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I'll be interested to see how Remy and Cisse play together.

I'm going for a win

C'mon Lads, make us proud.

Recent stats (for both teams not against each other) make it sound like its going to be a really boring game

...oops pressed the wrong button and sent it rather than "returning"

so..... however I think it could be quite good as we both have something to prove!

10 minutes to KO. I am looking forward to this one

Me too Carys


[firstrowuk1.eu]

Good stream - link 1

BEN ARFA 0-1!!!

A little lucky, but GOOOOAAAAL ! ! !

Ill take it.. Good play from Remy..

Did Cisse really mean to push it to Ben Arfa??

Great to get the first goal we should play with more confidence now.

Santon currently in his 3rd shirt of the afternoon apparently.

We have started the 2nd half shaky.

Woo Hoo Gouffran and well done Ben Arfa.

2-1

That was a VERY good win for us..

Now, all we need to do, is for Krul to work on his skills, when he comes out for the ball (to be fair, dont think there was any support from the defenders), AND Cisse to work on his goalscoring and finishing...

I agree with all you said TvA.

Good win.

I am so happy! Hope HBA turns it on like that next week when I am there!

8th in the league!

Where's CND? He's usually here on match days.

FANTASTIC!!!!!! Ben Arfa had a goal and an assist, while Remy had an assist and Gouffran had a goal. That will give the doom mongerers something to chew over

CND had to work and missed it Very happy to see the result though!

A 9am to midnight shift is always made easier with a Newcastle United win!

Fair play to Pardew. Really expected him to drop Anita and stick with 442. Great result.

Did anybody watch the full game? How did we play?

We played quite well. 1st half we ran it - villa couldn't keep up with HBA and we kept our pace.

2nd half the first 20 minutes we looked like last years team. struggling to defend the lead and looking like we were going to concede (which we did).

Last 15 minutes again we looked better - played the ball/possession better and looked again more confident.

It was nice to see us actually playing the ball for a bit and retaining it rather than giving it away on simple passes.

Two games running and the format has worked. I hope he sticks with this for the time being. I am glad Tiote was on the bench I don't think starting him would have added anything to the side.

Cabaye wasn't great but I doubt he would drop him.

I guess Shola was dropped as he played for Nigeria as haven't seen any injury news.

That was a good result for us we played some decent stuff aswell happy days!

Strongest and most assured performance I've seen us put in for a long time.
Watched the whole game, and I have to say I enjoyed most of it!
What I mean by that is, in the past if we have been ahead in a game, we seem to sit back and invite pressure, try to hold onto the advantage.
Last season when we beat Villa away by the same scoreline, I hated the second half because we offered nothing going forward and got totally battered by them.
How we managed to hold onto that win, I still don't know, they got their goal something like 3 minutes into the second half!
Very very disappointing, after having completely dominated the first half.

What I saw on Saturday is a vast improvement, even though the result is the same.
AP's tactics were better in that he seems to have realised the need to go and at least try to get that killer 3rd goal, which we almost did on quite a few occasions.
It really makes a lot more sense, not only in terms of instilling confidence in the team, but also once you get that goal you don't have to work so hard in the last 10-15 minutes of the game, fatigue over the season becomes a factor and induces injuries etc.

I'm very happy with that performance, Villa are not an easy place to go to and that's a brilliant result for us.
I just hope we can keep playing the same way.
If we do that at home against Hull and the mackems they are going to get a caning!
It's early days, but I'm quietly confident for our prospects this season.
So many internationals trying to get into their teams for the WC next year, can only be a good thing for us.
I reckon a top table finish, possibly as good as 7th or 8th, could be on the cards.
That, and a good cup run, would make me a very happy boy.

I think you are VERY optimistic, if you think a place around 8th, is what we will get this season.

1) We played some decent football, and I like the way we actually tried to play that 4-3-3 formation (4-5-1 when defending), and we really seemed to go forward when we got the ball, BUT, no one else, except from Ben Arfa showed some creativity when we got the ball around the middle og the pitch, which for me is something we really need to work on.

2) Even though I thought we had a pretty decent bench for this game, its hard to see who will step up, when we get injuries (AND YES, we will get them)

3) We have a targetman, or forward, whichever you prefer, that DOESN'T score any goal, and doesn't seem like he pose ANY thread to their defence.

4) Our defending was poor at times, and against a better team, we would have been punished.

5) Pardews tactical knowledgement is sometimes missing completely.

On the upside, I think Sameobi could be a very good player for the future, and hopefully, our front 3 in a few games will be:
Sameobi - Remy - Ben Arfa

And I think that we fought for the victorie, and showed good team spirit around the field, sadly, I dont think that will be enough to finish 8th in PL..

Pardew isn't the sort of manager who is going to go all gung ho in a match, he expects his players all to work hard and defend aswell, with HBA he knows he's not going to get this and that he is our creative force therefore the rest of the team is set up to compensate for this which inevitably leads to other players being less creative.

Cisse will start scoring, he is playing more as a poacher compared to whatever he was meant to be last season with HBA and Remy both trying long shots from angles and outside the box, cisse will be expected to pounce on blockages and if the keeper spills it.

As for not having much on the bench, i think its the strongest bench i've seen in a long time with Gouff, Marv and Sameobi all having the ability to come of the bench and change a game.

The defence has been a bit shaky at times but we are NUFC and it has to be! saying that i think Debuchy and Mbiwa look better every game and i think Mbiwa in particular will become a top player.

Quote:

TvA
I think you are VERY optimistic, if you think a place around 8th, is what we will get this season.

I was really outlining a best case scenario.
Obviously, you have made valid points, and mentalman has also.

All in all, I think we can be positive about the rest of the season, we have seen some promising stuff and I agree that Cisse's goal drought can only last so long, he is a quality striker though he lacks a bit of pace.

I really like the look of our bench, I think Marv especially is a wonderful asset to have to come on and terrorize some defences, I rate him highly.

Having said that I don't expect that all of our problems will suddenly evaporate.
We are not going to get the results against, say the top 6 or 7 on a regular basis, but I do believe that at our best we are head and shoulders above anyone else in the league.

Our team is packed with quality and potential, we just need to keep the confidence high and a top 10 finish is definitely possible.