Parky

Cisse running around a lot. Guess it's a good sign. [/strawgrasper]

Under the circumstances not a bad go.

Man without shadow promises you the world.

Most teams approach it by having allocated roles with regard to situations that occur commonly during defending. That is the general backdrop. Then for a day or so they look at video or dossier of the other team and hone that general defensive pattern a bit to suit the next opponent. I have never in my life heard of a team spending FOUR DAYS ON OPPONENT SPECIFIC DEFENCE, infact when I first heard about it last year I thought it was just a PR stunt by Pards to make him look thorough. It's the same for attack, there are pitch area specific routines and role allocation (what happens if we do this) and then that is honed to the next opponent for a day or so.... hardly think its unusual to train on opposition weaknesses and how to exploit them, Revie was doing it for Leeds in the 60's Take it you can't read.

Most teams approach it by having allocated roles with regard to situations that occur commonly during defending. That is the general backdrop. Then for a day or so they look at video or dossier of the other team and hone that general defensive pattern a bit to suit the next opponent. I have never in my life heard of a team spending FOUR DAYS ON OPPONENT SPECIFIC DEFENCE, infact when I first heard about it last year I thought it was just a PR stunt by Pards to make him look thorough. It's the same for attack, there are pitch area specific routines and role allocation (what happens if we do this) and then that is honed to the next opponent for a day or so....

He's been talking to the media every day it seems just now. Senses danger?

There's three phases to this. First denial: We're not quite firing I don't know why etc.. (and he's moving out of that phase now with hints of anger). 2nd Misdirected anger and blame at anybody but himself..(we're just coming into this phase now)..3rd Acceptance - This is still a couple of defeats away. Till he hits phase three nothing will change.

Bimpy is alarmed, sacared and confused...Right now he doesn't really know what he thinks..It's night and he's heard noises in the kitchen..But he's pretending to be asleep hoping the first axe blow will hit Mrs Bimpy.

Ramires and Mikel. The brains trust? Pretty penny if the suing is handled right. Heard that Clatts-for-me-like would have to quit if he wanted to sue. Just from a journo so it doesn't really hold water tbh. I'd take them so far up the Gary they wouldn't have any stolen petrodollars left, personally, the cheating lying bastards, but justice really only works for the richest, doesn't it? He could retire and then come back in a couple of years. Defamation is big coin in Eng if you get the right lawyers. Possible bloodbath.

Stoke are a big side with loads of drilled set plays and positonal rigidity. They are energetic and orc like in tackling and intimidation. At home they pride themselves on out fighting superior footballers. This going to be carnage if we don't find a way to keep the ball. The way tomorrow will be to play 'small football' - interchanging short passing game - circumnavigating and avoiding their roman leigion like columns of power. Play under their radar and be compact and find simple routines out of positional conundrums. Yeah we're fucked!

i agree its not entirely true, ofcourse not, but you can see it throughout the DNA of his line-ups, his fall back plan is always the long ball, its just a matter of time how long his team is on top or falling behind. You mentioned Best didn't you, there's your clue, and Ba being out wide, and Shola and Cisse also been out there. There is a reason for that, when we are under the cosh that lanky striker that is playing outwide and then there is also on upfront, there are used as outlets for the long ball to relieve pressure, the only thing is, Pardew forgets that they arent actually any good at holding up the ball. when the s*** really hits the fan, that tall striker playing outwide, whether is Best , Ba or whoever magically drifts inside and further up, thus forming straight back to 4-4-2, that way Pardew saves up on one of his substitution he dont have to waste. He's economical at least if unimaginative. we know what Pardew is about now. He's been found out. That's an old one that Pards flirted with the big man pretending to be standing wide. As soon as Krul get the ball he magically comes inside making another target. Pathetic and desperate.

The West Brom game keeps getting mentioned, but a) it wasn't particularly typical of our performances last season and b) we didn't exactly look like Barca either. It was a game where things clicked for us, as will happen for every side now and then. For the most part, our football wasn't that great, and sometimes the margin between success and failure can be very small. This season a few things have gone wrong - some of our newer players are now familiar to the opposition, Ba has been discontented, Cisse has lost form, we've had more injuries - and that's been enough to take us from the European places to near the relegation zone. In the Premiership, a lot of teams are of a fairly even standard, and a small decline can take you down quite a few places. I don't think Pardew is suddenly an incompetent manager who has no idea of tactics. I do think, however, that the club was hoodwinked by our 5th place finish into thinking that some of our players were better than they really were. If, as seems likely, we got some generous offers based on their inflated reputations, we should have taken advantage of opportunities to trade up. I think 5 wins in a row (F11, A1), having just switched formation, would have to be a hell of a coincidence not to be significant. Most of our players have previously flourished in a 4-3-3 - Anita won the league at Ajax, Cabaye at Lille, Ben Arfa has four Ligue 1 medals and none playing what we play, Cisse second in goals only to Gomez at Freiburg. It's hardly a stretch to say that's the formation they prefer. If the difference is so insignificant, why has European football more or less given up on 4-4-2? It was a relief to go to a match and actually watch some football last night. HSV have been struggling but not to the extent that they couldn't blow away a high flying Schalke with pressing football and a compact short passing midfield wth overlapping fullbacks. It all looked so easy...No idea why any group of 11 professionals in the PL can't replicate that kind of football. The much hyped Huntelaar hardly got a kick.

Bent is one of the best finishers in the league, should be starting.

As a right back. But like a right back more akin to a third centre back, who rarely moves forward? Could he have handled TWO full backs that like pushing on!? Oh I see. Our backs to overlap once in a while when the sun is in scorpio.

not before he forces you to take one his brochures and a business card, which is pretty much a small piece of paper made with a home desk printer and you can see the rough edges of the scissor cuts. You feel sorry for him so you don't show him your card which is: raised lettering and a pale nimbus off-white.

Nope, not in the slightest. We're having a bad run, our first in quite some time. We'll get important players back, improve and go on to have a mediocre season, possibly finishing in the top half. I can't believe I'm having to say this. You're coming across as a bit devil may care.

As a right back.

Pardew is that bloke who talks shit on the train and in the end you have to move seats.

It's a subtle thing but we might have underestimated the effect on the players of the poor transfer window and what that meant to the big picture ie their idea of what the project was. Things were quite fresh last year Cisse scoring at will Ba playing out left when needed...Hba coming into his own (one of the most gifted players in the league), Perch developing and also the momentum (with no expectations and no pressure). I imagine for the players and this is a wild guess, their personal ambitions were on hold or set aside as they were enjoying winning games and coming close to a CL spot...Even the more direct style of play seemed to make sense and they probably imagined it would change over time (again just what I imagine was going on - could be wrong). Then wham a terrible transfer window and no proper quota of reinforcements for the next climb the next level of the mountain and worse an extra competition as well. Think the pre-season looked poorly organised (Pards said something like "It will help the admin get practice at booking flights)..with too much traveling and as HTT said earlier no solid blocs of preperation time or drills. With the internationla players arriving a bit tired and having even more time off. Think the whole things could have gone a lot better. Why not go to a purpose built football camp (like German teams do) where there is time and recreation and things can get honed and players can get support of all kind? For someone like Pardew who sells himself on being 'a new kind of manager all forensics and dossiers' it looked like amateur hour. All these subtle little things can work through to the players and I firmly believe their minds weren't in the right place (and still aren't) at the start of the season. Too much backstory unresolved like cheap sci-fi.

Dissapointed man. I was just settling in for a bit of Stalingrad.

Well, this is a gay thread remember. OOoooOO look at you!

Have you been on a desert island? We're playing 2 in the middle against 3 more often than not and because of it we're not controlling games. We're losing possession because our 2 are being bypassed by the 3 opposition players. Do the players decide to go with 2 in the middle? If the answer is yes then fair enough it's the players to blame. We hoof the ball from back to front more than any other team in the league, noises from within the club suggest that the players are being told to play that way. Is that the fault of the players? We've got 2 forwards who don't look to be compatible and rarely if ever have done so. If the players are deciding to play 2 incompatible forwards then I will agree with you. We spend 4 out of 5 days working on defence then spend another day on the forward play, if that is down to the players then yes, they are to blame. We play 2 different teams a week when we play in Europe and surprisingly Pardew claims he doesn’t have enough time to prepare. Is it the fault of the players that we play 2 different teams? We concentrate on stopping the opposition and that means we have to look at each team before playing them and have little time to do so. It would be better to concentrate on what we do rather than the opposition. Is that the fault of the players? Our season has been stop-start and we play as if we’re playing with 11 players who have never met, they probably only meet socially anyway because we seem to look at areas of the team in isolation. Is that the fault of the players? If it was 1 of 2 players playing below an expected level then I would tend to point the finger at them. When it’s a large part of the team I tend to look in different areas for the reason. Even if I'm wrong and the players are playing a greater part in our poor season, whose job is it to sort it out? I will be managing people at work tomorrow just like I have every working day for years and if they fail to perform I’ll not get away with claiming that it’s down to the people who work for me. I’ll not need telling who is responsible because I’ll know it’s me for failing to manage them. Football management is no different in that respect, if he can't manage the players and get the best out of the team then he shouldn't be managing. Management is piss easy when things are going well, when the shit hits the fan you'll usually be able to seperate the good from the bad, we'll now see which of those Pardew is. Along with HTT's earlier post, this is one of the posts of the thread.

Likes it in the hole last time I looked (couple of years back).

Well Indi has entered it at the back end.

Ramires and Mikel. The brains trust? Pretty penny if the suing is handled right.