tmonkey

Can we name any manager at the very top level who has won things who isn't? Sir Bobby was a rare breed of manager.

Yeah, they're okay I guess. Can they play at 6 ft 5 though? They're not playing bad for a team lumbered with "not for us" Mascherano. Probably do alot better if they had the power and strength of Hayden Mullins in the side instead like.

Yaya Toure's indiscipline took him past 3 players there.

Probably will if he leaves this summer.

Same old story of the shit, incompetent manager killing the confidence and motivation of a disillusioned player who happens to be one of the best players at the club. The guy who scored two goals against us today (and is in amongst the best form for strikers in this country) can testify to that.

Nah, Hatem is shit and doesn't care.

Not good enough to improve them according to many of their fans.

Would take Steve Bruce in a heartbeat over this wanker.

Demba Ba's shit touch and balance nearly results in Sissoko getting sent off.

Same poor finishing Salah showed for Arab Contractors SC.

It was like Matrix for retards.

He's such a good PR man Anyone who reads this and doesn't watch our games regularly, and/or is gullible enough to believe his bullshit, is going to genuinely think this guy sends his players out to win every game.

Hope the mackems game was a one off and he'll be back to playing well again, which to be fair to him in the past few months he has done. And then I hope we sell him in the summer for good money. The way he holds onto the ball unnecessarily is absolutely disgraceful (almost as disgraceful as Pardew not at least trying to stamp down on this part of his game, or more likely encouraging it). His ego on the pitch leads him to think he's a better footballer than he is when he needs to realise he's nothing more than a water carrier (and a very good one at that if he only played like one). And whilst this may come across as being the words of a Hatem fanboy, I'm fed up with the number of times Tiote completely ignores passing to Ben Arfa when he comes short to Cheik. It happens like 95% of the time. Tiote on the ball, Hatem who has been starved of the ball comes towards where Tiote is facing and is open for the pass, Tiote then decides to switch direction and spread the play elsewhere, as though the team is better off by using the only player able to create chances as a decoy. Just a pure knobhead.

IMO with Robert when he got something right you'd remember it - great left foot - but over 90 minutes he'd be highly frustrating, hitting the first man with his crosses the majority of the time (conveniently forgotten it seems), shooting wildly and selfishly from anywhere, rarely ever producing a good pass for teammates (virtually all assists were crosses/corners). The point here being that imo Robert was carried by an excellent footballing side (under a legendary manager) and therefore had the luxury and freedom of being the guy who'd pop up 25-40 yards only having to produce a good cross or shot to go home having had a good game. With Ben Arfa, it's entirely different - he's under immense pressure to be the guy who picks the ball up from within his own half and then make something happen by beating 2/3/4 players, i.e. carrying the entire team. To put it another way, Robert's job was icing the cake, Hatem's is to make the cake all on his own (something few players on this planet can consistently do). Another point to think about with Robert. When Sir Bobby's team was flying high at its very best and looking like a surprise title challenge might be on the cards, Bellamy got injured and our team/that title challenge crumbled (even Sir Alex admitted he thought we'd win the title if Bellamy hadn't got injured). How did Robert fare when Bellamy was out of the team in that specific period? From what I recall his game immediately suffered because the team as a whole were less effective, and he certainly didn't step up to the plate and carry the game for us. So clearly he was heavily reliant on the team as a whole being fully functional. Furthermore, his peak lasted about a season and a half, and as soon as the team started to wane in Sir Bobby's final full season, and with Souness not preferring him, Robert's game went completely down the hill. To put it simply, Robert became s*** as soon as Sir Bobby's team descended to the standard that our current team is at. Compare all of this to Hatem. Leg snapped in two so out for a year, frequently dropped and scapegoated, further injuries, has had to play in a team playing far worse hoofball than we did even under Souness, forced by his manager to track back to pretty extreme levels (something Robert never had to do, meaning less energy wasted and more opportunities to be closer to opposition goal). And then on top of all of this, having hit some fantastic form for very brief periods, he's now become a marked man because everyone knows how good he is, usually having 2 players closing him down as soon as he's on the ball (something teams never did to Robert - wonder why?). Yet he still excites most people in the ground, is often our best player when he's on the pitch, and still manages to beat multiple players and create chances or produce good balls from nothing situations. Even today, despite the attention he had and playing in an unfamiliar position, and having a poor game by his standards, he still had a few decent moments and good passes into the penalty box (the trouble being they were all to Shola Ameobi). Hatem has essentially had everything going against him, yet he's still plugging away and trying to carry the team - unlike Robert who became s*** as soon as the going got tough. Whilst I wish Hatem could cross or take a free kick like Robert, and both are/were inherently inconsistent due to being unpredictable, I still think Hatem is the comfortably superior footballer, and that whilst he may not be as good as we think/hope, we're still criminally wasting his talents by having a manager who has no idea or ability to use him effectively. And fwiw I think Sir Bobby would have used him to devastating effect because his dribbling would have been by far the best in the team. Imagine the space it would have left Dyer and Bellamy if teams decided to double/triple up on Hatem.

Hatem is miles better than Robert in the middle third of the pitch - in no way, shape or form was Robert anywhere near as good at beating players and opening things up. Robert's shooting was better and crossing considerably better, but he played in a significantly better team too and therefore had greater freedom to get on the end of chances.

What chances? Their keeper didn't have a save to make until it was 2-0. I think he was referring to Sunderland, who had a bucketload of good chances. He wants the payoff from the sacking.

Hoof'ed like a mofo.

One of the biggest flaws of Pardew is that he constantly feels the need to "out-tactic" (as Allardyce put it) the opposition manager every fucking game, as though if he personally doesn't exploit an opposition weakness or counter one of their strengths using his tactics and genius then the team won't win. He can't just find a good, self-sufficient starting XI that can defend and attack competently without his input and let it be - he has to "change fings" so that he can massage his own ego and claim the win was down to him. Why the fuck did we go long ball today after the decent performance against Norwich? Because Pardew wanted to outsmart Poyet. He thought Sunderland would come here and look to counter us, so we'd be better off if we just launched it to Shola's head and not give them the chance to counter. It's all about him and his fucking ego.

He set us up to fail by starting Shola and having us launch the ball.

Maybe not, but we won't know if we don't try. There might be a decent manager out there willing to work for Ashley at a massive Premiership club like NUFC who is capable of coaching decent football without shitting his pants against...well, everyone.

2014. And Shola will have played 90 minutes.

Looking at this cunt just watching the game makes me angry.

Fuck sake. Again.

Cheik you utter twat.

That's De Jong benched for Shola for the remainder of the season.