durhamunigeordie

If he gets a new contract I honestly don't think i'll renew.

Pathetic, really pathetic.

He never excelled consistently, but he showed more than enough promise. Of course no certainty he would have made it, but would have liked to have seen him given a run. Around December/January last year he was one of our top two players. Similar to Hatem in that he can unlock defences, but very different in how he went about it. Marveaux would draw players and find a pass at just the right time, Hatem draws players and then beats them. That sort of creative player is always going to have good and bad days.

Exactly of the 7 on the bench on Wednesday all are pushing first team and you could make arguments for 3/4 of them being first choice.

It's annoying, but I can't really question it given the run we are on. Hopefully see Hatem for half an hour today and then 90 minutes Wednesday.

He's most likely been interviewed by the press and asked about his lack of first team football. This has probably been followed by a question about whether he would consider leaving if he's not playing. What's he supposed to say? It appears he's just given an honest answer. I could be wrong, but I doubt he's actively called a journalist and asked them to write that specific headline.

If it's the lady that I think it is, at least she actually has some sort of grasp on what is going on. I've been in before and been served by some people who are clueless. Not that I think that is necessarily their fault. It's obvious the box office is run on a shoe string budget and it certainly appears as if the majority of the staff in there are trained in how to process simple purchasing transactions, but have no real knowledge of what to do whenever there is a problem.

Was excellent today. Will keep his place next week with Cabaye out. Hopefully Hatem in.

Essien pissing himself.

I see Southampton are selling tickets to their fans at our place for £37 a pop. Seemingly Mike has decided to shaft those who have turned down his ticket deal. Problem is means we are likely to get stung at the other end, although I guess we may have looked at what we are likely to be charged down there anyway .

Any word on his injury?

Fair play to him he's starting to look very accomplished. Still does like to anticipate and flies into the occasional rash tackle as a result, but that could be him trying to compensate for a slight lack of pace. Excellent in the air and knows exactly when to get forward.

He was hobbling around a bit before that. I think that had a little to do with it - he just kind of collapsed unable to follow the run.

Mapou a doubt?

Didn't realise they hadn't even sold out yet.

Annoying but was never going to be back in time. Seems to have become susceptible to back/groin/hamstring problems (which I'd imagine are all at least partly related?). Never going to rush him back within 10 days.

Big fan of his. If he's the alternative to Jonas I hope he plays every week.

Credit where it's due today, thought he got it spot on. His subs were right as well - introduce Shola or Cisse into that game and we'd have be effectively playing with 9.

Felt for him today. Thought he was comfortable until the sending off. Shame he'll miss the next game as well.

Good today, but don't trust him commanding his box at the moment though. There was at least one he should have come for. Bugs me how keepers just don't seem to bother trying to catch corners these days - the one he punched in the second half he could have grabbed easily IMO.

Was good to see him back today. If being overly critical there was just that very poor pass that led to him going down injured, the sending off etc.

Lads around me noticed that as well. Maybe could be put down to him not wanting to get carried away, knowing that there was still a lot of hard work to do etc. Still would rather he got involved though.

Obviously not his greatest game, but he wasn't bad either. Think it's an experiment I'd like to see us try again given the other options available to us at the moment.

Any recommendations for cheap/decent atmosphere places to watch this in town?

Must be the same personnel that started the 2nd half at Goodison. That's the only way he can even attempt to justify leaving Hatem out and even then it's still miles short of being the right decision.