Barnes23

Looking forward to seeing him on our bench soon.

Same, definitely deserves to go imo.

GW20: Swansea 1-3 Man City Arsenal 3-0 Cardiff Crystal Palace 0-0 Norwich Fulham 1-1 West Ham Liverpool 2-0 Hull Southampton 1-2 Chelsea Stoke 1-2 Everton Sunderland 2-0 Aston Villa West Brom 1-1 Newcastle Man Utd 1-1 Tottenham

Sad but true. Hate how Pardew is failing to realise the potential of our best team in a decade. A bit hyperbolic, considering the results over the past two months. The fact he can't accommodate our most talented player should say a lot. Can't argue with the results at the moment, but our style of play is not befitting some of the talent we have at our disposal, and that will probably prevent us from really challenging like we should this season.

Sad but true. Hate how Pardew is failing to realise the potential of our best team in a decade.

I thought Colo was great today. Made some crucial blocks/interceptions in the first half in particular.

Not a wide player.

Outstanding performance. Love this guy . Think he's a little underrated defensively, too. Nothing got past him today and he wasn't caught out of position despite his forays forward.

Defensively we performed well and restricted their opportunities, but for most of the game it looked like they would score if anybody was going to, imo.

Not many sides pass & move like Arsenal tbf. I do wonder why people assume we'd come off best if we'd have gone gung ho attack vs attack. As if its clear we'd win that battle? True, but as had been said, we offered what a Championship team would in an attacking sense today. It isn't as simple as playing defensively vs gung ho attack, its about the style of play/ how the team are coached. Apart from a 10 minute spell in the first half where they had 3 pot shots from 25+yards which were nowhere near, what did they offer more than we did? They looked far more likely to score throughout the game than we did.

Not many sides pass & move like Arsenal tbf. I do wonder why people assume we'd come off best if we'd have gone gung ho attack vs attack. As if its clear we'd win that battle? True, but as had been said, we offered what a Championship team would in an attacking sense today. It isn't as simple as playing defensively vs gung ho attack, its about the style of play/ how the team are coached.

Compare the fluidity of Arsenal's attacks, passing and moving around the edge of our box (albeit in brief spells), to us either hopefully crossing into the box or finding Remy/Gouffran with the ball in the final third with nobody to pass to, thanks to a static setup which prevents us from attacking as a team.

Spot on. Our tactics going forward always amount to nothing more than hopeful crosses into the box. These players could be capable of a lot more.

Was apparently shopped. Guy next to him wasn't the comedian (next to Sakho) either. Pretty sure the Sakho one is real, he had to make an apology and claimed he was tricked into doing it or something.

http://www.ndf.fr/files/2013/11/quenelle-sakho.png

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71983000/jpg/_71983540_020456463-1.jpg :lol:

Has very good chance creation and assist stats given his limited playing time. Not a grafter though so won't find himself in a Pardew team anytime soon.

Marveaux is quality and will prove it somewhere else in the right setup.

Did Anelka make the Quenelle salute after scoring? Could be in trouble for that.

Should have at least one of Sessegnon/Vydra/Amalfitano starting. No creativity in the final third.

GW19: West Ham 1-1 West Brom Aston Villa 0-0 Swansea Hull 2-2 Fulham Man City 3-0 Crystal Palace Norwich 1-2 Man Utd Cardiff 0-1 Sunderland Everton 2-2 Southampton Newcastle 1-2 Arsenal Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool Tottenham 3-1 Stoke

Aye, but you could look at it in such a way that hes also gone to a pretty settled & well set up side already. Far more consistant than we've been over the years. The first teams are close, but i reckon they shade it. Certainly looking at results alone, is Martinez deserving of so much praise over Pards given the 1 point difference? He may improve them further, but he is using more loans to achieve it also & our football has been improved aswell. That said i do think he is the better manager but its interesting to consider. Easier to praise managers from the outside isnt it. But Martinez hasn't nearly relegated a squad of this caliber. He also won the FA cup with an abysmal one. Then obviously there's the enjoyment of watching a side playing what I would consider "good football". There's far more than just looking at a table and saying "what's the difference between the 2 of them then?" There will undoubtedly be an element of fool's gold looking from the outside, but most things about Martinez and Everton to me suggests he would be my preferred manager. Id also say some of the stuff we've played recently has matched anything they've come up with. Not a chance. Just because we play the ball along the ground a bit more people seem to think Pardew has transformed us into an attacking team. We still rely on 'moments of magic' to score goals, our transitional play is laborious and our attacking strategy often amounts to little more than swinging it into the box as soon as we reach the final third. Unlike Everton and the rest of the top teams, our players still seem unwilling to attack in numbers, presumably on Pardew's instruction. He is still holding us back.

Yep. Surprised by a lot of the praise that we're getting in terms of our style of football at the moment, we're still miles behind the top teams in terms of attacking impetus, despite having the players to produce something better. Not many will complain while we're winning, of course.