It isn't mental. Ba was scoring regularly with Cisse wide right, and is a very good player. Shola's fucking crap 95% of the time.
You'd genuinely not be able to blame him for putting in a transfer request because of tonight's selection? Honestly?
Cisse scored in 4 months about a quarter of the Premier League goals Shola has managed in about 11 years, and he's being shunted out wide to accommodate him. It's absolutely laughable, so no I wouldn't. As you say, he's a team player and he won't, if Pardew repeats this again then I don't think anyone could blame him.