Mole_Toonfan

We would concede 8 goals a game though /pardiola

That Fabregas pass ffs

He's important because of how deep the rest of the players are..... Ben Arfa and Cabaye are defending because we are overrun and Cisse is either out wide tracking back or just never in the box. Besides Ba has 2 in his last 8 the same as Cabaye and Cisse.... We all know what the issues are this doesn't prove anything, point is we actually played in a way which suited the players and not tracking back all the time then there would be more threats and we wouldn't have to rely on Ba feeding of knockdowns.

About sums it up, i don't blame him anyway he was bought as cover in the championship for crying out load.

The title ffs

Aye getting a CB in is a priority no doubt about that but unfortunately that has been the case for 3 years now. Ashley

Don't get me wrong he's bad but we could mask his weaknesses if we were able to control a football match and not get overrun by every team in the bloody league.

Williamson is no where near as bad as the likes of Cacapa, Bramble, Boumsong, Onyewu etc etc Besides the reason he looks even that bad is the over cover the midfield is giving the defence this season, control games and you fix half the issues being overrun in midfield is the main issue.

El Shaarawy has 14 in 16 games in Serie A this year, he literally is carrying them and at just 20 years old is no mean feat.

Obertan is injured as well But seriously in a normal world i would agree but Pardew is so defensive i can't see him doing it

We don't have the players for 4-3-3 atm and we won't do until Cabaye and Ben Arfa is fit. We have the players for 4-2-3-1 but does Pardew have the balls for that? again the how system argument was only really relevant at the start of the season at the moment we have so many injuries we can't really do anything more than what we did at Stoke except for maybe bring Marveaux in.

You couldn't be more wrong Wullie, I absolutely favour 4-3-3 but I'm not sure playing Ba wide left is critical to that 4-3-3 which is what some are suggesting. I know Cisse scored a lot of goals last season playing central but so did Ba and who is to say Cisse wide left or even wide right wouldn't work just as well. Because we have seen Cisse out wide on many occasions and he's god awful there, Ba is the only competent wide forward we have. I agree on your point about interchanging forwards btw but there needs to be a starting position and Ba knows how to do the role. Cisse looks clueless out there and rightfully so he's a poacher he should be in the middle or not playing at all.

Why? Silva was a fantastic player.

I'm talking about 4-3-3 at the start of the season when all the players were fit.... I realise now the problems are more than just the system not to mention because of all the injuries we have. I'm not bothered about 4-4-2 or any of that at the moment because we can't use the right system due to injuries anyway. I was talking about from the start of the season where we probably would have picked up points to make sure we was clear of this relegation battle we find ourselves in before the injuries came crashing down. Also i don't assume nothing, don't put words in my mouth i know it won't magically fix anything now there's too many issues mainly due to injuries and squad depth. But it would have fixed a lot if we started the season with the team that ended last year and we wouldn't be in this position now, we wouldn't probably be top 6 because of all the injuries but we definitely wouldn't be 2 points above the relegation zone. I have said many times switching to 4-3-3 would not magically fix anything but hey continue with that crap if you must, my entire point is that when we had the players fit at the start of the season we would have picked up enough points to stay away from the mess we are currently in.

He's played on the right CB side too

I'm sorry for Ba being Premier League Golden Boot winner is more important to you than us staying up i really am. But don't be so short sighted, there's more to football than just who scores the goals and we are suffering as a team due to Ba being the central figure. It is possible to be a crap team and still have someone scoring goals you know? Darren Bent has made a career out of scoring and dragging teams down with him. At the moment we are a crap team and as long as Ba is the central figure and we restrict the rest of our star players we will remain one. But hey if we go down you can console yourself with Ba's golden boot award.

Yeah it has nothing to do with Ba moaning about playing on the left and Pardew succumbing to his every command and promising he will play up front even if it is detriment to the team..... Restricting Cabaye, Cisse and Ben Arfa to the extent that they are useless..... Ben Arfa is so deep he might as well be a wing back, Cabaye is so deep he might as well be standing on Coloccini toes and Cisse is never in the box anymore due to playing to Ba. This is whole system is designed to get the best out of Ba even if it's a detriment to the team as a whole it's no coincidence at all that he's scoring while the rest of the team is struggling. Ba is scoring but we are going down in the process so whats the point. Build the team around Ba and the overall football suffers as a whole, build the team around Cabaye, Ben Arfa and Cisse like we did at the end of last season and the football is fantastic even if it means Ba not scoring. Ba might score like this but the team plays like shit and i for one don't accept one individual being bigger than the club.

Because he's the only one that suits this style of football and we are playing this way because of him... No one wants him dropped or sold, it's not a coincidence that he's the only attacker that looks comfortable under this system and style of play it's because it's built for HIM and thus restricting everyone else around him.

Does anyone think now Scolari is back he will try to recreate the 3-4-3 with the current team? He's got the CB's, fullbacks and CM's to make it work, in fact the CM's and CB's are probably better now but i don't think the front 3 is good enough to work successfully.

Because he's taking the team down in the process? I don't think we can play 4-3-3 at the moment due to injuries anyway but earlier in the season we should have done.

I'd take him if City pay his wages