tmonkey

Look at that chimpanzee run from di Chimpio.

Fuck. Great goal.

Sissoko absolutely rapes him there.

Jonas

Oh fuck off.

Fuck me. Absolute sitter for them.

Rose on a yellow is great for HBA.

Was Cisse's shirt being tugged there? Will Quinn have anything to say about it?

Awful from Jonas. And Saylor inviting Sessegnon to shoot

For fuck's sake.

Lucky to get away with that...

Benfica's defense was s***. They're there for the taking, and either they had a relatively bad day in front of goal despite the 3-1 scoreline, or they are actually lacking in terms of being clinical (we gifted them two very easy goals, whilst they wasted about a dozen half-chances or promising situations), which hopefully means they'll not be as big a threat on the counter. I think we can do this, as long as we go at them from the start. As for Pardew....meh. Limited manager who is having us play more like a lower league side in a televised FA Cup tie at home to a Premiership side than a slick, cohesive team littered with some very talented individuals. Even the type of "attacking" football is similar to what you'd see at the top ends of the lower leagues in terms of being very basic in the approach play, albeit with far better players [being wasted in the process]. In a way, Pardew is like the managerial equivalent of Kevin "can't sell him, 11 Premiership goals" Nolan - he has some good traits, has served us well for a specific period of time, but now the team has moved on and his deficiencies are holding us back. We'd really do well to go out and get an upgrade more suited to this squad - the equivalent of replacing Nolan with Cabaye, which in managerial terms would be getting someone in who is good at coaching, or overseeing the coaching of, the squad into passing, moving, and attacking better as a unit. Or if we don't get rid of Pardew, at the very least we need to bring someone in to genuinely help him and give him an earful when he decides to do something stupid (like last season when for no reason we switched away from a super successful 4-3-3). Maybe Pardew is just a Brian Clough who hasn't found his Peter Taylor yet? On that note, maybe it's John Carver who isn't doing his job well?

Whilst this is pointless, I currently have nothing better to do, so my two choices: First choice, Roberto Martinez. Laid the foundations for the way Swansea currently play (and through which Rodgers and Laudrup have received many plaudits), and is doing a similarly good job at Wigan given the style of play (even if they get relegated, which means little given that they've always been relegation candidates because that's the standard the club will always be at). From Wiki "Martínez obtained a bachelor's degree in physiotherapy.[1] He also has a postgraduate diploma in business management" - don't know how useful those qualifications are, but they sound pretty impressive for a football manager. Second choice, Frank Rijkaard. CL and La Liga winner with Barcelona, semi finals with Holland in the Euro's at the start of his management career, good age (50), coaches attacking football and likes players to express themselves (which for me makes him much more desirable than the likes of Benitez), has operated in a DoF system before, is currently available, has experience of managing in various countries/continents with mixed success, and might be at the stage of his managerial career where he both wants and needs to re-establish himself as a good calibre manager by taking on a club he can build. And leave a decent budget aside so he gets the right assistants in too (Neeskins was apparently the key assistant during Rijkaard's Barca tenure). No Premiership experience makes him a gamble certainly, but it's the type of gamble I'd want us to take as if he did hit it off with this squad we could be pretty damn sexy given the players we have. I also think he'd be a decent pull for prospective signings as he's a massive name and he'll forever be associated with being the manager of the Ronaldinho/pre-Guardiola Barcelona team. Unfortunately, Sir Bobby aside, this club has a track record since the Keegan era for being pretty insular when recruiting managers in terms of only going for those with prior Premiership experience (Dalglish, Gullitt, Souness, Roeder, Allardyce, Keegan v2, JFK, Hughton, Pardew), and I doubt this'll change anytime soon - which means Rijkaard would never be an option even if pigs were to fly and Pardew was to get sacked this season.

Ibra made up for another turboshit performance.

Valdes would have saved that if he dived as melodramatically as Saylor does.

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/incoming/article809898.ece/ALTERNATES/gallery-large/Mike-Ashley-Alan-Pardew-Newcastle-casino-Aspers-cropped

Italy are shit.

Agent Jonas doing his job well.

Oh you utter fucking cunts.

This referee ffs.

Tiote needs to be spanked by Pardew tonight.

Marveaux

Great ball from Cisse too.

Awesome.

Dem drums