TherealnorthernTOON

Tiote has maybe been a liability, but he adds something to the midfield that we certainly lack w/o him. The steel he offers when playing, especially with cabaye and either of bigi and anita in there is invaluable.

I starting to get more and more against Pardew tbf. most because of his preferred style of play. When we had Houghton and later Pardew, that season it was okay for me to play a rather defensive football, but with the personell we have now I can't wrap my mind around it for us to play negative footie.

The lack of movement, rigidity etc. seems more and more about the fear of loosing is bigger then the lust for winning matches. Pardew seems like the guy who builds from the back, but has he ever done the stage where he builds the attack? Defensively we were quite good last year. Looking apart from the obvious dreadfull results we had. But offensive we were pretty much working on scraps all the way and had our piece of luck. The interesting part starts now, will we push on the attack?

It is true. Demba Bas linkup play isn't that good, movement is good though, and he knows how to create a chance for himself. But he is really ballhappy player who thrives on scoring goals, and hardly on making them as we've seen. Papiss seems like the exact same guy, with little less trickery in the coffin but maybe an ounce more of other stuff. There is a reason why both of them play alot better when Shola is on the field, as the one or the other can do what they like best, play as that last man, the main man who's supposed to score goals.

Really think we lacked the final ball today, cisse was clean through at a few occations, and I really expect players like HBA and Cabaye to see those options. Against the brawler of a defence WBA has, Cisse could've been at 1v1 2-3 times. And tbf, HBA only kept running into trouble, sometimes his excellent ball controll saved him, but rather often he just turned into other players. This again is because of lack of movement, as moving players should've created havoc around HBA more times then it did.

I'm really puzzled with the formation tbh, when we played 4-3-3 against Bordoux it seemed like we were more assured of the positions etc. like we practiced it more than the 4-4-2 we've been playing lately. We seemed fluid and controlling, Bigirimana charged forward to support the striker but it is easy to see that his talent is at a more defensive position. Would like to hope that we will swap to the 4-3-3 at some stage of the season, the team will click and Pardew will finally realize that the dembas doesn't work together as a two.

Looked abit lost when comming to that final third part. Also looked out of his comfortzone when he couldn't cut inside.

Liked the look of his walk after winning the first corner, he showed some confidence.

Who was subsituted? Anita?

Can see sammy got that Ameobi gene. Impressive first move to scounder it the next.

why don't we play like this every week?

would like to see more of him in midfield, and put him in instead of jonas as a midfield trio. He got great stamina aswell, and works his socks off. And he´ll get up to speed in that DM role quicker if playing there week in/week out.

Tbf, he wouldn't be the worst 4th choice centreback, and challenging Williamson I think he'll more then do.

Tbf, allways thought Djorou had potential, and have been playing rather well at times. Maybe Pards can extract that extra out of him here.

Been busy with school the last two weeks so haven't really been updating myself. How is Colo, Saylor and Krul comming along? Will they be ready for the match?

Think we played some good stuff at times today, we were just not good enough on defensive corners and they had a wonderstrike/cross going into the back of the net. The fact we lacked our central pairing and keeper I kind of feared that from the start of the game. We gave our forwards a few chances that didn't come off, but seemed to lack something in the final third. HBA didn't really have a great game wich earlier has defined our performances. Once we went 4-3-3 we started playing abit better but became really stationary at times. I really think the team on a whole suffers because Pardew can't make up his mind wether we are going to play a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2. Our defensive looks as good in both formations as far as I am concerned but we seem to be able to play it better in a 4-3-3 because of that extra man in the centre.

Missing key players in defence cost us this match. That and bad organization during corners.

Tbf, Ba got a lot more to do in the linkup play then Cisse has, and wether he likes it or not he should play the more withdrawn striker role. Just to get them to work better together. Even in an withdrawn role he could easily score 15-20 goals a season.

Absolutely - his very presence transforms the centre of our midfield - there were a couple of occasions last night where you could tell the opposition midfielders just didn't want to go near him, he must be an absolute nightmare to play against. tbf, I think it hurts to play against him.

Did he revert back to a 4-3-3 in 2nd half? Because midways through first he went to a 4-4-2 with shola playing in the 10 role.

There are several things about Cabaye I dislike tbf. and that is how he uses the ball. As the excellent passer he is he picks a brilliant pass rather often, and thats nice. But he ain't got the speed nor dribbling ability to go past players wich really limits his play sometimes. It forces him to take hasted decisions sometimes, as he can't twist and turn with the ball to wait for a better opportunity. Charging It also comes when charging towards defences to draw them out, as it helps against striker insolation. He also likes to play it from the deep wich doesn't really help us in the 442 either as he often gets quite stationary trying to keep the ball down there. Know this post makes me sound like I think he's a garbadge player, wich he is not, it's just areas I really think the team would benefit from him improving on. If he could do theese things it would relieve the pressure of Jonas as the carrier of the ball out of midfield.

Pardew out?

I don't get why people slag Obertan more then Marveaux wich, by my opinion didn't absolutely nothing out there!

Think he did more then Vuckic whom shown to be shit every oportunity at this level. Marveaux hasn't really shone either, but he keeps drawing to that AM spot from his winger position. Gosling got that mentality to allways be in the box for knockdowns/headers, he got a decent shot on him aswell. I for one defo think there is some potential worthwhile developing.

Cabaye certainly looked more fired up against Norwich then the other games I've seen so far this season. Saylor I haven't doubted tbf. just the fact that he ain't got Coloccini to pick up the scraps that falls down around him is a big miss for him aswell.