aimaad22

I tried to make this point some weeks back, apparently its very hard for some people to grasp. Playing Ben Arfa would not just be about attack, having someone like him up there makes the opposition think twice before committing people forward. You cant have everyone doing the same thing. I do agree there's a slight problem though in who would play on the wing if Ben Arfa did play. Him or Sissoko? Ben Arfa in the centre hasnt worked for us too well so far and although Sissoko's supposed to be a central midfielder after yesterday's performance Im not sure this would be the right game to try him there again. I'd put Sissoko back out right, Ben Arfa in the role Cabaye started in yesterday, and Tiote in for Anita. Also doesnt strike me as the type of game where Shola is likely to make an impact.

Should be good fun. Great thing is we've got ourselves in a great position and can play this game with a relatively tension free attitude. Arsenal will be the ones under pressure with City breathing down their backs. Great test for our midfield. Walcott seems to be in a bit of form and Im worried about him being up against Santon who still gets beaten far too easily at times imo. Gouffran will be key in this one. Glad Tiote will be back, Sissoko looked completely out of sorts in his midfield role yesterday. Understandable to an extent because he'd just managed to find some form in his wide role and found himself chucked into the centre. Also Im not sure playing Cabaye further up works out for us, we need him right in the thick of things. Anyway, we'll have to do a lot better than the first half yesterday but we've raised the bar against the big sides this season so there's every reason to hope we can do it again

This. Watching their fans throw toys out of the pram is making it all the more sweeter.

The guy trying to bring trophies into it

Liverpool a bit unlucky tonight. First team to match Man City at the Etihad this season?

We'd have felt hard done by no doubt but there's some properly insane people on there. A few of them arguing about whether they'd have Cabaye in their team

Thats the way I like my football man, watching someone tear up top notch defences like a bunch of Sunday leaguers. To have someone like that plying his trade at NUFC, well, Im going to as much as I like.

What a day Stoke will feel hard done by the decisions, as far as Im concerned it couldnt have happened to a better team. Ben Arfa's performance was wankworthy. Okay so it was 9 mine for half the game, but still. What a joy to watch. That turn of pace over 5-10 yards is absolutely devastating! :nufc:

Cabaye!

Ben Arfa, fucking magic, so unlucky!

This is going to be fun!

Yesss! Lets keep up the pressure up and get 4 or 5 here

Yup decent point, the ref will be looking for the smallest choice to send one of ours off now.

He's the only one who's been looking good so far, Im more concerned about the others being able to raise their game right now.

Whats the bloody hell's just happened there? The first red was a bit harsh, but Im not complaining Why Ben Arfa or Cabaye didnt take the penalty I'll never know. Think we've been very poor to be fair. Sissoko's had a shocker, Remy is shitting himself and we've seen very little of Gouffran. We can be thankful to Atkinson for being back into this. At home against 9 men with a whole half of football to be played, surely we cant mess this up now.

I'd rather we try and keep possession like we did against Palace, give the dirty bastards a good run about. Tiote will definitely be a miss, but with Anita and Cabaye doing so well currently you'd think we should be able to cope.

Enough of the partying, time to get back to business! The point of interest for me today will be how we shape up without Tiote. Considering we're playing Stoke the obvious answer is to ask Anita to fill that role and stick Shola back up front. Personally I'd like to see a bit of Ben Arfa though, behind Shola/Remy with Anita and Cabaye sitting behind him.

It looks class. We should definitely use it more. Wish I could get my hands on it from somewhere.

Arteta's getting on a bit now, he was quality at Everton though.

Interesting. What statistic would that be exactly? Pitch coverage? tackle percentage? headers won? interceptions? Possibly all of them! How refreshing to have a couple of top class defenders at the club. And Santon, Mbiwa, Haidara with the potential to be the same.

Arsenal coming up soon

Remember his goal in his first season in the Europa League. He's got that in the locker too (unless it was a Tiote-esque once in a life time goal). Once he's got a few games under his belt he may get confident enough to try a few of those too.

Excellent performance, excellent result. Some lovely passing and possession. Ben Arfa's penalties are bloody mental

Looking forward to this. Hopefully we can boss the midfield, keep good possession and move the ball around. Especially with Cabaye back. We should knick this 1-2 or 0-1. Something of that sort.