alexf

In a way man united's style of play helped us today. The way we were defending it was going to be very hard to play their way through us and they didn't really have a plan b where they could just hoof it long to a big guy. Once they took off Rooney i actually relaxed alittle because they just didnt look like breaking us down. Glad we found that defensive steel again because the way it had been going since Taylor had got injured i feared we would never been as defensively sound again this season. Oh and nice to see the return of the goal line clearances. I know it's the last line of defence but we seemed to have one pretty much every game we won at the start of the season and it's a kind of "we shall not be beaten type mentality"

The stuff he is saying seems to fit his agenda a little. Harper was demoted to number 2 quite naturally because of Krul not for other reasons. Carroll was sold for £35m! and Nolan for £4-5 which is more than we perhaps expected and well Alan Smith quite clearly still trains with the first team and even gets a game now and again (amazingly) he just not as good as the alternatives. I agree with all the stuff he says about the owners and some of the stuff he says is concerning but also the way he ignores the fact we did in fact still stick by him while he was in prison when the whole country were urging us to sack him. As well as all this talk he was saying about he and nolan etc heading the "player's committee" did seem like they did have a bit too much pull with hughton as many people felt they might at the time.

Best brought the ball down superbly on a number of occasions when he came on. Really hope he can step up again while demba is away. Pardew's little comment post match was good to hear aswell

yeah we have players that can play decent football given the opportunity. Coloccini, Santon, Cabaye, Tiote(when he doesnt dally on it for too long), Jonas, Ba and players who arn't in the team at the moment..Ben Arfa, Guthrie and Vuckic.

Hopefully this game was a turning point like the last game against Man U seemed to be, as we haven't been nearly as good in the last 8 or so games as we were before then. Need to use the momentum from this game to kick on again.

like the look of this lad alot. Nice and composed on the ball and perhaps one of the fastest in the squad

Think tonight he was playing his best position for us. Always felt he looks best just off the striker where he has the space and can drop deep and get involved. Absolute beast of a performance. Going to miss him for a few games now, hope we can use tonight as momentum for the other games

WHAT A GAME!! Superb!

I'm scared somebody hold me ..............narr we're guna batter them. Shola Hattrick!

Fucking darmesh sheth is really irritating.

want jonas to hit a ginola-like bender into the top corner tonight

Alot of slagging off of pardew and I was one of them but alot of the problems lately have to be down to too many players out of form. During the unbeaten run we had Jonas flying, the best defence in the league at that point, best scoring goals and cabaye/tiote in better form(guthrie fit) I do blame Pardew for some poor tactics/team selections since chelsea but i don't think he is suddenly crap and the start of the season was some sort of fluke. Hopefully a few players will return to form and we get our confidence back which seems to be really lacking based on recent performances. (except Mr.Ba) EDIT* jeez i still have christmas shola as my avatar.

That's a redundant comparison. Neither of them had a player of Ben Arfa's type to leave on the bench. ginola and robert spring to mind. Both were simply too good to leave on the bench in any situation. Robert especially had the type of game that didn't rely on those around him. Ginola = always played by Keegan. Dropped by Dalglish. Robert = always played by Sir Bobby. Dropped by Souness. Zog = told to f*** off by JFK. Bellamy = flogged for peanuts by souness

I now fully expect pardew to start Ben Arfa against man u. Continue to play long ball tactics and then haul him off at half time for shola.

Anyone would think he was indisposable. Annoyed me the way Pardew kept defending him saying he has been injured. He missed 2 games for god sake and it was ages ago.

Not a single one of those quotes suggest he is "happy to wait". Typical misleading title. Edit*** Also would anyone disagree that Hatem probably has a far better cross on him than any other current winger in the squad??

Did ok in the first half against man u last time

Love that the pre-match press conference on nutv is of the game at old trafford and not tomorrow's game.

It was so horrible yet so utterly predictable. I was moaning about the freekick and saying how classic liverpool it would be if Gerrard then goes and scores. But then Bellamy steps over it so im relieved. THEN fucking simpson starts running back and im screaming "WHAT ARE YOU DOING GET OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"..................Goal. FFS

If he wasn't so pig-headed and stubborn I think I'd have a lot more time for Pardew. Instead i get that same horrible Souness/Allardyce/Kinnear vibe after a defeat where i can't help but feel he is massively responsible for the loss. Which is probably harsh on him tbf

Patience is wearing very fucking thin with this lad. Just want him to look like he is making some sort of effort. From watching him this season he looks like the most un-confident man in the world.

Was thinking the same. If Obertan is the alternative (He's never going to play Ben Arfa there) then I would much prefer Guthrie playing out there whipping in some sort of supply for Ba. Was so frustrating seeing Ba get absolutely zero service most of tonight and then when we finally did feed him he was inches from scoring. When you have effectively one of if not THE most inform striker in the league then you attack people and try and get the ball into him as much as possible not pump 60 yard balls up to him with absolutely no support.

Still looked off the pace for me. Very sloppy at times tonight but can't single him out as there were far worse performances elsewhere