thenige

We need two strikers at least I'd say. One as a 'target man' as Cisse is awful at it and Pardew seemingly insists on playing it and one all-round striker (someone a bit more like Remy for example). Shola also needs to leave. Then we have Cisse -> New player -> New player -> Gouffran (more of a starting wide player/backup striker) -> Vuckic/Campbell

Would be interested to see how many are 'direct' from each team's keepers last year. Felt like Krul and Elliott were nearly always going long.

Why ? Because that's a silly amount of money for a player who is 27 and coming off a pretty average season. Still love the bloke though.

Well you can't do much more than that with Wigan can you? Bruce did. Sssh. This forum has no place for such reason and fact.

I hate this thread so much. It's essentially the same thing said page after page, yet for some bizarre reason I keep coming back expecting to read something different.

Carver: "Ben Arfa is looking effective picking the ball up from deep and running at them since Cabaye went off". Pardew: "You're right, better push him forward and bring on Marveaux so he doesn't get as much of the ball".

One of the best pieces I've read on this season so far to be honest.

Still think it was worse under Souness/Shepherd than right now.

We were f***ing dire in the four months before Ba left. Even worse than of late. I'd be inclined say that was down to Pardew attempting to play Cisse on the right-hand side which was essentially like playing with 10 men. Plus by that stage Ba had made it clear he wanted to leave and was playing more for himself than the team. Also if you look at our results, they weren't as bad as recently - although I'd agree at no point really, even with Ba this season or last, have we played particularly high quality football. Worst thing that happened to this team was beating Man Utd 3-0 last season with an ultra direct style. Since that day it seems that's essentially become 'Plan A'.

Need a striker above all else, Cisse unfortunately has proven this season as a link-up man he's not up to the job. Our attacking looks so poor as there's no focal point to it. It's only since Ba left I realised quite how good he was; the way he brought other players into the game (especially Cisse at the tail end of last season) made us a massively different side. If we persist in playing a system which relies on crossing and a direct style, we need someone who has the ability to hold up the ball, lay it off and make decent attacking runs.

He's had loads of time, he's been usually average at best. This. Had a good run of about three or four matches but any time he's played recently he's either been anonymous or lightweight. Not ideal for a side struggling for confidence and in a relegation scrap.

If his penalty is like any of his other set pieces it probably still hasn't come down yet.

Fantastic mini-beard too. What a guy.

Confused that the same people hounding out Pardew for direct football want Moyes as a replacement? I'd suggest Moyes would organise us better (given current standings it'd be surprising if he could do worse) but if we're looking for football easy on the eye I don't really think he's the answer.

Get Tony Parkes in.

I love posts like this. You've probably never seen them conduct a training session in your life held by any of these coaches, have no idea what they do day-to-day but are totally convinced none of them have a clue and will never get a job elsewhere. Fantastic logic that.

Problem is with Pardew going, I have absolutely no faith in this board appointing someone better. You may say 'how could they appoint anyone worse?' but look at Blackburn this season. The fans finally got what they wanted and Kean was sacked, since then they've been in a tailspin. Or Wolves sacking McCarthy, that hasn't exactly gone to plan since.

Tries hard which is more than you can say for some but fuck me, positionally he's fucking useless.

Despite how 'poor' he's been for us this season compared to last, it's staggering how clueless we've looked in some games without him. Don't think he got enough credit about how well he organised us at the back.

Sorry, but this sort of comment from stay at home fans really takes the p*ss. If you've paid for a season ticket, the travel to get there, merchandise etc...you have a right to be f***ing p*ssed off and boo all you want, tbh. Yeah you can do what you want, but you honestly can't expect the players (who are clearly playing with no confidence) are going to get better under a barrage of boos?

Please please please somebody tell them that hitting diagonal crosses from stupidly deep positions every time is just GIVING THEM THE BALL BACK. Please.

I'm worried that there's so much expectation building up on him, he may try and do too much by himself because of it. He's best when he dribbles in only spells. Yes he's great at creating space for others, but it's only useful if he releases the ball. If he dribbles every time it gets predictable and his threat is lessened. He's a great player, but he's not always been consistent and given his injury troubles we can't expect him to win games by himself. Problem is, he needs time in a situation where there just isn't that much to give.

I'm certain Pardew is well aware Shola is crap, but simply put he doesn't have any other option for his wonderful Plan B of hoofball. Slagging him off in press wouldn't really do any good either other than appease angry fans. Absolutely certain he'll be begging for extra funds for a striker during the Summer. Shola on his day can be a real handful for any defender, we've all seen that. Sadly he seems to do it once every 20 or 30 matches. In a good season. Also against West Brom came on to absolute silence from our end.

I like the way the user got more and more angry as he went on. Michael Parkinson's got nothing on you son.

I think because Jonas at fb worked that once (against Fulham I think) it's his go-to plan when we're chasing a late goal. Jonas v Lukaku was never going to work. Was a silly decision I maybe could have understood if we'd either had the ball 2nd half or made any attempt to play it out from the back.