Gallowgate Toon

If we're going to go 4-4-2 then a proper left winger is an absolute necessity. I also thought Tiote was a real killer in terms of momentum.

Thought we were OK, created a couple of decent chances in the first but lacked fluidity, we improved in style in the second with better balance but didn't create as much. I'm not going to judge too much until the proper season starts. They were a horrible team, diving about and wasting time in a friendly is pretty desperate.

Well, yeah, it's preseason, teams generally play a few crap teams. I wouldn't call the Portuguese sides rubbish.

Our preseason preparation has been good, the players have been run into the ground and it's been overseen by Downey who's brought in a speed and power programme. We've also played very well at times, apparently.

The window still has plenty of time left and the dynamics of it change as it gets closer to crunch time. I'm pretty sure we'll get at least another one in, perhaps two. I'd be satisfied if Gomis was the only other to come in, happy if we brought in a winger as well.

I imagine we'll line up like this for most of the season: Krul Debuchy Taylor Colo Santon Cabaye Tiote Ben Arfa Sissoko Remy Cisse It's obviously not perfect and there are better options within the squad but there should still enough there to beat a lot of teams in the division at home and get results away, especially with the pace of HBA, Sissoko and Remy on the break. If fitness was as much of an issue as has been cited by certain players then the team should perform much better, especially with January buys now adapted (or at least close to being so) and the pressure of relegation gone.

Really hope he does. Looking forward to getting him in the team, I think he'll have a really good season whether it be as a left forward or striker. Think he'll move to a 'big' club next Summer though.

Is it really that surprising? He's got tremendous acceleration. He's quite deceptive when it comes to pace, he sort of glides over longer distances which gives the impression that he's not that quick but we've seen him run the length of the pitch with the ball at his feet with opposition trying to catch up.

NUFCTV must be s***. Errr yeah, it really is

Genuinely better than NUFCTV. Really nice to get insights like that.

Despite the fact we've reportedly played some excellent attacking football this pre-season last night is all down to Pardew and how he's not changed. Our players are far superior to theirs, whether it be 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 we should be taking them to the cleaners.

We've apparently played some great football this pre-season against similar level opposition to tonight's so you can't really say Pardew's intent isn't there, especially without seeing the game. I'm not going to shit myself yet, a reasonable explanation could be that players are fatigued due to the current fitness plan. Pardew did say this week was the most likely for injuries iirc, which suggests this is when players will be stretched to their limit.

Only fortune saved his place last season, that's conveniently forgotten. When we played Villa away, Marveaux was supposed to start ahead of him but pulled out with injury. There's also comments from Pardew in January saying we had a mouth-watering front 6 and Jonas wasn't one of the players mentioned.

Gomis is no slouch, he's not as quick as Bent but he's not slow either. Much better footballer and far stronger however.

Remy, Gomis and a winger (Ince?) would be absolutely tremendous.

If we pull this off it's a great deal, really sensible approach for a quality player.

A few players have mentioned fitness I think, the latest was Cabaye who said that players didn't feel confident to make runs because fitness wasn't good enough. Jonas and Taylor have been the others iirc.

Give him some consistent service. He would go for stretches of games without a sniff and then 1 game would come along where he'd get 3 or so opportunities. He needs consistency to get his confidence properly going.

He's exactly the type of player we need to add to our front line. Will grab a reasonable amount of goals but his all-round game is the biggest plus. I hope he turns out to be good foil for Cisse.

When did he tweet this, like? Last night.

Good to see 'arry and Fernandes are on the same page @tonyfernandes: Some players want to play in the premier league due to world cup. Loans are a good option. As we hope to come back to the premier league @tonyfernandes: Doesn't matter where a player goes if it's a different league and a loan

I don't think Redknapp has any say in transfers anyway but what he's come out with is completely moronic. QPR have shot themselves in the foot and have no negotiating power whatsoever as a consequence. As if they wouldn't jump at the chance to get rid of those hefty wages while in the Championship.

Harry can fuck off, nobody is going to buy him until he's been cleared.

We're certainly not fucked if we put out HBA, Cisse and Gouffran most games. Remy would be an upgrade of course but that front 3 has enough about it to cause teams problems. Whether we can keep them all fit for the majority of the season is another matter as the back-up options are truly woeful.

Gouffran's a good striker and a good finisher, some of his goals for Bordeaux (when played up top) were brilliantly clinical.