Gallowgate Toon

Needs the ball on the deck to be effective. Simple as. He's a good header of the ball ironically but he's not that bully type, he's quite creative in his build up play but again the ball needs to be at his feet. Will be great, we just need to play to his and Cabaye's strengths.

It was lovely technique but the marking was horrific.

Not too worried about this. Their midfield is pretty weak and don't see them causing us too much bother up top as long as we have a left back. I think we'll control possession and have more chances while they nick a scrappy goal on the break. 1-1.

To be a success he's going to a) need the ball and b) have some movement. We are a pretty static side and last night showed it. Shola is immobile, Jonas rarely makes an off the ball run and neither does Barton. Tiote's job is to stay behind Cabaye. Only Ba and Obertan made attempts to move off the ball last night and they weren't even on the pitch at the same time. He's a great passer but it's a useless if only 1 player makes the effort to make the space.

On the 'Suarez' type of player front, we do actually have that kind of player, unfortunately he just keeps on getting injured.

Krul - 6 - Was dependable enough when called upon. Erratic kicking. Simpson - 6.5 - Played well, didn't do his usual backing off trick. Taylor - 7 - Very solid. Colo - 8 - Some fantastic reading of the game. Great player and MOTM. R.Taylor - 6.5 - Not as bad as I was expecting, played alright. Credit where it's due. Barton - 5 - Poor set pieces and wasn't involved much bar the drama. Cabaye - 5.5 - Some lovely snappy passing but wasn't utilised anywhere near enough. Tried hard and kept his position well enough. Tiote - 5.5 - Off the boil with his passing, got some good tackles in. Jonas - 7 - Did a fantastic job protecting Taylor but didn't get forward enough but that's most likely down to our tactics. Ba - 5 - Some good, some bad. Didn't really play to his strengths at all. Shola - 5.5 - The lad is just always on his heels and behind the play. Caught offside a fair bit too. Held the play up well at time. Best - 6 - Ran around a bit and nearly sent through, would've been a great chance if he'd reacted quicker. Obertan - 7 - In and out of the game but looked skillful and quick. The back heel was great. Loven - 5 - Didn't do much. I thought it was obvious that Pards went for the 'something is better than nothing' approach. We were very disciplined, which was great to see but we made very minimal effort to attack. Some players were more concerned about not breaking shape and didn't move forward but I fully expect Pardew to have told them not to. It made sense with it being the opening game (against tough opposition) and us having a very patchy defence. We frustrated them by not pressuring them and plugging the space they like to exploit, it was pretty effective and limited them to half chances and crosses which they were never going to win. Nevertheless, a solid start. Let's see us play to our strengths next week and knock the ball about, feeling optimistic about our chances.

Barton's were terrible like. Found it very interesting that he was taking the majority of them mind.

Pretty much played as a left wing back. Great covering for Taylor though. Top man is Jonas.

We had the best chance of the game with Cabaye, absolutely ludicrous highlights. We had just as many crappy half chances, yet nothing gets shown. Pathetic.

Looked a lot more composed on the ball than I thought he was. Was nice to see that he doesn't look devoid of confidence after his Man U experience. Lovely backheel. That's the kind of spark we've missed for a while.

Lovely volley, shocking marking.

We never attempted to go at them, hence the massive gap and 'disjointed' forward play. We didn't take it to them and concentrated on frustrating them and holding our shape. It worked but I think we could definitely have had more of a go.

Will be very effective when he's not shackled. Good to see that he's also disciplined when he needs to be though. Really wish he would just take all the set pieces.

We'll be a lot better for this. We'll actually play football and give it a go.

A disciplined performance and a Pards attempt at a bit of self-preservation. It was a good result but they were there for the taking and it was frustrating that we didn't take it to them more. We were excellent defensively, very organised but we didn't try and impose ourselves on the game offensively. We have the right personnel for an attacking, on the deck style but we bypassed all those options today. Can't say I'm too disappointed with a draw but I felt we could have had a bit more.

Loved the little changes he made as a captain. Was a lot more vocal but really made attempts to push play forward, as a captain should. Phenomenal player.

No Marveaux?

Positive formation, looking forward to that midfield against theirs, reckon we might win that battle. Unfortunately we're a defensive liability.

You just know they'll nick a draw, they're an atrocious side but ridiculously lucky all the time.

They have a better squad, it's full of complete mediocrity but unfortunately, our squad has some very poor players. Our first team has more quality to it though and will be capable of picking up results playing football, rather than getting 2 banks of 4 and grinding out results with scrappy goals. We'll outscore them again, they'll not let in as many. We'll finish in similar positions.

Could Pardew not have meant, 3-4 weeks and he'd be back in training and then 5-6 weeks he'll be starting or in an around the team? He has missed a large chunk of preseason let's not forget, he'll have his work cut out for him when he gets back.

We don't need the cavalier type full back as much now. Our midfield is looking pretty attack minded, a strong and quick defender with solid distribution to keep some balance to the side will do me just fine for the moment.

Twice the player from when he joined, in a massively inflated market, the deal is with this year's big spenders and we still end up getting less cash (allegedly). You couldn't make it up.

Unfortunately, you're bang on. There is a slight positive to Barton not playing though, if Gervinho starts on the left we all know what Simpson will do. If Jonas starts on the right, I'll feel more comfortable with that extra defensive protection. Rather our best players just played but that's just typically us. Simpson is ten times the defender Ryan Taylor is though. Whoever plays left back is going to need more cover. Fair enough. It's all down to weighing up the lesser of 2 evils, either way, we seem to have snookered ourselves even if Pieters comes in.

Debatable imo. Barton not playing means Jonas and Marveaux will play, I don't think Pardew sees Gosling as a wideman at all despite his Everton days. The last time they started together, Jonas was right and Marveaux was left iirc, can see it being the same again. (Sorry, the only time they've ever played together).