Alan Pardew

[Pixelphish]

He is being hung out to dry but he put the washing line up himself, Ashley's just putting the pegs on the smarmy wanker.

[Weezertron]

Whats it say?

[Unbelievable]

Steve Howey was at it today: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2398727/Alan-Pardew-hung-dry-Newcastle-says-Steve-Howey.html

 

Don't get me wrong, you could certainly argue that Pardew gets a rough deal on transfers to a degree, but it's as if these people don't watch the games and add 2 and 2 together to realise that the team really isn't the sum of its parts.  Disappointing, but that's the football world for you - people that see highlights of us and read the tabloids having their opinions held higher than people who watch the games every week.

thing is though he is being hung out to dry, everyone here can agree this squad is at best horribly unbalanced at worst downright poor and Pardew is the one who has to take the flak for it. The squads a collection of individuals who in theory are reasonably talented but theres been no clear vision of the type of football thats expected to be played the only consideration taken is: 1 is he cheap 2 does he have massive resale value and thats no way at all to build a squad.

 

The manager has 0 input into what he has to work with every day, the guy who's supposed to have a side which reflects his football value has no say in the players being bought, what was very clear this summer is Pardew wanted a focus on the domestic market and a british core to be restored to a squad which is sorely lacking it. Instead he was ignored, potential bargains go elsewhere while our new glorious transfer guru the best director of football in the world (his words) probably goes out on the p*ss every night laughing while he counts down the days until he's back in the dugout.

 

So the club right now is a mix and match squad with 0 width, one senior striker we own worth even half a damn (who the club was in dispute for half the summer with) our only bit of creativity in the centre of the park wants to go somewhere else or Ashley wants him to go somewhere else for a large pile of cash, our other creative/potentially creative players both have a tendency to break rather easily, the few domestic players we do have are either kids, braindead or shola and our captain wanted to leave the club for 6 months! And lets not even get into the mess that is the administration of the club (just who the hell is actually running the club now that dekka's gone and how the hell did the one kinda sensible stable bit fall apart so quickly without him). Frankly I'd be shocked if any manager in the world could succeed under these bloody circumstances all created by one guy who really doesn't know what he's doing in football. 

 

[Interpolic]

He should do miles better with the players available to him, howay.  There are a few positions where we're not too strong but that's no excuse for the shite served up.

[r0cafella]

He should do miles better with the players available to him, howay.  There are a few positions where we're not too strong but that's no excuse for the s**** served up.

 

Exactly with the squad we have I'd expect a top 10 finish personally

[Unbelievable]

He should do miles better with the players available to him, howay.  There are a few positions where we're not too strong but that's no excuse for the s**** served up.

 

The players are pretty good (if you ignore it's mainly just the first 11 and we're unlikely to see them play together often due to injuries, suspensions, etc), but that's like saying a motorcycle racer should be able to do well on an Arab race horse. Pardew's approach to football is simple and old fashioned, which would work well with a certain type of player, that is the complete opposite of what we have in the squad. There is a huge mismatch, which has been created beyond his control. The person responsible for the mismatch between manager and squad (qualitative and quantitative) is most responsible imho.

[Guest bimpy474]

He should do miles better with the players available to him, howay.  There are a few positions where we're not too strong but that's no excuse for the s**** served up.

 

The players are pretty good (if you ignore it's mainly just the first 11 and we're unlikely to see them play together often due to injuries, suspensions, etc), but that's like saying a motorcycle racer should be able to do well on an Arab race horse. Pardew's approach to football is simple and old fashioned, which would work well with a certain type of player, that is the complete opposite of what we have in the squad. There is a huge mismatch, which has been created beyond his control. The person responsible for the mismatch between manager and squad (qualitative and quantitive) is most responsible imho.

 

One way to look at it though, Pardew gets rid of Routledge, a decent winger (a very good one as we've all seen now) who can play down both flanks. Picks a player who is so crap in Obertan he's pointless and leaves the squad weaker. That one was Pardews fault.

[Interpolic]

He should do miles better with the players available to him, howay.  There are a few positions where we're not too strong but that's no excuse for the s**** served up.

 

The players are pretty good (if you ignore it's mainly just the first 11 and we're unlikely to see them play together often due to injuries, suspensions, etc), but that's like saying a motorcycle racer should be able to do well on an Arab race horse. Pardew's approach to football is simple and old fashioned, which would work well with a certain type of player, that is the complete opposite of what we have in the squad. There is a huge mismatch, which has been created beyond his control. The person responsible for the mismatch between manager and squad (qualitative and quantitive) is most responsible imho.

 

His football is completely and utterly out of date then, if he's not flexible enough to devise a style that in the least bit suits technical players then he doesn't deserve my sympathy, or your sympathy, or Steve Howey's sympathy, or the sympathy of the few football journalists with their tongue stuck halfway up his hoop.

[Guest bimpy474]

He should do miles better with the players available to him, howay.  There are a few positions where we're not too strong but that's no excuse for the s**** served up.

 

The players are pretty good (if you ignore it's mainly just the first 11 and we're unlikely to see them play together often due to injuries, suspensions, etc), but that's like saying a motorcycle racer should be able to do well on an Arab race horse. Pardew's approach to football is simple and old fashioned, which would work well with a certain type of player, that is the complete opposite of what we have in the squad. There is a huge mismatch, which has been created beyond his control. The person responsible for the mismatch between manager and squad (qualitative and quantitive) is most responsible imho.

 

His football is completely and utterly out of date then, if he's not flexible enough to devise a style that in the least bit suits technical players then he doesn't deserve my sympathy, or your sympathy, or Steve Howey's sympathy, or the sympathy of the few football journalists with their tongue stuck halfway up his hoop.

 

Yep. The squad is crying out for a different system and style, yet Pardew continues to try to put ill fitting players in an ill fitting system and style. We can all see we need to change from 4-2-3-1 with the players we have but Pardew still cant see it after 8 months.

[Unbelievable]

He should do miles better with the players available to him, howay.  There are a few positions where we're not too strong but that's no excuse for the s**** served up.

 

The players are pretty good (if you ignore it's mainly just the first 11 and we're unlikely to see them play together often due to injuries, suspensions, etc), but that's like saying a motorcycle racer should be able to do well on an Arab race horse. Pardew's approach to football is simple and old fashioned, which would work well with a certain type of player, that is the complete opposite of what we have in the squad. There is a huge mismatch, which has been created beyond his control. The person responsible for the mismatch between manager and squad (qualitative and quantitive) is most responsible imho.

 

His football is completely and utterly out of date then, if he's not flexible enough to devise a style that in the least bit suits technical players then he doesn't deserve my sympathy, or your sympathy, or Steve Howey's sympathy, or the sympathy of the few football journalists with their tongue stuck halfway up his hoop.

 

I don't think his football is out of date per se, it's just less pleasing on the eye mainly, and due to the influx of foreign players and managers it has given way to a more technical and exotic approach. There are still plenty of managers of his ilk in the Premiership and other English leagues - we are facing one this weekend for instance.

 

I'm not advocating we should keep Pardew and give him free reign to sign whoever he likes by the way - I want him gone too because I don't think he can turn this thing around with the squad we have, and I do feel a different type of manager would be better suited. I do have some sympathy for him though, because I understand what it feels like when you have been hired to do a certain task, but are not given the instruments you require to get the job done.

[jdckelly]

He should do miles better with the players available to him, howay.  There are a few positions where we're not too strong but that's no excuse for the shite served up.

I'm of the opinion that the squad isn't as good as some like to believe. Theres the basis of a good squad but its sorely lacking in key area's. Our full backs all to one extent or another (excluding dummet from this due to lack of seeing him play yet) can't defend. And aren't all that great at attacking either. This leaves gaping holes side's can exploit to their hearts content (were I West Ham this coming saturday I'd be specifically targeting Debuchy and wait for him to do something stupid) Colo's a very good cb but not a complete one, he struggles badly against really pacey players and really physical frontmen and none of our other cbs really cover that weakness. Taylor's the closest to covering them but he lacks a functional brain while MYM could cope with pace I'd be very hesitant to put him and colo together against the strong strikers of the league.

 

Cabaye is a very good central midfielder and our key creative player, pity he wants to go. Tiote's forgotten how to play football and just picks up yellow cards for a living now. Sissoko hasn't demonstrated much creativity yet and seems mainly to keep things ticking over and win the ball, but thats what Tiote's supposed to do as well (in theory). Anita hasn't coped with the physical side of the prem at all.

 

None of our wingers (or players we assign to play on the wing because we have no one else) have much natural width or the real killer pace to get behind defences, not slow mind you just lacking the real cutting edge of pace. HBA can be unplayable on his day but he keeps getting injured and it takes time to get going at full ability once he's back, or he gets injured again. Marveaux is just kind of there, decent passer could be quite creative but hasn't been able to get a run together of consistent performances and picks up injuries as well.

 

And finally our strike force oh boy our strike force. Cisse, good enough in the box but last season missed several very scorable chances. Also can't stay onside or be useful in any way at all outside the box. Everything has to be completely laid on a plate for him which is not always possible which leaves us with a problem against the top sides. Shola is fucking Shola. Gouffrans been used on the wing (for lack of anyone else to put there) and is no good there. Not seen him as a striker enough to judge. Remy I'm ignoring as he hasn't played for us yet but one point, our one summer signing is a loan of a guy who turned us down for relegation certs 6 months ago and is probably only here because no one else would touch him with the court case hanging over him and he could potentially go to prison half way through the season!

[Unbelievable]

Another excellent post. People appear blinded by their hatred for Pardew and they can't see the wood for the trees. He's not our only problem, nor is he our biggest. We have a squad that lacks numbers and quality and that mismatches our manager's style of play. On top of that we have an owner who doesn't give a fuck, and a Director of Football who is utterly clueless and only after the manager's job. And then we are surprised and point to the manager when things don't go to plan..

[Dokko]

He should do miles better with the players available to him, howay.  There are a few positions where we're not too strong but that's no excuse for the shite served up.

I'm of the opinion that the squad isn't as good as some like to believe. Theres the basis of a good squad but its sorely lacking in key area's. Our full backs all to one extent or another (excluding dummet from this due to lack of seeing him play yet) can't defend. And aren't all that great at attacking either. This leaves gaping holes side's can exploit to their hearts content (were I West Ham this coming saturday I'd be specifically targeting Debuchy and wait for him to do something stupid) Colo's a very good cb but not a complete one, he struggles badly against really pacey players and really physical frontmen and none of our other cbs really cover that weakness. Taylor's the closest to covering them but he lacks a functional brain while MYM could cope with pace I'd be very hesitant to put him and colo together against the strong strikers of the league.

 

Cabaye is a very good central midfielder and our key creative player, pity he wants to go. Tiote's forgotten how to play football and just picks up yellow cards for a living now. Sissoko hasn't demonstrated much creativity yet and seems mainly to keep things ticking over and win the ball, but thats what Tiote's supposed to do as well (in theory). Anita hasn't coped with the physical side of the prem at all.

 

None of our wingers (or players we assign to play on the wing because we have no one else) have much natural width or the real killer pace to get behind defences, not slow mind you just lacking the real cutting edge of pace. HBA can be unplayable on his day but he keeps getting injured and it takes time to get going at full ability once he's back, or he gets injured again. Marveaux is just kind of there, decent passer could be quite creative but hasn't been able to get a run together of consistent performances and picks up injuries as well.

 

And finally our strike force oh boy our strike force. Cisse, good enough in the box but last season missed several very scorable chances. Also can't stay onside or be useful in any way at all outside the box. Everything has to be completely laid on a plate for him which is not always possible which leaves us with a problem against the top sides. Shola is fucking Shola. Gouffrans been used on the wing (for lack of anyone else to put there) and is no good there. Not seen him as a striker enough to judge. Remy I'm ignoring as he hasn't played for us yet but one point, our one summer signing is a loan of a guy who turned us down for relegation certs 6 months ago and is probably only here because no one else would touch him with the court case hanging over him and he could potentially go to prison half way through the season!

 

Yep, Pardew is a cunt.

[Beren]

I don't think our full backs can't defend - Pardew just hasn't been able to construct a new competent defensive unit now that the decent one he inherited is no longer there, despite having more gifted personnel.

 

Think similar things are true of a lot of the above comments IMO.

[Unbelievable]

I don't think our full backs can't defend - Pardew just hasn't been able to construct a new competent defensive unit now that the decent one he inherited is no longer there, despite having more gifted personnel.

 

Think similar things are true of a lot of the above comments IMO.

 

The underlined bit is a fair point. I don't think Santon and Debuchy in particular are as good as they are made out to be though. Santon still has a lot to learn, mainly about the defensive side of the game, and Debuchy is having huge trouble adapting to a new league. I would say the two of them are distinctly midtable at best for now.

[Ronaldo]

Santon can be very decent at defending, but he's seriously prone to concentrational lapses.

[Interpolic]

He should do miles better with the players available to him, howay.  There are a few positions where we're not too strong but that's no excuse for the shite served up.

I'm of the opinion that the squad isn't as good as some like to believe. Theres the basis of a good squad but its sorely lacking in key area's. Our full backs all to one extent or another (excluding dummet from this due to lack of seeing him play yet) can't defend. And aren't all that great at attacking either. This leaves gaping holes side's can exploit to their hearts content (were I West Ham this coming saturday I'd be specifically targeting Debuchy and wait for him to do something stupid) Colo's a very good cb but not a complete one, he struggles badly against really pacey players and really physical frontmen and none of our other cbs really cover that weakness. Taylor's the closest to covering them but he lacks a functional brain while MYM could cope with pace I'd be very hesitant to put him and colo together against the strong strikers of the league.

 

Cabaye is a very good central midfielder and our key creative player, pity he wants to go. Tiote's forgotten how to play football and just picks up yellow cards for a living now. Sissoko hasn't demonstrated much creativity yet and seems mainly to keep things ticking over and win the ball, but thats what Tiote's supposed to do as well (in theory). Anita hasn't coped with the physical side of the prem at all.

 

None of our wingers (or players we assign to play on the wing because we have no one else) have much natural width or the real killer pace to get behind defences, not slow mind you just lacking the real cutting edge of pace. HBA can be unplayable on his day but he keeps getting injured and it takes time to get going at full ability once he's back, or he gets injured again. Marveaux is just kind of there, decent passer could be quite creative but hasn't been able to get a run together of consistent performances and picks up injuries as well.

 

And finally our strike force oh boy our strike force. Cisse, good enough in the box but last season missed several very scorable chances. Also can't stay onside or be useful in any way at all outside the box. Everything has to be completely laid on a plate for him which is not always possible which leaves us with a problem against the top sides. Shola is fucking Shola. Gouffrans been used on the wing (for lack of anyone else to put there) and is no good there. Not seen him as a striker enough to judge. Remy I'm ignoring as he hasn't played for us yet but one point, our one summer signing is a loan of a guy who turned us down for relegation certs 6 months ago and is probably only here because no one else would touch him with the court case hanging over him and he could potentially go to prison half way through the season!

 

Another excellent post. People appear blinded by their hatred for Pardew and they can't see the wood for the trees.

 

Tbh I see what you're getting at to a degree, some of our squad are overrated.  But this is a debate that will never go anywhere because we've never seen this squad play under another manager.  I'm firmly of the opinion that the players are playing miles below their ability because he's treating apples like oranges, he's trying to play cautious tedium-ball with players that are not well suited for it.  The squad is what it is, he's not going to get Allardyce results from players that aren't suited to Allardyce-type football, as Allardyce found out ironically enough when he tried to hoof the ball up to Martins and Owen when he was here.

 

But Unbelievable!, you're totally contradicting yourself here, "People appear blinded by their hatred for Pardew and they can't see the wood for the trees" when in your very last post you said that you'd like to see them under another manager and that Pardew's on a hiding to nothing with players that don't suit his style.  I'm not blinded by my hatred of Pardew at all personally, I recognise that the squad isn't perfect but we're not even getting mediocre performances out of them at the minute.

[Unbelievable]

Santon can be very decent at defending, but he's seriously prone to concentrational lapses.

 

Well yes, but that's a part of being a good defender too, isn't it? I know you and I have a similar opinion on Bramble when he was an NUFC player, in that he could look brilliant and commanding for stretches. But then the inevitable lapse of concentration would happen and all the good work would be undone. Lapses of concentration often cost goals, and goals costs points, or going through in cups. It's a pretty major flaw for a defender in all honesty.

[jdckelly]

I don't think our full backs can't defend - Pardew just hasn't been able to construct a new competent defensive unit now that the decent one he inherited is no longer there, despite having more gifted personnel.

 

Think similar things are true of a lot of the above comments IMO.

Santons the best defender of the 3 of them and he's had several brain dead moments which have cost us. Haidara's a kid and still learning and Debuchy the seasoned pro the french international rb has demonstrated no knowledge of defending at all. Not even a hint of it. In fact has demonstrated more of an ability to gift the opposition chances or penalties. He should not need a manager to hold his hand and tell him not to lunge or take risky chances near our box. Tiote shouldn't need a manager to tell him not to recklessly tackle the opposition, Cisse shouldn't need someone to teach him the basics of the offside rule. They should know this stuff already, many of them are internationals they're all highly paid professionals they should have the basic desire to learn to cut out these school boy errors without someone needing to hold their hand and tell them exactly what to do.

[Beren]

I don't think our full backs can't defend - Pardew just hasn't been able to construct a new competent defensive unit now that the decent one he inherited is no longer there, despite having more gifted personnel.

 

Think similar things are true of a lot of the above comments IMO.

 

The underlined bit is a fair point. I don't think Santon and Debuchy in particular are as good as they are made out to be though. Santon still has a lot to learn, mainly about the defensive side of the game, and Debuchy is having huge trouble adapting to a new league. I would say the two of them are distinctly midtable at best for now.

 

Perhaps. I would say that I think Newcastle fans will understandably have a tendency to see them as they are not as they could be, or what they were, for that matter.

 

My mate, a big Inter Milan fan, doesn't even recognise the Santon he sees in a Newcastle shirt these days. Says his main strength/attribute used to be his defensive qualities!

 

The lack of organisation/cohesiveness in the long-term will make every individual look that much poorer. IMO.

[Hanshithispantz]

He should be performing far better with the personnel he has, even discounting the results we need to see the team actually playing together as a unit which is possible regardless of the formation and selection, but seems to evade us almost every week.

 

I remember watching the Fulham (I think) and Swansea matches last season and actually thinking that he'd got us playing well as a unit, despite the results, and was happy with the games. The vast majority though - even in our 5th place season - we've looked flat as a fart win, lose, or draw, and it's everything to do with the management. Whether that be Pardew, the coaching staff, or both.

[Interpolic]

I don't think our full backs can't defend - Pardew just hasn't been able to construct a new competent defensive unit now that the decent one he inherited is no longer there, despite having more gifted personnel.

 

Think similar things are true of a lot of the above comments IMO.

 

The underlined bit is a fair point. I don't think Santon and Debuchy in particular are as good as they are made out to be though. Santon still has a lot to learn, mainly about the defensive side of the game, and Debuchy is having huge trouble adapting to a new league. I would say the two of them are distinctly midtable at best for now.

 

Perhaps. I would say that I think Newcastle fans will understandably have a tendency to see them as they are not as they could be, or what they were, for that matter.

 

My mate, a big Inter Milan fan, doesn't even recognise the Santon he sees in a Newcastle shirt these days. Says his main strength/attribute used to be his defensive qualities!

 

The lack of organisation/cohesiveness in the long-term will make every individual look that much poorer. IMO.

 

I agree, our defensive midfielders don't even cover for the full backs when they bomb forward well at all, which should be a pre-requisite for any remotely fluid formation.

 

The change in Tiote is a great case in point, I'm sure the player's to blame to a degree but going by Pardew's comments about him a while back it seems we've tried to make his game more expansive than that, with disastrous results.  That guy should be tackling (fairly) and playing it simply and that's it.

[Unbelievable]

He should do miles better with the players available to him, howay.  There are a few positions where we're not too strong but that's no excuse for the s**** served up.

I'm of the opinion that the squad isn't as good as some like to believe. Theres the basis of a good squad but its sorely lacking in key area's. Our full backs all to one extent or another (excluding dummet from this due to lack of seeing him play yet) can't defend. And aren't all that great at attacking either. This leaves gaping holes side's can exploit to their hearts content (were I West Ham this coming saturday I'd be specifically targeting Debuchy and wait for him to do something stupid) Colo's a very good cb but not a complete one, he struggles badly against really pacey players and really physical frontmen and none of our other cbs really cover that weakness. Taylor's the closest to covering them but he lacks a functional brain while MYM could cope with pace I'd be very hesitant to put him and colo together against the strong strikers of the league.

 

Cabaye is a very good central midfielder and our key creative player, pity he wants to go. Tiote's forgotten how to play football and just picks up yellow cards for a living now. Sissoko hasn't demonstrated much creativity yet and seems mainly to keep things ticking over and win the ball, but thats what Tiote's supposed to do as well (in theory). Anita hasn't coped with the physical side of the prem at all.

 

None of our wingers (or players we assign to play on the wing because we have no one else) have much natural width or the real killer pace to get behind defences, not slow mind you just lacking the real cutting edge of pace. HBA can be unplayable on his day but he keeps getting injured and it takes time to get going at full ability once he's back, or he gets injured again. Marveaux is just kind of there, decent passer could be quite creative but hasn't been able to get a run together of consistent performances and picks up injuries as well.

 

And finally our strike force oh boy our strike force. Cisse, good enough in the box but last season missed several very scorable chances. Also can't stay onside or be useful in any way at all outside the box. Everything has to be completely laid on a plate for him which is not always possible which leaves us with a problem against the top sides. Shola is f***ing Shola. Gouffrans been used on the wing (for lack of anyone else to put there) and is no good there. Not seen him as a striker enough to judge. Remy I'm ignoring as he hasn't played for us yet but one point, our one summer signing is a loan of a guy who turned us down for relegation certs 6 months ago and is probably only here because no one else would touch him with the court case hanging over him and he could potentially go to prison half way through the season!

 

Another excellent post. People appear blinded by their hatred for Pardew and they can't see the wood for the trees.

 

Tbh I see what you're getting at to a degree, some of our squad are overrated.  But this is a debate that will never go anywhere because we've never seen this squad play under another manager.  I'm firmly of the opinion that the players are playing miles below their ability because he's treating apples like oranges, he's trying to play cautious tedium-ball with players that are not well suited for it.  The squad is what it is, he's not going to get Allardyce results from players that aren't suited to Allardyce-type football, as Allardyce found out ironically enough when he tried to hoof the ball up to Martins and Owen when he was here.

 

But Unbelievable!, you're totally contradicting yourself here, "People appear blinded by their hatred for Pardew and they can't see the wood for the trees" when in your very last post you said that you'd like to see them under another manager and that Pardew's on a hiding to nothing with players that don't suit his style.  I'm not blinded by my hatred of Pardew at all personally, I recognise that the squad isn't perfect but we're not even getting mediocre performances out of them at the minute.

 

I am not contradicting myself at all. I do recognise Pardew is a problem, a pretty fucking big one at that. But he didn't appoint himself, or give himself a new contract. Obviously the club (owner) had enough faith in him to hand him a lucrative, new long term deal for the sake of stability, but not enough to give him a say in the type of player we buy, because our transfer policy does not have the aim to help our on the pitch objectives, it aims at achieving off the pitch commercial objectives. The whole setup is fundamentally flawed, and my concern is Pardew is the main figurehead for the blame, whereas it should be directed at the owner for installing such a incoherent setup in the first place.

[Beren]

I don't think our full backs can't defend - Pardew just hasn't been able to construct a new competent defensive unit now that the decent one he inherited is no longer there, despite having more gifted personnel.

 

Think similar things are true of a lot of the above comments IMO.

Santons the best defender of the 3 of them and he's had several brain dead moments which have cost us. Haidara's a kid and still learning and Debuchy the seasoned pro the french international rb has demonstrated no knowledge of defending at all. Not even a hint of it. In fact has demonstrated more of an ability to gift the opposition chances or penalties. He should not need a manager to hold his hand and tell him not to lunge or take risky chances near our box. Tiote shouldn't need a manager to tell him not to recklessly tackle the opposition, Cisse shouldn't need someone to teach him the basics of the offside rule. They should know this stuff already, many of them are internationals they're all highly paid professionals they should have the basic desire to learn to cut out these school boy errors without someone needing to hold their hand and tell them exactly what to do.

 

Again, I would say this is removing the context and isolating them from one another unrealistically. All those players are being stretched into doing unnatural things, venturing into areas they don't really belong, trying to do too much, or taking on rules unsuited to their skillsets... and it impacts on their ability to do the basics in their 'orthodox' roles.

 

Santon is the best example I can see of this from last season, but I think it's true of most of the team to varying extents. Santon was palpably frustrated by the static/easily-telegraphed "attacking strategy" ahead of him, so he went forward enthusiastically, but recklessly - leaving us exposed. We went chasing games and it just got worse and worse, and he got more and more despondent (or at least so it seemed).

 

I think it's one of those things where I don't think we'll ever really gauge how good the squad is/isn't.

[Interpolic]

He should do miles better with the players available to him, howay.  There are a few positions where we're not too strong but that's no excuse for the s**** served up.

I'm of the opinion that the squad isn't as good as some like to believe. Theres the basis of a good squad but its sorely lacking in key area's. Our full backs all to one extent or another (excluding dummet from this due to lack of seeing him play yet) can't defend. And aren't all that great at attacking either. This leaves gaping holes side's can exploit to their hearts content (were I West Ham this coming saturday I'd be specifically targeting Debuchy and wait for him to do something stupid) Colo's a very good cb but not a complete one, he struggles badly against really pacey players and really physical frontmen and none of our other cbs really cover that weakness. Taylor's the closest to covering them but he lacks a functional brain while MYM could cope with pace I'd be very hesitant to put him and colo together against the strong strikers of the league.

 

Cabaye is a very good central midfielder and our key creative player, pity he wants to go. Tiote's forgotten how to play football and just picks up yellow cards for a living now. Sissoko hasn't demonstrated much creativity yet and seems mainly to keep things ticking over and win the ball, but thats what Tiote's supposed to do as well (in theory). Anita hasn't coped with the physical side of the prem at all.

 

None of our wingers (or players we assign to play on the wing because we have no one else) have much natural width or the real killer pace to get behind defences, not slow mind you just lacking the real cutting edge of pace. HBA can be unplayable on his day but he keeps getting injured and it takes time to get going at full ability once he's back, or he gets injured again. Marveaux is just kind of there, decent passer could be quite creative but hasn't been able to get a run together of consistent performances and picks up injuries as well.

 

And finally our strike force oh boy our strike force. Cisse, good enough in the box but last season missed several very scorable chances. Also can't stay onside or be useful in any way at all outside the box. Everything has to be completely laid on a plate for him which is not always possible which leaves us with a problem against the top sides. Shola is f***ing Shola. Gouffrans been used on the wing (for lack of anyone else to put there) and is no good there. Not seen him as a striker enough to judge. Remy I'm ignoring as he hasn't played for us yet but one point, our one summer signing is a loan of a guy who turned us down for relegation certs 6 months ago and is probably only here because no one else would touch him with the court case hanging over him and he could potentially go to prison half way through the season!

 

Another excellent post. People appear blinded by their hatred for Pardew and they can't see the wood for the trees.

 

Tbh I see what you're getting at to a degree, some of our squad are overrated.  But this is a debate that will never go anywhere because we've never seen this squad play under another manager.  I'm firmly of the opinion that the players are playing miles below their ability because he's treating apples like oranges, he's trying to play cautious tedium-ball with players that are not well suited for it.  The squad is what it is, he's not going to get Allardyce results from players that aren't suited to Allardyce-type football, as Allardyce found out ironically enough when he tried to hoof the ball up to Martins and Owen when he was here.

 

But Unbelievable!, you're totally contradicting yourself here, "People appear blinded by their hatred for Pardew and they can't see the wood for the trees" when in your very last post you said that you'd like to see them under another manager and that Pardew's on a hiding to nothing with players that don't suit his style.  I'm not blinded by my hatred of Pardew at all personally, I recognise that the squad isn't perfect but we're not even getting mediocre performances out of them at the minute.

 

I am not contradicting myself at all. I do recognise Pardew is a problem, a pretty fucking big one at that. But he didn't appoint himself, or give himself a new contract. Obviously the club (owner) had enough faith in him to hand him a lucrative, new long term deal for the sake of stability, but not enough to give him a say in the type of player we buy, because our transfer policy does not have the aim to help our on the pitch objectives, it aims at achieving off the pitch commercial objectives. The whole setup is fundamentally flawed, and my concern is Pardew is the main figurehead for the blame, whereas it should be directed at the owner for installing such a incoherent setup in the first place.

 

Don't take this personally (you appear to be a bit radge recently, and if even I'm saying that you should probably calm doon ) but you are contradicting yourself.

 

You're expressing your agreement at a post pointing out the limitations of our players, he didn't mention Ashley or the way the club is run.  By saying "People appear blinded by their hatred for Pardew and they can't see the wood for the trees" to that post you're surely saying you simply agree that the players are overrated, since that was the post you're agreeing with, you know the one that didn't mention Ashley or the way the club is run at all.