Segun Oluwaniyi

It is fine to say that, but at some point Gouffran will have to wonder what he must do to get on the pitch. He's played well at pretty much every opportunity this season, and contributed hard work and goals last season as well.

I'd agree with this, but not 6-8 weeks. If Debuchy doesn't make a marked improvement in the next 2-3 matches, he needs to sit for youth. I also don't understand the Santon criticisms at all. He had a poor second half of last season but was very useful in 2012 and has looked very solid and athletic thus far this season. As someone mentioned, he's the same age as Dummett and has made a big contribution to the team since his arrival here.

We need to introduce new words for human waste product if to describe Marveaux if Cabaye has been "s***". He is a far superior player to Marveaux, has contributed much more during his time here (the same time period), and provides a level of consistent effort that Marveaux has never achieved.

Marveaux always has been and always will be unreliable and flighty. He is a decent enough player to come in when there are injuries or the squad is rotated. The guy should never be a starter.

All the time mate. The home tie ended up looking OK for the closing stages of the game after we scored but we were lucky not to have conceded before then, we let them have the ball to attack us at will for nearly 3/4 of the match. I never meantioned anything about the first game, I thought we looked great especially in the first half and were obviously unlucky not to have taken the lead a couple of times. I preferred that mentality much more than I did the one at home. An all out attacking mentality at home when you are two goals down, but have the advantage of an away goal doesn't make much sense though. Especially if the team opposing has the quality of Benfica. I agree with Pardew's approach, but due to our personnel and his failings elsewhere, we didn't have ability or intelligence to play well enough on the counter while completely shutting them out. Still, it did work for all intents, and the introduction of a half-fit, slightly fat Hatem did change things.

We put out the full first team squad in Portugal, and then essentially put out the full first team with the exception of Ben Arfa (who came on late and was returning from injury) in the second one. We played very admirably in the first leg until we collapsed after Santon gifted them a goal, and Pardew's strategy, however misguided, saw us attacking at home with a chance to win the tie in the final twenty minutes against a team that was superior. People need to differentiate between not trying and simply not being good enough. Do you castigate dyslexic children for below average performance?

He is a rubbish footballer to be frank, but if he resumes scoring at a rate similar to what he has done in the rest of his career for club and country, it probably won't matter. You really need an alternative though, hopefully Pardew will try Gouffran if Papiss isn't playing well.

Fluking the way to a cup win would placate the supporters more than anything else, imo. At the end of things, all anyone wants is glory to accompany the stability, and this would provide some of that. The main difference being squad depth. Chelsea last night changed nearly the entire team and gave a debut to forth year old man, yet walked through. Gubbed Valencia in that cup we want nothing to do with too. The same cup Is this the same competition in which we easily qualified from the first round, beat Anzhi, and provided a stern challenge to Benfica despite our troubles in the league? Our approach to the cups is identical to every other team in the league. 1) Why are you comparing us to Chelsea? I'm not. 2) No it isn't, it might look the same but I'm certain that many teams around "our level" go further than the first/second stage in the cups every single year. I make the comparison because it is relevant. We have a squad that is not particularly deep and and youth system consisting of players who are either on loan or not good enough. Clubs such as Chelsea and even the likes of Swansea change their squads for these tournaments at a significantly higher rate than we do, yet go further every year. If you actually go and take a firm look at our exits from these tournaments under Ashley the reason is not generally the weakness of the team. I would pinpoint only the loss to Brighton and the league cup exit during our season in the Championship as extremely weak sides, and both were understandable given circumstances (Increased games/weaker squad in CCC and desperate league form coupled with obligation in a competition in which we had progressed much further). NUFC generally do not play youth players under Ashley unless pressed into doing so by aforementioned thin squads. It is generally a mixture of first team players and bench players. Our exits have generally been the result of poor performances and bad luck. The Stevenage match you mention included the likes of Coloccini, Tiote, Barton, Nolan, and Routledge along with only two "youth players" including Ranger who was heavily involved with the first team anyway. The draws have also been unfortunate, having bowed out to Arsenal three times and Manchester United once at very early stages.

The main difference being squad depth. Chelsea last night changed nearly the entire team and gave a debut to forth year old man, yet walked through. Gubbed Valencia in that cup we want nothing to do with too. The same cup Is this the same competition in which we easily qualified from the first round, beat Anzhi, and provided a stern challenge to Benfica despite our troubles in the league? Our approach to the cups is identical to every other team in the league.

We will play the unused first team players and the more interesting youth/reserve prospects, as we have done in every cup match for many, many seasons. It is not as if we are throwing out the u-18 team, most of the players will be highly paid and some internationals. If we manage to stumble our way to the quarter finals with this strategy, we will throw out the first team and treat it like the World Cup. This is the way most clubs in the Championship and above treat the League Cup. It is just the nature of things.

John Obi Mikel: Vastly under-appreciated Ludovic Obraniak Rainford Kalaba Luis Suarez: Pure Entertainer Obasi Ogbuke: Injuries have taken him Taye Taiwo Bakari Kone (The Ivorian that played for Nice and OM last decade, not the Burkinabe at Lyon) Gary Madine Jay Emmnauel-Thomas

There is a certain sadness when watching Cisse play the game recently. For all the capabilities displayed immediately after his arrivial, he is providing absolutely nothing for the team. Not one positive attribute. Cannot hold the ball up, cannot control the ball played to feet, cannot make runs that stay onside, cannot complete short passes back to the midfielders, cannot win headers, cannot out pace even the most pedestrian defenders, cannot hold off even the weakest of midfield challengers. When the good work of other players provides an opportunity for the great finisher to score he fails to convert. I feel the same way about him as I do about Debuchy in this moment. I think both players can potentially be very useful for us, but both also need to dropped. There is no question and no other option.

On what basis is Debuchy better than he is showing? Because he did well in the french league? Thats a poor league and getting poorer by the second outside of the artificial clubs of PSG and Monaco. Because he's a French international? Thats not much of a reference these days. The problem with Cabaye is he doesn't want to be here so why the hell would he put much effort in. Because I watched him several times and he could run, hold a position, put a cross in, and make proper decisions. I know people have decided amongst themselves that the French league is poor, but I don't believe it is the step up in class to Hull City that is making an accomplished footballer play like he has taken poorly cut hallucinogenic drugs.

I'm willing to persevere with Debuchy because I believe and know that he has the ability to be much better than he is showing, but at the same time, he needs to be dropped from the team at this moment. It has been useful to have a better ball player sharing the wing with Ben Arfa, but he is hurting the team on a far too consistent basis with his poor play and petulance. The man has not looked right mentally for some time and needs to fix whatever the hell is wrong. Santon has been our second best player this season in my opinion. Very solid in the air, rarely beaten in 1 v. 1 situations, and while his final ball has been disappointing at times, we've benefited from his ability and thrust in driving the ball forward. I don't understand vitriol towards him. Cabaye hasn't been remarkable in either direction. He's put in a lot of effort though, and I think he will improve. The comparisons I've seen to Danny Guthrie elsewhere are nonsensical.

Just the 10 yards away. At least the marking for whoever was marking Elmo fo the second was equally as tight. If I'm remembering the goal correctly, Mathieu is in the middle of the box, strangely attempting to mark someone who the centrebacks are responsible for, while Ben Arfa is standing still twenty yards away, leaving no one in that area of the pitch at all. Terrible.

Was it the last second victory, smash/grab win, or wasteful draws that convinced you of this?

I watched about five minutes of their match and Sunderland were completely dominating. They had all of the possession and looked dangerous whenever they came forward. I flipped away to find our match, and they immediately conceded.

His position is actually very similar to Pardew's, the only difference being that our buying spree came last January and there's over the summer. In both situations there is a team that played remarkably terrible football last season and purchased several highly rated players that have only increased pressure on managers that were performing questionably in the first place.

My head tells me 1-1 draw, but I will follow emotions and predict another 2-1 victory. Remy, Aluko, Gouffran.

Who says they cannot. There is no rule preventing them. They only obstacle preventing a gay footballer from unleashing himself is his own personal choice. This choice may be made out of fear, but there is no proven history of retribution. We should do away with most of these things. They are nonsense done to pacify interest groups and portray the sport in a better life. Also, I quite frankly do not have a problem with people harbouring homophobic and even racist views. It is there opinion and they can keep it, however much I disagree. As long as these biases do not affect public policy and people who these biases to assault others either verbally or physically are punished, society is fine.

To be frank with you, it is not possible for me to care less about England and it's hope of a World Cup. Its citizens have direct access to the most watched and followed league in the world for nine months of every single year. People will live without it. Undoubtedly, it would be an exciting event, probably akin to Germany 2006 in terms of being very well run while also being very familiar. Brazil is the most successful nation in the history of the sport, and will have waited 64 years to host once more. No one has done it more than twice. If I was in control of everything, I would alternate the tournament between the fully industrialised football hotbeds and nations that either are mad for the game, but developing economically or economically developed, but not known for football. I do agree that a run of four World Cups that counts Brazil as the most stable location is quite ridiculous.

For what it is worth, I don't think the actual World Cup in Qatar will be much trouble at all. It is a small, compact, and organised country with an incredible fortune at its disposal. I'm sure they will do everything possible to make the tournament hospitable to foreign travelers and to ease transportation and housing concerns. I actually think it will be quite a show. The real one people should be worrying about is Russia. I believe this has to the potential to go very badly.

I see no problem whatsoever with a winter World Cup. It is something that should clearly have been discussed and decided before awarding it, and he seeming FIFA policy of making decisions before considering their ramifications is worrying, but given eight years of notice, there is no issue in adjusting the football calendar for one year.

I'm not sure about Doumbia. I watch the CSKA highlights most weeks to keep tabs on Musa, who as established himself in the national team, and it seems as though every match Doumbia/Musa are just violating the other team with their pace. Granted, both of them have exceptional pace, but it has led me to speculate that defenders in Russia may just be very slow and unaccustomed to such athleticism. It also makes me suspicious that he doesn't break the CIV team very often, so I haven't seen too much of him there either to compare. He might be a paper champion.

I would agree with all except Eriksen and Oscar. Neither of those two have proven anything yet and I think Oscar will actually spend most of his career playing further back as a pure central midfielder, though a top quality one, once he gains some kilos of muscle. Cazorla is about even, imo. I think Ozil, Mata, and Hazard are just better footballers. Ozil and Mata have vision and passing range beyond Ben Arfa and provide more for their team game to game. Hazard is a few months older than Shane Ferguson and either the best or second player on one of the best teams in England. I rate the guy extremely highly, and he is also a great athlete who works extremely hard in every game I've ever seen him play. Walcott is a very different type of player, and definitely less aesthetically pleasing, but he has been incredibly productive for Arsenal since about the turn of the decade. The boy has matured into a verifiable Lethal Weapon. Ben Arfa is one of the most naturally gifted players on the planet with the ball at his feet and his best matches any player other than the two pillars in La Liga, but he has never played at his best for an extended period of time (a full season) at any point in his career and I am not sure he ever will. Twenty-six year old wide players generally are who they will be at the end of things. It is my opinion that he will remain inconsistent and frustrating in terms of comparison with the world's best for the rest of his career, but at the same time will be someone who is a fantastic entertainer who can win matches on his own, while also being the best player at this football club for years to come. From the perspective of a fullback, though, Ben Arfa is the one I would least want to face. The others will beat you. Hatem will embarrass you and shatter your confidence as a man on his day.