Segun Oluwaniyi

So will this man be suspended? If Pardew received seven matches for his headbutt, he should get a similar punishment, imo. Managers have no business touching opposition players outside of a simple greeting or playing them the ball. Never mind pretending to crush their trachea.

Atsu reminds me of Moses in many ways. Good pace, great dribbler, creative, very direct, but lacking consistent quality in the final ball and not particularly intelligent at all. Even their careers are similar as Atsu's miserable time at Everton mirrors Victor's failure at Liverpool. Both players are underachieving at club level, imo. Atsu left Porto too early and will now face a crossroads in his career during the close season.

There isn't cover for right or left back. Dummett is one of 3 centrebacks available with one of those 3 being injury prone. The other options for Fullback are currently starting in midfield (Colback and Anita), below average and returning from career-threatening injury, or in Italy. It will be fun when Haidara twists his ankle or something else minor and there is no one to replace him for two weeks.

Sissoko was the only member of yesterday's 5 in midfield fit enough to press properly for the whole game unfortunately. Yup and he presses alone which leaves great big holes behind him. I wouldn't mind, our team drops off and doesn't even get particularly tight, it's so easy pass it around against us. This is Colback's biggest flaw by far, that it's his nature to just press like a nutter and either make the hero tackle, or more likely just get skinned. It's a shame, he's got many of the attributes to be a good deeper Box to Box player. It is his nature because of his education at the horrible football club down the road. It is a shame because I think he is fairly intelligent and has good technique. His main limitations are physical because he is slight and not very athletic.

http://www.leral.net/photo/art/grande/7443980-11472228.jpg?v=1423486854 Two heroes, tbh. It is a little annoying that the player of the tournament is yet again another one at Chelsea with no hope of making it there besides joining the loan brigade. Yeah, the Libya idea didn't work so well.

Hurts a bit to see Dede crying like that. One of my favourite players in the world, and a real leader too. Carries his father's name with pride for club and country. Renard is a brilliant manager, btw. Despite getting relegated with Sochuax last year he did well in France and is a magician in Africa. It will never happen, but I would love to see him take over NUFC in the summer, or Nigeria, or both. Also, this is Sammy Kuffour having his hair shaved on South African television because of the loss:

Sorry, TCD, I know the feeling very well. Another wild shootout involving Cote D'Ivoire. Barry's "injuries" the highlight. I am happy for them, though it is typical of the "golden generation" that they've backed into the title in a slightly ridiculous way. Ghana are the new Nigeria. They come close every single tournament and fail at the final (or semi-fnal) hurdle every single time. It is Ghana we are talking about, so I don't mind, but they surely deserve a trophy. He is. Still so typical of football in 2015 (or at least my experience of it) that the diving t*** keeper wins, and worse still, is the hero. Was he diving? What incentive does he have to dive? It made no sense.

Gervinho too. Boys are scared.

Bony and Gyan have both been atrocious. At least Gyan has the excuse of being sick and injured.

CIV have failed to score in four finals of this tournament now. (assuming this creeps to penalties) 360 goalless minutes, what a ridiculous stat!

I'm hoping for CIV to win, but Ghana have undoubtedly been better. Really surprised by how poor CIV have been. No cohesion and frankly they look nervous.

Razak (Ghana keeper) lost his head towards the end, didn't deal with two straight crosses from Aurier. I thought Doumbia would win it after the first chance. Game does seem to be getting more open, anyway.

Every single ACN final since Nigeria-Cameroon 2000 has been rubbish in terms of actual football. Today is no difference, which is a shame as the knockout stages of this tournament has generally been quite exciting. Every final featuring CIV has gone to penalties, this may be no different.

Gyan recovers from his injury to start in the final. Jordan Ayew dropped in favour of current Crystal Palace reserve Kwesi Appiah. Meanwhile Boubacar Barry will join his comrades in trying to exercise the demons of past failures. The first choice keeper Gbohouo is injured and he will man the posts in the final. Tiote still injured, so Die continues in the side. Other than that the sides are unchanged. Match starts in 30 minutes time. Let France abandon Euro 2016 or Russia abandon 2018 World Cup in April of those respective years. I'm sure the overseeing bodies will appreciate it. Also, congratulations to RCD Leopards for a well-deserved bronze medal. ALLEZ les elephants!!

He was already booked and chopped down some limited c*** on the edge of their box for a blatant second yellow Despite being on a yellow, he decided to fly into a (bad) tackle against Moses who was about 90 yards from his goal and going nowhere. Incredibly reckless and foolish action that should have cost the team.

And passing directly to opposition in the box.

Awful first half, better in second and a good finish, but obviously should have been sent off for slicing Moses. Performance generally all over the place with high degree of variance. He and Anita shouldn't play together, as they are too similar. I am interested in see Colback and Abeid in a 4-2-3-1, but Tiote will unfortunately probably come straight back in.

Two similar sides in general, the quality of the match was surprisingly poor, tbh. Stoke especially have been fairly decent recently. I expected a draw before kickoff, and although Newcastle should have scored more than one, it is a fair result.

Stoke are such a blunt force going forward without the likes of Bojan and Arnautovic. Moses and Diouf are the only ones I would consider attacking players and they are direct runners more than anything else.

Obertan has a chance to counter and just runs directly into the corner before stopping.

Terrible play from Haidara.

Muniesa, Bojan, and Ayoze.

Sakho's first touch is about as good as mine.

I thought the Merseyside derby along with the Tyne-Wear was always the first match because of potential crowd trouble?

Mourinho with his first ever win at Villa Park, now 7 points clear at the top too. I'm quite sure SJP is the only haunted ground left for him. The late goal doesn't help City much, tbh, bigger gap now and Chelsea have many more home matches.