ElDiablo Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Spot on mate, first sentence of the last paragraph is key. yeah ok pards, blame your results on not having older players, jesus how desperate can he be. ...really? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 I'm still more than happy with our league position, the lack of quality in our football is my main issue with Pardew and his use of his 'KEY' midfielder is a joke. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMc Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Even if we ignore Ben Arfa, I'm not sure we're getting the best out of the likes of Cisse, Ba, Cabaye and arguably Santon. Dat long ball game man, we've turned into Stoke ever since we lost that game to Fulham. Cisse has scored 2 in 3 and Ba 16 this season. Love to see them under a manager who got the best out of them Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ToonZA Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 I'm still more than happy with our league position, the lack of quality in our football is my main issue with Pardew and his use of his 'KEY' midfielder is a joke. Agree with Mick. While I am happy with our league position, others and myself have raised concerns that our current position masks many serious issues on the playing side of things. I don't wish to repeat them all again, except to say the following: Putting in a good performance is not solely down to wanting to see entertaining football. I would love it if we could win and be entertaining all the time, but in reality I would settle for this happening in a handful of games in a season. Putting in a good performance imho is mostly about effectively utilising the talents at your disposal in the most effecient manner in order to produce a desired result. The top teams in the world are able to do this often and their rewards are lofty league positions and bulging trophy cabinets. Some are even wonderfully entertaining! I expect this to be our long term objective and if so, we should be showing progress towards that objective. Unfortunately this is not the case. We not utilising our playing talents effectively and efficiently and we not entertaining, but we are sixth in the league Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sugoinufc Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Just going back to the point about expectations. At the beginning of the season I felt progress would have been shown with convincing top half finish. By that I mean avoiding the mid-table melee. Last season we were caugh in a cluster of sides including, Sunderland, Bolton and Fulham that could have finished anywhere from 8th and 14th, only the odd point seperated those sides. That pattern has developed again this season with the likes of Sunderland, Everton, Stoke, Fulham and West Brom battling it out for the top half. At the beginning of the season I would of been pleased to simply avoid that scrap. Expectation has undeniably changed given our position in the top seven, mine included. We've maintianed our league standing for a large majority of the season with barely a challange from anyone below, perhaps Stoke during our blip. To finish outside that top seven now would be undeniably disappointing regardless of any previous expectations. For me anything on top of that would be an absolute bonus, the very fact we're punching our weight with the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool is an achievement in itself. Despite our progress this season the three of them still have much larger squads packed with more quality, players such as Simpson, Perch and Shola would get no where near those sides, we still have a long way to go before we have that kind of strength in depth. I think some have lost sight of where we are as a work in progress. Yes the three aforementioned sides are having somewhat disappointing seasons but they've still pulled away with realtive ease, the only difference being we're right up there with them. For a squad containing seven or eight players of real class mixed with a lot of dross that's a cracking season. Obvisouly it isn't over yet, but if we maintian our current standing it would be a very impressive achievement, in my eyes at least. thats why i wont pardew or the club to go for an "special" concept or style. We are still in progress and the best and fastest is to implement a playing concept throughout the ranks. It will be easier to recruit the right players and attract others if they know our system. Somehow i dont see us develop in any diretion really at the moment.....i might be wrong? he are where we should be with the squad we have but in order to develop further we need a strong concept. We cannot sign "expensive" quality like arfa and then not be able to fit him into the side. still early days though... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dontooner Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 At the start of the season i had my money down we will finish anything between 8th - 12th. Now its around 8th -11th, i will explain why. Different managers have different characters and attributes, for example Sir Alex tend to have a team that finishes strong come end of the season and Mourniho is more consistent throughtout. Some relegration teams actually have more fight come end of the season and some teams come to form after many games of gelling together. It is very well documentated, i do not rate Pardew , mainly because he has us playing very negative football and we do not look like progressing in the direction of being a challenging club(top 6) with the football being played. The team has not gelled after alot of games, we dont have a game plan or attacking formula in the last third of the opposition's halve... Finally, i think we are found out by teams now, we are going to have a very tough 12 matches on our hands when every game is vital to some teams, they will mostly likely all come attacking wanting to pick up points. My prediction is Pardew's team will loose steam and we will finish weak to the end of the season. Base on the fact we are starting to look quite predictable behind and upfront, and we seem to be one of the teams that are loosing form quickly as the season goes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ponsaelius Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 We're 6th out of 20 in the form table. I'd say that's par with our season rather than slowing down. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
High Five o Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 My biggest upset about the last match against wolves is the fact that i was looking forwarded to seeing Tiote and Cabaye back. And to think we had two strikers like Ba and Cisse up front. I was really looking forward to it. See some good football again. Then to go into the match and just ignore the strong points of our team. Bypass the midfield. Utilizing Ba as a target man, and Cisse just worked his socks of, but no through ball for him to work with. Frustrating, and its worrying if Pardew do not see this. We are playing bellow our potential, point wise we are on par, or above my expectations. Our football is unfortunately bellow what i hoped for. Just though about it yesterday, what does players like Cabaye think now? Is he happy with the way he is playing at them moment? Is this was he was sold before the season? I don`t think so. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dontooner Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 “But I am not overly concerned. We look like we have got a goal-threat up the top of the pitch, that’s the most important thing. The defensive side of it, we just need to adjust a little bit.” “I just know that this team can play a lot better than that, but we had some positives.” “We looked like we can get a goal, we looked like the two up top are going to score goals, Hatem did a nice cameo when he came on.” “We have got assets to this team that are going to come to the fore in the next 12 games.” “We have got a fantastic points total, and we will go to the next game.” Sorry i just disagree with how Pardew views the game of football, its not even a balance approach in the view of scoring and conceeding. Too safe and he doesnt sound worried hence i doubt we will see a major improvement of how we play. Just adding to this, i doubt teams will come and settle for a point in our last 12 games, most would come attacking. We dont have a counter attacking team, i struggle to remember when we had a successful one or had a counter attack that looked dangerous. God bless us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 The thing I fail to understand most of all is why we've embraced the long ball game so much. Seemed to happen around the middle of December and has been getting worse since, we definitely weren't playing this way prior to the Man City defeat, home or away. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 The thing I fail to understand most of all is why we've embraced the long ball game so much. Seemed to happen around the middle of December and has been getting worse since, we definitely weren't playing this way prior to the Man City defeat, home or away. It's a strange one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keefaz Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 We've played terrible football all season, haven't we? Don't think it's a recent thing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 We've played terrible football all season, haven't we? Don't think it's a recent thing. I think we played better football last season tbh. We've just grinded out more results this season due to good defending, luck and good finishing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Good defending and good finishing are actually a valid part of football like, it's not like they don't count. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sugoinufc Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 We've played terrible football all season, haven't we? Don't think it's a recent thing. I think we played better football last season tbh. We've just grinded out more results this season due to good defending, luck and good finishing. Ba is also a key factor to our current position. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Good defending and good finishing are actually a valid part of football like, it's not like they don't count. You can fluke your way like that for 1 season, but eventually you need to backup results with performances or you get found out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Good defending and good finishing are actually a valid part of football like, it's not like they don't count. You can fluke your way like that for 1 season, but eventually you need to backup results with performances or you get found out. This just sounds a bit silly - good defending and good finishing are essential parts of football. Don't see how defending well and finishing well are 'fluking' anything. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 We've played terrible football all season, haven't we? Don't think it's a recent thing. I think we played better football last season tbh. We've just grinded out more results this season due to good defending, luck and good finishing. Ba is also a key factor to our current position. You don't say? 16 goals from him in the league and 5 between our next 3 strikers (minus Cisse) in the league is abysmal in all honesty. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Good defending and good finishing are actually a valid part of football like, it's not like they don't count. You can fluke your way like that for 1 season, but eventually you need to backup results with performances or you get found out. This just sounds a bit silly - good defending and good finishing are essential parts of football. Don't see how defending well and finishing well are 'fluking' anything. Also sounding silly is completely ignoring are performances which for the last 3 months bar Manchester United have been very poor. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Good defending and good finishing are actually a valid part of football like, it's not like they don't count. You can fluke your way like that for 1 season, but eventually you need to backup results with performances or you get found out. This just sounds a bit silly - good defending and good finishing are essential parts of football. Don't see how defending well and finishing well are 'fluking' anything. Also sounding silly is completely ignoring are performances which for the last 3 months bar Manchester United have been very poor. I'm not ignoring anything, I admit we haven't always played well. But defending well and taking your chances is something to be proud of, not some sort of freak occurrence that somehow means your league position is unfair. It's not like the league is full of beautiful passing teams that outclass everyone on their way to the top 6. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Nah i'm sure we never played anywhere near as much long ball stuff early on as we have recently. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Nah i'm sure we never played anywhere near as much long ball stuff early on as we have recently. Williamson is a massive gulity party in us playing a long ball game imo, it just launches it at any opportunity while Saylor does actually try to come out with the ball. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legacy Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Nah i'm sure we never played anywhere near as much long ball stuff early on as we have recently. Williamson is a massive gulity party in us playing a long ball game imo, it just launches it at any opportunity while Saylor does actually try to come out with the ball. This. Having Williamson and simpson on the same side of the defence leads to them both launching the ball long.. They don't have the same ability colo or santon have in passing the ball. The amount of times Williamson launched it because it was the easy option was infuriating as it just ended up coming straight back at us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TherealnorthernTOON Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Imo, the biggest damage done to our squad this season was Steven Taylors injury. With him out our whole defence has been on a slim path. We got no one with steel back there to muscle the ball away he did. And it's so clearly lacking. We need that aggression and willpower of his to get the ball way out of trouble. With Williamson and Colo it more or less just bounces right back at us and invites more pressure on our defence. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaylorJ_01 Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 We're ruining all the hard work by dropping points against the relegation battlers (or perceived relegation battlers). I'm really undecided. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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