Dr Venkman

You're contributing a lot to a discussion you keep saying is pointless.

Pardew's got a point, we finished 5th without HBA for the majority of the season. but the injury excuse is just bullsh1t in the interview I don't give a fuck if he's got a point, he'd also have a point if he said we're absolutely shit at passing a football but I don't particularly want him to come out and say it in public.

Why is he saying shit like that about HBA man? The last thing we need is him stropping now, so fucking childish from Pardew. Last season looks more and more like a fluke with every game we play.

anyone know when the xmas lights are being turned on?

That's a fair assessment.

He wouldn't play there, not on your nelly. Maybe at centre half.

whats gan on? is mon talking to refs? what percentage of games is against 10men? and if they are only trying to win them games, how many can they win? As I said earlier, 3 times already this season they've been a man up for a long long time.

Well by definition we can only do that once he's gone, the sum total is deeply concerning right now though. We'll be better once these injuries and suspensions clear up but again that's not saying anything for the manager.

I think I agree with that, but I'm not sure if it's more a case of what I'm clinging to out of desperation or what. I've wondered that myself TBH. But I do think Pardew would want his team to play better football - none of our signings have been long ball players really. Howay Ian man, he's got very little to do with who we sign, it's all about price and resale value and that's the bottom line. Well nobody knows really, I fully accept that he doesn't choose all the players but I would be surprised if he doesn't have a significant input. Ok nobody knows. What we DO know is the we've watched two years of direct football, I think it's safe to say that's where Pardew feels comfortable. I also agree that if we had better players we'd play better football but that doesn't say an awful lot for the manager does it? We've watched two years of mixed football, often playing brilliantly sometimes playing poorly. When we're playing poorly more is made of the 'long ball' thing obviously. You're right that Pardew theoretically should be able to get his players to do what he wants, but in reality I don't think it's quite as simple as that. Defenders in particularly have had a lifetime of being told to play the percentages and launch it rather than lose it. I agree with everyone that we are playing too many long balls at the moment and in general we're playing badly. We had a run of 6 or 7 games playing passing football and we were fantastic, it's been completely and utterly abandoned, I can't think of many other games where we played well and passed it? Can you? There's wins over Man U and Stoke but they were direct, nothing wrong with that of course. What's even more worrying is I can't think of a game this season where we've played well, other than Bordeaux at home. Pardew's main concern is what we do without the ball, until he gets the players to focus on what we do with it I can't take your second paragraph seriously, he's not doing anything positive to affect the way we attack teams, he's severely limiting us with the rigidity based on not conceding. Even our set pieces are defensive, I'm convinced after watching it for so long that the loft to the back post is designed to stop us being caught on the break.

I think I agree with that, but I'm not sure if it's more a case of what I'm clinging to out of desperation or what. I've wondered that myself TBH. But I do think Pardew would want his team to play better football - none of our signings have been long ball players really. Howay Ian man, he's got very little to do with who we sign, it's all about price and resale value and that's the bottom line. Well nobody knows really, I fully accept that he doesn't choose all the players but I would be surprised if he doesn't have a significant input. Ok nobody knows. What we DO know is the we've watched two years of direct football, I think it's safe to say that's where Pardew feels comfortable. I also agree that if we had better players we'd play better football but that doesn't say an awful lot for the manager does it?

I think I agree with that, but I'm not sure if it's more a case of what I'm clinging to out of desperation or what. I've wondered that myself TBH. But I do think Pardew would want his team to play better football - none of our signings have been long ball players really. Howay Ian man, he's got very little to do with who we sign, it's all about price and resale value and that's the bottom line.

The way I see it there's 2 ways out of this: 1) Pardew changes his entire footballing philosophy and starts focusing in what WE do with the ball first and foremost. 2) Pardew, Ashley, Llambias and Carr have a bit of a heart to heart, admit we're a keep it tight, direct, long ball team and we will be for the foreseeable future and start buying the players necessary to make the style work. Number 1 seems unlikely, especially mid season, and 2 won't happen successfully, even if that conversation were to take place and the plan put into action it would get derailed every time someone like Marveuax became available on a free, because we always go for the cheaper option when given a choice. My faith in Pardew is at an all time low but I do think if we got some players in to suit his style (specifically a new centre forward, De Jong or Carroll as he tried) that we can still be a solid top 8 team under him, particularly if we phase out the likes of Simpson and replace with quality. The hard part is continuing to con the quality players into coming.

It's an extraordinarily bad post like.

Is this 3 games already this season that they've been a man up due to a questionable decision?

We did not get caught on the break because we were 1-0 down, I made this post at 3.10pm on page 3 of this thread:

I admit I only watched the highlights on MOTD but it really struck me how many players Southampton were getting forward against QPR yesterday, and that was at 2-1 up, away, in the second half. We all know how we'd approach that scenario, we're such a frightened team.

There's very little abuse, most people are just commenting on what they're seeing. There's a few reasons it's hard to build a decent attack, our defence is pretty low on the list.

Once again, I refer you to the side Keegan inherited from Allardyce. It took nearly two months for KK to get the side passing again after being coached out of it by Fat Sam. Whatever Kevin's faults he had balls big enough to accept the responsibility to encourage frightened players to start passing again, and it didn't come easy in the first weeks. He also got a front three of Owen, Viduka and Martins playing well, imagine what he'd do with Ben Arfa, Cisse and Ba.

That right there, that's it, that's Pardew's footballing philosophy.

Imagine if he came and out and said: Imagine that.

I think, (well i dont actually), we would have been better with Cisse instead of Sammy up front today. Proof in that pudding has definitely not shown so far this season though. We'd have been better, but the team would've been just as disjointed and clueless going forward.

We all knew he'd rattle of the Cisse excuse, depressingly predictable.

Tbh i dont care if he picks the players he buys or sells(i do really but accept our situation). There is no excuse for playing direct football in a formation that clearly doesn't suit the players he does have. He's proving himself to be a poor football manager at the moment. I don't disagree with any of that.

Just clubs that want a PR man as manager, someone who'll accept no involvement in incoming or outgoing transfers, who trains and picks the team and is grateful for it. But that's old ground.

I think we're approaching complete wash out status to be honest, it's going to take a long period of possession focused training to get the team functioning again and Pardew's not going to do it.