OTF

Demba Ba quite often doesn't directly contest a header, instead looking to put a little pressure on the defender and then anticipate where the ball will go. This has paid off in the past and resulted in goals. He's also not one to blindly compete for a ball just to randomly head it to a defender or on to their keeper (ALA Shola quite often).

And here's some snaps of bubs... He's wonderful.

Struggling to stay awake watching thizzzzz

Hah! Thanks mate. All well, Bubs is a dream.... will confirm once I have deep sleep.

Thanks all. Might pop a pic up later.

Excited, nervous, happy, adoring and tiiired. Became a father on the 22/11. Gorgeous healthy baby boy, Mum and bubs doing well.

I like the sounds of this. We normally plan on putting up our decorations at the start of December. Rarely does that happen.

Some good news on the injury front for once.

He's had a poor season thus far, but without a doubt he'll be missed. Hopefully Tiote can avoid injury or suspnesion until he departs for the Africa Cup of Nations. In terms of replacing Cabaye in the side noone really stands out as the obvious choice. It would have been nice to have Guthrie sitting around right now.

This is certainly true of our attack. Cabaye is a big one for this this season, ridiculous volley attempts are plentiful. We get the same from Cisse on the odd occassion that he has the ball in an advanced position where he hasn't already been called offside. With Ben Arfa you can excuse the odd speculative shot as we know he's capable of scoring, and generally does all the hard work in making his own chances. Even still he creates the most chances for other players in the side. Played in Shola nicely only or him to miss the obvious lofted pass to Ba at the back post. Teamwork on the whole is lacking from the back through to the front - there is none of the work ethic and comradely that saw us lay an excellent foundation for last season. This game was far from our worst, but in the context of our season it was troubling particularly for the way we conceded. I do feel that there were some positives to take from the match - Tiote had one of his better games this season, despite being well off the level he was at last season. Ba was again good up front, though could have converted more of his chances. If only Sammy had Ferguson's ability to send in a cross (not his timing on doing so) as the efforts he made in this game were embarrassing. Ferguson looks afraid to take anyone on on the dribble, which is a worry for someone who plays in advanced wide positions. Simpson had some good link up play in stages of the game but his crossing was another level of shite. Should be made to practice crossing for hours at the next training session. Obviously more interested in getting his balls into a box of a different kind. I hope that somehow the whole distraction of the Senegal/Cisse affair will serve to motivate Pappis to get back to his goalscoring best. Coloccini can't be back soon enough, I just hope that Pardew stops unnecessarily changing up our fullbacks.

It's a massive part of the goals we're conceding.

The way he shifts the fullbacks around cannot be helping things.

Ba.. Consolation. At least a reward for Ben Arfa's hard work and enterprise.

Game over. We're shite.

Have wasted chances and are crap in defense.

Sammy Ameobi's final balls are... balls.

Is Anita injured or just some combination of lazy and slow?

Ahh Shola what were you trying to do?

It's a shambles out there. Bloody Coloccini. Bloody Ashley.

What a crud clearance from Krul... And then noone picking up the run.

Did you not watch the game? I was watching with an assembly of FIFA approved coaches and referees and it was pretty clear to me, to them and to their unborn children that he had a poor game because the many crosses that he did put in (all from wide positions) were rubbish.

Xisco chomping at the bit to fill Shola's role. Either that or he's vying for his Burkina Faso citizenship to come through..

Brilliant! So Ferguson has an innefectual game where his crossing was useless and it's because he's been instructed to play Jonas' role!

A tad cruel to suggest that for anyone.

Full international debut for Shola at the tender age of 31 (relative age 41) for Nigeria. What's the bet he comes back crocked?