Gallowgate Toon

Part of me thinks it's Pardew trying to be clever by playing him as some false winger or something. The 2 up top have certainly been working the channels a lot more over the last 2 matches and I wonder if it's some sort of plan for the 2 wide players to come infield while the forwards move out. Whatever it is, it's shit and there appears to be absolutely no structure to it. It plays right into the hands of teams when we're at home.

His constant moving central was baffling but we saw that against Palace. I just don't get it and it's one of the most counter-productive moves ever. It narrows us and takes away wide outlets which completely defeats the point of playing with 2 strikers, especially when the opposition are set up in such a way which means they're happy as Larry for things to always come through the middle and become congested. We appear to have no clue when it comes to opening a team up. It's embarrassing.

I don't think the side should be built around him but he should certainly be one of the main men in our attacking game.

Sick of his Gouffran malarkey. So little width and threat from out wide. Makes the playing of two strikers that seem to thrive from service in the box completely pointless as there are so little options for delivery. Sick of our slow play as well. Keeping the ball and possession play is all well and good but it actually has to lead to something with some pace and movement to hurt the opposition.

Yeah, he was woeful. Was the linesman really from Durham?

Didn't take Barkley long to turn into an utter cunt either.

He's the one Academy player who's actually been treated correctly and he's poor man. He got a loan spell to learn his trade, he got the odd game here and there, he's been given a run due to injury, but he's just rank. Oh, I agree that he's poor. I didn't think he should've started tonight as I don't think he's really looked very comfortable at all. I'd have Haidara in, he's got the raw materials and is worth persevering with.

He's been handled poorly. Confidence will be on the floor after that.

Made loads of good runs that were totally missed. Our midfield is fucking shit.

Not sure what his fitness was like today but he's got to be starting on the pitch for the next game. Great work on the left for that Anita miss.

What a load of fucking shit. Slow play, backed off them too much, no left side and naff all in terms of creativity. Absolutely woeful.

Shit.

Some nice bits of link up again but little speed with runners rendered it useless. No crossers and no speed and creativity in our midfield will inhibit him. I watched the shooting warm up and some of his finishing was fantastic, if only we could play to our strikers' strengths. Pardew's been spoiled by Remy.

How he wasn't hooked I'll never know. I don't ever want to see him in midfield again.

Some of his recent comments have been terrible.

What a mug

That doesn't sound too promising. If he means we have more patient build up play then I'm OK with that (to an extent), if he means sit back and make sure there are no gaps then that would be suicidal and pathetic.

He should still start if he's fit, of course, but he's going to have to work as Baines will be up and down and knows that he's just as much of a threat and will panic wide midfielders. There are times when he simply has to do his job, I think he's better with that responsibility anyway as he doesn't produce enough for a truly free role.

We all want him to have the ball the most, but they were definitely not ignoring him just because every pass didn't go to the right side. He made a nice little cameo, has to start tonight. He's not fit enough to start; that's the crux of most if this. He should be. If he does start he'll be far less effective than coming on with 20 to go. Bringing him on with 20 minutes or less left is part of the problem though, it leads to him forcing the game too much, rather than having time to work his way into the game. If he doesn't start he should be brought on with 30 minutes or more remaining like he was against Palace, even better just do it at half time.. Or just start him and don't force him to play RB counter-produce what they'll be doing. If we play Ben Arfa further up on the right, Baines will be forced to stay back a bit. Unfortunately our coward of a manager doesn't look it that way, he'll be playing Sissoko to defend Baines at home... Yeah basically the best way to combat Baines is pin him back. We won't do that though, like Baines won't stay back. That's why they play 4-2-3-1.

Henry's the best footballer the league's seen, in my opinion. If he was in his prime right now then I think he'd be absolutely murdering the division.

Exactly. He's obviously no long term wide man but he makes stuff happen pretty much every week from out wide. Gouff's done little but run around for the last 12 weeks.

Sissoko just isn't at all 'fucking shit', man. Becoming such an unbelievably underrated player, he's created loads for us this season.

Has Johnson sunk back to his generally poor level since that little run he went on?

you're thinking too much pal, our approach to scoring goals doesn't extend beyond getting the ball to one player somewhere near the other goal and hoping he can do something with it you're 100% right mind, either play crosses to de jong or get him to hold up and link with runners from midfield, don't f***ing do neither Yep. I mean, the lad clearly has some more mental adjusting to do but it's no wonder he often passed back to other teammates yesterday as he had little in the way of options for flicks etc. He showed his abilities as a footballer against Hull, he's not going to produce goods on his own so you need to set things up in his favour, just like with Cisse.

Haidara's got more in his locker, physically and technically, and will improve defensively if given a run of games. Dummett's a good lad but doesn't really look a Premier League footballer to me.