Lotus

Wigan gave us a tremendous amount of space and aften a lot of time on the ball. Was glad of that because it allowed us to realx a bit and players like Anita and Marveaux to get some confidence. Hopefully that will carry through into Fulham where, i'm sure, it will be much tighter for them (if they play).

(Genuinely) wonder what Pardew's motives/reasons are for continually mentioning that clause. Everyone in the business will know what it is (his agent will tell them) and us as fans have known about it. Wonder why he keeps bringing it up. Anyway, he played great yesterday, was involved all over. Hope is ok for Fulham!

Not at all. The amount of times he passes back to Krul instead of playing it forward as he has no confidence in his own ability is extremely frustrating. His touch and technique are awful. Maybe he's fully appraised of that fact and plays the 'least likely to f*ck up' pass when forced with a choice.

This.

Defended well i thought.

Would really like to see him play like that with HBA on he pitch.

Yep. Didn't think Cisse was that helpful to Ba tonight though. There was a pass on a couple of times but he either didn't see him or didn't choose to.

Have to agree. It's the movement, their players often had good options. It's bizarre we can't do much of that at all even with more men than the opposition! Still, we won!

He should certainly be considered ahead of Sammy who just doesn't look ready.

No team has every won a game playing 4-4-2? Krul continually smashing it long is as big a problem as any tactical problem we have. Change that and other things will change. Or just blame Ba for everything? 4-4-2 is very much about partnerships isn't? We have a few problems there. The front 2 aren't an effective partnership, the midfield 2 aren't an effective partnership. Bit of width in a 4-4-2 is essential, are we getting crosses in from the left? No, are we getting crosses in from the right? No. If the above was working, if the players were making it work there would be no debate.

Don't agree tbh. Think Ba thrives on having another forward throw themself about and he takes whatever opportunities pop up. Cisse's knack is finding a bit space at the right time and being cold as ice when it comes.

Yeah, we don't see enough of that pass into the feet of a player who's in between the opposition midfield and back four. Everything goes via the wings or direct to the strikers. The Ba - Cisse combination, in whatever form, was never going to help matters. However, I can understand that there was pressure on Pardew to give it every chance. What puzzles me is that the strikers that we seemed to be going for in the summer - Carroll and De Jong - wouldn't particularly help either. There appears to be a distinct lack of strategy as to what he wants to do as it happens.

I think our problem is don't have anyone who moves up into or drops deeper into the 'number 10' position when we're attacking. No one who's got the ball in between the CBs the midfield with their head up looking to play one of our forwards in. Whether it's Cabaye moving forward and either receiving the ball there and carrying it there or HBA drifting in or Ba dropping deep and looking to play Cisse in. It's that position that creates panic and indecision in the oppostion and once you've got them guessing then you can try an occasional direct approach or a long diagonal or down the flanks and actually put a cross in but at the moment we're so one dimensional and what's more, we're pretty badf at it. It's like we've opted to rinse and repeat the one attacking tactic we're worst at.

Rivaldo NOT a top player?? Jesus H..... Good in the air, great shot, clever, and his range of passing and vision was sublime.

Hope he's realised by now that using Sammy instead of Marveaux is idiotic and brings about the exact reverse of what a substitution should.

Some what perplexed that we brought Sammy on. Was obvious he would offer nothing other than lose the ball. Very strange decision.

Stoke will reckon we're there for the taking. Hope they're over confident. Would love to see Cisse whack in a couple of wonder shots and bring that sh*te hole of a staduim to silence.

Problem with our long balls is that they are aimless punts to our stationary forwards rather then clever long diagonals that pull their defenders all over the place.

I want him out but the team in my thinking comes way before him, i want us to win 100% always, no matter what players are on the pitch or who the manager is. And despite this sounding strange after my clear fed-upperdness with him, i will support Pardew while the game is on. Fair enough but I get vibes that this is similar to Souness last game at Man City,when people didn't really mind us losing. Wow! I've never been a big fan of Pards, even last year with wins against Man U and Chelsea i said we weren't as good as some people made out and we had more than our fair share of luck, but even so, i could not compare him to Souness. I wanted Souness sacked because there was NO hope with him. I agree completely. I'm just saying I get vibes from people that they are wanting Pardew out at all costs. Yeah, i know you didn't feel that way. Was just saying i'd surprised (and a little horrified) if anyone did.

I would find it very difficult to believe he said that.

I want him out but the team in my thinking comes way before him, i want us to win 100% always, no matter what players are on the pitch or who the manager is. And despite this sounding strange after my clear fed-upperdness with him, i will support Pardew while the game is on. Fair enough but I get vibes that this is similar to Souness last game at Man City,when people didn't really mind us losing. Wow! I've never been a big fan of Pards, even last year with wins against Man U and Chelsea i said we weren't as good as some people made out and we had more than our fair share of luck, but even so, i could not compare him to Souness. I wanted Souness sacked because there was NO hope with him.

You've put words into my mouth there.

Pardew's wages are linked with our wage bill and our debt. It's also possible that his wages are linked to league position, qualifying for Europe, cup wins, etc. Couldn't say. We know that they are linked to the wage bill and the debt though. So, if he thinks he can get by with what we have then that's what will happen. Logical enough. It's his job and he has a set of objectives that can affect what he earns, naturally enough, they will influence his decisions. As they would yours and mine. Have i missed something? I mean I've seen people mention it before, but never thought anything of it other than speculative bollocks. How would anyone 'know' this? (aside from Pardew etc obviously) Its bollocks, good bollocks but bollocks all the same. You don't remember Golfmag do you?

Pardew's wages are linked with our wage bill and our debt. It's also possible that his wages are linked to league position, qualifying for Europe, cup wins, etc. Couldn't say. We know that they are linked to the wage bill and the debt though. So, if he thinks he can get by with what we have then that's what will happen. Logical enough. It's his job and he has a set of objectives that can affect what he earns, naturally enough, they will influence his decisions. As they would yours and mine.

I can't believe that the reason is to keep Ba happy, I've never believed that. I just think Pardew prefers a more rigid system. Bit of both imo, I don't trust the form of cisse to play the 433 with Ba on the left and Cisse upfront. What I do want is the 433 though so that we can play 3 CM's as we are getting killed in midfield time and again. Probably. I don't think Ba is 'ideal' for the wide position, but all things considered it's definitely the best option for the team. Why isn't he being played there then? Pardew doesn't agree? Clearly, he has his reasons.