Tiotes Witch Doctor

Why does it just seem like every single aspect of the club have fucked up massively this season, manager, coaches, medical staff, players... its just one fuck up after another, if theres any truth in this Ben Arfa story and they are rushing him back without surgery, only to do further damage, its a disgrace.

Think they will go down this season but he will bring them back up next season.

No mate, we're better off without him according to many. We are imo. What's the point in 'winning the battles' if he's going to gift possession to the other team, commit stupid fouls and put us under pressure? I'm always glad when he's not playing now, the Arsenal 7-3 was the point of no return for me with Tiote. This.

Ridiculous post.

3-1 loss.

One of the best posts I've ever read on this forum in my long lurking history. Absolutely spot on and sums up my thoughts, only a lot more eloquently

Has been bad all season when fit but has been even worse since the ACON, hes been found out and is utterly, utterly hopeless. The only game he looked decent was Stoke and then went and gave away a needless, reckless penalty. I lost count of how many times he lost the ball today just by holding onto the ball for too long, just doesn't seem with it. Seems to sometimes concentrate too much on positioning and less about actually winning the ball aswell, there was a point in the game where the ball was about 3 foot away from him but he didn't collect it because he was trying to hold his position. He is a joke of a player at the moment.

Captaincy?

Everytime I see this thread bumped I shit myself incase I find out hes injured

I haven't seen anything conclusive. Cabaye apparently remained hopeful of making Sunday, but the club seem less sure. With a two-week break looming, and our fingers still freshly-singed from HBA's calamitous return from injury, I'll be surprised if we risk it. Cheers. After being so lucky with injuries last season this season has just been an absolute joke injuries wise, its no coincidence that our upturn in form has came at a time where theres minimal injuries, I imagine the season we may have had if things had went better for us

Apologies if already been said but is Cabaye definitely missing this one?

If he would just release the ball when he collects it, even if that occasionally means doing a Parker and going backwards its still better than losing it in a ropy position, his off the ball pressing and movement has been very good in his last two games, but just seems to want an absolute lifetime on the ball, which is probably Perch's main strength, collects the ball and immediately looks for the pass.

Best player I've ever seen in my life.

In the gate apparently for chinning his lass.

Tiote thinks hes has ability on the ball but usually ends up trying daft things and giving away possession cheaply (albeit not today), I find I prefer Perch because he knows his limitations, gains possession and lays the ball immediately off to a player with more talent on the ball such as Cabaye, Sissoko, Gouffran and thats all I want from my defensive midfielder, if we insist on playing with one.

Seems to be forming a solid partnership with Steven Taylor at the back but its only a matter of time before Taylor becomes injured and Williamson is back in the frame, lets hope the pace and intelligence of Mbiwa can cover some of Mike's shortcomings. Feel much less worried about Coloccini leaving in the summer now, but we still need another CB in when he leaves.

Best I've seen him play this season before that tackle. Definitely has a good game in him but just can't seem to curb that rush of blood to the head, I personally think Perch deserves to be starting ahead of him considering the game against Anzhi was his absolute best for us. What exactly does he have to do to get starts?

Colo not in our strongest 11 or am I missing something? The fact that hes injured until May.

Hopefully we can knuckle down and put in another assured and dominating performance as this fixture last season, which was probably one of my favourite games of the season 3-0 but very, very easily could have been 4 or 5.

Marveaux had a good solid hame. He tracked back AMD stuck hos foot in on numerous occasions to help break up anzhi attacks If a good, solid game is losing possession with every pass and run and doing little work defensively after the first 10 minutes then yes, he had a good solid game.

Must get rid in summer.

I don't think it's bashing when you show concern to the lads poor defensive play, especially when you consider he is a defender. Call me old fashioned but i prefer my full back to be a good defender above all else, then you look for one who has good forward play too. These are my thoughts too, I love Santon hes becoming such a threat going forward and has bagged 3-4 assists this season, and in spells can be decent defensively aswell, but a lot of the time there are huge holes in his game defensively which I feel have cost us on many occasions.

Anita offered absolutely nothing offensively or defensively whereas Cabaye in different stages of the game was getting stuck in and winning back possession while playing a few tidy balls forward that our attacking players failed to make much of. Marveaux offered nothing either apart from being decent defensively in the first 10 minutes.

Everybody wanks over him all the time but I've seen little from him to suggest hes good enough to be playing for us. Offers about the same Obertan does but just slightly better on the ball with less pace.

No idea how anyone can think Anita played better than Cabaye. Elliot 7 Simpson 7 Perch 9 Mbiwa 9 Haidara 8 Obertan 4 Sissoko 6 Cabaye 6 Anita 5 Marveaux 3 Ben Arfa 5