Spudil

Merry Christmas 'yall (Ian and Jayson included)

All depends on how you look at it, and how much you look at the bigger picture. Some are more than content with relegation form and hoofball. Personally I think we can and should achieve more. They're not like. They are, like, man.

Think this is the best summarisation of it all. As a summarisation, it's not too bad. It's not my feeling though - I'm not trying to excuse a rank performance because we won, although winning was all-important. On the contrary, I thought the performance was a very comfortable one in the circumstances. It just had a clear weakness in that we struggled to break QPR down at times. With Cabaye, Ben Arfa and hopefully more of Marveaux we have the ability to address this weakness. We also need some results like this to boost confidence. Sometimes getting a win, as long as it isn't pure luck, is what you need to lift everyone. I seem to remember that after we beat West Brom, it was said that a win by pure luck was what we needed. We then went DLLLL. Let's hope it works better this time. By all accounts we were the better team and won. It's been the same each time we've won - "all we need is a win, then we can relax and kick on" then the next game we go away and it's back to getting nowt. We're nearly in 2013, it's hardly negative to say that we've got to start seeing more than we are.

All depends on how you look at it, and how much you look at the bigger picture. Some are more than content with relegation form and hoofball. Personally I think we can and should achieve more.

I'd feel so guilty if I put you on ignore. Likewise mate, I've been genuinely surprised a couple of times though. We got an absolutely vital win today when we really needed it, and when it looked at times we wouldn't manage it. I'd like to think I'm not a total mug, but I honestly didn't expect to find such negative feeling tonight. We had 1 good shot on target against as bad a team as I can remember us playing at SJP and probably the worst goalkeeper too. It was the absolute definition of papering over the cracks. I suppose so, obviously we lacked the invention we'd all like to see. But otherwise we did OK I thought, we just had one clear weakness - the ability to cut through. Anyway, never mind, me arguing this is largely pointless. We'll get hammered in the next couple and everyone get have proper reasons to complain. Nah, that's where you just say they're games we'd expect to lose anyway. Comedy genius. FWIW I can't remembered ever saying that. It is exactly 100% what you would say. No doubt in my mind.

Honestly, this is a manger talking about a player in the media. He would claim Bigi was Rudolph if he thought it would bring on his performances. Honestly, if as you are claiming all he wanted to do is big up Obertan's confidence he would surely talk about him in a more positive light rather than in terms of merely nullifying the opposition fullback. Do you even logic?

over a season you'll get more points playing well than playing poorly. Didn't really work that way last season. thought we got what we deserved last season, only the QPR away game really went against what should have happened. Madness

Not a bad post at all. Some of things Pardew does annoy me (Jonas over Marv, the terrible set pieces) but in general he is nowhere near as terrible as people are saying. We've gone from pushing for a Champions League place to hoping we win a relegation 6-pointer the week after the champions batter us. It's a s**** state of affairs and the bloke who makes all of the decisions is to blame for it. I now instinctively look at the team below us to see who can catch us nowadays. I've written off top-half. I also know we'll go out of Europe shortly thanks to the surrender at home to Maritimo. Don't give me this s**** like it's ok and we're all over-reacting to a small blip. It's been f***ing awful, call a spade a f***ing spade ffs. Who was it who got us pushing for a Champions League place though? Was he clueless then, and just incredibly lucky? How shocking can we get until this excuse is worn out? Isn't it a valid point though? One amazing season and one poor half-season. Who's to say that the negative one is the real evidence? His career up to this point? Amazing is seriously pushing it like. You know as well as I do that the same criticisms were aimed at him for large swathes of last season and your defence was always always "We're 5th. We're 5th. We're 5th" Well now we're not 5th and won't be any time soon. What's the defence now? "We were 5th" FFS. tbf

Not a bad post at all. Some of things Pardew does annoy me (Jonas over Marv, the terrible set pieces) but in general he is nowhere near as terrible as people are saying. How terrible are people saying he is? Terrible enough to have us in a relegation fight? Well I don't know exactly, he seems to have been getting a lot of stick. You're conflating two things in the second question though, obviously we are in a bad situation in the league, but that doesn't automatically mean Pardew is a bad manager. Martinez is lauded for keeping Wigan up every season, when we finished fifth it didn't make Pardew amazing either. Comparing us to Wigan is cringe worthy. Just as well I didn't do that then. Look, obviously I'm not going to get anywhere right now with any Pardew-positives because people are angry about the result. Fair enough. But I watched a decent performance marred by some individual mistakes and some luck going the wrong way. I didn't see a shambles or a team that demonstrates their manager is clueless. It's not about individual results or performances any more though is it Ian? If we lose 4 of the next 5 (very likely, let's be honest), it doesn't matter how we play in each game, there's a point where we have to draw a line in the sand and move to preserve our Premier League status and for me, we're past that point and have been for a few weeks. You could say that yeah, we would just have to agree to disagree. I suppose if someone better was guaranteed to come in then I would be with you, I'm not wedded to Pardew. I just think he's earned some leeway and their are some signs of improvement over the last couple of games. Obviously the results themselves have been terrible, and if you believe that that should be a reason to sack the manager then it's a valid point of view. Youdontsay.jpeg

5th, FIFTH!

The players out there are a combination of freebies, extremely raw youngsters, rubbish we can't shift/loan, or a combination of all 3. There's no scope for moulding half of that lot into any philosophy. The Ameobi brothers started the game, for the love of God. True, but it makes having a clear philosophy all the more important. Clarity of purpose is what enables clubs with poor resources create effective teams. APs tactics are like Frankenstein's monster, just random bits stuck together to create an ugly clumsy mess. He has to decide if he wants us to be a passing side or a direct side. Are we going to defend deep and play on the break or press high up the pitch and try to dictate play. The constant chopping and changing of tactics must be confusing for the players. It must also make it hard to decide which free transfers to target. 100% spot on posts Malandro

In other words "In my opinion anything a manager says about a performance/one of his players/his bosses should immediately be disregarded when it doesn't fit in with what I want to believe". I'll leave it at that though (im shitting up this thread here tbf).

Oh really? well that's convenient. Here I was thinking you being a massive hypocrite somehow discredited your illogical ramblings. Guess not though... carry on. . If you can't read between the lines that isn't my problem. Manager bigging certain things up shouldn't need explaining but it seems like some do need it. "In my opinion anything a manager says about a performance/one of his players/his bosses should immediately be disregarded. " Please tell me- which lines should I be reading in between? This statement seems rather unambiguous to me.

Oh really? well that's convenient. Here I was thinking you being a massive hypocrite somehow discredited your illogical ramblings. Guess not though... carry on. .

Marv, Cabaye and BenArfa can surely get some chemistry going in the future. Good little footballer.

Solid

Makes me start doubting myself about getting angry with what the tabloid press report. Should I doubt their legitimacy? Can't see why they wouldn't be entirely honest. Nah f*** it and f*** you Demba you selfish b******! Sarcasm eh? You should have said "In my opinion anything a manager says about a performance/one of his players/his bosses should immediately be disregarded when it doesn't fit in with what I want to believe".

Who are you referring to?

Pardew hasn't proved anyone wrong, he is failing massively and his predecessor is totally showing him up, as he was always going to in time. He 'fluked' 5th with our biggest points total in god knows how long, he certainly proved me wrong. If you or anyone else assumed he would do that I completely apologise for suggesting he proved you wrong. To be proved wrong in this instance the people you refer to would have to have stated "Alan Pardew cannot manage a side that finishes fifth". That is only thing that actually finishing fifth "proves wrong". People (and I include myself) claimed we would be relegated, does staying up then finishing 5th prove that wrong? Not being relegated proves that we were not relegated. .

Pardew hasn't proved anyone wrong, he is failing massively and his predecessor is totally showing him up, as he was always going to in time. He 'fluked' 5th with our biggest points total in god knows how long, he certainly proved me wrong. If you or anyone else assumed he would do that I completely apologise for suggesting he proved you wrong. To be proved wrong in this instance the people you refer to would have to have stated "Alan Pardew cannot manage a side that finishes fifth". That is only thing that actually finishing fifth "proves wrong".

I remember Golfmag said this as well. f***ing wankers the pair of them. f***ing vermin. It really leaves a taste of sick in the mouth...

That's the thing. We're essentially playing 2 defensive midfielders if Jonas and Tiote are in there. One of which can't really defend much.