aussiemag

Did you really expect us to p*ss all over them? Wigan are already fighting for their lives, they had reason to be a lot more motivated than us. Grinding out a result in a game like this is pretty encouraging if you ask me. I expected us, not unreasonably, to play much better than that. You're not going to play well every week. That's the worst we've played over a full 90 (mainly down to complacency) and yet we still dug out a win and kept a clean sheet - speaks volumes. Agreed look at Man Utd against Norwich a couple of weeks ago. Outplayed for a majority of the game, yet they still won.

Krul 7 - misses out on an 8 due to poor distribution at times Simpson 7- Attacked well enough and did his job defensively Coloccini- 7 Needed a bit more leadership from our captain in the first half when the team was flat, Coloccini was also sloppy at times S.Taylor- 6 Some brilliant pieces of defending and also some sloppy such as the gifted header to Diame at the end R.Taylor- 6 Poor Defensively. however whipped in a dangerous ball that resulted in our goal Obertan- 4 Lacks a football brain and confidence for all the natural athleticism he has. Tiote- 7 Played well enough though found it hard being outnumbered in midfield. Gave the ball away needlessly at times Cabaye- 7 Was anonymous for much of the game, appears slow at times. However clearly has quality on the ball with an incredible goal Jonas- 8 Was immense again. He is our key player at the moment. Recovers the ball defensively, wins free kicks, gets into dangerous areas. Best- 6 Good physical presence and skill at times. Limited service Ba- 6 See Best Marveaux- 7 Can see the quality, got an assist, plays the game simple Ameobi- 6 Looked to be same old Ameobi today. However won some vital free kicks at the end Hatem Ben Arfa- 6 Can see the glimpses of the quality, lacks match sharpness

hes only going to get better. you can see hes lacking a bit of sharpness, which is understandable given the lack of football hes played.

Besty has been decent. Needs to keep his head up more, seems to stop when things dont go his way, where if he kept working things would go his way.

Think Cabaye has been very average, being outnumbered in the midfield. Id bring Ben Arfa on for Obertan and Santon on for Simpson. If Jonas doesnt improve bring Marveaux on.

dont know if that rhymes well enough. decent attempt though

What players do people feel has been shining for the promotion sides?

Barton has been incredibly average for QPR. Hes immobile, temperemental and a majority of his passes go astray. He is capable of one wonder ball a game to set up a chance though.

Krul Jones Kompany Coloccini Enrique Ramires Nani Silva Mata Rooney Aguero Manager: Alan "Daddy" Pardew

Not in a million years. He would be the epitome of trolldad with that grin / smirk of his. Going out on the pickup with your Dad. Quality! You do realise that Pards would probably steal all your girlfriends? There are some things that should not be shared between Father and Son. My thoughts exactly. You'd be there as the wingman, and nothing more. Id happily take the scraps for Pards.. he can have the good lookers and ill take the crumbs

Forgot Juan Mata hes been phenomenal

These are proven world class players in world cup, copa americas in suarezs case and bundesliga, La Liga, Champions League in VDV's case So has Ben Arfa (Champions League, anyway). Colo has proved himself in La Liga and now the Premier League. Tiote, while having a major fault in picking too many yellow cards, is from the little more than a year we've had him, one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. He's also played in the World Cup (though honestly I haven't got a clue how well he did there). These three players are World Class IMO, they are up there with the best at what they do. After that, we've got the likes of Cabaye, Jonas (in 2011), Ba and possibly Marveux and Santon who aren't at that level, but still very good players. I'd say these compares to the likes of Bale, Defoe, Downing, Carroll, Kuyt, Arteta, Gervinho etc. What we lack is first and foremost depth. A couple of injuries to key players and we're in the s***, as well as quality in a couple of positions (mainly full back). Do I think we'll even battle for fourth? Nope. But I do think that our best players can be measured against the best players in the team that will finish fourth. Yeh i agree. That was my argument in the first place

Not in a million years. He would be the epitome of trolldad with that grin / smirk of his. Going out on the pickup with your Dad. Quality!

Not a lot of protection for that back 4 Attack! Attack! Attack!

Exactly no one of note.. include Sunderland who we beat 1-0 away from home.

We are now 8 games into the 2011/12 season, I am wondering who would make your League Squad, based on performances thus far in the season. Before anyone complains that its too early. We can update our squads every 8 games and compare them at the end of the season. Krul Bosingwa Coloccini Kompany Enrique Nani Silva Young Aguero Rooney Van Persie Substitutes: Begovic, Jones, Terry, Ramires, Cabaye, Dzeko, Ba Unlucky to miss out: Hart, Vorm, S.Taylor, Shawcross, Gutierrez, Tiote, Abgonlahor, Adebayor, Suarez

What a man! Absolutely love the bloke.. and everything he says makes complete sense ie. not making rash sudden changes to discipline in the dressing room. Wish Pardew was my dad to be honest, such a cool guy.

Krul Santon Saylor Coloccini Raylor Obertan Cabaye Tiote Jonas Benjamin Arfa Ba

These are proven world class players in world cup, copa americas in suarezs case and bundesliga, La Liga, Champions League in VDV's case

haha i was releuctant to use Bale in that list. But he has got that ability to do something special.

Top 3 sides have those players, 4th isn't a million miles away. i agree however tottenham have the likes of modric, van der vaart, bale and adebeyor. Liverpool have Suarez. We dont have a player of the class of these type. However it could be argued that our team spirit and camaraderie vastly outweighs having such world class players. Hatem Ben Arfa, Cheik Tiote and Fabricio Coloccini disagrees. I agree with you that these three plus Yohan Cabaye are very good players for our team and have the potential top be top class english premier league players. However they have to prove it over a longer period of time like the players named above have. We've had a good start to the season, and progression would be a top 8 finish.

Just watched the final 10 minutes of the game against Spurs. You could see the positioning and skill of Ben Arfa is going to completely transform our style of play. He didnt play out of his skin, though the potential for him to creat something from nothing is huge. He was a whisker form putting Obertan in for a one on one in the last couple of minutes.

Top 3 sides have those players, 4th isn't a million miles away. i agree however tottenham have the likes of modric, van der vaart, bale and adebeyor. Liverpool have Suarez. We dont have a player of the class of these type. However it could be argued that our team spirit and camaraderie vastly outweighs having such world class players.

top 4! i dont know about that top 4 sides have players like mata, rooney, silva, nani, aguero. We would be missing players of a similar ilk.

Id like to see us sign Papiss Demba Cisse, Tranquillo Barnetta and Aly Cissokho. This would go a long way to securing us as a top 7 side.