themanupstairs

Heaven forbid he actually spends some time trying to improve his passing or crossing.

I wonder if he backs off when facing Tulisa in the box.

Stunning player in full flow. The Turkey incident is what I'll always remember him by unfortunately. Came across as an absolute cunt.

Sorry if Giggs (happy birthday btw), but is anyone down at the Harper talk-in? We getting any soundbites anywhere?

not a fan of roeder rumour has it.

Yup, caught that much from the other thread. So I take it nothing interesting is being said then.

Danny Simpson ‏@dannysimpson

Had a nice day shoppin with @officialtulisa

 

What a sap.

And she replied

@dannysimpson happy times x

I went out when this was on and got drunk, I couldn't face another game. So just a quick question for those that watched it:

 

What formation did we play, and who played where?

Some sort of 433. Cisse was often out wide on the right. Tiote, Anita and Jonas were more or less central, but Jonas drifted out wide at times. Ba played quite deep for some time too. It was a little bit all over the shop, but it seemed to work ok because the players stepped up a notch from the previous few horror shows.

Sorry if Giggs (happy birthday btw), but is anyone down at the Harper talk-in? We getting any soundbites anywhere?

Williamson is 6ft 5.

The BBC Say he is 6' 3" and my neice who is 6 foot had her picture taken with him in Tup Tup and he doesn't tower over her, not as big as 6' 5"

Despite his shortcomings in terms of passing etc, he put in a f***ing class shift grafting all over the pitch, trying to tackle etc. His anticipation for the cough up and finish were superb. He did this same thing vs Maritomiobi and was marginally offside.  He's got a superb attitude despite having 0 chances in front of goal and being out of form. Great performance from such a likable guy and talent.

 

But again, he should be the focal point and we should playing to his brilliant finishing ability.

 

don't think he has any problems when it comes to passing.  At least he's not as bad as Ba.  Cisse's overall play, hold up, first touch, passing is better than Ba.

Definately, Ba never gets the ball under control as quick as Cisse does and doesn't look for team mate to pass too as quickly as Cisse does either.

Whilst that is true to an extent, have you seen how we pass the ball? I honestly don't remember a single pass to our forwards yesterday for example, that was well weighted and comfortable for them to get under control. Our midfielders and defenders pass the ball like you would on a video game, with no consideration for weight and direction of the pass. Sure our strikers are expected to attempt to get a ball under control under various circumstances, but it is seldom that they get simple, clever, well weighted passes to do anything positive with.

what really confuses me about Pardew's brand of football, direct long ball style is

 

You would think with all the long balls they practice in training that would at least some of it might shine through during set pieces?

 

Why does it not?  It;'s weird . 

 

Then i think about it???  We can't actually play any decent long balls most of the time can we?  it mostly ends straight back to the opposition and rinse repeat.  That explains it then.

 

Just awful.

 

I find it quite an unbelievable thought that the first team practices "long ball" in training. If they did, we would see an actual pattern of play, and in amongst all the shitness, one or two plays will eventually create chances for us. But even that doesn't happen.

 

I'm pretty sure we don't practice long ball, and that we actually aim to play it along the ground in training. We simply freeze when we're out on the pitch, and resort to the good old hoof. You can see Ba, Cisse et al during the game asking for the ball to be played to their feet. All the time.

 

 

what? really? hahaha what in the hell gave you that idea, you must be as mad as Pardew.

 

thats probably what Pardew sees in his imaginary world.

Well aren't you a most condescending little prick.

You'd think there would be a fucking ruckus at the club if we practiced "long ball" as our primary mode of attack! Maybe we do, but I refuse to believe it as I just don't see anyone being that stupid at NUFC including Pardew.

Our current plight reminds me of Souness and his mantra about having a group of good players and just telling them to go out there and play.

what really confuses me about Pardew's brand of football, direct long ball style is

 

You would think with all the long balls they practice in training that would at least some of it might shine through during set pieces?

 

Why does it not?  It;'s weird . 

 

Then i think about it???  We can't actually play any decent long balls most of the time can we?  it mostly ends straight back to the opposition and rinse repeat.  That explains it then.

 

Just awful.

 

I find it quite an unbelievable thought that the first team practices "long ball" in training. If they did, we would see an actual pattern of play, and in amongst all the shitness, one or two plays will eventually create chances for us. But even that doesn't happen.

 

I'm pretty sure we don't practice long ball, and that we actually aim to play it along the ground in training. We simply freeze when we're out on the pitch, and resort to the good old hoof. You can see Ba, Cisse et al during the game asking for the ball to be played to their feet. All the time.

 

If that is the case then Pardew needs to address the route cause of the problem - lack of movement.  We are totally static a lot of the time.  Telling them to move isn't enough - it's his f***ing system so he needs to show them where and how to move within it, in order to find space.

Yes and this is why I wonder how much training we actually do. We really look unprepared when we take to the pitch. Fitness has also been an issue. When you consider the players have to work on fitness, tactics, set pieces, patterns of play, study the opposition, bonding sessions, as well as get their rest, you wonder how well organized our backroom is. Throw in all the travel, and you could have a right mess if you're not on top of things. I was under the impression last season that we are now a professionally run club, and that none of these were issues. The results and player performances suggest otherwise though.

PS:

Both Jonas Gutierrez and James Perch are one booking away from an automatic one match ban.

 

:'(

This season just won't fucking end!

what really confuses me about Pardew's brand of football, direct long ball style is

 

You would think with all the long balls they practice in training that would at least some of it might shine through during set pieces?

 

Why does it not?  It;'s weird . 

 

Then i think about it???  We can't actually play any decent long balls most of the time can we?  it mostly ends straight back to the opposition and rinse repeat.  That explains it then.

 

Just awful.

I find it quite an unbelievable thought that the first team practices "long ball" in training. If they did, we would see an actual pattern of play, and in amongst all the shitness, one or two plays will eventually create chances for us. But even that doesn't happen.

I'm pretty sure we don't practice long ball, and that we actually aim to play it along the ground in training. We simply freeze when we're out on the pitch, and resort to the good old hoof. You can see Ba, Cisse et al during the game asking for the ball to be played to their feet. All the time.

Not at all, the point is that he has had recent success and is now getting hammered because of a bad spell.

 

Bad spell i can deal with, bullshit statements and complete contradiction of himself, and the putrid football, i bloody well cant and wont put up with.

 

He needs to stop blaming everything and look at his tactics which are woeful, yet he ploughs on with them regardless.

 

Set Penises........explain them to me......18 months and he has done nothing about them at all.

 

I'm not saying I can explain everything, or that he doesn't deserve criticism. I'm just saying that a lot of stuff that has happened this season (not just to us) has shown me just how extremely short-termist a lot of fans can be.

 

Obviously we should be discussing what he can/should do better, but it shouldn't be in the context of sacking him IMO.

 

I get the short term kneejerk stuff but thats not why i've had my fill of Pardew.

 

It was his Radio Newcastle interview and the "you need to control the midfield" and "we will be doing something about our set pieces".

 

Both of those have turned out to be utter bullshit, and everything he has tried to do with the team, system, formation, tactics have been the complete opposite of what he spewed out.

 

I'm worried as he seems intent on not changing from what isn't working. That and telling us we didn't play 4-4-2 against Swansea as if we are thick as pig s***. I mean after playing and watching football for the last 35 years i know nothing of a formation or tactic.

 

Mind you i'm supposed to grateful according to Pardew, aren't i ?

Thing is, if he played this "system" because he believed in it, he would have come out and said so by now. He would have been brave enough to ask the fans to be patient and trust that this "system" will bear fruit eventually.

There's no "system" to speak of though, and even commentators have struggled lately to figure out what it is we're trying to do. There isn't any part of what we do, that we actually do well. If we were coming out with 0-0 draws all over the place, one would think "Well at least we defend pretty well". Alternatively it's not like we're creating bucketloads of chances that we simply can't finish. There is the absolute sum of ZERO about our play at the moment, and this is the most worrying thing.

He is decent with his head. We should have him up for corners not languishing on the half way line.

Exactly. He's a big lad as well, with good technique. Pretty sure he could tuck away a loose ball after a knock down or something.

I could stand here another 10 minutes and talk about Gary Speed. I just want to give him the accolade that he deserves. He'll be a miss. He'll be a miss in the dressing rooms, he'll be a miss in the training room, he'll be a miss the restaurants, he'll be a miss on the planes, on the buses. In every concept of that boy coming in to play football for Newcastle and departing, he will be a miss.

 

 

 

Bobby?

Takes a special one to know another. RIP Sir Bob and Gary. Two of the very best men to ever be associated grace with this club.

I don't think there's a distinct correlation between the type of player somebody was and the type of manager they become, tbh.

 

Same here but I do believe a correlation can be made between what kind of character they are and their abilities/ideas or lack of. KK for example was an extrovert,a  real charmer, a very positive forward thinking person and that's how his side played. Bobby was a bubbly positive person as well, full of adventure and excitable. Dalglish on the other hand was dour and that's how his sides played. Pardew is a bit false if you ask me, he's a working class bloke in an Armani suit with Hugo Boss glasses, a cosmopolitan wife and a dossier for every team and player. He has created an image for himself and speaks a good game, but when that image is exposed, well, he's just a working class bloke underneath it all. We play like his character. We are just a workmanlike team basically.

 

I run my own business and whenever I employ someone I always look at their character first and what kind of person they are. We have one kid working for us, he's a lazy so and so but he's a very funny kid and very likeable, he makes others tick. Give me him over a harder working kid who has nowt about him. You can tell a lot about a manager from their character and just what kind of managers they are or will be.

 

That's a very astute post HTT.

 

Yes I agree, generally the  more outgoing, flamboyant the manager, the more attractive football his team will play, and vice versa. See Howard Wilkinson, George Graham etc.

 

I wrote an article for this site a few years back delving into the characters of all our managers dating back to Ozzie Ardiles all the way to Alan Shearer (who I couldn't fathom out) because I believed a correlation between their characters and abilities as managers or coaches could be made and I think I found it really could. KK and Sir Bobby are obvious examples of course but if you look at all of the managers in the Premier League, their respective sides will show several characteristics of their managers both good and bad and on many levels.

Arsene Wenger doesn't strike me as le fun guy whatsoever.

i've always had this sneaky snake feeling about him, not genuine somehow, feels false in a way. One you would meet the the first time and he seems like a great bloke at first, but as the time goes you get that vibe he can't be trusted.

 

Or like in an movie where one guy knows one person is evil and the others refuse to believe him cause they all like him and believe he's as good as they get.     

Yup. He's extremely ineloquent in interviews as well. English isn't my first language, and even I can spot the grammatical mistakes he makes when talking to the press ffs. Maybe it's trivial but it always ground on my nuts and made me wary of him.

Yesterday really exposed the problem with HBAs schoolyard dribbling. The rest of the team have forgotten how to play. I blame AP for not integrating HBAs talent into a team structure. Just letting him run around in an ill disciplined frenzy of ball hogging is plain lazy

 

I guarantee you if we had more movement around him Ben Arfa would pass more.

 

I'm sure he would.

 

Getting the most out of HBA means getting the ball to him in dangerous positions, not him chasing around looking for the ball. He'd do far more damage trying to beat one or two men than starting in his own half and trying to beat a whole team.

Absolutely correct. This means he needs to play as far up the pitch as possible. Either as a second striker, or central just behind the front two.

Ultimately it's about leadership. Do people think Pardew is a leader?

What we need most at this stage as a club is stability. Unless we are able to attract a proven manager of real calibre to take over this gig, we can't afford to keep making changes. Pardew is allowed a blip in results. Any manager is. I am as concerned, as everyone else here is, that he simply doesn't see the problems, or has no clue as to how to go about solving them. But we all know it takes a combination of factors to get things right again (in the same way that it has taken a combination of factors for things to go wrong).

To me he never looked like he knew what he was doing up until we saw the team performance away at West Brom last season. He caught my attention with the home win against Man U, but I only started to see him as a potential "real deal" after that run that started at The Hawthorns.

I'm in two minds. Part of me doesn't believe he's as good as we hoped. The other doesn't want to rock an already rocking ship.

Nothing in life happens because of a single reason. There are always permutations and end results. At the moment it seems that everything is going against us, some things are his fault, some aren't. They say you become stronger and wiser when the going gets tough. Let's hope that we come out of this together as a club, owner, manager, players and fans.

What I'd give for an international break now 

In amongst all the negativity, this guy remains a positive. His performances this season have been top notch. Getting closer to a goal now, and I hope once the first one goes in, he'll realize that he's well capable of chipping in with a few goals from LB.

Had his best spell in our colours last night, and then got taken off. Should have scored. I like him.

I love Jonas, but he's absolutely no use to a football club on the pitch. Anywhere. The downward spiral he has been on since joining has reached it's bottom pit. So sad to see him become the abomination of a footballer that he is at the moment.