themanupstairs

Dummett managed it Odd not too play him again then. Yeah. Could've been the confidence boost he might need after Sunday's debacle. Shows the crowd is still behind him, playing in his natural position against a familiar opponent etc. Oh well.

Infuriating. I'd far rather have seen the reserves played in their correct positions than this shit.

25. Not really because then it would mean Cisse or Shola on the wing. It's a train-wreck of a formation no matter which way you look at it. Unless he's seen something specific in training, about this precise forward line - some kind of magical understanding between them - we will be tearing our hair out at the end of the game as per. Aye, good point, Pardew would never play Cisse on the right Obviously he's played him there and seen (and pretty much admitted) that it's not an option with Cisse.

25. Not really because then it would mean Cisse or Shola on the wing. It's a train-wreck of a formation no matter which way you look at it. Unless he's seen something specific in training, about this precise forward line - some kind of magical understanding between them - we will be tearing our hair out at the end of the game as per.

Not so worried about that tbh. It's not them two, as shit as they have been. It's the supposed supply line. So Gouffran tracks back a fair bit, so fucking what? Doesn't mean he has to start every game now, shoe-horned into a seemingly attacking position only for him to be asked to "track back". Gouffran is a 442 striker. I would have played him up front with Cisse for this one. Sammy on the left, Ben Arfa on the right.

Sissoko and Gouffran. Wingers. in a 442.

The thing is, if he used this as some kind of tactical mind-game, and had relative success with it, no one would take him up on it. He just waffles on aimlessly trotting out excuse after excuse on some days, and coming out with this stuff on others. It all just seems arbitrary and contrived.

Watching MOTD2 last night I was surprised to see the final whistle go and Hatem head straight for the tunnel. i wouldn't blame the f***er. Would be embarrassing to go over to the fans after that, but.... If that was the most disappointing thing about your day you want to look at your priorities tbf. He started to head towards the tunnel, but stopped turned back and waited for the other iirc. Pardew went straight in though. Gave a little clap and waltzed off.

John Carver iyam. I know you didn't ask me, but if you did, that's what I'd answer

Aye, he's really earned a start with his high-octane showing in the second half of the derby. I'd go with Remy Cisse Ben Arfa for the foreseeable future. Sick of trying different combinations with none of them settling in, choose a forward line and trust it. Gouffran has done well as a sub, but imo that should be our starting forward line, even with Cisse continuing to misfire. He WILL get that goal eventually, and the more games he plays, the sooner he will get it.

He looks uncomfortable as f*** there. Obviously he knows there will be a backlash from the fans, having just lost the derby in that manner. Now with the local media + Caulkin going knives out on him, the scrutiny over his every lie and every nuance of his every excuse will hopefully make his position untenable.

Passing it around them up to the box and having a few long rangers is no good man when they have the worst defence in the league. They had the much better chances. Dummet standing off and allowing Altiadoredore to nip in between him and Krul.Borini's meg of Krul before he scored. Before the first goal Krul was at full stretch to make a save from someone too. EDIT: Our best chance was a near own goal minutes from the end. I didn't think neither team created anything, both teams were relatively restricted to long range efforts but we were far better at keeping the ball then them, just once we moved the ball into the final 3rd our movement was terrible and never stretched them enough. Thought it was an awful game but we didn't deserve to lose and a draw would have been fair. Some people may think Sunderland were good value for their 3 points, that's entirely their own judgement. I just didn't see it that way, once we scored i thought we would go on to win it but it wasn't to be. No good looking by now thinking what might have been or could have been, tough games coming up fast and best to concentrate on them now. If this was any old game, then yes, second half we played the better "football" but only in terms of retention. Obviously we did fuck all with it apart from Debuchy's goal, and one or two long range efforts coming from Cabaye and Shola. So a draw would have been a fair reflection of the overall match. Seeing as it was a fierce local derby, being played in front of their rabble, on that rubbish dump of a turf, needing to avenge the last derby defeat (or in their case, them needing their first win of the season, heaping more misery on us in local bragging stakes), they ultimately deserved to win because they opened us up on the one occasion that mattered and scored the winner.

IMO Sports Direct should be left well alone. It won't be long before someone does something illegal and the "over-expectant, delusional" fans are to blame again.

Breaking teams down and creating chances is the most important thing in football so you are talking s****. We struggled, Ben arfa had another poor game, wasn't through his lack of effort, nothing paid off for him. Remy just went missing, Gouffran just ran around doing nothing. When your three forwards aren't in the game, you're going to struggle and we did but we kept the ball well and kept plugging away, after our goal went in thought we would go on to win, think our players sensed that too but got done by a very good goal on the break, it can happen. Ben Arfa was played with his back to goal against a mob hell bent on clattering him to get a reaction from the crowd. Huge f***ing erm "tactical" error. Remy played wide on the left, again mostly with his back to goal. He was relatively effective in the lone man role facing his own midfield against Liverpool, but we were down to 10 men. This match was a different animal. He needed to be facing forward running onto passes. Same as HBA. Gouffran must have played 3 different positions in this game. The reason our forward 3 didn't work is because we had ZERO structure in midfield, where the players were never sure if it was a midfield 3 or 4. Sissoko being hung out to dry on the left wing ffs when he should be driving forward! When Cisse came on, was he up front together with Remy? When Shola came on, was he meant to play up front or just off Cisse? Where were the crosses in for the big lad? No one had a clue what they were doing. Because Pardew is out of his depth. He's a hapless fish out of water and it's only a matter of time before something gives. The opening goal fucked us completely, but our lot came out as if they hadn't been expecting the blistering start. Manager's fault. Played by far the better football? No. We kept the ball yes, but did sweet f*** all with it.

The 2 home games on the trot are massive for this. Really need to get some momentum going.

Oh right. So let's get Ashley to resign from his position as NUFC owner guy It could get bad enough for Pardew from the stands that he could pack it in himself if the discord reached significant enough levels. It's so clear that his players aren't responding to him - there's blatantly nothing to respond to! He's probably spineless enough to hold on to dear life, but if the media, players and fans simultaneously turn on him, his position would be untenable. He'll either walk or be sacked. Nice one mate. Pointless talking to you if you're going to put words in my mouth but they won't replace him with a better manager, it'll obviously take a ridiculous set of circumstances to be sacked and there's no way on earth he'll walk away from a £m pay off. Nothing will change till Ashley goes & unless we're lucky and get a venture capitalist who gives a f*** realistically things won't change till the fans own the club. Crack on I suppose. I have a feeling that Pardew thinks he's well liked up here, and he hasn't seen vitriol the like of which Allardyce was hammered with. We won't know if we don't try. He just might walk to somehow save face. He could easily weasel his way out while the chips are down, and say he could no longer work with the current structure, possibly earning himself one more job somewhere in the 1st division. I'm so tired of banging this drum but it's not a certainty we won't get a better manager, it quite frankly can't get much worse. They could prob employ a decent foreign coach for a fraction of the cost who is willing to work for a DOF. I just can not understand that attitude. We've been slapped in the derby twice in a row. What else needs to happen? May as well try something. Or just stagnate The players don't believe in him. That's the sticking point for me. With our current squad it has to be a foreign coach, or an outlandishly talented younger manager from the lower leagues that has had ties with european football (a la Martinez).

Oh right. So let's get Ashley to resign from his position as NUFC owner guy It could get bad enough for Pardew from the stands that he could pack it in himself if the discord reached significant enough levels. It's so clear that his players aren't responding to him - there's blatantly nothing to respond to! He's probably spineless enough to hold on to dear life, but if the media, players and fans simultaneously turn on him, his position would be untenable. He'll either walk or be sacked. Nice one mate. Pointless talking to you if you're going to put words in my mouth but they won't replace him with a better manager, it'll obviously take a ridiculous set of circumstances to be sacked and there's no way on earth he'll walk away from a £m pay off. Nothing will change till Ashley goes & unless we're lucky and get a venture capitalist who gives a f*** realistically things won't change till the fans own the club. Crack on I suppose. I have a feeling that Pardew thinks he's well liked up here, and he hasn't seen vitriol the like of which Allardyce was hammered with. We won't know if we don't try. He just might walk to somehow save face. He could easily weasel his way out while the chips are down, and say he could no longer work with the current structure, possibly earning himself one more job somewhere in the 1st division.

Oh right. So let's get Ashley to resign from his position as NUFC owner guy It could get bad enough for Pardew from the stands that he could pack it in himself if the discord reached significant enough levels. It's so clear that his players aren't responding to him - there's blatantly nothing to respond to! He's probably spineless enough to hold on to dear life, but if the media, players and fans simultaneously turn on him, his position would be untenable. He'll either walk or be sacked.

I reckon his contrived personality and cowardly footballing mentality is very much reflected in his team already. How much more badly will it impact on the team if fans chanted against him? Maybe the team would actually be lifted by anti-Pardew dissent from the stands, as it could mean the tide beginning to turn and give them hope that his days are numbered.

He's your classic football know-nowt who thinks that the manager basically turns up on a Saturday and selects the team. The type of person in the office that says "but what could he possibly have done differently on Saturday?" that you know never to speak to ever again. Talking of the office, David Brett is notable by his absence today. he'll be back Before the next league game to tell us that pardew is "building something special" Surely he's never said that? Not recently at least?

More have to vocally challenge the manager in the home games. I really cannot believe there haven't been many significant chants against Pardew after some of the shit we have witnessed at home since he's taken over.

Leave SBR out of this filth man. Wish he was still here to voice his discontent and give us a lift. Probably best that he doesn't get to see this mess though.

It appears that he's lost this dressing room as well. P.S. your sig should be spoiler'd man. giving me a migraine

This is so telling.