Stu

can't wait to see this strong finish to the season...Pards in-depth preparation should be a sight to behold again once we're back in the PL Are you still certain we're going to be relegated?

forgot my " ' " :neesy:

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"?

Shocking start Bank = 91pts 1pt Burton to win @ 11/4 2pts Burton DNB @ 6/4 0.5pt Over 2.5goals @ 9/10 3.5pts staked. Bank = 87.5pts.

Why didn't they?

19 of those came in 5 games against the top two sides and a freak final 20minutes at Arsenal. That's 39 in 26; a bit more reflective of our struggles.

I must have missed the 20minute-mark team talk that Pards gave when he deliberately changed tactics and invited Benfica to come back into the game. What did he say? more importantly Stu, what did he do to stop them doing whatever they liked and come back from a goal down to go in front? away team plays well goes a goal up, home team reacts (maybe changes tactics) and fights back...pretty common in football really and pardew's job to adjust the team tactically whenever required and something he consistently fails at Funnily enough, that bit in bold isn't what happened. We went a goal up, everyone assumed it would spark Benfica into life (they'd not done much up until that point and seemed pretty rocked by our positive play) but we continued to enjoy lengthy spells of possession (relative to what we're used to, not Barca). It wasn't until the Cisse effort that got deflected onto the post, then heart-breakingly stayed out, rather than trickle over the line, that Benfica jumped into action. In all likelihood this was probably a combination of a) their players realising the first wasn't a fluke and we weren't there to make up numbers and b) some (if not all) of our players being a little disheartened by the 'miss'. They knew Benfica were a formidable prospect at home, so to come within an inch of going 2 goals ahead is pretty galling (see the match thread for evidence). For Benfica to then equalise almost straight away is just another kick in the teeth. I thought the players did well to see it out until half-time level, as Benfica really didn't want the half to end. There's not a lot Pards can really do from the sidelines (EDIT: up until halftime of course, although this in itself has been repeatedly highlighted as a weakness of his this season), his best bet is to tell them to forget about 'lady luck' not going our way with that effort and to go out and start the second half the way we started the first...amazingly enough, we do that and we come inches away from taking the lead again. In the professional game, where mentality and psychology are often the difference in high-stakes games, there's a lot for a plucky team to 'forget about' and keep playing. Maybe Santon was half-thinking 'maybe tonight's not going to be our night' when he took that second ball down on his in-step and hadn't picked up Lima's run...who knows, but the team still kept on even after that howler. They were individual mistakes that led to the 3 Benfica goals; from Krul's 'rusty' parry and no-one picking up the runner, to Santon's backpass and STaylor's handballs. We had two (or three) moments of misfortune at the other end, coupled with some poor decision making by our attackers at key points, which could have been two or three goals of our own on another night. For me and several others, Pards did a good job last night but was 'let down' by the individual errors...if he sticks with game-planning as accurate as that, he'll have a good end of season run in regardless of next Thursday night. The defensive players won't be making mistakes of those magnitude (and in the same match) again.

All away games. Outscored opponents 10-5 in last 5 home games.

I must have missed the 20minute-mark team talk that Pards gave when he deliberately changed tactics and invited Benfica to come back into the game. What did he say?

Definitely. On another night it's 3-1 4-1 to us. Weird match, but our own fault. Wasn't massively impressed by Marveaux at all, certainly not to the extent that people on here have been (MOTM nominations?!) - thought he was looking well short of confidence whenever the ball was nearer our goal than theirs. Similarly, for the one or two chances he created with a good pass selection or dribble, he made some very poor choices to cut short or waste an opening, something we couldn't really afford. Even Jonas seemed to sense that the match wasn't one for wasting possession... Oh, and HB KI You press 'show post' just to type that...? It's not nice to be mean about KI's birthday.

One of the best in Europe according to Pardew They are dog toffee, shame we couldn't give them a game. Not sure who to blame, depressing. Classic reaction. I get you're p*ssed off with the manner of the goals, anyone would be. But there's a natural tendency to think the opposition wasn't any good when you're blaming yourselves for a defeat. They weren't world beating, they weren't brilliant, but they were good. Their passing and movement was clearly superior and thus deserved to win the game. Despite that however the tie is far from over due to their very slack defending. But yes, can totally see why you'd be p*ssed off at how the goals came about. I watch them every week and don't rate them, I think a decent team would take them to the cleaners. In my opinion they are very average, bar a couple of stupid mistakes we could have been set tonight so yes I am frustrated. You should pop to Specsavers the next time you're over in England; they're one of the better European teams and have a ridiculous amount of attacking talent for a non-'elite' club (Spa, Ger, Ita, Eng, etc). That Barca team are generally considered 'decent' aren't they?

Definitely. On another night it's 3-1 4-1 to us. Weird match, but our own fault. Wasn't massively impressed by Marveaux at all, certainly not to the extent that people on here have been (MOTM nominations?!) - thought he was looking well short of confidence whenever the ball was nearer our goal than theirs. Similarly, for the one or two chances he created with a good pass selection or dribble, he made some very poor choices to cut short or waste an opening, something we couldn't really afford. Even Jonas seemed to sense that the match wasn't one for wasting possession... Oh, and HB KI

Hellaw, hellaw, what's this revisionist interpretation of the match in order to suit your point? Santon gained possession from a second ball out of the Benfica half, he took it down well but was quickly closed down...unfortunately for him, he (presumably) had the two players distorting his line of sight across the back line and didn't realise Lima was lurking until it was too late. Not sure how Taylor is at fault for this The penalty was a bizarre situation, not helped by Taylor's insistence on trying to use his MASSIVE CHEST instead of his forehead.

totally agree they guy's a comp liability time to move on. You two must have been watching a different match to me last night. The penalty aside, he had one of his better games of the season for me. Kept Cardozo mostly in check and seemed to be taking responsibility for playing the ball out from the back when we had periods of possession. Didn't shy from receiving a pass either. I wasn't thinking particularly of the game last night, or the handball. In point of fact, I don't think he makes that many obvious mistakes. He's just very limited and cautious, as I said in the original post. It's what he doesn't do that bothers me, and I think we can do better. He's not that bad on the ball. After a year of Williamson in the team, I'm surprised you're clamouring to declare STaylor limited, he's a far superior upgrade (on and off the ball). You've said that he rarely intercepts...so you want him to be more aggressive when defending through balls? Not sure if he's suited to that really, he's been burnt a few times in his career by over-committing so I wouldn't be surprised if he's matured/been advised to let the forward have it with his back to goal rather than risk a missed interception.

totally agree they guy's a comp liability time to move on. You two must have been watching a different match to me last night. The penalty aside, he had one of his better games of the season for me. Kept Cardozo mostly in check and seemed to be taking responsibility for playing the ball out from the back when we had periods of possession. Didn't shy from receiving a pass either.

if you weren't such a tub-thumper, I'd be laughing at the hilarity of this post. Dire reading.

Same. Although if we go 2 goals up, it's probable that we'll sit off and invite them onto us - hoping to counter for a third.

2 out of 7 ain't bad. Think I got all of my selections completely wrong

Yes we are. Are the quarter-finals one-legged now?

for who?

Yep both excellent right backs in a game where we are still in at 3-1 down.

Benfica have had about 14 corners on their own

Does them scoring cancel out our goal, like?