Barnes23

Still want him to start against Hull. Probably as good a chance as he is going to get to open his account for the season and boost his confidence.

"Sylvain Marveaux vs Anzhi Makhachkala" on a popular video sharing site. Think he could be very effective in home games where we (should) dominate possession.

He's not the hardest working player around (in terms of tracking back, providing 'a tackle' etc) but I wouldn't describe him as lazy at all. First and foremost, you judge players like Marveaux on what they produce in the final third, and he's consistently one of our most creative players despite having little in the way of regular gametime. He's up there with the best in our squad in terms of technical ability, and uses the ball more intelligently than most. He might be a player who needs certain conditions in order to thrive, but I reckon he would have offered more than Cabaye as the furthest forward in the midfield three today.

Marveaux isn't exactly a pace merchant or at least fit enough to keep it up. Very good acceleration over shorter distances, perfect for roaming about in the final third. His fitness is a concern, though.

I'd rather see Marveaux as the furthest forward in a midfield three, personally, with Cabaye/Anita fighting it out for the deeper lying position. Cabaye is better further back where he can dictate the pace of the game and utilise his range of passing. He doesn't have the pace/dribbling ability to warrant being further up the pitch for large portions of the game imo.

Excellent game today.

Another dive imo. Already heading down before the contact.

Anderson really looks crap.

Cheers. Kept him in, but made Benteke captain . http://i.imgur.com/b7X3usn.png

Cheers. Kept him in, but made Benteke captain .

GW4: Man Utd 3-0 Crystal Palace Aston Villa 2-1 Newcastle Fulham 2-2 West Brom Hull City 1-1 Cardiff City Stoke City 1-2 Man City Sunderland 1-3 Arsenal Tottenham 2-0 Norwich Everton 0-1 Chelsea Southampton 1-0 West Ham Swansea 1-1 Liverpool

Wildcard played. http://i.imgur.com/jWpb6fQ.png

We've made an enquiry for N'Zonzi in case Cabaye goes according to the daily mail. Don't rate him at all. Not much better than Tiote.

The higher quality Amalfitano brother signs for WBA.

I don't think our first XI is too far away at least, coaching/management and squad depth are the main things separating us from them imo. Having said that, Everton finished 6th last year- would you have any of their forwards ahead of Remy-Cisse-HBA, for example?

I didn't expect much more than a striker to come in and it appears we've got ourselves a quality one. Considering Kinnear's appointment and the knowledge that Ashley is never going to invest heavily, we've done about as well as can be expected. We have a squad which should comfortably finish top 10, and isn't that far off challenging the top six. Admittedly, we could use more depth in forward positions, but I don't see an obvious weak link in (what should be) our first XI like I have in previous seasons. If we had a manager of equivalent quality to a lot of our players, I'd be pretty excited about the rest of the season ahead. .

Probably one for the unpopular opinions thread but I will be relatively content with our business this window if Cabaye stays.

Get French Football ‏@GFN_France 27m Newcastle have made no formal bid for Florian Thauvin, despite reports suggesting otherwise. #NUFC #LOSC

He wasn't on the field of play when we actually looked good and battered them though. He's neat and tidy but not quick enough, strong enough or decisive enough for the PL. He looked good when we played in Europe where the pace is slower though. It was an improved performance from us from the first whistle, and Marveaux not being on the pitch for the final 15 minutes is coincidental. The introduction of Remy/absence of Shola and the fact our formation was close to a 4-2-4 had much more to do with us battering them at the end. As for his attributes, he's got great acceleration over shorter distances and uses the ball more intelligently than a lot of our players. His decision making is probably better than HBA's, tbh. Not being strong enough is a lazy criticism,too- I suppose HBA, Coutinho, Silva et al aren't up to the PL either?

Also, for all the talk about how we require an orthodox winger, I think part of the reason for our improvement in movement/passing today was the willingness of Marveaux and HBA to drift inside and change positions. We looked a lot more fluid as a result.

I thought he was sometimes sloppy in possession but had a good game overall. Would look even better in a midfield three, with more license to make those surging forward runs.

We don't look shit .

Don't know about Wrexham, but didn't do well at Doncaster imo. Wolves looked absolutely dire under him last season.

Saunders is crap, maybe even at that level.