Mick

If you're right then we should expect a different performance on Wednesday.

Not when he has to use that limited squad. Anyway, I've said what I want to say for now and don't want to keep repeating myself.

Yes, the upgrade has us 7th with better players.

So are you saying Pardew is only a better manager when he has better players that somebody else has found for him?

The above post wasn't needed earlier in the season as we were getting away with things which we're not now. We got away with Ryan Taylor being unable to defend. We got away with Obertan delivering very little and we got away with not making changes sooner but luck played a part in that. We're now seeing a manager who isn't carrying luck and he's not getting the results and it's highlighting his limitations now more than it was earlier in the season. Also, I don’t think I’ve said anything above that I haven’t said before, I just haven’t said them together.

I think getting Nolan out of midfield has helped the defence as we're not carrying a player who has the movement of the QE2 but you're right when we have our best players we defend better.

I'm sure were in the same position at the end of the season, 12th when Pardew (the upgrade) took over.

People who think Pardew is any good need to explain what he's good at. Does he bring in players? We are told that Carr scouts abroad and Pardew wanted Obertan so it's a minus so far with that one. He seems to be decent at man-managing his favoured players so that's a plus. He doesn't seem able to change games too often with his substitution and when he does make changes they are usually late and create havoc amongst our own players as we lose any shape we've had. What is he good at? As far as todays team goes, he got 9 or 10 players right and they probably picked themselves so he did nothing exceptional with picking the team and I think an injury to Ryan Taylor forced his hand a little. The only decisions after that were who to bring on and when and I think he got that wrong. We were playing against a team who were threatening nothing and they looked as if they were more interested in keeping us to 0 than trying to score a goal. We were playing balls into the middle in the air and they defended them easily so our first change was to take an ineffective Best off and replace him like for like, with an ineffective Shola. Why didn’t we try to do something different and either bring on Vuckic or Ben Arfa who would have tried to do something other than hoofing the ball into the Swansea box? The only two people who looked like they might get something for us were Ba who was making chances from nothing, and Coloccini who looked like he might get something from a corner. It's not as if we were battering them, we were just hoying the ball in and hoping that something might drop to us. If something isn’t working then it’s up to us to change what we’re doing and we didn’t, we were clueless and it wasn’t because we didn’t have other options, it was because we didn’t bother to use them. Even when we did make changes it was far too late to change the way that we were playing and virtually every person beside me was calling for changes long before the ditherer made them.

Taylor probably wouldn't have struggled but Santon looked much better than Taylor ever has, he looked very good at times today and he has a touch of class about him. Even against Swansea I looked at him on the ball and couldn't believe Ryan Taylor has kept him out of the team.

You mentioned what he wouldn't do as a winger. We didn't need a winger but Ben Arfa wouldn't have stayed in that position anyway so bringing him on for Obertan or Jonas would have given us other and much needed options.

He did nothing in the second half that I can remember.

Our most important player by a mile.

How does he get games? He's doing nothing for me, the best crosses from his side came from Simpson.

We didn't need a winger tracking back today, we needed somebody who could split the defence.

Pardew was clueless today, nothing working and the changes were too late and like for like.

Jill is famous.

Best's playing, anybody fancy running a sweep on the number of free kicks against?

No Smith, thank God for that.

If he's failled his medical he must have turned up in a coffin.

Obertan has played a quarter of that and he's still waiting for the ball to hit is arse anywhere near the opposition goal.

Just compare this season then, Routledge has twice the assists in half the games.

I liked him while he was here and thought that he should have been given more of a chance.

He's not like.

Agreed, it looks like he's OK.