HawK

As an overview on the lad's dip in form, I don't think it's done his confidence/development any favors at all playing behind the back 4 he's had to recently.

Tbf Sewelly you've said pretty much exactly what I've been saying over the last couple of pages. Management 101, play to your strengths and get your best players playing well. Curious, I wonder how incentivized the players' contracts are for wins etc, going on Nolan's comments about his summer contract and MA's track record with Sports Direct, in that we usually seem to get the results we know we can win now, but look out of our depth vs stronger teams with a distinct lack-of-caring attitude as if there's simply no point in trying. Regardless of the cause, that mentality will only get us so far, and that is pretty much seventh Consider as well that quite a few of our players aren't even playing very well, if at all, strongly suggests Manager rather than player fault for certain results. I suppose I have to wrap it up for the anti-bandwagoneer brigade though, in that yes I am happy with the position, but I am disappointed we are not using all the tools at our disposal as best they can be.

If aimed at me I never claimed our football was good/better But the motivator bit, we'll have to agree to disagree.

Of course they are. We played awful stuff against awful teams on an almost regular basis under Hughton. You could just address me directly I said at least twice he had his faults and very specifically that he was inferior to Pardew when it comes to getting results against lesser teams. I agree with you on that and so does every one else. You cannot deny though, the team we had played their damndest under Hughton. That 4-4 came from the players, under Hughton's management rather than tactics, and his management of the players was brilliant. Got Liverpool to pay 35m for a confidence player too Why can't we get a motivator and a tactician? Always something amiss at this club. If only Calderwood was any use they might have done even better. What a load of tosh. I'll take that as an 'Ok then'.

Of course they are. We played awful stuff against awful teams on an almost regular basis under Hughton. You could just address me directly I said at least twice he had his faults and very specifically that he was inferior to Pardew when it comes to getting results against lesser teams. I agree with you on that and so does every one else. You cannot deny though, the team we had played their damndest under Hughton. That 4-4 came from the players, under Hughton's management rather than tactics, and his management of the players was brilliant. Got Liverpool to pay 35m for a confidence player too Why can't we get a motivator and a tactician? Always something amiss at this club. If only Calderwood was any use they might have done even better.

Echoes of Viana, decent player, wrong system. Might do well elsewhere, in Guthrie's case maybe even abroad where he can get some time on the ball.

I'll be the first to say I could understand his sacking from Ashley's point of view. And I will also say he would never be the one to take us beyond where we were. He was terrible tactically and it showed. But, he was a damn good motivator and to get all them ego-maniacs playing together and for the fans was a spectacle to behold imho.

If it wasn't the results, it was how we played. Distinctly remember watching us vs City, we seemed equal to them at times under Hughton. And the win against Liverpool where we simply outplayed them. We seemed capable of giving them a game, in our direct, Barton-Carroll style that we had. At least we played to our strengths and tried to impose our game on them, and not just try to nullify. Glimpses of this spirit existed at Stoke this season as others have pointed out, and I really hoped Pardew was developing into a good manager for us, but the difference is Pardew right now clearly doesn't have the faith in the players to go out and try the same thing vs a good team, where Hughton, despite his other faults, did. In a word I think it comes down to Belief, where Hughton got them buzzing with confidence and an exuberance of togetherness, which worked wonders in the face of adversity, it often lead to overconfidence vs the lower teams and we wouldn't get the results we needed. I always looked forward to the games vs the top teams under Hughton, because I knew it was about how they were going to cope with us, not how we were going to cope with them. Pardew clearly has a track record of failing to get the best out of 'difficult' players, but the 'difficult' players are usually the very best players, your Roberts, your Bellamys and your Ben Arfas. This is the difference between a manager you can get behind after a loss, knowing he's done all he could, with the players busting their guts, and one where sometimes he just doesn't seem to care - And it rubs off on the players.

I pointed this fact out a few weeks ago. Once he suddenly has top class players at his disposal he doesn't know how to us them, and instead he makes them scapegoats. Rumored to be sacked at Southampton for refusing to use a squad of players, as the fans will tell you on the pitch he was doing a good job.

Tbf ChrisJbarnes, it's quite hard to analyse a game like 3-1 at Liverpool with a perfectly weighted positive and negative balance when there are pretty much zero positives to be taken. After a match like this, this thread will be filled with criticisms because there were no positives. In the grand scheme of things, yes we're 7th. Yes I'm happy. Doesn't mean I can't have an opinion on matches where he was obviously clueless. Repeated mistakes, in any job, are a source of not only annoyance, but disciplinary action. Repeatedly using an out-of-form Obertan when you've got the supposedly most gifted French player of his generation if you go by his compatriots on the bench is mind boggling. In a way he's the anti-Hughton, Norwich aside he has a good record vs the 'lesser' teams, and can't do much vs the big hitters. Hughton seemed the opposite of that at the time. Overall, doing good. Doesn't mean I'm totally happy; when I see our team put out to play to their strengths and play with their hearts on their sleeves set up to play football, and lose, then hands up fair play Mr Pardew. Doesn't happen too often though.

Did you see Carroll's hold up play today? Yep, took the ball in the opposition third and layed if off numerous times. Did you?

Actually when I think about it, Top 3 striker in the league 2 of the top 5 best central mids in the league The best central defender in the league One of the best goalkeepers (I rate him ) in the league Surely a good manager can lift the other players to play around their level rather than drag the above lot down to the others. Play to the strengths etc. Oh well what do I know. /tinhat

This guy is pure quality and I'm enjoying it for as long as it lasts (knee, ACON etc)

There must be something behind the scenes re: Ben Arfa, I'm beginning to think that he really can pick his position in the side if he's on, otherwise it just doesn't make any sense whatsoever that he hasn't been tried properly out wide yet.

he's no Jose that's for sure

Ben Arfa would have been great behind Carroll, not so much behind Ba. Not taking anything away from Ba, great player, but Carroll's hold-up play would have been perfect to make space for Hatem.. in this team now he needs to be on the wing, not in the middle.

Gave the ball away a lot today, played the ball to people who were already under pressure and were just passing it straight back when he did find the pass. Needs to stop trying to be clever and just lay it off to Colo or Cabaye.

Tbh we're had far worse full backs than Simpson in the past 15 years

This. Ben Arfa must be an absolute shitter in training to not get in ahead of this numpty, he's incapable of finding space or controlling a football.

Why?

I'm on the 1000th page

We're not shooting enough from the edge of the area, Cabaye was peppering the goal from distance early on, can't even remember his last effort now other than his goal against Wigan, although he has been playing deeper while Tiote's been out. Other than Ba off the post the closest we came to scoring on Saturday was Jonas who has notched several from outside the area for us, which goes to show you don't have to be Laurent Robert to have a dig. That was another reason actually which made Pardew's reasoning for not bringing HBA on on Saturday look even more ridiculous. An effort from range might have been the only way past Swansea's defence and we know how well he can hit them. While I'm not a huge fan of Jermain Defoe as a first XI striker, I love watching how easy it is for him when he picks the ball up 20 yards out, he makes it look like he could stick it in the corner 99 times out of 100 without the keeper getting near it. He doesn't have fantastic technique or a rocket shot but he hits it low, hard and into the corners and that generally gets the job done. In terms of technique, the way he hits a ball is completely wrong, he's like a pinball machine launcher with the plunger pulled all the way out constantly, out of no-where - PING - .. wtf did that come from? He does it damn well though, love it when he scores those goals that make the defence/goalkeeper scratch their heads.

I expected Ronaldo to say this sooner or later. Agree with Ronaldo.

That goal

Quick, do speed to bury the renaming