buzza

If Cabaye makes it we should win this one, great for him and debuchy to shine... ---------------------Krul---------------------- Debuchy----Willo------Collo------Santon -------Anita------Bigi------Cabaye----- ---Marveaux----Cisse-----------Obertan

If you have played football at even the lowest amatuer league levels you would know that football is not a simple game and that drills, strategies and philosophies play a huge part. It is only a simple game.... on the playground when there are no refs, and a couple of jumpers for posts!

What the funk was pards playing at taking himoff for birigrimana??? he played well again tonight both offensively and defensively. Shola down middle and cisse out right.... speechless???¿¿¿¿¿

The midfield was very slack again today, too many balls being lost when bringing trasnsitional ball out of the defense, too dangerous to lose ball inthissituation second goal a clear example ofthis after a few other scares. the defense was all over the place aswell,allowing anibechiecheche to getin between centre backs...FFS!!! Don't know if debuchy would have made agreat deal of difference,maybe he can show santon when to cross to a totally free striker for a second. Devastated with our loose play!

With the above formation he can easily switch back to an orthodox 442 with marveaux out left and cisse central if he likes...

I hope Pardew goes with an offensive starting 11. My only doubt is whether or not I would put perch at right back or Anita... --------------------Krul----------------------- Perch*-------Willo-----Colo-------Santon ---------Anita*------Tiote----------- Obertan------Marveaux------Cisse -----------------Ba---------------

My opinion is that we went all out in a first half that we dominated and in the last 20 minutes their experience outdid us. I reckon the chaotic defending might be down to exhaustion more than anything else, we were panicking whenever we had it at our feet. I would agree with the people who make points that the williamson/simpson side of the defense is far weaker, a replacement for either of these would improve us hugely. Great effort yesterday, just didn't have the nerve to take something home! Nothing to be ahsamed of!

Don't know if anyone's mentioned it before, but Anita's set plays are top drawer! been a while since we've had consistently good free kicks and corners, although that said we should ban willo from going anywhere near the opposition box!!!

Aye he's slowly turning into scotty parker II, I am getting so frustrated at the silly risks he is taking thinking he will never be dispossessed!!

Thought Oberton played with a lot of purpose, no dithering today and he seemed much more confident to go past the full back. Very impressed! Good covering aswell. I am a big jonas fan but when you have Perch, tiote and Anita it was crying out for marveax from the start. I don't like anita and tiote coming so deep to receive the ball from the defence, seems like they are under instruction to take zero risk and not to bring the ball out... Dissapointing tbh

After the performance against Manshitty, surely we can hand out a beating to saggy dogchop's new team... Although it pains me to say it, Jonas really does need dropped, just to give him a size ten up the jeerpiece. Team for staurday: ---------------------Krul------------------- Simpson---Willo---Colo---------Santon -----------Tiote--------Perch------------ Marv------------Anita--------------Ba (*exchange roles) ----------------Cisse *-------------

He did well when he was on the ball, thought his passes were good and he was positive and looking for the killer pass a lot. His major problem is his shirking of tackles and reluctance to go for 50/50 balls. Does the former outweight the latter or vice versa? I reckon we should give him a little more time...

Wullie, I thought we were as good/bad as West Ham the other week, just we were outdone by a lucky poachers goal by someone we know who always seems to be in right place at right time.

can't have that tbh, krul, colo, taylor, simpson, santon, anita, marveaux, cisse, hba/ba...basically having sammy and bigi in the squad 'outdid' us? the team we had out should have been enough to be at least 2 up by half time, regardless of hba being on or not. Meant that more for the substitutions and the change of tactic in the second half...

Sammy did well last night I thought, got down to the byline quite a bit and coupled well with Santon, I's go for: ---------------------Krul--------------------- Simpson-----Willo----Saylor-------Santon -------------Tiote-----Anita------------- Marveaux--------Jonas-----------Sammy ------------------Ba--------------------- Or you could put jonas out wide on either side and move Marveaux into a nº10 role...

He needs time... Just take Santon as an example to follow... Crap first season, culminating in some MOM performances, last night being one of them...

Jeesus H Cjhrist! I can't believe the kneejerk reactions on here!! Ronaldo and company, I really don't think you can remember how Allardice set up his teams and played football...The epitomy of fcuking negativity Honestly, can't digest what the hell you lot are on about... This forum has completely lost the plot I thought the team he put out last night was quite positive and he was forced into some more defensive changes by the injuries. That was pretty crap defending for their goal, he ran straight through us so easily. The youngsters and our lack of a squad was what outdid us last night. If you all want to rant at someone, have a friggin' go at Fashley ffs! He was the one who decided we didn't need to invest in a central defender, right back and a decent thrid choice striker.... Yes, we are playing poor football at the moment but the players aren't devoid of blame! It's them on the pitch and it's them who should be running their arses off trying to make space and to receive a pass, it's also them who's first friggin' touches are pinging off themselves and into the clutches of the opposition!! For fcuks sake...get a grip!

Didn't think the line up was that bad! sammy shone...

Balance is the key word here... Pardew needs to balance both defensive work and formation rigidity with movement and ball retention. If he is dedicating three quarters of training time to defending and stopping other teams then it is not rocket science to figure out why we cannot string more than three passes together and why we are so profligate in the opposition's half. He needs to find the combination of both pretty quickly or he will see fans opinion swinging against him.

train0021 He's practising a bit of Morris Dancing, alternative way to integrate the newbies!!

Thing is, that was tactically astute. It wasn't just a hopeful ball floated into the back post Yo-Willo style. They picked out Alba as the weakest link in a small team aerially. Barca zonal mark at corners so they knew where Alba would line up. Put in a great ball, then they had the big powerhouse house have a massive run-up on Alba. Nee chance, bang, goal. Pefect tactics - UTILISING YOUR STRENGTHS (height and strength) AND PENALISING OPPONENTS WEAKNESSES. Something we don't do. Lennon had an attacking plan against Barca. Corner/set-pieces and rapid, quick, counter attacks. Villanova - "The same thing happened at the Camp Nou. They played defensively and they waited to make fast counter attacks. They are very comfortable on corners and set pieces, and that's how they scored their two goals." As you say, playing to your strengths. I think Pardew needs to start asking the question how do we beat them, not how to we stop them beating us. Shudders as Sam Allerdice deja vu sets on

Due to the injuries I would go with a 4231, pack the midfield and all out attack with: ----------------------krul---------------------- Simpson----Willo -----Saylor-----Santon ---------Bigi----------Tiote----------- Obertong------HBA------------Fergie --------------------BA----------------- I have included Fergie and Obertong for their defensive nous also...

I feel a bit for Pardew as he's getting loads of stick on here (myself included at times). I don't think he would be asking the players to constantly wallop the ball up to the forwards. Whether it's a 442 or a 433, it's the fact that as soon as a bit of pressure is put on our defence when we are in possesion we buckle and resort to the long ball. This is most probably due to the fact our midfielders weren’t giving them passing options becuase the movement is virtually non-existant and too rigid. The defence can really only bring the ball out fluidly on the left hand side when Colo and Santon are in the the back line, any attempts on the other side are flawed due to considerable lack of technique. I reckon if we signed a right back, a la Debuchy, we would improve drastically...

I am the eternal optimist, every game I tune in to the internet and think "we are going to muller this lot" playing some excellent one touch fluid football with a few tricks thrown in by HBA. Result: If I loved frustration, angst, impotence and anger I reckon I couldn't possibly squeeze any more enjoyment out of the games

The (excellent) post above by Chris R points out that we should be playing a 433 instead of a 451. I would say that we should be playing a 4-2-3-1 with the two full backs always pushing up into midfield to give some more options and to push the space on their counters, apply the same logic about the "wide" players in the three upfront and we are cooking!!! The comment about playing a 442 with two great headers of the ball and inverting our wingers, which leaves time for their defence to regroup while they put ball on good foot, was spot on! Lack of investment doesn't come into it... Please change thread to "Playing to our strengths" or "Square pegs in Round Holes"