Interpolic

12th with 24 points, they'll be fine. 6 points separating 11th and 20th so the teams going down will be the ones who go on a bad run. Won't be them now.

I thought they were, Poyet is doing a brilliant job for them. I've thought they'd be alright for ages tbh, they're on an upward trajectory in terms of their performances and their fixture list before Christmas was freakish.

Fucking hell.

Aye, Happy Face won't be able to wank over his long ball charts for much longer. Couple of weeks we'll be back to the top of the long ball table because we've lost one player. Sure him and his mates had a canny day though, swings and roundabouts.

I hate Pardew and I love Ashley, so I can't argue with this tbf.

Can't believe the people in this thread trying to tell me they were definitely, definitely down.

Beaten man. It doesn't matter what he does, he'll keep his job. Slag the fans off, lose 3 derbies in a row, depart all cups at the first hurdle - doesn't matter. He still comes across smug as fuck and it's easy to see why, he doesn't have the same work pressure as other managers, or the likes of me or you for that matter.

h8ers be h8ers.

The nerve of this guy is unbelievable. Astonishing that he's not being hounded out.

Same, I was hoping to God for a draw. Realistically the Remy red card was the last chance of us getting anything out of today's game, given how much Pardew generally needs the cards stacked in his favour.

Really? What sort of thing are they saying?

We've been in desperate need of a shake-up in the forward positions for years on end but forwards cost money. Negligent as ever.

Ages, 5 or 6 years or something.

I wonder how much longer Pardew will be here, I can just see year after year of this tbh.

Fuck off!

I wouldn't be surprised if he regurgitated his patter after the cup defeat to Cardiff, i.e. "I just don't seem to have any luck in the cups/against sunderland, it's just not happening for me no matter what I try".

Think forgiveness will be rife tbh.

Just laughed when that 3rd went in, after shouting obscenities the first 2 times. What a thoroughly desperate afternoon, 2 hammerings in a row at home off this shower.

We really haven't even improved much since HT. Listless performance in a game that should mean everything.

Good point well made. It's one of the dangers of rarely adding to your squad - nobody is kept on their toes and it becomes stale, contributing to days like today.

JESUS.

To many people, results are all that matters and the 5th place probably counts for loads to them. They presumably also buy his comments about injuries and the Europa League based on reading the paper. And though you and I may believe he's completely complicit in the decisions made above him, I would guess that most people believe he's been shit on by the board. You're spot-on but the fact remains they're deeply wrong about all that stuff though. Can lead to some frustrating conversations.

A lot of our fans seem to think Pardew's a really good manager tbf.