clintdempsey

I was listening to pardew on the radio and he was saying that due to the international break hes had chance to study all man citys games in detail and he'd noticed that the teams who do well against them are the teams that have a go at them , Man utd apart but he said that was down to the sending off. So I expect him to go for it, they are used to teams sitting deep with their passing ability they can exploit tight spaces anyway, you need to get the ball in their half, you'd rather Kompany be on the ball more than david silva, so I think well play a high line attempting to push them into their own half. Didn't we play with an exceptionally high line in both games against them last season as well?

Just watched the highlights from the U18's vs. Derby game. Fucking hell, Campbell looks quick. His legs are moving like drumsticks.

Traore seems to be a LOT more attacking than Tioté. Something like 6 goals in 9 appearances so far this season.

Surely the club would have communicated this? They did when Puma took over from Adidas in any case...

The majority of German stadiums are named after brands. Was 14 out of 18 in the top division in 2007, not sure about now. AWD-Arena (FKA Niedersachsenstadion) Bay Arena (FKA Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion ) badenova-Stadion (FKA Dreisamstadion) Mercedes Benz Arena (FKA Neckarstadion) RheinEnergieStadion (FKA Müngersdorfer Stadion) Imtech Arena (FKA AOL Arena, HSH Nordbank Arena, Volksparkstadion) Signal Iduna Park (FKA Westfalen Stadion) And those are just stadiums that have been renamed.

Yeah, that won't happen. The club haven't received a penny in cash or in kind for any of the SD advertising so far and I don't see why that would change now. Neither would it by this. That's the point with my argument though isn't it? Free advertising for writing off the debts.

What if this is done as a sort of payback on the money he's lent the club. For example, instead of taking out £120m (?) over a period of 10 years, he will use this to get back his money instead. And making us completely debt free in the process.

Still it's nice with positive articles about the club in foreign papers. Albeit a bit faulty.

Well, we could lose all 6 games vs. Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea, still keep up our points/game ratio vs. the other teams in the league and still land on 73 pts. We would by journo logic have failed the test but we'd probably still be in the Top 4. Good enough?

Nice dive Mario.

It wasn't Simpson's mistake on the goal ffs. What was he supposed to do? Could probably do with having another player marking Rodwell. And perhaps put a man on the first post. If a man was on the first post the goal would probably have been avoided.

Is Mamadou Niang playing ? Yes. Jeonbuk has been absolutely fantastic and just scored 2-2 in added time. Heading for Extra Time this one. Niang has been pretty poor but Kader Keita has scored 2 for Al Sadd.

Been watching the AFC Champions League final between Jeonbuk and Al Sadd. Pretty good game with Al Sadd leading 2-1 with 15 mins left.

I'd guess the point of it would be to "produce" their own water for showers, watering the pitches and so on. Saves a bit of money in the long run not having to pay for it from an external company. Depending on what kind of under-soil heating they have installed at the training ground it can also be used to heat up the pitches. This would save an enormous amount of money when compared to electrical or gas heated pitches. Since, we're already discussing this matter I work with exactly this and my company has a test site in Norway where the costs compared to traditional methods of under-soil heating have been slashed by almost 90%. And for the geographical location of the training ground I'd say that this would probably save the club somewhere between 500-750K/year.

A borehole is mainly used as a water well (but could also be used to extract natural gases for heating and such) so I doubt it tbh. Unless there's elixir like water running under the training ground.

A) I think that's an extension of having his own interests at heart. He knows he needs to appeal to the fans to gain their support when things get rough. b) He's an organised manager with excellent motivational skills (when things are going well). We've yet to see him in action when the s*** hits the fan. 4-0 down at home to Arsenal? Being beaten at Stevenage? I don't class one bad result/first half performance as the 's*** hitting the fan' - a run of 4/5 games without a win (every NUFC manager has had this except Pards, maybe Hughton?). Fair enough. Surely the fact that "the shit hasn't hit the fan" in 11 months is a kind of testament to the work he's doing and his qualities? Quite possibly, but the overwhelming probability is that we'll eventually go on a rough patch of results. While I'm loving the fact that we're finally staying injury-free (touch-wood) and getting our fair share of favourable decisions, after so many years of it going the other way, I'm wary that we still haven't seen how the squad copes with the inevitable downturn in fortune. I quite like Pards, so I'm hoping he comes good when we hit the sticky stuff - I have a feeling he's the type of manager who'll rarely lose more than one game on the bounce Once again, he's been here for 11 months. There's nothing at all to suggest that we will hit a rough patch. (And no, 3 straight defeats to Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea) would'nt be a rough patch. It would be absolutely normal. He's handled most things and most set-backs (Twitter-rows, Carroll sale, losing Nolan and Enrique) admirably so far. I can't see where he'd lose it to be honest. Of course we won't win the league and we won't stay unbeaten all season, but if he can guide towards a top 7 finish he will have done an outstanding job. And IMO he's bang on course to doing just that. We are closing the gap to the Big 4/5/6 bit by bit.

On the plus side, he's got amazing facial hair.

We're not. That's kind of the point.

A) I think that's an extension of having his own interests at heart. He knows he needs to appeal to the fans to gain their support when things get rough. b) He's an organised manager with excellent motivational skills (when things are going well). We've yet to see him in action when the s*** hits the fan. 4-0 down at home to Arsenal? Being beaten at Stevenage? I don't class one bad result/first half performance as the 's*** hitting the fan' - a run of 4/5 games without a win (every NUFC manager has had this except Pards, maybe Hughton?). Fair enough. Surely the fact that "the shit hasn't hit the fan" in 11 months is a kind of testament to the work he's doing and his qualities?

I count four wank-tastic players. Sammy, HBA, Marveaux and Santon.

I'm not entirely sure that you can put the lack of injuries down to luck. The Club has said that a lot of money has been spent on improving the training ground and the facilities. Surely this has a huge part to play in keeping players fit? They've invested the money to try and combat our ancient injury problems/hoodoo and are so far reaping the rewards. Investment is the answer, not luck. IMO.

In other news I watched the Liverpool-Norwich game last weekend with a Liverpool-supporting mate. I was astounded but also very relieved when he described Luis Suarez as an 'embarassing twat'. Made me believe in humanity just a little more again.

Not in a million years. He would be the epitome of trolldad with that grin / smirk of his. Going out on the pickup with your Dad. Quality! You do realise that Pards would probably steal all your girlfriends? There are some things that should not be shared between Father and Son.

I'm so pumped up for today's game. Nervous as fuck and can't wait. I think we'll win 3-1 with goals from Best, Cabaye and Saylor.