AyeDubbleYoo

Ryan Taylor benefits a lot from not playing like, never seen such a bad player be clamoured for. Don't get me wrong, he offers a threat from set pieces, but to say he's a better fullback than Simpson or midfielder than Obertan/HBA is going too far IMO.

Speaking right now you've probably got a point, we do have some players that are better than we expected, therefore we might not technically be overachieving. But still, being 6th in the table has to be a great result, and it doesn't really make sense to revise our expectations upwards so quickly and use that to criticise.

Massively overachieving?! Well we're having a great season that is beyond most people's expectations. Maybe massively is exaggerating, but you know what I mean.

Obertan has only started one game since being dropped, I wouldn't say we're back to him being first choice yet.

You've got a point to be fair, the criticism of a team that is massively overachieving is strange, and probably mainly due to the manner of the thrashing by Spurs. Like all football fans we're highly fickle and exaggerate our positive and negative feelings/opinions based on results from week to week.

Is it right that they've only signalled their intention to go into administration if they lose the tax case against them? Could it be an attempt to stop them being ruled against in that?

Fucking hell man, what day today has been. Didn't realise they got out of it the first time around.

Dislike the pseudo-religious stuff that goes on between Celtic and Rangers, but still very surprised to see this and think it's a shame. Has to be down to rank mismanagement though surely? How can the biggest club in the league go bust? Some of the financial situations that have been allowed to develop in football beggar belief. Hope they survive for the fans.

There's another one of those Ryder chats next week.

And we knew we were going to get beat beforehand, the fact is they have a much better team than us, especially when we're missing Cabiote.

Those quotes are a bit random like, they don't even say what question he was asked. The one about 451 in particular doesn't make sense unless we know what he's responding too. If he's saying he didn't play 451 because of external criticism, he's showing terrible weakness. If he's saying he didn't play it because he didn't have the personnel available, then that's fine and we can debate the rights and wrongs.

He's not defensive per se, he's just conservative and likes to keep the game tight. Also, he has achieved 6th place without Ben Arfa and is reluctant to tinker too much with the system. Also, out fullbacks need a lot of protection (in theory). That Ryder chat is appalling, what the fuck is he doing pretending to have any expertise or knowledge of what's going on with Ben Arfa?

If the club are thinking long-term it seems strange to sack the existing manager because of short-term bad results.

He's just mentioning Taylor to big him up a bit. I hope.

Ferguson might be the answer TBH... switch Jonas and Santon over to the right and play Ferguson and HBA down the left. Radical but possible, maybe.

I disagree, I think the problem is that he thinks too much. He is indecisive at times though, that's true.

The problem with Ryan Taylor is that when he's at fullback the entire gameplan basically has to be about stopping him being gang-raped by the opposition wide players. To say he should be ahead of Santon is insanity.

I think we also need to separate "treatment of Ben Afa" from "not always picking Ben Arfa". What I mean is that we don't know what's going on behind the scenes, and we don't have any signs of unrest. For all we know Pardew is managing HBA well and is telling him that he will play a big part when we have a bit more solidity behind him. I would love to see more of HBA, but for all I know he's being treated fine.

If we hadn't played the two Dembas we would probably have got beat anyway, then Pardew would have been slated for being conservative. At the end of the day we didn't have the personnel to cope with Spurs playing like that, and we got a beasting. Not a big deal, just get Tiote and Cabaye back in the team ASAP.

It would be a very weird manager who was specifically in favour of always leaving out his most talented players.

The finals of WC 2010, Euro 2008, WC 2006, and Euro 2004 were all thrilling matches. CAF should be ASHAMED of this match and its lacklustre nature. Zing!

I basically agree with HTT too, I'm Ben Arfa's biggest fan and I would love to see him start every game. All I'm saying really is that Pardew isn't a fan, he's a manager and a professional. He has generated results without HBA and I can (sort of) see why he wants to stick to it. On an individual level obviously Ben Arfa is in another galaxy to most of our other players. But it might not be about individuals, it might be about a team that has proven its ability to get into the top 6. (FWIW I think the dropping against QPR was very odd as well)

There's no evidence of that really, in fact pretty much the opposite.

It's right to say other managers like KK and Robson would probably have built the team around HBA, but I think it's also important to realise how the situation with Pardew and Ben Arfa came about. HBA was injured for a long time, and during that time Pardew managed to hit on a system that elevated us into the upper echelons of the table. It even returned some pretty good results against top teams. So I can see why Pardew has decided to side with the status quo - and in this case that means HBA doesn't have a clear role to play. The problem with our unexpected success this season is the fear of losing it. Like people have said, I just hope HBA is being managed well behind the scenes and will play a big role eventually.

Good news, I hope Pardew is managing him better behind the scenes than it sometime seems from random quotes.