Segun Oluwaniyi

Ben Arfa cannot play in the centre unless he is given no defensive role whatsoever. The best parts of his game have always been cutting inside from out wide and dribbling at/past people.

I certainly don't think we can come to the conclusion that Haidara's a better defender yet, but one terrible game doesn't mean much either way at this point. My own view on these two is that Haidara looks promising (does show some very good promise defensively) but is as yet still an unknown quantity overall. Santon on the other hand has played plenty and IMO he just isn't a good defender, he can still improve since he's only 22, but right now he's weak defensively. I'd love an explanation as to how he's poor defensively, as opposed to the oft-used argument of "he just isn't a good defender but I'm not really going to back that up with anything of substance". He stops almost nothing coming in from the left. If an opposing player has possession there with Santon to beat, it's almost guaranteed he'll be able to play a ball into the box largely unopposed. I don't know how people miss this. I don't think this is true at all. Santon gets caught too far forward and lets people get in behind him too easily at times, but he is generally a pretty capable one v. one defender.

Di Matteo was, but this was because he was unwanted, the same with Grant. Chelsea are still on course to do well in the three competitions that "matter" and will likely go top if they can manage a win next Monday.

Chelsea is like a better version of a Pardew team. When was the last time they really rubbished a team? It is always mild dominance at best. Need to be more lethal.

Hazard was bought for essentially the same amount less than two years ago. I think it would require much more than that.

This. I hate it. I have lost faith in players giving a f*** and showing any loyalty so if a good one who would improve our squad becomes available on loan I would be more than happy to take them. They will f*** off as soon as someone bigger/offering more money comes along anyway so why not improve us in the short term? Would anyone have seriously turned their nose up at Lukaku on a season long loan? Teams like Man Utd and Chelsea are more than likely going to be ahead of us long term so why not take advantage of their greed? A lot of the time these players don't stay at their parent club anyway. we're supposed to be competing with these teams, not fattening up players because they have so many players through stockpiling them they can't play them all and they get pissy about it. The only kind of loan I can tolerate is a loan with a buy out clause, otherwise its just an admission that you really are just another small pathetic club and all that matters is the "sky teams" Preventing ourselves from acquiring quality players for a season without paying a transfer fee is going to help NUFC compete with the upper echelon of the league? The club should do what is best for itself.

I think people are underrating Zaha personally. He is a good player who was a level above anything in the lower division and hasn't been given any sort of chance for his new club. This is not his fault, and I believe he will still prove to be quality at this level. That said, we are fairly well stocked out wide. Unless Obertan and/or Jonas are leaving, there is no reason to bring more players in for this area. A striker is much more pressing.

Kaka worse than Ben Arfa.

Unfortunately, I've spent the last few days wasting life minutes and electricity, so have managed to see a number of games in Eng, Fra, Ita, and Ger. It seems as though there is some very entertaining ball being played across the top leagues right now. All were fantastic matches (NUFC's was exciting, if not well played)

Great control by Barwuah, great finish by Muntari. 2-2.

Ironically the two making gestures on Twatter would fit the bill. Both Adebayor and Assou-Ekotto are useless. Sheyi is clearly finished/disinterested and Benoit doesn't care about football. They gave Rose the keys to the starting LB position, but he was injured.

I don't think anyone suggests Sissoko is better with the ball then Ben Arfa, but what he does do off the ball has allowed Debuchy to show how class he is going forward. While we have Debuchy at RB, there really isn't a place for HBA on the right. Needs to be in the middle up top or just behind. Serious question. If HBA is one of our most dangerous attacking players and performs best from the right, should we be playing him elsewhere to ensure one of the defenders can get forward? Fwiw, in the match which relegated Ben Arfa to the bench, both Debuchy and Santon were pushed up to the halfway line away from home for no apparent reason. If anything, they have taken up deeper starting positions since this time.

That Milan side is purely Montolivo - Kaka - Balotelli. Been surprised by how well and fit Kaka looks. Unfortunately he's not at the stage where he can carry a side. What has happened to El Shaarawy? I thought he was going to be something special by this point.

Performances. Poor, unconvincing to spineless. This. It feels worse than it really is. The players look lost and the fans are bored/apathetic. In reality, they have more points than they did last season at this stage despite losing the league's top performer from last season.

The players in it are rubbish.

But there probably is something wrong with the amount of times he gets himself into good positions only to end-up doing stuff not so productive. His very high return rate indicates that he makes great use of the positions he gets into quite a lot. He makes a lot of dangerous situations because of his talents. Much more so than he ruins attacks with selfishness.

Of late, Pardew's team is stylistically reminding me of Moyes's old teams at Everton in the middle part of last decade. Teams that rely on great effort and endeavor, keeping tight at the back, and the performances of a few outstanding individuals. If you don't graft you don't play. HBA will come back into the side and work hard as he did until the injuries last years, but the likes of Marveaux will probably be sacrificed.

Cisse would have mis-controlled the ball after Saints fourth choice keeper passed it directly to him.

Strange. This stream of the match has had English commentary, and then the half-time interviews were French being translated into Arabic. Who is this channel intended for?

Paris and Lille will still finish above them, imo. OM is rubbish. I could not forsee this much of a disaster. 2-0. Gomis. Marseille defence mentally deficient. edit: Vercoutre is terrible.

Whenever a ref calls "advantage" on a foul near the box. Unless the play is going to result in an actual goal scoring chance, a free shot from 20-25 yards is always the advantageous choice.

OM-OL is dreary. I remember when both of these sides were good. The 5-5 was only a few years ago. Lacazette and Gomis have been decent anyway, if we are trying to sign them.

I don't think Ben Arfa "offers less" than any of those players. Their styles of play and defensive abilities (in terms of Yoann and Moussa) are simply more suited to the way we have decided to play lately. It is not a situation like with Cisse, where his performances have been so poor that he simply cannot be started. Honestly, if the results had been different and the performances similar, I believe Pardew would have put Hatem back in the first XI by now. He is reluctant to change a winning formula. Really, I think one player is still very much in our plans, while the other is one that the club should/will look to replace.

Tbf, I doubt anyone was looking up at the top of the league after the way last season ended. Any movement would have been with the intention of staying up and consolidating a midtable standing. It's still rubbish that certain needs weren't addressed though. I believe the season ending top four will be exactly the four holding those positions currently. The order will change quite a bit, imo, but I see none of the other sixteen sides challenging for the CL.

Paulinho and Dembele shouldn't be sieve-like given those players' reputation and the roles they have played most of their careers. Bastia have been rubbish in the second half.