Lotus

Not sure Shola's adding much to our play.

Did he 'frisk' him?

Agree. Only if Pardew believes he won't give 100% though. Would defo have him on the bench, however.

Would be stupid if we don't get a decent CB in.

We should sit a little deeper and play on the break. We've got the players to do that.

Imagine if we had someone anywhere on the left with a decent left foot. Bring so much more balance to our play.

Aye, you're right the Xmas tree looks tasty! Will we see it though!!

His defending for the 3rd was pretty poor as well. Yeah, it's just that the 4th meant it was over. He just stood there. He did his best going forward though.

Funny, i just feel i know exactly what he looks like!

He's just called him out as acting 2 faced and cowardly, which is exactly how he's carrying on. Fergie btw, not Woody!

He was at fault for the 4th goal. Willo just stood about too. Shame they both went into Plonker Mode at the same time when our opponents were attacking with serious intent. Still, that's why they were cheap.

First of all, this is SSN, hardly a reliable source. Secondly, i would think that one of the functions of agents is that you can have a word with them to see if one of the players they represent might have an interest in joining you and, if so, what they want want (ball park) wages wise. Otherwise you could waste a lot of time negotiating with a club only to find out the player has no intention of joining you or wants an absolute fortune. Anyway, i'd be utterly astounded if we Cisse, Ba and Remy on the books at the same time. I seriously doubt the club would think that an affordable investment. The only bit of the news that caught me attention was the mention of Douglas possibly going to Jormany. We really need a new CB. Imo, we only need another striker if one of them leaves first.

This is the one for me but it can't really happen until we sign a RB. Playing this formation can work a few ways. We can let HBA and Marv roam but ideally I'd like most of that to come through the middle. Another way would see Tiote sitting on deep allowing Yohan and Vurn to get forward to support the three in front of them, maybe pushing HBA and Marv further wide. Either are fine really, and both could in theory see Tiote sitting allowing the other five to work their magic. It's imperative we have two good fullbacks for this to work though. From this formation there isn't ever going to be any genuine width unless the fullbacks push on. When in attack we could cause a whole host of problems if we could do this, with something like this when we have the ball in the opposition half: New CB - Colo --------------------------------------- Tiote Cabaye - Anita New RB - HBA - Marv - Santon Cisse The fullbacks really are key to it all in my opinion. If they can bomb up and down the flanks they offer the option of giving it wide if needs be and should free up HBA and Marv to work their magic. It also gives them the opportunity to get out wide if needs be to work with the fullbacks to create an overlap, pushing Yohan and/or Vurn to slot in further up the pitch. Having those two arriving in the box late wouldn't be a bad thing at all. The potential passing triangles we could form with a combination of Yohan, Vurn, HBA and Marv with Cisse then feeding off them too, we'd be able to play our way through any team in the league man. Thomas's AC Milan Xmas tree idea is pretty good. I'm surprised in your formation you've said that width would come from the FBs and then put Santon at LB as he can't cross for toffee. He actually slows our attacks down.

I just can't stand the pickled faced b*sat*rd.

That's a good point. Isn't Silva more effective on the right though? When he can cut in? We've got HBA for that. I'm a Marveaux fan, but there's also the issue that David Silva is a much better player than Sylvain. Well, tbh, i'm not such a Marveaux fan but i think he's pretty similar to Silva as regards to what he can do with the ball, Silva has proved himself a better decision maker though. Which, of course, is crucial in the playmaker role.

Krul Simmo Perch Colo Santon Tiote Bigi Marveaux Ba Obertan Cisse Front 3 to swap positions.

He's certainly a long way behind the others with the ball and by his standards he hasn't been as good this season. I think his (and everyone's actually) passing would improve with the likes of Cabaye, Marveaux, Anita and HBA around him. All 4 of them will present themselves to receive a simple ball so it makes it less likely to try something risky (Tiote that is), just has to give it to the ball players and he can get on with bullying the oppo midfield.

That's a good point. Isn't Silva more effective on the right though? When he can cut in? We've got HBA for that.

Funny, he looked exactly the same to me. Not a f*ck given.

Thing that got me, if it was the other way around their players would have left the ref in no doubt it was out of order and their manager would still be going on about come next game's pressie. Think we're a bit of a soft touch.

Good post, can see what you're thinking. Don't you think though, with your formation, we'd lack a bit of width? Do you think getting a LB who can cross and switching Santon to RB?

More interesting. What have you seen of HBA that he could play there?

I'd be very, very surprised if we were to see all 5 of them start a game for us. Obertan has the most about him (skill set wise) to play on the left. Not that he has much competition. I don't think all 5 of them fit into the same team effectively. Nice problem to have when it actually comes up!

Don't think Marv will do much from the left, sorry!

Would Marveaux be at RB?