Lotus

Could give Di Matteo the job until the end of the season.

Ba and him had moments in the match where they changed positions, so both played left wing at times. I don't remember either of them looking anything special though. Put it this way then, Cisse looked a lot better then than he does now.

Bigi is already a better player than Gosling.

That would an exciting departure from our lot. Would take a punt on that personally, Will Hughes has looked absolute quality.

Didn't someone report that Marveaux himself said he was close to a move away? Maybe that's why he wasn't used either

Utter w***** imo. That stuff bugs me no end. He's not the first and he won't be the last to do it, all w*****s the lot of em that do. Couldnt agree more, remember Babayaro playing after losing his brother(?) and this t*** cant muster 90 minutes over this. Massive 'f*** you' to his teammates and fans Good point re: Baba.

They beat us comfortably last season and we've deteriorated since. I beg to differ.

Key figure for Pardew in the dressing room though so i don't expect him to get overy criticised for it.

Think WHam, Villa and Everton are better teams than us so i think he will be judged on how we do against the other 4. If we cant get positive results against the likes of Villa, West Ham and Everton then we are going down. They are better teams than us. If we pick 3 or 4 points out of that we will have done very well. 1 point is more likely. If we can't beat Fulham, Hull and Cardiff then we are in desperate trouble.

Think WHam, Villa and Everton are better teams than us so i think he will be judged on how we do against the other 4.

Not sure playing MYM and Colo in central defence is a good idea against a Fat Sam side tbh. Wouldn't suprise me if Pardew plays Moke alongside Colo and MYM in midfield with Tiote and Sissoko. Think Pardew will be deeply concerned about height (even though Carroll's out). Shola will feature as well imo.

Don't know about that tbh.

If we're willing to let him sit this one out then we're more than willing to sell him. Just want to eke out a couple of million more.

What? Again? How thorough

If we sell Cabaye the money we get for him has to pay for the new guy's transfer fee, signing on fee, agent's fees and 5 year worth of wages if my Mikenomics are correct.

Hopefully he'll do his coaching badges while here.

Actually forgot he existed. Further proves my point, Shirley

I know I'm bucking the trend here but for me, signing another striker is not a priority. We have Cisse, Gouffran is certainly more of a striker than a wide man and Remy will be available in about a month. Who do we have who can actually play LW? No one. Gouffran isn't suited to it (he can fill in if needed), Jonas offers no discernable addition to offensive play whatsoever and Marveaux actually vanishes as he approaches the touchline. Who else do we have? Sammy??? We need a left winger because we don't have single one at the club.

Actually saw some of a Norwich friendly when out in Portugal a fair few weeks ago. Didn't know it was Norwich at first and i thought the team had good movement, nice range of passing and imagination. Bastards. Guess the point is they did look in a different world to us, actually! Anyway, hopefully they'll collapse under the weight of my expectation and we'll finish comfortably above them!!!

They also live in a different world to us, our world is run by a tight fisted arsehole theirs isnt. well put!

Whilst I understand the argument of rather buying younger players with a longer future, one thing I can't get my head around is consciously keeping Pardew who has been banging the drum of requiring Premiership experience and probably players suited to a more direct style, and then proceeding to not providing him with the tools he wants. You'd either look for a manager capable of making the most of the profile of player you target (and trust your chief scout's judgement on their valuation based on their growth potential), or you back your manager to give him the best possible chance of succeeding. As it is, we are doing neither, which is not benefitting anybody, be it Pardew, the players, the fans or the owner. This is because our entire recruitmemt strategy is based on opportunism as opposed to suitability. Manager included.

Although we previously finished 5th. Down to luck and last season was bad luck. He's got the tools for a top 8. Let's hope he does it.

I'd like to add that i personally don't think he's up to it. Anything less than 8th and he's failed imo. However, i hope to be completely wrong and for him to really show some strong managerial form that makes us a dangerous and exciting team. Roll on Monday! Bit harsh considering a lot of people think we are in for a relegation battle. High expectations to say top 8 or failed. I personally think we will be there abouts and fancy us to get in top 8 but wouldn't say he's failed if he gets top half to steady the sinking ship. If Europe was the reason last season went to sh1t then he needn't worry about it this year. He's easily got a team that can finish top 8. If you're settling for less with this: Krul Debuchey Saylor/MYM Colo Santon Tiote Sissoko Cabaye HBA Remy Cisse then you've a losers mentality pure and simple. We could have terrible injuries this year which would obviously be a mitigating factor. That aside, the team's more than good enough and i sincerely hope Pardew is too.

I'd like to add that i personally don't think he's up to it. Anything less than 8th and he's failed imo. However, i hope to be completely wrong and for him to really show some strong managerial form that makes us a dangerous and exciting team. Roll on Monday!

This season is where we find out what he's really like. He's got a squad far better than the one he started with last season. He's had a bad season to learn a few things. If there's anything about him we'll find out this year. He's got a squad more than capable of finishing top 8. Let's see if he can do it.