Frazzle

There was a future clause. Play 20 (25?) games and he was ours automatically, no-one else could sign him.

Napoli right back in amongst the CL places now, thought they were miles away a few months ago?

I'd be interested to hear the views of supporters of other clubs but I reckon we're in with a good shout of having the most unknowledgeable supporters in the country. 95% of the comments I hear at the match are inter-galactically stupid. Aye, its depressing. We're not allowed to pass it backwards, have to cross it at the first opportunity and generally aren't allowed to play football in our own half.

Its nice to see a player actually try to get in behind the opposition defence.

But we have changed how we play over the course of this season. In fact we've largely went direct since it worked against Man United, before that we got the ball down a bit more. Well, yeah, don't think we were playing great before Man U though tbh. What I meant was that he doesn't seem to want to experiment with anything different and still is desperate to stick with the likes of Raylor who were in the team at the start of the season.

Completely forgot about Bolton actually! Still expect Spurs to win that one though.

They've actually won more points away than at home but I'm still not looking forward to going down there.

He can spend 70 minutes sitting down instead of running and stuff. Of course it suits him. Isn't that the point everyone has been making?

Barring us nicking 5th, our chance of Europe will come down to Liverpool v Everton/Sunderland then?

Why we putting so much pressure on it by sitting back and trying to defend leads then? Might have worked with Saylor in the team, not so much now.

Said it the other day but I think Pardew is just desperate to keep us where we are and is just too scared to change anything to radically from the start of the season which has ended up being counter productive. Looking towards next season and beyond, I don't see why he doesn't try a radical overhaul, surely he's the only manager in the PL who won't be sacked barring a relegation? (even then, who knows?)

Aye, think the super sub things suits him well.

It was a 4-3-3 initially. Then it just became a 4 at the back and blob in front formation. I still don't think it was a 4-3-3, like I said a lopsided 4-4-2 at best. Ba and Cisse were both central so who was supposed to be the wide man of the front three on the left? Cabaye wasn't tucking in enough for it to be a 4-3-3 either. ben arfa was on the right of the front 3 for the first half hour or so. See last post, still wasn't 4-3-3, Ben Arfa on the right made it a lopsided 4-4-2 at best, like I said. except he was alonside ba and cisse and not the midfielders. He wasn't and like I said, if it was a 4-4-3, why was Cabaye in front of Jonas to begin with?

Seen his finish again, was miles better than I thought. I saw the mackems were taking the piss out of him the other day (I know, I know...), only needs about 3 more to be the equivalent of their top scorer doesn't he?

It was a 4-3-3 initially. Then it just became a 4 at the back and blob in front formation. I still don't think it was a 4-3-3, like I said a lopsided 4-4-2 at best. Ba and Cisse were both central so who was supposed to be the wide man of the front three on the left? Cabaye wasn't tucking in enough for it to be a 4-3-3 either. ben arfa was on the right of the front 3 for the first half hour or so. See last post, still wasn't 4-3-3, Ben Arfa on the right made it a lopsided 4-4-2 at best, like I said.

Still disagree Chris, if Cabaye is covering Jonas, that's fine he would have to do that in a 4-3-3 but the difference was that he was stationed there, not just covering. There was decent (attacking) movement from Ba, Cisse and Ben Arfa at the start but neither Ba or Cisse were wide defensively so still not a 4-3-3 for me.

Perch's job was completely different though, and we expect different from Perch. Surely everyone can see that we don't play in a way that suits this bloke. Its fair enough saying stuff like he needs to get involved more but it takes at least two people for a successful pass. Its the movement and the defensive mentality thats the problem. Our midfielders at the moment are just 'bodies' who get stuck in - James Perch is good at this.

Agreed, on both points.

It was a 4-3-3 initially. Then it just became a 4 at the back and blob in front formation. I still don't think it was a 4-3-3, like I said a lopsided 4-4-2 at best. Ba and Cisse were both central so who was supposed to be the wide man of the front three on the left? Cabaye wasn't tucking in enough for it to be a 4-3-3 either.

People we having at go at him today before even making a mistake a points. If you're going to moan (don't anyway) at least wait until someone has actually made a mistake. Pathetic 'support' today.

Nothing to add to that, pretty much bang on. Yeah, summed it up well, in much less words than me.

Nice to get 3 points but lots of worrying aspects for me. I'm not sure why we played 4-4-2 today, especially with the personnel available. Playing Cabaye on the left of a 4-4-2 (or at best a lopsided 4-4-2) is just crazy, its no wonder he isn't playing at his best at the moment. At the moment, and people have said it before, but we're just scared to commit to attacks, everyone is scared to leave their position. We were attacking at points today with just three players...at home...to Norwich. Until Santon came on I can't really remember a full back getting beyond the wide men after about 15-20 mins. There's still no reason we can't play football even with the weaker links in the team, we can't keep possession because there's no movement, no central midfielders come wide when we have the ball on the flanks (obviously made more difficult with a 4-4-2) and no midfielders push up when the ball reaches the strikers. Everyone is scared to get caught out. Pardew obviously wants safety first but its counter-productive now, especially with Saylor out because we don't have the defensive strength anymore. If we actually try to play good football and everyone's confidence builds again that will in turn help us to play better football. At the moment thanks to the tactics and the crowd, the players are terrified on the ball it seems. Not sure why Ben Arfa came off either, couple of points people have raised seem to be - didn't do much/looked tired/risky in possession. I dunno why Ben Arfa is being judged at a higher standard than others like Jonas who can go 5-6 games without setting it up on a plate for someone. Obviously the less HBA plays the less chance he'll have to create decent chances. Risky in possession? Obviously referring to that one incident when he DIDN'T lose the ball in our own box. Didn't think he looked tired either, he was helping out in defence for the most part. I sort of started to accept Pardew's attitude because he has got HBA working more but if he's not even playing him when he's working then its mental. Wouldn't have brought Cisse off either. Ba drops too deep now (because there's no midfielders pushing on and a general lack of ability to create chances) so isn't as much as a goal threat, Cisse still gives us a goal threat regardless of how he's playing. Once Shola came on (who did alright) we had no goal threat and Ba still dropping deep and ultimately not doing a lot.

Reminds me of Mike Williamson

So we're going to play it our from Krul, on the deck, but not involve Simpson, Williamson or Raylor (if he plays). Hmmm.

Let's hope he doesn't. Because he can't?