Tiotes Witch Doctor

Rose won't start either.

Mignolet Mertersacker Evans Vertonghen Dyer Huddlestone Santi Carzorla Hazard Bent Benteke Van Persie Subs: Livermore Ramage Baker Still not convinced and changed it about 50 times, Van Persie is a must in my eyes.

We will get him!

Just :lol: Gold

Convinced we will still get him this window, he hasn't signed an improved contract which leads me to believe Lyon will be desperate and we'll go in at a lower price and get our man, its exactly the kind of risk Ashley would take to shave a couple of mil off the price. Just have to be patient for a bit longer.

He's better there than he is any role we have used him so far and in any case.... Remy? Whenever hes been used in the middle its always been with a strike partner and even then its been few and far between. Pretty much resigned myself to the fact that Remy will be injured most of the time, which is usually the way things for us.

Imagine Cisse getting injured man, catastrophe. I like Gouffran but could never see him playing the lone striker role.

They should probably stop releasing pictures of him looking like Fatty McBurgermuncher then. You'd have thought someone at our press would have looked at that and told them to take another one like. Even common sense stuff we cant get right at the minute They probably didn't want to hurt his feelings, he is french after all.

It's an absolute certainty that he will start on Monday, never been so sure of anything in my life.

Is Gutierrez definitely out? Pards' will have the medical team working around the clock to have him fit no doubt.

One of my good mates is also a City fan, wants to watch it in the pub with us but is scared in case he gets chinned for celebrating. He will, by me.

Happy with the minimal injury list from pre-season, with a fully fit squad we have undoubted talent, really hope that Faye Downey has made some headway and we have no mega injuries this season. One major positive going into this campaign, but I've probably just jinxed it.

Can't wait now, even though I know its going to be a very sad evening results wise I'm just so happy its back and I have something to do with my weekends again Meeting loads of mates I haven't seen since the back end of last season and swapped my days off so I'm off on the tuesday, many beers, good friends and NUFC, unbeatable combo.

You have to admit though he is/was a bit podgey.

Santon looks canny chunky in his photo from the same shoot aswell, they do say the camera adds 10 pounds.

Definitely want to see more of Anita, he didn't always look great but he had some very good games last season but was almost always replaced in the next game regardless of how great a performance he put in. You can tell he has the tools at his disposal to be a big hit but he just isn't being given the chance, even with an injury in central midfield I could still see Pardew doing something stupid like playing Gosling there or moving Gutierrez there. (he is better central like) Based on the majority of last season it should be Tiote & Gutierrez who are on the bench fighting for their places, not starting every bastard game.

Went for 11-15 mainly due to service, if we were to play more positively this season I don't think 16-20 is completely out of the question, though unlikely.

Expand on this... You must rate him highly I take it?... Good deliveries from corners and set pieces and does a good job on the right or in central midfield while always giving 100%

Would have him back here in a heartbeat on footballing ability alone.

From what I've seen and heard in pre-season and based off performances from last season I can safely say I want Jonas, Tiote and Shola nowhere near the starting lineup this season. Got concerns about Debuchy also but its still fairly early days I suppose so best to give him time, it's mainly just the fact that everytime M'biwa has been used at fullback hes looked twice the player of both Debuchy and Santon, even young Dummett today looked head and shoulders above them both also. Think a 3 man midfield of Anita, Sissoko and Cabaye could work wonders, worried about Cabaye's impact too though, was non existent and like so many occasions last season just looked out to hurt people rather than perform. Still think we'll do better than last season, but mainly due to the fact that last season couldn't get much worse. Fully expecting a bang average 11-13th placed finish and going out of the cups pretty much straight away.

Surely this pre-season has been a massive wasted opportunity to see what Adam Campbell can do with no pressure? Why do we persist in giving Shola Ameobi so much playing time when we have a young prospect on the bench crying out for games, Campbell has had virtually no time in pre-season which means he will get NO time in the league which means he'll be another player in a long line of youth players deemed "not good enough" due to not being given a proper chance. Pisses me off.

<alright, less of that>

Fair play to you for sticking to your guns, you obviously think very highly of Mr Pardew and thats up to you, but from my time spent as being mostly a lurker on this forum I can safely say that in my opinion you seem to defend the indefensible sometimes. I can't work out whether you're trying to be THAT GUY who goes against the grain for the sake of it in the hope of being seen as a free thinker, or you actually believe the stuff you say.

"We deserved to win in the end coz we woz in control for larger periods of the game today I felt"