The Prophet

The bloke's winning me over. When he first took charge I was still swept up in the emotional hangover from Hughton's departure, but since he's done a decent job overall despite the negative vibes remaining from the manner he was handed the job. Taking results aside for a moment and looking at our performances on the pitch they've been very good on the whole. We mix it up, play some short snappy stuff along with a more direct route one game which is usually pleasant on the eye. Even in games where we've been beaten we've played some decent stuff, Man City comes to mind. I'm also a massive fan of the way we press sides, it's fantastic to see players such as Barton and sometimes even Best pressing the opposition defence. I think some of that has been transferred from the Hughton regime, although we're definitely more offensive on the whole since Pardew took charge. He's a totally different character to Hughton, he's more confident and certainly more open, sometimes too much so. It would be interesting to see what the player’s personal opinions of him are. Either he's made a positive impression, or he's been able to at least maintain the team spirit Hughton established because on the whole the level of performance hasn't dropped. The only noticable drop of heads was following the Carroll transfer, although we've struggled against sides who set up similar to Fulham all season. Which brings me to the results, which on the whole have been pretty good with perhaps the only major disappointments being Stevenage and Fulham the latter for me being down to our inability to break down an organised unit more than anything else. The late equalisers from both the mackems and spurs were disappointing, both for different reasons which Pardew seems to have addressed going by the latter stages of our win in Birmingham. After saying all that my optimism remains cautious. We're yet to see any real sign of how he operates in the transfer market. I'm still sceptical he'll be given a great deal to spend and could well be working on a shoe string budget. He also to sell his vision of the club to key players, namely Barton and Enrique. There's also that ever remaining threat Ashley could well pull the rug from underneath him which can't be ruled out give his volatility in the past. However it's so far so good as far as I'm concerned.

Bolton aren't a daft side by any stretch of the imagination but they've generally been abysmal away from home this season. It's not going to be a walkover but it's the ilk of game a team aiming for top half of the table should be looking to take maximum points from.

Nah man he's gone, the Daily Mail says so. On second thoughts, you might be right! Lots of similarities to the AC transfer here, i.e. transfer rumours popping up in the press from seemingly nowhere. There's been one source running the story for two days based on an interview to Marca, it's nothing like the Carroll affair.

Nah man he's gone, the Daily Mail says so. On second thoughts, you might be right!

Nah man he's gone, the Daily Mail says so.

Now we're more or less safe (touch wood) it's a case of wait and see. We need to sort the future's of both Barton and Enrique and there was talk sorting a new deal for Tiote. Same goes for the Carroll cash, we can only hope it is reinvested in the team. People can sit and speculate but at the end of the day we don't know what's going through the minds of the powers that be. It's certianly going to be a significant summer one way or the other.

The Guardian was sickening to read this morning, talking about Barca like some giant that has fallen from grace. Get a grip.

Reading the actual context of the interview it isn't as bad as the Mail first phrased it but the broken promises comment is pretty damning. The Man United/Liverpool comments aren't particularly suprising, it's a harsh fact players heads are going to be turned by bigger clubs until we show some ambition, it's up to us to assure him the Carroll money will be injected back into the playing squad. Jose is an absolute class act, if he leaves I wish him all the best but as it stands there's a long way to go and people really need to wait and see instead of throwing their toys out the pram. It's inevitable he'll go eventually, I just hope we can get a few more decent years out of the lad.

Interesting that no other source is carrying the quotes either. I'm cautiously optimstic about this one, probably because I want to be.

Again, it would be nice to have some context to the quotes, you only have to look at Barton's statement to see how the Mail cut them down in order to fit their agenda. I'm not naive enough to think it's impossible Enrique's head has been turned/it's a message to the board, it's more my lack of trust in the source. I guess time will tell with the contract situation.

Some more eloboration on the quotes from Barton: Barton's cut down quotes in the Mail: 'You need to spend money, if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. So hopefully they spend it and spend it wisely and if you bring certain characters into this dressing room they will buy into the work ethic. That might not have happened four or five years ago. ‘I know it’s the nature of this club that it’s stop-start. As soon as we get something going players get sold and then we have to start again. ‘We’ve got some good players and if we can add more to that in the summer then we’ve got the basis, a spine of a top side that is capable of challenging for Europe. This squad wants to keep pushing on but we need to compete on all fronts. It’s up to the men upstairs to make sure we amass a squad and get the bodies to do that.’ Barton's actual quotes in the Indipendent: 'You need to spend money. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. So hopefully they spend it and spend it wisely. There are certain characters who, if you'd brought them into this dressing-room four or five years ago, wouldn't have gelled. The mentality now is such that you could almost pitch anyone in and they would buy into our work ethic. Everyone who has come in over the past year has had to buy into our principles and there are lads who sacrifice individual performances for the team. With all the adversity that's gone on around the club, we're probably a bit low on bodies [to compete in the Premier League] and go on cup runs and the things we all want to do. We played on Saturday and Tuesday, and obviously teams who can rotate are at a massive advantage. If we can add more in the summer, we've got the spine of a side that can push for a European place. The nature of this club is that it's sometimes stop-start. As soon as we get something going, players get sold and we have to start again. It feels like a constant work in progress and it's tough in that respect, but what we have is character in abundance.' Either way you look at it it's a message to Ashley and co, got to love how the Mail take the positive end the second quote in partiuclar though.

Would be interesting to hear the question he responded to just to add a bit of context to the answer. I don't think it's nailed on he'll leave but I'll certainly be sitting uncomfortably until he puts pen to paper.

The way the commentators were gushing on you'd think the tie was over, they'll get mullered over there.

Pardew mentioned in his post-match interview they've been working to improve his concentration and movement. Good to hear.

Based on what? Seriously.

Milan Valencia Charlton Rotherham Torquay

It's a game in hand.

Out: Campbell Tiote Routledge Xisco In: Fuck knows

For fucks sake Ranger.

Hasn't really done a lot wrong though has he?

Barry is fucking shite.

...because Ranger affects the game when he comes off the bench?

City's collection of distinctly average English players is astounding given the amount of money they've spent.

It's a wonder there's any left given the frequency they're being 'banged' down.