Shak

http://1-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/sp/image/1339/79/1339792564071.jpg

Williamson finally gets on the end of a free kick! Quality back pass.

Tiote is a fucking liability when we have the ball tbh.

Fuck, Ba should have been in there, Ben Arfa looks rusty.

A lot of good points,still too much of a risk for me to punt our in form forward whilst hoping Cisse isn't doing it because he has to play up top with Ba. I'd want us to bring in someone who can play either out wide or central. Competition both for Cisse as the main forward and for either of the wide attacking spots.

I don't think there's any way he's going to be with us beyond next season. He'll go to the highest bidder when his contract expires, and you can bet that won't be us. I'd expect we're actively trying to sell him behind the scenes, we won't want to lose him for nothing. Quite obviously he's been one of our best players this season, but there's also plenty of merit in the idea that we could ultimately be a better TEAM with someone else in there instead of him. It's quite clear that Ba and Cisse as a pairing up top doesn't work and that the team in general struggles when asked to play in a system that utilizes the two of them centrally. Nolan was one of our most effective players, but we sold him and replaced him with Cabaye. Cabaye doesn't score anywhere near the same number of goals that Nolan did from the same position, but the team as a whole benefitted from the move. Obviously it would depend on who we replace Ba with, but if it leads to us playing the system that got the best out of Cisse, Ben Arfa, Jonas and Cabaye last season then there's a chance we'd be better for it long term IMO.

Would just like to make it clear that I'm joking before some hysterical lunatic screams at me

Even the blind squirrel finds a nut every so often.

He's a bit dim. Ba fucked. Fuck sake.

http://i.imgur.com/cxbSN.png Me Bigsta

Can't believe I laughed at this. :lol: Me Bigsta Need to give this guy the Bigi haircut.

Me Bigsta.

Looked vaguely like a 4-2-3-1 with Marv in the center and Cisse on the right. Wigan looked set to give us a beatdown until the sending off. Cheers.

So yeah, I was asleep for the first half half. How did we line up? 4-4-2? Marv on the right? Did we actually look good or did the sending off kind of turn the game?

The bottom three get relegated?! This is brand new information!!

Ba doesn't strike me as a captain at all, seems to be somewhat of a brooding character on the field. Cabaye is probably the most natural captain in the team.

He's not playing a style of game that suits him at the moment IMO. Obviously he deserves some criticism for his performances and I'm not trying to absolve him completely but I think he'd look much better if (like so many of our players) he was being used better. He seems to be getting used as an all action, box-to-box midfielder and personally I don't think it's his game at all. For me he should be told to sit in front of the CB's pretty much from the start of the game until the end as a pure defensive midfielder. When the ball comes his way he should look for a quick, simple pass. He's an absolutely fantastic defensive presence in the center of the field, but at times he's a liability when we have the ball. Gets caught in possession far too much, and his passing is very poor. It reminds me of Scott Parker under Roeder. Was a very good defensive midfielder for us, but once we started trying to get more out of him his performances regressed. Same thing happening is happening with Tiote IMO. What's even more frustrating is that having a player like Tiote in the holding role should have allowed Cabaye to play a much more advanced position when we did go 4-4-2. Give Cabaye freedom to get around the park knowing that Tiote is protecting the defense, it'd have made both of them look a lot better. Think he and Anita could be a good pairing in a 4-2-3-1, Tiote doing the defensive work and Anita starting attacks from deep. Real pity Cabaye is out and that the 4-4-2 formation was ever invented.

Sounds like we were at least a little improved, hope we can take something from that and beat Wigan. Team really needs a win right now, it's getting dodgy.

More promising IMO. He's always talked a good game though, find it hard to imagine much changing.

No personal offence, but I hate posts like this. As if Pardew doesn't mind losing if he has something to blame it on. Total bullshit. I wasn't being entirely serious, shockingly enough.

I don't see any evidence of players not giving their all - in fact that is all the manager is asking for, we never hear him talk at the minute about anything other than grinding or working, well apart from magic and luck. You do become a poor player if you're outnumbered and have nobody to pass to because they're not allowed out of their position, or if you're being asked to win headers against bruising centre halves when you're physically incapable of it. Did you see his quotes from yesterday? Apparently the key to turning this around is winning more headers, trying harder and (my personal favourite) running faster. Fuck off is that real? You've made this up haven't you?! I know winning games last season helped us ignore some comments to a degree. But his PR and comments to the press have been embarrassing, cringeworthy and annoying as fuck in the last 2-3 weeks. He's cracked and he's doing all he can to deflect the blame. The journal article from this morning is worrying though. Saying the players have to get us out of this rut, still blaming the injuries and Europe. I wish. http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/sport/newcastle-united/nufc-news/2012/11/25/stats-show-newcastle-united-squad-is-being-pushed-to-limit-79310-32301547/ Towards the end of that piece, buried in some slightly less stupid shit.

Excuse sorted!! http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/nechronical/nov2011/9/4/alan-pardew-218602325.jpg

I don't see any evidence of players not giving their all - in fact that is all the manager is asking for, we never hear him talk at the minute about anything other than grinding or working, well apart from magic and luck. You do become a poor player if you're outnumbered and have nobody to pass to because they're not allowed out of their position, or if you're being asked to win headers against bruising centre halves when you're physically incapable of it. Did you see his quotes from yesterday? Apparently the key to turning this around is winning more headers, trying harder and (my personal favourite) running faster.

Looks like he hasn't got a clue how to change things. Just keep doing what worked last year and wait for things to magically fix themselves. I think he may have lost the dressing room personally, the players haven't looked motivated or happy out there for a while. I reckon a few of them have realised that there's no intention to every try and play good football and have stopped buying into what he's telling them. Honestly, I find it hard to blame them.