Dr Venkman

It's nice to see Sammy actually have a good game, he's been great, streets ahead of Obertan.

Future captain.

At least HBA is going short for every corner now, it's progress.

fuck the magth

His pride must be hurting a bit at the minute, needs to knuckle down and show what he can do, there's a LW spot up for grabs.

Agree he needs to be more decisive going forward, he should be looking to pass or shoot with his 1st or 2nd touch after cutting in as he's usually closed out soon after.

He'll definitely get a new contract, if there's one thing Dekka loves its a utility player.

I agree, hopefully this can be the wake up call that he and the staff need to sort it out. That's the action we should take though, not seeing how much money we can get for him.

I have to say it will be mildly irritating if we go 4-3-3 and all of a sudden football breaks out, then return to 4-4-2 on Sunday.

Like what I've seen from him so far, although he does look a bit tentative. While looking like a good right back I do think he'd be a very good addition to Cabaye and Tiote in midfield. Give him some time, he's a tidy player.

Come on man, that's an over reaction. What was he really guilty of yesterday, a bit of over exuberance in a high pressure game. Yes he shouldn't have given the referee the decision to make but ultimately he was on the rough end of a touch and go decision that many believe was a yellow at most. He isn't a liability, he's one of our greatest assets when on form, his passing is leagues ahead of Perch for starters, never mind the pressure he puts onto opposing players with his intensity. We need to start coaching him about keeping his high pressure style but reigning in the daft challenges, we also need to have a word with him about dicking about with it under pressure, it can be done and that's what you have a coaching team for. He's a good player with all the right attributes to succeed if he improves, he's also repeatedly underlined his commitment to the cause and signed a long term deal, we should not just sell a player like that at the first opportunity, it's a childish reaction.

The whistle goes just as he makes the challenge, sick of reading people stating otherwise.

One of the good things about Hatem is he gets stuck in, he's pretty poor at tackling but he'll get stuck in when the game calls for it, we may well have Pardew to thank for that, either way it's good to see.

Any news on why he was taken off? Looked a precautionary one to me.

Yeah I was really impressed with how cool that finish was, encouraging that he was getting forward so early on in the game, lets keep that up.

Pardew isn't a shit manager or anything like it, that's a disgraceful thing to say to be honest given what he's done in his time here. He has his faults but so does every other manager in the league and the majority of them are backed with more cash than he is.

Come April O' Neill will have them worn out from lack of rotation. That was an accidental turtles reference.

That was them playing at their level today. They turned up, but they're shit.

Our defence isn't the only problem, we don't keep possession and we don't score enough either. Only 3 teams have scored less than we have at home and only 6 have scored less away, having defenders back isn't really going to change that. The centre halves will help a lot with keeping possession and we'll be able to play it through midfield more. I also think Pardew will be more open to 4-3-3 and other formations based around passing football with our first choice defence out. It's never as cut and dry as 'the defence stop the opposition scoring and don't do anything else'. You know that though.

We've been missing the heart of our defence, we'll improve massively with those three back.

Was at fault for the goal twice, once by giving the free kick away and then not marking Oshea tight enough, he gets a free header there. That spoilt an otherwise decent performance by him. Nonsense, that one's on Cabaye for the woeful free kick.

Add to that he's the best manager they'll have in a long time and he'll bankrupt them as well, i'd be really worried if I was them.

We have no attacking game plan, and that's a massive issue that needs to be addressed. I think it will in time once Pardew can get a back four on the pitch that he trusts to pass and one on one up against attackers. However a point away in a derby with ten men is a good result.

I was quite emotional when Colo came off today, he was that good, and in such an important match in a hostile atmosphere too.

We'va had tough games and been missing really important players, plus Pardew is still fucking about with 4-4-2, there's a lot of reason for optimism. Look at that shambles down the road for a true mid table team.