Jack Flash

I'm sorry for Ba being Premier League Golden Boot winner is more important to you than us staying up i really am. But don't be so short sighted, there's more to football than just who scores the goals and we are suffering as a team due to Ba being the central figure. It is possible to be a crap team and still have someone scoring goals you know? Darren Bent has made a career out of scoring and dragging teams down with him. At the moment we are a crap team and as long as Ba is the central figure and we restrict the rest of our star players we will remain one. But hey if we go down you can console yourself with Ba's golden boot award. at the bit in bold. You're the most short sighted person on here over this clichéd 4-3-3 nonsense. It's all you've talked about all season. You assume it'll transform us into a wondrous passing and free flowing attacking team but it just won't. Life isn't a computer game. Blaming Ba for managerial ineptness is also hugely short sighted but whatevz innit. You stick with your dreams and fantasies of 4-3-3 and I'll live in the real world of Pardew being an idiot and Ba keeping us in the league. How's that working out so far? Ask the idiot. From the Swansea game... “We played 4-3-3, we were 4-3-3, Sammy was on the left hand side and joining with Demba. I thought he did a good job. Shola came on at half-time and upped us again. We had our best spell when the two were together”.

I'm sorry for Ba being Premier League Golden Boot winner is more important to you than us staying up i really am. But don't be so short sighted, there's more to football than just who scores the goals and we are suffering as a team due to Ba being the central figure. It is possible to be a crap team and still have someone scoring goals you know? Darren Bent has made a career out of scoring and dragging teams down with him. At the moment we are a crap team and as long as Ba is the central figure and we restrict the rest of our star players we will remain one. But hey if we go down you can console yourself with Ba's golden boot award. at the bit in bold. You're the most short sighted person on here over this clichéd 4-3-3 nonsense. It's all you've talked about all season. You assume it'll transform us into a wondrous passing and free flowing attacking team but it just won't. Life isn't a computer game. Blaming Ba for managerial ineptness is also hugely short sighted but whatevz innit. You stick with your dreams and fantasies of 4-3-3 and I'll live in the real world of Pardew being an idiot and Ba keeping us in the league.

Newcastle United have announced plans to expand their family enclosure for the second half of this season. Additional seating has been released in a bid to accommodate the current family enclosure waiting list and other fans wishing to bring their family along to St. James' Park. In addition to providing a great day out for adults and children alike, the tickets offer fantastic value, with an adult and child combined ticket costing just £222. The tickets, which run for the remainder of this season and next, will be located in a newly-opened section in the Leazes Stand for the final nine games of this campaign, with a move to the current family enclosure for the 2013/14 season. The offer is open to all season ticket holders, Members and their friends and family. Supporters just need to include a valid Membership number in their application to take advantage of this offer.

Mole

Because he's the only one that suits this style of football and we are playing this way because of him... No one wants him dropped or sold, it's not a coincidence that he's the only attacker that looks comfortable under this system and style of play it's because it's built for HIM and thus restricting everyone else around him. Ba doesn't suit this style in the slightest He's playing as a target man when he's blatantly not one. Why do you think he drops deep for half the game? merle pls

No team has every won a game playing 4-4-2? Krul continually smashing it long is as big a problem as any tactical problem we have. Change that and other things will change. Or just blame Ba for everything? 4-4-2 is very much about partnerships isn't? We have a few problems there. The front 2 aren't an effective partnership, the midfield 2 aren't an effective partnership. Bit of width in a 4-4-2 is essential, are we getting crosses in from the left? No, are we getting crosses in from the right? No. If the above was working, if the players were making it work there would be no debate. Almost any formation or game plan is rendered pointless when long balls are played to players who can't deal with them so that's eliminating our midfield and our strikers in 1 kick. We could have Xavi and Iniesta in the middle and they wouldn't be effective at all with this "routine". Krul playing it short would solve so many problems. We'd be forced to build from the back which would heavily involve the midfield and then hopefully lead to a chance for our predatory strikers, who are both in the middle and not wasted out on the touchline.

No team has every won a game playing 4-4-2? Krul continually smashing it long is as big a problem as any tactical problem we have. Change that and other things will change. Or just blame Ba for everything?

We're absolutely f***ing s***, the TEAM is rubbish, that's a reason for him to play as part of an interchanging front 3. There's part of me wanting to see this 4-3-3 thing happen just so it gets put to bed and we don't have to read page after page of megaposts about it. It's unlikely to happen so why not just support/appreciate the player who's keeping us afloat? I support and appreciate him every week. What do you mean you want to see it happen? Didn't you see it last season? Have you seen it this season when we've played it? Our players suit it more by virtue of it being more about passing and moving and less about getting it wide and passing it long. Ba scoring goals isn't a good enough reason not to change a team that's under-performing this badly. The players we had last season during that run are not the players we have now. They're massively unmotivated and have no confidence which is the exact opposite of that time last year. Just switching to for-free-free isn't magically going to turn them into what we had (briefly) last year. This might confuse the Football Manager players but football isn't just about tactics.

We're absolutely f***ing s***, the TEAM is rubbish, that's a reason for him to play as part of an interchanging front 3. There's part of me wanting to see this 4-3-3 thing happen just so it gets put to bed and we don't have to read page after page of megaposts about it. It's unlikely to happen so why not just support/appreciate the player who's keeping us afloat?

The fans showing up won't make any difference if the players continue to not show up. Give us something to cheer and we'll cheer it. Despite what the soopafans say, it works both ways these days and seeing the players wake up at 38 mins into the game makes for a bored crowd.

This is one of my favourite things in football, the "It's not actually your fault at all but try harder" plea. Especially from someone like this...

Aye, Pardew shamefully booted him out as quick as he could. Shamefully? Love a bit of melodrama this early in the day. "I mean, was Wayne gonna be a long term first team player for us? and I don’t think he was.” "we have to get better than Wayne and that’s what we’re gonna aim to do.” Pardew had only been here 6 weeks at this point so was it necessary to be so harsh publicly about a decent player who seemed a nice lad? And has he ever been as scathing publicly about any other of our players for no reason? Played 9, scored 4 and made 3 this season btw

the problem is Cisse HAS been playing up front. Not by himself but he's been up front and has not been scoring. He was scoring in a 4-4-2 last season. Ba should stay in the middle and someone else should go wide. Cisse's general play won't improve, neither will his finishing if we play him central of a 3. If you play a 4-3-3 and the middle striker is not scoring, most likely you'll have poor results. We can't carry that with Cisse. why do we have to put one on the wing ? it sounds like netball or american football with designated positions. is there any reason why we can't play with ba, cisse and ben arfa up front and allowed to roam and play off and with each other ? does van persie stay central all game ? did henri ? did cabaye win a double playing rightish in a middle 3 ? do we get the best from ben arfa sticking him out wide in a middle 4 ? why can't we have movement and awareness ? It's become a cliché to think putting Ba on the wing will immediately improve results and performances. It won't because it's not that simple.

Aye, Pardew shamefully booted him out as quick as he could.

Pointless to think of it in those terms. He has to work with Ashley, and he can't hammer him publicly. He can choose to say nothing like Hughton did but his ego won't allow it. He's currently making rather obvious digs at Ashley now he's under pressure btw. “We are a club in this division with a very high wage bill, and that is something of which we have all been aware… You have an owner who is still having to put money into the club, and that is reassuring.” Just saying, like. From what I can tell, that's from just after we'd signed Simpson, Best, Routledge, Williamson, Hall and Van Aanholt. We were all grateful for those signings (at the time ) weren't we?

“We have about seven names for a centre-half.” http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/newcastle-united/nufc-news/2012/10/18/alan-pardew-mike-ashley-is-not-afraid-to-think-big-72703-32054306/2/ Just for the record.

Pointless to think of it in those terms. He has to work with Ashley, and he can't hammer him publicly. He can choose to say nothing like Hughton did but his ego won't allow it. He's currently making rather obvious digs at Ashley now he's under pressure btw.

Like we're losing because Ba isn't being played on the wing ffs. Ba is making lemonade from lemons and it's keeping us up at present.

Whatever credit Pardew gained with me he threw it all away with that "be thankful to Mike" stuff after the transfer window. That reminded me he was one of them and he always would be.

It matters more than the goals other people might have scored What if we'd had Ba on the wing again all season and Cisse still wasn't pulling his weight? "What if's" don't matter.

Ba is only behind Suarez and Van Persie in the top goal scorer chart. That's a big enough reason for him staying where he is.

The man has no shame. He'll do it without a second thought if he thinks he'll benefit from it.

Updated.

Yes. For now, at least, the faith needs to be kept. I'm with you lads. http://i2.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/007/666/_57c8a1a431a592af806925e57258202f.png I'm afraid that a win against Wigan will only prolong this charlatan and give him longer to do irreversible damage. Don't win, don't stay imo. Lost 4 winnable games in a row so beating Wigan is now vital, whereas a draw would have been the absolute minimum a few weeks ago.

I think he's saying we've taken the wrong option at times, playing short when a long ball was on and playing long when a short ball and keeping possession would have been a better choice. Worth quoting again for those that missed, sorry - ignored it. Most people ignore that because he'll ignore it. As with most things he says it'll be like he never thought about it come kick off. He can't win. Guess we'll just have to wait and see. He usually talks a good game in regard to our problems yet it's not evident that he can actually fix these problems. That's not me being needlessly negative, it's a genuine concern. I eagerly await our first "float it to willo" tonight.