STM

Bumming is on the cards. Man utd are purring up front, with RVP and our favourite scouser hitting some form. Their defence is shaky but all they need to do is head the ball.

That and it would be an utterly stupid thing to do.

What's the consensus then, sack Pardew? He's clearly clueless.

Apparently they have a new english striker on their books called James Forrest who fancied getting a flight back.

A lack of leadership plays its part too. Its one thing having good characters in the team, its another having leaders who are prepared to make things happen at key moments in games. I don't trust any of our players to lead the way and make something happen on the pitch.

Didnt we have 59% of the ball against Reading? We just didnt do anything with it. In the first 20 minutes we had loads of the ball, just did nowt with it.

Width? Have you watched us recently? Don't think Pardew concerns himself with width.

What REALLY annoys me is that we have Marveaux, a supposed top notch creative ball playing midfielder, not even making the bench at times. Whats going on there? Is it fitness? attitude? form?. It wouldnt solve the balance issue but such a waste.

So you would put Santon on the right? Not for me. For the most part Santon has been confident and comfortable, who needs work on his attacking play. Moving him to right back will cause more problems IMO. I do believe "balance" to be an issue.

The problem i have when writing a potential line up is that all the time in the back of my mind i'm thinking "what will Pardew do" and i can't see him starting Ferguson.

As much as you are correct in almost everything you say Wullie, Santon is the least of our worries.

One of my favourite things about Pardew is that last year he was picking players on merit because they had earned there shot in the side. Two assists in two cameo's for Ferguson, in a side lacking pace and goal threat, play him.

We don't play with width in a 442, so as Skirge says, why not try this long term? Krul Simpson Taylor Coloccini Santon Anita Tiote Cabaye Ben Arfa Cisse Ba

Ba's class. Stick him centrally up front and he will score goals, even in a team who doesn't make hat fulls of chances. Him and Cisse can start playing well together, if we start creating more chances.

Need to find some form. Harper Tavernier Perch Williamson Santon Obertan Tiote Anita Marveaux Shola Cisse

The biggest problem we had yesterday is that we only had 3 attacking players on the pitch yesterday. Jonas is becoming more and more a problem, other than some quality closing down, he offers nothing to us. Shane Ferguson deserves his chance and make just turn our performances around. Were in 9th, beaten in one, playing averagely but picking up points. One decent attacking decision from Pardew will see us improve. Either put put Santon right back and Fergy left back or directly replace Jonas for Ferguson.

Mick, I think they will work well together. Moreso perhaps than Tiotw and Cabaye, since the latter is played too deep.

Really looking forward to this. Fancy a good display from the midfield.

Pardew must see Obertan as a better sub. I understan why, I just don't agree.

Bigi is a better passer than Anita, that's why he's in the team. We should dominate the centre of the pitch.

Oh absolutely, Ashley is incredibly astute and utterly ruthless at the same time. I quite like that we do things differently to the rest of the league. Mavericks.

Yeah but it isn't 8 years though is it? Basically, what Mike Ashley is saying is that he doesn't agree with one/two/three year deals as they have no merit in his business, so he signs people for indefinate lengths of time to tie them down. If they want to sack Pardew, they pay him off, he's one of lowest paid managers in the league (or was). Alternatively, they already have a pay off written into his contract. However, should another club come in for him, unlikely as it is, we have a nice long contract to sit on. Therefore we can get a nice fee for him, in the same way we would do for players. Mike Ashley, once again, now holds all the cards and he gets the idea of "stability" thrown into the bargain. It changes nothing. From a footballing point of view, i like Pardew.

If Colo is out, Williamson will stuggle with Pogremnyak (sp). However, away to Reading is a game that we should win. We have a pretty good balance of form and fitness returning to the side. No premiership game is easy though.

There's always that little younger lad when you are playing 5 a side, the one that skips past you and scores loads of goals but says nowt the whole game but looks experianced beyond his years. That's what Ferguson reminds me of. There was a moment after that goal where I think Welbeck was trying to close him down but didn't know what to do with him. Ferguson has goals and assists in his game, an end product, golddust amongst young players IMO.

My ratings; Elliot -8 starting to look a good back up keeper. Perch-6 was ok Williamson- 5 beaten one too many times for my liking Colo-6 doesn't look match sharp IMO Tav-7 really impressed with his control, naïve going forward Obertan-5 same old stuff, two decent runs, the rest shite Gosling-6 actually played a little better, still not sure Tiote-7 needed a passer alongside him Marveaux-6 composed on the ball but seems to slow the pace down when he's got it Vuckic-6 some good touches but still struggling to impact the game enough Ameobi-7 I thought he was a handful for them, struggled without support though. Fergy- 8 good cameo Bigi-7 better than gosling Cisse-8 back