Lush Vlad

Should have started yesterday, that formation and no left winger was awful.

Well I hope he surprises us. 4-3-3 with Barca like football. Perch can be Busquets, Guthrie is Iniesta and Cabaye Xavi. Play some lovely passing football and win 5-0. In reality it's going to be some lopsided 4-4-2, with players out of position all over the shop. Reminds me a bit of Stoke away and Everton home last season. Really strange changes from AP.

Perch for Santon?! Ergh

He always fails to miss the point does Douglas Like I said elsewhere, I no longer pay much attention to him since he said Williamson is better as a replacement for Colo than Taylor, as he was more similar. He was being a right attention seeker after Messi scored 5 the other week and all. Again massively missed the point when he was comparing #thespecialone and Barca. He should stick to talking about Bradford and Basketball.

Ryder and Douglas are clueless mate, who cares? Not sure Anderson is positive about anyone or anything? He's so depressing

You do these days. He's redundant as a force when going forward and his touch, dribbling technique and passing ability are all awful. Full backs should have all those skills listed IMO.

I think he's shit, but I disagree with others. I think he has ability, actually looks good running with the ball and doesn't strike a ball that badly (barring crosses of course). However, my problem with him is that he has a cranium the size of a small planet and a brain the size of a pea. His heart is even smaller, bottles everything and doesn't put a shift in. He literally doesn't know what's going on around him on the pitch, reacts slowly to everything and never knows when to release the ball. If there was a top ten table for 'running the ball into blind alleys' he would win hands down. Cheeky fucker is talking up his chances of playing against Norwich in today's Journal

Oh do FUCK OFF! Not You Wilson

Good quotes. Think the stuff in the article about him being preferred for the big games is bullshit mind. Wasn't Best injured for the City, Man U and Chelsea games and we didn't have many alternatives? Plus there was no way he could have not started on Monday after the second half against sunderland, just coincidence IMO and seems like column filler. If that was the case, I would be massively worried. Not trusting him in winnable games against poor defences and lesser sides. But instead playing him in games where we don't have much of a chance, won't see much of the ball and will be defending/'working hard' for long periods? Mental logic. Not a big fan of Douglas TBH, ever since he said on twitter "Williamson is more similar to Colo than S.Taylor"

Most complaining about the throw. It was the horrendous touch that followed and the ridiculous dive that irked me. Don't buy that he was cramping up or injured either. They rarely attacked his side and he seems a fit lad, sounds like a kop out and AP trying to protect his player. It was a blatant dive and he just laid there. If he was actually injured, then he shouldn't have been that far up the pitch in the first place FFS. Squad player, no more, no less. But if he fucks off, I can't say I'll be arsed.

Posted a while back about it, but if we fail to play attacking football and keep it on the deck against Norwich, then I think I will have lost all faith in him to ever play good football. There have been some promising signs this season, and I understand he's opting for safety first due to our league position. But it's actually counter-productive, as we don't have the players required for hoof ball and it just isn't working.

Wasn't afforded the same sort of protection/babysitting that Raylor got earlier in the season. I thought Jonas was woeful, played narrow and didn't cover well at all. 2 or 3 times Santon challenged for headers with Sagna, and Walcott was free to stroll in behind. Surely Jonas should be challenging for the header instead or at least covering the run? He did neither! Don't get me wrong, Santon does love to get forward and his positioning at times is questionable to say the least. But I don't get some of the criticism. Still think he should get a go at right back at some point in the future. Took Enrique and Colo a season to settle remember. Santon is younger and has had a bit of a stop/start season. Shit loads of potential there and I think talking about moving him to the wing is a bit premature. Think he would look more comfortable on the right hand side, although I might be wrong, it has been known.

I reckon we will play 4-5-1 tonight. Whether HBA comes in out wide or behind Ba I don't know, pretty confident he will start now though.

Tiote's calves Looks like he's got a couple of Christmas puddings strapped to the back of his legs.

Those photoshops are superb :lol:

Spot on for me. I know we've had limited options at full back this season. But the fact he keeps starting games as a right winger and is even being used as a centre midfielder is worrying. I keep thinking it's just AP talking up his players when he calls Raylor one of our better players, key player, iconic etc. But it is becoming apparent that he considers him as first choice. After the summer window, I'd like to think that's no the case. In fact, at present with everyone fit, he should be competition for Simpson and nothing more.

Some would argue it's the other way around.. Definitely, Jonas was playing as basically a second LB the whole time Raylor was playing. It basically stopped his attacking play completely for months.

Either way he was brought here hopefully to mimic what he was doing at Lille, which is a far cry from what he is doing for us at the moment. If he is not meant to sit that deep, Pardew would have called him out on it and told him to move further up the field. He hasnt, and despite the fact that Cabaye has been remarkably mediocre for the past few months pardew still hails him as a pivotal player for us, leading me to suspect he is doing excactly what Alan wants him doing. We cant know for sure though - yet. Didn't he play in a midfield 3 for Lille? Sure there were interviews saying he had never (or at least rarely) played in a conventional 4-4-2 before.

As pleased as I was with that second half, it's whether he'll finally learn it for the long term for me tbh. I don't see too much hope in that regard tbh. It wouldn't surprise me if Pardew is considering starting Shola against Arsenal at the weekend going off his gushing praise after he scored last weekend. The comparison to his effectiveness against Cisse was just rubbish as it suggested that the latter was being criticised for not giving the sunderland centre halves a harder time. It seems to me the players Pardew enthuses about most are the Ryan Taylors and Ameobis who are more suited to the long ball game. I don't think Shola is physically capable of playing more than about 30 minutes any more, I really doubt Pardew would start him unless he had no other options. Agreed and hope you're right. Can see Cisse being dropped though and going 4-5-1 though.

In agreement with the majority. It's a good deal if he's only going to be a squad player. If he keeps getting games right wing and left back, I will not only be pissed off, I will be seriously worried about Pardew. He has been nothing short of shocking at right wing, but he's an ok full back, puts a shift in and can cover various positions. Useful player, no more, no less.

For some reason I keep forgetting he signed a new deal! When the new conference was called I see Krul sit down and was expecting Guthrie, or even bloody Simpson. In strolls Colo. :smitten:

The media wankfest over MON is unreal TBH. Some journos even suggest him for jobs like Spurs and Chelsea Like his tactics and signings would be accepted at a top club!

As pleased as I was with that second half, it's whether he'll finally learn it for the long term for me tbh. Spot on that. Norwich at home will be the key to see if he has learnt anything. Another long ball game with Ba and Cisse up top, R.Taylor right wing and no HBA would be a joke. If that happened, I would be done sticking up for him TBH. Can't be judged too much on the Arsenal game, bit of a free pass to a certain degree IMO. However, it will be similar to the Spurs game, except we will have better players available and be under a bit more pressure to perform. Due to the dropped points in the last two 'winnable' games. No win in three currently isn't it? Hopefully no letting our hair down comments, a wide open 4-4-2, no protection for the defence and a brainless gameplan. As long as we put a performance in and don't get totally smashed out of sight, it would hopefully be apparant AP is learning from our last trip to North London.

Saw Demba Ba on Saturday when I was walking up to Chinatown on Saturday night. I was a bit pissed and he was going somewhere with his kid, so just said "Good luck tomorrow Demba, get us a goal" His reply "Oh yeah, of course" and then laughed. Oh how wrong he was :'(

This. Apart from the ridiculous shirt pull (which he doe every game for some reason) I thought he played well. Made some good blocks, won a lot in the air and made some really decent challenges. Fair play for getting the assist as well, kind of made up for his earlier fuck up I suppose. Shame he didn't bang one in at the end, or get out of the way and let Lovelyhands hit it. Not arguing he should be anything more than 4th choice, but he's pretty much all we've got apart from Colo. Perch isn't a viable option!