themanupstairs

And for half of that match we just as turgid as now. I honestly don't know if we have ever had a solid committed performance over 90 minutes under Pardew. The guy is an utter sham of a coach and he has clearly exhausted any control he has on player performance and motivation. No other club would ever have put up with such woeful management for this long. There is literally no glimmer of hope for improvement none at all. no other club which finished 5th would have such a woeful squad-which won't change if Pardew is sacked so I wouldn't bank on improvement that way.

Hear hear

And would you not say, saying we can't compete with the Southampton, Cardiff for transfers and not even compete on the pitch with Man City. And hoping we have enough to get past Morecombe, and telling us we are at a level with the West Ham's. Doesn't that show small time thinking ?. Don't bite bimpy. He's either a WUM or.....he just sees the world differently.

Cannot wait for this utter utter knob to fuck off.

?

I gave you an answer. Why doesn't Pardew go back to a 433 is a stupid, irrelevant question. Just because a system gave us success in a couple of games 18 months ago doesn't mean it will now. They wont back Pardew or sack him - it doesn't mean I can't afford myself some perspective rather than getting myself hysterical with every word he says like a lot of posters on here. The problems come from Ashley downwards - if Pardew wasn't suitable for the clubs ambition - or lack of - why is he in a job? (the algorithm can get stuck in a loop here if you aren't careful) IMO it's not stupid or irrelevant to ask why something which brought success to a largely similar team or set of players, isn't being tried again. At home, and against teams like West Ham, we shouldn't be setting up to defend for f***'s sake. God forbid we go toe to toe against the colossus that is James Collins. We easily had the better individuals than they did. Playing with fear the way we did is criminal. The devil is in the detail. Dropped points add up, and could see us f***ed by the end of the season. I agree that the problem starts with Ashley, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't criticise Pardew just because we know he isn't getting sacked. If we're stuck with him, we might as well have the hope that he could see what is glaringly obvious, and try to remedy our situation as far as winning those "winnable" games. West Ham have a better squad than us - a better strike force & a better defence for a start & I suppose you probably think Allardyce is a better manager. I'd argue they are stronger in the centre of midfield too & from set pieces. Is it really that easily winnable? Tactically - can you explain why a 433 would work against West Ham's system and which players you would choose to fill what roles? It just seems like guesswork with no real foundation otherwise. Allardyce better than Pardew? Absolutely. Would I want him here? f*** that. But he's definitely the better manager with a better record in the top flight. Why play 433? A London club traveling up to the NE should be coming here cacking their tidy whites at the thought of a free-roaming Ben Arfa, and a lethal Cisse. Against West Ham in particular, who have two big center halves, it's f***ing pointless to play 442 when we have no real wide players who can cross, and no big target men who can compete physically with them. As expected, they easily swatted away every half arse cross that went into the box. What should we have done in that case? Tried to play around them. Ben Arfa in the "hole" in a free role behind Cisse and Gouffran. Pulling defenders out of position, and keeping their best players Diame and Noble busy in their own half. 3 in midfield who can play it simple and move the ball to the front 3 as quick as possible. Anita, Sissoko and Marveaux. I'm not a qualified premier league manager, but IMO, the above isn't beyond the realms of imagination. It uses our players to their strengths, and allows us to take our game to a team we should be beating at SJP 8 times out of 10.

interesting perspective Also ties in with what Dave posted earlier from .com about our players looking like they're coming off the end of a long season rather than being fresh for a new one. Absolutely spot on.

Dafuq is a security clause?

I gave you an answer. Why doesn't Pardew go back to a 433 is a stupid, irrelevant question. Just because a system gave us success in a couple of games 18 months ago doesn't mean it will now. They wont back Pardew or sack him - it doesn't mean I can't afford myself some perspective rather than getting myself hysterical with every word he says like a lot of posters on here. The problems come from Ashley downwards - if Pardew wasn't suitable for the clubs ambition - or lack of - why is he in a job? (the algorithm can get stuck in a loop here if you aren't careful) IMO it's not stupid or irrelevant to ask why something which brought success to a largely similar team or set of players, isn't being tried again. At home, and against teams like West Ham, we shouldn't be setting up to defend for fuck's sake. God forbid we go toe to toe against the colossus that is James Collins. We easily had the better individuals than they did. Playing with fear the way we did is criminal. The devil is in the detail. Dropped points add up, and could see us fucked by the end of the season. I agree that the problem starts with Ashley, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't criticise Pardew just because we know he isn't getting sacked. If we're stuck with him, we might as well have the hope that he could see what is glaringly obvious, and try to remedy our situation as far as winning those "winnable" games.

24 points with Hart, Vertonghen, Zabaleta, Hazard, Welbeck and Soldado to play. Captained Barkley hoping to get some points from a unfancied source to counter the twats who captained Benteke, Sturridge or RVP. In the end, I remained the twat who captained Barkley.

Which mate is that? Shola or Pards?

So in other words, you have no answer. Good enough reason to keep Pards in a job.

Think it was the Chronicle, but not sure. If only there was something to tell us.

Yep - the intelligentsia really are on forum boards.... Indeed. Anyone of them could take to the dugout and do a better job than Pardew because his job is a piece of p*ss. Answer me this then if you would? Cisse scored a variety of goals in his first few months at the club (wonder goals, tap-ins, headers, etc.), coinciding with us playing a straight forward 433 where by he had a lot of support in high areas of the pitch. What is so difficult about going back to that simple basic formation which brought us so much relative success in that season run-in? Now Cisse is being branded "s***" and "not very good is he", while he gets shafted up front on his own, and expected to pull miracles out of his arse. What has changed? Was Ba on the left the KEY to the productive 433? Ryan Taylor's injuries? How difficult is it for a manager to revert back to the formation (and in turn the game plan and mindset) that brought him and the club some semblance of relative success? Seems simple in my mind, but obviously you know different. Please enlighten me.

Waiting for Poyet's court case to be settled maybe. Poyet was on AJS yesterday and seemed quite upbeat (as you'd expect him to be on television). No mention of the court case obviously, but he did talk us up, and said he wasn;t sure why we're failing to get results with a good set of players.

:lol:

Gouffran has some pace, but it's not the kind of searing pace that, say, Obertan can offer coming on as an impact sub. As for starting a 6' plus center forward so he can defend set-pieces....I don't even know where to start....

Where was he yesterday? Exactly the type of game that would have suited his elegant passing and control in the last 20 minutes. Should have been on the pitch at the same time as Cisse and Gouffran, playing just behind them. But no. Let's have a promising young player like him and keep him on the bench for the tried and tested experience of Shola Ameobi.

Ages? I think Shola's ages trumps Cisse's ages bonny lad Pardew was approaching the right idea by finally realising Cisse cannot lead the line on his own. Fucked it up by starting an ageing lumbering Shola Ameobi next to him. Can't remember a single exchange of passes between the two of them.

He's a typical 442 striker that will do the donkey work for the main goalscorer, in our case, Cisse. Pardew starts Shola instead Gouffran ready to come on, Pardew takes off Cisse The lad's been here since January and we're yet to see him used properly. He will create space for his partner, and can link up play nicely. He's nothing flash or top tier, but I'm confident he can be effective.

Barkley is awesome! Been watching your match this morning. He has so much presence on the pitch and everything good seems to go through him. Also I think Jelavic is looking desperate out there. Been a while since he last scored?

I'm sure I saw Joe Hart save a shot on target from Tiote on Monday night. Was going wide.

Get Weimann in and splash out on the attacking mid/ winger.

It;s been all Villa in the 2nd half. Unlucky not to have scored. Mignolet, Toure and Agger have been excellent.