ExiledGeordie

Yes we'll almost certainly lose but atleast we should be able to give them a game this time. Positives.....? Tiote/Cabaye in midfield Ba is on fire Williamson back in defence Ben Arfa coming into some form As with the above comment I'm already resigned to losing this but strangely looking forward to this now probably because I'm not expecting anything from it. The pressure is squarely on them with their home form the way it's been.

I reckon money will be spent on a centre half but not a striker and we'll only sign one player in Jan. Just a hunch.

It's not going to happen so need point in even discussing it really........however I agree that for what it'd cost to bring him back we'd be better off signing other strikers at a fraction of the price although back at Newcastle I could see him scoring goals. It's been an unmitigated disaster for Liverpool up to this point though and the only thing that is helping the Carroll situation is that there is an even bigger disaster going on with Torres at Chelsea.

Assuming Ba doesn't have any niggles and plays friday Liverpool should be very worried about him. He's in outrageous form at the moment.

Yeah I just listened to Pardews interview on talksport: http://www.talksport.co.uk/sports-news/football/premier-league/1408/95/pardew-backs-ben-arfa-get-back-his-best-newcastle Maybe we won't see him starting on friday then if he's going to persist with this "cameo" role

:lol: oops mistake (rectified) Santon seems highly doubtful to me with this knee. Ba looked in some discomfort at the end of the match but nothing mentioned as yet about anything keeping him out at Anfield.

Assuming Ba and Santon are fit: Krul Simpson Williamson Colo Santon Obertan Cabaye Tiote Jonas Ben Arfa Ba

This. I would absolutely love to win against these cunts, the stuff dreams are made of.

He's awesome running onto through balls from people and we'll get more chance of that with Ben Arfa playing. Best has been absolutely nowehere in the last three games.

Pressure will be squarely on them and atleast we'll have some confidence after todays result. I never expect anything going into this fixture so anything is a bonus. Ben Arfa starting and the likes of Cabaye can trouble this lot.

Was he injured/carrying a knock at the end of this? I saw the result come in on skysports news when I got in and Ba looked like he had a niggle or something.

Was utter gash against Swansea but I figured that might be sharpness or lack of post injury. He's been dogshite in the last two games as well which is disappointing as Ben Arfa is pushing strong for a start and he must realise that.

He's been worth his 70-80K a week he's on hasn't he.

I don't see what harm playing him on the wing would do? I mean we're getting absolutely nothing from Obertan and we're still conceding goals for fun at the moment too so it's hardly going to get worse if Ben Arfa plays. He needs to start from the off though not these cameo roles where he has to make an immediate impact, needs to have time to have a real impact on the game. Playing him on the wing would mean he could persist with two strikers up front or play Vuckic behind the striker or he should just play Ben Arfa behind Ba. We need something different now, he needs to start.

Getting Cabaye back will make a big difference to be fair.

Pardew needs to find system that incorporates Ben Arfa and Vuckic. The cautious 4-4-2 just isn't working at the moment and we have to start opening teams up more as we're just not getting nearly enough (or anything) from the wings. The way Ben Arfa can atleast open things up with a pass or run and the way Vuckic has so much confidence going forward with what's clearly a hell of a shot on him has to be brought into the team.

Unless Santon is injured thats one of the most shocking decisions I've seen for a while bringing him off

Same as saturday, no cutting edge.

Piss poor, terrible time and way to concede right before the half

Wow imagine what we could do with 60k a week freed up!!

He is VITAL to us. Watching him live on saturday just reinforced that for me. We could manage without Tiote but losing Coloccini would seriously derail us imo as he just brings such great leadership from the back with the way he plays and also adds a fantastic calmness too.

We got drawn into a slow match second half against Swansea, if we push on at this lot and keep the tempo up we should create plenty of chances again and hopefully they'll end up in the net this time. Ba is bang on his game at the moment, looks very difficult to handle. Surely Santon to retain his place. I'd take either Vuckic or Abeid although I quite like the idea of Tiote and Abeid in the middle with Ben Arfa just behind Ba. Really hope they're working hard on Obertan and telling him to go hard on the outside against the full back using his pace. Obertan needs a good performance but even doing the simple things right would do at this point. Another couple of poor performances from Obertan and I wouldn't be adverse to Ryan Taylor playing wide right in midfield, atleast you'd have his crossing ability for the strikers.

If he goes in Jan it'll be closer to 25m imo.

The strangest thing about Obertan is his insistance to cut back inside all the time or just cut back and slow things down. If he really just ran at full backs he'd put them under great pressure because he's got the beating of most of them speed wise. He might lose the ball a few times but he'd get more balls in and probably win a few penalties. Can't figure that one out.

Surely Santon has nailed down the left back spot now? I was really impressed watching him live at the match on sat.