OTF

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?

How much did he look like he just didn't give a crap against us? If that can't motivate him to put the effort in then he'll never be any good. Shame.

Should play Anita at RB and get him and Santon involved in playing the ball out as much as possible... and hope that Tiote and Cabaye play like it's 2011.

It's Cisse, he has stunk it up this season. Noone couldd play with him, nothign to do with Ba IMO. Ba is actually quite versatile though he may prefer playing through the middle.

On the individual front it's hard to single players out as it's the cohesion and teamwork that is missing. Noone is working hard for their teammates. Ben Arfa had some excellent runs, but his final balls were poor. Santon was dynamic and adept on balance probably our best player. Krul made a good save (though Carroll was off-side). Ba was quite decent in a very poor side. The free-kicks to Williamson have to go, they're completely useless. Defensively Ferguson has a long way to go to be of suitable standard. He can get pace and movement on crosses but in this game they were very poor and never a threat. Badly scuffed a very good chance on his favoured left. Cabaye seemingly has no desire, doesn't do the hard work anymore and tries to score with ridiculous volleys. Anita plays like he's a physical presence, but he is not. Cisse is embarrassingly poor, his decision making, passing, off the ball runs... all of it.

Just got around to watching this and have to say that I wish I didn't. What an eyesore of a match that was. We were utterly pathetic, not up for it, no movement no shape and seemingly no care.

Ferguson is good to have as an impact sub. His effectiveness is muted to an extent when he is started. In attack he is better coming from a deeper defensive position, except defensively he is positionally quite poor so there-in lies the dilemma. He's not as effective playing as an actual side midfielder, perhaps he could work playing as a winger in a 4-3-3. Has to continue with the effective cameos in league games and solid performances in cup games to earn the right to start. All of my observations are made with relatively limited exposure to seeing him play - as would be the case for anyone who has only watched our first team games (and one or two reserve matches). Jonas has not been at his best for the last run of games, but people are so quick to forget... earlier in the season spare one game he was consistently amongst our top performers. IMO our team is struggling from not having a set formation with well defined roles. We have Perch doing his best switching from fullback to holding midfield, likewise with Anita.. Jonas and Cabaye don't have the defined roles they once had - and IMO only Ben Arfa can perform favourably in a formation where the midfield can roam. Tiote has been mostly poor when he's played, which is not often enough. The stability that we had at the start of last season has not been there this year both in the personel and the structure, and they are logically the primary reasons why we've been quite laboured and haggard through many of our matches.

is shit. Tiote.Cabaye.Perch