Kanji

Hopefullly this is just a kick up the backside for HBA who will be responding in training and will get a start (?? wishful thinking)

What kind of style did RDM have? Always read he was well-liked by his players and played a very offensive style of football...

I think keepers distribution is overrated a little at times tbh. Elliot is probably the best I can remember, Given's was pretty abysmal but he was an outstanding keeper. I wouldn't say there are many out there who are great, that's why the play in goal Aye it's a very difficult thing to quantify, but at the basic level having a 'keeper with excellent distribution can be a superb weapon for counter attacks while providing a base for a possession-based tactic too. Typically you'll see the bigger sides placing a high value on this sort of GK. I'd suggest having a good shot stopper is obviously more important if you tend to be a side who allow more attempts on goal, or one who has little interest in using the 'keeper in an attacking sense. In terms of NUFC: the difference to us would probably be as minimal as you suggest, given that we're not the most tactically astute side by a long chalk and we don't really have any set style of playing anyway. Interestingly (or not) I just watched Napoli this weekend and Reina was huge for them in this regard, while Genoa built much of their defensive gameplan around stopping him from being effective. They positioned themselves high up the field to cut off his short routes into the defenders and tried to force him to kick long out of his hands wherever possible, though this obviously left more space for Napoli's midfielders and attackers further up the pitch as a knock-on effect. He still managed to create a chance on goal by claiming a set piece and then quickly bombing a kick forward for Insigne, IIRC. Reina was actually on my mind when typing that, one of the rare keepers that I have actually noticed their distribution (for good reasons). Cheers, thanks Caj and Rich.

Wish we had Remy - Ba - HBA tbh. I really do miss this syrup drinking beast.

Did you watch the game? this is flat out not true. He lost it once or twice but more times than he lost it he got round the outside of Coleman and the one time he switched with Sissoko to go central he beat his man and had a decent shot. Pardew taking him off could be a number of things: he got mouthy at halftime and questioned tactics?, he was injured?, or pardew was annoyed with his selfishness and/or lack of work ethic. He was the only player trying to make something happen for us in that first half. The fact it's been 2 years running now that Pardew has refused to play him in his usual position because he's scared of Baines really annoys me. For 1, once baines was on a yellow card Ben Arfa should have been switched immediately to try and get him sent off by taking him on. Secondly if he was so scared of what Baines would do going forward surely him having Ben Arfa behind him would have meant he couldn't attack as much anyway. It's amazing how different Pardew views things though, he's far more concerned with attempting to stop other players, rather than letting the opposition worry about us, which would actually help stop opponents, as you said with regards to Baines and Ben Arfa. It honestly baffles me how somebody can be so negative all the time despite seeing very little in terms of positive results. This is my biggest issue with Pardew, out of all the issues that surround Pardew. He is s*** scared of the opposition and rarely sets his teams out in a way that gives them reason to be s*** scared of us; it doesn't matter who we play, we're always trying to control damage rather than cause it. I can't decide whether it's cowardice or a simple inability to formulate an attacking system, but either way it's his biggest limitation as a manager. In that sense even Kinnear would be a step up. Even Kinnear for f***s sake. We have Hatem Ben Arfa and Loic Remy ffs. 1 player is capable of giving any defender a nightmare, capable of beating 2-3 players at will who can create or score and in Loic Remy, a man with insane pace and great eye for goal and we've a defeatist manager too busy losing his mind over if Hatem will put in a tackle or not. Fucking hell.

Terrible statistical analysis being peddled by Ryder. But the silver lining was he called out Tiote in all of this?

Defence. My bad.

You can easily see the difference between a bad team with a plan, and an organization that doesn't give a s***. It's not great supporting a bad team, but it's easier when you can see that there is a plan in place, and people capable of seeing it through. I don't think that's happening here. Yep, 100%. I know my Tampa teams all have good ownership doing what they can (within their means, be it extravagant or not) and the plan is to build a winning culture within the organization to build a winning team(s) be it through shrewd scouting, recruitment, winning now, draft, etc. - the plan is all there for those teams, it may not be working right now but there is a plan. For Newcastle it's the opposite. The goal for a sporting organization is the trophy cabinet right (for the most part) the key measures of success are trophies and/or titles and our owner's only care is doing the bare minimum to maintain premier league status is a disgrace. Our plan isn't even the stated top 10 goal that does its rounds, there isn't a plan. There's only an end result they care about, no relegation. Sickening.

The Mapou thread has turned into the state of our defense thread....

There is a very good shout that Newcastle United means just as much to me if not more than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (my home town, 1.5 hour drive away, 20+ years supporting NFL football team). So our current state, absolutely bothers me and its not that I don't care - I wish at times it didn't bother me as much as it does - but currently I'm at a loss for what is happening to us by the man who owns this club, the way he runs this club, the people he has hired in positions at this club, and the culture that he's destroying(ed)

It makes you wonder how those "error prone" defenders have all been capped at various levels. Or won league titles, or played in the champions league, or world cup/euros

Something to this: If players prior to their time joining us were committing LESS errors whether they played in league, European cups, international play...yet they come here and look like absolute messes...

mother f...

deep down I wish Dummett was a right back so he and 'Sadio could be our cover for RB and LB and really push Debuchy and Santon.

Think the tide in the press is turning very rapidly on AP now.

- Our fullbacks need to stay at home the next few matches, no more venturing up-field until we solidify ourselves at the back. - If we change our back 4 it should be MYM - Willi - Colo - Dummett --> its absolutely essential we continue to let MYM develop into this league, even if he has to play at a back position before getting the confidence to play centrally // with a better partner to suit his skill set.

And hasn't managed since 2006...

?

------------Krul--------------- MYM---Willi----Colo---Dumit --------Anita----Sisso-------- ----------Cabaye-------------- --HBA-----Gouff------Remy

A manager who doesn't have a defeatist fearful approach to every single match. That's who I'd go for.

Offensively, Mapou has hit the best right footed cross from a RB I've seen in our shirt in the past few years that isn't named Ryan Taylor in that European Match that Cisse scored but was offside. He's a better dribbler and probably would nt get boxed out and stuffed every single time he tries to take someone on like Debuchy. Defensively, he's quicker will probably sit more not exposing us as much and he'll still be able to learn the English game. Finally he's a f***ing leader, well documented at that, and I'm sure he's seething at what's going on this season - he's too much a winner. Hope to f*** he's not going to sit for any long period of time.

I'd rather he sit and learn the game or adapt to it at RB over Debuchy and eventually move central when we get a capable partner for him long term.

Great little story ScotBear.

Former rock of a CB, captain of his club in his early 20's, confident as fuck, budding international player who was being rated by everyone watching him...he comes here and suddenly becomes "shit" - sorry, a young player can absolutely get ruined when he's being led and trained by an absolute impostor of a manager we've got. He was playing under Rene Girard, a top top footballing man and now he's under the expert guidance of Alan Fucking Shit Pardew.