Beren

Like Yeovil - my mate is a massive fan

I predicted 10th thinking we'd see a steep decline in the amount of 'lucky' points we'd pick up compared to last season, as it turns out our paltry points total this season is probably higher than it ought to be owing to 'lucky' points(!)

"Goalscorers" seems to, IMO, incorrectly characterise the issue as being one of personnel - this isn't the case. With the exception of Jonas and Tiote, those who frequently or occasionally occupy the midfield and forward spots (Cabaye, HBA, Cisse, Gouffran, Sissoko, Marv etc) can all strike a ball decently with a degree of consistency. As can Santon and Debuchy from the full-back slots (not sure yet about Haidara). It's just about having other players ahead of the ball (and level or beyond Cisse) from time to time. Unfortunately, this just does not happen with us. Cisse is isolated and alone, and has been snatching at chances.

'As well', basically.

More disenchanted with the game as a whole than I can recall ever previously being. I felt good about Newcastle under Hughton, and we were a very average midtable side at the time, so I disagree with the "it's because we're shit" sentiment. Even then though, on a wider football scale, money still ruled the footballing roost in a particularly galling fashion (abramovich etc). Didn't enjoy last season that much, only the spectacular goals (which were plentiful tbh). This season has been nightmarish quite frankly. The pride has gone a bit I think.

Cabaye doesn't deserve to be in a relegation battle. He had a storming return from injury grabbing a few goals, pulling us by our bootstraps, and showing how much we missed him, but like Sissoko (and virtually everyone else tbh), his zeal has been sapped in a dressing room which doesn't believe in their manager. The guy can do very special things. Talk of replacing him saddens me - reminds me of the folk who wanted to replace Robert with a grafter How horrible things have got for people to entertain such backwards thoughts

What a depressing page of comments man. To contemplate deliberating thinking of selling him is madness. Horrible thought.

Don't fancy our chances in that battle.

J I'm no fan of Pardew but that's ridiculous IMO. As long as he's here, the players need to be behind him. Anything else would be chaos, and the only ones to genuinely suffer are us lot. It's up to the board to replace him, not the players. Maybe my thinking is a little Machiavellian on the issue, but I don't think we can succeed while Pardew is here. I don't propose that Cisse should have been dissenting to the extent that the working conditions for our relegation run-in would have been disruptive, but beyond that period, cone relegation or survival, I would welcome and applaud player dissension to meet the ends of excising Pardew from the club. No player here has the status of Terry or Lampard, but collectively, I would hope squadwide disharmony might prompt Ashley to replace Pardew as AVB (rightly or wrongly) was from Chelsea. Some fans believe that their opinion or protests about the club are inconsequential, it would be truly dire if the players felt equally castrated too. I'm on holiday though, not going to waste more time thinking aboutPardew :razzle: will ruin the atmos

Bit late, but: DavidBrentRapeUpThere.gif (re: Bayern-Barca)

Pardew - The turd in the swimming pool :lol:

Talk is cheap, I don't expect him to say otherwise with three games of a relegation season left but I'm still disappointed to hear Cisse get behind Pardew, just like HBA did last season, especially as Pardew's ineffective coaching contributed so heavily to Cisse snatching at chances. Smart of the club to get the fans' favourites to spin their guff.

GW36: Fulham 2-0 Reading Norwich 1-1 Aston Villa Swansea 1-3 Man City Tottenham 4-0 Southampton West Brom 2-2 Wigan West Ham 2-1 Newcastle QPR 1-5 Arsenal Liverpool 1-1 Everton Man Utd 1-2 Chelsea Sunderland 0-0 Stoke City Man City 1-0 West Brom Wigan 2-1 Swansea Chelsea 4-1 Tottenham

GW36: Fulham v Reading Norwich v Aston Villa Swansea v Man City Tottenham v Southampton West Brom v Wigan West Ham v Newcastle QPR v Arsenal Liverpool v Everton Man Utd v Chelsea Sunderland v Stoke City Man City v West Brom Wigan v Swansea Chelsea v Tottenham I'll update the table for GW35/36 after 36 is over. Ps. Barnes is just ridiculous, man. Winning the first title is the hardest, they say, but dude is making it look easy. Not choking at all.

Always see teams like QPR looking horrific facing others, then whenever we play them, they seem possessed (or maybe we just play shite). Either way, we haven't made a game look easy since Bordeaux I think. The only team who looked shite when I saw them play someone else, and continued to be shite when we played them was the mackems. Then along came Pardew...

OP is getting some unfair flak, but I guess the forum is in a beastly mood of late (read: this season). If you strip the question to its barest bones, of course the team in 18th does not deserve to go down more than the team in 17th, but football isn't a game of numbers only (even though numbers will ultimately determine where a team finishes). If the numbers are all that interests you and you have no time for the OP's "waffle", as it has been described, then go follow the London fucking Stock Exchange instead. Of course the attacking intent and ambitions of a team matters, the type of football, how they use their resources, the fans, whether they are twats (cf. Stoke) etc. On that basis, I think the OP is spot on - we do deserve to go down, annoyingly. Then again, Wigan's handling of the Haidara-McManaman stuff was awful.

We don't need an English spine to the team at all, we need a manager who can get the best out of the players we have, that's all we're missing. It's not coincidence that nearly every successful club has that national spine to them, in fact they're nearly always local too. This is particularly obvious in those clubs that sustain such success. It's not coincidence I agree, but our problems have nothing to do with the nationality of our spine. I do think that the levels of success achievable by having a spine (often local having grown up together locally) come through together probably outstrips the potential of individuals brought in to play together. That is definitely I something the club should work towards, but that is a long-term project - and is a pipedream at present with Pardew trying to make his mark at a grassroots level () - I wish that was even close to being one of my main troubles with the club [/iMO]

We don't need an English spine to the team at all, we need a manager who can get the best out of the players we have, that's all we're missing.

Reckon we'll coast to midtable.

Some Tolkienesque commentary, this [i love it]

Mackem kern-... oh no, wait...

That's brilliant With such little traffic the whole thing must have been over in five minutes. Hahaha.

The lack of application from our players was unprofessional in that match.

Points deductions for both for fielding ineligible players. Think it's us or Wigan for that unwanted third berth. Another team laying claim to it strikes me as wildly unlikely at this stage, so if I can be wildly optimistic I'd rather Sunderland took it - and therefore hope Benteke rips 'em a new one. Or reopens several old ones, I don't mind.

Goal difference is currently the same as Wigan IIRC, so if they do enough to catch us up on points, under normal circumstances (ie. they don't get tanked by 6 or 7 in the games that they don't win to catch us) their goal difference will be better than ours and it'll be a non-issue.