OTF

Excellent news and good timing that will hopefully give a boost to them both.

Liverpool 1 Arsenal 2 Blackburn 0 Villa 1 Man City 3 Bolton 1 QPR 0 Everton 1 Stoke 1 Norwich 0 West Brom 1 Chelsea 2 Wigan 1 Swansea 0 Newcastle 2 Sunderland 0 Fulham 2 Wolves 0 Tottenham 1 Man Utd 2

It's his face that gies the biggest impression of the weight coming on. It's consistent with his lazy performances of late.

Are there any teams out there that could have not qualified in the same circumstances? Already having one of the largest wage bills in the league and then spending an exorbitant amount of money on bringing players in?

Maybe someone needs to come out and tell Ben Arfa that he's not very good, give him a point to prove.

I'm almost certain that his left leg is a prosthetic operated by James Perch from the bench.

Yeah no way that that is going to happen, though I kind of agree it would be the best place for him in terms of potency in attack. However with two strikers up front and HBA in behind I'd say there would be a very good chance that the midfield would be overrun and Williamson would be horribly exposed.

I'm really not seeking to defend him. Moreso just commenting on people who are unrealistically criticising. KSA - Shola's highlights package has been assembled across the 4 million seasons he has been here. My point was that despite the lack of time on the pitch Ben Arfa still has a pretty impressive highlights package to him name. Noone can deny he's capable of the sublime, but as for being a waster it's tough to say whether this is something that has plagued him throughout his career as most assessements of his ability on here would be simply looking at highlights that are available online, as there's not a great many Lyon or Marseille fans kicking about here. As for how much of his wastefulness is down to attitude and application and how much is down to being rusty and lacking cohesion noone can say with any level or certainty. I'd like to see some confidence shown in him so that he has the chance to properly establish himself in the side - in the same way that Obertan was continualy played by Pardew. The main problem with this is that trying to fit him into the side without sacraficing some of our more consistent performers is proving tough. He doesn't seem suited to playing in wide channels as it limits his space and also cuts down his passing avenues. As it is currently we know he's not a player who likes to make a backwards pass, but this is something he'll need to learn - patience. Having to appear in cameo performances from the bench must be contributing to the way in which almost every time he gets the ball he tries to create something, regardless of where he is and what other options may potentially be available. Some might say that we can't afford to give him a run in the side based simply on his ability and previous successes, but I'd say that we can't afford not to.

Strange that you could put together a pretty decent highlights package for Ben Arfa from his very limited time here and yet he cops it from most quarters here.

I don't think anyone's suggesting he had anything other than a poor cameo performance, just trying to add some context to it. I wouldn't play HBA over either of our front men and yet he seems to struggle when out wide for us, like he needs space all around him in which to operate. With two up top such a lighweight defender can't be afforded through the middle.... Echo the sentiment of whoever else said it - if he's not going to get meaningful time in the first team then give him a run in the reserves to get some match fitness and cohesion as well as confidence going.

@ that watch.

As much as he can be frustratingly poor Obertan would have been a better sub than Slowla.

A lot of frailties, lack of depth and ultimately a lack of motivation and application against seemingly lesser opponents. A lot to take from this match, but sadly it's not a one off, or a new lesson.

Lets hope we aren't made to pay again for not strenthening our defense.

I agree, laregly after the knock. It was surprising then that he replaced Cisse rather than Ba. Cisse works harder at closing down. Slowla Slowmeobi as a late sub to inject seomthing into a game is laughable.

Played like he was rusty - short of match time and confidence and had no fludity with the rest of the team - mind you the rest of the team were appalling bad during the period he was on the pitch.

Wish I could just forget all about this game.

Boils the piss. Embarrassing and pathetic. The fact that we've done it before makes it even worse. Look up complacent in the dictionary.

This has been an embarrassment.

Please no. I'm at frustration station currently, don't want the next stop to be full blown rage...

Fuck right off Karl Henry.

The stage is set Shola...

They're just goon to chop and hack until the end of the game - and why not, they're likely to get away with it with this referee.

Thought the referee was going to conveniently miss that as well.

"Park the bus" it seems. Bloody piss poor. Blind Freddy could see this was a danger of happening.