merlin

This is as close as anything - Haidara is 3 years younger than Santon and already looks as if he will be a better defender by the time he reaches Santon's age now...IF he gets the chance. I stand by an earlier comment about Santon - he is a good footballer, but NOT a good enough defender to be played regularly against the top sides or anyone with a decent winger. The problem is that he has skill and looks good on the ball but he has never looked convincing at LB when forced to defend. Only time will tell if Haidara is going to be a top player but he has that on his side....especially given the right management and coaching...(!)

The game is about results - or seemingly it was whilst Pardew was getting them...the result tells you that you are wrong. They beat us by 3 clear goals without their best two strikers. Your Emperor has no new clothes.....

Come on now, Tron, you can't be seeing the same game as some on the Match thread - they think that Swansea play 'boring' football and we had better players in every position...!! No, I can't believe it either..!

At times Swansea football was absolutley lush, stuff we could never play. One touch passes, constant movement, getting to the byline inside the box. Its night and day from the stuff we play. At times aye its a bit boring aye when they knock it round the back, but they're happy to just take their time. If you remember spells of possession we had in the last 4 games, we also passed the ball back a great deal before we constructed an attack. The problem is that those defending Pardew say that its boring when other teams do it but give him credit for 4 wins when we construct our game that way and say he has changed his ways.....its all in the interpretation.. Also, when did we last score 3 goals without reply ? Swansea couldn't have been that bad if they managed it last night and - oops - they have had the 'distraction' of Euro League football as well..!

The coaches. Have you seen the state of our backroom staff? So that makes SBR's judgment on Carver faulty as well, then...??

Desperation has really set in. Ashley getting some credit for our improved football....You missed Kinnear off your list btw. Interesting how suddenly, Pardew apologists are quite prepared to sweep his record at previous clubs under the table because they can hide behind a run of decent results which are largely the result of the signing of Remy. Without Remy's goals, just where would the club be now ? Just in case you have forgotten, this player is on LOAN to NUFC and unlikely to sign permanently unless Ashley breaches his wage structure so what will happen to results then...? It is a matter of fact that Ashley DID haul Pardew over the coals about both the football being played AND the poor results from last season - are you trying to say that suddenly Pardew has undergone a Damascene conversion to the world of entertaining football and there is no other reason for the side's improvement in style of play than him ? If so, why did he never do this at his other clubs, esp WHU when he had the likes of Mascherano and Tevez at his disposal and failed to use them properly ? Some of us on this remember that Pardew has NEVER been a long-term success at his previous clubs and want a lot more than a few wins, at least one of which was down to an inspired keeping performance by Krul, before we start classing him in the KK or SBR status. Your quaint little piece about Kinnear isn't even worth a reply.......

I believe that the improvement in playing style has come about because Ashley nailed Pardew about the lack of entertainment and results during the summer 'heart to heart' they reputedly had..others were also involved and I reckon Carr and Carver have put their 2 penn'orth in because they KNOW that NUFC fans want more entertainment and possession football than they were seeing from Pardew's teams. Pardew picks the side and makes all the subs but I reckon the coaches have had far more influence on the side's performances this season. The players also brought this up with Pardew - remember Jonas complaining about training and Ba saying the fans weren't seeing good football before he left..??

One was excellent for us, the other is excellent for us and I couldn't choose between them. They are both obviously very good strikers, no doubt. But, I know if I was looking for a player who could do more than score, Remy is the one I'd pick. Ba has been the better goalscorer for us, his consistency was outrageous. This - the two players are different kinds of striker, Remy relying on his pace to beat the last defender whereas Ba had to rely on good judgment. Ba was not great in the air for a big man and wasn't a good target man really...neither is Remy but he causes the opposition far more worries than Ba because of his pace and constant presence on the shoulder of the last defender. If we had a decent target man, Remy would be my choice in front of Ba every time...as it is, I would still have Remy but not by a great margin although his control and comfort on the ball make him a better footballer.

We WON'T win the league - either by playing negative football or like Brazil 70...we haven't got enough quality or, especially, strength in depth to do it and we won't ever have under this regime/manager. The original point made was that they wouldn't care if we won every game for the rest of the season - doing that would mean Champions League and probably winning the league. O.N was replying to that scenario because obviously if we won the league who the f*** would care how we won it? As Brian Clough once said - 'If your Aunt had b---s, she'd be your uncle'...she hasn't, won't have, and therefore its not worth talking about.

Anita is a neat and tidy player but he is no replacement for Cabaye - he doesn't have Cabaye's tackling ability, range of passes or, crucially, power of shot. You are dreaming if you think Anita is a replacement for Cabaye - we will be lucky to find a player as good for twice the fee Ashley will be prepared to spend..... While I agree with the rest of your post, I would say Anita is a far better tackler than Cabaye, as he should be, being a defensive player. Cabaye's qualities are going forward, his tackling is usually pretty bad IMO. Watch how many times Anita pulls out of 50/50 tackles...Cabaye never does although he sometimes goes over the top. Other sides KNOW Cabaye is going to go in hard, but Anita rarely does but his timing is better.

sat too deep ? really ? saw a different game to me mate. I always DO see a different game to you....if you can't remember the latter stages of the second half I'm not going to bother reminding you.

I've only seen it from the other side of the ground but I would have felt it was harsh if we had given away a penalty for that. The only 2 things I was p*ssed off with the ref for was when Remy went down, it looked like a terrible decision. And early on when a West Brom player went down and the ref stopped the game when the ball had already gone out for a throw in and the prick started the game with a drop ball when it should have been our throw in. This - agreed.

We WON'T win the league - either by playing negative football or like Brazil 70...we haven't got enough quality or, especially, strength in depth to do it and we won't ever have under this regime/manager.

Deserved win, but made hard work of it by sitting too deep in second half. Gouffran deserved his win bonus for all the hard work he puts in and Sissoko's goal was a beauty but he needs to get into shooting positions like that more often..he is capable of it. Nobody really played badly and - whisper it quietly - is the fitness coach's work with Shola beginning to pay off...!?? Long time since he lasted 90 mins so well. Cabaye was the star man, looks every inch the quality player he is. Keep it going, whittling away the distance needed to be safe from relegation, which is the club's main priority.

Anita is a neat and tidy player but he is no replacement for Cabaye - he doesn't have Cabaye's tackling ability, range of passes or, crucially, power of shot. You are dreaming if you think Anita is a replacement for Cabaye - we will be lucky to find a player as good for twice the fee Ashley will be prepared to spend.....

Cabaye is a class player - with Remy, he is the most effective and talented player we have when it comes to overall team contribution and I make no apologies for repeating this again. HBA may have more natural talent, but when it comes to selecting who makes the biggest impact on how the side play, Cabaye would be in my team before him every time. He IS undoubtedly looking for a move and who can blame him ? He would look even better in a team like Arsenal or Man U(who I think need him more than anyone else), but at least he is giving 100% to our cause while he is at SJP and I don't believe he would want to leave if we had a more ambitious set up which intended to chase the game's honours. He was world class yesterday.

Now there's a question. Opinion is divided on the subject and if you have a browse through the last few pages of the Alan Pardew thread you'll get some idea of the views of the different factions. I think its a combination of some decent attacking football, some excellent defending and a slice of luck. Although as far as luck goes we've not had anything close to what Chelsea got against you lot at Stamford Bridge. In a lot of our matches we seem to play well for 45 minutes, more often the first rather than the second half. We can be good enough to hurt any side but go to crap if we have a lead. We sit back and invite pressure and we aren't very good at doing that. The two things which have worked well for us IMO, has been we defensively we have looked fairly solid and teamwork. We've sacrificed a bit of flair to achieve it, but the results speak for themselves right now. The pace and goal-threat of Remy has been the biggest difference because oppo defences cannot ignore him when they are trying to back up their attacks by supporting their m/f and forwards....this has given our m/f and defence more breathing space and an easy option to sling the ball up for Remy to chase if they want a break...they couldn't do this with Cisse because he lacks the pace and cannot avoid being caught offside.

I'm fairly sure we produced the most expensive English player ever just a few seasons ago. EDIT: Could probably include Krul in that category as well. Are you seriously putting Carroll in Gazza's class..? He might have been the most expensive English player at the time, but he wasn't worth half of what Liverpool paid for him and he has been a flop at club level since. As for Krul, apart from being Dutch, he hasn't yet been sold and as a keeper is unlikely to fetch the sort of money that a modern Gascoigne would go for.

Lets be realistic about all this - the club hasn't produced a regular PL class youngster since Watson, Elliott and Clarkie got into the side under Ardiles and KK...even then, the first two were blighted by injury and Clarkie was never really top class - played his best games in the 1st Div and early on in our first season in the PL. We haven't produced a real international star since Gazza....30 years ago and this from an area that once produced real class players. Although Vukic is not from the UK, he has been a part of our Junior set up for years but he lacks pace and is not PL potential standard. Our youth set-up, both in scouting and coaching, is poor and there is too much hype written about the 'potential' of this or that player...Campbell is another example. Just another reason the club needs running by properly qualified professionals and NOT the amateurs who masquerade as such that we have now. We are NOT an attractive destination for top young players or their parents.

Both these games are tough and both teams have the ability to upset bigger clubs - historically, we have never really done well against WBA and if Swansea hit the form they are capable of, we will do well to get a point. Both sides are a step up from the likes of Norwich and the Mackems....will be VERY interesting to see how we do against them.

Some good football played in the first half and Ameobi had his best 45 mins in years...about time too. Remy is saving our bacon this season, not only with his goals but with the unsettling effect he has on defences which means opposing teams cannot build up a sustained team attack as they are forced to keep a couple of defenders watching him. Lucky to not concede twice in the first half, even though we were miles the better side and once again, the side showed it can only play for 45 mins with a poor second half. There is either a fitness problem or it is the tactics they have been told to adopt - both are Pardew's responsibility. There is no doubt in my mind that one or more of the coaching staff have been given more responsibility for style of play this season, probably as a result of Pardew's ear-bashing from Ashley in the summer and as a result, the play is more easy on the eye - this is about as good as it will get under this manager/owner.

There are always a few on here that will keep making excuses for Pardew's management...they cling to nurse for fear of something worse...

It would have helped if Ashley had met up with their reps in Dubai instead of playing the casinos....no wonder they bought City instead...

Swap for Cisse. Might be a runner - BM would probably want a cash adjustment in their favour because of the age difference but in view of de Jong's poor start in Germany and Cisse's former record there, it might not be too much. Saw some recordings of de Jong when we were linked with him and he looked a good player....hard to see why his move there didn't work out.

No manager - apart from the odd one - slates another for the job they are doing and KK is the last guy who would do that but if you read between the lines he does have some reservations about Pardew's team selections etc even though he wouldn't actually say so. He would be a 1000% improvement on Pardew - even at his age now.