BottledDog

IF that is where they play, then to be fair Guti has effectively been not far from a left back all season, and it'd take some convincing to make me think that Perch has been a better utility defender than a defensive midfielder for us.

Give over. Apropos of nothing, our bench looks weak as piss.

Attacking!?!!?!? Don't be daft.

Despite more than 40 years of service at Newcastle United, long-serving tea lady Kath Cassidy has never seen a Magpies match. But that will all change on Sunday, when the 85-year-old will be given one of the best seats in the house for the clash with Norwich City.... But this weekend she will be in the directors box at the Sports Direct Arena, along with her family, after the club gave her Mother's Day off so she could finally watch her heroes in action. http://www.nufc.co.uk/articles/20120318/toon-tea-lady-to-watch-first-match_2281670_2664257?

Ben Arfa added: “It took me time. It is a different league here. It is a 90-minute energy that you need. “The coach and the staff put that philosophy into us all the time, it helps. “After a year of injuries, I always knew it would be very hard to be 100 per cent again. “But I never worried that I would not play again. “I always felt and hoped that I would get back to 100 per cent fitness. “It wasn’t easy. When you are out for that long you can feel that you might lose a bit of your game. When you come back, you have to start all over again. “But the manager told me to keep training hard. He insisted I was here for training all the time – the more you train and the better you train, the more likely it is that you will be better on the pitch.’’ Seems the coaching staff are happy, and Hatem himself is happy and buys into the the hard work and the time it has taken to get back from the injury and adapt. Great stuff.

You're kidding right?

Who the fuck said that? Sky bloke heavily implied it was still a possibility. As I've said before, mongtastic as their fans are I can certainly understand why they continue to believe they're a big hitter in this league. They're spoon-fed it on a daily basis by the entire media. Alan Green was peddling it on 5Live as well. Alan Green is a cunt. /just needed to be said... again.

That's as maybe, but it doesn't half sound like the quarterback role that attracted him to the club in the first place.

Yup. The closest to a decent through ball against Liverpool was from Perch.

Moment of our first half performance was arguably him skinning Enrique. Chin up, you'll get a win here, I'd put money on it. /£2 @ 22-1 You must be on something. A winning streak. If there's anyone who can end a winning streak, it's me. Well, not directly me in this case. You know what I mean. I think. Not you. Gerrard.

Moment of our first half performance was arguably him skinning Enrique. Chin up, you'll get a win here, I'd put money on it. /£2 @ 22-1 You must be on something. A winning streak.

Chin up, you'll get a win here, I'd put money on it. /£2 @ 22-1

Good stuff.

I wouldn't go that far, but I have a lot of sympathy with the idea that he is increasingly struggling with the pressure and falling into the trap of worrying about the opposition more than getting the opposition to worry about ourselves. It is a much greater concern for me than his fundamental style of play; as you say I do belive he'd like to be 'perceived as a bit Continental while retaining his English charm' and actually play decent football.

Whilst I have some sympathy with your point, it is quite easy to reverse your question and ask at what point do the players take responsibility for the football they play and how much control do you honestly think that a manager has over the mind and actions over 11 players? It is a bit of a circular debate - no-one knows what Pardew tells the players to do, but I just find it very hard to believe that Pardew has instructed the players to pump it long for 2 major reasons: 1) It is clearly ineffective and I have not seen any evidence in Pardew's managerial career to date to suggest that he is wedded to the long ball a la Allardyce. 2) We didn't use such a direct style in the first half of the season. Well then you have your eyes closed and hands covering your ears. http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/video_audio/61504.html?genre=6%3Bsport%3D3 12.40 Yep - currently typing with my tongue. Can't see that at the moment as I am at work - is this the fabled video where some bloke with an agenda says that Pardew plays long ball football and isn't very good. Forgive me if I suggest that that probably isn't conclusive proof of anything... The fans of all the previous clubs he managed will tell you the same thing. Plenty of our fans will tell you the same thing. There is ample evidence to support the thesis that Pardew plays long-ball, direct football. Perhaps you would like to offer some evidence to the contrary? I beg to differ.

Some of our fans are fuckwits. Unfortunately some of these fuckwits have Twitter accounts. However I rate his ability (needs to do a fucksight better, accept life as a backup, or has to go), I've no problem with Simpson or his Twitter. Seems a good lad who cares about the team and the club. Fuckwits indeed.

That would be your problem actually, he doesnt give anyone space, he's just not very good at stopping people, be it with a tackle or a block. You think we should try and cancel out our defensive frailties by defending, so does Pardew, I think it's completely backwards. "he doesnt give anyone space, he's just not very good at stopping people, be it with a tackle or a block" - and the end result is the opponent has spaces to run and attack Simpson directly. I repeat, I am ok with that, I am willing to take that risk, but on the other side it's Perch v Walcott FFS. You really think we could score a few goals and concede less, away at Emirates, with Perch, Willo and Simpson? Answer me, your answer is? Stop going on like Walcott's any good, he's not. To answer your question I think the performance last night is indicative of the way Pardew's got us playing, I don't think we should go toe to toe with Arsenal and try and beat them at their own game, but I reckon if he'd tried to coach a bit of attacking intent and nous into them that when we did have the ball we might have done a bit more with it as a team. He hasn't been at his best, but the same could be said for Rosicky till recently. Simply put, last night he got the man of the match which suggests that your assessment of how he played is way off. Wenger post match said it was one of the best games he has seen from Walcott, that he was outstanding. I'm in no position to argue with him.

I watched every matches this season, I have to give up sleeping last nite and go to work immediately after the match. It is f***ing obvious that we intentionally change the tactics to protect Perch. On the other hand, it wouldn't make sense if we start the game with a 451 and hoof the ball. Obertan was instructed to assist Ba whenever Ba gets the ball from the midfield, and spray the ball back to the wingers which was very successful for the first 45mins. this only works when we play it on the ground. Obviously this was not the case in the 2nd. Obertan was nth but s*** during the hoof ball era. The injury of Santon forced Pardew to play Perch, and the game plan has to be changed. I have no problem for that. I can't criticize this decision. I really can't. You can have a go for wolves or all other matches but the thought of Walcott v Perch was f***ing terrible - and it proved to be correct at last. santon was a much much better one on one defender than Perch. Nothing was successful about Obertan yesterday. He either didn't make a mistake or did, he did absolutely nothing of any note and please don't say 'the build up to HBA's goal'. In regards to Perch against Walcott, he had exactly the same problems as Santon, only he put in a couple of more impressive challenges. Santon while he was on the pitch offered us movement up front but if you think that taking him off means we can only play by kicking the ball 60 yards to Koscielny/Vermaelen so that they can build from the back and pass it around us for fun then you're wrong. Cabaye/Tiote/Jonas/Colo/HBA/ even Shola yesterday can pass the ball about on the ground well, they don't need to just feed Arsenal so that our defence can once again be opened up "please don't say 'the build up to HBA's goal'" - Why not? It deserves praise. The rest of his performance was the standard fare of mind boggling decision making, and a complete lack of conviction in his own ability. I agree with a fair bit of what Zero has said over the last few pages. The line-up was creative and nearly worked very well, but Santon and Obertan struggled badly. We made the right substitutions, could have nicked it, but by actually throwing too many players up for the throw, an individual mistake from Simpson (who had pretty good game tbf) cost us. I saw nothing to suggest we set out to 'hoof' the ball, but with the likes of Cabaye and Jonas struggling to keep possession, constantly chasing shadows saw us tire badly. This led to the players themselves kicking it long as the only way to temporarily relieve pressure (especially after Tiote limped out), with only effectively Shola able to try and hang onto the ball by the end with Ba barely able to move.

I'm sure the granny with the dent in her heed'd agree with you.

Man, if he even scores one tonight and it puts ahead or draws us level, the crowd is going to go absolutely wild I've never seen the crowd there go wild, so that'll be a novelty.

Lol, what? did not see that coming! Cabaye, Ba, HBA, Taylor, Guthrie, Gosling, Ober and Jonas must be late injury concerns.

Pards should totally drop HBA from the squad just to see that.

...with the massive debts you've accumulated.