Chris_R

Jonas and Ben Arfa won't hit the byline because Jonas is right footed and gets played left wing whilst Ben Arfa is left footed but is constantly asked to play wide right. Players playing on the "wrong" side can and does work in a 4-3-3 because they're really playing as supporting forwards rather than conventional wingers, but it simply does not work in a 4-4-2 where you're relying on service to 2 out-and-out strikers. I have no problem at all in Pardew wanting or prefering to play 4-4-2, as it can be a good and exciting formation to watch. Keegan played 4-4-2, as did SBR, and let's face it we did OK then and had a bloody good time in the process. However both of them ensured that crosses came in from men getting to the byline or at least being able to whip in an away-swinging cross nice and early - Ginola and Gillespie, Robert and Solano. Every team that makes a success of 4-4-2 has players that do this, irrespective of the level they play at. We simply cannot do that with Jonas wide left and Hatem wide right, you lose too much. We also lack fullbacks who can overlap and get crosses in. I remember under Keegan seeing Beresford and Venison bombing forward past their wingman repeatedly, and it undoes teams. Santon's a great player, but he cannot get past the winger to support attacks and cross from the line as again he's right-footed and playing on the left. Simpson is playing on his natural side, but he's terrified of a football and can do nothing in posession apart from panic and play the ball back to Mike Williamson every single time he gets it. Watch him next match, if he wasn't playing for us it'd be fucking comical how often that's what he does. We've got some great players. Cabaye, Coloccini, Krul, HBA, Santon, Ba and Cisse. Tiote I don't rate as highly as many on here and haven't since day one but he's decent enough, as is Steven Taylor. However, we need a few new faces if we're going to make either 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 work and really be a good team. ------------------Krul Santon Coloccini Taylor NEWPLAYER NEWPLAYER Cabaye Tiote HBA ------------Cisse Ba OR ------------------Krul Santon Coloccini Taylor NEWPLAYER -----------------Tiote ----------Cabaye NEWPLAYER HBA-----------------------NEWPLAYER -----------Cisse OR Ba In the meantime, we have to make do. Either go 4-4-2 with people on the correct side of the pitch, or go 4-3-3 with Ba on the left. Incidentally, I don't think HBA is a left winger (Where I have him in the 4-4-2) but he's the kind of player that's good enough to play just about anywhere and would certainly be dangerous there, especially if he had a good fullback supporting him and we had a threat on the other wing as well. And if we ARE going 4-4-2 as Pardew seems to prefer, HBA simply has to play and I'm not having him on the right wing for reasons already stated. In the meantime the person on the right would have to be Jonas, and I know that people may say they've seen him play once on the right 4 years ago and he wasn't effective, but since then let's face it, he's had over a hundred games on the left wing and been almost completely unproductive. He's not been given much of a chance on the right beyond the odd game here or there, but he's had a multitude of chances on the left and his assists record speaks for itself. If we go 4-3-3, Ba can drop left for now and Jonas in midfield. It seems to work, but obviously Ba doesn't like playing there and Pardew seems to want to shift to 2 up top. That's the situation as I see it. I have no problem with either 4-3-3 or 4-4-2, but if we are going 4-4-2 we simply must have the correct players on their natural sides. It's fucking batshit crazy to do otherwise.

Although we've played better since going 2 down, there's a couple of things to consider: - Man U are 2-0 up, so can afford to sit back - We've created no worthwhile chances at all, De Gea hasn't had a single shot to save Very hard to argue that we should be back in this.

Jonas could have gone for that. Ouch.

No way is Tiote not getting sent off here today.

Fucking hell, did we just do something DIFFERENT from a corner?

This is going to be a proper battering.

He's the only f***er who can put a cross in. Get him out on LM. Pardew is incapable of playing wingers on the correct wings. Ferguson will probably start but on the right wing, be predictably shit then get dropped.

Shola: 13 Sunderland: 5 I think.

Seriously? I'm afraid so. Saying it came off his toe rather than his instep, and some s*** about him being worried after he hit it and having to watch it into the net. Even though all he could do was watch it into the net because he was facing that way and there wasn't anything else to look at, and he didn't have time to be worried because it was in within 0.1 seconds of leaving his boot, and he couldn't miss if he f***ing tried.

Commentators criticising Shola's technique in finishing a 1-yard tap-in into an empty net.

Rob Lee referring to Newcastle as "We".

The only way we could play well with that line-up is to put Ferguson on the left wing and Obertan on the right. Anything else is going to be a shit, borefest.

If you stick your fingers in your ears, close your eyes and shout "I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" over and over, then perhaps it'll all go away. Perhaps.

Looks like Roger Milla's grandad.

He's the only player who can though, as the rest of them are playing on the wrong side. Santon, Jonas and Ben Arfa all only have the option to cut back inside or else try to shank one in with their worst foot. Ferguson looking good is for the same reason Anita looks good at right back - He's on his correct side, and can do what fullbacks and wingers are supposed to do. Yes, really world-class players can make playing on the wrong side work a-la Maldini, but we've not got any world-class players. We've got good players, but they're completely hamstrung by being stuck on the wrong sides of the pitch. Ben Arfa's our closest to a world-class player, and he can make a go out of being out on the right, but the rest look turboshit. It's not the players fault, I genuinely believe that we'd look far better by just swapping them round.

Just shows what someone able to cross with his best foot can do. So fucking obvious and simple, yet week after week we set up wrong and look ponderous and shit as a result. As Skirge says, get Ferguson on to start. Either at LW for Jonas, or LB with Santon switching to the right.

Oh look, a goal from a cross from a winger on the right side.

Reading causing chaos in our area, simply by being able to cross the ball into the area because they've got a left footed player on the left and a right footed player on the right. Fucking genius that McDermott is thinking of that.

But we won't change it. We might score, in a crazy world we might even win. But we'll still play the same shit, and that's the problem.

Let's just try left footed players on the left and right footed players on the right. I couldn't give a toss what formation we then put them in, as without it it's just a collection of round pegs in square holes. Which is why we've got no final ball, no creativity, and are s**** and slow going forward. Assuming the same radius/width, a round peg would fit in a square hole. Perhaps, but if the purpose of the pegs was to keep water out, they wouldn't fucking work very well. Having them fit and saying to yourself "Look, it keeps some of the water out some of the time, therefore it's working" is delusional, and that's the attitude people take with Santon, Jonas and Ben Arfa being on the wrong sides. When occasionally someone does something competent, everyone refers back to that to defend the formation without thinking that things could work soooooo much better if we just put the right people in the right positions. This trend of putting people on the wrong wings is awful, shit, and needs stopping. It completely negates the usefulness of wingers. It might have a vague usefulness with people cutting back in on their stronger foot, but what you gain there isn't worth what you lose overall. And to prove my point, Reading have just scored from a classic cross from a winger playing on the correct side. Fucking beggars belief that we never attempt to do the same.

Let's just try left footed players on the left and right footed players on the right. I couldn't give a toss what formation we then put them in, as without it it's just a collection of round pegs in square holes. Which is why we've got no final ball, no creativity, and are shite and slow going forward.

I can see this finishing 0-0 and Pardew telling us what a great away point it is. When in reality, these lot are toss and anything less than a convincing 3 points needs to be seen as a poor result.

Can we all agree that (especially in a 4-4-2) left footed players on the right, and right footed players on the left, is f***ing s**** and doesn't work? Sort it out Pardew, FFS.

Definitely the nutmeg. Properly laughed out loud with joy at that.

This really. If we were 3 goals up, fine. But not at 1-0 and probably not at 2-0 either.