Hughesy

Pressure Pressure is a soldier going off to Afghanistan, it was going down a pit for a 12 hour shift to put bread on the table. It's not pressure playing in front of 50,000 people who want you to win a game of football. If it is then they should find another way of earning a living. What a load of crap.

Well pardew manages it the other way round, so I guess its possible. - would disagree about access to the best coaches, but the rest is about right..

I had been discussing this with my dad and brother at the Chelsea game, but do you think it is possible to take a reasonably competent amateur footballer and allow them access to the best coaches, nutritionists, sports scientists etc etc, and make them into a professional at some level?

Don't get me wrong, I am a massive Ben Arfa fan and would start him every week regardless. I also think our coaching is awful. But - hasn't the inability to unlock his undoubted talent been a major stumbling block wherever HBA has been? The fact he hasn't reached his potential is the reason he is playing for us.

Can we say that for all our players then? No movement around each other therefore all our players are all s*** like hba. Well yes that would generally apply to all attacking players, lack of movement affect their performance. The difference is most of our attacking players just pass it backwards or sideways which is why we have little attacking threat. HBA tries to do something, sees no movement, goes on a dribble of 2-3 players, and gets blame when it doesn't work out. There was a lot of that at the match yesterday. I can't quite get my head round it - there's never any movement around him and no-one offers for the ball. What's he meant to do?

He's f***ing loads better than Amdy Faye, though. Honestly, where do you lot come from? Yep - bizarre statement.

Frustrating because he has all the physical attributes you might want in a box to box midfielder, but technically very inconsistent.

Needs to start shooting but holds the ball up really well. Had the beating of Cahill and Luiz in the air for the most of the match.

Best player for us today. That run...

We were decent in the first half. Awful in the second. Jealous of meeting Jose...

The Pardew quote anger has almost become a parody of itself now.

Brilliant news.

I thought he looked pretty decent to be honest. He showed some good touches and didn't hide. Get some games under his belt and I reckon he'll be a decent to good Premiership striker.

I think Martinez (or anyone worth considering) would not take the job with Kinnear as DOF so that question is not really answerable . Also I cannot believe anyone would disagree with your final sentence. Fair enough - I suppose the question isn't all that great. On the basis that there are lots of better managers out there than Pardew, it is reasonable to assume they would be doing better than him. I just can't work out by how much he is underperforming and where we should reasonably expect to be (caveated of course by the fact that we should be aiming to win stuff and shouldn't limit ourselves..). Taking the results in isolation on a spreadsheet, he's not doing a bad job this season. As a supporter, this result coupled with the cup performances/results have been a disgusting slap in the face. Personally I could never ever forgive him for last season's derby, now that he's doubled it up though I don't know how anybody could. Gullitt walked after dropping Shearer and losing a derby match 2-1 at home, and the press called his team sheet the equivalent of a suicide note. Yet Pardew loses two successive home derbies 3-0 on the bounce and yet the fans are still sympathetic. I'm flabbergasted tbh. We just seem to accept derby defeats with a shrug of the shoulders these days. I get your point, but we were doing a hell of a lot worse in terms of league position under Gullit so I am not sure it is comparable?

I think Martinez (or anyone worth considering) would not take the job with Kinnear as DOF so that question is not really answerable . Also I cannot believe anyone would disagree with your final sentence. Fair enough - I suppose the question isn't all that great. On the basis that there are lots of better managers out there than Pardew, it is reasonable to assume they would be doing better than him. I just can't work out by how much he is underperforming and where we should reasonably expect to be (caveated of course by the fact that we should be aiming to win stuff and shouldn't limit ourselves..).

I am slightly fearful of the reaction I will get to this post, but I myself am trying to work out the events of the weekend and make sense of it. If Pardew had been sacked at the end of last season, but Kinnear was still DoF, no permanent signings etc etc, and we had appointed a manager of the quality of a Martinez (or whoever else people would want to replace Pardew), do people think we would be doing markedly better? Don't get me wrong - Pardew is an average manager and if someone offered me a better manager, I would snap their hand off.

Whose fault was it that we didn't play the type of balls to Shola that you think he needed? Well logically - anyone other than Shola?

No, I'm blaming him for being s****, nothing else. In that case - I have absolutely no idea what your previous comment meant.

Those b****** defenders, taking it upon themselves to just hoof it. Eh? Are you blaming Shola for the tactics?

This 100%. Not sure what people expected Shola to do with the diet of long balls hoofed over his head. At least play the ball to him so he can hold it up and bring other players in.

Don't see a problem with Ben Arfa on the left if he was given a run of games to get back up to speed. He just gets lost in the middle though.

Yep.

I don't know to what extent I could ever be regarded as an Ashley sympathiser - I have always thought that, to a certain extent, our transfer policy is vaguely sensible and the model of buying undervalued players with a view to making money on them and exploiting undervalued foreign markets for a club like us makes sense. But quite frankly, the summer transfer window and this window have been an absolute disgrace. The complete lack of ambition and desire to compete in any meaningful way is soul-destroying. Selling your best player and not lining up a replacement is pure negligence and I hope (without much expectation) that the media go to town on this. To be in a situation where we have allegedly agreed to let Cabaye go in January (and I assume had an inkling that he might be leaving soon before the summer of 2013) and have ONE player earmarked as a potential replacement is baffling. To only start negotiations after you have sold Cabaye is the act of a cretin.

Appropriate thread starter...

Not really sure why anyone feels in a position to make far-reaching statements on those who do or don't renew.