Stu

aye, particularly when he's putting his own twist on 'reality' - pretty sure Pardew was sacked for non-footballing reasons at Southampton, they won their last match 5-0 (or similar) before his 'falling out' with Cortese came to a head. He took a team on -10pts to fall just short of the play-offs while leading them to a successful Wembley final.

But they won't have Catt.

Nice

Injuries and squad management are part of the game. I would argue that Pardew has been hamstrung somewhat by the latter due to the severity of the former; nevertheless, some of his rotation decisions have been puzzling (to say the least), although I've formerly attributed that to his previous desire to try and keep his 'best striker' at the club.

Again, that's twice you've gone putting words into my mouth...I've already corrected you once. I said that we could go on a good run towards the end of the season and that I viewed all of the games (with the exception of Citeh) as winnable games; given the state of the squad after the Chelsea game. We don't just have two first team injuries....we've actually had: L vs Spurs: Ben Arfa, RTaylor, Vuckic, Gouffran* W vs Southampton: Krul, Ben Arfa, RTaylor, Vuckic, Harper (Tiote ill prior to the game) L vs Swansea: Krul, Colocinni, Ben Arfa, RTaylor, Vuckic, Harper (Cisse and Cabaye were both ill prior to the game) W vs Stoke: Krul, Colocinni, Ben Arfa, RTaylor, Vuckic, Ameobi L vs Wigan: Krul, Colocinni, Cabaye, Debuchy*, Haidaira*, Ben Arfa, RTaylor, Vuckic L vs Man City: Krul, Colocinni, Debuchy, Santon, Tiote, Haidaira, Ben Arfa, RTaylor, Vuckic Injuries are by no means the sole reason for the poor results this season, but they go someway towards putting the season into context and explaining how the same guy (with arguably an improved squad on paper) has gone from a Champions League-chasing side to a 'squeaky bum' side.

Picked a team to win and dnb, get beat 7-1 overs came in easily. Bank = 88.45pts 2pts Ruud Awakening @ 11/1 1pt Ballabriggs e/w @ 20/1 1pt Roberto Goldback e/w @ 22/1 1 Reading DNB @ 5/4 (New manager, W2D2L2 against teams in BH so far) 2 Villa DNB @ 13/8 (Stoke bottom of form table) 3 Birmingham @ 13/10 (Millwall have trip to Wembley next week, Blues outside chance of play-offs) 4 Bolton @ 1/1 (won 6 out of last 6 at home, pushing for playoffs) 5 Forest @ 19/20 (won 4 of last 6, good record at home) 1pt trebles (1-5) 1/4pt 4-folds 19.25pts staked. Bank = 71.2pts.

The Simpson point was to highlight how the 'depth' of January was no longer present by March. It wasn't to blame him. Going back to that Chelsea game and the 'momentum' we'd generated, lets take that as our 'first choice starting XI' for the rest of the season: vs Chelsea: Krul; Debuchy, Santon, Colocinni, Taylor; PerchTiote, Cabaye; Jonas, Gouffran, Sissoko; Cisse Subbing Tiote for Perch (as I think most people, including Pardew, would do similar if both available), these are the first XI players unavailable: L vs Spurs: n/a W vs Southampton: Krul L vs Swansea: Krul, Colocinni W vs Stoke: Krul, Colocinni L vs Wigan: Krul, Colocinni, Cabaye, Debuchy* L vs Man City: Krul, Colocinni, Debuchy, Santon, Tiote Missing the best two defensive players is going to affect any team, particularly one where the manager has spent the last two years getting those two players to carry out his defensive instructions on the field. They're pretty big blows to deal with. Yes, we have had 'international' players to fill in for them, but they've hardly had a settled run in the team, let alone the league/country to suddenly gel with the new players. I think if we lose Krul or Colo, then we suffer but can cope with having Eliott or MYM step in to replace but not both at the same time and the results/performances would suggest similar. The types of goals we've conceded are scruffy, disorganised goals rather than clear cut chances - perhaps suggesting that our general defensive play isn't too bad, but we're failing to communicate very well or individuals aren't doing the basics throughout the match; something that occurs when a back-five isn't settled. To contrast that to the beginning of 2011/12 when we kept things tight, we were playing the same back five (or seven if you include the centre-mids) almost week in, week out. This gave us the platform for our attacking players to get a goal and the away wins.

So why didn't Kenwright sack Moyes in the season they finished 17th? moyes has more or less been forced to operate on scraps since he went there, in his first 2-3 years he had nothing like the backing and quality players pardew has had in his time here imo...even young rooney was sold before he had much chance of an impact £8.5m in his first full season £5m in his second season £17.5m in his third season (*sold Rooney) £9m in his fourth season £15m in his fifth season £23m in his sixth season

I said we 'could' be winning the most of our games during the run in. I was assuming a fairly fit squad to choose from, mind. Did not envisage having to play Simpson.

You're the one who stated that any other owner would have sacked his manager for being "down at the bottom with us" - the Moyes example is one that contradicts your claim (and has been mentioned recently in the thread). I don't think anyone has argued that we're playing beautiful football this season. Not sure why you're throwing that straw man about. Some of us see a benefit for the club in adopting a culture of giving managers 3+ seasons before deciding if they're going to get a longer spell. It may well turn out that Pardew is as limited as many on here are claiming and that last season was a freak set of results; however, by moving away from the knee-jerk culture of the past decade surely makes us a more attractive position for a bold, up and coming manager who knows he'll need a couple of seasons to get the playing squad playing exactly how he likes it? Chopping and changing didn't do us any favours under Shepherd; it certainly didn't do us any favours under Ashley (2009), so why keep pushing this strategy now? Of course, we wouldn't need to change managers if the people in charge appointed the 'right one' first time around...but then, if it was that easy, every team would be doing it.

So why didn't Kenwright sack Moyes in the season they finished 17th?

http://www.epicgifs.net/images/show/6SD3VJN7 http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2013/matches/round=2000347/match=2009572/index.html http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2013/matches/round=2000347/match=2009493/index.html " " that last match was against Fraser "I'm no Tim Krul" Forster.

cheers, gone on Chicago Grey

How is that a contrary point?

You can't teach an old dog new tricks, he's hell bent on doing things his way - can't fault him for commitment.

part of my optimism about Pardew is based on what happened at Everton...they weren't quick to see off the new man, despite escaping relegation on the last weekend (after qualifying for Europe the year before). As Dave says, I'm not expecting top four next season but certainly a sustained campaign in the top third of the table, rather than the bottom third. Subsequent European campaigns will show if the club (and the manager) have really learnt the lessons from the past summer.

Are you taking something? Sorry, was obviously herping the derp earlier on...meant Prem League

he's been doing alright the last couple of months. Picked burton...Port Vale smash 7 past them

if you weren't such a tub-thumper, I'd be laughing at the hilarity of this post. Dire reading. If you were so obviously naive and lacking in knowledge about what makes a decent manager, I might be taking those comments seriously....as with most of your comments about Pardew, I won't be. Time to get real for you I think.... Where did you get your knowledge about "what makes a decent manager"? I'm more interested in where you got yours. Didn't realise I had any - cheers though!

If we were to sack him in the summer (despite being in champs league): what does that say about the culture at our club?

Saw us 'coached' by Souness, Roeder, Allardyce, Kinnear and Shearer. Quite happy to keep my penny in my pocket, thanks.

Ref: Midds' point. I wouldn't disagree on that point, I think he got a lot of his 'away' gameplans very, very wrong in the league this season, especially in November/December.

Thought it might have been out of his wizard's sleeve.

Like I said, if he gameplans as effectively as he seemingly did last night, we'll have a decent run in.

Not convinced that Shola was the best sub for Sylvain. Don't agree that Campbell is some sort of wondersub either (especially as he'd be replacing his partner in crime, Marveaux) - maybe Obertan in hindsight as Benfica surprisingly kept a high-line when 3-1 up. Not sure that was great management by their boss, as it allowed us to scrape a couple of half-chances together (Cisse's attempt to square it to Sissoko springs to mind).