Lotus

Thought Abeid looked alright yesterday. Not sure about Ferguson or Tavernier tbh. Neither of them seem to have a standout attribute so i wonder if they'll ever be in genuine first team contention. If you imagine they played for another team, would what you've seen of them make you want us to put a bid in for them? Would be good squad players though, if they'd be satisfied with that. Anyway, i am jumping the gun there. Sammy does have standout physical attributes and very good ball control, which is suprising given his height. Obviously needs to learn how to play the game at the top level and that might take a couple of years for him to develop.

I think Marveaux need players about who he can pass the ball to for him to lool effective. Given he had Shola as a point of attack, Sammy and Ranger, none of them making clever runs i wasn't surprised he looked somewhat bereft.

Will play as a wide forward, surely?

Simpson Willo the Wisp Colo Santon Tiote Perch Anita HBA Marv Ba

With that squad i reckon they'll mainly training for the Fulham game. I'd be surprised if many of the main players are used tomorrow.

Absolutely, this was a massive part of our game in the second half. Was good to see. Wigan didn't press the midfield at all really so Anita had so much time. Would want to see that work against Fulham before i get my hopes up.

This exactly Peter Beardsley complimented Andy Cole these two occupy the same space/role etc except Ba is a much better footballer ... we need a creative striker with a bit of guile and alternate Ba and Cisse (who personally I would sell) with the newbie... Cisse has no craft guile or workrate so when he doesn't score he doesn't contribute a la Michael Owen Says Alex 'Poz' Gontran...

'He says he'd like a burger, large fries and a fanta'

I think the same.

Who would you play?

Excellent attitude. No longer sure what attributes he offers for what we want/need. Attitude goes a long way with managers though.

All work and no play makes Jack Flash a 4-2-3-1. I've said yesterday keeping it on the floor and not in the air is the biggest change. It's less tempting to go long when you only have one central striker with his back to goal.

Can't disagree with that he has looked very smart about the pitch. Italian teams are hovering so it remains to be seen if he will remain a Newcastle player or be lured back home. A big fat wedge and Mike would sell goes without saying Nice smileys round here ... first post and hope to stick around Mmmmm.......

He had lots of time and space last night and he used it well. Would love to see him, Cabaye and HBA in the same team (us not france...).

Hard to judge him after that. Had they kept 11 on the pitch it would have been easier to assess the comparitive approaches to the game between him and Pardew. As it was, i thought Wigan had better passing and movement but they were really quite poor without the ball.

Wigan gave us a tremendous amount of space and aften a lot of time on the ball. Was glad of that because it allowed us to realx a bit and players like Anita and Marveaux to get some confidence. Hopefully that will carry through into Fulham where, i'm sure, it will be much tighter for them (if they play).

(Genuinely) wonder what Pardew's motives/reasons are for continually mentioning that clause. Everyone in the business will know what it is (his agent will tell them) and us as fans have known about it. Wonder why he keeps bringing it up. Anyway, he played great yesterday, was involved all over. Hope is ok for Fulham!

Not at all. The amount of times he passes back to Krul instead of playing it forward as he has no confidence in his own ability is extremely frustrating. His touch and technique are awful. Maybe he's fully appraised of that fact and plays the 'least likely to f*ck up' pass when forced with a choice.

This.

Defended well i thought.

Would really like to see him play like that with HBA on he pitch.

Yep. Didn't think Cisse was that helpful to Ba tonight though. There was a pass on a couple of times but he either didn't see him or didn't choose to.

Have to agree. It's the movement, their players often had good options. It's bizarre we can't do much of that at all even with more men than the opposition! Still, we won!

He should certainly be considered ahead of Sammy who just doesn't look ready.

No team has every won a game playing 4-4-2? Krul continually smashing it long is as big a problem as any tactical problem we have. Change that and other things will change. Or just blame Ba for everything? 4-4-2 is very much about partnerships isn't? We have a few problems there. The front 2 aren't an effective partnership, the midfield 2 aren't an effective partnership. Bit of width in a 4-4-2 is essential, are we getting crosses in from the left? No, are we getting crosses in from the right? No. If the above was working, if the players were making it work there would be no debate.