Interpolic Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Didn't agree to the approach to the game, not that much could have been done to drastically change the starting line up but we done enough to win both games tbh, absolutely gutted I think Benfica would have something to say about that like, since they did more than enough to win both games. You don't think we could have won both games? Cisse hitting the post twice first game, two offside goals this game, Ben Arfa putting over from about 16 yards out, the two massive individual fuck ups costing us two goals... Fuck it, not going to bother. Pardew's fault, his tactics didn't give us a chance etc.. Sentence I've bolded, will you piss off with that rubbish - I'm sick of trying to have sensible conversations about this and having that kind of shite thrown around. First bit - I'm saying on the balance of play they deserved to go through, no bother. Also, if I was a neutral I'd say I was glad to see the far more positive side go through. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.S.R. Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 We need ball winners. When we aren't attacking, we're weak as piss. Tiote and Anita aren't good enough to win possession. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 I could understand some of the logic behind his decisions tonight, but (with the benefit of hindsight) we started playing too late and I would say... on the 'bottle it/go for it' spectrum... that performance was closer to bottling it. We could've won that 2-0. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cp40 Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Got everything right tonight. We were so close to beating a European top side with this depleted squad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NG32 Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 I normally hate his containment s****, but it seems appropriate for these type of matches. Can't fault him for tonight's plan. Almost worked. We didnt really contain them tho. They could have had a couple early on and scored at the dead. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newcastle Fan Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Can't fault him much for today to be honest. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtype Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Tactics were spot on today except for playing with Bigirimana from the start. I understand we wanted to contain them early but he just wasn't up to the occasion. Almost, almost worked. Would've regained a lot of respect for him if it did. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interpolic Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 I really don't think there was any excuse not to have one attack of note in the first 40 minutes of a game we needed to win 2-0 like. There is a balance to be struck. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hughesy Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Tactics were spot on today except for playing with Bigirimana from the start. I understand we wanted to contain them early but he just wasn't up to the occasion. Almost, almost worked. Would've regained a lot of respect for him if it did. Spot on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flip Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 I could understand some of the logic behind his decisions tonight, but (with the benefit of hindsight) we started playing too late and I would say... on the 'bottle it/go for it' spectrum... that performance was closer to bottling it. We could've won that 2-0. Agree here. I don't agree with his approach but in hindsight I understand what he wanted to do. Still over the course of the season he has proved time and time again that he's not a good enough manager to take us to the next level. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cp40 Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 I normally hate his containment s****, but it seems appropriate for these type of matches. Can't fault him for tonight's plan. Almost worked. We didnt really contain them tho. They could have had a couple early on and scored at the dead. we set out to stop them scoring in the 70 mins, and we did it. so close ,a real proud effort. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Think I'll give this thread a miss tonight. He's overachieved in Europe with that squad, as s*** as he's been for us in the PL this year. I don't agree whatsoever. The first real good team we played and we went out. No discredit either. I think he's done well, but he hasn't overachieved in my opinion at least. Don't like his approach to football but he's a likeable guy and I'll give him that. Anzhi are definitely a good team like. Not as good as Benfica, but we did well to get past them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEEJ Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Would've liked to see us go mental right from the off in the second half. Shame. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
toon25 Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Tactics were spot on today except for playing with Bigirimana from the start. I understand we wanted to contain them early but he just wasn't up to the occasion. Almost, almost worked. Would've regained a lot of respect for him if it did. Spot on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parky Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Not sure if Marv was inj but he had a massive impact when he came on. Probs should have started him. Not really complaining think we've had a good competition. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinho lad Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Tactics were spot on today except for playing with Bigirimana from the start. I understand we wanted to contain them early but he just wasn't up to the occasion. Almost, almost worked. Would've regained a lot of respect for him if it did. Spot on apart from Bigirimana? Fucking hell. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotus Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Who ever thinks we deserved to win the first match or the first half of this one is rewriting history. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flip Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Tactics were spot on today except for playing with Bigirimana from the start. I understand we wanted to contain them early but he just wasn't up to the occasion. Almost, almost worked. Would've regained a lot of respect for him if it did. That's not football though is it. Contain another team when you have to win 2-0. I'll give my two cents about it and say he's in the know that he's incapable of managing this team offensively and therefore hoped to nick a goal and put pressure on them with the help of the fans. I don't agree with his approach or if his philosophy if he has any, but I'm starting to realize that he himself understands he's nothing more than an average manager and leaves everything down to occasional luck. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hydeous Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 I think it's difficult to say without knowing what exactly would have happened in the alternate universe where Pards went for it from the off, but his plan almost worked. We were battering them for a good period of the 2nd half and really should've scored two. Maybe there are too many out injured for us to have a real good go at games, maybe Pards has no idea what managing a football team is about. But tonight, I think we were okay. Another day, it might've worked. Fwiw, I think they're the better team anyway, so maybe we had to take a gamble. I don't know. Anyway, I'm off to bed. This feeling really sucks. I'm feeling so hollow inside. G'night folks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flip Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Think I'll give this thread a miss tonight. He's overachieved in Europe with that squad, as s*** as he's been for us in the PL this year. I don't agree whatsoever. The first real good team we played and we went out. No discredit either. I think he's done well, but he hasn't overachieved in my opinion at least. Don't like his approach to football but he's a likeable guy and I'll give him that. Anzhi are definitely a good team like. Not as good as Benfica, but we did well to get past them. Right, we complain about or squad yet their squad is bunch of unknown Russians and couple of start players, where one didn't play more than 10minutes and we beat them when they had one man less too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skeletor Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Good try Alan, so close, the haters will enjoy this. This is getting staggering now. cp40 straight trolling Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cp40 Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Do any of the haters who are now crying think we couldnt do it at 80 mins? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interpolic Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 I don't see how they were the only tactics we could have employed and we just got unlucky. We could have tried to attack them without going fucking apeshit and putting Rob Elliott up front but we didn't, we held on like fuck for nearly the whole first half without trying to score a goal ourselves. There are other ways to overturn a first leg deficit, in fact nearly every time you see a first leg deficit overturned in Europe it's as a result of a team getting after the other from the first whistle, taking advantage of complacence and scoring goals to get them shellshocked. We undersold ourselves by waiting so long to even try. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decky Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Can't really fault him tonight for reasons already stated in the thread. We were unlucky to have even lost really given the matter of our first leg defeat, but that's just the way it is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtype Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Tactics were spot on today except for playing with Bigirimana from the start. I understand we wanted to contain them early but he just wasn't up to the occasion. Almost, almost worked. Would've regained a lot of respect for him if it did. That's not football though is it. Contain another team when you have to win 2-0. I'll give my two cents about it and say he's in the know that he's incapable of managing this team offensively and therefore hoped to nick a goal and put pressure on them with the help of the fans. I don't agree with his approach or if his philosophy if he has any, but I'm starting to realize that he himself understands he's nothing more than an average manager and leaves everything down to occasional luck. Benfica are an excellent attacking team and I don't think we would've been able to stop them from scoring an away goal while putting pressure on them for 90 minutes. Given our limitations, the best chance we had was always going to be creating a window of opportunity to win the game rather than just going in all blood and thunder. The plan almost worked. It's harsh to call it fundamentally flawed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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