David Kelly

Tarrabt is another Lua Lua for me. When it comes off for him it can look spectacular but more often than you when you watch him you're just thinking pass the fucking ball. I think from all of the teams we're just talking about squad players. There's not one who you think could come in and be picked ahead of what we already have.

A mate went there the other week and there was some sort of plastic in one of their meals. They weren't impressed on that occasion although they'd been before and enjoyed it.

Unfortunately Tiote's reputation goes before him and he picks up cards more than he deserves (the booking against Swansea and the sending off against the unwashed leap to mind). That said, we all know he makes stupid challenges on occasion (like the pen on Sunday) which can let him down. But you also have to consider the role in which he plays. Without looking it up, I'd be surprised if there aren't a lot of other defensive midfielders who are high up the list of yellows for this season. They are involved a lot and are there to make tackles. Inevitably they will pick up cards.

Wouldn't be desperate for anyone from any of those sides tbh. Or from Norwich or Stoke for that matter. It really shows how we've underperformed for so much of this season when you can say that of the teams around and in some cases above you. I would take Benteke but I do think he's been more than a touch overrated. He's looked awful on occasion (as well as looking good at other times) and I really don't think he's owt special. Would give us options though and we are woefully short up front. Weiman would be ok on a Free. Southampton have some promising youngsters but no doubt they'd be ridiculously overpriced even if they go down (something I don't see happening at the moment).

Tbh I'm not really interested in talking about any other club unless there's something newsworthy going on. I wouldn't bring up Liverpool, or Chelsea or the makems or whoever unless it's as a comparison to something relevant. I'm happy to laugh at any moron whoever they support but as fish says constantly bringing up that their new signing is shit or posting their marks from the press does seem more than a bit obsessive and if he really is that obsessed he needs to seek help! I've worked with makems nearly all my life and I'd happily take the piss out of them whether they've done anything particularly new or surprising (they're makems after all, they deserve it!) but coming on here and having these constant digs at nothing at all is quite frankly pathetic!

I seriously doubt Defoe (or even Owen, who bare in mind was exceptional at that age) played much as a lone striker for their club at 18. Campbell has an impressive record at junior levels but by the same age Owen was being called the brightest English talent of his generation. No one's suggesting that Campbell isn't a talent, I'm just saying that given his size (and I'm not just talking about his height, he looked about twelve when he jogged onto the pitch) it's going to be very difficult for him to succeed on his own up front at any time let alone at his age. You don't often see small strikers of any age playing the lone role and there's a good reason for this. I think Pardew has identified this tbf which is why he came on alongside Cisse rather than replace him yesterday.

Aye, I appreciate he's not at the stage of his development that we'll be expecting to see him replacing anyone in the starting eleven but what I was trying to get at is that I can't really he seeing being able to play that role that Cisse's got now so I would doubt his effectiveness coming on to replace him. Players of that stature really need a partner if they're going to play up top (unless of course they really are an exceptional talent).

The makem commentator they used to have on century was the most ridiculously biased I've ever heard. Remember hearing having a right go at Blackburn as a club when they were playing them. Andy Gray used to quite like us when we had Shearer and Sir Les but even he went against us after that.

I think it will be difficult to fit him into our current formation like. He just looks too small to play that one man up top role so unless he can play wide I can't see him being able to really do much.

In all fairness I am very tired and hungover today

Well every player will use their biggest assets if they have any sense. HBA uses more dribbling and Marveaux will attempt more of those slide rule passes. They are both using vision in different ways though. I don't think Ben Arfa would have ever picked that pass out and I don't think Marveaux would have ever beat the players Ben Arfa did for his goals against Blackburn and Bolton.

Failing quite badly given everyone else's reaction to it on here. But the makems are nothing if not failures!

To be fair to Aeris and Christmas Tree (god I feel dirty now)I think they have a point in that Marveaux is more likely to look for a pass to play someone in than Ben Arfa. When Ben Arfa is looking to assist, he tends to do it by beating players and getting into the box and more simply laying it off when he's created the space by taking the opposition out. Marveaux (while also capable of beating a man but to a lesser extent) is more likely to look for the type of pass that he did yesterday. Anyone in their right mind would take HBA over Marveaux like because he's simply on a different level overall and I think part of this is because of Marveaux's small heart. I don't think he's quite as bad as BW makes out (that's more Obertan) but you wouldn't want him with you in the trenches!

Krul has Williamson right in front of him as well as Simpson not looking for the ball on the right and weaker players playing ahead of them most of the season so maybe it's no wonder that he's had to look longer a lot more this season. Possibly under instructions from Pardew too (certainly when Shola's played). I've also noticed that Yanga Mbiwa does look to get the ball short pretty much every time Elliot get's it. I know Colo does a lot too but MYM even more so.

I think Walters hoyed himself down but it was clearly a stupid challenge from Tiote in that position. Like others have said though, before that he was having a very disciplined game. Which really makes it all the more frustrating!

No mention of it on MOTD but did Begovic not hit Taylor just before the freekick was taken? The linesman came on the pitch and talked to the ref but he didn't speak to either one of them. From where I was in the East Stand he certainly seemed to strike him.

Hate that cunt.

Glad Huth is out, he's a fucking animal and canny defender. We really should have more than enough quality to do this lot but the trip to Moscow will have obviously taken it's toll. It'll be interesting to see how Mbiwa deals with their high balls. Still fancy a win though. Hope Cisse's back.

There's not a great deal of quality in their team beyond Wanyama. Most of the rest are average championship players like Commons. They had a great champions league campaign which came about through hard work and team spirit. They just don't have anywhere near the quality to really compete though.

Leee Clarke!

Withnail & I for the millionth time. "my thumbs have gone weird" Absolute genius. Most quotable film ever!

Most of them couldn't scrape together a grand with twelve months notice never mind thirteen days. Mind you, how many giros would they have to go without cheesy chips and blue pop to save that much!

Yes shows you up as not knowing what you're talking about. I don't see what school has to do with it. If you were still in school that would give you an excuse for a lack of knowledge but a bloke of your age should be able to do better. A lot of the reasons for disliking Pardew that you list are reasonably valid (although I don't get the persisting with out of form players due to misguided loyalty bit. I assume this is aimed at Jonas but you don't seem to understand that we didn't have the options in reserve to replace him with. Shane, Sammy and even Marveaux have generally been inadequate as cover let alone a replacement). But a lot of them come from a lack of options due to a squad not strong enough to cope with the injuries it suffered. Again that's not Pardew's fault.

That's exactly the impression I'm getting too.

I really think it's difficult to come up with a better manager who we have a chance of bringing in. Like you say, managers at top clubs won't leave them for us so who else would you go for? Martinez springs to mind as a possibility but really what has he ever done to make you think he's capable of doing more for us than Pardew? Mark Hughes is available but while did well with Blackburn and Wales, he was wank with Citeh and QPR. Has he shown anything that would suggest he could move us forward? Benitez will be available soon enough and he's won nearly as many trophies as a manager as we have as a club. But would you want him here? Pardew is doing a good job and I'm far from convinced any manager could do much better with us despite the mistakes he's made. Hopefully there will come a time where as a club we're in a position to kick on further and at that time it's possible that Pardew won't have enough to make that move. But changing him now would only make it harder to get to that point in the first place.