Dr Venkman

Is it true that Barfa won't play on the wing, or is it that Pardew won't play him there? Seems to be a couple of different theories and not sure what to believe. Pardew said 'I don't see him as a winger,I don't think he's got the relish for it'. Or words to that effect. It usually depends on what point they're trying to make what people read into that,make of it what you will. Fwiw I can't see HBA refusing to play on the wing, considering he's done it a lot elsewhere and had his best game for us there,as well as looking miffed when Sammy came on at LW instead of him against Everton. If he has refused I don't want him in the squad tbh,and neither should Pardew.

Incidentally I thought Perch handled all the long stuff to Drogba today pretty well.

I also wouldn't be too suicidal about this just yet. Williamson is solid enough and should be back soon. Who's to say he can't push on this season with a better midfield infront of him just like Taylor?

I'm more than happy for them to shout and cheer about our centre half getting injured. It shows them for what they are,small time club/town with no character at all other than being in opposition to Newcastle.

What was Barfa doing to justify staying on the pitch. He's a better Left Winger than Peter Lovenkrands. There's only one reasonable explanation to play Lovenkrands there instead of HBA,to protect Raylor. Lovenkrands didn't do it once all day. In the second half we continually found the wingers and got them up against the full backs,neither of them did anything with it. Yes but what did he do to justify staying on the pitch? Give over man,he doesn't have to score or assist a goal in 45 minutes to be a better option on the left than Lovenkrands for the second half.

Looked for all the world like a precautionary one. That said,if there's ANY doubt, he shouldn't play, given the rumours about Saylor.

Rubbish today,really really bad.

What was Barfa doing to justify staying on the pitch. He's a better Left Winger than Peter Lovenkrands. There's only one reasonable explanation to play Lovenkrands there instead of HBA,to protect Raylor. Lovenkrands didn't do it once all day. In the second half we continually found the wingers and got them up against the full backs,neither of them did anything with it.

FFS

Always thought this would be difficult. No Colo and Taylor and we lose this imo. I'll be furious if Santon plays at centre half,make the lad wait all this time on account of starting Raylor and Simpson and then give him his first start away from home at centre half playing against Grant Holt.

Impossible to comment until we know who's fit.

Good posts from some,he needs time. Leaving Lovenkrands on the pitch instead of HBA was a horrendous call,especially with Obertan on the other side. Howay Alan,we need one winger who can do something.

That's the most frustrating game I've seen us play for some time. They obviously should be down to ten men for 87 minutes but the ref completely bottled it. Yes they had chances in the first half but we'd go in level at half time if it wasn't for a throw in given inexplicably their way. Then you've got us hitting the woodwork 3 times and them clearing off the line. Colo goes off first half and we lose Taylor ASWELL,finishing the match with 10. Then there's the oh so obvious deficiencies of our left side but fucking hell,our right hand side was awful. Obertan can never make it stick when he tries to beat someone,which is frustrating in itself but it's because it's always being laid off to Simpson to put an ineffective cross in every single time it's even worse. Lastly my main frustration was that in Guthrie and Cabaye we've got CM's who consistently find our wide men and put them 1 on 1 but we've got no-one on either side who can make it count. Why is Pardew taking HBA off instead of Lovenkrands? He didn't ONCE help Raylor out all day,is Lovenkrands worth the shirt for his forward play like? Positives are Danny Guthrie in the form of his life,sharp in the tackle and sure in the pass,and obviously Tim Krul. Shola and Ba caused them all sorts of problems. No fucking way did they deserve to win that 3-0.

Decision to gamble on Marveaux's fitness looks even worse now,incidentally. That said I'm still backing us to get something out of the game.

Pardew FOR FUCKS SAKE MAN. Why do managers ALWAYS have at least one horrendous blind spot?

It's a cliche but the first goal is huge here. Get it and we'll win imo.

With all due respect I never understand posts like this. The confidence (or lack of) on this forum has absolutely no bearing on the result whatsoever.

Excuse my ignorance,do the top 1 or 2 teams from each group go through?

Also a small matter of a penalty won at old Trafford,correctly given or not.

If he's only trained once he's not starting like

self congratulatory post

He has to get a result right for us one day i guess! Not this weekend,we'll beat them

You're right, there's not much difference except that the statement you just quoted wasn't what was told to us last week or the week before that...etc. It's always he's close to a come back, a come back that has been continuously deferred for quite a few times already. There's clearly parallels with what Pardew was saying about HBA at the end of last season. With that in mind it could just be Pardew keeping Tiote's spirits up while he's trying to get over a very frustrating injury. Ligaments are a bugger,you simply don't know when they're fixed until you actually test them in a match,it's different to a broken bone.

This is it for them really isn't it. They've finally got the manager they've coveted for years,and he's realistically the best they can get considering. It's a given he'll improve them but with the villa fans comments on O'Neill it does make me think all this will just make it funnier when it all goes tits up.

Happy for Stoke and fulham to play in Europe for a while yet,they're shite in the league