Parky

I have to say it. This time I think he really has started getting a bit irrational. Bourne of frustration probably.

City were totally outclassed.

If you stick your fingers in your ears, close your eyes and shout "I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" over and over, then perhaps it'll all go away. Perhaps. That's the plan. Seriously though, I don't need stats to tell me how we're doing on the pitch. It's pretty obvious to everyone that we've been well below par and some issues really need to be addressed (set pieces, formations and all that). But I'm not convinced for one second that Pardew's long term plan is the long ball game (it's the same argument over and over again really). He'll try to get Carroll again in Jan is my bet.

Luckily for us Pards takes stats very seriously. And this perpetual myth about team spirit...Well it comes with winning games. Once a side stops winning team spirit goes out the window.

I agree he has potential but where does that leave us now? In a 4 competition season with only 2 proven PL quality midfielders who will rarely both be fit and available at the same time (if not tired or overworked) as the season continues. Anita would have time in a 3 man midfield with Tiote behind him as the safety net. But Pard8 will never play that. On the upside Pard8 has shown last year he can maximise results from an unbalanced collection of players.

I have doubts with regard to Anita in the sense that he looks too lightweight for the rough and tumble of PL midfield supremecy battles. He is a good passer of the ball with good awareness but will be isolated in our often mf 2 against the 3 of the other side who are bigger and faster. This scenario gives him little chance to gain a foothold with regard to confidence and sustainability. In all honesty the 2 man mifield has to be top notch (Tiote and Cabaye can just about do it if someone drops off as Ba was last year). For now would be better off at right back. All in all a strange buy for that kind of money if we were only going to buy one player. A good quality def would have been better who can perhaps cover 2 positions. Our backup players aren't PL quality. There are a couple like Bigi and maybe Vukic that might come through (I have high hopes for Bigi) but in all honesty that will take a couple of years before they can deliver week in week out.

We are essentially a long ball side and have been the whole time Pard8 has been here and there is no talking around that. The instructions are pretty clear when anyone in mf or def gets the ball - 9/10 it's hit long. The odd short one is when they give it to Hatem or Santon runs down the wing with it. No point in dressing it up any other way. It's not really about the lack of movement either as it's pretty clear to me players are told to hold positions or get told off..The CM pairing are rarely in and around the box. Cabaye and Tiote often take hopeless slashes at the ball from 35 yards out instead of moving forward with it through passing interchanges. It really is torture. This is compounded by the fact we have wide players playing on their wrong foot so can't cross from the byline and have to come inside and there is a lack of real pace in the side on the wings or otherwise. We have literally survived on world class finishing and and Hatem being unstopppable on his day, not much else. Krul kept us in many games last year as we rode our luck. That might be running out now. The percentage game can only take you so far and we genuinely suprised many sides last year who now study us more closely and will redoble their efforts this year. Some games this year already I've seen 3 defenders close down Hatem.

Not SD.

Shame, going from one business built on a solid foundation of child exploitation to another would have been good for the ground's brand cohesion.

It's Kaiser Soze stuff mate. Read it on the back of a teacup.

We're fucked.

Al Habsi has done a sponsorhip deal with them very recently. Looks like SONDICO are spending some money. iirc was a decent brand back in the 80's. Doesn't sound like a brand in its own right if MA is now in there...Nor does it sound like a brand that will throw big money at shirt sponsorship. Something is going on.

Looks like Sondico.

They've just signed up Al Habsi for the goalkeeping gloves.

Found this on my travels: Oliver Ashley Supposed to be buying Port Vale.. Sondico, Port Vale's shirt sponser is owned by sports direct and with Mike Ashley not being able to own 2 football clubs will be putting his son in charge..

Lois. http://loisdenim.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/be-a-legend1.jpg

Either would be excellent and the smell of fresh money.

I think it's Nike. "The site's huge 525,000 sq ft warehouse – which is being extended by 300,000 sq ft to meet increased capacity at its nearly 400 UK stores – is impressive in its scale. But Shirebrook's most eye-catching building is the Nike Academy. In fact, this is the only such academy globally that Nike has established with an independent retailer. The swanky facility, which opened 16 months ago, is a world away from the traditional image of Sports Direct as a bargain basement retailer, bearing a closer resemblance to the interior of an elite US athletics academy. "

The Lee Cooper Stadium - Rivetted for strength.

Not if Puma are being dumped.

It's oneof these: Lee Cooper Nike Puma Umbro

Sondico?

Could be anything from Audi to Aldi.