Lotus

Absolute nonsense. Wullie really lets himself down in this thread. We've got no strength in depth and and players missing in every position. If we have no strength in depth and are struggling to play two games a week, why did Pardew play so many first team players yesterday against poor opposition? Then the spastic was whining about losing Ben Arfa and Cisse as a result. Does that make any sense to you? I think he's trying to get a bit of fluency back in the side. Reckon we would have won too if those two had stayed on.

He looks like he's a bit low on confidence to me. Not sure of how he can affect games or what he's meant to be doing. He's weak too. But, he's quick, good stamina and good technique. Give him a bit of time. Reckon there's a tidy player in there who will come through.

Do you think he could handle the pressure? He comes across as so nice and cultured that i wonder if he's got that steely ruthlessness to really compete with the other b*stards near the top.

Might be wrong, but didn't he say something like "players that have played in the competition previously and done well. Didn't do so well tonight?" I thought he was referring to Bigi and Sammy mainly, as they were both crap and have done well in the Europa so far. Marv was hit and miss granted, but he scored and was our only attacking threat second half. Doesn't say a lot admittedly. Who knows? Probably just more hot air to deflect the heat off him. Aye, you might be right. I was fighting the baby at the time so he didn't have my full attention! Who won? I won the battle but i have no doubt she'll win the war!

Might be wrong, but didn't he say something like "players that have played in the competition previously and done well. Didn't do so well tonight?" I thought he was referring to Bigi and Sammy mainly, as they were both crap and have done well in the Europa so far. Marv was hit and miss granted, but he scored and was our only attacking threat second half. Doesn't say a lot admittedly. Who knows? Probably just more hot air to deflect the heat off him. Aye, you might be right. I was fighting the baby at the time so he didn't have my full attention!

Poor players. Nobody would look good in that mess. Seem to be the first time (that i can remember) that he came close to pointing the finger in public though.

I'd go for Martin Jol and see if he can bring Briggs with him. Young, athletic LB with lots to learn who's not playing much, we might even be able to afford him. Switch Santon to RB. Personally i'd play 4-3-3 with Jonas in for Cabaye (until he's back) and partner him with Tiote and Anita. HBA on the right and, even though he's showed very little, i'd opt for Marveaux or Obertan on the left (as Ba won't play there). I'd also play Cisse up front as he plays off the last man better than Ba and when we play Ba we just seem to bang long to him (see last night) and he's actually not very good at that. I think Ba is a terrific player but we change our style when he's on and go long (ineffectively). When Cisse plays we look to go through the middle more. My first thoughts anyway. I will feel free to change them as well!

I reckon if we don't score early we will be in trouble. They'll know our confidence is down and they badly need a win. They'll go for it. It's a shame we don't have any defensive solidity this season, we can't really take the game to the opposition either. Hopefully we'll get lucky and the ball will drop in a handy spot for Ba to smash it. You'd have to say they're favourites though.

Thought it was interesting when he said that some of the players who came in last night didn't really do enough to stake a claim.I reckon he was definitely referring to Marveaux. Maybe Sammy and Vurnon too.

Thing that surprises me is, we aren't particularly solid at the back either. Sure, we're not incisive and clever upfront, but we can't really keep teams at bay either.

I'd agree he is clueless not playing hoofball + tight defense when we are forced to use Willo. Willo isn't singularly the problem. He hits it long because we don't use the midfield because we are team that like to go direct. Also, are you actually criticising the fans for wanting our team to attack Swansea at home?? For real?? Tactically, we weren't much different today. 4-4-2, little movement, pump it long often. Tried to play it around a bit, felt unfamiliar, go long again.

I was a bit frustrated with today if i'm honest.

Bit of stretch to call that as assist

So obvious that Sammy wasn't ready. I'm not sure what Pardew values in a player.

Don't agree we was far the better side it was a day light robbery how we lost that i don't know. We should have scored but on the whole they had the better chances. You're just not being honest about that tbf.

He doesn't understand what's wrong so he doesn't quite know what to do to fix it.

We need to start running at Britton btw.

I actually think i'd consider putting Marveux on. It'll be Shola though for a more 'direct approach'.

Everytime one of their midfielders get the ball, at least 2 Swansea players move towards him and present themselves for a pass. When one of ours gets it, everyone moves away expecting us to go direct which the guy with the ball is then only left with as an option.

Tbh, Swansea pass and move better than us with (on the whole) inferior players. Makes you realise how little we must do it in training.

........................Krul....................... Santon...Willo.......Saylor.....Fergie ...............Anita.......Tiote............... Marveux..........HBA..........Obertan ........................Ba........................

Looks like we may need him against Swansea. I don't think he's done much at all but i'd still definitely start him ahead of Sammy.

He's already made us a difficult side to beat though IMO (something that he deserves a tremendous amount of credit for), do you not think he should be pushing on and trying to build on that? The next logical step seems to be to focus on our attacking play, which on the evidence if this season he either isn't doing at all or else he has no idea how to go about it. True, but there's the added complication of squad rotation (cup games) and having the prep time for matches reduced. He's never had to deal with this before as a manager (European competition) IIRC, so he's got to cut his teeth too. He's very good about worrying about other teams but he doesn't seem to be very good about making other teams worry about us. In any sport, when you haven't got much time to analyse and concentrate on your opponents strong points you do the next best thing, you concentrate on your own (of which we SHOULD have a shit load) and then enjoy watching THEIR arse fall out after 15 minutes. We have no attacking momentum, no cut and thrust.

He's still the weakest player in our first choice XI. True but even so with how we are playing at the moment i'm not sure we would get the best out of almost any signing we would make. The way we are playing is more of a concern to me at the moment than any potential signings. Whilst it by no means excuses the style of football we're currently producing, a proper RB would help us out. We're extremely unbalanced at the moment. Santon gets into good attacking positions and overlaps whoever is on the left but on the right we're pretty much solely relying on Ben Arfa to create everything. I struggle to think of Simpson getting into the box which doesn't help us out one bit. Signing a RB to replace Simpson would at least offer us another outlet down that side of the pitch. Be nice if Santon actually crossed from his left once in a while. That stopping, turning around and giving it to someone else thing is starting to get on my nerves tbh.

Waaaaaaaaaayyyy too early to be starting Sammy imho. Think a lot of the game would pass him by and Fergie would have a hard time at LB with Sammy in front of him in the prem. Maybe when they've both grown up a bit but not now.