Flip

Was immense. Him and Jonas couldn't stop running today. That'll explain the offsides, then. there is just no way you have ever played football or can even have a respected opinion on football.

This. We beat Man U 3-0 at home why wouldn't we be able to beat them 2-0? You laughing? Read the last pages, people make it out like it was impossible to beat Benfica 2-0 ffs. Only Barcelona have done that this season. Barcelona for f***s sake. One of the best club teams to grace the game. You're f***ing mental Right. And only Cit beat Man U by more than three goals last season. Not even Real did it this season. What's your point? Calling me mental for? Actually why even respond when you're clearly delusional?

This. We beat Man U 3-0 at home why wouldn't we be able to beat them 2-0? You laughing? Read the last pages, people make it out like it was impossible to beat Benfica 2-0 ffs.

Was immense. Him and Jonas couldn't stop running today.

this is the point I've been trying to make. We played them to their strengths and us to our weaknesses. If anything they didn't score because they were shocked at our tactics. Maybe that was Pardews plan?

Good luck to you guys.

Aye, but he made loads of kicks look difficult. Never seen a Brazilian worse at kicking a football. Aye was fucking horrible

All about adapting and getting more comfortable. We tend to forget he's only 23. More experience and he will stop doing those concentrations lapses. No doubt he'll be a top top defender for us in 5-6 years time, if we haven't gone down or sold him by then.

I hate that we've entered another one of those times where "Korean" automatically means "North Korea" Time for jotenko to come in with his this is 2013 and deal with the truth bullshit

Rarely agree with you Mr.Forum, but you are spot on here We basically played at our weakness and their strength.

Unbelievable is six years old, yet he writes better than you in a second language. Genius.

This. We beat Man U 3-0 at home why wouldn't we be able to beat them 2-0?

Yet we conceded a goal, if we were playing like that and conceded after 30 minutes due to leaving ourselves open the tie would have been over a lot earlier. We conceded a goal in the 90th because of the tired legs ffs.

Unbelievable agreed with most of it.

would you have celebrated if it worked ? did it come close to working? Of course I would, but to restrict yourself to a third of the game to get in front doesn't make sense. It would if we were away but we were at home. The law of averages say we would have had more chance had we have been positive for 90 rather than 30. We needed Benfica to be winning the tie for as long as possible because if they'd gone through the gears and got a goal at any point, we're either dead in the water or into a very unwanted period of extra time - at best. 1-0 up after 80 minutes was a miles better scoreline than 2-0 up after 30 minutes imo. I don't agree. I'd rather them piled pressure and we countered then we try to find that winning goal. How anyone can prefer your situation is beyond me...

We squeezed past Atromitos to qualify. If that Maritimo clogger had scored a fairly presentable chance in the last five minutes, we would have been out in the easiest group the tournament had. We did not overachieve, you're just so used to us being s*** that you think this is the best we can do. We did tbf, majority of the footballing watching world had Anzhi as favourites against us. Yes, because we're in a relegation scrap and we can't play attacking football. Which is down to Pardew. So basically the only reason we were underdogs to Anzhi (who btw are absolutely unimpressive and played with a man less in the game they lost to us) is because of Pards.

Love your optimism. But you know very well we would've gone out anyways

What absolute bullshit. (second sentence)

See this post epitomises the Pardew lovers view. Your post is so contradictory that it makes me want to vomit to be honest. You want to defend him trying to contain Benfica while still playing to our strength which what you posted wasn't defending or containing. Go take a walk and then re-post because that is absolutely dreadful. And as for Anita, he was actually having a decent game.

AdebaLoL

I can't see how people can suggest he was spot on today. He didn't lose us the tie but he was nowhere near setting us up to go through.

Should clone him. Have 4 of him. Two on the field at the same time and two to fill in whenever those two break down.

What would your starting lineup have been? Marv for Bigi. Easy. Why not HBA for Bigi? Because HBA has been injured for a while. Well I would've started both of them easily if they were both fit. Is Marv injured?

We had a 10 minute spell and then ran out of steam when Benfica had re organised themselves. 10 minutes out of 90 is f***ing terrible. Exactly, I'd imagine I'm classed as a "hater" and was horrified to see the lineup, the pre-match comments, and the first 70 minutes as I'm proud of our club and would always like to see us go out to get teams. Most weeks we don't even try to, yet I'm a "hater" for criticising the man responsible. cp40 - you've been watching us for years. I hate watching this s**** in general. How do you feel about watching it? I dont like aspects of our game, but I understand the bigger picture and accept, as I anticipate better things next season. edit, and I love being in euro quater finals and feel proud Based on what though CP. Do you think we will start playing better football, passing football, be more positive and not negative worrying about the opposition, rather than focusing on our strengths. If you think all that, well i hope your right, but personally i think you must be going mad if you think Pardew will do any of that. Spot on. Asked the exact same thing. And I feel the same. Everyone who believes in Pardew deserve credit for believing and I hope to god you guys are right. Personally, there is just no way that's possible in my mind