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Club is basically giving away players that can't work with him. I suspect this is conclusive proof that he's completely bulletproof. He's here for as long as Ashley is.

Nothing means anything to me anymore. Might as well just fold the club and start over.

Who knows maybe Satka or Streete is mint

Loaning out a player in our thinnest, weakest position with no replacement. Sounds logical.

Only really need one good striker and I'd say there's a decent chance that at least one of our new strikers comes into form. Need two center backs and we don't have a single one that inspires confidence.

Center back should absolutely be the priority. Our situation there is miles more desperate than it is at striker

I mean, we've been through the "don't write them off early" thing so many times now that it's silly that it even needs to be mentioned. The kid has tools and is still adapting to the league. Let's give him more than two games.

...huh?

The Korean player in question has issued a statement saying that McKay is not a racist and was one of his biggest supporters while at the club, for what it's worth.

I don't see him making a lot of bad decisions. Just lacks the technique necessary to be dangerous in the final third.

This is exactly on point. Pardew is a boring but passable manager when he's not coaching afraid and lets the lads play. It's when he gets afraid and starts reverting to "Pardyball" when things go to shit. Hopefully we'll not have a bad run this season that gets him into that sorry state.

I think we should be looking to start Perez or De Jong alongside a striker at all times.

Very impressive. If today is representative of his usual form, I would certainly have him in over Tiote.

He's fast and strong and doesn't look like a complete headless chicken. Kompany had him in his back pocket today, but he will do well against less classy defenders.

We wouldn't have paid for both Ferreya and Reviere unless the idea was that at least one of them has the potential to come good. If neither does we'll dip into the market again in January. It would be downright odd if we bid for another striker at this point given that we usually only play one anyway. The glaring need right now is center back, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of movement on that front.

Yeah, that made me chuckle as well. I think the idea is that he'll be going somewhere nicer after slumming it here for a year.

Happy. Good manager and a very decent person in my book. Good to know. Hopefully we get this one over the line then.

Looks like Van Marwijk is taking the Korea job. Thoughts, Unbelievable? Should I be happy or suicidal? Already kinda put off by the fact that he bears a passing resemblance to the king.

They've been long-term admirers since his time in Korea. Bought him off Sunderland and then loaned him to Augusburg for the second half of last season. Kid was a big talent before he made the mistake of going to Sunderland. I'm not getting my hopes up but maybe he'll do well at Dortmund.

Centerback is a pretty glaring priority given that we're stuck with Coloccini (past it), Williamson (average/unspectacular), Taylor (increasingly unreliable + always injured) and MYM (pardewed). Wish we could find a way to ship one of those out and get a replacement. At this point it almost feels like a bad thing that Colo decided not to leave.

We got him for nothing, and as long as he's better than Gosling he's met expectations. I know people dislike him because they assume Pardew will pick him over better players, but surely there's plenty of time to be angry about that when it actually happens.

Were you aware that Pardew was a bad manager and that we're a very poor side when multiple key players are missing before watching this game? If so, why does it even matter? Just seems a very odd thing to be pissed off about.

Pre-season is pre-season and the results mean absolutely nothing. Shouldn't change your opinion one way or the other.

Aside from not having a striker who's guaranteed to score one-in-two, this is the most "goals" we've had in the squad of ages. Refreshing change from nobody in the midfield posing any sort of goal threat.