Gallowgate Toon

Hard to argue against Sessegnon this season. He's been very good (albeit in fits and starts), the last 5 games he's looked excellent. He's got the benefit of a system being completely revolved around him mind, a manager that can see the benefits of his creative talent and has rightly put his faith in it. Hatem's not quite had that yet, which is a shame.

He played right midfield in a 4-4-2 against Blackburn in the cup, didn't he? That was his best performance for us this year and not a coincidence in my opinion, it allowed him to be involved in play a lot more and that's the best way to balance him out. He could work in a 4-3-3 for us but the impetus has to be passing (and fluid) football for that formation to be effective, we did try and do that before Fulham but since we were thrashed, the tactics seem to have changed. He's a very simple player to deploy but we seem to be finding the most complex ways to play him. The lad's not a riddle just put him where he can influence attacking play and let him have the ball.

Lovely finish. The perfect impact sub, chuffed to bits for him.

I hope Pardew realises that he can play in a 4-4-2 soon. It seems simple enough to me, stick him wide midfield, let him roam a bit and link attacking play, he doesn't need to be the world's best, defensively. Perhaps the signing of Cisse is a sign of things to come, that we're becoming a bit more of a dynamic team etc. I'm really hoping so, watching constant long ball is a bit of a pain at the minute.

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.