sparkzter Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 I was going to wait until the transfer window closed before voting, but I have changed my mind after last night's game. I have voted us a 6 right now, and fully expect that to be raised to a 7 unless something drastic happens over the next few weeks. For the first time, the side had the look of a relegation side in the second half....its something that those of us who have witnessed this happen on more than one occasion know only too well. You can't really put your finger on what is wrong but the players have an air of resignation about them - they lost the determination and belief in themselves and each other after Everton went ahead and real chances, as opposed to desperation, were few and far between. The results for Villa on Tuesday and QPR at Chelsea will have given them a massive lift, redoubled after seeing our defeat last night and if anyone didn't believe it before, they had better get their heads around it now - we ARE in a relegation battle and with the long-term injuries it is going to be a tough job to stop the rot. Even with new players, it won't be easy as they will take time to settle in, esp if they are foreigners...it is hard to see the likes of Remy making the same impact as Cisse did last year and they will get a shock at the physical combat we will encounter at Villa, Reading and QPR when we have to go there. Had we anything LIKE a board with half an idea about running a large PL club, I would be screaming for Pardew's head right now. As it is, most people feel that they couldn't trust this lot to pick a winning lottery ticket if there was only one in the hat, so we are stuffed in that department. The odds are piling up against us - a dire run of results, an unsettled side with the leading scorer being transferred, a crop of long-term injuries to key players, a manager who clearly has been struggling to get the best from his players and sides around us who are beginning to show signs of improvement. Oh, and an owner who would rather put cash into Glasgow Rangers than strengthen his own club just after they have qualified to Europe.... Ashley might have chanced his luck once to often this time.... Good post, my thoughts exactly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikon Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 I wouldn't be worried if Pardew stopped making these obvious mistakes that he does almost every time, over and over again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dokko Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Merlin: Don't think our players have any trust, faith or belief in the manager. We've cottoned on ages ago but surely they have by now. His bullshit excuses, lies, poor subs, shit tactics, unfavored formations, playing talented proven players out of position to bend over to accommodate one player (who then still leaves) and a string of sackable results must be playing on their minds. At some stage the players start looking away from the team, looking after themselves, or sit and hope a new manager comes along to rescue them. At any club they've been at, by now the manager would have been sacked, bet they can't work out how he's still in a job either. Debuchy must be signing for the club, the money or his pal Cabaye. He's certainly not coming here to play for Pardew that's a million % cert. would love to have a manager with an aura about them that just pulls in players and gets them excited at the thought of playing football under them. Bobby, Keegan, someone who oozes football and does it the right way instead of a spin doctor whose main job is to play politician for his failing paymasters. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
matta Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Still a 9. Before the home games we lost vs weaker sides i voted a 9 also, so should be 10 now. Relegation form it is, and i still cant see it turning around any time soon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 let's face it, if we don't come out of the next 3 games with a minimum of 7 points we're in deep fuckin trouble like...there's no hiding from that i'd say we're about at 6.5 at the moment, maybe 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
toon25 Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Merlin: Don't think our players have any trust, faith or belief in the manager. We've cottoned on ages ago but surely they have by now. His bullshit excuses, lies, poor subs, shit tactics, unfavored formations, playing talented proven players out of position to bend over to accommodate one player (who then still leaves) and a string of sackable results must be playing on their minds. At some stage the players start looking away from the team, looking after themselves, or sit and hope a new manager comes along to rescue them. At any club they've been at, by now the manager would have been sacked, bet they can't work out how he's still in a job either. Debuchy must be signing for the club, the money or his pal Cabaye. He's certainly not coming here to play for Pardew that's a million % cert. would love to have a manager with an aura about them that just pulls in players and gets them excited at the thought of playing football under them. Bobby, Keegan, someone who oozes football and does it the right way instead of a spin doctor whose main job is to play politician for his failing paymasters. Defo saw where merlin was coming from, but I'd agree with this entirely. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 You can guarantee one thing with our club, it will always kick you in the bollocks when you don't expect it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
matta Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Remember last relegation to fucking good. Just waited for players and staff to start playing properly. We never did. Same old story this time around, except i actually like most of our players, and don't regard them as moneygrabbing fuckers - Wich offers a little hope that THIS time, we will turn it around Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Phil K Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Can't see any chance of avoiding it the way we are playing. Nor can I see this bunch making a quick return with Pardew at the head. Other teams are fighting. We are just accepting defeat. The unfitness thing is an absolute effing disgrace. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheHoob Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Depresses me to say it but the Norwich, Reading and Villa games are massive, we've had a horrendous run of fixtures but if we don't pick up points against these then i'll be seriously worried. Captain obvious I know Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
toon25 Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Remember last relegation to fucking good. Just waited for players and staff to start playing properly. We never did. Same old story this time around, except i actually like most of our players, and don't regard them as moneygrabbing fuckers - Wich offers a little hope that THIS time, we will turn it around Thing is though, and I wouldn't normally place too much emphasis on this, but who in our squad at the mo is braced for a relegation scrap? From what I saw tonight, their heads have gone down and I wouldn't say that we've any true leaders to pull us up by the scruff of the neck if needs be. Normally that would be the responsibility of the captain, but Colo's looked very out of sorts recently. Who then? Cabaye? Saylor? The only thing that'll turn it around is the confidence that come from playing free flowing, attacking football, a style which to all intents and purposes best suits our squad. I'm not convinced Pardew is capable of getting us playing like that in the current circumstances. The bloke looks shit scared when we go behind AND when we're in front to actually chase the game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Remember last relegation to fucking good. Just waited for players and staff to start playing properly. We never did. Same old story this time around, except i actually like most of our players, and don't regard them as moneygrabbing fuckers - Wich offers a little hope that THIS time, we will turn it around The only thing that'll turn it around is the confidence that come from playing free flowing, attacking football, a style which to all intents and purposes best suits our squad. I'm not convinced Pardew is capable of getting us playing like that in the current circumstances. The bloke looks shit scared when we go behind AND when we're in front to actually chase the game. Worst thing that could have happened tonight was an early goal for us, well apart from one for them. If either team scores early doors, we're fucked because we wilt under any pressure and if we hold the advantage, we constantly invite that pressure, and we are completely unable to come from behind because where most teams might equalise and use that to drive them on, we use it as an excuse to say "job done, let's do some defending again". The only way I see us winning at the moment is by doing the only thing Pardew knows - being at 0-0 at 70 minutes and trying to nick it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Phil K Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 "The heads have gone down" worryingly, this was the case bloody MONTHS ago. We are getting stuffed by the top clubs, embarrassingly so - and losing to the 2nd tier, and struggling with the teams at the bottom too. Its the lack of anything coming from the players. No spark, no guts no nothing. So much so, If we did go down, likely in my opinion, unless the new recruits can ignite something quickly - then we'd STAY down and delight the likes of Mick Dennis and co that Hughton proved massively wrong Changing the manager NOW may help. He hasn't a clue, thats glaringly obvious Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
merlin Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Merlin: Don't think our players have any trust, faith or belief in the manager. We've cottoned on ages ago but surely they have by now. His bullshit excuses, lies, poor subs, s*** tactics, unfavored formations, playing talented proven players out of position to bend over to accommodate one player (who then still leaves) and a string of sackable results must be playing on their minds. At some stage the players start looking away from the team, looking after themselves, or sit and hope a new manager comes along to rescue them. At any club they've been at, by now the manager would have been sacked, bet they can't work out how he's still in a job either. Debuchy must be signing for the club, the money or his pal Cabaye. He's certainly not coming here to play for Pardew that's a million % cert. would love to have a manager with an aura about them that just pulls in players and gets them excited at the thought of playing football under them. Bobby, Keegan, someone who oozes football and does it the right way instead of a spin doctor whose main job is to play politician for his failing paymasters. I agree with you, TT, but as I said, the problem would be getting the type of manager you rightly say that we need...Ashley managed to get Keegan back because nobody really knew how he was going to operate as the club owner - even KK was fooled by him - but now EVERY manager in the country knows and none of the decent ones are going to leave their jobs to work for him and Llambias. Pardew is clearly running to past form - you can see that from his record as a manager - and needs to be replaced but the odds of us getting an unknown who would keep us up are very long indeed. Also, it is wide open to debate how much money ANY new manager would be given so the job is even harder. Last time we were struggling I would even have accepted Venables temporarily but we managed to get Keegan and he kept us up. This time I am at a complete loss to know who would take the job and have the necessary experience and coaching skills to get us out of the mess we are in. You are on the button about Debuchy - I reckon that had Cabaye been transferred in the summer, he wouldn't even be LOOKING at NUFC right now and if he has any illusions about Pardew as a manager(surely Cabaye has told him..!?)they will soon be shattered. We are in a real mess..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decky Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Depresses me to say it but the Norwich, Reading and Villa games are massive, we've had a horrendous run of fixtures but if we don't pick up points against these then i'll be seriously worried. Captain obvious I know I can't see us getting anything from Norwich, they play much better football and they'll know Newcastle are there for the taking. If they score the first goal we're fucked. Reading should be a win, if it isn't we're doomed. Villa is anybodies guess, it'll simply be a case of who wants it more. It doesn't help really that we're going to their back yard too, because it would be typical of us to turn up and give a shit side their only win in God knows how long. There really are no easy games in the Premier League, especially with a side extremely low on confidence and managed by a clueless manager. It's 50/50 for me in terms of relegation. I still think we have good enough players to keep us up, but then again looking at the fixture list I just can't see where we can string a good run of games in. After January our next two games are Chelsea and Spurs ffs. Our away form is the worst in decades and we also have City, Liverpool and Arsenal breaking up the remaining games after the EL. It's going to be a horrible end to season either way because we'll either go down or stay up in and around 14th. I just hope we can break away a bit and get in to the later stages of the EL or FA Cup. That way if we look to be safe in March or so we can at least look at one of the cups in a bid to bring some excitement back in to this dreadful season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eliassenfredrik Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 I can't see us as favorites in any game at the moment. Our sole tactic to defend a lead comes back to haunt us every time. Which means only late wins like vs QPR is realistic. Get in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Phil K Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 One damning thing about the failures of 2012-13 against the relegated of 2009 - the defence. They weren't good then, but are a SHAMBLES now. WHY ? Why isn't there anyone involved in trying to put it right ? AND the fitness level. Pardew is being found out big time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JH Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 The only thing stopping us from being in the relegation zone by the end of next week is that two of the three teams standing in our way, play each other that weekend Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnypd Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 We can, and probably should, get something from Norwich - they've some dreadful players and their 'stars' - bassong, ruddy, hoolahan, garrido, tettey, snodgrass, Holt (when he can be arsed) are several notches below ours. Compare those players to our equivalents in Coloccini, Krul, Cabaye, Debuchy/Santon, Tiote/Anita, Marveaux, Cisse. There's a massive gulf there. they also have quite a few injuries. Their peripheral players are pretty much crap too. Unfortunately for us Hughton has them playing good stuff, they can keep the ball AND mix it up by going direct, he is getting the best out of dross and morale is high despite 4 recent defeats. but if they play like they have the past few months - and we do the same - we'll be turned over easily. It's the kind of match where a new manager might be the difference for us imo, just by trying new things on the training ground, morale being lifted and forcing all our players to give that bit extra for a new boss. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Norwich aren't dross. They finished 12th last season and have added 2 very good players I've liked for a long time in Snodgrass and Bassong in addition to Tettey who looks a lovely little DM. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnypd Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Norwich aren't dross. They finished 12th last season and have added 2 very good players I've liked for a long time in Snodgrass and Bassong in addition to Tettey who looks a lovely little DM. I never said they were. I've highlighted their star players and our equivalents are significantly better in every respect. But some of their peripheral players, who get a lot of game time, actually are dross, and Hughton's making them look like mid-table stuff easily. As did Lambert before him, to his credit, who imo did a better job than Rodgers last season. The likes of morison, jackson, kane, howson, bunn, bennett, whitaker, johnson, pilkington, turner, martin, barnett however are exactly the kind of players i'd expect to see at a side mired in the bottom three. Yet pilkington, for instance, has 4 goals and 1 assist in his last 10. Signs of a manager getting the very best out of the players at hand - how revolutionary. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 this season is tragic like, simpson & williamson are the only 2 things that come close to excusing this fuckfest and frankly even if they'd both played every minute this season we should still be nowhere near where we are pardew has royally fucked it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ItalianMagpie Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Seriously if the club does not find a CB then it deserves to be relegated. There's definitely some truth in this, the need has been clear for ages. January signings are tough but we need this badly. If we sign a CB who's gonna sit out? Saylor? Or the new guy when Saylor is fit? Who would come to warm our bench in January? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Seriously if the club does not find a CB then it deserves to be relegated. There's definitely some truth in this, the need has been clear for ages. January signings are tough but we need this badly. If we sign a CB who's gonna sit out? Saylor? Or the new guy when Saylor is fit? Who would come to warm our bench in January? Saylor shouldn't be 2nd choice. Not at all. It's clear that Colo needs a rest along with Santon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ItalianMagpie Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Seriously if the club does not find a CB then it deserves to be relegated. There's definitely some truth in this, the need has been clear for ages. January signings are tough but we need this badly. If we sign a CB who's gonna sit out? Saylor? Or the new guy when Saylor is fit? Who would come to warm our bench in January? Saylor shouldn't be 2nd choice. Not at all. It's clear that Colo needs a rest along with Santon. But that's the problem then, it's not easy to find someone good enough to give us quality but at the same time ready to sit on the bench most of the time. At these conditions we could only sign another Williamson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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