AyeDubbleYoo

I still think he's better off behind a front man in a central free role, but now we've signed Cisse we'll never see that.

Of course we have to appreciate how good these players are and enjoy the fact that they are better than we expected. But we don't have to remove credit for our league position from the manager because he happens to have some good players.

Based on what, exactly? His footballing ability. Which you've quite rightly said we haven't seen. So I ask again, how do you know he's a world beater? We have seen it, he just hasn't been given enough regular games for him to show it consistently. Anyone who watches the lad can tell he's a class above anyone else on our books, it's obvious. I see a player playing for himself and playing with limited intelligence. Until someone (Pardew) finds a role for him, he won't be a 'class above' Well no offence but your assessment is wrong. He has excellent intelligence and an eye for a pass. He might be 'playing for himself' at times, but that's because he has to justify his existence in 20 minutes as a substitute. As you said, it's the manager's job to use him properly and the failure for me is down to Pardew and not Ben Arfa. I've no doubt at all that if he'd been played either RM or AM for a run of 10 games he would have been one of the stories of the season.

why would i be offended if you are too dim to understand? it's like a sprinter from jamaica going to run in barbados not feeling too good and thinking he'd do well to get bronze. then when he gets there he blows everyone away in the heats after realising that his opponents aren't as good as him. should he stick to the original predictions and be happy with bronze or re-adjust his expectations to take into account for fuller and more comprehensive knowledge he has gained? I see what you're saying, but it's kind of like saying the sprinter should revise his expectations at about 55 metres. We haven't finished the season, who's to say that the predictions about top 10 weren't fair, and if we end up there it's OK after all? I mean, we had some knowledge of our opponents, and it was pretty accurate. We basically knew who the top 6 would be, and those teams are there. There are some teams like Villa and Everton who are slightly underachieving, but that could still correct before the end of the season. Anyway, it doesn't really matter either way, you're entitled to expect whatever finish you want, I just think what Pardew has managed so far has been very good. Apart from the style of football, which I can understand but don't enjoy.

Based on what, exactly? His footballing ability. Which you've quite rightly said we haven't seen. So I ask again, how do you know he's a world beater? We have seen it, he just hasn't been given enough regular games for him to show it consistently. Anyone who watches the lad can tell he's a class above anyone else on our books, it's obvious.

Johnnypd, I'm struggling to keep up with your argument TBH. We're overachieving but at the same time we should be revising our expectations all the time? It's a view I struggle to understand TBH, no offence meant. I realise pre-season predictions are imperfect, but it's also slightly odd to say that because we've done unusually well so far we should do unusually well for the rest of the season, or even better. Maybe we're due a downward correction and the original predictions were right after all.

Based on what, exactly? His footballing ability.

He is the world beater people thought though, he just hasn't been given a fair chance to show it.

True.

I honestly don't know, it's a very hard thing to assess. There are so many ways of winning a football match, so many good players who underperform and so many 'worse' players who can be put together into a good unit. If your point is that Pardew has some good players at his disposal then that's true, any manager needs that to get into the top 6. But he also has a good number of mediocre ones who he has had to use in the first team quite a lot.

You don't think it's harsh to just always have "do better than we're doing now" as expectations for the manager? Does he deserve any credit for managing us to our current position, which was higher than anyone expected at the start? Or should we just say he's benefitted from good players and has failed to get them into the top 4?

Exactly, it's like if we were fourth now people would be saying the minimum is to win the league or something. I can't recall anyone predicting Europe or anywhere near it at the start of the season. And when we went up to sixth I don't think many people were saying it wasn't a big achievement because it was the minimum we should expect. People need to think about what we were expecting at the start of the season, it's been a great campaign so far.

In this division, with the squad he has at his disposal, yes. He has 3/4 of a good first team that should be top 6 quality, the rest is bottom 3 material really. Ian, you've only got to look at the lack of quality around us to know that top 6 should be where we are aiming. We've got a spine of a team that verging on C.L quality imho with Krul, Colo, Cabate, Tiote and the Dembii. His should be concentrating his efforts on getting the fuckers wide of this lot to perform to a level condusive to the rest imho. As I said, the majority of the first team are good players but the rest of the squad aren't. So, on that basis, surely you must fancy us to progres up the table given this if first time we've got a chance of a run of them together with Tiote, Cisse and Ba back? I hope we'll do well, aye, whether we progress up the table depends on a lot of other teams as well. The rest of the squad, and Pardew, have to take credit for how they ground out some results when most people expected us to drop down the table. It doesn't necessarily follow that we'll start shooting up the league now, I hope we start picking up a good number of points though.

In this division, with the squad he has at his disposal, yes. He has 3/4 of a good first team that should be top 6 quality, the rest is bottom 3 material really. Ian, you've only got to look at the lack of quality around us to know that top 6 should be where we are aiming. We've got a spine of a team that verging on C.L quality imho with Krul, Colo, Cabate, Tiote and the Dembii. His should be concentrating his efforts on getting the fuckers wide of this lot to perform to a level condusive to the rest imho. As I said, the majority of the first team are good players but the rest of the squad aren't.

This season, top 10 would be progress and top 6 would be unreal. He has managed us into a position where 4th or 5th is achievable, but I don't think it's fair to suddenly revise expectations because of the good job he's done so far. Our squad isn't that good, 3/4 of our first team is. Norwich are 8th. So if they finish above us we should still be happy? I don't understand the point of the question. I've already said what I think would be a fair finish, I don't give a fuck where Norwich end up. I mean, if Arsenal finish 11th is it OK for us to finish 12th? It's a pointless argument.

This season, top 10 would be progress and top 6 would be unreal. He has managed us into a position where 4th or 5th is achievable, but I don't think it's fair to suddenly revise expectations because of the good job he's done so far. Our squad isn't that good, 3/4 of our first team is.

In this division, with the squad he has at his disposal, yes. He has 3/4 of a good first team that should be top 6 quality, the rest is bottom 3 material really.

6th is the minimum we should be looking at? No wonder the manager doesn't stand a chance.

Spot on Prophet.

This has to be the way, Raylor at fullback is suicide.

You could look at it like that, but IMO the goals went in so quickly that they influenced the performance rather than the other way around. And Wolves certainly didn't 'deserve' a goal themselves, their attacking play was shocking.

They had a lot of the ball, but it was very poor possession and we were allowing them to have it because they weren't able to do anything with it.

It's only right midfield where he even had a decision, no? Ian man, there's more to football than picking your best team, and he can't even do that. We dont play football, he sends us out to not concede, every single week. I know, but I was responding to a post about team selection. At least have a go at me when it makes sense.

we did not go in at half time comfortable, anyone can tell we were in for a tough time when the second half whistle will blow, because we know pardew hardly ever make changes at halftime. we were not comfortable straight after the first 20 mins, we slow, lack of urgency lack of belief lack of energy. we were never comfortable apart from the first 20 mins Well I thought that we would realised we were flagging and Pardew would sent them out firing to start the second half. Obviously that never happen. But as the first half ended we were definitely playing fine and looking good for a win IMO. There was always the potential that Wolves would get back into it, but to actually 'expect' that would have been overly negative, expecially with the chance Pardew had to talk them up at HT.

I wasn't trying to score points, I couldn't give a fuck about that stuff. I still maintain that our performance in the first half was absolutely fine. Not ideal obviously, because in utopia we would just turn on the style and murder every 'inferior footballing side' that we play. But OK considering the circumstances. It was the second half that let us down.