Tiresias

On present form we're not relegation material, but if Colo gets a long term injury I think a lot of people will collectively shit themselves

They are a bogey team for us, before everyone gets carried away. We need to turn good form into goals, hope we do, this is a 'should win' game, but I'm not going to assume a walkover, they did beat arsenal 4-3 which rather demonstrates they do have goals in them, which till that game didn't think they did. Even if they were against arsenal.

Mike Ashley's surprise appointment of Sammy Ameobi to manager, and Pardew to no. 9 striker is yet to prove convincing

Can see why French clubs can struggle to keep hold of players really if that's all accurate, heard at time about Laurent Blanc comments but wasn't true if it was widespread or exaggerated or something

Jol has a terrible reputation in Europe for awful man management, so would be skeptical

I'm still undecided about Pardew, it's very easy to excuse all the bad things of his reign on Ashley, but that's also not that unreasonable. He seems reasonably competant, got our defence working pretty well, but he hasn't had to rebuild that. I like he wants pace, we were in danger of becoming fatally sluggish last season, and we'd have got slower this season if we hadn't had this influx of youth. I like that he has struck a fair chord between not rushing tactical changes so as to leave players not knowing what they're doing, rather than switching formation every week, and also making the changes, we do seem to be shifting to a much more midfield orientated team. I also don't know if he's the kind of manager who will when down at halftime make a bold change to take the game back. Has he really had to make any bold decisions since he came in? His half time team talk at arsenal last season must have been good to be fair to him. There is a worrying slickness though, he always seems to say the right things, he's competent but yet to prove himself someone who will drag us long way up the table. However of course getting rid of him would only do damage, and definately no cause, but the long term contract may be a mistake. I wonder if he's going to prove a great manager to rebuild the team over the next few seasons, but then we may want someone to then get us to achieve better things. I also don't know yet what he's like when things are really bad. If we pick up some injuries and start on a bad run, he needs to be able to turn us around...before he gets sacked only making things worse...

If we had him back we'd need a player who could put the ball on his head as well. Not saying I wouldn't have him back but I don't see it happening, and think we should be looking for strikers who like ball at their feet way things are going

well that is the problem yes. I was just trying to solve the problem everyone was having fitting Guti and Marveaux in same team, it's hardly a fucking 1-7-3 or something is it :|

I don't think it's that bonkers actually, Blackpool pulled it off against a lot of the premiership with worse players than us, and before you say well they got relegated, that was because they tried it against teams that knew better as well, and had a much worse defense than us. I'm not saying this is an idea for every game ever, but I think it may be worth investigating, particularly against a team we are going to absolutely boss in midfield

Well yes, but while no Barcalona we aren't in champions league etc. Anyway I agree actually, we're let down by our wingers who aren't going to be scoring goals enough, so should be playing more traditionally, and need a proper striker in the team.

Hmmm in relation to Cabaye thread where someone propose HBA as a trequarista a la messi (which i think is probably too ambitious atm) but wondering if this would allow Marveaux a better role, see krul Simp Colo taylor Santon Tiote Cabaye Marveaux Obertan HBA Gutierrez

I'd agree in attacking midfielder in centre of a 4-2-3-1 with brief to go in for goals, which seems plan, might be worth giving a go in messi role in a 4-3-3 though, hardly be said Messi doesn't make use of dribbling in that role. That is getting ahead of ourselves though, and would be brave, and reliant on HBA to score plenty of goals as well as wingers, it however does bulk up midfield, arguably a more defensive formation,

I agree should play 3 man midfield, but Tiote didn't turn up for the QPR game it seems, and has got better, so easy to read too much into that.

if Ben Arfa is replacing Best effectively I suspect he will do, Best at the moment should be on poaching duties

I'd kind of love him to be a proper false no 9, we'd be suddenly quite cutting edge tactically heh. Rooney and Aguero are probably only other players in league who could and they don't play like that at the moment heh though Rooney in particular does drag the defence about a bit.

His contribution from his passing is enough anyway, it's always a shame when great players don't get plaudits because they're not goal scorers (remember the daily mail's rather mad critique of the spain squad "10 world class players and Xavi" lololol). Cabaye definately looks like he has plenty of goals in him though, which is excellent.

At least 1 of Given's saves don't think a lot in the league would have made, but yeah no use hitting it long range right at keeper

Hope Given hasn't made Cabaye more cautious about his shooting from outside the box, think he'll terrorise a short on confidence keeper.

If he stops getting game time I'd worry a bit about him wanting to move on, and that may agitate Colo as well...may be a bit premature but think he's still very important

Yeah probably actually hardly lacking in the centre.

Jonas definately should be used against stronger teams with good wingers, he'll hold up the wings and get possession, against a team where we really want to be testing their full backs and anticipate being domiinate, there's a good argument for stronger players. Looking at his stats for Aston Villa game his passing was good but he never successfully passed into box, and only once even tried, his shots weren't good either, but his passing was, and he tackled successfully more than Tiote or Colo (not by much) and further up the pitch. I wonder if he could actually be moved into the middle should we lose one of our main midfielders to injury.

is Ben Arfa likely to start? I'd imagine sub appearance. Him, Cabaye and Tiote in midfield is :fwap:

I'd like to see standard expected back line in a 4-2-3-1 with tiote - Cabaye Obertan - Marveaux - Guti Best 60 mins in HBA on for Obertan, Marv moves to left and Guti to right. Sammy on for Best later perhaps.

They're a team looking to prove a point, can't afford to be complacent. If we play well, like against Villa should win though, should at the very least keep a clean sheet.

Still start him ahead of Raylor