Gallowgate Toon

Remy, Cisse and Gouffran had no effect on the game today, Ben Arfa did. Do you think Ben Arfa playing had a negative effect on 3 other players? No, I think them being split up as a front trio after Cardiff for Ben Arfa was stupid, they'd played well together and looked well-suited to away matches as a combination. Pardew just can't keep it right, he's constantly meddling with that area of the team. You don't leave your most dangerous player on the bench because of a one goal win against Cardiff. Remy, Cisse and Gouffran were all on at the same time today, and they were all far more non-existent than Ben Arfa. Gouffran, and Cisse especially were atrocious. Get real man. Ben Arfa had nothing to do with the loss today. Of course he had something do to with the loss, he played the whole match and is meant to be our most creative player. We barely created a thing against the worst side in the league. I'm not saying it's all down to him at all but he's part of it in some capacity, whether you like it or not. For the calls that there's not enough movement around him (which I agree with), he's also not the best at knowing when to simply pass the ball when the option's on.

We just seemed to shoot whenever we fancied, the one time we worked a proper attack and we scored.

No we didn't. Cardiff suck, and we needed 2 very good individual goals from Remy to win against them. I don't think i've ever seen a team more reliant on of pieces individual skill to score goals, be it a longshot or run past multiple defenders. There is no teamwork and movement on this team. It is painful to watch. Get out Cardiff are no worse than that shower we played today and we created plenty against them, not just 2 good finishes.

Remy, Cisse and Gouffran had no effect on the game today, Ben Arfa did. Do you think Ben Arfa playing had a negative effect on 3 other players? No, I think them being split up as a front trio after Cardiff for Ben Arfa was stupid, they'd played well together and looked well-suited to away matches as a combination. Pardew just can't keep it right, he's constantly meddling with that area of the team.

His assist was good, I was glad to see him put a ball in realtively quickly. He was still poor though, crap touch and decision-making, he shouldn't be the main man in this side. He was at his best when he was part of the system, not its driving force. I don't why he was drafted back in after Cardiff, we played very well with Remy, Cisse and Gouffran, that side looked a very good fit for hard-working away performances.

Well played to him, he's been very solid of late. Real battler too.

They were absolutely shit and in no way deserved to win that. Still, a draw isn't good enough against a team as rubbish as that. Pardew's decision-making let us down badly, they contained us well but we played right into their 6-fingered hands. That's 4 belters they've scored against us in the last 2 games. Cunts.

It's like we're playing Russian roulette with his decision-making. Some games, he gets it right but then seems to completely fuck it up the next. He shouldn't have strayed away from the team that was excellent against Cardiff.

He shoots far too often. Just stop it, please.

Rubbish and stupid, needs to grown a brain.

Unbelievably thick from him. Pathetic.

We need some more presence up front, had one or two instances where we've got in good positions but there's been a lack of bodies in the box. The balance looks way off. I'd get Cisse on for HBA or Gouffran.

What a finish.

I don't think MYM is ready to be the defence's organiser, yet. I wouldn't say that's a reflection of his leadership skills either, I just think he needs to get a run for us where he can play his own game and feel confident and comfortable in this league. Basically, just focus on himself. I think if he gets a couple of months doing that, he'll be ready to lead our back line.

One thing's for sure, if this is true, we just can't rely on his fitness anymore. Colo needs to be phased out, MYM needs to come in. I'll probably be in the complete minority here but, for me, Mapou is the best candidate in this squad to take the captaincy, perhaps not right now but in the very near future. He's young but has achieved a lot in his career, leading his side to a Championship, he's a winner. I think if Pardew showed more confidence in MYM, we'd see a more consistent player and generally terrific defender. Oddly enough, I'd partner him with Williamson until January, then buy someone else. Willo can do the basics and is seemingly a good organiser, letting MYM settle in and develop his own style, rather than having to adapt to Colo. Taylor's too stupid to have a defender bedding in alongside him, he's the type that needs his hand holding. It's not ideal but it'd do and would pay huge dividends in the long run, in my opinion.

Fancy the Gouff to score.

Unless we suffer from a bad injury crisis, I really can't see us going down. I think we'll be somewhere between 8th-12th come May.

Debuchy and Santon's positioning has been more to do with how we look to set up, in my opinion. Of course, they are attacking full backs but Pardew seems to be trying to find a balance with an 'offensive look', fiddling with the midfield while the FBs are told to get up high. Recent games suggest he may have learnt his lesson, however. Hatem was was doing well defensively until he was made the focal point of the team, I have faith he and Debuchy could work together. Gouff deserves his run though, hopefully HBA's taking notes.

I'm not exactly confident. We've probably been the most unpredictable team of the season so far, there are some signs we're finding some consistency now but I'm still not feeling like we'll win, despite how appalling they are. I am certain we'll score on the break though, their defence must be the slowest in the division.

According to Dummet, Williamson is always communicating and that makes him easy to play with. Got to say, he does look our most vocal defender, by some distance too. Although, I do think Mapou will fill that role in time, I was fortunate enough to catch some of his Montpellier days and he was a brilliant captain, led by example and was certainly not afraid to talk to and bollock players. I think he just needs to grow into the club first.

He'll be a tremendous player for us, I still believe that. He's shown some really good stuff this campaign - which has seemingly been forgotten about since the awful Goodison showing - and with a little more refining, he'll be great.

Nice to see a bit of passion and fire in a side that has been far too sterile for near enough a decade. The celebrations really looked like they meant something and that was great to see.

Debuchy's 'OK' but Santon seems to shoot more than he crosses after cutting in. I think he's only hit the byline once, against Villa.

In his brilliant run of form, he scored 6 goals from crosses/crossing situations of some sort. Only one of them came from cutting in. Villa - Jonas puts in an early ball. Norwich - Jonas puts in a low early ball. Liverpool - Ben Arfa puts in an early cross from deep. West Brom 1 - Ben Arfa plays first-time, low cross. West Brom 2 - Ben Arfa cut back. Bolton - Shola cross. Our service from those areas isn't as good as then and that's why we won't see that Papiss Cisse. As of now, I'd play Gouffran ahead of him because he suits our style more but being heavily reliant on a front 3 really isn't very sustainable. I'd rather we had further threats so we'd not be contained by the likes of Hull if they get their gameplan spot on or if one of Remy/HBA has a shitter.

There's also more to wide play than wingers, and I'm not saying it's just about running down the line and putting an aimless ball in either. It's about mixing it up, we cut inside the vast majority of times and want to play ourselves into the box. We also rarely play early balls, our delivery is very often floated. It leads to opposition regrouping, packing in the space and that's fine for Benteke or Lukaku but we don't have one of them, nor do I think playing in the way we do would get the most out of them either. They'd perform better than Cisse, sure, but as well as they have for their clubs?