Jayson

Good to hear Pardews thinking on the matter a bit there, interesting that he mentions stats. Perhaps it is a case of us needing him to keep the ball more, quite a few of things he tries while impressive does end up with us all saying "his team mates just arent on the same wavelength yet". Which either way just means he lost us possession. Still...im a bit baffled still by this wing situation. Theres no way he doesnt deserve a chance over Obertan at this point, he has been trying to track back. He gave a penalty away doing it against man city so i reckon he'd give it a go.

Sunderland lose, shame.

Seemed to get even better in the second half didnt he, which was a good sign. Played a lovely ball for Sholas chance & can beat a man. You can see he'd get assists, its defensively he'll be tested. Prob mentioned but the moment he hassled their player the entire way up the wing only to win the ball against two of em was real class

All that happened yesterday is Pardew thought Shola might be more effective than Benny, so brought him on earlier. Given than Shola came on to get a draw against Tottenham & hit the bar against chelsea. Before having a chance within 5 minutes of coming on that he made himself really, it wasnt that bad a call was it. Ben Arfas an exciting player, his potential is huge. If you look at the impact both players have had on games recently, he doesnt win that battle. Thats just reality. Hindsight & excitement for his potential is why people wanted Ben Arfa yesterday, not recent performances. (Which pardew rightly goes off)

Think many are just having a very hard time being objective over him. The frustration they feel when he takes to long on the ball, is overshadowing the clear ability he shows at other times.

Ba's overhead came as a result of his cross, ba's turn and shot from 5 yards a defender blocked was from an obertan pass. He drilled one along the floor across goal that was dangerous, behind Ba/Best but the kind Gosling would've been onto all day long just no one else attacked the area. Add the fks/corners into that & first half he was solid. He could just clearly do more with his natural attributes.

Thatll be interesting. If hes choosing Obertan & even Sammy over Ben Arfa due to workrate, he'll rightly be in line for a lot of criticism.

If Shola scores the chance he had within 5 mins of coming on, no one says a word. Was probably our best chance of the half also. Pardews done well for us this season. Cant see much point criticizing him beyond his choice over Ben Arfa today, anything more than that is massively reactionary for me. Our recent results have not told the story of how we've played whatsoever & key injuries have been unfortunate.

Sums up my feelings also atm

All he needs is to be getting atleast 30 minutes in games to prove himself to be lively. Then when he does that give him his full chance. I think Best should be starting on current form, but Benny couldve replaced him today much earlier.

Mentioned it earlier, but we have hit the woodwork 6 times overall in our last 3 games now. We're not exactly getting lucky either atm, we deserve more.

Played well in the first half, quieter in the 2nd. Was right to bring him off, just needed a better replacement.

Theres no way im believing Alan Pardew thinks a 19 year old whos played something like 10 games is gonna be more effective than Ben Arfa. Theres clearly more to it & it must involve Ben Arfas opinion on the situation. You cannot honestly think Pardews this clueless man I wont believe it.

So, remind me, why did he choose Ameobi?... Exactly. It's not like Shola is the destroyer of worlds when it comes to aerial threat. Tbf the instant impact Shola made when he came on for Benny against chelsea was that of keeping the ball for us more upfront via controlling long balls.

80% possession for much of the first half yeah. One of those where its more frustrating as we actually played pretty well, really shouldve won it.

Looked good going fowards yeah, a few tiny errors with poor passes but grew in confidence. He'll hold down his place nicely.

Vuckic looked tidy when he came on, also suggests hes preferred to Abeid. Should win this one again.

Yeah the lads not ready. Obviously benny should be playing there, obviously he wont. Round in circles.

If we play like that for the rest of the season, we'll have a very nice season. There are positives to take. Best & Tiote being back made us a different team & even Perch looked solid next to Colo. It'll go for us next time.

You can see why hes chosen Ameobi though, best was destroying them in the air thats how we were keeping possession.

Yup one of those games, we played well. Swansea are like we were earlier in the season, solid defensively & they get that little bit of luck due to it so the ball falls to them in the area. They went defensive today clearly & its worked for them all season.

I said before the game hopefully swansea dont go defensive and thats exactly what they did. Did the same to liverpool & Arsenal.

Stoke now 3 points off us, how things change.

Fair play to swansea, bloody good defensively.

Well thats annoying