ikri

We didn't hang around & almost everyone around us left too. Quite a few people slagging off Pardew on the way out too.

The crazy thing is, if Wigan did the unthinkable and win the next two games with Sunderland losing to Spurs there are a lot of their fans who would still see this season as a success because they beat us.

what the fuck was he thinking?

Booing their own players during the game?

I can't watch

When was the last time we came from behind to win again?

He admits that he's failed this season but he has done nothing in the last few months to suggest that he is capable of improving the team. His subs and second half tactics last week were just laughable. His persistence with playing Cisse wide-right is just fucking bizarre, even more so when the central striker was Shola. Some of the players apparently aren't fit enough to complete 90 minutes so you've got to ask what the hell is going on in training. We haven't scored from a corner in god knows how long, do they even practice taking them in training? He sees that we've been awful this season and yet everything that he's done to alter the way the team plays has been backwards.

He said the other day that he'd not spoke to Ashley since the Liverpool result, so I have no doubt that he's just fishing for support. Think he's genuinely worried. MA is one monster of unpredictable manflesh!! He's just getting his excuses in early. Ashley's unpredictable. The team has had too many injuries. The Notting Hill Carnival was on the wrong day. All the transfers were done above his head. He'll be able to cry to his mates in the media about how he was badly treated (assuming he gets the sack) and it was all due to elements beyond his control and nothing to do with his inability to coach at the highest levels.

Only if you believe he's beyond hope and doesn't deserve a chance to turn it around. That's the thing that creates doubt about whether he will be sacked. Pardew has been given a chance to improve and show that he deserves more time. He should have probably been sacked by the New Year but instead the club backed him by buying 5 players in the transfer window, but performances have gone even further backwards since then.

Eh ?? Have I missed something ? I can think of several reasons why Pardew's position may be in jeopardy, but it may well be support from the dressing room, not lack of it, that keeps him in his job. He has clearly lost the dressing room. See Liverpool game, and recent reports of unrest. Utter nonsense. Even if he had "lost lost the dressing room", there's nothing "clear" about it. Liverpool was a diabolical, humiliating performance but had Ferguson, Lambert, di Fascisto, etc etc "lost the dressing room" prior to similar results ? Recent reports ? Aye let's believe the scurrilous Luke Edwards rather than anyone who is actually in the dressing room such as the club captain who's just said "The manager and the players are together. People can criticise when they want, but we always give our best on the pitch and on the training ground.” There's plenty of scope to get at Pardew without having to make s*** up to validate the criticism of him. PS "lost the dressing room" is such a stupid expression, I can only assume it was someone like Lawrenson who first used it. You lose your fuckin keys not a building with showers and coat hangers. So if he's not "lost the players" and they are trying their hardest in training and on the pitch then surely that intimates that there are fundamental problems with the coaching and tactics, which essentially also lies at the feet of the manager. It's clear from previous games and the reasoning behind buying these players, that they are a lot more skilled than recent performances have given evidence to. If he's lost the dressing room and the players aren't doing what he's asking of them, then either he or a large portion of the first team need to be replaced. If he hasn't lost the dressing and the team are doing what has been asked, then he needs to be replaced because the results and performances this season have been appalling, or we need to replace a large portion of the first team to get in some players who can do what's being asked of them better. If there's a problem with language and a number of the players can't fully understand his instructions then we need to either replace him with someone who can communicate with all (or most of) the players, or replace the players with communication problems. In every event we either need to replace Pardew or a large portion of the first team, replacing Pardew is the cheaper, quicker and most efficient option.

I think if Ashley's even considering sacking him then the summer is the best time to do it. There's no point in waiting until we're 10 games into next season, have crashed out of the League Cup and have a load of discontented players and fans. Plus whoever then takes over would need at least 5-10 games to get the players accustomed to their style of play so we'd already be halfway through the season. Another season of mediocrity and the better players would start getting itchy feet and we're back to rebuilding the squad. Just do it after the Arsenal game, replace him with someone competent and let them have a full pre-season to work with. If a new manager is making progress the better players would probably stick around for another year.

Ashley must be thinking, now why would anyone want to poach Pardew lol You may think that, but look at how many managers & people in football seemed to rate players like Smith, Butt, etc. even after they'd been demonstrably abysmal for us for years. Hell, we hired that fuckwit Souness even when he was on the verge of being sacked by Blackburn. Suffice to say, a lot of people in football are absolute idiots who pay far more attention to media friends and clueless pundits than they do to their own eyes.

A traffic cone would have been a better sub than Gosling

Part of his joke of a coaching setup has just been sacked from his job. Dean Saunders, who was hired to coach Alan Shearer and Michael Owen to score goals, has been sacked by Wolves for getting them relegated.

Have a look at some newspaper comments sections about us. I don't think there's too many people left who still back him.

I can understand the premise of sticking with a manager even when results are going against them, but only if it looks like there might be some improvement in the future. It's just fuckwittery to suggest sticking with a manager who looks like he's draining all the talent and drive out of the team.

Away performances have become completely scripted. Start quite well and retreat further and further back as the game goes on, so that by 90 minutes, it's basically 11 blokes on the goalline in sheer terror. Couldn't have done much today though. Same as Villa. And West Brom. If a team wants to attack, you can't do anything to stop them, not allowed. I'd love to know what he says to the team at half time, that's got to be at least 30 times this season where we've had a decent first half followed by fuck-knows-what in the 2nd.

He reminds me of Stephen Glass. Every time it looks like it could be his chance to come into the team, put in a performance and secure a place in the starting 11 he's suddenly injured again.

The 2nd half tactics and substitutes were the height of stupidity. Pushing Cisse out wide, letting the midfield drop deeper and deeper, reverting to hoofball up to Shola so he can hold on to the ball and play in no one. The 1st half tactics were the usual give it to Hatem or Goufrann and hope they can do something, I've no idea what the game plan was in the 2nd half, other than hope not to concede, and I'm sure the players have no idea either. He's had a week to prepare for this game and this is what he came up with? Indefensible.

Utter farce.

Without any outlets in the midfield, with our main striker shoved out to the right wing and a complete shambles up front we have reverted back to hoofball. West Ham are easily winning all the possession in the middle so the ball just ends up coming back at us constantly. The remaining midfielders end up sitting deeper and deeper until they're toe-to-toe with the back four. If West Ham don't score in the remaining time it'll just be because they ran out of time, eventually they would score.

Playing Cisse wide right really is a fucking liability. It's utterly insane that anyone would think that playing him there was a good idea.

So are we. Allegedly.

Gosling? What's the fucking point?