merlin

You can never predict the result of any game with certainty and these games are even worse to try to judge. As has been said, the Mackems were poor when they came to SJP last season, but a new manager got them off to a good start and they won easily. The same situation is in place today and as this will be the first home game for them under Poyet they will be well up for it. IF we get an early goal it will take the sting out of them and they will start getting desperate but if the same were to happen for them, we would be in for a tough afternoon and would have to display every bit of the resilience we showed against Liverpool with 10 men to get anything out of it. Poyet also has form against Pardew - it will be interesting to see if he can transfer it to the PL...

There is NO way that Gerrard was MoM...either Tiote or Cabaye should have got it.

A deserved point against the odds and the team deserve 100% credit for digging in and getting a result after MYM's stupid foul on Suarez - no guarantee he would have scored and it caused us to lose the attacking momentum we had built up which may or may not have resulted in a surprise 3 points. Much better approach to the game altogether and some great performances - Remy's pace up front made Liverpool wary of committing too many players forward in the second half and had they not had to deal with that, they may well have won. Cabaye showed what a great asset he can be when he is up for it and the team provide movement for his passes - despite what many say about him, he would not have been out of place in Arsenal's team...and Man U may well regret not trying to sign him.....fantastic strike and despite people like Mark Bosnich saying the keeper shouldn't really be beaten from that distance, there was no doubt that Cabaye put it in just the right place and with power/bounce off a wet pitch - Mignolet had no chance at all but not many PL players can score goals like that...all Cabaye's strikes tend to be howitzers. Tiote continued to improve and was vital in breaking up Liverpool attacks although all the players worked their socks off. Surprisingly, the major disappointment was HBA - he is developing an even worse tendency to take too many players on and to try to keep the ball in situations where a simple pass and run for the return would have been far more effective. He was probably our worst offender for losing possession. Krul made a couple of great stops but so did Mignolet, esp from Sissoko when a goal then would have put us 2 up and given them a mountain to climb. Debuchy seems to be getting to grips with the PL and made some great clearances as well as trying to support the attack when possible. Couldn't understand why Pardew took Cabaye off unless he was injured but Dummett's introduction proved to be vital - apart from having to play CB(which he did pretty well considering the opposition)he did what very few NUFC players have done under Pardew and scored from a dead ball situation...his reading of the FK was as good as most forwards and Liverpool lost him completely when he sneaked in behind them - delighted for the lad. Altogether, great entertainment if a bit heart-stopping at times and the side will go to the SoS in good heart - we hope....!

Actually, he was. Been trying to give this thread as wide a berth as possible, but in fairness Mick, Pardew had and still does have, a pretty good reputation within the game. That's what really counts when you're managing professional footballers. The opinions of fans on or off the internet is very much secondary to that. I have no doubt that Pardew will sooner or later be pushed out of NUFC, but he won't be out of work for long. Reputations ' in the game' mean absolutely nothing in England....there is a closed shop of former players who become managers and a cosy cartel between large sections of the media and managers. The only one I can think of that the media ganged up against(as a club manager), esp in the NE, was Dalglish at NUFC because he didn't give them lots of easy tit-bits every day so they could all run down to the pub and have an easy job. If Pardew had a 'reputation in the game' in the Bundesliga, for example, I might agree with your theory - as it is, the PL is over-hyped and overpaid compared to the professional set up they have in Germany which benefits the fans too by having cheaper(and better value) ST prices. The English game does hand stands if the national team manages to qualify for the WC when playing against nations who should in the main be easy meat for a country with such a major concentration on football as its main sport - that alone, and the record in WCs compared to that of Germany, indicates that the English game is not a great benchmark on which to be judged. Even using that, Pardew has had a poor record at the previous clubs he managed after his first season with them and both W Ham and Southampton have become better clubs since he left...his handling of Mascherano and Tevez alone at W Ham tells you all you need to know about his judgment of players and how to use them..ask Tevez what he thinks of Pardew....

I never predict results but that is a good shout ...

Long ball stats last season...?

This is utter tripe - is he trying to say that if Liverpool were getting our results their fans wouldn't be putting the club under pressure, presumably on the basis that they are in a city with 2 clubs..? ANY club which has a large and fervent fan base is going to find itself under pressure for results and performances - the problem is that Pardew is out of his league at NUFC...he was out of it at Southampton so he is hardly in a position to question the fans here.

Great post - in many ways, Glasgow and Newcastle are similar cities - both with a proud history of ship-building and industry, now virtually unrecognizable from the same places 30 years ago. Both cities have a population with a dry quirky humour who are football fanatics.The similarity ends there because Glasgow is obviously a 2 team city whereas Newcastle is entirely focussed on one club. I look forward to hearing more of your views because you are obviously a victim of the NUFC disease which affects many people...! Lets hope things get back to something like they were in the days you first took an interest in the club, but it may take a while...

I watch other games and more often then not end up wishing I hadn't because it just rubs it in how bad we are. This - even watching the Australian A League, where the teams mostly try to play on the deck, rubs in how dire we are in PL standards.

Thats pretty fat from the bigger picture iyam. The bigger picture is Mike Ashley wont pay for a better manager than the rather limited Pardew. People on forums such as this think they're clever pointing out every mistake Pardew makes, frankly just to show off "how much they know about football", yet barely utter a word about the bloke who continues to employ him. Pretty bizzare. We've tried to play better football this season, and it has showed in some games. Thing is when we concede a goal heads drop. The greatest players are great because they've got heart as well as ability. Difficult to teach grown men heart tbh. He's given Pardew a team full of internationals. Pardew cannot be exonerated from the s**** his team generally serves up.The team is full of class. Remember how Pardew had Hayden Mullins and Marlon Harewood keep Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez out of his West Ham team. Pardew doesn't have the qualities needed to manage this class of player. I imagine if I were a Cabaye or a Coloccini , I'd find it nigh on possible to take on board the opinions of such a proven s*** manager. Exactly right - how would Ashley deal with it if he had a flagship store in the middle of London selling decent brands and the figures were poor ? You can bet your life he would be getting rid of any management and staff he saw as being the reason for the poor performance..!

I remember always wanting to play them after 2006 since we were similar nations in talent and how we approach the game, but our national teams have gone in completely different directions after that. Except their a lot more s*** than we are good. Did play them in 2010 warmup game and Edson Buddle scored, so For all the grief we give you the US is progressing as it should. Australia, despite qualifying, haven't at all. Weve fallen apart, tried to rely on our 2006 team longer then we should have and now our national team is paying for it. Worst Australian team for many years, certainly over 15 ....remember that the 1997 side were within minutes of beating Iran and qualifying for the France WC and the 2006 WC side would also have probably put 4 or 5 past the current team yesterday, were it possible for the two sides to meet. Never the same since Hiddink left and young players failed to come up to the standards of their predecessors. Manager sacked following the game but I don't think it will make much difference because, as with NUFC, the younger players are not up to it ; Kruse, who plays in Germany, and possibly Oar who is in Holland, may be OK but the defenders are dire. The fact that Neill is still playing there tells you it all. Strangely, the A League is forecast to get its best ever season for crowds this year...! TV companies in Australia have too much invested in Aussie Rules football, hence the proper stuff does not get the media backing it should so promising kids concentrate on Aussie Rules after about 10 years of age.

not too keen on the idea myself, we hate chelsea and citeh for being a rich mans plaything and earning f*** all so can't say I'd be happy if we done exactly that. Wrong - we DON'T hate Chelsea and Spurs because they are rich men's playthings...we hate them because we are not in the same league but have bigger crowds. I couldn't give a toss how we get success as long as we get it and you are forgetting that in the 90s WE were the ones doing the spending with SJH and KK - remember Shearer etc ? speak for yourself, I don't hate spurs, as far as I'm aware their spending is based on what they've earned and their own risk (debt), like we did, SJH didn't give a hand out, a hand in if anything as he was a taker out of cash unlike abramovic.meanwhile many complain that that sort of thing is killing the game. so what about ashleys gambling, it's his money, why don't you put more of your money into the club ? Are you feeling OK..?? That last sentence was possibly one of the silliest I have seen on here....has it occurred to you that I actually don't OWN the club or have a couple of billion pounds ? Your beloved Mike does.... For your information, I spent a great deal of my own time running around(petrol at my cost and no fee involved)buying up shares during the Magpie Group campaign so we could have a better football club - which we got. I bought STs and shares in the club too. so I put my money where my mouth was. As for your comment about SJH, if he hadn't rescued the club in 1992, there would have been NO KK, NO New Stadium and maybe a club like Sheff Weds. What have YOU done for NUFC apart from be a Soopafan ? that sentence was silly and delibertely so, it was to play on the silliness of you stamping your foot, pouting your bottom lip and folding your arms like an 8yr old in a huff because the nasty man didn't do what you wanted him to with his own money. the bit re john hall is that he didn't really put any money in when we were spending, the club used it's incomings and debt. as far as I remember lady hall put up £250,000 in the early days to buy brian kilcline and that was it. as regards what do I do, I buy my season ticket and thats it, don't buy strips or other mechandise and if I had ashley's money the last thing I'd do is buy a football club. I withdraw my earlier remark - THIS comment is the silliest I have seen on here so far. I won't even give it credibility by responding. Pathetic.

not too keen on the idea myself, we hate chelsea and citeh for being a rich mans plaything and earning f*** all so can't say I'd be happy if we done exactly that. Wrong - we DON'T hate Chelsea and Spurs because they are rich men's playthings...we hate them because we are not in the same league but have bigger crowds. I couldn't give a toss how we get success as long as we get it and you are forgetting that in the 90s WE were the ones doing the spending with SJH and KK - remember Shearer etc ? speak for yourself, I don't hate spurs, as far as I'm aware their spending is based on what they've earned and their own risk (debt), like we did, SJH didn't give a hand out, a hand in if anything as he was a taker out of cash unlike abramovic.meanwhile many complain that that sort of thing is killing the game. so what about ashleys gambling, it's his money, why don't you put more of your money into the club ? Are you feeling OK..?? That last sentence was possibly one of the silliest I have seen on here....has it occurred to you that I actually don't OWN the club or have a couple of billion pounds ? Your beloved Mike does.... For your information, I spent a great deal of my own time running around(petrol at my cost and no fee involved)buying up shares during the Magpie Group campaign so we could have a better football club - which we got. I bought STs and shares in the club too. so I put my money where my mouth was. As for your comment about SJH, if he hadn't rescued the club in 1992, there would have been NO KK, NO New Stadium and maybe a club like Sheff Weds. What have YOU done for NUFC apart from be a Soopafan ?

Of course, it couldn't be the Pardew effect......could it...!?

How exactly are you rating him as a manager ? His record certainly isn't worse than Pardew's and he has stuffed us twice in the FA Cup with a supposedly lesser side. I don't know the guy so cannot pass judgment on him as a person but just because he has done well against NUFC as both player and manager doesn't make him a bad person. He seems to have left under a bit of a cloud at Brighton but we don't know all the facts about that. Had we fired Pardew he was probably the best we could hope for under Ashley as a replacement. As with Di Canio, I will judge Poyet after seeing him in charge for a season or two...Di Canio didn't even get the chance to do that, so it will be interesting to see if player power works for a second time if the poor babies at the SoS don't like him...

Ashley blew 100m back in 2008 gambling on one of the financial companies shares rising to a certain level by a certain time...he lost. 100m would have bought us some team, wouldn't it, esp if KK had been spending it....?

not too keen on the idea myself, we hate chelsea and citeh for being a rich mans plaything and earning f*** all so can't say I'd be happy if we done exactly that. Wrong - we DON'T hate Chelsea and Spurs because they are rich men's playthings...we hate them because we are not in the same league but have bigger crowds. I couldn't give a toss how we get success as long as we get it and you are forgetting that in the 90s WE were the ones doing the spending with SJH and KK - remember Shearer etc ?

Agree for the most part. Mike Ashley is the main problem. Aye, Pardew is a symptom, Ashley is the disease. Canning Pardew for the most part is akin to sticking a plaster on it, it'll work for now but won't make it go away. Cut the cancer out at the root and it'll all get better! It's not that simple, unfortunately - this particular cancer has got a firm grip on the body of the patient and it is going to take some as yet unknown cure to rectify this before the patient eventually expires. Unfortunately, those who profess to love the patient still think that a watch and see policy will help, but all that is doing is to allow the cancer to strengthen its grip..! Unless a new cure materialises suddenly and quickly, it is hard to see how the patient will recover......

Campbell is too small to be a force in the PL....he has pace but would find it tough against all but the poorest PL sides. Look at the impact Rooney made at 18 and players like Gazza and Shearer at the same age....if you are really star material it should be showing by that age. The fact that Campbell is not part of the first team scene tells you that either a) He is not rated as first team squad material or b) the manager you frequently defend is a poor judge of a player. The only way I could see Campbell being used properly is if we had a big target man who could lay the ball off for him or take the pressure off him from Centre Backs - and neither Remy nor Cisse are this type of player. Take your choice..... Bit tough using Shearer, Gazza and Rooney as your yardstick. I've only seen glimpses of Campbell in action, but I can see why he's attracted optimistic attention. He reminds me a bit of Beardsley in his style, and of course he ended up playing in Canada before someone took a chance on him. So I don't think his size is necessarily a problem, and I like to think there's hope still. Pardew is under pressure and with the situation we're in, perhaps he feels he can't afford to give younger players the necessary learning curve in the first team. Maybe he's naturally cautious. But I'd put Campbell on the bench, if only because he can offer something different from our other strikers. Why is it tough using Shearer Gazza and Rooney as the yardstick for Campbell ? All of these players were showing star quality at 18 and if Campbell is the player some people seem to think he is, he should be doing the same. Small players have to be exceptional in order to make the top grade esp as strikers and Beardsley was/is bigger than Campbell....a different type of player too, not an out and out striker, more a player who schemed and played off the front striker(s). Agree with your point about Santon though...I am still not convinced by this guy as a defender and his attacking skills are blunted by his reluctance to use his left foot to put a first-time cross in. He is comfortable on the ball though.

People can start talking about 4th place if and when a decent points total is gained from the next 4 PL matches.... Right now, 14th would be a relief...

Campbell is too small to be a force in the PL....he has pace but would find it tough against all but the poorest PL sides. Look at the impact Rooney made at 18 and players like Gazza and Shearer at the same age....if you are really star material it should be showing by that age. The fact that Campbell is not part of the first team scene tells you that either a) He is not rated as first team squad material or b) the manager you frequently defend is a poor judge of a player. The only way I could see Campbell being used properly is if we had a big target man who could lay the ball off for him or take the pressure off him from Centre Backs - and neither Remy nor Cisse are this type of player. Take your choice.....

We are a strange team because we have a strange manager and even stranger owner...

A welcome win - and necessary when you look at the forthcoming fixtures.... However, we could not have complained if we had drawn - or even lost - in the second half ; once Williamson dropped his customary clanger and they scored, we were largely hanging on. Strangely enough, McKay's subs probably helped us more than Cardiff as they seemed to go off the boil after the second switch. Should have had the game out of sight before HT, Cisse once again not doing the business with chances that came his way and Marshall making a brilliant stop from Sissoko. Cabaye showed once again what a class player he can be... a pity for him he didn't go to a better club in the summer because he would have shone, esp at Arsenal. He basically ran the m/f and Tiote had his best game for months, doing the simple things well(which is his main task), passing to a man who wasn't marked and avoiding a booking. Remy is proving to be a great acquisition with 2 great strikes, the second which knocked the stuffing out of them for a while ; his placement of the ball when striking from distance is excellent and no keeper would have stopped them. We would be in dire straits if he wasn't on loan to the club. Pardew has bought himself a few weeks' grace with this result but much harder hurdles lie ahead and a consistent run of defeats against the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs and the Mackems will see the pressure restored big-time.

Yeap, also their league form was pretty average. Was it as average as ours....?

Has he reallythough? I would argue that the inconstant & at times, frankly appalling football being dished up, of which Partridge is ultimately responsible for promotes instability & can polarise the "dressing room" to the point of anarchy. There have been rumours that this may have happened more than once under his tenure already. The only 'stability' we have with Pardew is a stable place around 15th in the table(if we are lucky) and a certainty of getting knocked out of the FA Cup in 3rd round by Brighton.... You are always sure that he will use 'stable' quotes such as 'couldn't get over the line'......