Fatwax

Got a text saying that Pardew is in the Copthorne about 15 minutes ago. Popped onto Skunkers and it's done the rounds over there too. Sigh.

What does that even mean? Unless he's the f***ing oracle then he wouldn't know. Not as if you can believe anything coming from inside St. James. Ashley seems to use him as a mouthpiece so I wouldn't just dismiss the things he says. I just don't get it though.. so they're not willing to pay compensation for a manager, so that means no-one currently in a job, and the bookies favourites are 'wide of the mark'. Who the fuck is left? Bearing in mind they need 'managerial experience'. Interesting how Chris didn't need this experience when he walked the championship and got a 2 year contract. Should have given him a 1 year if they felt like that. Getting a straight answer or statement is like blood out of a stone with these cunts.

What does that even mean? Unless he's the fucking oracle then he wouldn't know. Not as if you can believe anything coming from inside St. James.

Gray was right about Barton not travelling, he mentioned Nolan wasn't participating either I think Fair enough then. Guess we'll be seeing an unchanged side from last week.

Reckon Nolan might feature.

If you read my posts you will see that I never denied late season improvement, I remember early season when you were slagging off Ameobi and hoping Best would bring you some goals, I did'nt rate our forwards and we scored one less goal than you, Nolan is a midfield player. I pretty much agree with everything but this fella. First half of the season we weren't as clinical as the second half, but Shola was injured for the large parts of the season. If he had been able to stay injury-free I wouldn't be surprised if he had finished the season as our top scorer. He looks brilliant them first few games in front of goal.

To be fair Best didn't look shocking in the Championship with us, he just failed to net a goal. Then you look at pre-season and he was looking a tidy little player that had started to settle. Blatantly a very average player that got signed as he had hit a bit of a green patch with Coventry at the beginning of the season and other targets had slipped through the net, but you never know, if he hadn't have gotten that injury in pre-season he may have produced a few performances for us in the prem this season.

He was carrying an injury for a good part of the back end of last season. He never looked terrible last season, his form just dropped near the end. I can't recall any real 'Boumsong' moments.

Read posts above, it doesn't really need to be repeated again.

I wouldn't be surprised if Ameobi was carrying a knock to be honest. Ranger looked alright.. he needs to fill out though, looks like a boy amongst men at the moment. Time is on his side though.

Possibly, but I think the fact that we had a perma-knackered Guthrie in the centre of the park and an invisible Ameobi on one of his Mr. Hyde days added to it as well. Not saying that we would have won, but if Barton or Nolan had been in midfield I imagine our counters would have been more direct and had more pace. Tiote certainly always seemed to be pressing their midfield.

Souness didn't really have a clue to be fair and has the type of personality that just will not change, it's cast iron and once set on something isn't budging. Potentially an excellent quality to have as a player but one of his biggest failings as a manager. You just can't take a man seriously that sold a young Deco because he 'didn't have what it takes' and replaced him with Mark Pembridge.

Where the fuck has his pace come from as of late? I always got the impression he was fairly slow. When he went past two mackem defenders was immense.

First 5 minutes have been West Hams.

Tiote is a brute.

He did after the last game in the interview. Big whoop.

"Hi everyone, I have just had a fresh s***. Thank you. " That's very much speculation at this moment in time. What we have got here is a very closely knit group of turds. Excellent.

"Hi everyone, I have just had a fresh s***. Thank you. " That's very much speculation at this moment in time.

Fucking joke.

I'd like either Northampton or WBA/Birmingham. I want revenge for the 5-1 travesty with Roeder and the mockery or last year in the cup against a cheating bunch of cunts in West Brom.

Highlights on SS1 now

So, going into the next five league games here are the opponents.. in no particular order: Sunderland (H) Manchester City (A) Stoke (H) Wigan (H) West Ham (A) How many points do you think we'll be getting? I'm going to go with 6.

Martins' goal against Spurs in his first season was about 89mph I believe. EDIT: Just checked ,it was 84mph.

Not sure how that contradicts what everyone has already said about him. It's implied/commented on here that Nolan's perfomance depends on the reast of the team i.e. he's usually carried by the perfomance of the other players, whereas it's increasingly looking as though he has a much greater influence on the match. I agree, but it's his lack of mobility that stops him stepping up and when other areas of the midfield lack mobility it'll directly affect his problem. He has the ability, he just lacks the ability to move with any pace.

The only reason Nolan looked (and played) good yesterday is because the players around him are mobile. Ben Arfa, Tiote, Routledge and Barton were all constantly moving on and off the ball and this allowed Nolan to float into good positions and make short passes because the players around him had made their runs. The key wasn't really his place being challenged, it was the fact that Smith (the immovable object) had been replaced by a mobile player. If Nolan had pace and movement he'd be a quality player. I don't care how much flak I get because he's got a decent touch, can read the game and is a good finisher.