OTF

Great penalty in that it was scored, but it was not hit well. Possibly a little harsh for them to lose a man and concede the penalty but they're the rules. Don't think Cisse was going to get to it cleanly to be honest, so a very silly decision by their man.

Would like to see Marveaux given a start and Sameobi not given a run at all. Maybe Obertan to come back into the mix as sad as that is to say. We need some pace and movement with Ben Arfa out, but can't have it with no end product (Sammy).

Thanks guys No bubs on the birth certificate

Fair point.

That you can't see us getting nothing from the game and therefore that we'll at least nab a draw?

nom nom nom

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.