Jordan Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Not 7th this season because a team from the championship is going to be in the carling cup final. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Not 7th this season because a team from the championship is going to be in the carling cup final. So? You don't get a European place for being a loser in that final, only the FA Cup final. Obviously if one of them wins it, it's 6th. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Whoever they play will be a team that will 100% be in europe so the place will go to the championship side. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ponsaelius Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Not in the Carling Cup, that rule only stands for FA Cup. They need to win it to qualify. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 We can play football, we have the players. Away to Liverpool the other night for about a 10 minute spell they couldn't get the ball off of us, our lot making something like 35 passes in succession. Good post by Prophet by the way, a more measured and constructive analysis of things than my own critical and angry analysis. Although I still believe unless Pardew suddenly gains some tactical nous and starts picking the right team, we are going to continue in the same vein we have been playing since the Chelsea defeat, rather than the form we were in prior to that. think it was 38 consecutive passes, not sure we've done that at any other time this season. maybe villa away. i'm happy with where we are in the league, and the season has gone pretty much as i expected it to - i thought we;d be around the top 4 due to our easier start, and thought we'd then settle down to a more natural position after tough fixtures. but the big disappointment is how pardew's wimped out of trying to change the way we play. you can't just ask players to play it on the deck, use intelligent movement, not be rigidly in banks of four,use one touch passing and so on. especially after they've been hitting it long for months. that sort of football only comes after you obsessively work on it at the training ground week in week out. You can see the work Pardew puts in on the defensive side, we've generally defended well as a team this season. Where I am not convinced is that we work on the passing side of it "week in week out". For most of this season the team I've been watching has generally had a large gap between the forwards and midfield. I think the goals we score probably reflect this with a lot of them coming from long balls. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 We can play football, we have the players. Away to Liverpool the other night for about a 10 minute spell they couldn't get the ball off of us, our lot making something like 35 passes in succession. Good post by Prophet by the way, a more measured and constructive analysis of things than my own critical and angry analysis. Although I still believe unless Pardew suddenly gains some tactical nous and starts picking the right team, we are going to continue in the same vein we have been playing since the Chelsea defeat, rather than the form we were in prior to that. since that spell of games at citeh,man utd and chelsea, pardew does seem to be running scared in his selections and tactics. Most definitely. Our lack of fluidity when going forward is such a concern for me at the moment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
midds Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Delighted with where we are atm. To finish the first half of the season in 7th with 30 points is excellent. The slump in results and performances is getting quite alarming though. Don't want Pardew out and I'm not pissing my pants just yet but I want him to solve the obvious problems with the starting XI. If that means swallowing his pride and changing personnel or formation then he needs to do it. Obertan is offering virtually nothing and he's still getting a game which is worrying. Needs to freshen things up asap because we've hit a wall. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Logic Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Many reasons for not wanting Pardew out, and one of the most significant struck me just earlier today. Steve Bruce is currently unemployed. Hope he uses this Obertan injury to good effect, but it's a slender hope. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Some good posts on the last couple of pages: Prophet, HTT, Beren, jonnypd, midds - although I'm not sure where this "Pardew out" talk has come from?! I know it's an old cliche, but given the concern about our attacking ability at the moment, would people be happier if we put on a good overall performance and lost 4-3 (couple of defensive mistakes which can be eliminated/bad fortune) or have us pick up a point in a dull 0-0? Man Utd have quite a few defensive players out, so there's a great opportunity to "unleash the shackles" as one poster put it, is a boost to our attacking confidence ahead of a big month worth sacrificing a point? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JS Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Some good posts on the last couple of pages: Prophet, HTT, Beren, jonnypd, midds - although I'm not sure where this "Pardew out" talk has come from?! I know it's an old cliche, but given the concern about our attacking ability at the moment, would people be happier if we put on a good overall performance and lost 4-3 (couple of defensive mistakes which can be eliminated/bad fortune) or have us pick up a point in a dull 0-0? Man Utd have quite a few defensive players out, so there's a great opportunity to "unleash the shackles" as one poster put it, is a boost to our attacking confidence ahead of a big month worth sacrificing a point? I think most supporters of probably at least 15 teams in the PL would take a point against Man U, regardless of their injured players, suspensions, shit game to watch, etc Also tend to think that a lot of our supporters are getting tired of seeing Obertan playing like a headless chicken most weeks to the point that even a younger lad (Sammy) may just producing something 'different' or that there would be a chance he/another could prove themselves and step up.. As you point out though, heading into a very bleak month or 2 with an already short squad, with arguably 2 of our key players also gone, celebrating injuries is ridiculous. Even if Pardew dropped Obertan now do people assume we will play better? We rarely use our wide players to their best abilities as it is (hoof it to Ba and benching Ben Arfa are probably 2 examples I can think of) and having Pardews 'second or third choices' out wide wouldn't change a thing imo. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madras Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 We can play football, we have the players. Away to Liverpool the other night for about a 10 minute spell they couldn't get the ball off of us, our lot making something like 35 passes in succession. Good post by Prophet by the way, a more measured and constructive analysis of things than my own critical and angry analysis. Although I still believe unless Pardew suddenly gains some tactical nous and starts picking the right team, we are going to continue in the same vein we have been playing since the Chelsea defeat, rather than the form we were in prior to that. since that spell of games at citeh,man utd and chelsea, pardew does seem to be running scared in his selections and tactics. Most definitely. Our lack of fluidity when going forward is such a concern for me at the moment. we were never that fluid at our best this season, but lately i've seen more off the ball movement in a game of subbuteo. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madras Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 There's a bit of history re-writing going on there like. Earlier on in the season we set up to exploit teams weaknesses as well as nullify their strengths, we've seemingly restored to solely attempting the latter now. We played some good stuff in a lot of those games too. I would say that's true, but only in disparate patches. A lot of the early games we had really good spells and capitalised on them well, but watch that first half vs Fulham. Watch the second half vs Wolves. Sunderland first half. Wigan first half. We won all those games, so it wasn't addressed (or even allowed to be recognised by the "but we're still unbeaten therefore you can't complain" sections). I understand you can't exploit opposition weaknesses all game long, and that if you have a lead there's a time to not go as gung-ho going forward - but just in terms of general possession - we were outplayed in games we won for significant stretches of those matches IMO. a bit harsh as in those spells in those games we weren't second best. many games seem even till one team asserts it's authority later on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 We can play football, we have the players. Away to Liverpool the other night for about a 10 minute spell they couldn't get the ball off of us, our lot making something like 35 passes in succession. Good post by Prophet by the way, a more measured and constructive analysis of things than my own critical and angry analysis. Although I still believe unless Pardew suddenly gains some tactical nous and starts picking the right team, we are going to continue in the same vein we have been playing since the Chelsea defeat, rather than the form we were in prior to that. since that spell of games at citeh,man utd and chelsea, pardew does seem to be running scared in his selections and tactics. Most definitely. Our lack of fluidity when going forward is such a concern for me at the moment. we were never that fluid at our best this season, but lately i've seen more off the ball movement in a game of subbuteo. I know we weren't, our early success was also based on how organised and rigid we were. However we looked more of a threat going forward than we do now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madras Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 We can play football, we have the players. Away to Liverpool the other night for about a 10 minute spell they couldn't get the ball off of us, our lot making something like 35 passes in succession. Good post by Prophet by the way, a more measured and constructive analysis of things than my own critical and angry analysis. Although I still believe unless Pardew suddenly gains some tactical nous and starts picking the right team, we are going to continue in the same vein we have been playing since the Chelsea defeat, rather than the form we were in prior to that. since that spell of games at citeh,man utd and chelsea, pardew does seem to be running scared in his selections and tactics. Most definitely. Our lack of fluidity when going forward is such a concern for me at the moment. we were never that fluid at our best this season, but lately i've seen more off the ball movement in a game of subbuteo. I know we weren't, our early success was also based on how organised and rigid we were. However we looked more of a threat going forward than we do now. thats what we need for success, organised and rigid when they have the ball, fluid and mobile when we do. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Are you trying to teach me to suck eggs madras? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madras Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 make sure they're fresh. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vainsharpdad Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 *If* Lee Ryder is right even (broken clocks are right twice a day) and *if* Pardew thinks Sameobi can do a better job on the wing than Ben Arfa, then he will have displayed that his judgement is flawed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest VaVaVoom Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 *If* Lee Ryder is right even (broken clocks are right twice a day) and *if* Pardew thinks Sameobi can do a better job on the wing than Ben Arfa, then he will have displayed that his judgement is flawed. Massively. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 If Sammy starts v Man Utd ahead of Ben Arfa, then Pardew will lose a significant amount of credibility. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoveItIfWeBeatU Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 If Sammy starts v Man Utd ahead of Ben Arfa, then Pardew will lose a significant amount of credibility. Not if Sammy played well and we won/drew. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jagten Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 If Sammy starts v Man Utd ahead of Ben Arfa, then Pardew will lose a significant amount of credibility. Not if Sammy played well and we won/drew. You suggesting we are fickle? .... Never. Then he would be lucky. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 If Sammy starts v Man Utd ahead of Ben Arfa, then Pardew will lose a significant amount of credibility. Not if Sammy played well and we won/drew. 99% unlikely. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 If Sammy starts v Man Utd ahead of Ben Arfa, then Pardew will lose a significant amount of credibility. Not if Sammy played well and we won/drew. 99% unlikely. 1% likely. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanshithispantz Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 I don't think it's too knee jerk to suggest that should he start Sammy/Shane/Vuckic/Best ahead of Ben Arfa on Wednesday his contract should be terminated with immediate effect. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Pardew more like Tardew. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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