Time for Ba to put up or shut up!

Listen up Demba Well you just knew it was going to happen didn't you?

Once again this whole Demba Ba debacle is being dragged through the press and once again the whole situation is causing uncertainty at a time where we really don't need it.

According to the press Ba's advisers have been chatting to QPR and are fully abreast of all the options open to the striker. Whilst it's only the press suggesting this though I don't feel that,on this occasion anyway, they are far wrong in their assertions and there is definitely something going on behind the scened with regard to Ba's future.

My own personal feeling is that it's a matter of when and not if Ba walks away from St James' Park, but the antics over the last few weeks have actually started to make me wonder if that would be such a bad thing after all. He's been our top goalscorer, both last season and throughout this season, but has him being played in a position which is detrimental to the team been the defining factor in all of this?

Alan Pardew has carried the can for altering the formation, with some suggesting this is to accommodate Ba who was reportedly unhappy with being played out on the wing. Personally I think there is some truth behind that and even though you can blame Ba's entourage for going to the press, you can only blame the player himself if you listen to his comments in the wake of the Everton match earlier on in the season.

Of course Pardew has been rewarded with goals from one of his strikers, but it's also knocked the stuffing out of another and with Ba looking increasingly likely to move on is this such a wise move?

It's my opinion that Ba has been more than a little bit selfish. Yes he has been scoring goals this season and heaven knows where we would have been without them, but you could just as easily say that Cisse might not have lost so much form had we persevered with the way we were playing at the back end of last season.

The problem I have with Ba right now is that he seems to be playing for himself at the moment with little thought to the team. He's shooting from anywhere right now, seldom tries to set up a chance for another player and seems more interested in putting himself in the shop window ahead of anything else.

Alan Pardew has backed Ba all the way. He's accommodated him, defended him in public and praised him when due, so how does Ba repay him?

By letting this circus roll on and on...