Andy

Don't rate him at all, he's always been one of those players who I was glad we missed out on.

I get the point he's making but it's horribly phrased.

Compared to most of the other greats of the game he had a comparatively limited set of tools, but he's one of the best I've ever seen at taking what he did have at his disposal and using it to its absolute maximum.

You definitely need to post more Andy. As long as we're not including the Games Forum in that. Obviously. I'm eagerly waiting for FIFA 14 and Red Dead 2 to be released so I can make my return...

I find it incredible that stats are being used to prove something when people’s eyes are telling them something else. We’ve been garbage for most of this season and that wouldn’t change if somebody found a stat to say that we were the best, we weren't, we've been shite no matter how it gets dressed up. Exactly, but some people could find a sugar strand in a shit and argue that the whole thing tasted nice if it suited them. When it comes to a complex game like football, statistics are generally pretty meaningless; the long-standing "but we won the passing" joke shows that. As you say, you can see with your own eyes if a team's playing well. My eyes tell me that we don't play with any kind of organised attacking system, that our transitional play is awful, that we don't get enough players into the box or even into the opposition's half most of the time, that we struggle to keep the ball along the ground, that we often have massive gaps between the defence/midfield/attack, and so on and so forth... These are things that statistics don't really cover, but that are plain to see just by watching us play over the course of a season.

Can't keep up with this thread, but defending our performances this season using statistics is mental. The key statistics are the ones sprawled across the league table which show categorically that we've been complete and utter guff, and even they don't tell the full story. We've produced nothing more than negative, disorganised shit all season long aside from a few select games.

First time I've ever been happy at the fact that I won't be able to see a match, genuinely shitting it for this.

Nationality has nothing to do with anything. The experience and passion you need in a team's "core" doesn't have to come from a homegrown player, it can come from any player that understands the league and the club and is blessed with a winning mentality; some of the biggest bottlers I've ever seen playing for us were from these islands. I'd rather have a core of Colo/Jonas/Cabaye etc than Carr/Butt/Duff/Owen... People are trying to partition the blame when it lies squarely on the shoulders of one man; perhaps three if you include the two dickheads who continue to employ him.

It's quite ironic that the French players are coming under fire for their stereotypical lack of fight, when our English cowardly cunt of a manager is the one who has tactically surrendered pretty much each and every game this season before the players have even had a chance to kick a ball.

Probably won't be quite as funny when it turns out he's our next boss.

He should have them fired up, that's his job.

Looks better when he comes inside like. Wasted on the left wing.

I think you have to attribute a lot of this season's mess to Pardew. Certain players have been below par in their performances and have at times looked utterly shot for confidence, but when you have a manager who isn't taking a confident approach to setting up his team that's obviously going to be the end-result. Our only game-plan is to cancel-out the opposition's gameplan and try to grab a goal, and frankly that's unacceptable with the players we have. We showed glimpses of a more confident set-up, designed to take the game to the opposition, following the arrivals of Gouffran and Sissoko et al, but that was short lived and we've slipped back into the old negative approach pretty quickly. I'd be willing to give him another season on the back of last years success alone but he desperately needs to look at his short-comings and change his approach.

Love it when we get foreign-club fans on here and they turn out to be pleasant

He's a liability at times but on the flip side he's also an asset going forward and part of the reason we scored 4 goals. 2nd goal was poor but there should've been cover from midfield when he went up the pitch.

I'd imagine that would hurt quite a lot to be honest, shin injuries are bad enough when the impact isn't even that bad

To be fair to Perch, Sissoko motioned at the other players in the wall not to jump.

Depressingly hard not to tick the box next to our name.

Facing in the opposite direction to possibly-Pardew, suggesting a rift. Feet facing in opposite directions suggests that he doesn't know which way to go in life. The puma on his training kit is "leaping away" from the Newcastle logo. Hair strands trying to escape his head the same way he is trying to escape the country. Good as gone.

It'd be perfect if someone saw him out and he was a complete shitbag, confirming our hatred for him. Just get the feeling he's the kind to sponsor cancer kids and donate bone marrow. Met him a few times and he's a top bloke, I'm afraid.

safc was an excellent poster

Not entirely convinced that he's a real human being.

At first I was like http://i.imgur.com/8H6c7.png But then I was like http://i.imgur.com/dh5lC.png <-- literally.

Looked good before we went down to 10 men, was restricted after that due to being so deep but still worked hard and broke with the ball a few times. Decent enough game really.