Nyff

If it had been Ba on the end of the HBA passes then could easily have been 5-1. Still, a good result. Need to pick up the results now before the harder games come up.

Already nearly got an assist! The return of the entertainers?

Up and fuckin' Hat-em!

Would love to see Ben Arfa, but they are being a bit too physical for my liking.

Good goal, but Raylor giving the ball away cheaply led to it.

They are the goals he needs. From here on in he will score for fun.

Baaaa! Great goal!

There was a period in the game when it just turned into both teams hoofing the ball up the field, and unsurprisingly we got nothing from it. I mean, we obviously have a physical presence up front with the strikers we have, but when you have a combination of two of them up front then it really doesn't do a lot for us - especially with the new players we have brought in. Fair enough hoofing it up field so that one of them can knock it down to a Frenchy, but we do only need one of them to aim for. We played much better with the ball on the ground today, and that team with just Ba up front and Ben Arfa playing off him (or even Sammy Am, who looks better with each game) is an exciting prospect. Surely Pardew must now see that Shola is a waste of space? Except vs. the Mackems, of course..

Only caught the end, but we looked like we deserved all three points there. Cabaye really settling in with Tiote, and in all honesty, had it been Sammy on instead of Shola then we might just have had enough to nick the win. Still, a good performance, and it is an exciting thought to think of the return of Ben Arfa into that team.

Cabaye has got one hell of a shot.

Not suggesting anything in particular here, of course, but remember when Carroll and Nolan were living together that story came out about alleged cocaine use at the party they had to celebrate the 5-1 win vs. the Mackems?

Just looks like Fifa 11. Very eager to play the Demo now, even though the difference between the Demo and the actual game is always huge.

Thought this was an interesting article, and an especially relevant one to us now that we are being accused of 'tapping up' players left right and centre...

Bit early to laugh at them. Will wait to see if we get past Scunthorpe first!

I'm all for the sneaky 1-0 victories. With the two man-mountains of Mertesacker and Naldo at CB for W. Bremen there is very little that gets past them (if I'm careful with through balls). As soon as I get the one goal I will sit back until the other guy gets so frustrated that he goes all out attack and then I just catch them on the break. Tend to go one up quite early on then get one or two more in the last ten minutes if I'm lucky.

If you pick Barcelona then you should get your option of quitting removed. It boils my piss that people just quit as soon as they go two down. Currently on a twenty game winning streak on live, playing as the mighty Werder Bremen.

Pardew has gone to watch Pieters today. Is it me or are the Left Backs we are looking at of a really high quality? I mean, this guy is first choice for Holland and Cissoko is (AFAIK) a REALLY good LB. I'm not saying we shouldn't be looking at players of this quality, but is it just going to make it too hard for Pardew and give him a ready made excuse on deadline day?

Lets be honest, Larsson should have gone and we should have been 1-0 up early on. As it happened we got the goal later and Bardsley walked instead. Karma

Right - now where are those Mackems that were posting in the build up to the game?

Right - now where are those Mackems that were posting in the build up to the game?

Gosling does look decent, like...Not that we've seen too much.

Gosling should have put that away.