Shak

Swot. Like the look of Cuadrado, is he highly rated?

Colombia two up, they play some nice stuff. The commentator though man, he's still shouting 'Goooooooooooolllll!!!'

I could have composed a much better OP than that. Poor grammar, average content. 3/10. WOULD NOT PUBLISH.

4 games on the bounce in the SA WCQ starting shortly. The big one being Argentina v Colombia in just over two hours. That's my day sorted.

I just think that with the right instructions he'd be passable in possession to justify what he brings defensively. He's not incapable of passing the ball, he just hasn't got the sort of vision\composure to do it in a way that's anything other than very basic.

Not sure about that, Cabaye generally looks a much better player when paired with Perch because he's given license to get forward a lot more. He still drops deep to start attacks, but the difference is that once the ball gets forward he's got license to go and support the play. Perch is arguably even more limited in possession than Tiote but we seem to manage fine with him playing the deeper role, the win against Chelsea for example had Perch and Cabaye in CM. That's what Tiote should be for us, basically a deluxe version of Perch. He, Cabaye and the team would all look so much better for it, I'm sure of it.

His attacking weaknesses shouldn't be that big a deal when he's a holding midfielder. Unfortunately they were because the midfield had Jonas and Nolan in it, two players that haven't got a creative bone in their footballing bodies. Tiote, for all his faults, doesn't hide so often he'd end up attempting to do a lot more in possession than he should have been. I think he's more or less rubbish in possession, but his presence in midfield should allow the players around him room to express themselves. There's no reason for Jonas and Tiote to ever be on the field at once, for example. But of course we know Pardew has looked at him and decided that his biggest weakness as footballer needs to be highlighted as a focal point of the team, and as a result he was shit last year. He's nowhere near as good as some made out when he joined, but I still believe there's a quality DM in him if he was utilised in any way correctly.

Stood up and applauded.

If he's getting a meeting to try and talk his way out of how shit he is I'd expect he'll be staying. Think if Ashley was serious about getting rid he wouldn't need a meeting to decide. And if Ashley genuinely is on the fence right now I expect Pardew will be able to talk his way out of getting sacked. Talking a good game has never been his issue.

Completely torn on a possible Carroll return. As has been said, with our current setup we're crying out for a player exactly like him. If we are going to insist on keeping Pardew as manager then we really need a player like Carroll. I'd rather get a new manager and target other kinds of players though, obviously.

The thought of us allowing Jonas to take a corner actually made me laugh out loud. Not that it could get much worse like.

http://i.imgur.com/t9kzu.gif

Aye, teaching is the plan. Proper excited about getting there, everyone says it's class. I'll probably end up with Nacional as my team anyway, a former student who has moved back there is a big fan so good chance I'll head to a game with him.

Cheers Disco. Moving to Colombia next week and hopefully gonna live there for a while, in Medellin most likely. Any suggestions on whether I should be cheering for Nacional or Medellin?

What's the Colombian league like these days?

I liked how this post just got angry right at the end.

I'll honestly be amazed if he's fired, can't understand where the optimism comes from. The only way Ashley will get rid of the clown is if the pressure from the fans become too much, and quite frankly that's a million miles from happening. Apparently the away crowd were chanting his name at times yesterday, and I've read comments from a few of the match going fans on here saying they've given him stick at the game only to get shouted down by other people in the crowd. There was almost no reaction to getting completely outplayed by Sunderland at our own ground, and the absolute embarrassment that was the Liverpool game didn't seem to turn the crowd against him either. Why exactly the crowd seem to like him is a complete mystery to me, but that's a whole other issue. So, if there's no pressure to do so then why exactly would Mike Ashley give him the chop? Pardew's the perfect frontman for the operation he's running here. A smooth talking PR man who'll only remove his tongue from Ashley's arse just long enough to tell the world how great it tastes before delving back in to feast on the goo inside. I've no doubt that next season will go better than this one did. With a full week to prepare the side for most games we'll produce more organised (if no more attractive to watch) displays and I doubt we'll concede anywhere near the amount of goals we did this season. We'll have enough "magic" in the side to supplement that improved defensive record with a few goals that'll win us a sufficient amount of points to achieve the midtable banality that Pardew seems to crave. If things go against us in terms of injuries/fortune then we might get sucked into a relegation battle again, but I doubt it. Conversely, get a few nice breaks and we might have an outside chance of pushing for a spot in Europe again. The problem there of course is that, if this season is anything to go by, qualifying for Europe is about the most terrifying thing that could happen to us with Pardew in charge. So with a bit of luck we'll miss out and finish nicely in the middle of the pack. And, quite frankly, do we really think Ashley's ambition extends beyond that? I don't, and therefore I can't see why he'd cut his puppet loose unless there's enough external pressure to do so, pressure that just isn't there right now unfortunately.

Just online for the first time since FT yesterday...

That was agony. And all I was doing was refreshing this thread.

What happened to "Can't watch " I'm not tbh, my assertment was an educated guess based on this thread/season.

Absolutely need to hang on here.

Can't believe this manager still has the backing of anyone like, we"re so fucking shit to watch and he clearly has no idea how to make us any better.

I reckon he just shows a video montage of starving children with grim music playing over it.

Must have been depressing typing that.