Lush Vlad

One of the only positives from Saturday, thought he was superb.

Well, he was s***. Who would have thought it? Offered nothing going forward apart from one half decent'ish cross to Cisse. Doesn't get involved in play often and he's one paced and predictable. Still like him as a squad player, but how is he starting games FFS.

And boom goes the dynamite. That is a worryingly accurate summary of how we play. Saturday was particularly bad, it really was fucking dire to watch. Krul, Willo, Simpson and R.Taylor are all at home playing limited, hoof ball. But the rest of our team are ball players, or at least comfortable in possession. Ba and Cisse looked confused and fucked off at times, it was one dimensional, rigid and the subs barely changed our style. Such a waste of some really top players. Results are important yes, but I can see them drying up if we continue with this clueless approach. We don't have the personnel to play a direct style, so why pesevere with it? Going off the HBA topic a bit, but thought this post was spot on and wanted to comment.

It's like writing an article on Arsenal's recent shitness, it's easy and lazy. Like VI says, decent journos/pundits should be able to forsee future problems and changes, not just write about them after the horse has bolted

:lol: superb! Wake me up when the season ends. My head hurts.

Only ever gets brought on when we are chasing the result. If we play to our ability, we should be in the clear after 60-70 minutes, don't think he'll even make it off the bench TBH.

I agree with every word in your post. I look forward to going to see flair players and the thought of having to watch Ryan Taylor is mind numbing. At least when he's covering for an injury you can justify him getting a game, in this instance you can't. also agreed interesting point that barely readable post from tunisia makes though - how much longer will HBA keep his mouth shut and his head down? past history suggests not much longer the only way he'll be here next season is if pardew has told him who's coming in for us to go to a solid 3 in the middle allowing ben arfa freedom (still no real reason not to play him now) This is about the best the HBA 'fanboys' can hope for I reckon. That HBA has been asked to remain patient, he is a big part of AP's plans, but we need to sign a proper full back and another centre midfielder first. Qualify for the Europa and I'd like to hope he'd stay, would get plenty of games next season.

Not in the training pictures. He must be leaving

Some bloke on there saying about 'their soft accent' Errr, I have a soft southern shandy drinking b****** accent, am not from the area and I can pick up on the difference. The missus family are all sunderland and her Grandad's accent is far more full on. Hits the vowels harder and it just sounds a lot more agressive and confusing to me. How it can be so different when there is less than 15 miles between cities is beyond me! Even he says the Geordie accent is softer and their's is harder (weyy ours is harder FTM). I've been in the Seaham working man's club with him and they're all the same. i know many people from outside the area who can't tell one from the other. Don't get me wrong, I didn't used to until I spent a lot more time in the NE and I'm not saying I could 100% call the accents and exactly where they are from. But there are definitely noticable differences and my point was mainly getting at how that mackem was claiming their accent is softer I live in Newmarket, but work near to Cambridge. Similar distance for Newcastle to sunderland, yet there is no difference in accent at all. It's an interesting subject I think.

Some bloke on there saying about 'their soft accent' Errr, I have a soft southern shandy drinking bastard accent, am not from the area and I can pick up on the difference. The missus family are all sunderland and her Grandad's accent is far more full on. Hits the vowels harder and it just sounds a lot more agressive and confusing to me. How it can be so different when there is less than 15 miles between cities is beyond me! Even he says the Geordie accent is softer and their's is harder (weyy ours is harder FTM). I've been in the Seaham working man's club with him and they're all the same.

Not sure if that is directed at my post or not, I felt the need to put the last line in as a qualification because of people over reacting. The Pardew out/isn't a good manager mob are pathetic, but the people that respond to any minor criticism with "we're 6th, we're having a great season, how dare you moan" style posts are nearly as bad. Do you think fans never complain, criticise or analyse managers? Are we really worse than other fans in that sense? Even the likes of Man U and City will have fans that question the manager and certain decisions. Start of the season, two Spurs ST holders I know wanted Harry to go for various reasons plenty of people whinging about Fergie after the 1-6 and the 3-0 against us. Ba, Krul and Colo have been superb this season, does that mean when they fuck up or have bad games we don't speak about it, or highlight any flaws in their game? Should Pardew be exempt from criticism or something? I would love nothing more than stability, AP should get at least 2 full seasons to see where he takes us, but there are certainly areas that fans (including myself) think he can improve on. I can certainly see us progressing further under him, if he's backed by the board that is.

it's especially worrying that it was obvious he got it wrong from about 7 minutes into the match, yet he did nothing to change it and we only tried to change things with about 20 mins to go when it was far too late. The fact that he couldn't see what was right in front of his face and try and attempt a change is really odd. It's his main issue in that he can't respond to events happening on the pitch as well as he should. Seen a lot of people comment on this, he does seem to take an age to change things. Worked really well when he did opt for a change of style against QPR, but his hand was forced due to injury to Cabaye. Did the right thing bringing Perch on against Blackburn, but he did leave Shola on the pitch for 90 minutes when he was visibly fucked after 50. His preparation, by all accounts is meticulous and it has served us well. The fact he's been second guessed and totally out thought by Martin Jol, Gus Poyet and Steve Kean (yes I know we won in the end) is a bit of a worry though I must say. His inability to react to certain situations and change tactics mid game could end up being very costly. It's something he hasn't got in his locker and I'm not sure he ever will have. Our tactics seemed to vary on a game by game basis earlier in the season, but lately we seem to be setting up in the same manner, with no flexibility, a high line and an over reliance on the long ball. With Ba, Cisse, Tiote and Cabaye back in, I do expect this to change somehwat and so it should. I am firmly in the Pardew In camp BTW, just slightly concerned with certain things. Probably just being overly critical though and having 3 or 4 of our best players missing has hardly helped.

Agreed. He won't lose his vision, touch or strength on the ball, if anything the first two will probably improve. Once Ronaldo loses his pace, he'll be pretty ineffective at the highest level.

Teams like Man U and City win plenty of games 1-0, but still dominate. Got your money's worth will goals last season, certainly getting a lot of tension for your money this season. Seems like every game the last 10 minutes takes an eternity!

The lob from Xavi

Arsenal and RVP.

f***ing shocking. I mean look at them. Haven't got the correct PPE on, no warning barriers and they're just using an unopened step ladder, leaned up against a wall, on a slope. Health & Safety should be taken seriously

Silva had a pretty bad game for his own standards to be honest. Best central defender in the world though, gets almost no recognition outside of Italy. Had Ibra not scored so many penalty goals, Silva wouldve been chosen the best in the Serie A. And Prince scores some helluva goals. If that's a poor game from him, he must be some player. Only the third time I've really seen him, but he kept RVP pretty quiet, barring the odd volley. He's a right unit isn't he!

excuse number 156462321578. they are on holiday calling Mags names. http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showthread.php?t=673992 :lol: Gotta love their creativity. Mag at Work has now evolved into Mag in Cape Verde :lol: such utter fucking mongs.

Would hope not. Would assume he'll be back in light training Friday? Can't go on a 12 stop return flight like after the ACN again surely!

I still think it wouldn't be half as bad if the logo wasn't so fucking garish and hiddeous. Such an ugly, cheap looking sign

The only games this season I can remember him starting right wing were, Man U, QPR and Villa. Man U he was pretty poor, but nobody really deserves criticism after that result. Despite that, many rightly pointed out he was our worst player on the night, misplaced a lot of passes, caught in possession, didn't offer much going the other way. Many were still just pleased to see Obertan out the team. Against QPR wide right he was horrendous, there was no link up whatsoever between him and Simpson or the rest of the midfield. His crossing from open play isn't actually all that and he's slow and one dimensional. The performance improved massively once we shifted to the 4-2-3-1 and Raylor came off the right wing. Villa he was marginally better, but all the points in the above paragraph are still valid. Again, we improved massively once he came off the right wing (and pitch this time). If he starts against Wolves, which he probably will, I expect a drab, cagey affair. Do we really need to start two wingers that virtually play as second full backs at home to a team like Wolves? No, but we probably will. I don't mind Raylor. He'll score some class goals, he can cover numerous positions, seems to have a great attitude and his set pieces are an added bonus. Not going to lie though, when I see his name on the teamsheet at right wing for home games, I get pretty fucked off.

Don't really watch Italian football, but always been impressed by Prince and Silva when I've seen Milan in the CL. Last night, they were all impressive. Silva was a colussus at the back and didn't put a foot wrong, Prince was as lively and erratic as ever and the forwards tore Arsenal apart. They seemed to have a really good balance to the team, what I liked most about them was the runners from midfield. It was a really fluid formation, Ibra and Robinho were just playing wherever they wanted and when they dropped off, players from the midfield would bomb on past them. Didn't realise how quick their side is pace all over the pitch. I know they are streets ahead of us, but the running from deep is something we need to massively work on, we are so static as a team. Don't get me wrong, Arsenal were pathetic, but I really enjoyed watching Milan and the throwaway lines of "Italian football is slow and defensive etc" certainly didn't apply.

That's my worry. Looks as if he can play behind the striker(s) and that's it. Looked poor out wide and too slow and immobile in a flat midfield 4. Got a lot of talent and looks comfortable on the ball, would like to see him do well, hopefully for us!