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Ivory Coast leave out Newcastle's Cheick Tiote and Lille's Salomon Kalou for today's Africa Cup of Nations game against Togo. There is live commentary on the BBC website.

 

Ivory Coast: Barry, Eboue, Kolo Toure, Bamba, Tiene, Zokora, Yaya Toure, Gradel, Konan ,Gervinho, Drogba.

 

Togo: Agassa, Nibombe, Akakpo, Bossou, Djene, Gaffar, Amewou, Romao, Gakpe, Adebayor, Ayite.

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:lol: Drogba's look out of the corner of his eye to Gervinho when they ask who has the worst haircut.

 

:lol: :lol:

 

Why do the England lot not seem fun like that?

 

Cos they're arseholes?

 

Plump black kid in audience gif.

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:lol: I'm not good enough with my French to know whether or not the "Who spends the longest in the bathroom" question is a double-entendre for them as well.

 

By all accounts, Eboue is supposed to be the best comedian in all of football.

 

He's a great comedian on twitter.

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:lol: Drogba's look out of the corner of his eye to Gervinho when they ask who has the worst haircut.

 

:lol: :lol:

 

Why do the England lot not seem fun like that?

 

Well at the end of the day Dave they are just out there to do their best for the side, it's not about personal glory at the end of the day, it's what is best for the team at the end of the day.

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Imagine Cheick with Sissoko in our engine room. Opposition teams are going to think they've been hit by an articulated truck.

 

This is it. I think it'll allow him to do the basic stuff well like he used to like breaking play up and protecting the back four instead of trying too much.

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Imagine Cheick with Sissoko in our engine room. Opposition teams are going to think they've been hit by an articulated truck.

 

This is it. I think it'll allow him to do the basic stuff well like he used to like breaking play up and protecting the back four instead of trying too much.

 

Agree with all of this, I really don't think he is a bad player, I just think a bit to much has been expected of him. In the destroyer role there are not many better, it's when he is forced to hold onto the ball because of a lack of options or expected to drive forward. With the combinations we can potentially put out now our midfield is millions of years away from when we put Butt and Smith in midfield

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Imagine Cheick with Sissoko in our engine room. Opposition teams are going to think they've been hit by an articulated truck.

 

This is it. I think it'll allow him to do the basic stuff well like he used to like breaking play up and protecting the back four instead of trying too much.

 

Agree with all of this, I really don't think he is a bad player, I just think a bit to much has been expected of him. In the destroyer role there are not many better, it's when he is forced to hold onto the ball because of a lack of options or expected to drive forward. With the combinations we can potentially put out now our midfield is millions of years away from when we put Butt and Smith in midfield

 

Plus having players like Debuchy and Mbiwa to pass to who are good on the ball should help things when he's in possession between midfield and defence.

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I really hope that he can get back to the form he's capable of. He had a fairly disrupted season last year with injuries and suspensions but he still played well for the most part (albeit not to the levels of the first season), but he has clearly been off form this year, like many of our players. He was also injured early on so his season has again been disrupted.

 

Given that he's arguably had 2 decent seasons and half a poor season, I find it a little disappointing that people are seemingly happy to see him leave. At the top of his game he is an absolute machine, and I'm not giving up on him yet. That Tiote would still walk into my first choice 11 even with the players we've signed.

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I really hope that he can get back to the form he's capable of. He had a fairly disrupted season last year with injuries and suspensions but he still played well for the most part (albeit not to the levels of the first season), but he has clearly been off form this year, like many of our players. He was also injured early on so his season has again been disrupted.

 

Given that he's arguably had 2 decent seasons and half a poor season, I find it a little disappointing that people are seemingly happy to see him leave. At the top of his game he is an absolute machine, and I'm not giving up on him yet. That Tiote would still walk into my first choice 11 even with the players we've signed.

 

I think there will definitely be chances for him, and I really hope he can regain some form. In some games I can see Sissoko/Tiote/Cabaye, which I imagine would be a nightmare to play against.

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His drop in quality certainly has something to do with him trying to do too much.  Not sure how much of it is instructed and how much is down to him trying to be the main man, but you can't ignore the fact he's not had Cabaye next to him much this season.  He's been trying to take over the creative role and he's awful at it.  Last season was stop/start due to his injuries and the ACN.

 

If we continue with a 3 man midfield, you would think he will improve when playing with Cabaye, Anita and Sissoko.  When playing with Anita, he can just go back to being a ball winner and focus on defensive duties, let Anita dictate the play and Cabaye do the business at the other end.  If he plays with Sissoko, he can kind of take Anita's role, as Sissoko will be driving forward all the while, I'd assume Cabaye would sit a little bit deeper at times and Tiote won't have to push on as much.

 

He seems to have gradually got worse ever since Pardew spoke about him becoming a more 'complete' midfielder.  After the 5-0 against West Ham wasn't it?  He's never going to be like a Yaya Toure or Essien.  So I hope Pardew recognises this now and gets him back to playing it simple.  On his day, he's the best destroyer in the league IMO.  Just seems recently his day doesn't come very often.

 

He needs to cut out on the Nicky Butt'esque Hollywood balls.  A lot of our team try it though, so it's probably a direct instruction from Pardew.

 

*Assuming we sign Sissoko of course!

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