tmonkey

Dat through ball to Sissoko

Norwich have had 2 good chances now.

Every time we lose, no matter how convincingly, we were unlucky. Every time we scrape a win where the opposition miss sitters and could/should have buried us, it's a win we deserved and fought hard for.

It's an 11/12 result. We have one player taking a solitary chance that came his way, we're playing very defensively and negatively for the most part, and we're relying on the opposition fluffing their chances/Krul playing a blinder/clearances off the line to go our way. Happy with the result, but let's not start counting chickens just yet. At this point in time it's the one step forward after having already taken 2 steps back solely under Pardew's management.

Krul

Cabaye is amazing man.

Krul is saving our hides.

We've done well. Sat back and parked the bus in front of goal, not much linkup between midfield and attack and we aren't getting numbers forward, but we're away to a top team and it's acceptable to play this way.

Varane

Ozil is the better playmaker, but Bale is a significantly better match winner. Fair statement?

Class from Bale.

Sparks of sheer quality in the Juve Madrid game.

What the hell was that from Caceras

What a greaseball Vidal is.

Meh. Personally think folk are getting carried away with one win at home to an aging Mourinho side where we out-worked them for the entire game (playing horrible "football" for 65 minutes in doing so) and by Pardew's admission got the lucky breaks that we wanted. Again, this was just another in a long list of "cup finals" for us where the team competed and matched one of the top sides. Ben Arfa is our most talented footballer, and we need to stick by him like any well-run club does when its star player hits a slump in form. Put him back on the right wing, get him tracking back like he has done for the most part of the past 2 seasons (something that many folk on here were willing to praise Pardew about), and then go from there. Not drop him for s*** like Jonas, Obertan, Shola, Sissoko out wide, and even, dare I say it, Gouffran (I think if he continues as a wide midfielder he'll get his fair share of critics once we get to games where we need more than sheer work rate, though I'd be happy to be wrong). However, going back to a previous post, I really suspect he may have been tapped up, and this is the reasoning behind why he's not playing in his "default" RW position. Has Hatem even said anything in the media recently, especially given that he has been dropped? You'd expect him to be complaining in the press, issuing "come get me pleas", or at least explaining things (sucking up to the boss by saying he'll try harder, etc etc). If we're trying to sell him, why bench him? The other logical explanation is that Pardew and the club are trying to use this winter period as an opportunity to have him in and out of the team so as to keep him fresh for the second half of the season - and Brazil 2014 if he manages to make the French squad. Though in current form, that theory is looking a little far fetched.

Too short to be a starter.

Thank you Mr Pardew. Now please fuck off.

Anita and Sissoko should be our central midfield based on the form they showed as a pairing whilst Cabaye/Tiote were out, with Cabaye or Marveaux in front of them. However, just like Marveaux after the Christmas period last season, they'll most likely never be given the run in the team they deserve (and earnt) simply because Pardew prefers other options, usually on the base of physicality or defensive strength. Bit like why he preferred Perch in CM over Anita last year.

What's happened to Lawro's face? He looks like a Klingon.

It has only really been 3.5 games where he hasn't been class and has run into alot of dead ends because he's actively targeted by 2/3 players at all times. But even so, it does still seem like something is up, as though he's unhappy with something. Suspicions slash conspiracy theories: 1) Pardew has instructed him to effectively try to play more like Gareth Bale. I.e. run past a player then blast it at goal. It must be an instruction that he's working under for him to be shooting so wildly and so often from silly ranges, as he's only really been playing like this from the start of this season and he definitely didn't play like this in his first few seasons here. Hence, Pardew's instructions are causing Hatem to lose confidence because they're not working, resulting in him playing even worse because every time he cocks up it's being highlighted even more. 2) He's just fed up now. After the Villa performance teams have clamped down on him, so when he gets the ball he's surrounded - yet absolutely noone shows for him. His teammates all stand still like statues making it hard for him to go anywhere or do anything, yet he's pressurized to make things happen. He no doubt looks at the likes of Arsenal and sees the movement and options each and every one of their players has and wishes he wasn't here wasting his time for a chump of a manager who's caveman approach to the game are making him look bad - so now he can't be bothered and is going to wait till Pardew gets sacked or something. 3) After the Villa game another club has tapped him up, and now he's lost interest/motivation and may even be playing for a move but in a perverse way (i.e. play badly, frustrate manager, club gets rid of him for cheap). Last players to have similar and visible drops in form and/or effort are Owen (Bosman) and Jose Enrique (tapped by Liverpool) in the 6+ months prior to their moves for obvious reasons.

Today was 100% proof, if it was ever needed, that this cunt can't do the most important and basic functions of his job: to motivate the players. The players were far more motivated against Liverpool than today. If thinking about the "Why?", there's only one logical answer - it's because the players motivated themselves against Liverpool and Pardew had nothing to do with it. Just like our players have frequently upped their game against the "big boys" over the past decade no matter who the manager was (Souness, Roeder, Allardyce, JFK, etc etc). We've had teams who have been hopeless and unable to string a couple of passes together against crap like Derby, Boro, Bolton, and other relegation fodder, but as soon as the likes of ManU roll into town the same helpless team is instantly transformed into a side that can compete against the best for 60-70 minutes at least. Again, that's entirely because the players motivate themselves for whatever reasons, and nothing to do with the manager. It's not trying to deny Pardew credit, it's just obvious footballing basics here - it's minnows vs the top dogs in the FA Cup and the various aspects of sports psychology that affects that type of game. Hence, the fact that Pardew couldn't motivate his players against the this lot, knowing what this game means to the fans, the area, etc, proves that he has absolutely no motivational skills worthy of calling himself a Premiership football manager. None whatsoever. If they were anything like as motivated as they were against Liverpool we'd have dominated the mackems and run them into the ground. One whole week uninterrupted to prepare for this game, knowing full well Poyet would use this game as a litmus test of sorts and get his players motivated by telling them this was the start of their season, and yet this is the kind of shit we get - 11 strangers thrown onto the pitch without any clue as to what they're meant to be doing or how we're meant to actually go about getting a goal, and worst of all most of them looking stunned and totally unprepared for this battle.

Kryptonite for footballers. Absolutely everyone has gone downhill under this prick.

Utter. Fucking. Cunts.

Tiote ffs.

Debuchy