Flip

All the best managers do that.... Guardiola has done it regularly. ( he would regularly do it against Mourinho to win Clasico after Clasico) Didn't Mourinho only lose el classico twice? In the league possibly. But he lost in the CL and Copa Del Rey and Supercopa I think as well.

I seriously think he thought that as long as he gets the ball cleanly he can't get sent off. He didn't seem frustrated throughout the match and it felt more like he was just trying to get at the ball first. Moronic tackle though

Couldn't agree more. with which bit? With all of his post. You've built an idea of me as some sort of Ben Arfa fan boy and stuck with it. I've defended and criticized Ben Arfa equally. I think it's fair to say he's not the player he is nor is he the player many on here think he is.

If that's what you believe fair enough, I'm not defending him, I think it was an absolute idiotic decision which if he had shot the ball we could've gone away with one point. I'm just saying I won't blame him for our result and think that we will see the better of him the more time he's given. If anything Sissoko makes a terrible decision after another and no one blames him. How much discussion have we had about the schoolboy error on the 4 against 3 by Gouffran? I just think Ben Arfa gets more stick and more praise then he deserves. Ronaldo had the best assessment of him this far.

I suppose, playing devil's advocate for a moment, you couldn't really say that a 2 footed tackle is a 1 game ban if you get the ball but a 3 game ban if you get the man. If he'd connected with their player, he'd have more than likely broken the lad's leg. The fact that the tackle was very well timed and, indeed, aimed and the other player wasn't hurt-or even touched-will count for nothing given the 'what if' scenario. and rightly so. Horrible lunge, those tackles should be nowhere near the game.

Unfortunately we have a manager who cannot create a team with one free role, a role i'd give to Hatem. Even Fat Sam used to give free roles at Bolton to Jay Jay Okocha and then Djorkaeff. Pardew is a twonk. Who do Wenger, Jose, Rodges and Pellegrini give free roles to ? There is no need in a team at all to have a free role for anyone, a manager should be able to expect all of their players to play as a part of their team. I hate seeing Benny on the bench and as a fan I want to see this skillful flair player who is exciting and does things non of the rest of our team can do but I also ore than anything want to see us win. When its 0-0 with 10 mins to go and he works his magic, we have players lining up flying forward all waiting for the cut back "pick ya man out Benny" oh nope he tries to score from an impossible angle. As a manager I would want to f***ing kill him, yes okay you did the amazing work to create the chance but be happy with that, he happy with creating a chance for a team mate, he doesn't always have to be the one. Wenger used to give a free role to Freddie Ljungerg. I have seen Oscar play a pretty free-role for Chelsea this season with no defensive duties at all for big chunks. I think Ben Arfa's 'selfishness' is down to a few factors. The first one is the obvious one which is that he's a very tricky player and likes to entertain and will therefore hold on to it more. Another factor is that his team thinks the same and no one gives him an option, but I think it's the third factor which is the most important one and that is that our manager has no idea on how to set up a team to attack. Not once have I seen us play some decent stuff up front during his tenure here. He's had this team play very well at the back, he's had this team of late keeping the ball on the ground and ticking at midfield, but I've never seen us keep the ball around the oppositions goal area and tried stuff. We are one of the few teams in this league which has no idea on how to attack. We lack an identity in front, just like the season we finished 5th we rely to heavily upon individual ability which makes it even dumber not to start Ben Arfa. The only way we've attacked of late is through the right flank, which has ended in one non-fluke goal (Sissoko to Cabaye against Palace). Cabaye at Old Trafford and Debuchy against Palace were all flukes in one way or another. As for the cutting back, if your example is the one where he took a shot against Arsenal you have to look at that before, no one was in a position to get the ball there, everyone cut back and stayed behind a defender. My only realy complaint with him this week was yesterday when he took a touch to much, should've taken a shot and scored, no idea what he was doing. That's what happens to a player that gets 15-20minutes a game though.

Couldn't agree more.

WUMing by pointing out the obvious. Ok. He's right tbf. You're absolutely clueless.

Fuck did he do there though?

How's that funny? It was a major incident that put us further in the s***. Shit being the key word. Pardew lost this today

Your knowledge is enlightening.

Only one person to blame and that is Pardew. We've been shite all match.

Not with Benny left and Siss right, we're defending. Typical Pardew tbh. Back to square one with him. They're there for the taking even with 10 men.

Have to agree here, it was a red but he's clearly going for the ball. He lunges like that to reach first which is just moronic.

Oscar's way of saying sorry for that dive.

2014

Don't think he did it out of frustration, I seriously think he thought that as long he gets the ball he won't get sent off.

Alan Depardieu.

Got to keep Shola on What an absolute w***** Pardew is. Shocking from Pardew and shocking from the ref now. Inconsistent as fuck the fat guy.

Totally irrelevent, that's is a disgraceful attempt to win it, two footed jump in. If anyone thinks because he won the ball it's ok they need their head looking at. He didn't even touch the man?!?! So what? You can't jump in like that, clear as day ffs.

So we're down to 9 man. Genius Alan. Get Shola off ffs.

Actually came on here expecting you to defend him But I do agree with you. Any how, get Haidara on, move Santon right and Haidara left. switch Siss and Benny. We've been playing with 10 man the whole game with Shola anyways, don't see how we can't win this.

It's one of the most pointless graphs yet. Have to agree with both hee.

The season is tight, don't see how it's doom and gloom on here when people are suggesting 8th or 9th. It's the most realistic option if you look past the last couple of seasons. Under Pardew we've been very consistent in terms of form. When we win we win for a big chunk of games, and then we loose and run out of form for a month or so.

This guy has been learning his lessons, we will never be entertaining under him but we are certainly playing better than I expected after the dross we've been presented with since he arrived at the club. (even the season we finished 5th I was never convinced of his abilities). The fact that we continually tried to play the ball on the deck from Krul today shows that he is at least giving that non-hoof a try.