Cronky

I never rated him that much as a captain, he seems too quiet. We often seem to lack leadership and organisation at the back. That doesn't necessarily rule him out as a manager, but I'd worry about how it would work out if he took over now, even as a caretaker. Suddenly he's the boss over the likes of Carver and Stone, and his relationship with the players would have to change. And if he's a caretaker, it'd be that much more difficult to attract any player to the club in January, if the management structure is only temporary. There's also the issue of coaching badges. I don't know how he stands there.

I think that's been a factor. Which won't be an encouragement for other managers to join us, if they have other decent options.

The first goal bothered me. Neither Williamson nor Colo had the pace to get to the near post to cut that cross off. Dummett isn't the best all round centre back that we have, but he'd have probably got there, or at least made life awkward for Kone. Regardless of his individual flaws, we did seem a bit stronger when he was in the centre.

It's half way through the season, so there won't be a large number of managers that are both good and available. Either Pulis or a caretaker to the end of the season is my bet.

You sound disappointed. I'm worried.

Looks like you lot have got your wish. Otherwise there'd have been a denial by now. And I can't see there's any point in Ashley trying to force Pardew to stay, against his wishes. It all depends on who we get now - I suspect it'll be Pulis. Quite a few might well look at what's happened to Pardew, and think, no thanks.

Yabba-dabba-doo.

I like his determination, and I think he will improve, but I suspect not by enough to make a real impact. Basically, I was expecting his touch on the ball to be better. Too often at the moment, he loses control of the ball or pings out a wayward pass.

Yeah. You can see there's some ability there, but he needs to calm down a bit. There's often a bit of a manic quality about him which affects his judgement. It doesn't help that he's constantly in a position of feeling the need to prove himself. He needs to find a settled place at a club and push on from there.

I think he's arguably the most overrated player of the Premiership era. Not an opinion you come across very often, but I'd agree with that. The competition for the central midfield players is very tough, with Gerrard, Scholes, Lampard, Vieira, Keane, Essien, Fabregas - you could make a case for any of them. Personally, I'd go for Gerrard and Keane.

This is the outstanding feature of his play. He can receive the ball under a lot of pressure, but somehow finds a way of wriggling out of trouble and getting / keeping an attack going. His ability to improvise is first rate.

I think the fact that clubs bankrolled to the tune of hundreds of millions have locked down the top spots has damaged everyone's view of what's possible in football. Southampton are 4th. A month ago, we were 4th. Ian's point is valid. It's harder to win things now than it ever has been.

The way I see it, it's this forum that's changed, not me. The only acceptable view seems to be that Pardew is both fool and knave, and that anyone who doesn't realise this and want him out asap is daft or has been duped. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground on here any more. Believe that if you want, but it makes it very difficult to post on here if your view is different, even to quite a moderate extent.

If you lot care to read the post again, I did say that Pardew was wrong to single Armstrong out. That's on two levels - on him being a young player finding his feet at first team level, and on the part that other players played in conceding the goal. Pardew talks too much, and not always wisely. But on a different level, I can understand Pardew's frustration, because it was a poor decision in a promising situation. And to have a chance, we needed to keep in the game for much longer.

Tbh, the second Armstrong took that shot on, I shouted 'NO!' He was never going to beat De Gea from the corner of the penalty area with two or three defenders in the way. It was a good situation for us and you have to take full advantage of those positions when they arise in a game like that. And of course losing the ball like that with a lot of players committed upfield is always going to be dangerous. Having said that, I don't think Pardew should have mentioned it at all. A 17 year old is still bound to be on a learning curve with decision-making, and we could defended the situation better anyway.

I can see this beginning to take off as the bog standard opinion of Sammy. In reality, there's more to his game than that, and he can be very effective down the centre as well. Defenders are aware of him as a danger and are starting to double up on him. It can then often be the best option to keep it simple and just go down the outside, and the usual result from that on Sunday was a cross, corner or throw in, in our favour. His first touch isn't great, so if he can be pressured right away, he struggles a bit. But once it's under his control, he's starting to use it a lot more wisely.

I've always thought that the idea that the French dress well is a bit of a myth. This is further evidence.

If it was easy to make a profit out of owning Rangers, you can bet there would be other investors eager to get involved. For Ashley it seems to be about product placement, and also following that instinct to snap up a high-profile brand that finds itself in trouble. But ultimately, regardless of whether he somehow achieves overall control, I can't see it working well long-term. The Premiership is the place to be.

Whoever the manager of Nice happens to be. Clearly.

I wouldn't have said that Sissoko was right for Arsenal tbh, though it looks like they may have sounded out his agent. Wenger relies on quick passing interchanges, with players not hanging on to the ball for too long, and that's not Sissoko's strength. They could do with an anchor man in midfield, but again Sissoko is at his best going forward.

So it seems.

I can understand Pardew wanting to go for the win after the midweek disappointment and his own poor record against Sunderland, but our defence always looked shaky when dealing with their breakaways, and we were getting tired and less and less likely to recover if a move broke down. Basically, he gambled and lost. On the plus side, Perez did very well yet again, and Dummett looked more confident in his use of the ball (ie not just banging it down the line)

I'd otherwise be quite optimistic about this one, but - let's face it - we've got a weakness at goalkeeper at the moment and that could be crucial. Hopefully he'll get through it without any mishaps.

It's true enough that you can't rely on him to do defensive work. You have to give him a free role behind a main striker and rely on others to fill any gaps. And from what Bruce is saying, this seems to be the vision of his future role that Hatem himself wants to insist on. The first problem is that the level of club that he's playing for can't afford to have a player in that position in a highly competitive league. The second problem is whether he's actually good enough - not so much in terms of his skill, but in terms of work rate and footballing intelligence. The number 10s that we've had - Bellamy and Beardsley spring to mind - have worked their socks off and were also not averse to tracking back. I guess if he was better in those areas, he'd be playing for Real or Barca - but he's not earned the right to play at that level. It looks to me like he'll end up as a big fish in a small pond, playing outside the top leagues in Turkey or the like.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2881035/Alan-Pardew-spices-Tyne-Wear-derby-rubbing-Jack-Colback-Newcastle-prepare-host-Sunderland.html They've put his photo, with his hand on his heart, on the front of tomorrow's programme. I don't think that's a good idea. There's pressure enough on the lad as it is. He seems good at handling pressure, but why make it even more difficult. PS - and with all the talk beforehand about calming the atmosphere down between the two sets of supporters, this doesn't seem like a sensible gesture.