIFA on their side though so there's not much we can do in all honesty. From a completely selfish point of view I hope he tells them to fuck off and retires from International football. And we've got Ashley who has an ego big enough to take on the whole of FIFA and International Football. I can see a legal case brewing