Lotus

http://infostradalive.com/post/50236186401/analyse-this-newcastle-united-on-target-for-one-of In the end we got one more point so fell just shy of the top 15 by dropping 24 in total. The last paragraph on Fergie is noteworthy though. A 30 point decline was worse than Pardew's. It would be if we had a man of his calibre in charge.

Come on, Wullie. Bit of realism here!

By the time a player reaches his age, shouldn't he be able to that already? It isn't kind of like too late to teach him that?

Well, tbh, i haven't seen much of that (the closing down) but that maybe more me than him.

Wouldn't that depend on the midfield in general as well though? Does everyone have to be a ball-winner? I agree what he does off the ball is very important as well mind. I guess though, if Anita is the deepest lying player he's GOT to be good at this. Or good at intercepting. Or his positioning is such that he forces the opposition to make decisions they don't really want to. Tbh, i haven't much/any of that from him so far.

For a CM, he has do offer more than just moving the ball around quickly though. For his position it's what he's doing without it that is so essntial. And what he's offering to win it back.

He's scoring record so far for WHam is just under 1 in 4, Carlton Cole's is just over 1 in 4. Also, apart from 2 assists against already relegated Reading at home on the last day of the season he managed 2 assists all season. Same as Carlton Cole. Now, i'm not saying he definitely wouldn't be a success here, but given the money being talked about, i would say there are other players worth taking a risk on. And the first criteria would be, don't look for a player who spends his time in recuperation from injury as a piss artist. You know, just your basic professional attitude required.

For once I agree with the inane childish use of a smiley here. WTF man !! Well, it was a joke, doofus.

Said that a while ago. Colo as player manager was my little dream scenario

Pulis is exactly the type of coach Pardew needs to help him develop. Will also help with corners and FKs. Should offer him an assistant manager position. Might tempt him....

HBA on the right doesn't put crosses in. TBF, he doesn't do it much on the left, he's not the type of player to be looking to whip a cross in, he likes to take on his man and either put a through ball in and have a shot. If we are playing 2 wingers though, where would you stick him? He is more beneficial than a winger in many ways! I'd rather have HBA on the wing than Adam Johnson and Ryan Jarvis... Dunno tbh. With 2 wide men who can whip a ball in and have the stamina to get back to help out their FBs at the first sign of a threat, 2 CMs with enough stamina to probs cope with playing against a 3 man midfield that only leaves HBA as the guy to try and get onto AC's flick ons.

Reckon Cabaye is off and i don't think Pardew rates Anita (and to some extent i can see why so far tbh).

HBA on the right doesn't put crosses in. TBF, he doesn't do it much on the left, he's not the type of player to be looking to whip a cross in, he likes to take on his man and either put a through ball in and have a shot.

Maybe he gets a % of profit on sales. Could explain why is so keen to tell the whole f*cking world we've got players up for grabs the minute the season's over.

We'd also need other players to accomodate him, buy a winger or 2 who can cross, CMs who can play a 4-4-2 or a CM who get onto flick ons if it's a 4-5-1. We don't have that personnel at the moment so it will need Carrolll plus a couple of others to be relatively useful.

He's such a gobsh*te, he really is.

Still not sure how best Anita can fit into our midfield. Cabaye isn't as effective as previously. Tiote looks like he's trying all the things he shouldn't and neglecting all the things he should. Marveaux can't handle a CM role imo. Sissoko had a good couple of games and then he looked devoid of any idea of how to influence a game.

Would you sack Pardew if we won our first game of next season and didn't drop out of the top 5 all year....assuming the style of football remains....workmanlike. No. Would you?

Colo for player manager. He'd defo stay then...

The first half was like you say, just one of them games. It's strange Pardew stopped using because of that half. We battered them in the second half, hit the woodwork three times iirc. Aye i think we did, then again it was easier for them to sit back with such a lead. I just don't get ditching a system that won 6 games on the trot (iirc) because of one poor half. The best managers do switch for certain games but always use a certain formation as a default, then tweak as they see fit. I honestly think he didn't understand the system. Didn't understand why it worked and didn't understand what went wrong when we lost playing it.

This is one of the reasons I hope we don't buy Carroll. TBF Pardew hasn't really demonstrated a love for 4-4-2 that much. It worked against Manu last season (at home) because they had Carrick and Giggs as their 2 CMs and they were easily out worked by Cabaye and Tiote. Even then they had a good 1st 20 mins against us.

If we play 4-4-2 i don't think we've got the CMs for it currently. Tiote and Sissoko possibly have the athleticism and definitely have the strength for it but they don't have the passing ability. Cabaye i think would be exhausted trying to do everything. Perch hasn't the quality. We also don't have wingers who can whip a cross in. So, for 4-4-2, the way we'd play it with Carroll, we'd need a couple of wingers and at least another CM - an all rounder.

Good post but its highly unlikely that A) Pardew will be sacked and that B) Ashley and co will have heard of any of them never mind actually look to appoint any of them. Its either Pardew or someone of his ilk, i.e. cheap, out of a job, British and a bit of a yes man. The powers that be have no real ambition for NUFC because ambition requires significant investment and risk taking. They have even stated publicly that a top 10 finish is a target and anything else over and above a bonus. That's the way things will always be under Ashley. We may finish 5th once or twice or qualify for Europe the odd time but that will be the bonus aspect rather than the real target of the club. Thankfully, Ashley is on an exit trajectory. Although that could take another 10 years to materialise... So basically a similar shortlist to the one Spurs had when they appointed Christian Gross and Jacques Santini. Whilst I cannot deny quality, people should not be denying the risk involved when the manager we have already got is not that bad. The grass is not always greener. I guess their point is though, when you barely escape relegation with 2 games left to play (which is where we were upto last week), there are a few green patches around, actually.

I said this a while ago. I reckon that's why Pardew gets so buddy buddy with the players, don't think he has any leverage with them otherwise!

Well we already know all of that though, just looking into the reasons behind it. Well, tbf, stats won't tell you the reasons behind it, just how often a particular event happened.