OTF

He does look a lot quicker than when we saw him last. Both in mind and body.

This too. Being greedy here, but it would have been great for Cabella to open his account on that counter attack.

It doesn't really matter how we got the first couple of wins, it's plain to see that the confidence has been established. The youth coming into the side has helped as well. Abeid got man of the match, that's excellent.

Deserved result. Tactics good, execution good, general effort exceptional. Hope Obertan is ok.

If we can hold on for this result it seems unlikely that we'll be shot of Pardew this season. If we play like this consistently there can be no complaints.

One striker short of a wonderful goal there.

Could easily have been two there. Our energy and effort has been great and we deserve the lead.

When was the last time our defensive line was so cohesive?

Perez! Good work on the break by several players not the least being Dummett and Sissoko.

On Sissoko: he's got his head down when he runs. Thankfully he's good at body fakes so he does relatively well at beating a man when on the trot. More than a little frustrating for those making good runs adjacent to him though.

Agreed. Was going to edit my post to mentiom that. Carroll as the main target with Nolan hanging about being an effective pest looking for any scraps.

It's hard to argue with our effort. Not everything is going to plan buy it has to be said that tactically it appears to be a good approach with suitable personnel.

Taylor's been pantomime carded for his pantomime foul.

Coloccini is reading the game very well so far.

Am I right in thinking that Barton was our last consistently decent corner taker?

He's a special one. Our special one if it ever works.

He's still on a stretcher. Hope it's not as bad as it looks.

Good start from Aarons, using his pace to draw the free kick from Johnson. Pace. Love it.

Aarons on ahead of schedule.

Shit. Looks like Obertan's done his thigh. Horrible timing for him with his current run of form. Liverpool defense will breathe a sigh of relief. Can hardly believe my words.

Both Obertan and Ameobi having no trouble getting in behind their fullbacks. Oh to have actual wingers!

Someone's evidently passed a note to the commentator saying that Joe Allen hasn't got the ball, so the tune has been changed and ow it was missed because Cisse was in the line of Mariner. That's as close as they'll come to acknowledging it was a penalty.

Obertan once again really using his pace to good effect. Hope he can maintain this level of impact.

Joe Allen kicks the back of Sissoko's foot in the box, but apparently that's considered the ball according to the pro commentary team.

I'm evidently a fickle bastard. A couple of wins and I'm actually caring about one of our games.