St1pe

Because apparently the oppositions best chance of scoring is when you have the ball. I bet Pards was terrified for Roma when they were passing City off the pitch at 1-0.

I personally think this will be a bigger loss than people expect to the first team. He's absolutely colossal at times for us and probably should have been made captain once Cabaye and then Colo made it clear they didn't want to be here. His performances while wearing the captains armband justified it. With a proper manager and a real system where his role is simply to break up play and pass it to the more creative players he would be great. I don't think playing for Arsenal is a step too far for him and given how shite their defensive midfielders are it would probably be beneficial to them.

I'm only really repeating what everyone else said last night in this thread but it killed me watching him playing last night giving the dross we have at centre back. Some of the interceptions he made and that last ditch tackle at the end was really quality stuff. His distribution looked a bit poor at times but it just begs the question what does Pardew actually do in training and why can none of our players confidently pass a ball.

I thought it was harsh after the 2nd yellow but he could have gone for the first if the ref had been different. I only saw the highlights but Armstrong seemed to have a good game. Is there a case to be made for him to be in the starting 11? especially since the De Jong injury.

I read the article in the Chronicle about him and thought it was a bit out of order from Pards. I'm unsure whether Sammy will have what it takes to be a good Premier League player but I don't think his application has ever been in question, he always seems to try his hardest so I don't know what such a public warning is in order. What he needs is games somewhere because I doubt he'll get enough minutes on the pitch to really prove himself. I certainly don't understand what Pardew expects from him in the odd 10 minute cameo months apart. I still think he has something about him. Whether he'll be able to develop that talent and do it on a regular basis is another question. It is hugely frustrating dribbling into about 4 players while running away from the goal though.

I hope that doesn't save him. Every game he remains it's a closer step to relegation. I thought Colback was awful today as well. How he's in the side over Anita is beyond me.

Probably an irrelevant conversation topic given then judgement day that is probably approaching in this Hull game but I'd like to see us give the 442 diamond formation a try - or whatever variation Liverpool are using of it. We don't have any proper wingers in the side, no one can seem to cross a ball and we're getting absolutely nothing into the forwards at present. Cabella was apparently at his best playing the number 10 in France and Riviere doesn't look like he's going to get any better as a lone front man. I'm aware all of this is pointless given the manager we have but given the players we have I'd like to see how it would turn out.

Awful news to see first thing on a morning. He's been a fantastic servant to the club that's always given everything despite his limitations and deserves some sort of tribute or gesture to support him while he's going through this.

Tuchel was absolutely fantastic for Mainz last season but isn't there some sort of issue with his contract? He was supposed to be joining Stuggart but I haven't been following the Bundesliga too closely to see what happened there. I'm shit scared we'll end up with Moyes after reading Rio's article about him this morning. He sounds exactly like the type of manager we have now. According to Rio they always worked on stopping the opposition and negative tactics which rubbed off on the players. His training restricted what they could do any they had no confidence to express themselves going forward. It sounds frighteningly familiar to what has happened to us.

Is there a realistic chance he's going to be removed before the next game or are we all just deluded common sense will be applied? I'm now shit scared that we might actually keep this plank and then get relegated. Our run in is awful and if we're still in the mix to go down come the end of the season we'll almost certainly go down without a fight.

I'm guess the Aarons injury along side the De Jong one will only give him an all to easy excuse if we go down to Southampton and get hammered. A Ben Arfa goal or two would really ramp up pressure regardless though.

I'm at the point with Pardew that worrying about who we could end up with would be a welcome debate if it meant he was gone. There's a lot of mangers - not great ones mind - that are out of work that I'd rather see in charge of us that Pardew. It's harder trying to think of someone I'd rather not have in favour of Pards.

I noticed The Sun as it's new role as the clubs mouth-piece has a small article talking about how the manager had no choice but to move on Ben Arfa after he argued with the manager as well as key players. Some of whom claimed they wouldn't play with him anymore. Obviously all of those pictures of him with our first team in the changing rooms and ex-players talking of how much of a stupid call it would be to sell him are irrelevant. The worst part about it is there will be far too many people taken in by it and will no doubt be peddling the same argument today.

From another forum. I rarely post on there nowadays. Views like this seem to be the norm. I can't even be arsed to dignify it with a response. TF SEWPAFAN ME! Assuming that's where I think it's from, Nath, It's the exact reason why I left that place.

It's probably pathetic wanting something like this but I hope Ben Arfa has some sort of parting shot at the manager in an interview. At the very least I hope he says something about our fans given some have gone to great lengths to show loyalty to him.

That's literally all I'm clinging on to. I'm probably going to spend the remaining hour or so ominously refreshing twitter until the inevitable happens.

I was just thinking this. It's typical they've once again waited to the final day of the window to offload two players that wont be replaced. The international break also makes it nice and easy for them as the hate will have died down for a lot of people. Disgusting really.

In my head I'd somehow convinced myself following the recent statements from his agent that he'd be staying. Pardew would be sacked and then he'd make this hero like return to the first team under a manager that had half a clue on dealing with attacking players. I'll never forgive Pardew for marginalising arguably the best player I've ever seen play for us.

I'm sure we'll get an inevitable Colo injury in the next week or so. I can't believe we're letting a player of his quality go and are likely not to replace him.

I'm more disappointed with this thought I would be. It's always been on the cards but I really didn't think we could be this stupid. He looked so composed at centre back last season with Williamson, the games against Chelsea and Villa were really standout performances by him. In a perfect world I'd hoped if we'd manged to get a new manager this season we'd drastically improve just by promoting MYM and Ben Arfa to the first team. What an absolute bargain.

I haven't missed this feeling of ominous doom you get post-match and the inevitable sulk that seemed to ruin most of my Saturday evenings last season. I'm also literally speechless that Pardew has attempted to shift some blame to the fans for throwing the game away. What's most concerning is how we still look entirely clueless when going forward. It only really hit me when Aarons came on and linked up well with Haidara when I realised that was the first bit of link-up play that looked meaningful. I feel massively stupid actually because despite wanting us to lose as many games as it took to get Pards out last season, I'd somehow convinced myself that with the new players we'd be better this year. Maybe even be entertaining.

Really tired of us being a bag of shit now.

Every time I see stuff like this it just gives me more false hope that we'll see him again.

I'm not totally convinced of his defensive abilities but Haidara has been the only positive in that half in my opinion. It's actually nice to see a fullback with an intent to go past players and try and whip something in.

I've already started not really celebrating when we score and It's only three games into the season. Christ. I'm struggling to see how Riviere is keeping Ayoze out of the team given the impact he's had as a sub. I wouldn't like to argue who is better out of LDJ and him either.