Unbelievable

Why is it more ridiculous to criticise Cisse for underperforming than others, such as Pardew or Jonas? You say he's been part of a struggling team as if that absolves him of any criticism, but he's been as much as anyone in a position to influence that. Imagine where we would be now if he'd scored at the same rate as the second half of last season, or even one in two.

That's debatable tbh. It's not. Benteke is much more all round..

Alternatively you could argue he's not the ideal striker for our current system. I've said this before, but I think with the pace of Gouffran, Sissoko and Ben Arfa we are perfectly set up to be a great counter attacking side. Up top you would want a forward capable of holding the ball up and bringing runners into play as well as create chances for himself and others, and considering we're playing with only one real striker, somebody who can be relied upon to hit the net more often than not when presented with a chance. A threat from set pieces wouldn't go amiss either seeing as we're useless at them. As it is, Cisse provides none of these requirements in sufficient quantities. I really do hope it clicks soon, but I find myself incredibly frustrated by seeing one of our better players in theory having a stinker for such a long time and people continuing to blame the manager, the system and his team mates before even contemplating there may be an issue with the player himself.

A difficult bit of form that has now lasted since last summer, i.e. for almost 8 months, coming off a spell where his confidence couldn't have been higher?

We haven't played 442 for months

So nobody has been able to answer my question about what specific strengths he has, that we are not playing too, except for pointing to his number of shots as some form of evidence that we are not creating enough chances for him? Look, I don't need pointing out that we aren't exactly Brazil when it comes to creating chances, but neither do I think we are much worse than other teams in the league, and chance creation is as much something strikers contribute to actively as something that is done for them. From the statistics that Rich posted a couple of weeks ago his chance conversion was way below last season's and other top strikers. I don't even need to look at stats to know he's not brilliant at holding the ball up and creating chances for others. So I ask again, if indeed Cisse's disappointing season is a consequence of his team mates not doing their job well enough rather than he himself failing, how exactly should his team mates provide better service by playing to his strengths? Ping it high to him to hold it up, play through balls for him to beat the offside trap, make him work the channels, play crosses in from the sides? For me, based on what I've seen in the season and a bit he has been with us he scores the spectacular where he doesn't need to think and can just put his foot through it. Whilst these goals obviously look fantastic, it's pretty damn hard to base your gameplan around one of them happening every forthnight if you ask me.

Says it all. Those first couple of months I really felt for him, he just didn't get a sniff. Ba's gone but we still expect the same results from a completely different player, we've got to play to his strengths more. I don't mean to be funny, but what exactly are his strengths, except for scoring wonder goals from outside of the area? I think earlier in the season people were correct in pointing to the fact that he probably is a lone forward in a 433 rather than a support striker, and hence didn't work well with Ba unfortunately. However, we've long since changed to his preferred system, and still he hasn't really scored enough goals yet for a lone forward of a team with European aspirations. In my opinion his general contribution to our play isn't good enough either to make his lack of goalscoring acceptable, i.e. he's not creating chances for himself or others sufficiently. At this point, I hope he finds his goalscoring boots before the end of the season, or I would be looking for a replacement in the summer rather than a better deputy than Shola to provide some pressure.

Wenger

Bale scores again. The boy is on fire.

2-0

Bale again

His biggest flaw is not being called Van Persie. That's like saying Shola's biggest flaw is not being called Shearer..

So weak Giroud

Good riddance

Not sure why some like to be so pessimistic even with clearly our best player. Just enjoy him FFS Why is it pessimistic to state that even Hatem Ben Arfa has a price? It's not like I hope we sell him, or even expect us to, as I don't think any club will offer an amount that would entice us to sell (20 million or more). Has nothing to do with being able to enjoy him either; I most certainly do, and wish I could do more as I don't think he's featured enough or played to his full potential over a prolounged period since coming here.

Ajax out of the Dutch cup after losing 3-0 to AZ on their own turf. Great times for time..

Dirty tackle from that Bayern defender. Could have been a red..

Don't kid yourselves. If anybody offered us 20 million Mike would snap their hands off.

I guess it's OK, but can't look beyond that sponsor name..

Now that I wholeheartedly agree with. We have to find a way to keep possession of the ball a lot better when we are tactically set out to contain, like when we're winning. I think it's mindless to say "forget we're ahead and keep attacking away, as attack is the best form of defense". That is just too simplistic and people will complain when we drop points because we are caught out at the back (like we could have easily done vs Southampton when Santon should have focused on being a defender first and foremost when we were 2-1 up). It's natural to slightly sit back when you are winning a fairly even match: it saves energy or allows players to regain their breath and prevents being caught on the break. It's also a matter of confidence: a team on a bad run will feel more inclined to do it for fear of another bad result. In short, I don't think sitting back is as bad as has been portayed on here so regularly, and it's almost certainly not a conscious approach to a football match. Incidents change the course of a football match: one team scores and the other knows it needs to force the issue or risk losing, meaning they take more risks and move forward as well. Anyway, as I said, when we are trying to close a game out, I would definitely like Pardew to change his approach to HOW we actually do this, because it is imperative to keep possession and be a thread on the counter attack in these situations. Unfortunately in the last few weeks we have sometimes seen that we carry no outlet in these circumstances, and indeed do invite pressure on us. This is certainly an area where Pardew could and perhaps should improve, but the amount of stick he gets for it makes you wonder if some people purposely completely overlook the positives to concentrate on the negatives.

We have some excellent counter attacking players now at our disposal, with the addition of Goufran and Sissoko predominantly. I think you'll have to wait for a long time to see us set out to dominate possession, as I don't think that suits our current players all that much. I expect Pardew to mould these players into a solid, hard working team that can be lethal on the break and win matches through a moment of magic coming from almost anywhere, just like the best teams in the country do. And that would do me just fine tbh.

In another thread I saw AVB mentioned as a much better manager, one that could presumably get the best out of Ben Arfa. Yet when I look at Spurs, I see a side not too dissimilar to us last season: they don't "control" games from start to finish, as you seem to imply we need to do more off, and are often reliant on individual moments of brilliance to get them the 3 points. Reading some of these comments makes me wonder whether these expectations are grounded in reality. Newcastle play in the Premiership, one of the best football leagues in the world where on its day every team is capable of beating every other team, and things are often decided by the slimmest of margins, i.e. a referee decision or an inspired moment. Hardly any team in the history of the Premiership has controlled games to the point where the opposition never had a chance. What makes you think this Newcastle United side, as promising as it looks on paper, are any different?

Posts like this always make me snigger. People seem to think that managing a massive Premiership club is like a walk in the park. Just play 433, lump all the flair players on, set mentality from control to overload when behind or not winning, but whatever you do, never go back. Simples. FM has a lot to answer for.

A perfect example of my earlier point.