Gallowgate Toon

I wouldn't really call Gouffran a square peg in a round hole, he's just as suited to a wide forward spot as Ba, a player who's spent the majority of his career as a wing forward. It's about how well they gel as a unit, there needs to be a good mix. You don't want 2 players the same, in my opinion, they should blend and complement each other. A HBA/Gouffran/Cisse triumvirate has a good mixture of speed, technique, intelligence, movement and finishing. We should have other options to bring on that can provide some power etc.

Attacking midfielder as well for me i would have Cabaye and Sissoko in the pivot. Marveaux?

Hopefully out of Moore, Dyer, Routledge and Hernandez they can grab a goal or two.

Swansea are quite good foil for Wigan. Quick and tricky counter-attacking side, if Wigan over-do it, they could be picked off.

Debuchy needs to start because we need to win, we're playing with 3 centre halves anyway, plus Tiote will do what he did last week and sit and protect.

Yep. We need to get the balance behind them right too, the supply from that area needs to be better than it has been. God knows what will happen if we stop up, not really sure who will stay and who will go.

We need 2 more attacking options next year, a decent target man and a winger. I'd buy them both as plan B players to come off the bench as I think that front 3 has a lot of potential and a good a balance to it. It's a shame we've not been able to see them play together more often.

We've proven ourselves to have some very good players on the counter, Gouffran and HBA in particular, both have a fair bit of pace between them too. It is possible that West Ham regrouped on Saturday and sped up the tempo, hitting Carroll quicker and forcing us back, because we're really not as physical a team as them and we naturally have to sit a bit deeper. When we're put under pressure, we don't have many players that can relieve it. Don't get me wrong, we have some very good footballers but we're not the most dynamic side, it says it all that Ben Arfa and Marveaux are the only 2 in the squad capable of keeping a hold of the ball in tight situations. I'm not disagreeing that Pardew isn't negative or a crap manager because he is, but there are reasons why we struggle away from home other than the manager.

Stoke sat off them like a League 2 team. The only reason they got back in to that game was because Pulis was happy with a point, any half-decent side would've gone on to win.

To be fair, I'm not completely sure the West Ham game was all to do with Pardew. He is too negative overall but we do struggle with physical teams away because we can't deal with them man-for-man, so players drop deep. When that happens, we need an outlet and too many times this year that option hasn't been available. We're a counter-attacking team by nature but we lean heavily on HBA to make that work because it's often his ball carrying or quick passing that sparks a move off.

He could be an effective wide forward, but that would involve some level of service. He is class off the ball, brilliant at running across goal when the ball's coming in from the right especially. He was unlucky on Sunday, that was a hard chance. I know Jaaskelainen had a rush of blood but Gouff showed excellent pace to create the opportunity in the first place. Completely daft he's been subbed so much when here, he wouldn't have cramped up on the weekend if Pardew didn't fawn over Shola.

If you call it that, he'll probably eat it when it does.

We'll not create much in all likelihood, but we will make a couple of good chances, we just need to take them. It will most likely come from a Cabaye pass to Cisse, or a Ben Arfa dazzler. Marveaux is an excellent option to come off the bench towards the end of the game too, but that depends on whether he's fit or not.

Inochi's got a point, if there's one game that SHOULD see a change in mentality, it's this one because the circumstance has changed. Whether we will see any difference is another matter, I think we might but that may just be blind hope. I'm just trying to be positive but I understand why people are so worried.

Simpson's a twat and blames everything on everyone but himself. He's knuckled down because he's playing for a contract but he's no warrior and he also happens to be an incredibly limited footballer.

It's absolutely ridiculous. I'm confident we'll be OK regarding relegation but I fear for the Summer. The team has so much promise but I can see the presence of this dipshit ruining everything. Starting with good footballers leaving as they have actual career ambitions, not pissing around under this twat.

Sounds crazy but I don't mind Sissoko not being back, you just know he'd be shoved up front again and be ineffectual. Stick to the team from the weekend and we'll win.

This all depends on the first half, we usually play well in the opening 45, we need to score 2 in that period. Can't tell if they'll be up for this, it's different for professionals playing against Arsenal, as the motivation is there in terms of professional pride.

Yep, unlike Ben Arfa, Marveaux plays at a very slow pace a lot of the time, no matter what minute it is he doesn't hurry and will always be looking for the killer pass. Ben Arfa has the ability to do that but it's much less measured imo. Aye. Marveaux's cool head simply suits certain situations better, he's shown he can make an impact in tough, pressurised situations.

Hatem looked alright for the first half yesterday, he'll probably be good for 75 minutes or so next weekend. Marveaux's a better option off the bench than HBA in my opinion.

15th.

It's understandable panic but I'm in the same place as you. I'd be very surprised if we went down, there are just too many factors in play. I think WBA will win next week, they played well yesterday showing they're hardly settling down and they just came off the back of a 3-0 away win. I can see Norwich getting a point at most, I reckon we'll get 2 at least. Then there's other teams to consider too, the Mackems are in big trouble for example. There's a lot left to play for.

That through ball for Cisse yesterday was excellent, they really do seem to have one of those understandings. It could well be a Cabaye to Cisse goal that seals a win next week.

Spot on about Sissoko, he doesn't encourage keeping the ball when a number 10. I think he'd have been great where we saw Jonas yesterday though, we could have done with someone other than Ben Arfa who can break out, Sissoko's not shown that enough while here but I think if he was less isolated in terms of position it would be a different story.

I don't see a player lacking in effort myself, seems to cover a lot of ground for us still and always gets stuck in. I can't really be arsed to waste my energy getting precious over a one second moment, he grafts every week but it always goes unnoticed if he doesn't impose himself on matches when on the ball.