Cheik The Room

We've scored from a corner!

Cabaye on for Tiote

Sport.TV1 in Portugal shows it. So you should be able to follow it without updates from the window licker.

It's the desperation, seeing hope I know the feeling all too well But he would have been a good signing.

He has a St Etienne shirt on in the picture We were apparently interested but he opted for St Etienne instead of a couple of english clubs

what night? Wednesday, August 28 at 7.45pm

Selected for Sky

It looks like s*** stirring from the Mail. We've only bid £6.9m and not £8m. If we have bid £8m, Lyon would have accepted it. I hope this transfer will be solved in the next couple of days.

I really hope we sign him. IMO he is exactly what we need. A versatile player who brings speed and movement to the team. And I think his intelligent runs will make players like Cabaye, Ben Arfa and Marveaux even better. Even if we just loan him for the season, without a fixed buy option, all we have to do is meet his release clause in january if we want to buy him. But I think we will loan him with a view to a permanent transfer. One thing that strikes me about him is his finishing. He is a natural goalscorer and seems to go for the placed shot most of the time instead of blazing it (like Cissé). And he isn't to shabby in the air either. I have wanted him here since he played for Nice so hopefully we will finally get him :-)

I totally agree. Really hope we get him

Yeah. It's hard to be positive about many of our players with Pardew as our manager. We have so much talent in the squad and a manager who don't have a clue how to utilise it.

I think the quiet games have mainly been the ones where he's been played as a winger in the Premiership. Games have just passed him by completely when he's been played there. As an attacking central midfielder though, the guy is a class act. Easily our best player over the Christmas period before getting injured/inexplicably dropped and then never making it back into the team (except for the odd occasion, usually out wide). His ability to drive forward with the ball in the middle of the park is his biggest attribute imo - he's very smart, has good bursts of pace, and is technically sound, all of which means he's great at exploiting space in the middle. All of these traits are wasted by playing him on the wing because it requires a different type of dribbling/directness than through the middle. As Cheik the Room says, Marveaux (down the middle) and Ben Arfa in the same team could be a great combination. They could interchange during games if they wanted to try something different/mix it up a bit/Hatem isn't having any joy on the wing. Unfortunately, I don't ever see Marveaux getting much of a chance whilst Pardew is here, as we'd have to: 1) Play 4-3-3, when Pardew clearly only has faith in 4-4-2 (2 strikers in the box is better than one when it comes to percentage hoofball); 2) Have Marveaux starting (Pardew clearly views him as a cameo player - Marveaux probably isn't good enough in the tackle); 3) Have Marveaux as the most attacking of the central midfield trio (Pardew would probably opt for Sissoko to play that role, or as he did last season, would rather play someone more defensive like Jonas or Perch ahead of Marveaux); and 4) Have the team playing some sort of passing game to make use of a player who's pretty slick with the ball at feet (it's pretty obvious by now that we only "switch" to a passing style of play when Pardew wants it, which is rarely, and the rest of the time we play a "get the ball into the box as quickly as possible" game). Ultimately, £5m for a crock we picked up on a free (iirc) would represent good business, especially if our useless plank of a manager is going to have us playing 4-4-2 percentage football. But selling this type of player would kill a little bit of me on the inside, as firstly there's always the hope that he gets over his injury problems, and secondly the goal should be to get more players of this type capable of getting the team to play good quality "penetrative" football on the deck (i.e. progress), rather than getting rid of our more talented and underused players to pander to a manager who's vision and tactics are no better than what you get at schoolboy levels up and down the country. Great post. I completely agree.

One of my favourite players at the club. I think he could be great in a free role in a 4-2-3-1. We have yet to see him and Ben Arfa together when both are fully fit and up to speed. Imagine what they could achieve together.

I hope you're wrong. They're so different in terms of style so I don't think Gignac is an alternative to Remy. More to Gomis in that case.

I think we are getting Gomis beacuse Villa won't budge on Bents price and Remy is the other forward we're trying to sign. I also think Bent will come in aswell if Cisse leaves.

Has Gomis even travelled? Probably hasn't set off yet either way given they're at home. Gomis is not in their 23-man squad for todays game

He scored 4 against Dinamo Zagreb in a 7-1 win

Problem is he could be on C wing by the time the season starts. :-). Yeah, I know. And I also know that it's a risk. But innocent until proven guilty, right?

Would much rather have Remy, because he can play both in the centre and on the wing. I have wanted him here since his Nice days.

So when is this c**t expected back?

Ignoring the Seinfeld posts, registered for 2 years and you have 6 posts. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU!? I have mostly seen the forum as a source of information in the past, but I'll try to be a more frequent poster from now on :-)

Maybe it's my loss but I can't seem to enjoy it with him in it. And therefore, I've chosen not to watch it.

Sorry. Not my cup of tea at all. It's mostly Jerry, though. Basing the show around a comedian that isn't funny.

As for Seinfeld, it's not even remotely funny