Chris_R

He looked uncomfortable because he's not played there for fucking ages. Read everyone's posts above, based almost exclusively on him playing on the left. The consensus seems to be "good defender, likes to get forward, but is shit at it and has no end product". Really? Could that possibly be linked to having to cut inside every single time because he's unable to cross with his left? After being given fuckloads of unproductive games on the left should we really write off his ability to play on the right after what, 60 minutes? This cutting inside from the left thing, how's that working for him exactly? Scored many has he? Got many assists? Sure, we've already been reminded that he set up a goal V Chelsea but after the number of games he's played on the left then I'd suggest that if we can only summon up one or two assists for him we're rapidly descending into infinite monkeys / infinte typewriter territory.

Santon could be great if Pardew has an ounce of sense and switches him to his proper position on the right.

Anyone can score a goal, so welcome though that is it shouldn't be the defining factor in "having a good game", but I really thought he played very well tonight. We've seen his raw place enough in the past to know that's there, but he showed some real skill as well at times in getting past his man tonight. I thought he, Ferguson and Sameobi were excellent tonight.

Was fantastic tonight. Every time he got the ball he looked to take his man on, and even better than that he actually had the talent to beat them with raw skill. Could be a really exciting player.

Far too early to say Anita's a poor player, but all I've seen so far is: + Energy + Tidy passing + Quite quick - Not showing any ability to take people on - Only passing over short disance - Not showing any shooting ability - Not looking like he can put tackles in Maybe some of those minuses can be turned round in time as he shows more, but that's what I'm seeing now.

Looks 4-3-3 to me. Midfield of Anita, Chopper and Mini-Cheik Wide men in Bulbheed and Sambo Cisse up top. Bench is pretty awesome though. Hope we play well enough to not need them.

Jonas is shot, offers nothing any more at this level. If he's one of our "purples" it's a bit worrying. We need to sort our flanks out and where our attacks are going to come from. I know we were down to 10 for most of the game so it's unfair to judge on this game alone, but I'm judging over the season so far and we've been pretty dreadful for long spells.

Bet that during the return leg they will yet again be wearing their home kit though. Always seems to be the case, we play in our away kit there but they play in their home kit here. It's not a big issue as things go, but it's an incomprehensible annoyance.

Whyever the hell not? It's work, ffs. I'm not late for work once every 6 weeks, neither are my colleagues. We're all, almost to a man (Or woman), on time every day barring some terrible crisis or road closure. And I bet his hours of work are a damn site more sociable than mine are. Should just give the fucker a verbal warning next time he's late, it's what happens in most jobs with people who are reapetedly late. Then for his second instance give him a written, then a final, then sack him. Late 4 times and he's out. They could probably have him out the door in a month, not that they don't already have grounds to do that now mind.

I want HBA to score. I want him to weave majestically past every single one of their players before sitting Mingolet on his arse and rolling it into an empty net. I want them to be forced to admit that he's a fucking genius, and that their players aren't even fit to lace his boots.

Just realised I've booked to go to the doctors for a blood test next week. On Monday At 8:30am. WHAT WAS I THINKING!

Whether this sentence is too harsh or not is a bit of a side issue to me. The point is he's an utter buffoon who has had about 20 chances so far and has fucked up every time. If he had an ounce of sense, which he obviously hasn't, he'd stop indoors and never go down town again, get his life together, stop being a dick and get himself in to training nice and early every morning. He seems to have no grasp of cause and effect and the fact that he even puts himself in the position where this sort of thing even has a chance of happening just highlights what an utter cretin he is.

Actually I think 20 fires is an understatement by a long way. Seems to have become a coordinated attempt to get the match abandoned.

There's about 20 fires in the stands now ffs. Just crazy scenes.

Handled on the ground by the defender who fell over. Hard to tell if it was intentional or not as the TV angle is a bit shit, but it looked like it definitely struck his hand and he made no attempt to get his arm out of the way.

One of my favourite players of all time. I just love players who can beat a man with skill. Zidane, Messi, Ronaldinho, Ginola, Ben Arfa, Gascoigne. Not that I'm saying the last 3 are as good as the first three by any means, just that they're my favourite players because of how they've approached the game, and obviously Ginola, HBA and Gazza did it in a Newcastle shirt which made it far more enjoyable for me as a spectator than watching better players do it for other teams. Zidane was glorious, imperious, majestic even to watch. Messi has the goals and will in all doubt finish with incredible statistics come the end of his career, but Zidane was just technically magnificent.

You see, it's not though, is it? What Tiote did was a cautionable offence by both the laws of the game and the definition of word "dissent". I even posted both of them above. Common sense is completely f***ing irrelevant. Howard Webb, and every other referee works from this: http://www.thefa.com/thefa/rulesandregulations/~/media/Files/PDF/the-fa-2012-13/fifa-laws-of-the-game-2012-13.ashx Now you can debate his performance in relation to other incidents all you like (But I'd still suggest cross-referencing with the above, for clarity), but in relation to this decision he got it absolutely right. However there is someone to blame for Tiote's booking. Sadly, it's Tiote. Hmm, on occasion. Fair enough to the letter of the law he's guilty. A bit of consistency across the board would be nice, though. On occasion? To the letter of the law? FFS. Get the fucking black and white specs off and look at this dispassionately. His was the most flagrant display of dissent I've seen in a long time and he deserved every single bit of his yellow card. Consistency isn't relevant here, this isn't some kind of borderline decision that we're looking at here, it's the clearest yellow for dissent that has been handed out this year. It was embarrassing watching him.

You see, it's not though, is it? What Tiote did was a cautionable offence by both the laws of the game and the definition of word "dissent". I even posted both of them above. Common sense is completely fucking irrelevant. Howard Webb, and every other referee works from this: http://www.thefa.com/thefa/rulesandregulations/~/media/Files/PDF/the-fa-2012-13/fifa-laws-of-the-game-2012-13.ashx Now you can debate his performance in relation to other incidents all you like (But I'd still suggest cross-referencing with the above, for clarity), but in relation to this decision he got it absolutely right. However there is someone to blame for Tiote's booking. Sadly, it's Tiote.

Yeah, we put paid to that over the summer. The hope now is that we sign people over Christmas that will give us a push for Europe again. Then when we fail to do that we can look forward to next summer instead. It's an endless cycle of hope and disappointment.

There probably hasn't been a clearer booking in the history of the game. Fucking get over it. And there's no such thing as "Justified dissent", as if Webb getting the decision wrong prior to that one suddenly makes it OK for Cheik to behave like a fucking child who's had his sweets taken off him. Call Webb a cunt all you like for blowing for the initial foul, but after Tiote acted like a petulant 3 year old he had no option but to show him a card.

It "opens-up the whole pitch", according to Pardew. Still don't see it. The pitch doesn't need opening up, it's not a f***ing tin of beans. We need supply to our strikers, and they're not getting it under the current 'formation' because 3/4 of our wide players are on the wrong side of the pitch and the other one is incompetent when presented with a football.

Santon is a left back too. I'm sure you've heard the phrase that putting a saddle on a donkey doesn't make it a horse. He's a right back. He can play on the left until the end of his career and it won't change that. The protestations of you, Pardew, or even Santon himself can't alter that either.

Our best right back is Santon. The problem is we simply don't have a left back, and haven't for about four bloody windows. Instead we have to choose between a left winger or a right back. Since Santon offers nothing attacking-wise on the left due to cutting inside and making a mess of things every time, we might as well put Simpson on the left. He'll still be able to defend reasonably well, but playing there will hardly stifle his ability to s*** his pants and pass the ball back to the centre back every f***ing time he gets it. That way Santon can play on the right, where he might actually be able to get past his man and put a useful ball in every now and again.

Cisse, our most natural finisher, who does virtually nothing apart from stick the ball in the net, on the right of a 4-3-3? I need some of what you've been drinking. I'd agree with your backline, but I'd go: Krul Santon Taylor Coloccini Ferguson Tiote Cabaye Jonas HBA Ba Cisse

Fucking knee-jerk-tastic in here. Harper has a good game, he's reliable and a great servant to the club as well as a good backup to Krul Harper concedes goals against one of the best teams in the land, and he's past it and a liability Elliott plays badly in pre-season, he's shit. Elliott plays well in 45 minutes, and suddenly he's a massive loss when he's injured. Obviously Harper's attempt to dribble round Welbeck was fucking laughable and disgraceful in almost equal measure, but people need to get a grip and have some perspective and start looking at things over a period of slightly longer than 90 minutes. 37 isn't ancient for a goalkeeper. He's got plenty still left to offer and personally I'm more than happy with him as backup.