BottledDog

Right, back to more pressing business please. Pards looked a right scruffy sod at the weekend and I was close to wishing an on the spot sacking for his unshaven mug ...However. Having had a look at the latest training pics on the old astroturf, the whole bloody team are sporting a three day growth. Even those struggling to sprout more than bumfluff patches are looking decidedly shady. What the devil is going on?!

http://static2.fjcdn.com/thumbnails/comments/mfw+_76107a8b52a23656de49ee6eb19cfc89.gif

Pardew. Martin Hardy a month So there is a chance Ben Arfa will start against Anzhi , on a plastic turf during a blizzard in mother russia , but he wasn't fit enough to have a 10 min cameo on a beautiful saturday against Swansea . I honestly think Pardew was simply trying to delay the "Guti-throwed-out-of-the team" thing , hoping that Gutierrez would have put decents performance... Guti is such a favourite, he was stripped of the captains armband for the game. Until Hatem is fit and playing well, Guti is the best we have in the position. /Previous supposed undroppable favourites. -Harper -Nolan -Ameobi -Obertan -Simpson -Williamson ... blah blah blah.

Utter bollocks.

Kick in the balls, but we played well which was great to see. Get the fuck out of Sweansea and move on.

Good subs. COOOOOMOOOON FFS.

Fuck off.

Fucking lovely stuff.

...Whey, as long as Papiss gets a couple of seconds and cracks in two, no bother.

Get in there Sammy lad.

Decent from us, but the bookings are a right pain. Can see it going two ways. 1. We score early and at worst get a draw. 2. We concede early and collapse, lose heavily and finish with somewhat less than the 11 players we started with on the pitch. Hope to fuck it's number 1.

We're not attacking. They're inviting pressure.

Pls don't lose, pls don't lose, pls don't lose, pls don't lose, pls don't lose, pls don't lose, pls don't lose.

COOOOOOOOMON!

If he wasn't a good choice to be captain and it looked like Pardew was pandering to a favourite, I might agree with your cynicism. I don't agree with your cynicism.

Wat he say?

What's the punchline? Disappointing news all round after a bright start; but seemingly inevitable, and glad we can now move on. Hope he sorts his head out and shows his worth somewhere down the line.

Can't see it myself, but good news if it happened. ...though it goes without saying that I'd feel a certain degree of sympathy for the committed folk who said they'd give up supporting the club until he left. Must be torture.

Oh, one more thing regarding the style of play beating at Pardews core. However far you have credited him with the signings in the past, it seems pretty clear he is an essential part of the process and has over a couple of years brought in almost a full team that surely reflects his own philosophy (something he has been consistent about from the start of his tenure). This is not a team assembled (at a similiar cost to Pulis's Stoke or another wretched Sunderland side) to play defensive 'hoofball' is it?

I do wonder sometimes whether it might be healthy for some of the more aggrieved of us on here to invest in viewing another team playing as they would if they were Newcastle for a few games. Even the top teams in the league would do; watching Arsenal inviting pressure for extended periods, getting pissed with ManUtds slow starts, or as you say, watching Tottenham fail to control games and relying on moments of brilliance. Not saying we should stop the clamour for our own improvement of course, that's rightly always the aim. The idea of jettisoning Pardew for a new manager (I guess the current fairly obtainable favourites being McCLaren, Martinez, Moyes, Adkins and Laudrup) as the ultimate quick fix to clear the final few hurdles of starting halves slowly and an inability to consistently dominate a game seems a little unconvincing to me though. Surprisingly even people like HTT clamouring for his head during the campaign now seem happy to see him stay on till the summer before being replaced. But even then it still seems lunacy to me for the upheaval it would cause.

The obvious prejudice some have against him dilutes what might otherwise be valid criticisms. A lot of guff is spouted about tactics/formations etc on here. The late, great Bill Shankly said that the way to become a top class manager was to get yourself eleven top class players, and Pardew is certainly moving towards that. (More than eleven needed nowadays of course) Whatever we may or may not think, it does appear that our players are very commited to Pardew and have a strong belief in him. Dekka's programme notes were quite enlightening yesterday and worth a read if anyone gets the chance. Any chance of giving us the gist of them? Essentially about the relationship between Pardew and Graham Carr, how they work together regarding recruitment and complement each other.

The obvious prejudice some have against him dilutes what might otherwise be valid criticisms. A lot of guff is spouted about tactics/formations etc on here. The late, great Bill Shankly said that the way to become a top class manager was to get yourself eleven top class players, and Pardew is certainly moving towards that. (More than eleven needed nowadays of course) Whatever we may or may not think, it does appear that our players are very commited to Pardew and have a strong belief in him. Dekka's programme notes were quite enlightening yesterday and worth a read if anyone gets the chance. Any chance of giving us the gist of them?

Fkn love Ba me like.