acrossthepond

Did anyone think Cisse was going to score that penalty? Never looked likely or even possible. Jonas was acting captain, he should've sorted that and given the ball to Ba or Ben Arfa. Either way we got the win but continue to lack consistency. We have bright spells that last 5-6 minutes sandwiched between 10-minute spells of utter dross. Injuries, yes, but I think the increased game load is taking its toll as well. On the plus side Harper looked solid and Ba, Ben Arfa, Jonas, Taylor and Williamson all had good games. Anita is a bit dubious at right-back for me. Plays in good balls but offers little in terms of defence.

Awful. Anita is a walking red at the moment, need to get him off for Ba. Can't get much worse than that first half, so let's hope for improvement in the second.

Yes, obviously Jonas is our issue, not shit performances from central midfield, additional midweek fixtures, several disruptive injuries, two strikers who're playing like they've never seen each other before (no knock on either Ba or Cisse, they're still working out their partnership), and a shift back to a much more restrictive formation than the one we succeeded with at the end of last season. I'm just going to put this out there now: Ferguson is a nothing player. He is never going to make it at PL level. He has nothing at all to recommend him over our Argentine international vice-captain who has been once of our most consistent performers over the last 5 years. In a year or two he'll be turning out for Preston or Oldham. An argument can at least be made for Marveaux, who looks talented, but blows a bit hot and cold. Against the Greek team in the second leg he was really nowhere to be found and put in a pretty lacklustre shift. I'd keep him as an option off the bench for now as he certainly has the skills to come on and change games, but I have some doubts over his fitness still. We're facing a very tough match tomorrow and we will need to win the midfield battle to have any chance, considering our weakened defence. Jonas is the man you want in your midfield when you're looking for ball retention.

Saw a post about it on BBC live deadline thingy. No doubt just fans putting 2 and 2 together and making 5. Richards would be a class signing for us and I'd think Pardew would be savvy enough to realise that - question is whether Fat Mike would sanction it.

Very, very poor. This transfer window has to go down as incredibly underwhelming. We had a real chance to make a statement and we've let ourselves down.

We'll still have a very good first XI. Scratch the surface and we're getting into real problems (in some areas, like full-back and striker.)

Fair enough on Douglas, like. But you really do have to wonder what the rationale on failing to stump up for Debuchy is when he wants to come, we need strengthening in the position, and Simpson could walk for free at the end of the season. Then there's the striker issue. We desperately need at least one striker. That really isn't open for debate. I understand wanting to get the right player in, and we seemed ready to spend good money on de Jong if he had wanted to join, but we simply cannot entertain going into the new season with 3 senior strikers, one of whom is Shola, and two of whom are ACN candidates. Nobody is saying we should blow stupid money like we used to, but Rhodes, Sinclair, Konate, Mayuka, Lukaku, and Mirallas, for example, are all available or have moved for under 10m this summer, and all of them would've, in my opinion, improved the squad in an area in which it critically needs improvement. If we end the window without losing anyone but without getting anyone else in, I will be forced to conclude it a failure, considering the increased match load from the Europa League and the squad players who left over the summer compared to those who came in.

Really didn't think Chelsea were anything special and on another day we could've beaten them. Where is the 4-3-3? It was so effective last season. As it was, HBA was too far wide to pose any real threat and our midfielders were losing out constantly. Anita looked pretty poor to be perfectly honest and Cabaye's set pieces were utter rubbish. We also need a new right-back. All credit to Simpson, but I can't count the number of times when we've found ourselves in a good position on the right wing where any sort of attacking right-back could really do some damage, only to watch Simpson lose possession, turn back to the keeper, or put in a shite cross. This isn't to make Simpson some sort of scapegoat as he has other positive qualities but on attack he really is a weak link.

Ominous lack of Tiote....

Class win. We struggled a lot in the first half and I thought our defence was suspect all game. Simpson was having a tough time against Bale and Santon was beat all ends up by Lennon - in fact, Santon was pretty awful throughout. Nevertheless we had the superior attacking quality and the win was deserved. Ben Arfa looked incredibly sharp. Steven Taylor's grounded header was a bit of brilliance - had forgotten what a loon he is Now with Pieters seemingly signing our defence will be shored up a bit, so that's good. Plenty to build on here.

Assange has made some incredibly poor decisions and if he is involved in any sort of sex offense he must stand trial for it. But it seems that the only reason Sweden wanted him was to turn him over to the USA, which absolutely should not happen. It's clear to everyone why America wants him tbh and it's not to discuss flower arrangements.

Well pleased with this signing. I think the plan is to play him in midfield - we're going to have a lot of games this season and will need to rotate, not to mention Tiote's ACN absence, so he'll probably get games there when one of Cabaye or Tiote is out - or, if we use the 4-3-3, probably in place of Jonas in CM. But his versatility (if he has in fact played full-back for Ajax and that isn't just preemptive bullshit) seems to be the key reason why we made this signing. Pardew is all about the utility men.

Like many have already said, I think I'd be more than happy with top 8 and some decent cup runs, especially in the Europa League. I have concerns about our squad depth if we're going to compete on three fronts (could go up to 4 if we have a long run in the league cup) and I think a lot hinges on the next few days of the transfer window. We're going to need to lose no-one and acquire at least 3 more players if we want to have a go at replicating last season's achievements.

This (the Pools game) will be a first-team friendly, not reserves, right? I'll be in the Toon next week so I'll probably get along to this.

Because journalism used to mean something other than "giving your opinion in poorly written and researched, grammatically incorrect blogs." Also because he is a self-important wanker who thinks he's got the inside track and nobody else does, and because journalism jobs have so dried up around the world that it pains people to think that a fraud like him has got a job when many other qualified journos haven't.

Never had to put LM on ignore - his infamous rant posts are easy to spot and just scroll past - but the ignore function does work wonders. Had CT on ignore for more than a year now and trust me, my Toontastic viewing experience has been greatly enhanced. I don't think the ban was necessary but I'm not exactly shedding tears over here. Although if LM driving off posters is a good reason to ban him, there's another obvious candidate on this board who has cost us Jimbo and Billy Castell, both of whom were better crack than he will ever be, so when is Stevie going to get the same treatment?

Only time his name was mentioned was when he came on. Not even sure he got 5 touches. I think that Douglao would make a good signing for any Premier League team...except us.

Yeah, please boot him off our feed. I don't use twitter but I do like to look at that live feed on the main page, and seeing that Liverpool-loving fraud of a footballer on there never fails to turn my stomach.

That sounds pretty unsubstantiated. Any English journos have anything to say about it?

Shouldn't have let that in, sort of spoils an otherwise enjoyable game. More match experience against a good side, pleased with how the young players performed (except Vuckic who was generally crap.)

Believe me when I say Shearer and Lawro sound like Confucian sages compared to the gang of idiots that can be found commentating/doing "punditry" on American TV. Alexi Lalas, Kasey Keller, Brian McBride...I just want to shrivel up and die. Getting 100+ caps for the shitty '90s USA side doesn't mean you are in any way shape or form qualified to comment on football. ESPN occasionally has Ballack on so it isn't a total disaster, but for every informed foreigner they have 2-3 Yank morons spouting off about "turnovers" - and they ain't fucking talking about pastries.

Yes, it's definitely a process, as you describe. It doesn't happen overnight. But how do you think each generation becomes more tolerant? Some magical dust falls on them every 30 years and they become a little less racist? No. It's a general effort by individuals, lawmakers and society in general to leave behind some of the baggage of the past and become more open-minded, and I think this trial comprises a very small part of that effort. I didn't mean that Terry being prosecuted for calling Ferdinand a black cunt would suddenly mean people all over Britain would start saying to themselves, 'You know, racism really isn't OK after all' and it would vanish from their minds. But I do think it is part of a general movement toward intolerance of intolerance and that can only be a good thing.

And one more thing - I agree that the public money spent on this trial is really disproportionate to the crime and can be called something of a waste of money. But it happened in public, on live television broadcast all over the world. Terry had a chance to put it to bed in private, but he didn't, and that means it has to play out in public as well. Surely it's better this way than trying to pretend it didn't happen in the name of saving taxpayer money and letting millions of children worldwide see it's ok to call your opponent racist name?

You relate everything to these delusions you have about 'scumbags' living in Britain and putting a stop to whatever you consider to be ye olde British way of life. I don't see what Terry and Abu Hamza have to do with each other, except that they're both lowlives who should be punished by law. And if you didn't notice, Abu Hamza is in jail and has been for the last 8 years. The issue at hand is racism, not immigrants coming in and 'ruining' Britain. Terry made a racist attack on Ferdinand. You don't appear to deny this. How is the trial a waste of time, then? How better to show young people that this kind of behavior is not acceptable. Because it isn't as important (to you, anyway) as the aforementioned 'scumbags', so it just doesn't matter? It's all very well to say shake hands and move on, but that comes after an apology. If Terry had been a man and a role model, he would've gone to Ferdinand after the game and apologised for saying what he said in the heat of the moment (if it really was.) He tried to deny it ever happened instead. So no, I wouldn't shake hands over that. As for the Queen, she did a brave and difficult thing by shaking hands with someone whose organisation was responsible for killing her cousin, but she is the head of state of the United Kingdom and had to do it for the good of her country. I know I wouldn't be able to.

No, I can't think of many more serious things than proving to Britain that racial prejudice is no longer tolerated in the 21st century. That doesn't sound like a waste of taxpayer money to me at all. As for 'acting like men', I know I wouldn't shake the hand of, or be seen at a press conference with, someone who had abused me because of my skin colour. I doubt you would either, if racial abuse of white people were something common enough for you to have ever faced it in your life. @PL: Not even worth discussing the topic with someone who thinks Terry might not be guilty.