BrettNUFC

I took last season on the chin, accepted he wasn't up to scratch, players weren't up to scratch but was happy for them to be giving another chance and glad they are both doing well. They are in it together and i'm happy to criticise them on the whole together last season and praise them together for there responses this season.

I don't even think anyone rates him anymore, you just get the odd person who wants to say he deserves a chance but they always go too far with it. I don't know why they bother tbh. Can't believe it's been brushed into 'well we are where we should be' with very few praising the revival of both manager and players. Revival from what, Brett? Do you think people were angry last season because they thought we should be finishing 14th instead of 16th? Well shock f***ing horror, people who thought we should finish 6th - 8th get p*ssed off when we finish 16th but don't crawl up the managers ringpiece when he performs to par. To show mental strength to come back from a horror season. If your going to say in the summer, this season will be exactly the same as last maybe slightly better, but then we revive ourselves to the prediction you had for last season, that should be praised for turning it around and getting back on course. Shouldn't be glossed over simply because it's where we should be, still not easy to get in this position. Pardew and the players have stepped up to mark and improved their ways. Players like Williamson/Tiote showing their capabilities again, Debuchy/Sissoko/Gouffran adapting better and return to form for likes of Cabaye/Colo. We’ve done very well to get ourselves in this position at the half way stage and it should be praised.

also this is nonsense if he manages to put the mackems to the sword in the next derby, and we maintain decent form to the end of the season then it puts the record straight for me tbh he'll have then had an average season, a great season, a catastrophic season, and then potentially another very good one Won't be nonsense, i don't mind naming names... wonder if someone like Mick would now change? Wullie also. Wullie said he would come in after each game and slag him off even if we won, fair to say he won't be winning him around anytime soon I certainly think there's no way back for Pardew with some...

nothing to do with it being a right because we're newcastle, people were saying last year he was chronically mismanaging the quality football players he had at his disposal to the point where we came close to being relegated...lots of us believed that with the talent he had we should have been pushing to be where we are this season, most people also accepted the injuries hurt us badly so doing as well as we currently are would have been unlikely but he brought so much of last season on himself, it was unreal if this season has proven anything, it's that those of us who were saying this were correct and the people who were speculating that the foreigners weren't up to it etc. were very wrong A manager and his players can have a bad season, no shame in it as long as you bounce back and show your true quality the following season and push on from your mistakes.

Southampton the most in the league

No but that's good you now don't want him sacked and are given him a chance to turn things around. He's had a good first half the season and you want him to carry it on and progress.

Not saying they can't change. They should change if anything. I went back over just to confirm what i thought of people playing out this season to be awful. Yet when it's not and it's actually been very good, not much praise is coming along and it's just like we should accept this position because it's where we should be yet it was still a difficult task to get here and not this god given right because we are Newcastle. Few were saying we had that god given right before we kicked the season off, we were in a fight. Just don't get why it's being glossed over the position we are in simply for the fact a handful of clubs in the league play better football. The thing to accept though is some are looking beyond just the results, looking more long term and can Pardew sustain it, and more importantly can his brand of football sustain long term, now they may be proven wrong in time. Good season, poor season, good season, .... season ?. Now for a fraction of that (imo) the football has been ok, mainly this season for me which has been a massive improvement on last. But I'm definitely in the corner of we need more movement and attacking intent, which we'll never have under Pardew as it's not his style. His overall intent is mostly containment, not without decent stuff though as we've seen this term. But every supporter wants Newcastle to do that. What if Ashley employed someone who actually is a good manager but doesn't have the style of Martinez? Are we immediately not interested and not happy? There isn't many managers really that have the football vision of a Martinez or Wenger. If your club is lucky to have one consider yourself grateful. We have better quality in other areas at our club which other fans will be jealous of. I just can’t get my head around criticising Pardew week in week out because he’s not playing your preferred style of play. I mean it’s not like we are watching Tony Pulis style football week in week out. We do play some good stuff and we’ve had some very enjoyable performances this season.

That's fine, if you still think he should be sacked and the chance still shouldn't be given. All about opinions. I mentioned before the season, i think he could finish 5th again or win the fa cup yet some still wouldn't want him here. Think we got so low down last season there wasn't anything he could do to win people back around because they hate him that much and bar a few on here who are starting to have a bit more belief, i don't think that's really changed.

Which side man for man are we better than in the last seasons top 6 who we should be looking to bump out of it? Football isn't played in that way. I've just said that we're capable of 6th. So which side of that top 6 should we be getting more points than? We have to better than at least one of them to get in.

Not saying they can't change. They should change if anything. I went back over just to confirm what i thought of people playing out this season to be awful. Yet when it's not and it's actually been very good, not much praise is coming along and it's just like we should accept this position because it's where we should be yet it was still a difficult task to get here and not this god given right because we are Newcastle. Few were saying we had that god given right before we kicked the season off, we were in a fight. Just don't get why it's being glossed over the position we are in simply for the fact a handful of clubs in the league play better football.

I don't even think anyone rates him anymore, you just get the odd person who wants to say he deserves a chance but they always go too far with it. I don't know why they bother tbh. When's he next gone by Reef since he's survived December? Would you say the odd people were right to give him a chance, Venky? Just had a quick scan back over comments before the season kicked off and the amount of people suggesting we were pretty much fucked this season is staggering. Can't believe it's been brushed into 'well we are where we should be' with very few praising the revival of both manager and players.

Which side man for man are we better than in the last seasons top 6 who we should be looking to bump out of it?

Because even with their pretty football we are above both of them. Just like Jose will be above Wenger's pretty football come the end of the season imo. Of course we would like better football but as long as we stay ahead of them and are showing quality in different ways to they do, we should still be happy. The whole country wants their team to play a lovely attractive football but their isn't many managers out there who actually do it and to criticise Pardew week in week out because that isn’t his style of play is just harsh.

Within reason, yes. Other than Southampton the rest of the league below us are s****. Everyone was wanking over Swansea last year, this year Southampton. Because we've started well people are saying it like it's a given we should be in this position yet they were tipping up another difficult season ahead over the summer.

Agree. Now what we really need most is a new manager then...... I'd be all for Ashley to upgrade, i just have absolutley no faith in him appointing anyone to the standard required and instead would only look at another weird side stepping appointment which will probably only make us more angry

Looking too much into what our manager talks about is pathetic, what does that say about a Newcastle fan looking into what the Villa manager talks about? Not looking into it, was just on motd, just like i seen Jose's interview after our match yesterday. Was hardly searching through google looking for quotes Was just two interviews i've seen recently in which both managers were talking bullshit and they knew it. What they will say in a tv interview and what they will say in the dressing room can be two completely different things.

Managers talk shit a lot of the time and looking too much into it is also pathetic. I seen Lambert other day praising his teams work rate and excellent attitudes after just having 27 percent possession at home to Swansea. He blatantly would have been livid with that but hasn't got the balls to criticise his players in the media or admit he made mistakes. Jose was just as comical with his opinions yesterday on ref decisions. Pinch of salt with manager interviews.

Clearly chopped down by Gibbs when he drove past him, inside or outside the box i wasn't sure but that was a stonewall foul, like.

No i still think we are some way off top 6, i've always maintained that and never even contemplated breaking into it. I said start of the season that the top 6 this season for me was pretty much set in stone. We could fight Everton for 7th but think they just have the edge with Martinez, with the right signings though we can move past them imo as player for player there isn't much between the sides, just canny gulf in class between the managers. What i don't want is to finish 8th then just rest on the fact we are comfortable in the top half again for then others teams to invest in their squads, look fresher and rise above us again. We should be looking to build on 8th and even if that means finishing 8th again, just better your own points tally from the season prior and that’s the best you can ask for at this moment in time.

From the top 6 last year... Home: Liverpool - Draw Chelsea - Win Arsenal - Lose Away: Man City - Lose Spurs - Win Man Utd - Win Baffling how people think any manager can go and get these kind of results against the top sides in the league. We've accounted ourselves 33 points for the first half the season which is a fantastic return and it's shocking not to give the manager any credit for that. He may be to blame for certain things so far where things could be better but players also need to take responsibility. Overall though we've been fantastic collectively and they deserve credit for bouncing back from last season.

Sticking with my summer prediction of 8th. Been a great season so far, competed with the best and shown ourselves in good light with some awful performances dotted in there along the way. Think we can still push on to have a good second half of the season but fancy the teams you'd expect to finish above us do so with no fuck ups. Hopefully next summer we can look to build on this season with a bit of financial backing unlike when we finished 5th and hung out to dry.

Haven't seen his interview after the game but if he's mentioned tired legs or blaming fixtures that's highly embarrassing. It was a tough game and either side could have grabbed the win but a draw would have been fair. Things went for us against Stoke, they didn't against Arsenal. Just move on to next game and look to bounce back from the loss which we are capable of doing.

Correct sub by Pardew with Gouff looking off the pace all game and not offering anything. Was happy to get Ben Arfa on with half an hour to go, he was just very unlucky they scored pretty much with minutes of his arrival. He did his best to get us back in the game and was by far our biggest threat. Arsenal were scared shitless of him and that was evident when Flamini went through him. His run down the line, putting flamini on his arse was majestic but i thought he should have took another touch inside then smashed it, angle was still tight but it was poor end product after a lovely run. Showed his class in glimpses in a difficult match to come into but would have been nice for him to have more time when it was stil 0-0.

Disappointed yesterday with the result, content enough with the performance. Thought was nice to give the players a good reception after the match for their efforts in that game and they all came over and appreciated that but you could see they were just as disappointed as us which is a good sign. Thought Debuchy was a class act again, don't mind Coleman getting all the praise as it will be him getting linked away in Jan and not Debuchy whos performances are sort of slipping under the radar of the media. The game itself was a bit of stalemate, neither team seemed like carving out a decent opening and even half chances were few and far between. Imagine it would have been a boring game for the neutral but obviously it was still nervous for us watching it. When Ben Arfa came on around 60th min really thought he might push us on for the winner and produce a bit of magic but just as i was thinking that, they go and score. Haven't seen it back yet but still beyond me how Giroud was allowed the much space, the ball in was a good delivery but the marking was awful. From then on we tried to get ourselves back in the game by any means possible, i felt we reverted to the long ball a bit early especially when they had Mertesacker at the back who won everything. Shola put pressure on him tbf and the clearances weren't great but we had nobody picking up the second balls on the outside of the box. We got into some good positions in the box but then let ourselves down with poor control or poor decision making. Overall though we got beat by the side who is top of the league and have a very impressive record away from home for clean sheets and victories so whilst a 1-0 defeat wasn't surprising, it's a bitter pill to swallow given how we matched them all over the pitch and restricted them to pretty much nothing.