Lotus

Has he bollocks.

No pattern to our attack at all. No recognisable runs or effective pattern to our passing. We can't be doing ANY attacking drills. Every time we go forward it's like the players have only just met. West Ham in contrast had a pattern. What's more, if that score was the other way around in the last 15 mins we wouldn't have defended with any where near the same discipline. Fat Sam is better than this manager lark than Pardew. Our squad deserves better than both of them imo.

They'll target Simpson and Williamson and try to get us on the break with early balls to Maiga. Can see them scoring again.

We've had one player, ONE, who's moved into space after he's passed the ball. Anita.

Seen a couple occasions where he looked annoyed with Ba. They rarely pass to eachother, proper odd. And they're never going to change imo.

Ba and Cisse are always looking for the same space. Pointless playing them together as a CF pair. I suppose the Senegalese manager figured that out a long time ago.

What's odd is that they play through the middle better than us and we keep pumping long pointlessly.

We'll be so concerned about how not lose against them that we'll have no gameplan as to how to actually win the game other than hoping luck and opportunity allow one of our forwards to have a smash at goal.

Despite not being impressed with him so far this season i did think he showed some glimpses yesterday of what he's about. Controls the ball very quickly which allows him to get his head up and look to see what's on. Wanted Pardew to put Cisse on for Ameobi so we could see what Marveaux would have done with a proper forward in front of him.

He's a midfielder imo. Got pace enough to recover while playing at FB, positionally not great though.

It's true that Jonas doesn't add much to our flow or buildup play. He does make a significant defensive contribution though. I would think we should play the Tiote-Anita Cabaye trio in games where we want to boss possession and then play Jonas against the bigger clubs. See. This is what´s wrong here. Everyone is happy if a player is running around and then hoof it long and hard. How can anyone be happy with that? I think we just have to be honest about the fact that when we come up against the big clubs like the Manchesters, Chelsea and Arsenal we don't have a squad that can outplay them. Or West Brom.

What does he offer going forward as a LB?

What does Santon offer going forward from LB? Crosses, no. Cutting in and playing a killer through ball? No. Shots? No. Running towards the byline, stopping turning around and rolling the ball to someone else? Yes.

I'd take him. Was a very good defender and it would do us the world of good to have a bit balance and actually have a left footer on the left. He also had a very good partnership with Colo.

I think you get managers who have an idea of how they want a team set up, formations, etc and then encourage/coach/coerce the players to fit into that system. Other managers look at what they've got and choose a system/style that suits the players at his disposal. Both these attitudes have there merits imo and there have been very successful managers from both schools of thought. I think Pardew is in the former camp. His problem is that the team isn't really performing the way he wants because they're not best suited to that style. His other (and massive) problem is that i don't think he gets to choose (100%) the players that are bought and sold. So, i think he's looking at it and is trying to find a system that suits the players he's got. But he's not getting it right (yet). He'll know this better than anyone but to keep the players believing in him he focuses on the positives of the performances

I thought he looked utterly disinterested and unmotivated.

Said a while ago that i reckoned he would look better on the left. Thought he played well last night, gave the youngsters some confidence to have him there.

Thought he was good enough at RB last night.

....................Elliot................ Tav......Willo.......Saylor.....Fergie ..........Bigi....Tiote...Anita......... ..Sammy........................Obertan ..................Papisto..................

I'd never thought of that. It would be awesome. I dream he'd get us playing like Simeone gets his Athletic Madrid team did against Chelsea. Utterly irrational... Shola director of football? Club Chef. Lots of apple based dishes then. You shouldn't have said anything, I really want this to happen now. Every day i wake and he's not the manager, it hurts man! HURTS!

I'd never thought of that. It would be awesome. I dream he'd get us playing like Simeone gets his Athletic Madrid team did against Chelsea. Utterly irrational... Shola director of football? Club Chef.

I'd never thought of that. It would be awesome. I dream he'd get us playing like Simeone gets his Athletic Madrid team did against Chelsea. Utterly irrational...

I have a totally irrantional wish that he ends up being our manager one day.

Vuckic was being played as a forward.

Champions league? You're aving a larf!