Wullie

Which year was it that Pardew said he was going to Brighton in the cup hoping for a draw?

Must be why so few of them get further in the cup than we do. Apart from all of them.

Other clubs can rest players and still win a football match. That's because Alan Pardew isn't their manager.

We prioritise the league so much that we sold our best player in January when only a couple of points off a potential European place. Might try that at work. Next time my manager tells me to prioritise something, I'll sabotage my computer so I can't manage it.

How open we've been about it is a mistake. Especially among our own fans obviously. But I doubt many outside observers would notice the difference. And aye, our stating it so clearly is wrong. But I'm sure you could pick out a large number of priority-related quotes from other managers and chairmen. Sunderland have just sacrificed a cup game for their survival attempt for example, and Dave Whelan has just said the league is his priority as well. Great examples there Ian.

I don't really know, a combination of things from luck, bad player performances to managerial mistakes etc. If the question was for me, I was making a point about approach and specifically not results. It's mostly because the club doesn't have a philosophy about how to play the game. A style of play that is implemented at every level of the club all the way from the kids to the first team. Players in the first eleven might have a clue about what the guy next to them is going to do next but this is down to them getting to know each others style. It should be down to every player following a coherent plan of playing, where to move, where to pass, how to pass, when to slow it down, when to apply pressure, depending on the area of the pitch. This in my opinion causes changes in the squad to make the players look like headless chickens running around. The player coming in doesnt have a plan of play to follow and he doesnt know the other players well enough to guess what they are doing next. It doesn't help when he's starting Shola Ameobi up top and leaving Remi on the bench against Man City either. But aye, we've seen far too many times how much of a spanner in the works us trying to incorporate new faces into the side can be. Utterly clueless post. We took Manchester City to extra time that night ffs. I was honoured to see that. Have some bloody gratitude.

I don't really know, a combination of things from luck, bad player performances to managerial mistakes etc. If the question was for me, I was making a point about approach and specifically not results. It's mostly because the club doesn't have a philosophy about how to play the game. A style of play that is implemented at every level of the club all the way from the kids to the first team. Players in the first eleven might have a clue about what the guy next to them is going to do next but this is down to them getting to know each others style. It should be down to every player following a coherent plan of playing, where to move, where to pass, how to pass, when to slow it down, when to apply pressure, depending on the area of the pitch. This in my opinion causes changes in the squad to make the players look like headless chickens running around. The player coming in doesnt have a plan of play to follow and he doesnt know the other players well enough to guess what they are doing next. Very good post.

Because our manager admits himself that he needs a complete full strength XI to get results. This is why I can't take seriously the "that team was strong enough to win" bunch when he's put out stronger teams than that in league games, got completely butchered and then blamed it on one or two injuries.

Since Mike Ashley took control, the following clubs have competed in semi finals of domestic tournaments: Arsenal Aston Villa Barnsley Birmingham Blackburn Bolton Bradford Burnley Cardiff Chelsea Crystal Palace Derby Everton Hull Ipswich Liverpool Man City Man United Millwall Portsmouth Sheffield United Spurs Stoke sunderland Swansea West Brom West Ham Wigan The current Premier League clubs are in bold - 16 of them. Of the other 4, one (Fulham) has played in a major European final. They've also played in two FA Cup quarter finals since 2007. Two (Southampton and Norwich) have only very recently been promoted having worked their way up from the 3rd tier, giving them something of a pass, and yet both have gotten further in one of the cups than us since promotion - Southampton to the 5th round of the FA Cup, Norwich to a League Cup QF - something we last managed in the season before Ashley arrived. And the other club is us. We've not been past the fourth round of any domestic competition in the last seven years. But, no, Ian's right. We treat the cups EXACTLY the same as every other club.

Is that what we did this season, prioritised survival over cups?

06/07, when we beat Portsmouth in the League Cup. In the FA Cup, you've got to go back to the season we got to the semi final beating Chelsea and Spurs, 04-05.

Debuchy was suspended i think, Krul had a shoulder injury, Cabaye had an ankle injury, and fair enough Remy was on the pitch and could be argued should have played but then fan favourite Ben Arfa probably wouldn't have played. How f***ing gullible are you? Do you want to buy some snake oil I've got? If you watched the West Brom, you could see Cabaye struggling. You were too busy probably screaming 'Pardew die' to notice that though. We had used all our subs and Cabaye was f***ed. He misses the next game and we doubt he's injured. Like i say with Krul, that's a non-issue, nearly all managers play their reserve keeper in cup comps, nothing out of the ordinary there. My only complaint is that he could have started Remy but we had Ben Arfa playing so i wasn't fussed too much and was happy to give Cisse a chance. How come you gave Pardew a pass for the derby because Remy was out then?

They were, Brett said. Apologise at once.

Coming from the one who is denying they were injured like they know for sure he was perfectly fine to play, give over man Must have been the same injury they both had in the League Cup was it? And the same injury our best players all had the year before against Brighton?

Debuchy was suspended i think, Krul had a shoulder injury, Cabaye had an ankle injury, and fair enough Remy was on the pitch and could be argued should have played but then fan favourite Ben Arfa probably wouldn't have played. How fucking gullible are you? Do you want to buy some snake oil I've got?

Very funny seeing the same people who defend any Pardew performance with an excuse about injuries/suspensions then when he leaves them out deliberately, "oh the team was perfectly good enough" How pathetic you all sound.

I assumed that was fairly fucking obvious, clearly not to Brett. The manager said it was ok to get completely battered by sunderland because Cabaye and Remy weren't in the team, yet we're meant to believe that he put a perfectly strong side out in the cup. He can't have it both ways.

You'll not mind if Remy and Krul are dropped for most of the rest of the season then? Just bring them in when we reckon we need them?

They were obviously a decent side but certainly the best example of a one-man team to have won the title in the PL era.

I know ffs.

Course he's off. Complete pre-Madonna.

I've always thought it makes it worse, the fact that we do often sign really good players. Alan Pardew managing Hatem Ben Arfa ffs. That's why I've got absolutely no time for the "it's all Ashley's fault" lot... I mean obviously it is, because he hired the horrible cunt, but a trained chimp could get more out of a player like Ben Arfa than Pardew can. When we had Glenn Roeder in charge, and were signing Craig Moore, there was a sense of "the whole fucking lot needs overhauling" but the current situation doesn't. Graham Carr must pull his hair out when he sees what's happened to Yanga-Mbiwa. If he had any hair.

We treat the FA Cup and League Cup EXACTLY the same as every other Premier League club. Just sheer coincidence that we get knocked out by significantly inferior opposition (usually at least a division, sometimes 3) every single year having dropped most of our best players.

Productive youth system. Won't even employ enough coaches to get the academy up to Category A, I can certainly see where you've got that idea from. Your arse.

Think there's plenty of them absolutely foaming at the team selection like. I would be as well.