Gallowgate Toon

There were some good signs vs. West Ham, in my opinion. Play the best team we have available (put Gouffran in for Shola) to get some confidence and momentum going.

Other way round from what I read. http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/papiss-cisse-wants-see-more-5789463

He and Shola only exchanged 4 passes vs. West Ham Absolutely shocking partnership.

Remy will make a difference. He's by no means the perfect solution but he's a technically good footballer with a brain. He's the first striker we've had in a while that can score goals and play a bit as well. I bloody well hope so. I don't think I can handle Cisse running around like a headless chicken and Shola just being Shola until January. He's a good footballer, no doubt. Won't bumble about on the ball when we're building an attack and will move about for the midfielders. We've got Remy-lite in Gouffran but, for some daft reason, Pardew doesn't seem to realise his importance at present.

Great news.

Remy will make a difference. He's by no means the perfect solution but he's a technically good footballer with a brain. He's the first striker we've had in a while that can score goals and play a bit as well.

They're a good match for one another. Sissoko's dribbling from deep was good and he supported attacks well. Frustratingly, when he was getting forward with the ball at pace, he'd play it to one of the 2 up top and they'd slow it right down.

Watching this back, it's really infuriating that Gouffran didn't start. You could see we were really missing a striker that could receive the ball and keep momentum going, so many attacks were either slowed down or failed completely due to bad play from Cisse and Shola.

True it does look good, my concern is making sure that we are creating chances. I thought Anita and Sissoko looked good on Saturday but in front of them nothing was happening between them and the strikers. I didn't help that Shola and Cisse were standing there like statues but still creation is a big problem. Shola as a link man was fucking desperate. He was OK in the air but pitifully bad at linking play (bar one moment) on the floor and his movement and energy off the ball was disgraceful. Cisse tried to keep it simple and did move about a bit but he was far too slow on the ball and didn't show for it enough. Those two made Marveaux's presence pointless too, if we're going to play so narrow then we need 2 strikers that can show for the ball in pressurised areas, link play and interchange in tight spaces.

When's this guy expected back? Intrigued to see how he fits into the team, he's a much better footballer than Ba and suits Cisse as a partner much more. Really hope we can keep him fit, he's our best bet for goals in this side.

If Cabaye doesn't get his move by the end of the window, he'll be as good as gold. He won't risk his World Cup place.

Formations do play a part. Cisse with Marveaux behind him would get more in the way of chances because he complements that type of player. Conversely, if we go 4-4-2, he'd really benefit from a winger that can play an early ball. At the minute he's not got the right tools around him, either because the manager puts dangerous players in the wrong position or we simply don't have the players necessary that fit in with how Pardew wants to play. It's a frustrating situation. As it stands, I'd have Gouffran in the team before him taking into account the manager's seemingly preferred style and personnel (assuming Remy comes in for Shola at some point in the coming weeks). Cisse's game is about capitalising on space, we aren't a side that stretches teams.

If he can put in a decent cross and play as a 'proper' wide man in a 4-4-2, he'd make a huge difference to the team with those attributes alone.

We'll only spend if he goes as I suspect losing him will mean the management don't think our squad is good enough to finish in the top half.

Sign a winger, you cunt.

Idiotic. The man is a complete buffoon.

It's not exactly his fault, Pardew should know by now that he's completely unsuited to a wide position in a 4-4-2. Marveaux is just symbolic of the differing mentality that our manager has to our board. No wonder it leads to rudderless and confused football.

The mixture of personnel and formation played right into West Ham's hands, that is undeniable. With Ben Arfa and Marveaux on the wings, we were very narrow, which didn't suit our strikers, particularly Cisse, and this was compounded by only having one full back on his natural foot. This mightn't have been so bad if we had a really good link man up top with plenty of forward movement but we had Shola, who wasted countless opportunities with crap control, poor decision-making and generally playing on his heels. With our current situation, the only way for us to go is 4-2-3-1.

Especially if there are no crosses coming in. I can barely recall one from out wide that a striker could have attacked. Only Debuchy provided a wide, crossing outlet. Absolutely criminal considering we started 2 strikers, one of whom is a 'big lad'.

After watching yesterday, if we don't buy another player and lose Cabaye, I really hope this lad strikes up an understanding with Anita. Vurnon played 2 fantastic passes yesterday (one to Cisse which would have seen him one-on-one with a better touch and a pass to Gouffran for his first chance), which should have led to goals, if we can get this lad on the end of stuff like that, he'll bury them more often than not.

To be fair, Shola's little bit of link-up in the box with Marveaux (before he slipped) showed the potential of having a good target man. You can't forget how cumbersome Shola is, he slowed down a lot of moves today and lost the ball a number of times trying to be too clever when he had options around him. A proper target striker would have been popping the ball off a lot quicker and would have allowed us to build attacks, and momentum, better. Take last night's team and put a proper left winger in it, alongside a striker with some ability on the ball and we'd look far more dangerous.

Is Ayew more a winger or a striker?

we don't have any actual wide players full stop except for Obertan and maybe Sammy. Its a bit of a huge problem It's massively problematic, like. We were so narrow today and there was just nobody that stuck wide who can deliver a ball, Marveaux and Ben Arfa in the team meant we were always coming inside and that didn't suit our strikers. Sammy actually kept wide and stretched them out a bit, his productivity is just nowhere near good enough.

Going to be turd watching him persist with 4-4-2 for the foreseeable. We just don't have the right personnel for it, both out wide and up top, today showed that.

I could see the theory of him playing but he's just crap, Gouffran links play with more pace and actually moves well, really poor decision.