Gallowgate Toon

I'm hoping the signing of Cisse means Pardew is thinking of changing the way we play, this is dreadful.

Our shape was our weak link, not necessarily the personnel.

This is terrible.

He could have just switched the formation but kept the same team? I agree the shape needed to change but why is our best attacking footballer going off and Shola Ameobi staying on? He obviously feels he can't trust him in a 4-4-2 which is frustrating.

More attacking Alan? Complete joke.

We might as well have not even moved for the majority of that half. Seriously, more attacking? Fair enough with the formation but if we didn't hoof the bloody thing so much, we might do a bit better.

I'm sick of watching hoofball. It's not even effective.

More attacking? What a complete joke. We've not even tried to attack.

What is this crap?

Dafty, you had him man!

Need to sort ourselves out a bit, try and just keep the ball.

Reading the Chronicle's comments section is embarrassing, it makes RTG look almost well-rounded.

Even when Tiote was here, he still wasn't playing like he did at Lille, consistently. As soon as Pardew saw he could run around a bit and tackle, he restricted him. He's far too good a player to be fannying on trying to get tackles in all the time, good bonus but where's this ball player we were supposed to have? Where's this pass and move football we were promised in the summer? Pardew used to produce lively teams with some shoddy footballers and yet, with some of the lot he has at his disposal here, he can't even get off the ball movement going.

He's been wasted too much this season, we don't play to his strengths and therefore, haven't seen the best of him on a consistent basis. Very good footballer and midfielder that's simply been deployed far too deep.

How this bloke gets 15 minutes, nevermind 90 is beyond me. Shockingly lethargic.

Very poor, we really didn't seem to want to go for it. Agree with the sentiments that we should have seen it coming when Pardew said he was happy with a draw. Absolutely no drive from the midfield to support a terrible attack.

Far too sloppy on the ball, which is uncharacteristic for him. Great pass for Simpson but the rest was just poor. Didn't run at them anywhere near enough either. I still think he's too shackled tactically but he's going to have to do a lot better than that to get his way.

Shola again... Poor performance from Ben Arfa, considering his last few outings.

Really don't get how we don't look 'motivated'. We've been sharp and fluid with our passing from defense to midfield and have tried to force our way through. It's the front three that are letting us down at the minute, no one else. Because we're not going for the jugular, nobody's moving to take risks and score. We're just keeping control, fair enough though, I'd say we're not being ballsy enough (as an improvement on my previous statement).

We've been utterly abject. Don't look motivated at all.

Err... 'Mukleeyyyn'

He's never even scored regularly, even in his pomp. Hasn't scored 65 goals for Bolton in the league yet. Useful player but never for a team with real aspirations.

I personally think he should play on the wing at the moment. He's got far more space and time on the wing than as a Nr. 10. I agree, wide playmaker suits him perfectly at the minute. It just seems the team expect him to run with it and not have to do anything, it's a bit of give and take. He'll make a pass if he sees it, he's not thick.

His talents simply aren't utilised enough. He's a great dribbler but also a fantastic passer, our players just watch him far too much when he's on the ball, it's criminal. If the team focus was around him, players would be moving all over but he's not, he's just the plan b on the wing, something different to our usual tactics who can weave some magic. Hopefully that'll change if he keeps winning his personal battles.