Parky

It's come just at the right time.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRqjcIeITQLPFUkFysJfo-ObVw8J9MAb639mhlsJD2_YJXXFbXASg

Meltdown.

Tidyied.

Rooney will be at full power in the run in.

No. We want him broken. We want the club reeling into freefall with some new sacrificial lamb.

He must think we have memories of fukin goldfish. So irritating continually hearing those comments about the summer and transfers. STFU about everything already. The guy is like a one man band ffs!!

He's had feedback that we've been too negative. More PR flim flam.

They have done for an age; Houillier, Benny, Hodgson, Dourglish. Evans was their last genuinely entertaining manager. That's harsh. In the season they finished 2nd under Rafa I always enjoyed watching them. Each to their own and some of the link up play between Torres and Gerrard was outstanding I'd agree but it was never the same consistant electric football that Man Utd/Arsenal/whoever could put together, Rafa always erred on the side of pragmatism too much for my liking. On the flip side though, this style is what has seen them pick up cups galore under those managers I mentioned. The whole thing with the fullbacks looking at the bench for permission to cross the halfway line. That will be my endearing memory of Rafa.

Yup. It's real by-the-bootstrap football. There is nothing at all beautiful about their game. So rigid. The interchanges so predictable. Kuyt clodhopping around the place breaking camera lenses as he goes, a 20m non-winger who always seems to go nowhere- Adams: completely out of his depth now he has to produce every time he plays. All bollocks.

Yup. And the only player they have who can do summit prefers to hit the post rather than scoring.

Agree with all of that. *See my post.

Good article. Some detail missing however. Think the one key thing is that they lack a real finisher at the club and Carroll isn't the readymade article to take that mantle. The tactics are often bordering on obsolete and mostly predictable at times which makes it easier for other sides to 'read' what is coming their way. KD just isn't flexible or pro-active enough and the modern game has moved on, that much is becoming obvious.

...and the same Jol that creamed Pards was speechless after the game...Fulham were completely and definitevely outclassed by Swansea. At times the passing was I can only describe as mesmeric. Outstanding.

Superb

2nd or maybe 3rd

We have a seasons worth of performances that show little correlation between possession/domination & results in comparison to the importance of simply having a very strong defensive system and attackers that will do enough to get the points. If teams have a very hard time scoring against you & you are good at putting the ball in the net, you will win games against most sides. Pardew has put in place the defensive system that achieves that & bought the attackers that do the business the other side. In what way is it likely that this will suddenly stop working? I wouldn't delegate that much praise on Pardew's doorstep, for systematically & deliberately targetting 'finishers' that are capable of killing sides with very few chances created in open play. The team's genuine matchwinners are Ba, Ben Arfa and now Cisse - with special mention to Collo as an additional threat from set-pieces. And those attackers mentioned falls into the overall policy of identifying & pursuiing players whose current value has opportunistically slipped below their true market worth, and can be moved-on for a profit. Arfa: damaged goods (at Marseille, prior to his loan) with his contract running into it's final two years. OM attempts to tout him (to bigger spending clubs, for a higher transfer fee) failed. Ba: we cashed in on a contractual release clause. Cisse: Freiburg's valuation far exceeds ours in the Summer, and we're appropriately rebuffed. Freiburg's table predicament changes later in the year (unexpectantly poor season) and the spectre of relegation forces an unexpected firesale of arguably their top asset, as they seek to reinforce the playing list (on a limited budget) for the post-Jan relegation fight . While they're on our books , with Ba hopefully secured to a new deal, all three are capable of putting 40m, into the coffers, for outgoing transfer deals. HBA is the wildcard in that lot, if he fully realizes his potential and doesn't become distracted, namely by man-management issues. The attacking trio in particular, thanks to their technique and athletic ability alone, are capable of scoring against the run-of-play. They'll survive in a turgid playing system of anti-football, on talent alone, but likewise we won't get the best out them over the long haul - just sporadic bursts. This type of Souness/Fat Sam/Kinnear/Pardew defensive anti-football goes against every principle they've been taught, and it will likely chip away at their morale over time. Ben Arfa has already made called-out Pardew's style of football, in that it goes against everything that he has been taught at Clairefontaine, by directly comparing it against & making reference to Brendan Rodger's pass-and-move football. They deserve better. It's sucker-punch football which is being coached by Pardew, and those genuine match-winners with resale value (who can conjure a score out of nothing) in many of our narrow wins this season will be difficult to replace. Within the constraints of our budget, by consistently attempting to acquire this calibre of player on the cheap, top-6 finishes (let alone top half) is unsustainable. Ba's and Ben Arfa's don't grow trees for a combined transfer fee of less than 10m. And it's a self-defeating style of play for any club hoping to develop raw talent from within the academy set-up, as the gulf in football coaching philosophies (between a more technical base at the academy level, and Pardew's) too wide a dividing gap. The Barcelona's, Ajax's and Arsenal's of the footballing world are consistent (re: their overall tactical philosophy) from academy to first team. Positive judgement is always passed on the rapidfire development once their youngsters are finally blooded into the first team picture. They look like seasoned already. Natural talent obviously has to be there, but the transition to first-team football is seamless. The gameplan and tactics are already entrenched, and that's thanks to having a consistent coaching & tactical mindset at all levels. Agree with most of that. What's the thing about Ben Arfa and the style of football? It was post-match after our first clash with Swansea, whether it was directly after or during the following week i can't specifically remember. He made mention of & admired Swansea's style of play, after they outpassed & outmoved us in that said match. It was the type pass-and-move footy that he was taught, back in his junior/academy days at Clarefontaine. Interesting. It's in my sig.

Those stats must be made up. Shots in the general dir of the goal and actual chances created are different things chum.

.....and it won't be like this next season. Teams around us are toughening up and getting their acts together (Swansea, Scum, Everton and so on...)

If RVP wasn't so good, Arsenal would be mid-table. If Messi wasn't so good, Barca wouldn't be the best team in the world. If Rooney hadn't scored 20 this year, no way Man U would be winning the league. If Yaya Toure didn't play as often, Man City may not contend for the title. Team minus best/better players = less points and worse league position. I'm referring to chances created. Think we're 3rd bottom of the chances created league. CHANCES CREATED MINIMAL BA ON FIRE MAXIMAL. It's not like Ba just gets the ball in defence and runs it into the goal. Lots of his goals have been set up for him mate, or at least passed to him in a promising position. We're 3rd bottom of chances created league, we're 6th top of actually relevant league. It's an indication of the sides play in positive space (the opp half). Nobody else scoring etc...Tell me if any of our midfielders is even in the top 20 assists? These are the broader indicators of poor direct football.

If RVP wasn't so good, Arsenal would be mid-table. If Messi wasn't so good, Barca wouldn't be the best team in the world. If Rooney hadn't scored 20 this year, no way Man U would be winning the league. If Yaya Toure didn't play as often, Man City may not contend for the title. Team minus best/better players = less points and worse league position. I'm referring to chances created. Think we're 3rd bottom of the chances created league. CHANCES CREATED MINIMAL BA ON FIRE MAXIMAL. It's not like Ba just gets the ball in defence and runs it into the goal. Lots of his goals have been set up for him mate, or at least passed to him in a promising position. We're 3rd bottom of chances created league, we're 6th top of actually relevant league. We don't create enough chances for a side in 6th I can't make it any simpler than that. There are charts out there showing it. Can't be arsed looking for them. Last time I looked we were 3rd bottom of it.

But he was on fire. If we're saying that players are now performing poorly due to coaching/tactics then surely when players are on form then it's down to the same? Player plays well = It's the player digging the manager out of a hole Player doesn't play well = Pardew's fault Wake up man. I'm talking about the fact as a team we don't create many chances. That's what I mean about Ba. He scored what to me looked like quite a few half chances. I'd love to see the stats in comparison with the rest of the league to see how true or not that is. HOw about nobody scoring but Ba till recently is that simple enough? Well? and don't bring Benyoun into it...

If RVP wasn't so good, Arsenal would be mid-table. If Messi wasn't so good, Barca wouldn't be the best team in the world. If Rooney hadn't scored 20 this year, no way Man U would be winning the league. If Yaya Toure didn't play as often, Man City may not contend for the title. Team minus best/better players = less points and worse league position. I'm referring to chances created. Think we're 3rd bottom of the chances created league. CHANCES CREATED MINIMAL BA ON FIRE MAXIMAL.