Ash

Nice choice. Didnt know Stevn Fry supported Norwich City. Norwich is also a very nice place. I too quite like FC Basel for the same reasons. Also because they have Derdiyok and that other young swiss lad Shaquiri who looks quality. Two quality players who, if we qualify for europe we could possibly get. He plays for Leverkusen.

When we have the ball aye. He is so right footed and it reflects in his positional play which is why we have Jonas doing what he is doing. Its his right foot thats keeping him in the team. Its a weopon. Im sure Santon would offer more. He likes to attack also. Cabaye should be our "tekker" now. Disagree with that. He obviously favours his right foot but he's far from just restricted to using it.

He's back in full training. I thought someone had already said he doesn't feature in any training pics and Pardew has already said he's out tomorrow? He is out tomorrow but someone posted on here yesterday he's back in full training.

He's back in full training.

What kind of bellend comes up with the phrase 'have the intelligence to banter with me'?

Surprised Wireside's up at this time tbh, got to be up early in the morning to run his business.

Even his house is boring, look at those curtains ffs.

Quite an honest admission from Barton there. A change from his massive ego I suppose. tbh England could do a lot worse than Barton on the right wing. Last season, yes. Not this season though.

No it shouldn't. Ben Arfa will scare the life out of them. Too many teams go there cautious and then lose but, by playing HBA, we have an attacking threat. I was referring to it been Best or Ba. There isn't even a decision to be made there and I'm sure that's how Pardew will view it too.

Still think he'll play.

No it shouldn't.

You can use that fact, if it's not the players natural position. It was his positional sense that let him down not his touch or balance. If he was correctly positioned he would have been correctly balanced and potentially made a better first touch. You can't use it as an excuse for him though. It's the same as putting Demba Ba in goal and letting him off for fucking up 'cos he's out of position'. What the fuck? Certain you could let him off if that was the case. Terrible example to use.

No Rooney for Man Utd tonight. Bet he plays on Saturday though.

Aye, as well as a corker against Wolves too. Aye I'm referring to last season as it says in my post, twice. It was a decent effort against Spurs but it was down the centre and it went over, mostly those shots just result in dramatic saves.

Absolutely.

Aye, as well as a corker against Wolves too.

Agree but I do think the fullbacks are contributing to a shoddy looking defence at the moment. Cole seems to be struggling with direct players which will hopefully bring a big performance out of Obertan (I'm sure you'll be the first to point out Routledge up against Cole last year). If we can get the three I mentioned running at their defence and worrying them, Ba could have a field day up against Terry and Luiz. Ben Arfa will certainly scare the hell out of them if we can get him on the ball in behind their midfield.

The thing is, I see no real defensive benefit in Obertan being played at RW instead of Hatem. I can see where you're coming from but reckon Pardew sees it differently and I'm kind of torn in the middle to be honest. Although Obertan's defensive work isn't comparable to Jonas', he does tend to get himself back into deep positions to offer Simpson support whereas I'm not sure if HBA would drop himself that deep regularly. I also think asking him to get into those positions would possibly nullify some of his attacking threat. The one thing that's probably stopping me from wanting to see Best and Ba up top with HBA on the wing at the moment is Simpson as he does need the help. If Santon was at RB I'd be a lot more comfortable with HBA on the wing.

If Pardew wanted to play HBA on the wing, he wouldn't refuse to play there and it's wrong to suggest otherwise in my opinion. I can understand Pardew not wanting him to play him there with the current system, especially against the better teams but it's something I wouldn't mind seeing in the future with HBA having a free role from the right as Ronaldo has mentioned. It could definitely be tried out at home against the lesser teams.

Agree, I'm a massive Best fan but against Man Utd I would let HBA continue in the team, see what he can produce. Against Chelsea I'm not sure, their defence can be vulnerable to direct play so Best might play a part. Against Chelsea's lumberers, I think pace is the way forward personally. They're good physical CBs but they play that high line, that's something a quick forward can really capitalise on. If Pardew was watching the game on Sunday he would have been licking his lips at the prospect of HBA, Jonas and Obertan running at their back four.

Sig material right there.

Christmas Tree's gone into full WUM mode now like, tedious as fuck.

If they're good enough for Messi, they're good enough for wor Demba.

I know the link was somewhat played down the other day but what a lovely lad Jordan Rhodes comes across as. Really wouldn't mind taking a punt on him at all, seems to have the right attitude to succeed.

Got absolutely zero interest in what their 'fans' think of us, the vast majority of them are small-time wankers who've only popped up in the last couple of years. The arrogance that they've built up in such a short space of time is sickening.