Toonpack

It'll be a draw, we're due one

Who can you guarantee would do that for us ?? We've tried the manager switcheroo numerous times over the years, it's not worked yet, mind you we were top 5 last season. We were and I've given credit for that, it would be ultimately hypocritical to not. But do you honestly feel Pardew will deliver for this club? Our squad man for man is as good as any bar Manu/City/Spurs/Chelsea. I don't have a suggestion for a replacement, but that doesn't negate the points. I don't know tbh, but I absolutely do know, (outside of vast amonts of cash and maybe a Mourinho) that our managerial merry go round (since KK's first spell) hasn't worked, even our, decidedly average, "highs" over the years since were never quite as the high as the highs before. I also know, if the significant groundswell on this board to get rid, had governed Man U and Everton, Ferguson and Moyes would have been fired in their third seasons in charge (finishing 13th and 17th respectively). I am quite prepared to give the bloke time, if next season starts like this one, it's a different ball game, but the signs since he actually had depth to utilise are fine by me. A new manager guarantees nothing, just look down the road at Marty's party. There's a hell of a lot more right than wrong just now IMO. Fair enough mate, well made points. I agree it hasn't worked for us in the past, but that doesn't mean a new manager wouldn't deliver better results but I take your point. I do feel, and have done for a while that the overall coaching set up is stale, I'd like to see the addition of coaching staff at least, if we are to stick with the manager I actually think that the way the new players have slotted in, is under recognised as a "plus mark" for the coaching staff. Our biggest problem is the fact that (in football terms) our "turnaround" under KK (first time) was metaphorically in the blink of an eye, that lightning is unlikely to strike twice. I am quite happy to let a longer game play out to the extent that even if we'd gone down (which I don't think we will now) I'd have kept him for another year. The swaperoo has never worked, I'm quite happy to sit back chillax and wait and see what happens with a bit of stability. May work, may not, but then again nothing much has worked in my forty odd years of watching this lot, but hanging in there and being patient is actually trying something new, unheard of even.

Who can you guarantee would do that for us ?? We've tried the manager switcheroo numerous times over the years, it's not worked yet, mind you we were top 5 last season. We were and I've given credit for that, it would be ultimately hypocritical to not. But do you honestly feel Pardew will deliver for this club? Our squad man for man is as good as any bar Manu/City/Spurs/Chelsea. I don't have a suggestion for a replacement, but that doesn't negate the points. I don't know tbh, but I absolutely do know, (outside of vast amonts of cash and maybe a Mourinho) that our managerial merry go round (since KK's first spell) hasn't worked, even our, decidedly average, "highs" over the years since were never quite as high as the highs before. I also know, if the significant groundswell on this board to get rid, had governed Man U and Everton, Ferguson and Moyes would have been fired in their third seasons in charge (finishing 13th and 17th respectively). I am quite prepared to give the bloke time, if next season starts like this one, it's a different ball game, but the signs since he actually had depth to utilise are fine by me. A new manager guarantees nothing, just look down the road at Marty's party. There's a hell of a lot more right than wrong just now IMO. Edit: BTW I've been watching this club since the mid 60's and no fucker has truly "delivered" since 1969.

Who can you guarantee would do that for us ?? We've tried the manager switcheroo numerous times over the years, it's not worked yet, mind you we were top 5 last season.

and they didn't beat us either, they draw a lot away from home, usually 0-0 (ask Spurs and Liverpool)

So true, only Man U (4) Citeh and Swansea (3) and us with our 2, have scored more than one at home against Stoke all season. So I guess that means only SAF, Mancini and Laudrup have been more astute at tackling Stoke then Pardew.

And the apparently seamless integration of these "loads of new players" is down to who Personally I hope Pardew is our manager for the next 10 years, because for that to come to pass, we'll have to have been successful.

But for all this supposed negativity we dominated the game. Check out the stats on possession, shots, corners etc. That doesn't show a side sitting back, it shows a side taking the game on. My take was not that we were negative but that we could not convert our pressure into goals against a side who don't aim to do much other than sit back and adopt "spoiling" tactics. Possibly Marveaux for Jonas from the start might have given us a bit more creativity but Marveaux had game time in Moscow and was poor imo. Individually we are a much superior team then Stoke. That we won "the stat" doesn´t makes us having a good game. How many clear cut chances did we have? Not much considering the possession and shots we had, and thats what´s important. Gouffran missed a sitter first half, score first againts a team that parks the bus and the game changes irrevocably. Only 5 teams have conceded less goals than Stoke away from home this season (the Manchesters, Chelsea, Everton and Swansea) they lose but they don't lose "big".

for all I will give Pardew credit for turning us around from the ridiculous slump he put us in we still look a very average side, and our creativity is pretty much non-existent. We'll flourish against attacking sides as there's space in the game for the pace and power of our individual players to shine through, but against an organised and well drilled side we have no answers. You mean like Stoke, the anti-christ of teams That Stoke that we beat today btw. Unsurprisingly you've missed the point. Sorry, it's hard finding a point in amongst the interminable s**** you post. e.g. "The ridiculous slump he put us in" http://i.imgur.com/7Na8e0W.png If that's not a ridiculous slump then perhaps you could clarify what one is. It's the "he put us in" that's the shite, the slump is not open to contention.

That's a good point Ian and I had a similar thought leaving the ground We weren't at our best today but Stoke are past masters at making life difficult for teams by any means necessary, literally. It'll keep them in the league but magine coaching that ffs Imagine watching it, week in, week out !!! yet some reckon we are negative

for all I will give Pardew credit for turning us around from the ridiculous slump he put us in we still look a very average side, and our creativity is pretty much non-existent. We'll flourish against attacking sides as there's space in the game for the pace and power of our individual players to shine through, but against an organised and well drilled side we have no answers. You mean like Stoke, the anti-christ of teams That Stoke that we beat today btw. Unsurprisingly you've missed the point. Sorry, it's hard finding a point in amongst the interminable shite you post. e.g. "The ridiculous slump he put us in"

for all I will give Pardew credit for turning us around from the ridiculous slump he put us in we still look a very average side, and our creativity is pretty much non-existent. We'll flourish against attacking sides as there's space in the game for the pace and power of our individual players to shine through, but against an organised and well drilled side we have no answers. You mean like Stoke, the anti-christ of teams That Stoke that we beat today btw.

Get weeping bairn, no way he is NOT manager next season, thankfully.

Not really sure who you're referring to looking at the last page or so. Should've gone to specsavers

The same one as me I reckon, he was very very poor.

Away in Europe to a team that's record is: P7 W7 F12 A1 Aye, lets be miserable because we didn't rape them.

Marveaux was no better than Obertan IMO

No it's not, win and we're through, lose the away leg 2-1 and draw 0-0 at home we're out after 90 mins, draw 0-0 now and we've got extra time.

I thought that before the game but we got an hour out of him, he was rusty as fuck but came off unhurt. All's good.

Instead of flapping his arms and getting riled up, he might have wanted to organise his players and refocus their attention on the game, perhaps. Straight away he's allowed that red card to be an excuse, simply by how angry he became and focusing on it for a good 5 minutes. In the 12 minutes after the booking Real Madrid controlled the game and scored twice. Ferguson was busying getting the crowd hyped on the back of the red card. To me that suggests he didn't know what to do, as he wasn't focused on the game, or studying what changes Real Madrid had pulled on the sub. Perhaps this is being over critical. It would be interesting to see what the reaction would have been for a 'lesser' manager like, oh I don't know, our own? and 99.9% of the managers on the planet

Was that before or after QPR away? SWP tore him to shreds. When we kept a clean sheet? That's not the point though. What is the point of a defender, if not keeping clean sheets. Did you watch the game? Which one of the 15 clean sheets do you refer to. Look, I have had to suffer some REALLY shit defenders in my time (Glen Keeley springs to mind), anyone who is part of a defence with the record they had last season is not a shit defender. Their record proves that incontrovertibly. Ryan Taylor may not be a sooper dooper footballer but he was part of one of the best defences we've had for one hell of a long time.

Was that before or after QPR away? SWP tore him to shreds. When we kept a clean sheet? That's not the point though. What is the point of a defender, if not keeping clean sheets.

Aye, best defensive unit we've had performance wise, that I can recall, and yet the LB was s**** defensively, laughable. He was ffs The results, when he was playing, would strongly suggest you are wrong (or clueless). So one of the back four, who performed better than any other back four we've had for ages, was s****, yet the aforesaid back four remains one of the tightest we've had for years. I'll take a s**** fullback (by your yardstick) playing in a team not shipping goals any day of the week over owt else, seriously what else can be a meaningfull measure. You must really hate Santon I reckon. I think Santon is good, and will become top class in a few years. Colo was the main reason our defence looked so good. That and Taylor's good form, up until his injury. Even Williamson looked alright. Simpson saved us quite a few times as well. How highly do you rate Simpson? Santon is NOT good yet, he could well be though, as he's still extremely young, he's a crap defender (so far). Simpson is perfectly adequate, and gets way more stick than he deserves, although that's not to say couldn't be upgarded (or has been already) same category as Taylor, although Taylor is way more flexible in terms of roles within the team and I think we've really missed him this season because of that. A back four is a unit, always has been, always will be. As I said earlier it's also often better than the sum of it's parts.

Aye, best defensive unit we've had performance wise, that I can recall, and yet the LB was s**** defensively, laughable. He was ffs The results, when he was playing, would strongly suggest you are wrong (or clueless). So one of the back four, who performed better than any other back four we've had for ages, was shite, yet the aforesaid back four remains one of the tightest we've had for years. I'll take a shite fullback (by your yardstick) playing in a team not shipping goals any day of the week over owt else, seriously what else can be a meaningfull measure. You must really hate Santon I reckon.

Aye, best defensive unit we've had performance wise, that I can recall, and yet the LB was shite defensively, laughable.