Gallowgate Toon

Those quotes really don't read well. I'm sure Colo is slightly more ambitious than returning at a relatively young age though, and doesn't he have a charity project that he needs to fund?

I'm not expecting him to pull up any trees individually but I think he'll have an immediate impact on the balance and intelligence of the side, with the former being something that needs to drastically improve. His crossing will be better than Simpson's too.

Yeah he presses his area well but in terms of going backwards he's not all that but honestly he shouldn't have to. If we pressed as a team properly this wouldn't be a problem. I agree, he can still be a part of us defensively, but we're not organised enough as a team when trying to get the ball back.

Marveaux works hard at pressuring centre backs but doesn't track back well, he just needs to be a body more than anything, he doesn't need to do anything special in that regard. We can still be solid defensively with him at the top of a midfield 3 with better organisation.

Alan, please stop making us so narrow when we need to find a way back into the game, this is what putting on all of your strikers does and makes us utterly predictable. It was clear as day today, that they were susceptible to being caught out on the flanks and yet we took off our only natural winger and pretty much just bombed it in the box. He panics too much and so do the rest of the team as a consequence. A new coach would be a huge help at the minute.

He was a lot narrower today, I thought. We really needed a bit more width to cause them problems, Perch really struggled for options at times. Bloody can't wait to see him back in the middle, it's been too long.

I'm not saying they shouldn't do it, but the praise they've been getting isn't justified on the evidence of tonight IMO. I thought they mixed it up well enough. Not a brilliant performance but a solid one, they were there for the taking defensively though and I think with a bit more of a Plan B, we'd have got something from the game. Maybe, IMO we played better on the deck than Everton and many people are criticising us for hoofing it too much. Obviously the result is what it is. I think we actually played it shorter than they did for the majority of the match but that's not really relevant to how they play overall, they do play to their strengths but aren't exclusively one style or another, I think there's a decent balance there.

I'm not saying they shouldn't do it, but the praise they've been getting isn't justified on the evidence of tonight IMO. I thought they mixed it up well enough. Not a brilliant performance but a solid one, they were there for the taking defensively though and I think with a bit more of a Plan B, we'd have got something from the game. we were there for the taking aswell, hence a very open game. Of course, no denying that, but we had lost all shape and organisation by 75 minutes. I think if we'd have been a bit smarter we could have been more potent up front while having a little extra protection at the back too. Our manager isn't much of a thinker in such situations though.

I'm not saying they shouldn't do it, but the praise they've been getting isn't justified on the evidence of tonight IMO. I thought they mixed it up well enough. Not a brilliant performance but a solid one, they were there for the taking defensively though and I think with a bit more of a Plan B, we'd have got something from the game.

I think they mix it up quite well, they did play it up to Fellaini a fair bit but he's so good at bringing the ball down and others in to play, why wouldn't they? It's not like we've got many physical defenders that could have contained him.

Just needs to listen to his idol. 'He who dares, wins, Derek'

Buy some players to fill our squad, you mentalist.

Good game, it was a shame he came off.

He was on speed for that first half an hour, he seemed so pumped up. Faded in the second apart from that chance. Get players like Marveaux, HBA and Cabaye supplying him and he'll be flying.

He's bloody good at dribbling but has brilliant vision, we really should have been doing everything to get him on the ball tonight and get our forwards making runs.

He's brilliant.

We didn't use him enough tonight.

Seething after that, not been so angry after a match for a long time. Mainly because Shola inexcusably played 90 despite looking comatose after half an hour. There's no plan there at all, it's all about hoping for individuals, why the hell we didn't give Marveaux more of the ball was beyond me, he was our only threatening player and yet completely bypassed him for the majority of the match.

Fair enough starting Shola but he looked absolutely knackered after half an hour, how he finished the game is beyond me. His panic substitution move is fucking disgraceful too, the players had no belief at the end in their attacking play. A shambles.

Disgusting decision there

Honestly, he has every right to be fuming. How must he perceive this? It just seems as if Pardew has no faith in him.

I really wouldn't be too worried about pressure. The guy was pertty much the sole provider of goals at relegation-threatened Freiburg (until he left), he's fine shouldering it, in fact I think he thrives on it.

It's going to be absolutely amazing having a defender with some decent attacking ability, putting crosses in with their natural foot. Really can't wait to see him play.

I literally have no idea how this could pan out I actually think we could give them a going over but I could similaraly see them romping away with it too. Certainly one of the hardest matches to predict, taking everything into account.

I'd play him tonight but in one of the wing spots, Cisse should be the main man now, we need to get him firing for when Ba inevitably leaves.