ponsaelius

Also, while we do have a great spine to the team now we also have a lot of really bad squad players. The amount of times we've been able to field our best XI this season is minimal (when you consider Cissé has been here all of 5 minutes, too). It's all right saying we have great footballers, and we do have a few that are very good - but the squad is padded out with a number who are barely Premier League quality. It's difficult to play passing football from the back for example when you have a fullback who is as poor on the ball as Danny Simpson. Pardew has done a great job squeezing performances and moulding results out of substandard players, I don't think it would have been possible to get those same results playing fantastic flowing football. It will be interesting to see what happens once Tioté and Cabaye are back and we have the two strikers now. Wolves at home, injuries/suspensions permitting will be the first time this season we'll be able to see our strongest team. If we're still playing disjointed hoofball then, Pardew will deserve a bit more stick.

For all the praise Swansea get, and it's largely justified, they were utterly pathetic when they came up to SJP this season. Most negative side we've faced at home this season by a fair distance.

Sufficient time elapsed since Sunday for return.

That was an awful game btw.

Not helping us a win for Arsenal will give them 5th spot.... Couldn't give a shit. Hope they get arseraped.

Hopefully all their carthorse players will be dead their feet for the weekend game.

Very infuriating.

Such a shitty pair of clubs. Wish they could both go out.

See, as much as I rate Song as a footballer I'm still convinced he's a brilliant holding midfielder. He's great on the ball, got good physical qualities and his passing is fantastic at times but the one thing he falls down on (and is crucial as a holding midfielder) is tactical discpline and knowing when and how to do what. I actually think Arteta does the role of the sitting midfielder, intercepting passes, knowing when to go forward and when to sit, when to plug gaps etc etc far more than Song does. He's much more switched on tactically than Song is.

"Id go for english players or atleast players with premier league experience rather than a bunch of foreigners who will need time to adjust" Aye, fuck Banega and Lavezzi.

Taylor is great on Twitter, seems really sound.

Full on Doppleganger.

Easy. Pardew. Got an eye for a bargain (Levy likes that), boyhood club, played for Spurs, wouldn't want huge wages. Nailed on tbh

Scored against Huddersfield in that ridiculous cup game

Pleasant problem to have.

The forum doesn't need a mackem. We've tried that experiment - they start out okay but quickly turn into bitter, rabid, dribbling fools. You only need to read Wireside's twitter feed; the bloke is a fucking nutjob.

This. I watched the game again on Monday and while I thought he played well at the time he played much better than I thought. Really outstanding performance.

Not an out and out winger. Then again neither is Jonas really.

Yet he's got more assists than Downing

That said, he's probably another that doesn't quite fit into the Pardew mindset. Neither a 'winger' nor a centre mid.

I know it's the risk we took with signing him and we always knew this was liable to happen but it's been a shame he hasn't been able to play. Looked a clever player when he did get on.

Playing some nice stuff.

Big Sam's career pisses all over Pardew's to be honest. Of course he is a better manager. Lets not forget it was only a few years back Bolton were where we are now, mighty fucking Bolton, finishing 6th. That's when the league was far stronger too. Just because he was a poor NUFC manager does not make him a shit manager. The league was not stronger like, City and Spurs (not to mention ourselves) were cack back then. Everton got top 4 that season with an awful squad. Edit: Even Boro finished 7th just behind Bolton FFS

Just saw this: Darren Tulett @1DarrenTulett Senegalese on form back in their leagues: Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse, Moussa Sow, Souleymane Diawara and Dame N'Doye all scored this weekend!

:lol: