Hughesy

The first time I've ever come out of a match really disappointed and critical of him. Thought the line-up was bizarre, the tactics were unbalancing, the substitutions were very questionable and our play from the goal to the final whistle was sloppy, mismatched and generally poor. Basically the same as the Wovles game, but this time we got two more points. I think the line up was odd. Thought he got the subs right tbh. I think we would have been incredibly unlucky to have not got 3 points though.

I lost it with Pardew when this happened. Absolute arsehole. There was nothing wrong with what HBA did yet he chooses to lambast him and not say anything to Williamson, horrible management. How do you know he didn't have a go at Williamson? Were you on Pardewcam? The camera panned to Pardew after Williamson lost the ball and Pardew was having a go at HBA for not clearing it earlier. He was right to have a go at HBA. As he should have done with Williamson. My point is whether the camera was on Pardew from the very moment that that particular piece of play ended until Pardew had stopped shouting. I think we both know the answer.

I lost it with Pardew when this happened. Absolute arsehole. There was nothing wrong with what HBA did yet he chooses to lambast him and not say anything to Williamson, horrible management. How do you know he didn't have a go at Williamson? Were you on Pardewcam?

Like I said hard. Whatever name I give you there will be a problem with it. Dragan Stojkovic. Been reading the Blizzard..?

Not a Simpson fan - but why do people bother hurling abuse at footballers on twitter? It's pathetic.

Robson was constantly having a go at Robert for not tracking back.

It appears that it is most certainly is what managers do when they are out of work.

People who randomly shout idiotic stuff at matches repeatedly. At the Arsenal game, there was a woman behind me who shouted, without fail, when an Arsenal player had the ball a collection of 'Snap him', 'Hit him', 'Get stuck in' - regardless of whether diving in for a tackle was the right thing to do or not.

Little bit over the top - I suspect there are at least a few Premiership footballers with worse technique, let alone professional footballers.

Robson didn't buy that many English players...

I don't mind getting rid of Pardew for Bielsa..

The people who own the club...?

Spot on.

Another very fair and sensible post. On the latter point, certainly quotes like the ones from Carver about 4 days with Pardew defending, 1 day with him attacking do nothing to inspire my confidence that we're working on the right things. Although I know nothing about football coaching, it seems to me an odd way to coach anyway - it's a team game and one that often requires defence turning into attack very quickly. It shouldn't be a case of "when you have the ball, do this, and when you don't, do the other", I think that's overly simplistic and not really reflective of how a game flows. I think this could be a reason, for example that there cannot possibly be a worse team on the counter attack than us, we never even look like starting one, never mind being in a position to finish one off. I think, although I am also not a football coach, that it is quite a common way of coaching to tell players where to be in both terms of attacking and defending when the ball is in a certain area. And I don't just mean your Allardyces etc - I definitely remember reading an article about Arsenal doing something very similar.

True - I reckon 6 on reassessing. Without being overly pedantic though - how many games do team really win comfortably? Think about the games we have lost. Have the opposition in all those games won comfortably? How many games have the teams around us won comfortably. I very very much doubt it's a lot more than us.

I was there. We were comfortable.

Quote from bbc report - "James McFadden came on for his first appearance for Everton since January 2008 as David Moyes' side had plenty of late pressure but Newcastle comfortably held on for the three points. "

Hadn't expected quite such a flurry of replies.. I think there's a bit of a misunderstanding about we are defining 'comfortable' here. I am not suggesting that 'comfortable' means we played well or blitzed the opposition. I am suggesting that 'comfortable' means we looked likely to get three points without too much danger of dropping points. Everton was certainly comfortable - I think we controlled that game quite well and I don't recall many clearcut chances that Everton had to equalise. Sunderland away - I can't remember them creating much all game to be honest. Bolton - I think this is a game where people are confusing scintillating football with comfortable. Blackburn away - yeah, I'll take that one back..

I've just counted about 8-9 matches where we won relatively comfortably. Name them..... I can count Blackburn, Stoke, Bolton and Man Utd as games we won comfortably by more than 1 goal margin. Not sure that you have to win by more than 1 goal to make it a comfortable victory. For comfortable victories, I would list: Sunderland, Blackburn, Stoke, Everton, Bolton, Man Utd, Blackburn. Apologies - I had forgotten how close the Fulham game was at home which is why I came up with 8-9.

I've just counted about 8-9 matches where we won relatively comfortably.

Whilst I have some sympathy with your point, it is quite easy to reverse your question and ask at what point do the players take responsibility for the football they play and how much control do you honestly think that a manager has over the mind and actions over 11 players? It is a bit of a circular debate - no-one knows what Pardew tells the players to do, but I just find it very hard to believe that Pardew has instructed the players to pump it long for 2 major reasons: 1) It is clearly ineffective and I have not seen any evidence in Pardew's managerial career to date to suggest that he is wedded to the long ball a la Allardyce. 2) We didn't use such a direct style in the first half of the season. Well then you have your eyes closed and hands covering your ears. http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/video_audio/61504.html?genre=6%3Bsport%3D3 12.40 Yep - currently typing with my tongue. Can't see that at the moment as I am at work - is this the fabled video where some bloke with an agenda says that Pardew plays long ball football and isn't very good. Forgive me if I suggest that that probably isn't conclusive proof of anything... What is proof then? I don't think he's saying it for fun. And you'd have to be blind to suggest Pardew sets out to play anything other than direct football. I think you need more than one video certainly. Who is the bloke in the video? Is he a well-respected journalist or pundit? Does he present his opinion in an objective and balanced way? Does he have an axe to grind with Pardew? I have absolutely no doubt that he is not saying it for fun - but I am not sure that that his analysis right.

Whilst I have some sympathy with your point, it is quite easy to reverse your question and ask at what point do the players take responsibility for the football they play and how much control do you honestly think that a manager has over the mind and actions over 11 players? It is a bit of a circular debate - no-one knows what Pardew tells the players to do, but I just find it very hard to believe that Pardew has instructed the players to pump it long for 2 major reasons: 1) It is clearly ineffective and I have not seen any evidence in Pardew's managerial career to date to suggest that he is wedded to the long ball a la Allardyce. 2) We didn't use such a direct style in the first half of the season. Well then you have your eyes closed and hands covering your ears. http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/video_audio/61504.html?genre=6%3Bsport%3D3 12.40 Yep - currently typing with my tongue. Can't see that at the moment as I am at work - is this the fabled video where some bloke with an agenda says that Pardew plays long ball football and isn't very good. Forgive me if I suggest that that probably isn't conclusive proof of anything...

Whilst I have some sympathy with your point, it is quite easy to reverse your question and ask at what point do the players take responsibility for the football they play and how much control do you honestly think that a manager has over the mind and actions over 11 players? It is a bit of a circular debate - no-one knows what Pardew tells the players to do, but I just find it very hard to believe that Pardew has instructed the players to pump it long for 2 major reasons: 1) It is clearly ineffective and I have not seen any evidence in Pardew's managerial career to date to suggest that he is wedded to the long ball a la Allardyce. 2) We didn't use such a direct style in the first half of the season. I think the manager has complete control over how we approach games as a team and I think that the dominating tactic will out over the course of a season and when under pressure the team will revert to it no matter what, like last night. We do know that Pardew has no input on the attacking side of the game and that he spends 80% of his training time on stopping the opposition, that's a pretty clear indication of what he's telling the players if you ask me. I think that that's a bit of a non-sequitur. Setting your team up to play a disciplined, defensive game does not mean that you are setting them up to play a direct style.

Whilst I have some sympathy with your point, it is quite easy to reverse your question and ask at what point do the players take responsibility for the football they play and how much control do you honestly think that a manager has over the mind and actions over 11 players? It is a bit of a circular debate - no-one knows what Pardew tells the players to do, but I just find it very hard to believe that Pardew has instructed the players to pump it long for 2 major reasons: 1) It is clearly ineffective and I have not seen any evidence in Pardew's managerial career to date to suggest that he is wedded to the long ball a la Allardyce. 2) We didn't use such a direct style in the first half of the season.

I think he actually looks too dangerous on the right to move him into the middle. He looks better with a bit more time and space that he gets out wide.