Shak

Good save, but Cisse may as well have looked at Cech and said "I'm placing it to your left mate" with the way he shaped to shoot. Can't make it that obvious.

Terrible finish. Fuck.

Fuck off Webb you bottling cuntmobile.

The inevitable Marveaux for Gouff sub is going to be epic.

Fuck off Jonas you completely useless waste of a shirt.

Jonas. Guy's laughable.

Very good so far.

It's a shit thing. Play your best players*. Aye, didn't say I liked it. Just not surprised. Same with Raylor and Santon last year. Raylor had to basically go out and puke on his own face before Pardew dropped him. Ben Arfa and Obertan too.

It's one of Pardew's things isn't it? Doesn't change a winning team if possible. Disappointed he's not starting MYM, Taylor will have to throughly play himself out of the team before Pardew will drop him I expect. Jonas instead of Marv I can understand, Marveaux may not be up to starting after his knock. Of course when he does come on it'll be for Gouffran, not Jonas, regardless of how they both look. Don't mind Perch playing if having a designated sitter allows Cabaye more license to get forward.

The quality hasn't been any better, but there have been a few chances. Well Ireland are actually winning in a sport, so I might just stick with that. Don't even like rugby ffs.

So has this been good second half so far? I've put on the rugby.

Darke and McManaman trying to justify it to the American viewers.

Has anything actually happened today or is this thread just 37 pages of slagging off ugly people?

Haven't Reading just signed Stephen Kelly from Fulham, why would they buy another RB? They've seen Stephen Kelly in training? (That's my real name)

Has to start against Chelsea. He's a class above Taylor who, while not horrible against Villa, didn't exactly look composed either. There was one point in the second half where he got very lucky. Big high looping ball into the box from a free kick that Taylor looked in great position to deal with pretty routinely, instead he sort of gradually fell over and was only saved by the fact that Benteke wasn't really on the ball either.

I don't know, I think if you're talking to a potential manager and show him a list of the players we've brought in the last three years and compare it with the players we've let go he'll be pretty fucking excited at working with some of the talent we have. Maybe not a British manager, but then again they're mostly shite so who'd want them anyway? From what I understand the manager does get input on signings in any case, Carr just has to agree with him and the board work separately on the finances of it. It's hardly a horrible situation for potential new managers is it?

I think it's wrong to say that he's an out and out bad manager, much as I've found the job he's done this year to be very poor. I do think he's very good at organising us from a purely defensive point of view. Williamson however has no business even being a squad player at this level, he's a complete and utter liability, and since Pardew's basically been forced into starting him this year I can sympathise with him a bit. Last year our good start was largely founded on how difficult it was to score goals against us, only Man City managed to score more than once against us last year until Taylor went out injured. This year it's been difficult for him to build that solid base again. Hopefully the arrival or MYM coupled with the return of Taylor means that Williamson has kicked his last ball for us, I'll be interested to see if we can get back to being a difficult side to score goals against. We're also capable of going out and playing decent stuff when we actually try to. The last two games we've completely bossed the first 45 minutes, against Reading we could easily have been three or four up by half time and obviously last night against Villa we played excellently in the first half. The problem, as has been pointed out countless times over the last dozen pages, is of course that once we get a lead we're far too negative. Games that we have the initiative in we just relinquish our grip and invite our opponents to have a go at us. This isn't necessarily a bad strategy, but only if you're going to set up to play on the break and try and score more goals that way. We don't do that. We just stick everyone bar Cisse/Shola behind the ball and try to keep them out as best we can. When we do get the ball it inevitably gets launched towards the lone striker, with very little attempt from our midfielders to break quickly and try and exploit the space teams leave at the back while chasing a goal. If we can avoid a serious bad run of injuries between now and the end of the season I think we'll stay up. Not expecting anything from the next two games but after that our fixture list gets a lot more manageable, with Ben Arfa hopefully to come back couple with the new arrivals I think it'd take something truly special to take this squad of players down. But then what? With the way he manages during games I can't see him ever being able to achieve top six finishes on a regular basis, and with the quality of players that Graham Carr has been recruiting the last couple of years I truly believe that's an achievable aim in the very near future. The Manchester clubs and Chelsea might be beyond reach, but the rest of the league is there to be fought with IMO. Add a quality striker/winger type to the current squad and it looks very, very impressive to me. But is Pardew good enough to lead them anywhere better than mid table? I really can't see it I'm afraid, not unless he changes his approach considerably. We'll be a hard team to beat, but he just doesn't have the killer instinct that good managers do. He plays to not lose rather than playing to win. I think we're putting together a great little team, and it would be a shame if we didn't give them a manager who can get the best out of them. The key in all this will be Ashley. Will he be happy enough to cruise along with his yes man in charge and hope that Pardew improves with time, or will he be bold and take a risk on someone who he thinks can be better? I'm guessing it'll be the former, so let's hope Pardew grows a pair at some point.

Assumed they were sarcastic ratings?

Aye, he's a fucking colossusaurus.

He was out wide first half too...when we dominated the game, took a 2 goal lead and Cisse himself was one of the scorers. Must have been watching a different game to me, mate. Did we not dominate the first half? We did. Cisse played as the central striker first half though.

He was out wide first half too...when we dominated the game, took a 2 goal lead and Cisse himself was one of the scorers. Must have been watching a different game to me, mate. Aye, me too.

So he's built a team that can't play with a lead and also can't play from behind. Seems a recipe for success.

The quotes Beren posted were attributed to Pardew on the BBC live scores btw.