OTF

Just watched the game highly enjoyable. I didn't see Whelan's first yellow but the second he was absolutely not hard done by. Moronic challenge when on a yellow, only a fool would direct their anger at the referee and not the player in that instance. As someone else said on here Whelan knew he was gone immediately after he made the foul, he was nowhere near the ball. We were lucky with the handball, although not intentional that's always given. There was plenty of opportunity for Stoke not to concede from that mind you as we had to go 3/4 of the pitch first, so to say they conceded from a missed handball doesn't tell the full story. It didn't look like the ball was completely across the line from what I saw, though it was mighty close to it. The Pieters penalty was nailed on and should have been a yellow to boot. Shawcross got away with one just as bad shortly after, I guess by that stage the mercy rule had been invoked. Anyway fantastic win, great for the for and against and for putting a smile on my face.

Question for the parents out there - all gifts for the kids from Santa, a mix from Santa and mum and dad or all from mum and dad.... And perhaps more importantly why?

Certainly you'll see the response to your update and not be able to hold your tongue.

You could say we're doing Brasiliantly in it.

Nice for the for and against, our biggest win of the season. Can't see Palace staying up.

Great run and cross Ben Arfa. And the HMS Shola wins us a pen. HBA takes it, and scores it.

Ben Arfa on a few seconds almost sets up a goal, and found Gabbidon'd missing contact lense.

Shola on is a good shout, his size alone makes him handy at defending set pieces. HBA on as well please.

I thought he was unlucky to get a yellow for that challenge tbh, it's not like he's been bothering the ref all match.

Extremely poor set piece defending there from Coloccini, ball watching let Jerome go to the back post unmarked. Thankfully we weren't made to pay.

My observation is that he was at his best when operating on instinct alone, when he drops back and tries to contribute to play outside of scoring he's been embarrassingly poor. Contrary to this it seems that the advice he's getting is to go out there and contribute rather than leading the lines, and I highly doubt that at any stage of his career he's been a good team contributor in anything but goals.

Fleet footed gazelle that Williamson...

It's very difficult to disagree with any of this, which is frankly quite remarkable given the volume and quality of goals that he scored in his debut season.

The first ten minutes of this half will be interesting at the very least to make a judgement about their chances of staying up.

If it's still 2-0 in the second will Pardew bring in some changes to keep some fresh legs for the Thursday match and to give the likes of Ben Arfa and Cisse some time on the pitch?

Almost feel sorry for him* he's been one of their better players. *-Not really

Own goal the balls into the box from the right pay off.

Eep Timmy

Lovely goal there, great lead-up play from Sissoko. The deflection took the goal keeper out of play. I would imagine that they will now change their setup. What I'm trying to say is that the smash and grab is on.

Fine, next time I won't weigh in with my takin the piss match analysis. I can see the biggest threat against us here being set pieces in this weather or their counter attack as our fullback will be pushing right up when we're in possession.

I don't like when we lose.

Not expecting anyone. The only way any will come in is if they're seen as a particularly good bargain. The worse our position the more likely we are to sign players. As it stands we're currently well clear of the relegation pack so there's no risk and therefore no reason for Ashley to buy anyone. It doesn't matter how close we think we are to being able to push to the next level with vital areas strengthened, it won't happen under Mike Ashley's ownership.

He faded towards the end for mine and have the ball away cheaply a few times. I think that could be the result of him rarely playing a full match.

Glad that Haidara wasn't badly injured by that horrible tackle. That was a straight red for excessive use of force.

Echo the sentiment here. Two points most definitely lost here as Remy failed to convert two gilt edged chances. We should have gone into the break with that second goal insurance policy. The other contentious issue was the substitution of Shola. Our setup was working with him as a focal point up top, so he should only have come off with an injury (there's no reason why he shouldn't be for enough to last a full 90) or with a like for like replacement. It was compounded by bringing Cisse on, as though we could afford the luxury of playing him back into form (that's what's the reserves are for).