ponsaelius

Use our athletic advantage in midfield like we did last time, pressing them constantly. Play two forwards and bully the CBs. I'd actually have no problem with a rudamentary style of play in this game, it worked last time and it's the best option against this lot.

Hasn't Sondico always been cheep tat? I had Sondico shinpads when I was little.

Nee reason for them not be there if the Faroes are. Might bring round a pre-qualifying round soon I reckon.

Looks like UEFA have accepted Gibraltar's application for membership.

Not that surprising. The Virgin one came across as a convenient continuation of Northern Rock. Always appeared a bit short term.

If we put Santon on the right and Ferguson left back there's no reason the fullbacks can't offer a lot of the width in that formation. I honestly thought that's what we were going with all summer with our chase for Debuchy.

First Burundian to play in the Premier League. Quite cool.

Btw. 45deg angles are cool. Are they updating the street view in Newcastle too? Just cos I walked past one of the cars recently.

Looks soooooo shit from there.

Valladolid beating Vallecano 5-1 in the battle of the Spanish RVs that I get mixed up.

Even our first goal came from a fairly hopeful longer pass. Looks good when it comes off as spectacularly as that, but most of the time that would have gone frustratingly to nobody. Possession lost.

Mate we had Colo at the back against Villa and there was no improvement.

Fucking hell man. Yes you can criticise him, yes he has flaws and makes mistakes. But can we please not actively discuss other managers that could even hypothetically replace him? Imagine how utterly horrendous that would come across to any outsiders reading the board. Infact, fuck the outsiders they're cunts. But it is still massively poor taste.

Krul Santon Taylor Colo Ferguson Tiote Anita/Jonas Cabaye Ben Arfa Cisse Ba But that would take some authority from the manager to play players where he tells them and a lot of work on the training ground. I've been banging the formational drum for a while now but I've sort of resigned myself to the fact that the formation is not the most crucial factor and it is more likely that the fundamentals of our play when we have the ball are not going to improve with a simple reshuffle. Movement from the forwards, our inability to play through midfield, our tendancy to launch the ball forward, our players sticking to rigid positions and our general struggle to fashion goalscoring chances almost certainly comes from poor offensive/possession coaching away from matchday. I gave Pards the benefit of the doubt on this side of the game at the beginning of last season. We were in 'turmoil' after the transfer window, had new players who hadn't yet settled into the league and he was under massive scrutiny still as Ashley's patsy who replaced the fan's favourite. The result was the ultimate and it was hard to care how we played when we took 3 points from the derby and plundered 11(?) games unbeaten. Then later in the season it was a case of giving him the benefit of the doubt because we had injury problems in defence - 'I spose the football is poor because we're masking the defensive and footballing frailties of our back 4, difficult to care when we're picking up results'. Fact is for the entire time of Pardew's tenure in charge I've been just expecting and hoping that our style of play would grow and develop into something that resembles a genuine top side. I don't think it's going to happen now though. He's clearly not a bad manager - he is generally excellent with the press and communicating with fans which is a significant part of his job. I think he is a competent if not spectacular man manager despite some of the claims on here. He's also OK tactically when it comes to spotting other teams strengths and knowing how to try and counteract them by setting up a certain way. Look at how we went to Stoke away last season for example and did a number on every part of their game. He has a lot of positive attributes but I think he simple is what he is - a pragmatist. A step up from the likes of Pulis/Allardyce (I don't think it is at all fair to bracket him with Fat Sham btw, considering what he has done at the club and how the former failed miserably) but a lot of the same traits are there. Defensive shape and discipline is paramount, worries about counteracting the opposition a bit too much, happy to take draws away from home, happy to keep players caged positionally, an over-reliance on statistical analysis and percentage play etc. What I don't think he is or will ever be is somebody who will mould us into a team that is confident with the ball and to be a side that will dictate games. I don't think we'll ever see a balanced, adventurous style with our players given freedom to express themselves because it just doesn't seem to be in his make-up and we don't seem to do the work on the training ground that would produce that football. The closest thing we've had to that was the spell towards the end of last season; but even then our best football came away to WBA when we played largely on the transitions - hitting them on the counterattack for two of our goals and then settling on the result in the 2nd half. Under Pardew we're always going to be a competent side that will pick up results consistently IMO. Look at our home record since the start of last season, we may not be blowing teams away regularly but in terms of simply not losing games we've made SJP a relative fortress. However under him we're also never likely to be a spectacular or fun side to watch apart from individual magic and the odd glitch to the system.

Villa vs WBA. Is there a more dull, uninteresting derby than that one?

Diego Buonanotte is 5ft 2" iirc

2-1, Cesc.

I can't believe the amount of loose, longer passes they've played in the games too.

They've not been impressive this season like. Messi is bailing them out but even he has had some very underpar displays (while still nicking goals).

Barca playing Jordi Alba and Dani Alves with the Song/Mascherano CB partnership...

Yep.

He'd be an upgrade on this Greek bloke they're playing. He's a horror show.

Fuck me his is almost making me thankful to have a negative pragmatist like Pards. Roma are absolutely all over the place. Zeman is comedy gold for neutrals but for fans who actually support his clubs...

Why.. he can play there and is probably the best option we have there.. I know his lack of hieght is a worry but Santon is no giant Santon is 6 ft2, Anita 5 ft 6. Bit of a difference.

Are you watching JS? This must be painful.