Unbelievable

Yep, promising start. Good to have Best back. Seems well up for it.

Oooh. Close!

Come on Cabaye!

Excellent close control Dembaba!

Howay the lads! Best winning his first header from a long hoof from the back..

So Smith's ahead of HBA now..? Match thread bro. Phew.. Panic over..

So Smith's ahead of HBA now..?

Really?

Spurs bound if rumors are to be believed..

Good idea just don't think that's in Pards' way of thinking at the moment, if only because you need to have a confident, settled, capable full back who can run up and down for 90minutes. With the big disruption in defence, I just don't think Pards trusts Ben Arfa to work hard closing down up front (which is ironic, given his support for Obertan) when we don't have our 'spine'. Ben Arfa might be a victim of us having our 3 best defensive players out injured: Colocinni, Taylor, Tiote. Maybe he's seen as a luxury we just can't afford at the moment? EDIT: on that note, how many games was Ben Arfa fit (and in the team/on the bench) with Tiote fit? There is a massive difference when you defend Pardew based on his beliefs compared to what he SHOULD do. OK, there wasn´t anyone he should put on IF Ben Arfa weren´t able to play on the right wing, but when the fact is that Ben Arfa COULD play on the right, your arguements does not have any legs to stand on, IMO. I know you kind of agree based on your recent posts, but why post your intial thoughts then? Well there are two points of contention: 1) Why doesn't Pardew bring on Ben Arfa for Obertan/play Ben Arfa ahead of Obertan on the right wing? 2) Why doesn't Pardew believe/trust Ben Arfa can play on the wing? If you accept the second point, even if you don't agree with it, going into yesterday's game then I struggle to see why people are so outraged/confused about the first point. I hadn't really challenged Pards view of HBA beforehand: the team hadn't lost to a non-title challenging team (and even then, hadn't looked out of their depth in any of those three games); I prefer the idea of HBA being further up the pitch to inflict damage on the opposition and not restricted to one wing* So, when Obertan was toiling dismally, I wasn't shocked to see Ben Arfa sat on the bench - nor did I want him to sacrifice Shola or Ba for him, as they were both doing a good job. If Gosling hadn't been sent off, I would have chosen to sacrifice him for HBA as the 'number 10' with Cabaye dropping off in front of the back four as cover. If you didn't accept the second point going into yesterday's game - did you question this beforehand? Or were you also happy to trust Pards' judgement when we weren't losing? Seems to be a whiff of hindsight harry mixed in with posters' disappointment with the result/performance. *As Disco posted last night, there's scope for him to be played "on the left" in a Mata type role, where he's allowed to drift. First question is what do we do with Jonas? Start on the right and allow Jonas and HBA to change flanks if neither is getting the better of their full back.

Chris has got a new group of lads..

That goalkeeper..

What a goal from RvP

Iniesta MOTM

How did they not score?

Xavi should have made it 4

Jesus christ man. Madrid at it again. Can't beat the better team, so have to resort to trying to snap their legs off..

Real Madrid are fucking dirty..

Making it look so easy..

HAHAHAHAHA

And to head the ball. Loving it!

Makes it even more enjoyable! Football 2 money 1 Aye, Barca have spent nowt Spine of their team is from their own academy. How many players in Madrid's squad spent their formative years there?

Marcelo

Makes it even more enjoyable! Football 2 money 1