Parsley

If you're Pardew though, do you favour Marveaux's flair and quality on the ball over Jonas' tactical discipline and work rate?

I think an important point to note is that the more active clubs (Chelsea, City and QPR aside) such as Swansea, Spurs, Fulham, Liverpool and Everton have either benefitted financially from selling one of their better players (Dembele, Modric, Rodwell) and have been able to use those extra funds to buy more players, or have changed manager fairly recently. Under a new manager who is wanting to implement a new style of play such as AVB or Laudrup, I'd guess that chairmen and board members are more likely to make money available to let their man put his stamp on the side. I am disappointed with this window fwiw. I think Anita is a good addition to the squad but we are looking very short up front and I'm annoyed that the whole Debuchy saga was allowed to drag on the way it did without any meaningful conclusion. However, I look at the likes of Spurs and Liverpool with their significant player turnovers and, for this season at least, wonder if keeping a consistent squad together might work in our favour while our rivals experience short term transitional periods. I may very well be clutching at straws here, but the benefits gained by our rivals from an influx of new players might well be offset somewhat by new managers and the sheer number of new players in key positions. Spurs, for instance, have a brand new midfield near enough and it will inevitably take time to click. In this regard, arguably January and next summer will be more significant windows for us in terms of keeping up with the teams around us.

Yep. So true. Everton just came out of nowhere with their investment, and Jol and Laudrup are no mugs and have done very well with fairly average resources. Very competitive season ahead. They sold Rodwell for a fair wedge to be fair. I'm sure Dembele's sale has pushed Fulham's recent transfer dealings forward as well.

I think Cisse was always preferred to Maiga, it was just that Freiburg were only willing to sell in January.

One of them is the pro golfer Sergio Garcia for some reason

Yeah, probably should have gone in the other thread in hindsight. All this Arsenal chat is at least persistant though

Has this been posted yet? Samuel J C ‏@samuelj29060 Pardew on Tiote and Cabaye to Arsenal rumours: "I'm never confident (about them staying) and I'm not going to rule anything out." #afc #nufc

I can't remember 7 million euros ever being mentioned as a bid from us. Ok fine, 6 million plus sell on clauses or whatever it was, my mistake. The point I'm trying to make though is that both bids fall short of Lille's supposed valuation and Lille aren't in a position where they have to or want to sell, meaning that it makes little sense for them to accept Madrid's bid.

I think most will just be aiming total anger at MA & His Gang If this turns out to be true and Debuchy goes for that little then it seems to me that Lille have been more willing to deal with Madrid than us, probably because of the manner in which we signed Cabaye. I'm fairly sure that we were quoted at least 8 mill euros for Debuchy and had a bid similar to Real's rejected because it was supposedly too low.

I don't understand why folk have it in their heads that Pardew is some 4-4-2 worshipper and that we are doomed to play in this formation for the rest of his spell as manager. Pardew showed last season that he is a tactical pragmatist who doesn't stick to a single pattern of play and instead goes with the system that he thinks will win the game. I think that Pardew prefers to play a rigid, disciplined 4-4-2 against the better sides (with some payoffs by the way: Man Utd last season, Chelsea away. Even all our victories before we signed Cisse) and a more expansive 4-3-3 against teams we should be picking up points (West Brom away, Stoke home). To assume that we're going 4-4-2 for the rest of the season on the basis of playing two games against two top sides is a bit of a knee-jerk imo.

Exactly. One soft penalty and a moment of genuine quality aside, Chelsea have hardly outclassed us imo. Pardew's in a bit of a tactical dilemma now though - do we have a go at Chelsea and risk getting bummed on the break or keep things tight and hope for a a bit of random inspiration?

Hmm, got 5 points added for Vidic and Pienaar, but still Ramires in the team with 0 points and not my first sub (Ben Arfa). I am new to this, but am I right in thinking a player who has not featured should be replaced by the sub? It's because substitutions are made at the end of the gameweek, which finishes on Wednesday. Your sub points should be added on then

Yep, I think Everton and Fulham will both be firmly in the mix this season.

with the signigns of podolski and giroud i reckon arsenal haven't been totally taken by surprise over this. My thoughts too. Would've been odd to get both of them but still be confident Van Persie was going to stay. Just been on the radio that Van Persie allegedy had a pretty heated discussion regarding the direction of the club with Wenger and Gazidis some time in May. Apparently RvP was shocked when Wenger said that last season's squad was strong enough to challenge for the title.

Er, yeah. He's definitely missed a few in big games, Champions' League Final against Chelsea and this year's semi against Bayern to name two.

Not really fazed by Chelsea interest in Ben Arfa. Being assured of a pivotal role in the first eleven seems to be more important to HBA than money and I simply can't see him trading in what he has here to sit on the bench at Chelsea.

Have to say that, despite their obvious quality, I'm not totally convinced by this Germany side. When teams seem to have a real go at them they look a bit vulnerable IMO - last quarter of the game against Portugal and even in parts today, particularly from the ball over the top from the Dutch in the opening stages.

Sturridge is a better player than Hoilett man. Would be an excellent signing for Liverpool if he can rediscover the form he showed at Bolton. £15 mill is too steep mind.

Just don't understand why Chelsea need Krul when Courtois is supposed to be very decent.

Ah, right, well now I know your selection criteria: Lindegaard Gardener, R Taylor, S Vidic Huddlestone Marveaux Fletcher Leiva Wilshire Holden Dyer, K Not quite fair, Lucas one of the best players in the league up until his injuries these players not so much Nice attempt tho...... Also yh Mata like Silva has been extremely inconsistent so i preferred Valencia and Bale. Also are we using stats to determine if a player is better than another one now? Alright, fair enough, stats don't tell the whole story but if we're gaugeing the performance of players over a season then they at least give some indication of what players are producing. I wouldn't say it's a coincidence that Rooney and RVP, who most folk on here have gone for in their teams for their strikers, are also the two top scorers in the league for instance.

His form has trailed of though, imo. Hasn't been the same player for a few months now. Six goals and 11 assists to Silva's 5 goals and 12 assists in a very similar amount of games (Mata's 31 appearances to Silva's 30) according to Soccernet regardless of the current form of both players. But when you consider that it's Mata's first season in England playing for a team experiencing their worst domestic campaign for years, I think he's personally more deserving of an inclusion than Silva.

Have to say I'm shocked that Mata hasn't been picked more. He's been fantastic in his first PL season in a sub-par Chelsea side and, unlike Silva, there's little to suggest that his form will trail off. Krul Richards Koscielny Kompany Assou-Ekotto Yaya Toure Dempsey Mata Bale Rooney Van Persie

He's great for a short term boost, definitely, but whether he can sustain this season's form over a longer period is pretty doubtful imo, especially with Sessegnon supposedly off in the summer. I think he's too limited in the transfer market and too old-fashioned and rigid in his footballing approach (reliance on a team of 11 and a tendency to neglect squad players; strong emphasis on counter-attacking football that can leave his sides vulnerable at home when the onus is on them to attack - see Everton) to push Sunderland beyond the likes of Everton and Fulham personally.

Krul - 7: Comfortable when called upon Simpson - 7: No complaints here, thought he stood up well to two tricky wingers in Dyer and Sinclair Williamson - 8: Impervious in the air and decent on the ground as well. Has really stepped up to the plate these last three games, fair play Perch - 8: Him and Williamson didn't put a single foot wrong between them. Was impressed particularly by his distribution - often looks to play out from the back along the deck. Would be very harsh to drop him, even for Coloccini. Santon - 7: Good to see him get 90 minutes and a solid performance under the belt. Made a few crucial interceptions in the first half. Did enough today to warrant a start on Monday I think. Jonas - 7: Typically tireless display, played a key role in the opening goal. Tiote - 7: Was a strong display in the first half, shame to see him subbed. Hope he's ok for Bolton. Cabaye - 8: Thought Yohan was excellent today. Two superb assists, especially the first - fantastic first time pass. Ba - 5: Looked leggy and out of sorts and was rightly subbed by Pardew. Positive that he'll come good again though, was unlucky with that effort in the first half. Cisse - 9: Absolute quality. Put in a hell of a shift and all. Ben Arfa - 7: Not quite to the same standard as his last two performances but was still tidy and progressive in his general play with a couple of glimpses of quality. That meg on Taylor just reeked of class. Wasn't a pretty victory by any means but we got our tactics spot on today and largely limited Swansea to shooting from outside the area. It was a disciplined and extremely professional performance by the team and you can't ask for any more than that. On a side note, in spite of how boring Swansea were at times today, Rodgers really does deserve credit for implementing such a technically advanced ethos and style upon a fairly limited group of players and with a small budget. With a couple of sound offensive signings in the summer, I see no reason why they can't improve on this season's finish.

Can't believe Coates' bikey hasn't been mentioned yet! Definitely up there with Crouch's strike.