Tiotes Witch Doctor

Offers very little as I said a few weeks ago, has the odd good game but generally offers no service from wide and is a below average defender.

Cisse was incredibly poor, just constantly offside, would definitely look to move him on providing we sign Remy and another striker. How many chances does he need before he even LOOKS like scoring?

Ben Arfa showed the best and worst of himself there, looked shit hot beating defenders and getting into all sorts of positions, then straight after breaks through the middle tries to beat 3 men and fails when Remy was in acres of space on the wing, which sets off a Southampton counter, still doesn't deserve to start.

Disappointed with Sissoko, has played generally decent but his first touch has let him down on 3-4 golden occasions.

Such a step up on Simpson, and when he plays you can really see why so many people were screaming for improvement in our right back slot, simply a class above.

Was excellent both defensively and offensively today, some of the link up play between him and Moussa was fantastic, really becoming a great player for us after an initial period of being very shaky, just shows that sometimes it can take players a while to settle into the team. Definitely man of the match in my eyes, but there were a few out there who had a decent shout for it.

4-1 loss.

what if he goes somewhere else plays poorly and drifts out of the team in 6months ? Then he will still hate Pardew just not as much as he would have had Hatem succeeded, much like myself.

Nancy

Played well today, didn't have a great deal to do defensively but looked good when he was tested and was effective getting forward. More games like that and I might start to change my mind, credit where its due.

Exactly. He's not had a run in the team, can't remember him playing more than two games in a row before injury. People congratulating themselves because they 'knew' he was never going to make it are morons. Just like people knew that Williamson/Tiote is turbo s*** and should never be allowed in the side again. He's been very unlucky with injuries and that has contributed to the fact that he will probably not have a career here. Didn't see anyone congratulating themselves like, was simply making an opinion of him, it just so happens that I've had this opinion for a while, just never thought he would cut the mustard, theres plenty of players who I thought WOULD make it and didn't so I could be wrong. Damn my opinion, damn it to hell.

From the first time I saw him feature for us, probably because of the hype surrounding him aswell like, but for me he doesn't seem to know what to do with the ball when he has it and is painfully slow. Scored a heavily deflected goal in Europe and cracked the bar against West Brom... apart from that hes been dump. Hope I'm wrong and the lad turns into a star but personally I can't see it. The likes of Bigirimana, Dummett and Haidara have come in with less performances and impressed a lot more.

Said from very early on that I didn't think Vuckic would make it and I still feel the same. Combination of being incredibly injury prone and incredibly average.

Fully believe we are capable of 3 points here, but West Brom are one of those niggling teams we seem to struggle with. Went for the loss because I don't expect our score 1/2 then sit back tactic to carry on working.

Fully stand by my original comment. Has looked poor in the majority of games this season, countless times I see problems from him in games his positioning is truly awful, he constantly backs away from defenders and never seems to know who to be looking after when the ball comes down his side. At times he does look decent going forward but I think people just see that he is FORWARD and assume that because hes forward that hes good at it, there's a difference between getting forward and being good at getting forward, Williamson provided more on that left side in the way of crosses on saturday.

When we are winning people tend to ignore some of the problems that exist within the team, I've thought for a long time that Santon is a weak link and not a very good fullback, but this season I think his performances have dropped even further. Watch him a little closer.

Not wanting to focus on negatives but Santon is absolute dog shite, the lad cannot defend and is average at getting forward, would be looking to Dummett and Haidara to take over the LB slot ASAP, hopefully they are both battling for a start.

Lets face it though if Pardew has stumbled upon a winning team it wont change whether it makes sense or not. We all know his limitations.

Lad on FB always seems to know the lineups well before kick off, hasn't been wrong thus far, apparently the team is: Krul Yanga (RB) Williamson Colo Santon Sissoko Cabaye Tiote Gouffran Shola Remy Largely unchanged apart from the obvious, 2-1 us.

Never really rated him if I'm honest, he has obviously had his good games here and there but defensively hes suspect in almost every game and I have no idea where the myth came from that hes good going forward, theres a difference between being good at getting forward and just getting forward.

Hasn't put in the effort required this season and still wants it to be all about him, the slightest ridiculous sniff of goal and he would go for it rather than laying it off to someone who is in a much better position. Everyone bangs on about him playing "in the hole" but I think his best performances for us having been at RW, however against better teams we need more players who are willing to to the graft defensively aswell as offensively, that's not approaching the game in a negative manner thats just fact. Needs to prove himself off the bench for now and work hard in training if he wants his place back, everyone knows he's the most gifted and talented player in our team when hes in the mood.

Has he had a yellow card since returning?

It sounds odd but its always obvious when Cabaye is up for a game and has a bit of fire in his belly, its in his running, he actually looks like he has a bit of pace about him when hes up for it. Hes the most visibly obvious player I've seen when he cant be arsed.

Tiote, if fit, will be a nailed on starter tomorrow, which is probably an extra goal or two conceded in itself.