Lush Vlad

Was after about 35-40 minutes, was clearly struggling after that. He was quality before thatI thought, but seemed to spend a lot of time fouling or being offside after the injury. We tend to go too direct when he's on the pitch, although he's good in the air, he runs channels and has pretty good feet TBF. Has a clumsy looking technique, but it's effective, uses both feet and his touch is decent. Wish we'd keep it down a bit more and stop solely using him as a battering ram. Fair play to him for battling on injured, but once HBA settled, we played better football and retained possession better I thought.

Thought he got box to box well, made some crucial interceptions and blocks, including his save. Put a shift in, but as others have said, he didn't show for the ball or get many touches, but he has hardly played at this level in the last 18 months and there is some promising signs I think. Had a quick check on Guardian chalkboards and he only attempted like 15 passes or something ridiculous, Guthrie 49 I think.

Spot on, we nearly scored from one of his long punts upfield on Saturday and we did score from one against Stoke. Be fair though Inochi, we've been quality this season so Colocho needs to twist about summat

Put in a decent cross with his right foot There were two or three occasions where he had the chance to just loft one in on his right and he didn't, checked back instead and gave Everton the chance to get back and regroup. Think I vaguely remember the cross you're on about though.

Think AP has shot himself in the foot a bit with the 'I don't think he can play out wide/probably won't play there for me/he doesn't like playing there" comments. Means we have to change our formation just to accomodate him. His best position probably is through the middle, but he's played out wide most his career, so why the sudden change?

Pressured the ball, looked after it when in possession and worked hard when he came on, the closing down players and looking interested when he didn't have the ball is something I've not noticed from him before TBH. At one point he tracked back with Drenthe, outmuscled him and then drew a foul himself which led to Drenthe finally getting booked I believe. Went on a few mazy runs as well. Promising.

Thought he did alright, needs to learn to use his right foot though. Looks after the ball better than Obertan, not as quick or skillful, but hardly slow either. Doesn't sound good for the City game, as others have said, just hope it isn't related to previous injuries.

:lol: aye I noticed that on the replay after the match, couldn't stop laughing. When that goal went in, one of the lads I was with called it the minute he hit it and was already celebrating, as were quite a few others judging by the replays. I stood in amazement for a good few seconds, looked at the lineo to actually make sure it had crossed the line then went fucking nuts and celebrated like a loon. What a peach of a goal

Yep,not the first time he's done that either. Good pards,very good. Yep, I see him do it against Spurs as well, it's class TBF. Got it spot on Saturday, seemed like we were hanging on at the end, that said Krul only had one real save to make, Gosling saved one as well mind

Guessing it didn't get going, our crowd were pretty s**** the other night tbf. The only new one that really got going to my knowledge was Abbie Clancy, up the arse. Fairly loud on the TV, when you consider how many were there. I see the big bald fella with the Tyne bridge tat on his gut was there again I've seen him at every away game I've been to.

Steve Kean: P: 36 W: 10 D: 10 L: 16 Pts: 40 Steve Bruce: P:36 W:10 D: 7 L: 19 Pts: 37 Read more: http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showthread.php?t=641642#ixzz1ckFq9iCW Not sure if those stats are accurate, but fuck me I didn't realise Brewcie was quite that bad!

Looks like a sell out for this bar the posh seats. Quietly confident if we can sort the midfield out earlier than we did against Wigan. 2-1

Not in the training pics from this week

Jonas and Obertan drift about quite often, will be more useful if Marv and Jonas do it, as Marv looks as if he has a wand of a left foot and Obertan was very right footed.

I think Cabaye, Marveaux and Jonas will all work well with Ben Arfa. He's the nearest player we've had to Beardsley and I can't wait to see him playing week in and week out. Spot on.

Yaya Toure

Some good points, but Cabaye is far from a shit tackler.

They can always alternate, would mean Drenthe would have to do his fair share of defensive work and he'd probably start wide right, think that's where he's been playing for them. Jonas never stops running and him and Obertan seem to drift during the game anyway, at least now with him and Marv they aren't both right footed.

I fall into the Ben Arfa 'fan boy' camp, but I agree wtih quite a few points, I feel Ba has can play higher up the pitch as well though. He didn't seem to be dropping quite so deep against Stoke and he more than held his own against their meathead back 4. His link up play was much better than usual with his back to goal, held the ball up really well, played some nice passes and little lay offs after shielding the ball. By all accounts, he did well and worked his bollocks off against Blackburn, on his own up top as well. When Ba plays with Best, he does tend to drop deep and I think he's instructed to, so far so good and I don't think it should be changed just yet. However, I would suggest Ba is versatile and good enough to be equally effective playing with HBA. From what I can see, he isn't as good as Besty in the air and maybe not quite as strong, but he still has the physical attributes and intelligence to do well with Hatem. Far too early for anyone to suggest they won't work together.

Saying on .co.uk he he will miss Saturday and might even be out for the Manchester games. Would expect him to be back in the squad for the Man U game.

My only concern is Marveaux's fitness issues. Would be pretty shit luck though if he got crocked during this 3-4 week spell. We would still have Ben Arfa to play wide right anyway, oh and Guthrie and Lovenkrands

£18m Are they forgetting he's out of contract at the end of the season :lol:

from .com's match report That is quality, who came up with the Cabaye/Marveaux chant on here? Would love to hear that at an away game

Guess he is the replacement for Obertan on Saturday. Hopefully he doesn't suffer from Benarfaitis and try to do too much on his own. Looks a tidy player and I'm looking forward to see how he gets on.

lee_ryder Lee Ryder #nufc AP: "Obertan was outstanding at Stoke, it is a big blow" On Tiote: "We will wait and see" Pretty inconclusive on Tiote, the fact he isn't 100% ruled out is promising though. Would rather he played in this, but if he didn't, you would be pretty hopeful he'd be fit enough to play against City in two weeks time.