Varadi

Would probably rather be in Norwich's position than ours tbh - only a point behind us with 3 very winnable home fixtures (Reading, Villa, WBA)

Wrong Ah right, my mistake. Sorry.

This is the first time I've been able to face venturing into this thread since the derby. Just to say I hope they still go down, in fact I would laugh my cock off. Sad thing is a lot of them would still view the season as a success.

That's an excellent analysis. Personally the first time I seriously wanted him out was after the Reading game, but then along came the new signings and things improved for a while. The worry since then is that rather than the new players pulling up the performance level of those around them , they've been gradually dragged down to the shit we've been playing all season, which strongly suggests something very wrong behind the scenes. The mackem defeat put me firmly in the out camp again. Wouldn't 100% rule out him turning it around from here, but it would need significant changes and the odds are very much against him now.

Actually sounds a lot more reasonable when put in a fuller context. It's the most embarrassing result in my lifetime following NUFC and he doesn't appear to give a f***. Aye, he's well reasonable, what a guy. He has to try put a positive spin on it, it's his only choice. I think he knows it's embarrassing but I would agree he doesn't seem to understand exactly how much so.

More quotes from Pardew's interview today: Actually sounds a lot more reasonable when put in a fuller context.

Disappointed with those comments. Seems being beaten by the mackems has started to turn him into one. Rattled marra.

If Tiote misses out it'll almost certainly be Perch in midfield.

We're playing s*** and the best he can come up with is to train somewhere else because it can't be his methods. I love Mick's relentless pursuit of Pardew - remind me never to get on your bad side!

My personal pet hate is people who have no understanding of the game and have obviously never played to any level themselves berating players for not doing things that are technically impossible/wouldn't make any sense in the current scenario. There's one bloke in our local in particular takes any pass that goes even vaguely towards our own goal as a personal affront, even if there is no forward pass even remotely available he'll still be screaming to "pass it FORWARD man"

Does seem to finally be some awareness in the media that his position isn't as safe as might have been presumed. I'm getting more convinced that these last 5 games will define his future - if we don't win on Saturday then I reckon the atmosphere at the Liverpool game could get pretty nasty if things don't go well.

Form .com: Doesn't sound like they're in the best of form either, and Mulumbu is a big miss for them...

If you accept that Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea are on another level thanks to finances, and Arsenal and Spurs are way ahead of us in the “building sensibly” stakes then I would say our natural level currently is competing with Everton and Liverpool for the 6th-8th slots, which makes 7th about par. So he’s had last season where he finished better than par and this season disastrously below it – think it’s almost certain he’ll be given next season to see which was the fluke… That’s assuming we don’t get relegated and/or go winless until the end of the season in which case he might well get the bullet regardless. And rightly so.

Villa and Wigan have the toughest run-ins but also the best form. Stoke have winnable games but are in a mess - their game at QPR this weekend is crucial, if they lose that I can't see them winning another game. Even being quite pessimistic on other teams' results I have 38 points as enough to stay up, so we just need to grab a couple of draws....

Are we fighting agains relegation because Vurnon Anita isn't physical enough? No, move on. Just mentioned in the Tiote thread, I think the reason Anita is struggling is there's just no movement for him when he's on the ball, which for a player from the Ajax academy must be pretty bewildering. Pardew needs to be putting a lot more focus on our off the ball movement. A LOT more. Ironically we'll get to see what this should look like at West Brom this weekend...

I think Tiote is struggling for the same reason Anita has been lately - lack of options when he's on the ball. He'll always try hold on to it rather than just hoof it so the chances of him being caught in possession increase. The lack of off-the-ball movement is probably the most glaring deficiency in our team at the moment, which is why it's a little worrying to hear Pardew say he was going to spend the extra time in training this work working on the team's shape. I would have them playing Keegan-style one touch 5-a-sides several days every week, get to know each other properly as players again.

I think it'll be: Debuchy - Taylor - MYM - Haidara Tiote - Cabaye Jonas - Sissoko - Gouffran Cisse Can see Pardew going for the "keep it tight for 70, bring HBA and Marv on later" approach...

Aye, howay lads there's been nowhere near enough Pardew-bashing in this last couple of pages!

That's what I thought like - a few rumours of a return to the toon and suddenly he's a rampaging beast again. Come home Andy!

Haven't read the whole thread (would probably have opened my wrists by now if I had!) so not sure if this has been mentioned, but thought this bit from the .com match report was interesting: Could it be there is a search already underway for an end of season replacement?

7 million for Carroll is an absolute no brainer if you ask me - would add another dimension to our team, both attacking and defending. Really can't see Liverpool doing business anywhere near that price range though.

I actually thought he was one of our better players at the weekend - he's certainly the only one I remember actually tackling anyone. Although I was pretty pissed mind.

The next 5 games have to be a factor - if we show some signs of cohesion and put in some decent performances there'll be a lot more chance of him being given the chance to start next season. 5 more games like Sunday and (assuming we beat the drop...) he'll be under a lot more pressure IMO.

Entitled to their opinions. I view the Derby as confirmation of his incompetence, rather than a one-off. There's literally no dissenting voices on there, they must be deleting any negative posts surely? Reading here then looking at that it's like stepping into opposite land!

Exactly, if yesterday can't provoke a reaction with some guilt edged performances over the last 5 games we might as well pack up and go home. Aye, if we fail to get points out of Liverpool and Arsenal at least we can rest easy, safe in the knowledge our scintillating away form will see us through. Well despite being poor our away form is actually still better than 5 other Premier League teams, including Stoke and Norwich (we're joint 12th on away form) Thought we'd lost about 5 off the bounce away from home? 4 defeats since we won at Villa.