Memphis

I've been a supporter of Pardew's and still am but the lack of urgency and clueless play speaks very poorly of him. To have two weeks to prepare for a Wolves team that: 1. Has no permanent manager 2. Has not won in 9 matches 3. Is in the bottom 3 4. Just lost 5-1 to West Brom and look as poor as we did - even from the beginning (remember Doyle had a great chance 43 seconds in) - is largely on preparation. We looked complacent and lazy. Certainly the players played their part in that but Pardew does as well. Also, while Pardew spent ages talking about our increased possession this season and retaining the ball ("It lost us a few matches last year", he'd often say), his tactics indicate a manager either too scared or too inept to set a team up to actually retain the ball against a hard-working but limited opponent. Very worrying for me. Very very worrying.

I wonder why he looked slightly off the pace. Oh wait, Pardew gives him ZERO pith time and ZERO confidence. I agree with you. I don't think it's fair that he's put in this position. For me he's better than Raylor 1000 times out of 1000 on the right side. But I'm not Pardew and that seems to be the way it is.

Eh? When? Two dribbles to the touchline that resulted in goal kicks immediately spring to mind. One run to the center with two passing options open was similarly wasted, though not as obviously.

Why feel the need to mention him? He played 25 minutes and got 3/4 close shots away. He wasted a few opportunities too, fair enough, but christ the whole team deserve a fucking weeks fine for that shit. Because he's such a touchstone for so many people. His inclusion in the side is such a divisive thing that his performance merits extra scrutiny. He was no worse than anyone else, mind, but seeing as how every match is a referendum on him and on Pardew, it needs to be discussed.

I love Ben Arfa but he was not good again. Whether he's trying too hard to make a statement to Pardew or whatever, he wasted two or three excellent chances and looked well off the pace. Guthrie was shocking too.

Absolute shit. Pardew's tactics have to be questioned in addition to the lack of bottle shown by the players. Fucking infuriating this. No service from the midfield but we bypassed them so so often - likely because Pardew often plays that way against "grafting" sides. We only seem to play football against the good teams. Nothing from the right side, Williamson was a catastrophe, disgraceful.

I haven't been this angry with a performance in a long time. This is absolutely atrocious.

Don't know how anyone could have tried to justify the shocking effort we put on from the 2nd goal on. We've made it hard for ourselves and it's fully our fault.

Cisse looked like he was carrying a slight knock when he came off...grimaced a bit as he came to the touchline.

ANOTHER great chance for them. Sort it the fuck out or it will be 2-2 quickly. This is a shocking performance.

The issue is that they've had the vast majority of the play and the possession for the last 40 minutes or so, allowing them that chance. We've lacked urgency and quality despite playing a team winless in 9, in the bottom 3, and without a permanent manager. THAT is the problem.

Deflected goal, probably deserved. We're so stupid, letting them play like we did.

Ba is back on and looks to be OK.

Looked innocuous, too. Wasn't a serious challenge or anything, Ba just left his leg in and looked like he twisted it a bit. He limped off.

First goal came from Cabaye pressure on Christophe Berra - Berra gave it away, Cabaye crossed it to Cisse, ball cleared, then put back in the box and Cisse deflected the ball (which has been touched by a Wolves defender) into the top left corner over a Wolves player standing at the post. Second goal was a Jonas rocket. Cross cleared poorly by a Wolves player, ball falls to Jonas, he takes a touch then blasts a laserbeam into the upper left corner, rising all the way. Overall, we've looked pretty poor. Don't seem all that interested in doing anything except letting Wolves play in front of us, then hoofing it long and letting our very mobile and impressive strikers try to make something happen. Very comfortable though.

Just so thankful we've got a fantastic pair of strikers. They've done really well with the absolute shit they've been given. So clear we have no threat on the right side, so everything goes to the left and gets rather easily broken down. Would be incredible if we had a right side at all. Raylor and Simpson are both poor.

Hard to be so unimpressed with a controlled, relatively easy 2-0 scoreline at this point, but we've managed it. Have played no football to speak of, very fortunate our opponents carry little threat.

How anyone can begrudge Pardew's style of play or anything else when we're sitting 5th in the table, one point off 4th, with 14 games left is beyond me. We have been remarkably resilient this season - look at the teams we've put out there from time to time and still won games. We are not fragile. We've won at some truly diabolical grounds this year, like Stoke and Blackburn, playing ugly but effective football. The results are brilliant. We won a match with Danny Guthrie, James Perch, and Ryan Taylor starting in midfield. Who on earth would have expected that? Pardew's clearly an excellent man manager and a pretty solid tactician. Like every manager, Wenger, AVB, Fergie, and Mancini included, he's made tactical errors and personnel blunders. He's also made halftime adjustments on more than one occasion that have won us points. He wants to forge a strong squad. That's why he bigs up squad players all the time. He wants to instill a work ethic into every player, rightly or wrongly, and is demanding the same out of HBA. I think we could capably handle a flair player like Hatem when we have Tiote/Cabaye in the starting XI and hardworking forwards running off him. But since we haven't had that, solidity is more valued. I can understand that even if I don't fully agree. He has earned the right not to be second-guessed all the time. There are areas in which he needs to improve but he has exceeded my expectations to a mind-boggling degree.

He's like a skinny, Senegalese, goalscoring Kris Boyd.

Hope we'll be a bit better after the break, the two substitutions meant that we always had a makeshift feel in the play. Dembas look dangerous, link-up is already starting to show at times - very promising there. But I have to say Keane has been superb for them, dropping into space and just setting up opportunity after opportunity. We've not looked good at all in defence. Also - Jonas...I love Jonas but his habit of receiving the ball, letting three Villa defenders come near him, then losing it led to the last goal and has cost us time and time again. He has got to pass the ball more quickly.

This x1000 Because Pardew can't see him as a winger in an orthodox 4-4-2, he's often used as the makeweight sub or makeweight non-starter in the XI. It highlights his mistakes more than others. Simpson has made mistake after mistake but since he's the only trusted RB, he simply has to play. Raylor, too, but because he's "versatile" and can cross, his shocking games get overlooked by Pards. Pardew's yet to believe in HBA to that degree. Hopefully he will see the value when there is genuine mobility upfront.

I cannot believe that. Shola was disgraceful, tactics were disgraceful, win was troll-tastic. Still, 5th. Holy shit.

FRESH FUCKING LEGS

LOLBERTAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Perfect use of Obertan here. "Fresh legs" in the 89th.