Hughesy

Do our players think this is a friendly or something?

Not quite sure why people keep banging on about his lack of general play or technique. He has a better touch and technique than Ba had.

Bearing in Cisse was pushed first by Wilson and then Shawcross, I don't quite see what he was complaining about.

Looks like he has aged about 10 years.

I do love a bit of 'who-was-the-first-set-of-fans-to-sing-a-particular-song-one-upmanship'.

Assist tonight according to bbc sport.

Ferguson runs like an old woman. Makes me laugh

The players, of course. However, they are not to blame for their poor form this season. You can work this any way you like. It's quite flexible. Shhh - you'll give the secret away.

So Bruce got them to 11th and then Martinez finished 16th, 16th and 15th. Interesting.

Didn't Bruce keep them up or am I mistaken? Just checked - he got them to 11th.

Look who we are up against. What, Spurs, Arsenal and Everton? We can't compete with them? Really? Let's say we compete with those next season (I would include Liverpool as well who will no doubt outspend us again this summer), would you say there is enough quality and depth with our current squad to definitely finish above any of them? Would you be happy if we finished 8th but were half a dozen points off the highest placed team in that list? That would be 'challenging' so one would assume yes..!

We're 9 places below that 6th place, we're 6th bottom. I think everyone is aware of that - we've all seen the league table. We've underperformed this season. I would have thought that it would be sensible to see how we get on next season. If he underperforms next season with this squad, I would have no qualms about moving Pardew on.

Look who we are up against. What, Spurs, Arsenal and Everton? We can't compete with them? Really? You've missed out Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea there. And possibly Liverpool. As I said earlier - at best, we have the 6th best squad.

Look who we are up against. It's the managers making the difference, man for man I think we've got enough to challenge. I don't think that we have one of the top 4 squads in the league. Definitely not.

Look who we are up against.

Qualify for the CL? Really? He himself was saying that in August and we've a much better team/squad now. Was he just being an arrogant, smug c*** or did he really mean it? Just boost the players and fans confidence? Unlikely to turn round after coming 5th the year before and tell everyone that we were aiming for 10th, was he? People read far far too much into comments made by managers. Stick a microphone in front of anyone on a daily basis and some crap will come out. I find it baffling that people genuinely believe that we should be qualifying for the CL with this squad.

Qualify for the CL? Really?

That's more what I was getting at really.

In fairness (never thought I would defend Michael Owen), James Talbot sounds like a bit of a tool.

Had Bellamy's pants down. Brilliant to see.

Good to see you putting your sports science degree to good use again.

Might cost him a bit to get to training in Cobham.

I genuinely don't think Ba is as good as some people think. I won't be too surprised if his Chelsea career isn't that big a success.

It was one of Pardew's biggest mistakes. No way should Ba have been prioritised in the way he was.

It's original so I really like it, but the lyrics aren't ideal.