Tachikoma

Two goals from two mistakes, the second one a lot stupider than the first.

FFFFFUUUUUU

He didn't show any sign of injury that I could see so I don't know how you can say where he was when he picked the injury up. he pulled up, got treatment and went off?. Injuries don't just happen magically, they're caused by persistent wear and tear so does it really matter where/when exactly his muscles snapped?

The best teams in the world are the ones that are not only good on the ball but fantastic off it. Look at Barca, Madrid, Juve, Dortmund, Bayern etc etc they all hunt in packs and press off the ball superbly well you cannot be successful otherwise. Pressing as a team is a huge part of the game today.... no one is expecting Marveaux/HBA to run back to his own goal but what we do expect is to close the opposition down in zones. But again this isn't a Marveaux/HBA thing this is a Pardew thing, one of the very many problems we have is that we don't press properly. Every player in a successful team has to be able to put a shift in i don't care who you are, watch Swansea for a more mid table example.... when they lose the ball all their players and this includes the likes of Routledge are snapping at the heels of the opposition. There is no place in football if you want to be successful nowadays for luxury's. Well said. Pressing properly isn't the same as expecting players to graft the way Jonas does, its about setting up the team right. And Wullie is probably right about Ben Arfa receiving the ball at RB most of the time.

Speaking of Sissoko, the No.10 position isn't really ideal for him. If it had been Ben Arfa losing the ball all of the time in the middle like that ... The wide positions on the other hand seem just about right for him given his athletic ability (and Marveaux's lack of it). Also I consider Marveaux a No.10, not a wide player.

What are you rambling on about? He's injured. To suggest it's because he's been asked to defend more than previously in his career is ludicrous. Having a two-thread argument with Cajun I suppose Not talking about Ben Arfa specifically, just the idea that all attacking players should be expected to defend like Jonas as well.

I just disagree with the notion that everyone in a team that isn't Man City should be expected to graft and be everywhere. Not everyone is suited to that sort of game and while having an attacking player track back helps the team defensively it also weakens our attack, simply because that same attacking player can't be in two places at once.

We aren't good enough to have a player going missing, not in that position anyway. I could also argue that by having Marveaux track back all of the time he won't be in the right position to hurt the opponent when we are trying to launch a counter attack. We always play with two DMs anyway, why force defensive duties on all of the midfielders?

Glad I made the extra effort to get them in, they're the only reason I've managed to hang on to the top 50.

Hindsight 20/20 etc etc, but if we hadn't made him slog so hard defensively would he still be fit? And more effective in attack?

I don't care if he doesn't contribute defensively. Marveaux isn't as naturally fit and athletic as Ben Arfa and Gouffran, so if he has to conserve his energy to be able to hurt the opposition I'm perfectly ok with that.

Ugh, Fulham. Not sure how we're "expected" to beat them on our current form but we sure as hell need to.

If we pick up less than four points from the next two games then perhaps alarm bells will start ringing but honestly I don't see Pardew leaving even if we went down. seriously, on what basis? Come on, if we kept Pardew after relegation would it really surprise you? Actually, yes. MA would/should sack him if only out of spite.

Fuck, really was hoping I was going to see Pardew getting the sack today. Easily a worse manager than Martin, too.

I agree unfortunately, need to stick with him until then and hope to fuck we stay up. Head agrees, heart wishes we'd sack him by the time I wake up today.

No he doesn't. He actually got us playing well at times in the last months and we started getting results again. Thing is, he's very focused now on the Europa League and, who can blame him? It's a great chance we have to bring a trophy to SJP finally after all those years. No-one will care if we survive by 1 single point in the league but won the Europa League. Thing also is, that we have two very winnable home games now in a row that should see us getting 6 points and therefore bing absolutely safe. Even if he does win the Europa League, he has to be gone by next season.

Aye, two biggest games of the season next up and he's been our best player today. Get him out. Don't think he's been decent today, but that might just be me, mind. I'd like to see him in a different role, if anything. Well, if he's going to play like that in the middle every time I'd rather have him out wide. Certainly a better option than fucking Obertan.

Ahahahahahahahaha.

Big picture being? benfica games, winnable home games coming up that may have been much harder had we took a number of knocks in this game. That attitude is completely wrong, and if players who turned out for us with attitudes like that, i would personally stab them with spoons. can you not imagine the damage it could do to our season if we decided to really take Man city on today, and chased the game? Or the damage that is being done from us bending over and taking it from them?

Our plan seems to be to keep the score down, that's unacceptable. I quite agree. How we actually go about scoring a goal is beyond me, though. There's not a hint of creativity anywhere. There is, but the bloke was left on the bench. Like Cabaye he'd have no impact against this lot. They could if we actually set ourselves up in a way that they could make an impact. Man City haven't been great recently and worse sides than us have put in far better performances than that. Brainwash the players and make them think we're in March 2012. Even then it would be a stretch to expect any fluidity from Pardew.

Please please please please please fuck off next season.

I wish.

I suppose its been a while since we've been spanked 5-0

Well, Elliot is playing well. That's it I guess, for the positives.

Jonas MYM Taylor Anita