Hughesy

Don't think anyone would be gloating if hughton wasn't doing well.

That's got to be league only as I'm sure he had one season where he played more than 40 games in total. It's still disgraceful. You've got to go back to 2008 for the last time he played half the season or more. Disgraceful is a bit harsh. It's not like he is somebody who is going to look to avoid like some we've had. Didn't he try and play when he did his Achilles??

It's been a big problem since we signed Jonas, actually. It's been a big problem since Robert and Solano left..

Given a choice, I'd have C Ronaldo over Romario in my team every day of the week.

Eh? I thought he was doing really well?

Didn't think it was too bad a song to be honest..

Exactly this. Amazing the number of people who don't seem to grasp this particular argument.

Hence the 'don't let him leave the training ground' - just get him to practise it until he masters it. It's what you'd do in any other job.

How many goals has Demba scored outside the box for us? I know he has hit some good shots from inside the box - Man Utd at home, Reading away, Spurs at home, but I can't remember anything from outside the box. I only ask because he often seems to get the ball in space just outside the box and then hits a pretty disappointing effort at goal. More often than not he seemed to snatch at it.

Sums up the mentality of some on here.

Cisse certainly isn't half the player Ba is. Not by a long stretch.

Thought he looked very good last night - some of his first time passing was brilliant. I do worry a little bit about his physique though - he is genuinely tiny.

Defensively he has looked solid enough. It's just that he offers nothing going forward. It's not even just the woeful standard of his crossing, it's also the way he slows down any attack we have with his ponderous technique and inability to attack space.

At training, I would like someone give him a bag of balls and don't let him go home until he has learnt to cross properly.

Can someone bring the real tiote back?

For a bloke who must be around 6"2 and 13-14 stone, he is pretty awful in the air and at holding the ball up.

A small squad is a major part of the problem. Other managers are doing better with less. And we've used about 30 players so far. Did many managers do better with less last season? Didn't think so. Time moves on. It's not last May. It wasn't so long ago that it is no longer relevant. It doesn't help us in our current situation. Falling from 5th to 14th should be cause for concern instead of dreaming about last season. But it's completely 'short termist' to overlook it. He worked brilliantly with a small squad last year and badly so far this year. On any sensible analysis of Pardew, you wouldn't then ignore last season's achievements. Equally you wouldn't ignore this season's shortcomings. And I haven't done so - I don't think anyone could. Unfortunately, key players being out of form, some injuries and suspensions haven't helped - things which we didn't have as much of last year.

A small squad is a major part of the problem. Other managers are doing better with less. And we've used about 30 players so far. Did many managers do better with less last season? Didn't think so. Time moves on. It's not last May. It wasn't so long ago that it is no longer relevant. It doesn't help us in our current situation. Falling from 5th to 14th should be cause for concern instead of dreaming about last season. But it's completely 'short termist' to overlook it. He worked brilliantly with a small squad last year and badly so far this year. On any sensible analysis of Pardew, you wouldn't then ignore last season's achievements.

A small squad is a major part of the problem. Other managers are doing better with less. And we've used about 30 players so far. Did many managers do better with less last season? Didn't think so. Time moves on. It's not last May. It wasn't so long ago that it is no longer relevant.

A small squad is a major part of the problem. Other managers are doing better with less. And we've used about 30 players so far. Did many managers do better with less last season? Didn't think so.

I think people whinging about the Europa League is my pet hate.

Terrible idea.

I reckon that would have been the push/shoulder charge would have been a foul anywhere else on the pitch to be honest. As Sky said - could have gone either way, but I can't see how anyway can definitively say that that wasn't a penalty.

Roy Hodgson? Brendan Rodgers? Sam Allardyce? http://i.imgur.com/S0W6N.gif Jury's still out on Rodgers, I think he'll be okay at Liverpool. Neither Hodgson nor Big Sam has ever run the kind of fluid, attacking football that Martinez preaches, which is the kind of football it takes to win these days. Playing devil's advocate here - but 'fluid, attacking football' is clearly not the only kind of football it takes to win these days. That's a bit of a sweeping generalisation.