Shays Given Tim Flowers

Was interesting to hear him screaming go long in the last 5 only for the team to pass the ball up the pitch.

Fulham playing well, big improvement from us I thought. We look at our worst when the ball comes in from wide areas (in the attacking third). One of the better performances we have put in in recent games. I've actually enjoyed watching this. Ben Arfa is starting to get deeper and deeper though.

Defending your Defenders is the best form of defence. Having some defenders who can actually defend in the first place is probably the best place to start though. Aye, probably wouldn't hurt.

Defending your Defenders is the best form of defence.

In the metro yesterday we were apparently heading the list of clubs interested in signing Kaka.

The play between Ba and Cisse in that first half was the most promising aspect of last night for me.

Way too trigger happy. His decision making in the final third has been poor at best. At worst worryingly single minded for a guy playing in a struggling team.

Four consecutive league defeats? Nothing needs to be said other than that.

Seems harsh. I think this is a very good fan site.

agree with all of this. And do you know, I'd rather lose 4-3 tomorrow night than win 1-0. I'd love it if we beat them though. I'm going to dust of the VCR and tape this game. Anyone got Alex Fergusons address? I'll dig it out for you in a bit mate, when this Kenan and Kel double-bill has finished. No .gifs on this thread please. My 56k can't handle it. Got to go now anyway. Mum needs the phone.

agree with all of this. And do you know, I'd rather lose 4-3 tomorrow night than win 1-0. I'd love it if we beat them though. I'm going to dust of the VCR and tape this game. Anyone got Alex Fergusons address?

Pedro? Doesn't he make the reserves practice passing? I swear football management is a fucking pseudo-science.

It's what they have wanted since they arrived.

Good post. Decent post HTT. The difficulty is that I am starting to think the players heads have dropped and if any hypothetical appointment wasn't the right one it may exacerbate this problem and worsen the situation. Changing managers in a comfortable mid-table team or better may not rock the boat. Doing it in a struggling one arguably could. The question then becomes how do we stop the rot? At the moment I would say we give Pardew time and hope he can learn something from what's going on. He has shown (albeit on a limited level and perhaps more as a result of circumstances) that he can change things within the team for a positive effect. Will this change what is starting to be perceived as an endemic lack of focus on the teams play in training? Probably not. Generally though people learn from their mistakes and he must be starting to realise now things have gotten bad that he needs to start to think about doing things differently. Any manager who belligerently persists with a plan which leads them into difficulty will find themselves out of the door fairly quickly. The arrogance of Allardyce during his time here being the perfect example. At the moment things are bad. It will be January before the situation is untenable.

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Far more concerned about the performance on the pitch than anything he says post-match. Very few managers actually ever say anything remotely worth listening to. What I hate at the moment is the only way we can see if anything has been put right is by watching the games but invariably (so far) nothing improves.

If there's any excuse today about anything then Pards needs a good slap. It's been that way for a while he's had long enough to adapt things. Our games have become such a chore .

we are not very good at all.

yeah but only two were at home.

Best chance of the match for us. Root one punt.

Aubameyang is good on FIFA this year so expect a fest if there are any developments.

POST MATCH INTERVIEW

Typical fucking Newcastle United day today.

Don't agree at all, like. Look around at sides like West Brom and even Swansea. Even with our suspensions and injuries our first 11 on match days is no inferior to theirs. It's Pardew's obstinacy and lack of tactical nous that's cost us. f***ing 442 every f***ing game with no real attacking threat. The difference between us and sides like West Brom is that their manager knows how to get the very best out the players at his disposal. Our joker relies on individual brilliance to pull us out of the s***. We've not looked like a 'team' this year at all. No game plan whatsoever. I don't think its even tactics. I think there is a systematic failure to get the team playing football as a cohesive unit.

Does this not suggest playing staff are a more pressing concern?