stozo

We shouldn't have that attitude and a club our size shouldn't ever be in danger of relegation. We were though so it kind of screws up your argument. Also with big clubs like Man U, Barca etc there is a huge commercial interest related to their pre-season tours. Sadly that's not going to be the case with us until we break into the top 4. Most frustrating thing for me is communication. We clearly do have at least some of our pre-season games planned (Blackpool) but the powers that be have decided not to announce it yet.

True, so not going to happen. Why? Thought it was by season not calendar year. Yep, this is the case as far as I'm aware. You can't play for more than two clubs in a season. Debuchy and Yanga-Mbiwa could both, in theory, move this summer.

I agree but I was too scared to post this myself! His style is safety-first and conservative a lot of the time, but I don't think he's a long ball manager or much like Pulis at all. he doesn't have a style man bolded is all he know and favours, football firmly comes second, and as we're seeing if you don't coach good players into playing football as a team they rapidly become a nervous pile of shit and resort to treating the ball like a hot potato Disagree with this (to an extent). Where I'll agree with you is that when our backs have been up against the wall this season (in terms of league position) he has certainly played conservatively, particularly away from home. I don't think that necessarily means that's how he wants us to play - I reckon that's largely him panicking about our league position and deciding he needs to get something rather than nothing. I think he does want to be more attack minded but he does need to improve his style. The Swansea and Sunderland home games come to mind as games where having gone behind we've actually thrown considerable numbers forward and been cut apart on the counter attack.

I think this idea that Pardew wants to play crap football (like Pulis) is a bit of a slur to be honest. Fair enough you're not happy with what happened this season but there have certainly been times when we've played good stuff under Pardew. Indeed in the past he's made comments about us wanting to play a more technical passing game and only this week was saying he wants us to play with attacking full backs. Also having tall players isn't necessarily contradictory to playing good football - Bayern's CB pairing last weekend was Dante (6ft 2in) and Boateng (6ft 4in).

Don't think it's a case of Carroll over Cisse at all. Man U played the season with 4 good strikers, Man City played with 3 so the idea that it's Cisse OR Carroll is bonkers. If we can get him for £10m I'd be very much in favour of us signing Carroll. He offers something that we don't have at the moment and if he can rekindle the form he showed when he was here before then it would be a fantastic deal.

Good news.

The argument against keeping Pardew seems to be 'what if he does badly and there is nobody else available?'. But what happens if we bring in Jol and we're 17th come Christmas? There are no certainties in any of this. I'm content in giving Pardew a chance. If he fails then fair enough but I think every manager deserves one bad season. Two bad seasons and he's got to go.

@pkelso 16m Expect #Uefa to confirm tomorrow that from 2015-16 Europa League winners qualify for Champions League. Could be 5 teams from one country Interesting. Gives teams a reason to compete in the Europa League.

Pure muscle. @Sammy_Ameobi 4m Just compared and as if Shola has less body fat % than me! Madness!!!

I still think the Di Canio thing will all end in tears for Sunderland but I've got respect for him taking the stance he is taking.

If this set piece makes a reappearance next season I think I'll lose the will to live.

Pretty sure that offcially the Man City goal was counted as being from a corner, despite it being second phase.

Nice gesture but let's be realistic. If we win today we could finish 10th, if we lose we could finish 17th. That's about a £3.5m difference in prize money is it not? So not entirely altruistic.

Tavernier? I'll be stunned if Tavernier makes. He's 21 (22 in October), his only consistent games have been in League 1 and he's looked ropey whenever he's played for our first team (If I remember correctly that Epstein lad from Atromitos ripped him to bits for about 20 mins in that game).

Have to say revisited this thread today after a few days away and it's much improved. A lot more sensible (and evidence based) discussion about where we've gone wrong rather than generic 'Pardew is crap'. Particularly love the player heat maps showing how poor our shape has been for a lot of the season.

Swansea away was the last game I thought we played well in, before the slump. We didn't create much and ultimately lost to a fucking wank goal but that was up there with the best performances this season imo. Cool, here you are: http://i.imgur.com/x6yPhu1.jpg So essentially shows we've improved since the new signings came in. At least that bodes well for next season.

Serves to highlight my theory that we were very lucky last season and a bit unlucky this season. I think the last two seasons we've been a 50-55 point team that has had two very contrasting seasons.

This. Have to say I'd be tempted to play Simpson. Can't afford to get caught on the counter attack and while Simpson won't offer much going forward he'll probably close of that flank better than Debuchy. This is what Pardew has done to us. To be fair this is what tomorrow's game has done to us. Don't give a shit how we play tomorrow, just want to win and then move on from this season. And what about the game on Sunday? Massive fail on my part.

This. Have to say I'd be tempted to play Simpson. Can't afford to get caught on the counter attack and while Simpson won't offer much going forward he'll probably close of that flank better than Debuchy. This is what Pardew has done to us. To be fair this is what tomorrow's game has done to us. Don't give a shit how we play tomorrow, just want to win and then move on from this season.

This. Have to say I'd be tempted to play Simpson. Can't afford to get caught on the counter attack and while Simpson won't offer much going forward he'll probably close of that flank better than Debuchy.

Think Pardew's had a shit season and questions need to be answered but just to play devil's advocate... http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2011/11/5/1320519253730/Ta-Ra-Fergie-banner-007.jpg

Can't wait for Sunday after last night. Makes it our biggest game of the season. Just hope the team delivers and we can get 3 points.

As above if we finish in the bottom three we deserve to go down. That said we'd be in far less trouble now if Wigan's last minute winner against us had been rightly disallowed...

The 1 on 1. Cleared off the line but that needs to be put away. At the end on the day he gave Collins a chance of clearing it which shouldn't have existed.

Defensively did well today but didn't offer enough going forward. Well up for having a go at Pardew but our attacking players need to be getting it in the neck as well. Cabaye's allegedly a £20m midfielder but showed nothing for long periods today. Gouffran needs to be burying that open goal and that's the second away game in a row where Cisse's blown a huge chance. I do dearly love HBA but apart from some mazy runs that didn't amount to much he offered little today.