BottledDog

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRHHHHHHHH.

COOOOOOOMON!!!!!!!!!!! /sweaty palms.

Who does he replace in the first team? Because by the sounds of it, he'll be one pissed off Frenchie if he ever sits on the bench again.

Chase him. Just to see if he's still reluctant to sprint.

Or, alongside the scouting we have a very efficient system in place with Pardew, Carr, Lambias and Charnley doing a decent job getting good players at the right price. Sometimes we miss out, other times we get players like we have done. Give some credit to the club rather than say the other clubs are all s***, surely? I give the club huge credit. Love what'c happening on the recruitment side. It's unreal. I'm just amazed at how little competition we've had to fight off for most of these guys we got, who are really quality and very reasonably priced. It's astonishing to me. Have to say, when names bandied about on the forum one minute as ideal but possibly unrealistic options, then end up playing for us, and without spending silly money... It is pretty magical.

Brilliant.

Or, alongside the scouting we have a very efficient system in place with Pardew, Carr, Lambias and Charnley doing a decent job getting good players at the right price. Sometimes we miss out, other times we get players like we have done. Give some credit to the club rather than say the other clubs are all shit, surely?

We struggled to break down Stoke, our final balls we were invariably shite. But we stuck with it, took off and brought on the right players, and won. Sorry like, but that pleased me. Maybe you're right and it's about attitude or expectancy levels to a degree. I certainly don't have as much faith as you that our players are awesome enough that if given different instructions they would have been capable of wanktastic football against Stoke.

Agree with that pretty much. Would also put Cisse in the not so good bracket mind (outside of the dead ball bullshit, he was the one thing on or off the pitch that was doing my head in on a regular basis). Was a cracking moment when we finally broke Stoke and he scored though obviously.

Aye, but our final balls were terrible. Nobody out!

Based on this seasons performances he's easily replaced. We've a better captain ready as well in Cabaye. 'easily replaced'? If we find and bring in another Colo quality player I'd be both impressed and delighted. Seems far from an easy ask to me.

Care to explain? if anything he's done the opposite tonight Care to explain? if anything he's done the opposite tonight Yep. We've pretty much went for the Spain Euro 2012 system. (unless Sissoko is centre-forward) I think Bdog was being sarcastic about those that have said that and worse recently. Aye, sorry, yeah. One of the more insistent and tiresomely nasty attacks against the bloke. Have to say, as much as it excites me, I'm fkn bricking it over that line-up though.

Pardew's such a God damned coward.

NUFC became just another business to him once the fun stopped. The setup is now in place to keep it ticking over, build it to a point of self sustainability, or even a little better. Do you think the welts are healed enough for him to enjoy throwing more (in all likelihood irrecoverable) money at it again?

You could. Prove it to him.

I am fucking staggered that this post went unchallenged for so many many. Seriously, so, so, so many many, days. You're slipping people.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say: It probably will not be "the local branch of the mafia" Two cans of Stella an a couple of cowies.

No doubt. If he plays it'll be Pardews fault rather than the boards anarl.

How? They give us money and due to their reputation actually pay money to rename the stadium sjp again. If they collapse (which I suspect is unlikely), then another sponsor comes in. How awful.

Well jel to see a chairman with ambition.

It's a question I think bothers most of us (though 90mins is a big ask, Mancini barely gets 5mins out of the Man City squad ). Thankfully it seems, most are also open to allowing Pardew at least another season (barring some catastrophe) to try and answer in the positive.

The squad is decent now to a large extent because of Pardew, starting with Ben Arfa and ending in Sissoko. You can argue that many of the players suggested come from Carr and his team, but Pardew plays a significant part in the names passed on, and he has a role to play in persuading the money men to spend which doesn't always seem the easiest of tasks. Would another possibly more popular manager have assembled a similar squad under Ashley? Would they have kept the better players at the club when the pressure was there to sell post Carroll? Who knows. Somewhere down the line, it would be interesting to see whether another manager coming in affects the current players and the cannyness of future signings. I suspect it might, and it's another reason to be wary of calling for Pardews head (despite his shortfalls) too readily imho.

That's not what I highlighted, but yes, he will have given the nod to the recruitment of every first team squad player. ...and by the sound of it puts in a considerable amount of time working with Carr etc on the sourcing and scouting of the players too. /to the detriment of our set pieces no doubt.

Piffle.

Would have happily accepted 'win a game'. Mind, something funny is going on, there'll be a right bunch of beardy Normans running around the Luzhniki Stadium at this rate.