Gallowgate Toon

To be fair, it worked. HBA delivered 2 earlier crosses in the second that led to fantastic chances that should have been buried. Nothing wrong with Hatem varying his game up a bit at times, I'd like to see him run at players the majority of the time but the odd early ball etc. to mix things up is no problem.

Well, that's apparently one of the reasons as to why we were so poor. There's also the added bonus of the January recruits being settled in, the prospect of Ben Arfa having a full season and the addition of an absolutely quality striker who seemingly suits the team well.

If we can keep players relatively fit then I think we'll do OK. There is potential in our starting 11 but outside 3 or 4 sub options, we have very little.

Hope Lamela makes an appearance, never seen him play but heard he's very good.

He looked at his best, in terms of a good balance in his game, when he returned to help us finish 5th. I have no doubt that with a cohesive team around him he will improve his decision-making. Not that I think he vastly needs to improve it, players that take risks lose the ball, see Messi.

I thought he was better and the service was improved, even in the first half. He was unlucky with that header. I think Remy could be good foil for him, he's a player who has good movement but is also comfortable on the ball and happy to drop deep to link play (with success).

I'd happily take Gomis. I think Cisse-Remy is a really interesting partnership that I'm intrigued to see more of and Gouffran's a cracking squad option but we need one more in, even just to make sure Shola is properly down the pecking order.

We played attacking football under Pardew?! Hopefully he gets the idea of starting Shola out of his head now.

He was frustrating at times too but he was definitely making an effort to play more crosses from wide, I liked that.

As with Marveaux, I'd like to see his creativity while we've actually got a capable, moving striker on the pitch. Nobody thinks faster in our team than Vurnon.

Hard to say with him really, I'd like to have seen him play with Remy on the pitch.

Very direct and moved well off the ball. Surprised he missed that header, he's a much better striker than that.

Well, that was 1000 times better. I thought we were more positive from the off compared to last week but we just needed that bit of quality and balance in the attacking players to put it together and when it did, we looked dangerous. Feels lovely to say we played well, won and deserved the victory.

Looked much better with 3 players moving off the ball. Gouffran was good at moving into the box from the wing when Hatem was in possession.

Looked like a quality footballer. His overall play showed what we were missing, someone who could show for and do something positive with the ball. Really impressed. I thought his movement off the ball was class too, opened up a lot more space for Cisse.

I think it will be the same team as last week, perhaps Sammy in for Marveaux. It's a obviously flawed XI but it's got enough in it to at least get a shot on target. We need to be quicker and more confident. 2-1. Remy to get the winner.

Have I missed something here?

I thought he looked confident in that he went looking for the ball a lot but whenever he was in a pressurised situation, he generally shit himself. It's hard to know with Marv, he took a while to get going last year.

Being a narrow side isn't really an issue if you have the strikers and wide men to suit it. Ben Arfa and Marveaux drifting in is fine but there either needs to be forwards moving about ahead of them or strikers comfortable showing for and playing quick interchanges in tight spaces.

Marveaux wasn't his usual self on the ball tonight. His touch was off and he got outmuscled too often.

Lovely footballer but a bit of a wimp.

Hatem showed some of the others how to do it, managed to withstand their tackling and strength. Marveaux was too lightweight tonight.

Pretty much sums it up. He's definitely not going to shine on a small pitch in a clogging match which this was in the first half. He's a big lad that should have been far more commanding when on the ball. He didn't take his chance, we all know he's a better player than what he showed tonight.

Thought we were OK second half. A few of the players looked a bit intimidated by their physicality.

That's the most driven performance I've seen from him, perhaps Pardew's words were the motivation?