Gallowgate Toon

Didn't .com lick Pardew's arse when he was taking us on losing streaks etc.?

Colback's positioning was fine for the first goal, the players ahead of him lost their men. Anita's not going to stop that situation. Second goal, again, he's in a decent position but Coloccini is a joke and we defend awfully. Going forward, the problem was a lack of width with the 4-3-3, we've not got the players to consistently cut through a narrow, compact team like that - again, don't think Anita's going to make a jot of difference.

4-3-3 would have worked fine with Anita as the only deep midfielder instead of Colback. Colback cannot do the very basics in that position. It was a crazy decision. I just can't agree, man. I like Anita, he's a better footballer than Colback, but I just don't think he'd have had any say in stopping their goals - he'd be struggling to keep up. He'd give us much the same going to other way, too. Lots of possession but no penetration.

I see him out running loads. God knows what's happening there.

Our midfield doesn't come down to a choice between Anita and Colback, if it did then Anita would be the choice. I like Anita but he wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference. We'd still have been outmuscled and the defenders left to struggle with superior athletes. We had Sissoko and Wijnaldum as part of a midfield 3 in the first and they looked utterly toothless like that. Can't imagine it'd be any different if you made them a 2 in a 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 or whatever. Only hope we have in that area is Tiote and he's A) injured/AWOL and B) not even very good.

We don't have better than Colback? Like s****. If you mean play Anita in his place, you get pretty much the exact same problems.

Think that's the last we'll see of him. Had one put on a plate, as well, didn't he?

Huffed and puffed and managed to nick the ball away once or twice, but still totally shown up for being a dweeb.

He cant even get the most basic thing right and that's starting the best 11 players. The options really aren't any better, tbh.

The squad is horrifically imbalanced. You could see today with Watford how much difference some pace and strength in the spine of the team makes. We are generally powderpuff.

It was good to see he tried 4-3-3 and then changed it when he realised it wasn't working, and there was some improvement, but I think he just needs to concentrate on getting this team to just grind results out. Our defence is fucking shambolic, if left alone they just get ragged all over the shop by players with a hint of speed/strength. It's embarrassing.

Was better in the second as Sissoko going wide made more space in the middle for him to exploit. He's still getting used to the league but I thought he did a couple of really good things in the second half.

I know people want to see more attacking football but I just don't think we've got the defenders. Reckon our best hope is to ditch trying to pass and just grind the shit out of games until January and get a proper centre back in (fat chance) and a centre mid that knows how to shield defence that isn't a midget. First half was shit, too many players looked scared and didn't take responsibility. Played 4-3-3 in the first but we were too congested with Thauvin and Perez dropping inside a lot (and neither are quick to go on the outside), the lack of space totally nullified Wijnaldum and Sissoko, and Cisse was his current shit self. The 4-2-3-1 opened up some of the pitch for Wijnaldum in the second and Sissoko out wide pinned them back and he caused more damage there but it just wasn't enough. We're missing presence up top, badly, and presence at the back. I don't like Tiote but, Christ, he'd do a better job than Colback and Anita at protecting our joke of a captain from shitting himself. The players' attitude in the first worried the shit out of me, hardly any backbone between them. I don't know where you go from here, really.

Defence is a mess when you don't hold their hands too. Don't think forwards have confidence in them.

4-3-3 in the first was shit. 4-2-3-1 in the second slightly less shit. Overall, shit. Some nice footballers, no physicality.

It's better. Annoying about Colback and I hope this is last-chance saloon for Cisse, like.

Shouldn't he be doing that in the first place? Should be a 'more' in there!

Cathro's been working on the attacking play this week, apparently

For home games, I agree that the football must be quicker. Southampton was better for passing with a bit more speed and incision and people would be OK with consistent performances of that ilk (assuming we improve speeding up play in the final third). I think this is a viable strategy for some away games, though, and an attacking midfield 3 of Thauvin, de Jong and Perez would be suited to it with Mitrovic ahead of them.

I don't think he set up on Monday to be defensive, tbf. He set us up quite positively, in terms of shape, and I reckon he wanted us to keep the ball, get the game as wide as possible and work openings patiently. I think some players just didn't turn up (it's quite a new set up for them, tbf, we've only played in that sort of style against Southampton) and he got 1 key position wrong. It's still really early days with how he wants us to play and it looks like they've worked on a few different shapes and tactics, so they've likely not mastered anything and there will be teething problems. Player movement going forward is a big issue but I've heard that's Cathro's domain and I'm sure it'll improve the more it gets worked on. I'm guessing he wants us to generally end up like this: http://www.zonalmarking.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/modern-centre-half.gif If that's the plan, he really should play Ayoze in one of those AM spots, as well as sorting out the obvious Colback/Anita problem.

Hi wasn't really playing as a wide right player on Monday, tbh. He was sort of an inside right with Janmaat pushed up really high and wide.

Anita with one of Sissoko/Wijnaldum would be absolutely fine and infinitely better balanced than Anita-Colback. Anita's not the long term answer, we need to buy a proper CM in January, but he'll have to do for now.

Aye, loads of space in front of our full back, then we pass directly to feet rather than ahead of him Yes, that sort of unconfident passing is a problem for our side. But Colback is the last player who can be accused of that. He is the one who most often tries to play it into someone's stride, rather than at their feet. The player has his faults, but that's not one of them. Him putting the ball a couple of yards in front of a fullback's foot is counteracted by how slowly he plays the pass. As well as always picking the easy option.

Would rather see if i could contact aids tbh. Would be quite difficult, I'd imagine.

I could see the logic in trying to protect him for a few games but this just has to happen. Crying out for someone that can actually take a risk and open up a team from deeper positions, would create more space for other attackers too.