Taylor Swift

Get in. Excellent three points. The performance wasn't pretty and we really struggled to create chances, but a win is a win.

CABAYE!!!

Watson and Diame have had good games.

Obertan is shit.

Obertan is shit right now. I get that we're trying to develop a player but winning matches has to take priority.

That was dire. Taylor is the weak link; most of their attacks have come down our left. We haven't created much, wasted a lot of possession and haven't defended well, giving them lots of time and space in front of our area and letting them get in behind us more than a few times.

Excellent by Best.

Unbelievable.

Excellent by Swansea.

Great match so far. Swansea have played some lovely football.

How about spending money on a striker? Or a right back? Or a center back? Or maybe signing a proper RM rather someone like Obertan? There isn't just two options, you know. You don't have to be a tight cunt like Ashley or spend like there's no tomorrow like Freddy sometimes did. There's spending like Man Utd: 20m on Jones, 17m on Young. Both young, full of quality and will develop. Yes, expensive, but the quality is there. Why can't we spend another 16m but this time get a player who fits better in the club and the formation than Owen did when we signed him? Or how about not wasting 10m on someone like Luque who came only for the money? There is a balance which can be achieved, which Ashley seems unlikely to do. There is 'investing' in the team and reaping the rewards after. There isn't just one option which is to cut costs and be frugal. You can do that and develop the revenue side. I'll be honest: I'm one of the most optimistic posters here. The quality of the squad is evident for all to see. The fact that I think there's a glimmer of chance that we can get 4th means that I really believe in this squad. But that doesn't mean that I have to support Ashley's strategy. An argument can actually be made that since this regime is so good at signing better players, that the marginal benefit of signing someone more expensive would be so high because we would probably get very, very good players. I think more can be done and strategic and reasoned investment can be justified. Not every owner who spends money has to do it like Abramovich does, but not every owner who cuts costs and tries to fix the finances has to do it like Ashley does.

If we had an owner who was more willing to spend then I wouldn't mind it in the least if he bought out Ashley. The problem is that Ashley is still operating very conservatively. He doesn't realize the fact that if we had 52k in the stadium each week, he'd be able to spend 10m++ more per year and get huge sponsorships - at least better than the measly 2.5m we're getting for Northern Rock. I know this was signed when we were just promoted but contracts like these can be bought out if there's the will. I don't think Ashley realizes or cares how much money is being left on the table by the negative attitude and press that he's been getting. If we fill the stadium for every game, our turnover would easily reach 110m, and we'd be able to spend way more. But filling a stadium requires optimism and passion from the fans, which sometimes comes when the owner takes a risk and spends first. You look at Arsenal. They're in the CL and they're still not selling out the stadium, and that's only because of the impression that Fabregas and Nasri leaving has left on the club. They haven't declined yet, but the expectation and perception is there, which impacts their attendance figures, which will now inevitably impact their finances and sponsorships when they come up for renewal. The same logic applies to us. If we had an owner who was more willing to spend, I think we'd fill up the stadium pretty easily, and the money generated from the extra attendance will be worth the initial investment, based purely on the perception that we are a club on the up. And it wouldn't be strictly an attendances thing. Sponsorships would come flying in if there is a perception that we are once again a 'big' club. Freddy did it right in this aspect. If only we could combine the ambitiousness of Freddy with the detailed and tight-fisted way that Ashley operates, we would be a club that spends money on great players, gets loads of money from sponsorships and doesn't get fucked by agents and other clubs on fees and wages. The best of both worlds. I'll be honest: 43k against a very good Spurs side when we're sitting fourth halfway through October after some excellent performances is pretty disappointing. Under Freddy this would never have happened. Maybe it's the recession that is having an effect, but I think a big part of it is also the perception that we can't compete with the big clubs now - which is a perception that Ashley, Pardew and Llambias have been very keen to reinforce - whereas under Freddy I never felt that we couldn't compete. We had bad years and wasted money, but because we had high revenue relative to other clubs and a bigger stadium, I always felt that we would end up being able to compete again sooner rather than later. Ashley has really sorted out the costs side of the finances, but the revenue side has been a major disappointment if you compare ours to clubs who we would normally consider our rivals.

So it's true that in 2008/9, we had an operating loss of 37m. However, we also made over 23m of profit on player trading. With a bit of taxes and stuff, we lost only 15m that year. If we are going to break-even this year, then I think we'll almost certainly show a profit. I think last year will show a profit as well because we made a profit on player trading which covers the operating loss.

Some people actually wonder whether Pardew sees Ben Arfa as part of his long term plans? Are you kiddin' me?

I'm gradually beginning to trust him, which is a surprise. It's hard to develop trust for managers, especially when so many of them make bone-headed decisions. Souness always played shite players and changed tactics too late, Roeder fucked up badly by dropping N'Zogbia for Duff and Allardyce was pathetic with his team selection. I think the jury's still out on Pardew, but he's shown that he has the potential to be better than most of our previous managers in the past few years. I didn't trust him at first, and questioned (and still do) most of his substitutions, but it's becoming more obvious that he makes changes for certain reasons which sometimes we aren't privy to. First of all, his decision to not start Ben Arfa for the past few matches - when most fans on this forum would have - has proven to be the right decision for two very good reasons: 1) we have gotten results with his team selection, and 2) Ben Arfa looks rusty, which was probably the more important decision when considering whether to start him. The same probably applies to Marveaux and Santon to an extent. His decision to drop Ba at the start of the season also makes much more sense now that we know that he was unfit, and his substitutions have, for the most part, worked out. The best example of that is probably the Shola sub on Sunday. His decision to start R Taylor has also been a good one in terms of results even if the performances haven't been sparkling, and I'm confident that if there's a better alternative that Pardew will choose it. So yeah, I'm beginning to trust his team selection, his tactics and his substitutions. They've not been perfect (every time Lovenkrands gets sent on, basically), but he's recognized the times that he's made mistakes (tactics away to QPR for example), and hasn't repeated them yet, which is a very good sign.

He tried to hard to impress and lost the ball in our half on two occasions which nearly cost us a goal. Thankfully it didn't, but hopefully he won't be so eager to dribble around players in such a dangerous position next time. He had some decent touches, floated into positions which the Spurs defenders and midfielders couldn't pick up and had two nice runs that showed us the kind of player he can be. He should start against Wigan, especially because Best has had two quiet games in a row. It's going to be impossible for most teams that play 4-4-2 to contain him because we have such a good midfield. Our RM and LM need to be marked, and Tiote and Cabaye both drift enough that their two CMs have to keep an eye on them, which means they can't drop back into the space between midfield and defence to mark someone like Ben Arfa. The only option is thus for a CB to push up. Ben Arfa vs the typical lumbering CB. Or Ben Arfa can drop into the midfield area and play keep ball with Cabaye and Tiote against their two central midfielders. Tasty. Or the CB doesn't push up, leaving lots of space for Ben Arfa to turn and run - like he did twice yesterday. He'll change the way we attack for the better while not compromising our defence. The best of both worlds. Even yesterday he showed glimpses of this when Livermore and Parker had pushed up to mark Cabaye and Tiote. He drifted into a space where Bassong and Kaboul couldn't mark, because it was too high for them. The better teams will have intelligent defenders and midfielders who rotate and can do a good job against a player like Ben Arfa, but the average Premiership defence will get ripped to shreds because they aren't disciplined enough to mark him. The only issue is that Ba is left alone up front but we have played a mostly possession game which doesn't rely on two strikers bombing into the box to get on the end of crosses, so I don't see an issue with dropping Best and hoping Ben Arfa can create good chances for Ba.

I have just noticed that they say that we have an operating loss before player trading. So the accounts - when they are released - will probably show us making a profit because we have made a profit from player trading over the past two years.

I personally think he's playing better because we have better players in the team. Our CM partnership is better than last year's and thus our ball retention is much better, so we're playing the game in the opposition's half, and Jonas is receiving the ball in better positions. Last year he sometimes was dropping to almost the halfway line to pick up possession. For our equaliser he picked up the ball in lots of space and was able to run at Walker right away. I think this makes a difference to his effectiveness. Give him time and space and he will make something happen. Allow him to be pressured and he'll only be able to help keep you possession whilst being triple-teamed by their right back, right mid and center mid. He'll only get better when we get some more fluency into our attack and control even more of the ball

Good point in the end. We played well, defended well for most of it and competed well. We didn't create enough chances until the game really opened up so that's something to work on. Obertan needs benching because he's so wasteful of possession when in good areas, but otherwise I was pretty pleased with the rest of our starters. Tiote had a very good game, Cabaye started poorly but came into the game in the second half even though he still looked off the pace. Jonas and Colo were fantastic, and Ba did well before going off as well. Honestly, just a good all round team display. Still undefeated.

Jonas and Coloccini my MotM.

What a match.

SHOLA!!!!!

Down 2-1 at home..... bring on a fullback. What the fuck.

Ben Arfa!!

It's time for a fucking sub.