Memphis

Hard to imagine worse, don't know how we're only down by one goal. Marveaux and Cabaye have been anonymous, Jonas and Anita toothless and overrun, Cisse helpless and Ben Arfa's the only one -m again - who looks a threat, simply because he can do it all himself. Going to have to get better but I can see a Ba for Marveaux substitution followed by 4-4-2 with HBA-Anita-Cabaye-Jonas and a lot more hoofing up top.

Here's the plan: Play 4-2-3-1 but, AND THIS IS CRUCIAL, make sure you HOOF IT OVER the 5-man midfield to a relatively small and lightweight Cisse. How can it fail?

Marveaux not doing much with his chance. He and Perch are making me miss Danny Simpson on the right side. Pienaar and Baines are rampant.

First 35 minutes were abysmal. Last 10 were better. Not surprising the change coincided with a better ball-playing RB and a formation change. Not signing Debuchy looks brilliant now that two FBs look to be out with injury. Was shifting the 18 year old Bigi (who has actually looked good, fair play to him) into the side this early really part of the plan? Clearly Cabaye-Anita as an engine room didn't work. Not sure Cabaye-Tiote would have either given Cabaye's lacklustre play. Orthodox 4-4-2 doesn't suit us and probably never will with the best XI we can put out there. Pardew's got a lot of work on to save this match.

From RMC Sport interview with Joseph: http://sardinetrawler.com/2012/08/29/joey-barton-marseille-is-the-right-place-for-me/ "For a player like me, it’s important to feel good . I am a football fan, and the players with whom I talked, Habib Beye, Hatem Ben Arfa and Adel Taarabt, all told me that this was the place for me. I think that the club will suit me perfectly. I hope to become a part of it but it is up to the teams to decide.” Cannot even imagine that conversation...

Abuse ≠ criticism

If you think it's going to go over well in the dressing room that a (seemingly quite popular) player lacking confidence is getting slated by some of what are supposed to be the most hardcore travelling supporters, you're foolish. Doesn't mean transfer requests are coming, doesn't mean they won't have heard it before. It simply means they'll have tarnished the reputation a bit. Never a good thing.

Considering the fact that Obertan seems to get on quite well with the Francophones in the dressing room - Cabaye, HBA, Ba, Tiote, etc - you'd have to think they'll not be thrilled with it either. I know if my mate was getting abused I'd be furious. Not the brightest idea from the thick cunts to paint the support in that kind of light. It's a small thing that can go a long way in player recruitment, or lack thereof.

Well, tbh the only kids in that team is Biggie and Tav. And i'm excited about seeing them. I also assume Campbell will be on at some point.

Hope it ends up looking like this... Harper Tav Williamson Perch Raylor Bigi Anita Obertan Gosling Marveaux Cisse Pretty strong lineup, excited about seeing the kids.

It's been written before but I think it's pretty simple. It's not all that difficult to break into the top 10 in the Premier League, we've seen the fact that, generally speaking, 10-12 teams each year are middling at best. We didn't have any problem making that leap over the course of just a season or two. But it gets exponentially harder to go any higher than 7th each year, especially since there's so much money and so much entrenched talent at the clubs above 7th. You can spend 10-20 million and go from 17th to 8th/9th without a problem. But spend that same 10-20 million when you're 7th and it might not even get you into the Europa League spots. Ashley's not a guy that easily takes those sorts of financial risks. There's no guarantee that we'll push on even if we brought in Debuchy, Douglas, Striker X, whoever. It is so hard to get into that closed shop. I suspect Pardew's trying to convince him to spend but he already went unusually large in the spending to bring in Cisse in January. He will see it as a concession to renew Colo's contract considering his age. We bought Anita when it isn't necessarily the position of greatest need. I don't know how many more concessions Pardew can get him to make. I'd be happy with this window if we brought in one more player and kept the existing squad intact. We'd still be short in one area of another but we'd be well-positioned to build on last season's platform, consolidate, and perhaps take advantage of a more consistent situation to bring in players in January or next summer. I would be surprised if we spend big money on anyone (other than Carroll - just as a pisstake) in the next week. But I'd still class us as right there with Arsenal, Spurs, Everton, as teams in that mix for the 4th spot. I'm assuming Manchesters/Chelsea have 1-3 sewn up.

Posted it earlier but think it got lost in the shuffle - On Youtube - search for: "Piero: Anita is een hele goede controlerende middenvelder'" Great 3 min analysis of a match vs Roda where Anita showed a lot of really promising things. I liked the speed and smooth tackle at the :54 mark in particular.

I don't think Andy Carroll would do a good job as Villa manager.

After a nervous first touch or two, I thought he looked very bright. Quick in thought and quick in movement as well, defended well and made a couple of excellent touches. Promising debut.

Amazing result given how generally poor we played. If we can beat Spurs with a performance like that, imagine what we can do with a fully fit squad.

Need changes quickly.

No one's offering any outlets so whoever drops deep to receive the ball from the defenders typically just has to punt it forward in hope. That's the byproduct of being outnumbered in midfield (and not being able to match the energy they're showing by pressing constantly). Anita would be good if for no other reason than he's fully fit and energetic. That injection alone would do wonders for us.

If everyone was fit, I'd say it's crying out for the 4-2-1-3 thing with Anita coming on for Jonas. But everyone's not fit, so Anita and Gosling will likely be on for Cabaye and Tiote. Good shout about Perch moving up and Willo coming on, too. That could well happen.

We look like a team that is trying to use 4 midfielders, only one of whom is 100% fit, to deal with 5 who are. And we look like a team that hasn't really played together much in the preseason. Cabaye won't be on much past 60 minutes, and Tiote might not either. Both look nowhere near their best.

Seriously, West Brom are trolling Liverpool hard now. Could easily have been 7-0. And QPR could not look worse.

WHat a ball from Santi Cazorla and what a miss by Giroud. LOL

QPR 0-5 Swansea Sinclair. Easy.

QPR have been catastrophic in the 2nd half. Very smooth finish from Dyer but an easy counter-attack from Swansea. Early days and all but Swansea look a decent side under Laudrup, more direct than Rodgers but still plenty of flair.

Absolute cracker from Michu there...Routledge pulled the strings aznd it was a first time left footed curler from Michu for his 2nd...

Arsenal look really poor. Couple of chances but seem really out of sorts in the midfield. Lots of poor passes and touches, just seem unsettled. Michu's goal for Swansea was down to shocking goalkeeping from Robert Green. Atrocious.