Sifu

One thing I remember brummie saying is that O'Neill is pretty much an old-fashioned manager who hasn't really adapted to modern football. That is, O'Neill apparently sticks to old routines and doesn't really incorporate the more modern methods/tactics into training. This could go against the mackems in the long term like (if he stays there for the long haul [5+ years], that is).

Stoke. On a wet Thursday night. Do it. Seriously though, imo the one thing you can't deny is that, at this current point in time, Messi is the best player in the world. Sure, you have your CR7s and Xavis/Iniestas but Messi most definitely stands out as the best. Everything about his play is just world class and is pretty much unrivaled at the moment. People can debate all they want on where he ranks amongst the past greats - different opinions will bound to come about. 24 years old, 234 goals. What an achievement.

Ha! The honeymoon period is officially over. On another note, just seen Ji's miss from last night's game ;D

About Ranger's ability, he's certainly athletic and does have a physical presence about him. We saw on various occasions last season that such attributes can be useful (Ranger's introductions off the bench arguably helped to change some games tbf). Having said that, his terrible attitude is completely outweighing any positives he has. He's wasting any talent he has by being an absolute dick and the sad thing is, I doubt he gives a fuck about that. Definitely get rid.

It's probably a link to an article about Santon.

FWIW, I'm still pretty confident that the Cabaye-Tiote partnership will click at some point. It's been mentioned by some before, what needs to be done is to let Tiote do all/the majority of the defending while at the same time, tell Cabaye push up and essentially do all the attacking. In short, Yohan needs to be instructed to be further forward while Cheik needs to be told to sit deeper. It really seems to be the other way round in the games they've played together though. With a proper, uninterrupted pre-season and a simple tweak in instructions, I'm sure Cabaye and Tiote will form a formidable partnership. Here's hoping.

McClean is still a young lad (23 next month) and this is his first season in the PL so he's still learning really. But teams are really starting to figure him out - show him on his right foot and he basically does nowt. Probably still one to watch.....

Get in!

I hear Ji's just missed an open goal?

Well done, Neil Warnock.

1-0 to Blackburn. Wooop.

I predict a Yakubu hat trick tonight (I'm basing this on nothing, haha).

aye, the unlucky orange shirt worn only once away at Blackburn in the cup co-incIding with our 1st defeat of the season. Tbf, it was a draw after 90 minutes (A loss is a loss though )

And Ashley Cole doesn't get punished for shooting a youth player with an air rifle. Nice.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17433293

Full back or Centre back? cant say i have a clue who he is tbh. I think we were linked with him a few months ago. 19/20 year old CB iirc. EDIT: QBG

Must. Acquire.

Seriously, terminate his contract. Enough is enough.

Pretty much. The Independent has been very tabloid-y for a while now, so I wouldn't say that they're very reliable these days. Shame, it used to be a decent newspaper.

Completely agree with your post, High Five o/. I, for one, don't want to see Pardew sacked whatsoever. If we finish strongly this season (ie. a top 6/7 finish with the possibility of Europa League qualification), then he definitely has my support for next season. Finishing in such a position will represent massive progress for us and one which we should/have to build on. What I've highlighted in bold has quite a bit of substance imo, Pardew and the lads will get a whole summer to properly reflect on the good and the bad from this season. We'll hopefully build on the good and learn/improve from the bad. If, over the course of next season, it turns out we're making little progress and/or actually moving backwards, then massive questions about Pardew will be rightly raised (his future may even be called into question). As it stands though, the season's not over yet and there's still some work/a job to be done. Clearly, we need some work on our play/tactics, I'm not excusing Pardew for our "performances" these past few months - he's been very poor in this aspect and he needs to change his mentality and fast. So what I'll say is, I do/still have faith in Pardew and I do want the man to succeed. Fingers crossed.

Maybe it's a bit of both? I don't know really, no-one does. From what I gather though, Saylor seems to be well-liked in the squad (I know he's had some issues in the past but it does seem to me that this season, he is a respected member of the squad).

On the Jonas at LB thing, this is a quote from Jonas yesterday: Now, I'm not defending Pardew's (second half) tactics yesterday btw but it seems to me that Pardew (at first anyway) wanted to go for it so maybe that's why he opted for such an attacking lineup yesterday? I guess it could also the case that Jonas has a better track record for assists from the left so maybe that's the reason why Santon was on the bench? I'm not picking at his decision to deploy Jonas at left-back who I actually thought had a very good game at both ends. My criticism is with his decision to deploy Cabaye narrow on the left which gave Jonas little cover nor much support in attack. These things can have adverse knock on effects elsewhere on the pitch and that happened a few times as Colo had to leave the centre to help Jonas defend against his man or to help recover possession down that flank. Can you imagine the damage someone like Holt could have done in the centre up againts Williamson with Colo away from that area? More worryingly is despite Norwich getting some joy down that side, Cabaye continued in that narrow position. Pardew either didn't spot it, did and thought nowt of it or simply had no tactical answer to it. What gets me is both Jonas and Colo himself had words with Cabaye during the game. I must say, I feel a tad concerned with his form and role in the side. He played well in parts against Norwich especially when we were on the ball and playing it around but there was clear insutructions at one point to ping it long quarter-back style and Cabaye looked frustrated. I think the reasoning for Cabaye playing in such a position was to give him a bit more freedom to attack. This kinda explains why Jonas was pretty much doing the attacking and defending on his own. From what I saw, for the first 15 minutes or so, it looked as if we were playing 3 in midfield - which is what Yohan was used to last season at Lille so maybe Pardew was trying to replicate that. It is quite clear that Cabaye hasn't been in the best of form recently but yesterday was one of his better games (certainly better than his recent outings) so maybe, Pardew was trying to get Cabaye's confidence back when he decided to put Yohan in a narrow-left role? I know I'm making a lot of assumptions here but I'm trying to explain Pardew's (admittedly bizarre) system/line up yesterday. It worked to an extent but also had quite a few failings (the lack of cover for Jonas as you've pointed out). Clearly, a bit of work needs to be done.

On the Jonas at LB thing, this is a quote from Jonas yesterday: Now, I'm not defending Pardew's (second half) tactics yesterday btw but it seems to me that Pardew (at first anyway) wanted to go for it so maybe that's why he opted for such an attacking lineup yesterday? I guess it could also the case that Jonas has a better track record for assists from the left so maybe that's the reason why Santon was on the bench?

No doubt about that but I do think we are missing Steven Taylor for his role as an on-pitch leader (for reasons I described above). For me, there was something about Saylor's presence on the pitch that just demonstrated leadership. Saylor also seems to be the club's vice-captain too so he surely has some sort of influence on the other lads?

So Russia 2018......