ExiledGeordie

The little runt David Craig has just been on hand at their training ground to film O'neill arriving

I think Ben Arfa is the key here, it's all set up for him. Has the skills to cause panic in that Chelsea defence running at them and threading through balls.

If we do look for a replacement in the event Tiote is sold, I still think that replacement will come from abroad as with other signings and probably from France again.

Yeah I think Santon is the best option in place of Jonas.

He'll get them playing with more spirit and will no doubt do well in the short term. He likes to spend the cash though but those signings aren't always the most exciting are they. Generally a fairly drab brand of football.

Awesome at the moment in leading the team from the back.

So we'll get the usual O'neill hype as he walzes into town. His reigns always seem to follow the same pattern though don't they.........they run out of steam with fairly bland football and he falls out with the owner over money then goes into hiding again for a few years.

He doesn't give two fucks about the progression of the team mate whereas Levy does.

Regardless of this injury in my opinion (and yes it's a pessimistic one) he's as good as gone come January. Ashley knows he can get plenty of £££££ for him in the Jan sales and the temptation to sell will be too great. Thing is we'll need a replacement so even if Carr uncovers another shrewd signing that's going to cost us 6-9m say (if we even sign a replacement). So is the profit from the sale worth it when you consider for each place you finish up the league you reap millions plus the money from swelled attendances that goes with a team performing well, something Tiote contributes massively too. What with the Carroll money banked, and the lack of cash spent on signings we don't need to sell but it just seems too enticing for Ashley imo. It's easy money for him and for that reason I think Tiote is gone. I'd love to be proved wrong obviously, and if Tiote has had his head turned over swelled contracts and wanted to leave then thats another issue but we could be in the strange position of beating Chelsea on sat and being 4 points clear going into the rest of the December fixtures with a team with great unity and spirit, the polar opposite to Chelsea it seems and still end up selling Tiote to them anyway.

An injury which may keep him out for a couple more weeks isn't going to deter someone like Chelsea from buying Tiote in January. If they are planning on buying him it'll have been in the pipeline for ages.

Yeah be interesting to see what he goes for. Chelsea's defence is creaking so maybe he'll go for the more attacking approach which would be Sammy.

From whats been said he's training but clearly isn't involved in much of the full contact training. Ligament injuries are a bugger though.

I can't see Pardew bringing in Santon at left back but I still think the best option is for Santon to go left midfield to secure things up a bit. I think he'll stick with Ben Arfa behind Ba, Best is only really just comign back from his knock too so can't see him starting. Ben Arfa/Ba look to be doing alright too. Not sure what he'll go for left midfield but I think something like this: Krul Simpson Colo Saylor Raylor Obertan Cabaye Guthrie Santon Ben Arfa Ba

I think Jonas is a bigger loss in this game than Tiote. We've proved with Guthrie that the team can compete against the best with him in there. Without Jonas we definitely lose some stability down the left. It's still not nearly as bad as losing either of the starting centre halves though as that would change things completely.

I'm not pissed off with the club at all, it's just disappointing he isn't available for this massive game on sat. Atleast Guthrie is really on his game at the moment.

Hmm doesn't look like he's playing on sat then

Thats great news

Yeah we need Luiz to start, he causes panic in that defence. Even if Alex is more reliable he's still mistake prone and we have the players to cause him problems.

On Goals on Sunday this week

Mata is lethal and just the type I could see scoring against us. Ben Arfa will be key as an outlet for the midfield and pressuring Chelsea when we lose the ball.

Would fucking love to do this lot on saturday, christ (stating the obvious) Jason Cundy rambling on talkshite at the moment too, haha

So Mata, Sturridge, Rameires, Terry, Drogba will come back in and they'll be much stronger on saturday but there's clearly serious issues going on there at the moment with morale. Lets have a proper go at this mob on saturday and see how they stand up to it. They're rocking.

Ben Arfa running at Luiz is the stuff dreams are made of. Bramble/Boumsongesque.

Yeah it's that but more a 4-3-3