Hanshithispantz

I'm guessing not considering in the very photo that you are replying too we can clearly see "tris monk" say "thanks for today mate".

My dad's still pro-English to an annoying degree, cheers them scoring and that it does my head in. I prefer English clubs to do well tbh but I don't really care about the games; I don't understand why people would prefer to see Spanish/Italian/German domination in Europe.

They haven't. That's the point... Stop fucking ranting all the time man

I tried hating the man; cannot do it.

Straight in there

All of the Portugese posters are welcome to nip over to RTG and give them grief about the stadium too, every Mackem I know tells me Benfica coppied their name for the stadium, it's literally all the go onabout. The absolutely hate Vasco da Gama too, they cannot stand the man.

Stop talking like you 100% know the craic man Pardew if anything has shown himself to probably be one of the most cautious managers in English football, his entire ethos suggests he wouldn't rush a player back from injury especially under the such apparent lethal conditions that Russian astro turf brings, and obviously we cannot forget that awful plane ride where he sat down for a whole 5 hours.

I'm maybe being naive but I imagine the medical staff of a multi million pound company would carry out all of the necessary precautions before throwing their most converted asset back into the firing line?

I'm happy to just delude myself with ultra optimism tbh, he would have been sold to Liverpool was it not for this operation and this season is dead already except for a few European games. He should be fully fit to start next season alongside Gouffran, Cisse and a rejuvenated Cisse. Happy days.

Should we not have known if that was the case? I can understand the player not wanting an operation but you would think that our medical staff might have known better. Probably but I feel it's a bit unfair placing blame on people when I personally don't know how difficult these things are to spot. I mean I have literally no idea what-so-ever. I've got no doubt that bringing a player back on an artificial pitch in freezing cold weather isn't the ideal place to play football either like, but then again if you have a dormant injury there isn't many places that are. Every monkey knows artifical pitches stretch hamstrings as the foot slides when stopping. Again is this factually true? And what exactly is the difference in risk to grass? They counter it by putting sand under the turf. BUT in very cold weather the sand freezes and is useless. I thought the sand was for shock absorption? Anyway I'm not in any position to argue the pros and cons of either as I genuinely don't know, I just think that evidence suggests that Ben Arfa's hamstring was pretty much a ticking time bomb, it sounds like he's needed the operation all along. Sand is to make the impact more natural wether it be impact or purchase. Might as well have just sent him out on an ice rink. I know you're half been tongue in cheek Parky, but aren't the considering bringing the 3G pitches to England? I know it won't be as good as grass, but I cannot believe that there would be any serious consideration if it was a genuine concern.

Should we not have known if that was the case? I can understand the player not wanting an operation but you would think that our medical staff might have known better. Probably but I feel it's a bit unfair placing blame on people when I personally don't know how difficult these things are to spot. I mean I have literally no idea what-so-ever. I've got no doubt that bringing a player back on an artificial pitch in freezing cold weather isn't the ideal place to play football either like, but then again if you have a dormant injury there isn't many places that are. Every monkey knows artifical pitches stretch hamstrings as the foot slides when stopping. Again is this factually true? And what exactly is the difference in risk to grass? They counter it by putting sand under the turf. BUT in very cold weather the sand freezes and is useless. I thought the sand was for shock absorption? Anyway I'm not in any position to argue the pros and cons of either as I genuinely don't know, I just think that evidence suggests that Ben Arfa's hamstring was pretty much a ticking time bomb, it sounds like he's needed the operation all along.

Should we not have known if that was the case? I can understand the player not wanting an operation but you would think that our medical staff might have known better. Probably but I feel it's a bit unfair placing blame on people when I personally don't know how difficult these things are to spot. I mean I have literally no idea what-so-ever. I've got no doubt that bringing a player back on an artificial pitch in freezing cold weather isn't the ideal place to play football either like, but then again if you have a dormant injury there isn't many places that are. Every monkey knows artifical pitches stretch hamstrings as the foot slides when stopping. Again is this factually true? And what exactly is the difference in risk to grass?

I'm sure it's a 'risk' most of the posters on here were going wild about at the time. Every fucker is wise after the event. Lets give the club the benefit of the doubt. Personally I thought it was daft to start him in that particular match under those particular circumstances. I was delighted to see him involved but throwing him in from the start was pushing it a bit. No point whiniging about it though, it's done. Get the lad fit by hook or by crook. Twitchy hamstrings hate the cold. I mean that's physio 101. Well he might as well fuck off to Spain or somewhere then Players warm uo before every game to prevent muscle injuries and their body temperature is raised throughout the game, that is also physio 101. Think it was a wee bit colder out there than the winter norm here. Plus you can't run naturally on a synthetic pitch. I said in the match thread it was very strange chosing such a freezing game for his first game back. Is that factually true though, really? There's probably a load of evidence that suggests that grass is a better surface to run on but people are acting as though we played the game on a cobbled road

Should we not have known if that was the case? I can understand the player not wanting an operation but you would think that our medical staff might have known better. Probably but I feel it's a bit unfair placing blame on people when I personally don't know how difficult these things are to spot. I mean I have literally no idea what-so-ever. I've got no doubt that bringing a player back on an artificial pitch in freezing cold weather isn't the ideal place to play football either like, but then again if you have a dormant injury there isn't many places that are.

I'm sure it's a 'risk' most of the posters on here were going wild about at the time. Every fucker is wise after the event. Lets give the club the benefit of the doubt. Personally I thought it was daft to start him in that particular match under those particular circumstances. I was delighted to see him involved but throwing him in from the start was pushing it a bit. No point whiniging about it though, it's done. Get the lad fit by hook or by crook. Twitchy hamstrings hate the cold. I mean that's physio 101. Well he might as well fuck off to Spain or somewhere then Players warm uo before every game to prevent muscle injuries and their body temperature is raised throughout the game, that is also physio 101.

I don't know if we brought Ben Arfa back too soon but I do know that Cisse was ill and Pardew said on the radio that he went to see Cisse in an attempt to get him to play. You can't rule out that we're guilty of bringing back Ben Arfa too early. Tbh I'm not sure if it was us bringing back Ben Arfa too early for his sake or ours, he certainly wasn't sharp in that game and we would have been far better off with a proper striker up top imo. The likely hood is that it doesn't really matter when he returned, he needed an operation and it was only a matter of time before it was going to happen, if he sat las week out we probably would have just delayed the news and the surgery.

Cajun in full on smug mode

Just outside of their box? If so that was definitely Anita and he was booked for it, not sure if Marveaux did anything too that I missed mind?

Out of interest, how many players do you know who have had the opportunity to "start for 60 minutes away from home in sub-zero temperatures on a dodgy surface as their return game back from a lengthy layoff."? Other than of course players who ply their trade in countries like Russia, and therefore will indeed "start for 60 minutes away from home in sub-zero temperatures on a dodgy surface as their return game back from a lengthy layoff." Zero off the top of my head, but you don't need to have experience of a given flame you've not seen before being hot, to know you probably shouldn't stick your hand in it. FWIW, when he returns from injury, I probably wouldn't start HBA for 60 minutes against any opposition we happen to be facing at the time who also happen to ply their trade on any other unfamiliar surface where we know injuries can be aggravated/exacerbated (cf. Jonas/Shola). He played most of the game against Tottenham though at the start of the season and looked excellent, I don't really think it matters about how long you play or the surface if you are physically fit ("match fit" just being how sharp you are)? I'm not a physio therapist like, but that's how I've always seen it, and I don't think a player should be playing AT ALL if he isn't fully recovered from his injury, regardless of the pitch an temperature. To me it looks like we've thought the injury was gone, and regardless of whether he played 60 minutes in Russia or 20 minutes in the Bahamas there was always going to be an unseen risk of him aggravating his hamstring. Mate, it's all a bit of a moot non-argument for me. Like you, I'm no physiotherapist (and I'd be happy enough for someone with the relevant knowledge to stick their oar in and set me straight if need be) and I'd also be in favour of veering on the side of caution in not letting injured players play if they're in the least injured, but even when players recover from injury - starting matches is uncommon. They have cameo appearances off the bench to build fitness in a real-tempo environment, and to recover sharpness. I don't think I'd be wrong to say it's at least uncommon for players to return from injury in such a manner, starting a game. You can't reduce the risk of re-aggravating an injury to nil, but I'd say you could certainly mitigate the chances more than we did. As for the surface, I'm not agree - but again, have no scientific expertise to back me up on this. My friend, who is a fairly serious cross-country runner, told me to run on grass instead of on the pavement around my park because with each step we take, we apparently put three times our bodyweight on our knee-joints when we run on concrete. He may be talking bollocks, it may not be applicable to HBA etc etc,..... but it doesn't seem unfathomable to me that the surface you play/run on could contribute to the wear and tear of our bodies I accept we were possibly backed into a corner by Cisse being injured though. Anyway, not going to bother discussing about it any further, all a bit depressing/pointless mulling over it now. aye fair enough.

For ? You thinking of Matv Nah it was Anita. It was a really bad challenge technically but there was no weight behind it, it would have been a harsh red imo.

Out of interest, how many players do you know who have had the opportunity to "start for 60 minutes away from home in sub-zero temperatures on a dodgy surface as their return game back from a lengthy layoff."? Other than of course players who ply their trade in countries like Russia, and therefore will indeed "start for 60 minutes away from home in sub-zero temperatures on a dodgy surface as their return game back from a lengthy layoff." Zero off the top of my head, but you don't need to have experience of a given flame you've not seen before being hot, to know you probably shouldn't stick your hand in it. FWIW, when he returns from injury, I probably wouldn't start HBA for 60 minutes against any opposition we happen to be facing at the time who also happen to ply their trade on any other unfamiliar surface where we know injuries can be aggravated/exacerbated (cf. Jonas/Shola). He played most of the game against Tottenham though at the start of the season and looked excellent, I don't really think it matters about how long you play or the surface if you are physically fit ("match fit" just being how sharp you are)? I'm not a physio therapist like, but that's how I've always seen it, and I don't think a player should be playing AT ALL if he isn't fully recovered from his injury, regardless of the pitch and temperature. To me it looks like we've believed the injury was gone, and regardless of whether he played 60 minutes in Russia or 20 minutes in the Bahamas there was always going to be an unseen risk of him aggravating his hamstring.

Out of interest, how many players do you know who have had the opportunity to "start for 60 minutes away from home in sub-zero temperatures on a dodgy surface as their return game back from a lengthy layoff."? Other than of course players who ply their trade in countries like Russia, and therefore will indeed "start for 60 minutes away from home in sub-zero temperatures on a dodgy surface as their return game back from a lengthy layoff."

No one is claiming that. We're claiming he's the new Xavi I think thats a bad comparison. Not sure what you are basing that on. Well they're both small ginger strikers

Seriously, can we stop with the Dyer comments? It's only natural to be frustrated, but come on man.