You can't win. It's impossible to have a remotely sensible discussion with a bloke who considers a 4-1 loss as 'a good performance'.
Fans are too loyal. They worship anything. They believe anything they're fed and they'll not hear a bad word said about their club. I'd even go as far as saying they're as big a problem as Pardew is.
They are, the absolutely are, midds. I had that type of loyalty until I was about 11-13 years old before I started thinking for myself and the bigger picture for the club. People have no regard for the history of this club and what it means to English football. It's being strangled.
Also, shock horror- there were doubts over Arsenal's capabilities tonight and they were there for the taking, so he bottles it because he knows he can't set up a team to go and win a game (proactively). I'm not talking about playing a defensive line up to the half way, I mean getting in behind Arsenal; not once did we make a run like that of Welbeck's for the penalty. It's all played in front, give it to Ameobi (woeful player) and hope he beats the full back on the outside (his only move) and gets a cross in. Play Perez on the shoulder of Mertesacker, arguably the slowest CB in the league? Oh no, play him on the wing instead. Whilst to sum it all up we drop arguably our most technically gifted player (again) in Cabella and bring him on 0-2 down- what the f***ing Christ does Ameobi offer that he doesn't? Sammy is absolutely hapless, just like Colback, Gouffran, and that Conference League CB he insists on playing beside Colo.
We're going to have to break down the mackems next week but he can't, we'll play this same team we did today (+Sissoko if we're lucky) and the c***s will mug us again. Losing to them last year was the last game I've been to, and ever will under Pardew/Ashley, and if we lose again I will be absolutely done with the club in every sense.
20 years ago we had genuine ambitions of winning this league. Had Cantona screwed his shot wide then I firmly believe we would have done it too. We wanted to win the league and it wasn't a pipe-dream either, we had the players and the manager to do it. We came up short eventually but we gave it a f***ing good go.
Fast forward 20 years and we have thousands of fans who are perfectly happy just to compete in the same league. They look at the worst case scenario and build from there. At least we're not Leeds/Portsmouth. At least we're not Sheff Wed. At least we're not Boro. At least we're in the PL etc. Be grateful, it could be worse, it has been worse, phew - we're still cannon-fodder for the really big teams.
The job Ashley, Pardew and his team have done to dampen down expectation and hope has been superb. They've taken a big club and managed, over the course of 5 or 6 years, to kill ambition, enthusiasm, pleasure and hope. They've stamped all of that out and the grown men who've seen us legitimately challenge for the title are now clutching at the morsels thrown from the top table, it's pathetic. These f***ing pricks are so meek that they accept their new role in the league without question. We're also-rans, insignificant, and it f***ing stinks.
We very nearly won this f***ing league and the c***s who watched it happen don't even remember. It's criminal.
Nailed it.