Hughesy

I'm not anti-Pardew but I watched the majority of those games and we where not on the front foot, controlling the game with the ball in the majority of those matches. Man U 3-0 : Great battling performance. Great strikes from Ba & Cabs. good defending. Tiote/Cabs owned Giggs/Carrick. WBA - great counter attacking which was great to see. Contained them easily and destroyed them on the counter. Swansea - 2 great goals from Cisse against the run of play. Contained them pretty easily, scored on the counter twice. Bolton - The Ben Arfa wonder goal? 0-0 for ages around 70 mins before the wonder goal. Didn't create buckets. Chelsea - 2 more wonder goals, contained them well. That's the theme imo. We contain well, score some great individual goals and we won. We were great defensively last year, plenty of clean sheets. We did a good job of containing teams and that was largely the plan imo. Demba carried us goals wise until January, then Cisse & HBA took over. We didn't smash any teams nor comeback from behind. Very reliant on scoring the first goal us. We are still good for a goal but we invite too much pressure on the team this term and if we have to chase a game? Forget about it. A draw is the best you can hope for. I think it is safe to say that in each of those games highlighted we were the better team and had more chances. I am sure someone can find stats to prove me wrong, but that is my recollection.

Despite clear footage to the contrary. Ok then... I saw insatnces of Pardew asking the players to stay back in that second half. No doubt. Why would he do that? Purely a coincidence that as soon as Shola stepped on the pitch, the ball started flying over our entire midfield with embarassing regularity? It was a calculated a plan. One Pardew thought was a genius idea to counter the pressure they were applying. He didn't have the confidence to allow us to settle back into a period of posession, by just freshening things up with Anita coming on for Jonas, and Mbiwa for Taylor. The man has no courage whatsoever. To leave Jonas on and take off Sissoko and Gouffran in particular, who still looked fresh, was crazy. Myself and others have seen footage, during the particularly dark times of last night, where it is clear that Pardew is telling his players to keep the ball. That seems to me to go directly against your 'guess' that Pardew instructed the players to hit the ball long.

Despite clear footage to the contrary. Ok then...

I'll be fascinated to see how Ba gets on against Colo and Mapou/Saylor. I'm not convinced that he will get as much out of them as people are reckoning. But then I am also not convinced that Ba will score quite as many goals at Chelsea as people think either. As for him getting a good reception - I couldn't really care less. If booing puts him off, boo him.

Yeah - he actually did it repeatedly last night..

Out of interest, do you think he tells them to retreat and hold onto the lead and play possession football or does he tell them to retreat and hold onto the lead by panicking and hoofing the ball to the opposition? Both, when stress is slightly applied and we are in the lead or holding out for a drawn, we will sit deep and the players will drop dribbling forward. Just watch the last 20 games again. in the second half our players stop dribbling up the field and choose to hold positions. Its exactly why we start hoofing it. GO watch the Game stop being muppets of Pardew when you guys dont actually watch it properly. Sitting deep and not dribbling in itself is not a tactical flaw. Plenty of teams can effectively close a game out by retaining possession and not taking risks. Nothing wrong with sitting deep in itself, I agree. It's a great opportunity to hit teams on the break if you set your team out right to take avdantage of the opposition throwing everyone forward. But you need to pass the ball out when you get possession, not thump it 70 yds down the pitch in the direction of 6'5 substitute striker. Well - I agree entirely with that. Lumping the ball upfield is brainless and self-defeating - especially when Shola had no-one within 20 yards of him to even play the ball to. What I am trying to gauge is whether people think that Pardew actually tells them to do this or it is the reaction of a team that is low on confidence, desperate to get a win and was under severe pressure. I just don't believe that Pardew actually instructs them to hoof it upfield whenever they have the ball. What else are they going to do when you bring on Shola then ask your centre forwards to drop onto the right wing? I don't want to labour this point because I'm sick of making it. I just don't see any evidence that we've ever planned how to bring the ball out of defence in Pardew's time here. Let's hope now he's got his quality players he'll be able to develop it. We still had another 10 players on the pitch other than Shola...! It's not like you suddenly have to abandon all rational thought just because we've got a tall striker on the pitch. They had plenty of options every time they had the ball. Like pass to Cisse on the wing? Come off it man, like Wullie said, if it was one game you might have a point. I do find putting Cisse on the wing a bit baffling, but why can't the ball be passed to Cisse on the wing? Are you genuinely trying to say that a professional footballer can't fill in effectively on the right wing and have the ball passed to him? It wasn't like we were playing him as a centre half. You can put professional footballers wherever you like, but it's generally a good idea to play them in their natural position. Putting Cisse on the wing is not a justifiable excuse as to why we can't keep possession of the ball.

I think it would be a waste to have Sissoko and Cabaye as our holding midfielders. Plus I would like to have the industry of one of them further up the field - you definitely need someone of those AM to close people down and put themselves about a bit.

Out of interest, do you think he tells them to retreat and hold onto the lead and play possession football or does he tell them to retreat and hold onto the lead by panicking and hoofing the ball to the opposition? Both, when stress is slightly applied and we are in the lead or holding out for a drawn, we will sit deep and the players will drop dribbling forward. Just watch the last 20 games again. in the second half our players stop dribbling up the field and choose to hold positions. Its exactly why we start hoofing it. GO watch the Game stop being muppets of Pardew when you guys dont actually watch it properly. Sitting deep and not dribbling in itself is not a tactical flaw. Plenty of teams can effectively close a game out by retaining possession and not taking risks. Nothing wrong with sitting deep in itself, I agree. It's a great opportunity to hit teams on the break if you set your team out right to take avdantage of the opposition throwing everyone forward. But you need to pass the ball out when you get possession, not thump it 70 yds down the pitch in the direction of 6'5 substitute striker. Well - I agree entirely with that. Lumping the ball upfield is brainless and self-defeating - especially when Shola had no-one within 20 yards of him to even play the ball to. What I am trying to gauge is whether people think that Pardew actually tells them to do this or it is the reaction of a team that is low on confidence, desperate to get a win and was under severe pressure. I just don't believe that Pardew actually instructs them to hoof it upfield whenever they have the ball. What else are they going to do when you bring on Shola then ask your centre forwards to drop onto the right wing? I don't want to labour this point because I'm sick of making it. I just don't see any evidence that we've ever planned how to bring the ball out of defence in Pardew's time here. Let's hope now he's got his quality players he'll be able to develop it. We still had another 10 players on the pitch other than Shola...! It's not like you suddenly have to abandon all rational thought just because we've got a tall striker on the pitch. They had plenty of options every time they had the ball. Like pass to Cisse on the wing? Come off it man, like Wullie said, if it was one game you might have a point. I do find putting Cisse on the wing a bit baffling, but why can't the ball be passed to Cisse on the wing? Are you genuinely trying to say that a professional footballer can't fill in effectively on the right wing and have the ball passed to him? It wasn't like we were playing him as a centre half.

I am sure he tells them to use Shola as an outball to relieve some pressure. The problem being that even if you had Shearer up there, you still need to give him a ball he can control and then give him options. I very very much doubt he tells them to play it to him at every opportunity.

Out of interest, do you think he tells them to retreat and hold onto the lead and play possession football or does he tell them to retreat and hold onto the lead by panicking and hoofing the ball to the opposition? Both, when stress is slightly applied and we are in the lead or holding out for a drawn, we will sit deep and the players will drop dribbling forward. Just watch the last 20 games again. in the second half our players stop dribbling up the field and choose to hold positions. Its exactly why we start hoofing it. GO watch the Game stop being muppets of Pardew when you guys dont actually watch it properly. Sitting deep and not dribbling in itself is not a tactical flaw. Plenty of teams can effectively close a game out by retaining possession and not taking risks. Nothing wrong with sitting deep in itself, I agree. It's a great opportunity to hit teams on the break if you set your team out right to take avdantage of the opposition throwing everyone forward. But you need to pass the ball out when you get possession, not thump it 70 yds down the pitch in the direction of 6'5 substitute striker. Well - I agree entirely with that. Lumping the ball upfield is brainless and self-defeating - especially when Shola had no-one within 20 yards of him to even play the ball to. What I am trying to gauge is whether people think that Pardew actually tells them to do this or it is the reaction of a team that is low on confidence, desperate to get a win and was under severe pressure. I just don't believe that Pardew actually instructs them to hoof it upfield whenever they have the ball. What else are they going to do when you bring on Shola then ask your centre forwards to drop onto the right wing? I don't want to labour this point because I'm sick of making it. I just don't see any evidence that we've ever planned how to bring the ball out of defence in Pardew's time here. Let's hope now he's got his quality players he'll be able to develop it. We still had another 10 players on the pitch other than Shola...! It's not like you suddenly have to abandon all rational thought just because we've got a tall striker on the pitch. They had plenty of options every time they had the ball.

This still comes up, I thought it had been dispelled a good year ago? The whole 'Obertan has lots of talent but doesn't have the intelligence to utilise it' thing. Obertan really isn't very talented. His touch is average and his 'dribbling' is just kicking and chasing after the ball. The the fact he's got no tactical discipline, shys away from challenges and has very little intelligence when in possession is just an extension of his limitations - not the factor that holds back all his locked potential. Would probably do alright for a Championship side as he proved against poorer opposition in the Europa League, but that's about his level in all attributes. Not sure if I imagined this happening, but I am sure there was an interview with HBA where he was asked who the most skilful player was at NUFC and he said Obertan. Could have been HBA's cheeky sense of humour I suppose.

Out of interest, do you think he tells them to retreat and hold onto the lead and play possession football or does he tell them to retreat and hold onto the lead by panicking and hoofing the ball to the opposition? Both, when stress is slightly applied and we are in the lead or holding out for a drawn, we will sit deep and the players will drop dribbling forward. Just watch the last 20 games again. in the second half our players stop dribbling up the field and choose to hold positions. Its exactly why we start hoofing it. GO watch the Game stop being muppets of Pardew when you guys dont actually watch it properly. Sitting deep and not dribbling in itself is not a tactical flaw. Plenty of teams can effectively close a game out by retaining possession and not taking risks. Nothing wrong with sitting deep in itself, I agree. It's a great opportunity to hit teams on the break if you set your team out right to take avdantage of the opposition throwing everyone forward. But you need to pass the ball out when you get possession, not thump it 70 yds down the pitch in the direction of 6'5 substitute striker. Well - I agree entirely with that. Lumping the ball upfield is brainless and self-defeating - especially when Shola had no-one within 20 yards of him to even play the ball to. What I am trying to gauge is whether people think that Pardew actually tells them to do this or it is the reaction of a team that is low on confidence, desperate to get a win and was under severe pressure. I just don't believe that Pardew actually instructs them to hoof it upfield whenever they have the ball.

Out of interest, do you think he tells them to retreat and hold onto the lead and play possession football or does he tell them to retreat and hold onto the lead by panicking and hoofing the ball to the opposition? Both, when stress is slightly applied and we are in the lead or holding out for a drawn, we will sit deep and the players will drop dribbling forward. Just watch the last 20 games again. in the second half our players stop dribbling up the field and choose to hold positions. Its exactly why we start hoofing it. GO watch the Game stop being muppets of Pardew when you guys dont actually watch it properly. Sitting deep and not dribbling in itself is not a tactical flaw. Plenty of teams can effectively close a game out by retaining possession and not taking risks. It would be helpful if you could go and fetch the toys that you just hurled out of you pram back and calm down a bit. You are not doing yourself any favours.

Out of interest, do you think he tells them to retreat and hold onto the lead and play possession football or does he tell them to retreat and hold onto the lead by panicking and hoofing the ball to the opposition?

I took Cisse out of my fantasy league team tonight so as to take the jinx off him.. So that goal is all my work. You can thank me later.

I am not sure that playing Perch as a defensive midfielder instead of Anita as a defensive midfielder is going to the main factor in the match tonight.

Love the way people assume Pardew has dropped Marveaux from the squad entirely..

Marveaux must be injured not to be on the bench?

Have to say- I've always thought he has looked ok on the few appearances he had. Looked technically decent at least. Interesting that he was never rated as any kind of decent prospect in Spain though. I suppose that tells us all we need to know.

I'd agree with that. Would much rather see someone like Campbell given a go than that waster Ranger. Especially given that we would probably accept a bid of £3.50 for Ranger if anyone was stupid enough to offer it.

Didn't realise that Deportivo still owe Luque €2.1 million.

That's a pretty ridiculous thing to say to be honest.

I don't think that Matt Le Blanc would do a very good job.

ha ha.

I still can't forget Wayne Quinn. I raise you Wayne Fereday.....f*** me he was s****. Billy Askew was worse I think.