Mattoon

I call for a top 10 ST, once our position is secure you don't have to pay any more installments, fair deal?

Literally my only requirement is someone with a footballing philosophy!

Exactly what I was thinking, why would you want to play for someone who has blatantly berated you publicly at every opportunity? It's a double edged sword, play and possibly save the guy who's wrecking your team and more pertinently your own career or don't play and prove everything he's said about your attitude right.

"I know I've fucked you over all season, made you rot on the bench and blamed you for every loss I've gifted you a cameo in, but the shits hit the fan and I'm up against it now. If you could just save my bacon, that'll get the fans back on side, how does that sound to you Hatem? Oh and I'll make some vague promise about playing you next season to get you motivated. We all cool now yeah?"

What do you want me to say? It's a safety-first formation that works well when you break quickly and have a striker that can handle the role. We don't have that striker (at least not fit and playing), we're not breaking quickly enough although in season past we were much better at it, and it's not providing enough safety to squeek the odd result at the moment. We're just getting hammered. There's nothing wrong with the principle of the formation but I agree the execution has been s***, performances have been s***, and Pardew has to answer for it. 451 in itself isn't a crime. *shrug* So basically we are playing the wrong formation for the players we have available. If only there was a job description for someone who could sort that out. Our problems are deeper than the wrong formation. We're giving away a lot of goals recently. There are two ways you can go with it; be more attacking and hope that takes the pressure off (but might leave you open once you lose the ball), or keep it even tighter. Given we're already playing a 451 and our attacking options are pretty s*** (injured, lack confidence, has never been prolific, was never any good, is 12 years old) there's not much room for movement. Our attacking options are a lot better than you would think if you stopped worrying about the opposition and put players in their natural position for a start. If you are going to play Cisse up front, then he needs delivery from wide areas. So on the left, Santon and Gouffran is not a great supply line. Neither is MYM going to give you much as a marauding right back But yeah, I suppose we could always put an extra defensive midfielder in there to stop us getting beat 4-0. 1-0 is a moral victory like #stoptherot

If he's not thick then how does he think excuses like Science are acceptable in anyone's book? Why does he continually contradict himself?

That's a load of bollocks, Pardew isn't clever enough to do a "Mourinho," he never has been and never will be. He's a fraud and you still haven't seen through him. Nah, you're talking s****. Whatever you might think of the sleazy, chavvy, git on a personal level he's still a professional football manager, been in the game for years as a manager and a player, has his UEFA licences. I wouldn't trust him on much, but the one thing he has even half a clue about is football. I don't know if you've ever tried doing any of the coaching badges but they get pretty intensive pretty quickly. What might seem obvious to us isn't going unnoticed by a pro. they're just seeing other things too. When it comes to football I reckon he knows more than message board Mick (and me). I don't think he's as good as Mourinho with the psychology stuff. And I think he's lost some of the players. But I'll give him the credit. I think he's trying. For me the parallels are obvious: find talk points that distract from the players, play down expectations ("we aren't favourites to win the league" while being top of the table), etc. You're beyond help. I'm actually speechless, fwiw I'd have "Message Board Mick" over Pardew as manager any day!

Best play him then. How's he gonna score if he doesn't get chances?

Daily fucking mail, do your research you bunch of fucktards: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2603213/THE-FOOTBALL-GRAPEVINE-Arsenal-join-hunt-Lukaku-cost-spirals-40m-Spurs-look-sell-flop-Lamela-Italy-half-price-paid.html Muppets!

Love it, let's hope the nationals pick up on this, the tide has definitely turned, as bad as it is a loss is the best result we could have hoped for today, turning the screw. I just hope the fat man sits up and takes note.

The hadron collider

Surely the wind comes under the bracket of science? Running out of excuses now so using a thesaurus? Next it'll be gravity or the sun.

Just riding on the tails of Caulkin there though, the only decent journalist out there.

Pardew probably blaming Ben Arfa for the wind after eating Brussel sprouts last night.

Class, love the guy!

5-3-2 4-4-2 3-5-2 5-4-1 doesn't matter what formation he plays, it's the same mantra, 11 behind the ball, keep it tight and narrow, have your midfield cover the flanks and your wingbacks tuck in, soak up the pressure and hit on the break with a bit of Madjik. Attacking formation, flood the midfield, fill the team with left backs and defence minded players?!?!? Where the fuck does he get these ideas from?

Your right I say we do the fucker in and have done with it.

I definitely don't think he's unsackable, the more pressure the better, I don't enjoy seeing us win with this fraud in charge and as we're safe, we may as well lose as I'm pretty much ambivalent to that too. Even if there's only a slight chance he'll get sacked I'll take it!

he's a bit shit isn't he?

"I thought we was the better side up until that first goal." 11 minutes Stoke 1 - 0 Newcastle "We made the subs to have an impact and I thought we lost some of that defensive quality we had, which lost me the game." 78 minutes Ben Arfa comes on at 3-0 down, Stoke win 4-0

We'll not win tomorrow, Stoke are a very, very good side, we can't compete with their financial clout.

if we do I just hope that doesn't change too many fickle minds. He's had his easy ride. Even if we do win it'll be a scrappy undeserved win and Brett will be back to tell us how deluded we all are.

He has got that quality though, that winning mentality.

Thanks for sending. He nails it again but I think Pardew has escaped from criticism a bit there.