Lush Vlad

Williamson playing every week until February.

Good shout. That or a power bomb.

It's going to happen isn't it? If that lineup that Dave posted is correct, I wouldn't mind seeing Ranger in a wider role. He has a bit of pace about him and I can't see how that team would work as a 4-4-2? Really? Elliot Tavernier - Perch - Willo - Fergie Sammy - Anita - Bigi - Marveaux Ranger - Shola Despite Ranger not being a wide forward as such, that midfield 4 wouldn't work IMO. You'd have Sammy losing the ball in all the wrong areas and being caught out of position when he should be defending Tav. Both young and inexperienced as well. Anita and Bigi are both holding players. Zero creativity and Bigi still gets caught out positionally as well like Sammy does. Marveaux likes to drift in field with the ball, Sammy would be doing the same. We'll constantly surrender possession and rarely threaten if we plump for that midfield 4. I would have thought some of our recent performances with this formation and no Cabaye have highlighted this. So yeah, I don't see it working as a 4-4-2.

It's going to happen isn't it? If that lineup that Dave posted is correct, I wouldn't mind seeing Ranger in a wider role. He has a bit of pace about him and I can't see how that team would work as a 4-4-2?

Training on Saturday and playing on Monday according to Pards.

4-3-3 Neuer Lahm Kompany Hummels Alba Iniesta Pirlo Xavi Messi Falcao Ronaldo

No matter how bad he is at times with taking chances, when he is not in that middle we look much more open, 2nd half Wigan had a fair bit of space at times in there. That rarely happens when Tiote is around The lad is dominant. He has presence. Wigan got a hold of the game more early in the second half because they had more time to breathe. Partly down to tactics as you can't press like we did for 90 minutes but also because we missed Tiote's presence. Anita + Cabaye are hard workers and put a foot in but Tiote is the one who provides real steel and power. Any midfield 3 with Tiote will not be out powered. Agree with this. For all his faults, our midfield is powder puff without him.

Can't agree with Poz on that one. He's having a tough start to the season, as have the team. We create fuck all and when we do, he looks so depserate to score, he rushes and looks like he's trying too hard. His record speaks for itself and there is no way we should think about selling him IMO.

Blackpool home for his debut. Then Everton away for the full debut Yeah, you're in for a treat Silvor. You absolute lunch

Can't agree there mate. Cisse is a real predator and can score all types of goals. We just don't utilise him properly and that's been further magnified by a poor run of form. Michu doesn't always play up top for them anyway does he? Plays in behind that Schicter (sp) I thought? I think if Ba isn't going to be used wide left and we want to persist with the 4-2-3-1. It should be a straight shootout between Ba and Cisse for the lone strikers role. Bit hard to argue against Ba playing there ATM. Cisse's done ok out wide, but it feels a bit like square pegs/round holes.

Good post. We almost exclusively look to sit back and defend a lead. We just lack the players for it to work effectively and it's horrible to watch. Wigan looked dangerous for a spell at the start of the second half. We were all over the shop and invited too much pressure. We end up looking nervy, the crowd get edgy and it's just a vicious circle. The game against Maritimo was a perfect example and we were guilty of it to a point against Stoke. I'm not saying we should be gung ho, but we certainly need to be more positive. The 2 or 3 hammerings we had last season didn't help the goal dif, but neither did the negative, sit back on a slender lead mentality. There have been lots of games where the opposition are there for the taking, we have a chance to boost the goals for column, pass the ball about nicely and get a bit of confidence up. We just plonk everyone behind the ball! Would be foolish to get too carried away, bit hard to judge the performance really. But there were a lot of positives to take at least. Did we actually sit back, or did Wigan not come out for the second half in desperate need for an early goal? We contained them fairly well and then got back into our stride. Bit of both clearly, but I think we sat back for quite a lot of the second half. We were comfortable for the majority, but if Kone didn't play in blind alleys like Martins and Di Santo looked to pass instead of shank it from 30 yards, they might have posed more problems. We lack any composure at the back. Even Colo seems to have caught the Williamson bug. We looked a bit rushed for 5-10 minutes and kept giving the ball back to them to start another attack. But once Bigi settled, we started playing well again in fairness. I'm not basing this just on last night, as for the most part, it was enjoyable to watch and we were much improved. But it's been a feature of Pardew's time in charge. Sorry to bring it up again, but the 4 days defensive work, 1 day attacking quote might be a factor!?

No coincidence, that barring the Maritimo game, he's only looked poor when we've played 4-4-2 hoof ball. I think he's been fine in Europe and looks half decent at right back. As Venkman says, we start playing the ball on the deck and put 3 into the middle and Vurn is arguably MOTM 2 games on the bounce...

I love that song! But not many seem to know it and you don't usually get many joining in as Hughesy said. Can't remember where, but there were loads signing it for ages at an away last season. Might have been Bolton on Boxing Day?

Good post. We almost exclusively look to sit back and defend a lead. We just lack the players for it to work effectively and it's horrible to watch. Wigan looked dangerous for a spell at the start of the second half. We were all over the shop and invited too much pressure. We end up looking nervy, the crowd get edgy and it's just a vicious circle. The game against Maritimo was a perfect example and we were guilty of it to a point against Stoke. I'm not saying we should be gung ho, but we certainly need to be more positive. The 2 or 3 hammerings we had last season didn't help the goal dif, but neither did the negative, sit back on a slender lead mentality. There have been lots of games where the opposition are there for the taking, we have a chance to boost the goals for column, pass the ball about nicely and get a bit of confidence up. We just plonk everyone behind the ball! Would be foolish to get too carried away, bit hard to judge the performance really. But there were a lot of positives to take at least.

He actually tried to whip in two crosses, instead of the usual dink/punt/scuff. They weren't that bad I didn't think and I thought overall he played fairly well. Still such an average player mind. Him and Willo are limited defenders and painful to watch.

Hard to take too much from the match last night, as we played against ten for so long. But MY WORD (Wilkins) Marv was impressive! Retained possession well, was spinning his man for fun, skipped past players, whipped set pieces were good (the usual lofted willy routine was s***), switched play when he needed to and he even won a few headers! I can remember one bad ball from him, where he tried a diagonal to the right hand side and it went straight to a Wigan player. Other than that, he was pretty much faultless I thought. The formation was far better last night. Can't wait to see it when HBA is back. Jonas' place must be under threat now, he's been so bad this season. Not sure it suits Cisse playing so far wide, but he did interchange positions with Ba, actually linked up with him a bit and he showed some nice touches at times. This front 6 against Fulham?? : Anita Tiote HBA Marveaux Cisse Ba Not sure Jonas will get dropped and perhaps that is too attacking for an away game. But I'd like to see us playing this more often. EDIT: Pretty much what Alexf said

Glad to see him starting to shoot more. Has a good technique, so it always baffled me that he seemed reluctant to smack it? Must have been a confidence thing. Arguably our best player this season. Certainly our most consistent.

Pet hate of mine this. They do things like this most weeks, so why would the football world explode? It's almost become the norm for them! As for Bigi, chuffed for the lad. Not long turned 19, first pro goal from 25 yards on your weaker foot! His reaction when he scored

I'm sure it'll be a Giggs, but that "He scores/shags/does what he waaaaaaaaaants" chant is fucking horrendous. It should be banned. Unoriginal, sounds terrible, boring to sing, kills the atmosphere and has been done to death.

Also, despite his comments today and his best position appearing to be no.10. I'd still 100% play him ahead of Sammy or Ferguson out wide.

Agree with Kanji. I'd play him in front of Tiote and Anita in HBA and Cabaye's absence as well. 4-2-3-1. But we know we'll go 4-4-2 and Sammy will start out wide in place of Anita, as Perch is out. We'll have 2 wingers who can't cross and who will probably be playing on their weaker sides. Plus 2 defensive midfielders that don't have any creativity between them. Add to the fact Wigan like to play a passing game and get numbers in the middle, with decent movement. I can see us struggling.

He'll go wherever pays most. As I've said before I think he'll end up in a new money-ed league personally; Turkey, Russia or Arab leagues. Agreed.

What a fucking weapon. Chicken dance

After we smashed West Ham 5-0, I remember being baffled by Pardew saying something like "we want to see more of Cheik going forward." Not something else we can blame Pards for surely!?