Mole_Toonfan

If Ba is injured then i hope we see Cisse come in for Ba, Sammy for Shola and Taylor for Williamson and the rest unchanged. Krul Simpson Taylor Colo Santon Perch Jonas Ben Arfa Cabaye Sammy Cisse

Yeah i agree with that.

I'd say we are desperate for a winger Aye although it depends on the system 4-4-2 would mean a winger and 4-3-3 would mean a wide forward. I still don't know why we didn't go for Mirallas. he's a solid defender mind but he's far too old.

I don't see why not. Edit: Fenham

Holtby would be f*cking class if we are looking for a more attacking CM but i get the feeling he will either renew his contract at Schalke or go to a massive club in the CL. Honda would be class as well i don't really understand why he's still in Russia mind you i could say the same for Dzageov and others.

Would be nice as for Anita it is a bit strange but he's not playing at the moment anyway and Sissoko would more likely play instead of Jonas if we were to go for a midfield 3. I get the feeling Anita was seen as Tiote's long term replacement and the management did not expect Bigi to improve this quickly.

30 goals +? im pretty sure most team above arsenal would had snapped him up already regardless how much he would cost. IMO he would yes in all comps btw and in any case because he's that good don't mean Arsenal would snap him up we have seen how Wenger works over the years he's made some pretty strange decisions to say the least to go with the genius ones.

Ba would score 30+ as the main striker behind Cazorla, Wilshere, Podolski etc etc. We saw how much of an intelligent player Ba is when he played on the left he created havoc with his off the ball movement which is one of the reasons Ba-Cisse-Ben Arfa was so frightening. He does have an inconsistent first touch but he has a lot more to his game more then getting on the end of long balls etc. So yeah Wenger was a bit nuts tbh. There must be more to this clause because 7m quite frankly is robbery.

Are they really worse than the likes of Sunderland, Villa, Reading etc though ?

Because it's not in Pardew's nature to play a pass and move game. He's come from low profile teams where the long ball is used effectively to punch above their weight similar to Sam Allardyce. He does try and incorporate some passing, but it's mostly just impressive talk. It doesn't look like we practice it on the pitch at all, and under the slightest bit of pressure it's Shola up front and long balls to the big lads. He doesn't really believe in the passing game IMO, and looks unsure how to implement it. It looks to me that players like Cisse and Marveaux are getting stick on here when more than likely the style of football is more suited to the Sholas and Martin O Neill type of players. Agree with all of that. Pardew sticks to what he knows which is percentages. Players moving around or going forward too much and losing position in a passing movement worries him. Our players try as much as possible to hold thier zone and their core position and then reboot. This keeps the team profile solid and hard to score against (that's the theory anyway -MON - Allardyce and Moyes - but he's changed the last couple of seasons). I suspect he's been pawing at statistics too much which often don't tell the full picture. Often 3/4 touches may lead to a goal (like the kick from Krul goal on Sunday) and nobody has to have deserted their positon (Shola just moved in a bit). He looks at mistakes (goals conceded when there is a corner up the other end and the breakaway). Ironically these kinds of stats are the surface of the game but now with prozone and so on they have become the new gloss. Tbf to Pards he's a bit like an unpolished Mourinho who has had his fair shair of very static and defensive formations (remember how Chelsea used to lob it to Drogba a lot?) Just that a lot of Mou's overfocused research (see all his assistants and their number crunching - Clarke etc) is gilded with teams full of stars. P like Mourinho is only interested in winning football. Even now two sprinters wait on the half way line (Benzema and one other) while the whole team defends. P still really wants Carroll as the focus, that should tell you everything. I can't disagree with any of that, it makes you wonder who was behind the brilliant football at the end of the season

19? bore off

I'm not saying what he's worth i was just giving an example with a random number.

What confuses me most of all is the complete contrast in style between EL games to PL games. We keep it on the floor a lot more in Europe it's not perfect but it's not going to be with a lot of back up players i just don't understand why we can't do that in the league too. Especially against the poorer teams.

I'd give it to CR, Zlatan, Falcao, Pirlo, Ozil and Van Persie all before i give it to Iniesta. He was poor last season for Barca and for Spain he wasn't head and shoulders above the rest. It's an individual award for individual performances over a year and i honestly don't think Iniesta should be anywhere near the top 3. My top 3 would personally be Messi, CR, Pirlo.

Same, but this place has been surrounded by OTT reactions tonight for some reason. Did you actually watch how bad we were again? I think i should tbh because i'm really not seeing these awful performances apart from a poor 20 minute spell in the second half. Anyway i thought he was pretty good myself yesterday on first viewing but he did play central so that explains that....

Has the goal of the year award nominations been announced yet?

Balotelli Anyway there's a fair few there who you could argue shouldn't be but hey what else is new..... Also find it a bit of a farce there's a 23 man shortlist when we all know only 2 men are in the running

If we can do the impossible and win then it will start to look very good for us with the upcoming fixtures we would undoubtedly be in the top 6 going into December. On paper at least. The anti-jinxes were coming along so nicely. We will still lose and Gerrard will get a hat trick mind.

Exactly. Play 4-4-2 and you will get more goals out of Ba, play 4-3-3 and you will get more goals out of Cisse. There doesn't seem to be much inbetween which is our problem. Not sure I agree there. Interchangeable positions in a 4-3-3 would be part of my "solution". Stick either Ba or Cisse on the left of the 3 for too long and they will: a) not score as many goals ( / possibly become dissatisfied) b) burn out much quicker There's something to be said for continuity, but I do think fluidity and fungibilty in-game addresses this and gives us more unpredictability - which is more difficult to defend against. it can't be too hard surely

which is why i prefer him to Hart and the likes he's a safe GK he rarely makes errors he comes from the Van der Sar or Buffon school of goalkeeping rather than the Casillas school of goalkeeping like Hart does. His distribution is shite mind

If we go back to 4-4-2 yeah but we played 4-5-1 last night and later on moved to 4-2-3-1 and against a team who are obsessed with possession and control(Liverpool) it would make sense if we match up again.

If we can do the impossible and win then it will start to look very good for us with the upcoming fixtures we would undoubtedly be in the top 6 going into December. On paper at least.

Sissoko is more of a b2b midfielder in the Yaya mould than a DM he can play there but he's best in the b2b role. Honestly i cannot see this happening unless someone leaves..... let's say for example Tiote goes for 15m then Anita could go to DM Sissoko to go alongside him and Cabaye. Then we spend the cash on a couple of defenders and maybe a winger-cum striker if the finance allows. Sounds like something Ashley would go for.