Happy Face

That's what was pleasing about the villa game. Like for like changes, Anita out Tiote in. Remy out Gouffran in. Simple. The problem comes when we lose Ben Arfa, or Coloccini and there just isn't the ability in the squad to cater to a loss like that. Pardew can't plant magic beans and create those players....nor would any other manager that comes in.

Liverpool top the league right now. They are a good side, and were a good side come the end of last season when they met us. Our trouncing came on the heels of them doing similar to Swansea & Norwich (5), Wigan & Fulham (4), QPR and Sunderland (3). We capitulated embarrassingly, as we did against the Mackems too (high on their new manager bump), and those games should be seen by the players and management as examples of when it's been unacceptable. Leyton Orient type moments when they have to look at themselves and make changes. Signs so far have been of a positive reaction.

The harshness of a football fan on a manager is something to behold. Starting from after Pardew took us to fifth place, and most were satisfied to have him here, if not astounded by the quality of football..... In the first 10 games of the following season, outside of the current top 6, nobody beat us. Only Chelsea and Man U could manage it. In the last 15 games of that season, outside of the current top 6, only Sunderland Wigan and Swansea could beat us It was the 13 games between that were a total catastrophe and which have seen all good will erased. We lost 10 of them. Fans are unforgiving of the fact we were playing games with Shane Ferguson, Sammy Ameobi, Danny Simpson and Mike Williamson. All 4 started against Swansea, as well as filling massive gaps regularly through that barren run. We have not lost to any team outside the top 6 this season. Still Pardew is on borrowed time with people who cannot see past that 13 game horror show.

Again, the bars represent the 5 games up to and including the one on the axis. We've grown the number of short passes we average by 100 (283 to 383) in the time we reduced long passes by an average of 16 (67 down to 51).

How thick are they? Discussing whether Walt knew the police were listening on the phone? It was blatant what was happening there. I thought it went a little too far in Walt shouting "It was all me" rather than keeping it a subtle barrage of abuse, which he is clever enough to do. But it seems Americans, even then, found it too subtle to be sure if he was actually putting it on or not...even as he disguised his weeping throughout.

same as a quote but use

Can't see the first one.

You wouldn't use a pie chart man. that would only work game to game. It would require a bar chart. I'm fighting the urge to produce said chart.

Average possession over the last 5 games has been 49%. Average possession over the 5 games up to and including Southampton away (our highest 5 game average for long balls) was 48%. So we're hitting less long balls with greater possession.

You only need do it for 10 games renton. The 5 up to and including Saturday (our lowest average long ball run) and the 5 games up to Southampton that saw our highest long ball average last year.

It would be the same thing. Opta provide everyone the stats and they determine possession just as a proportion of successful passes for each team. Not actual time in possession of the ball. I had the long balls game by game after taking a look at them at the end of the season. I never saved the short passes or possession at that time though. Guess the BBC match reports will all have possession though.

Go for it

A long ball is defined the same way this august as it was last august. Whether that's 30, 40 or 50 yards is irrelevant when the scale is unchanged. It tells us that those who hammered Pardew for his brand of hoof ball should probably credit him with taking away our reliance on it. Think its daft to suggest our possession has possibly dropped off comparably with our number of long balls. Happy to be proved wrong like.

More confusing is why they took Jesse to cook, and not Walt.

In more than 7 months (after 19/01/12) Alan Pardew has lost only 3 games to teams outside of the top 6. Swansea City (A) Wigan Athletic (A) Sunderland (H) Surprising?

What are you referring to?

The irony of the celebrity with more Parkinson appearances than any other going down with Parkinsons cannot be lost on anyone. Should have done more episodes of Loose Women.

Fortunately, it's not one swallow, it's a trend that I noted at the end of last season which had been in evidence since the closing of the January window. Adding the 4 games we've played so far only offers further evidence of Pardew's aim in terms of style...

Newcastle played 35 long balls on Saturday. Puts our average at 48 for the season. The least long balls we played in a game all last season was 46 (Swansea). We never hit less than 50 in any other game in 12/13. Other Averages for the season so far.. Man City - 57 Chelsea - 56 Arsenal - 50

http://www.fourfourtwo.com/statszone/8-2013/matches/694931/team-stats/4/OVERALL_01#tabs-wrapper-anchor We're playing 424, not 433 Nowt better than a couple of like for like substitutions either. Too often we have changed our whole shape to accommodate the changes we make with the limited options we've had available, either during a game or before it. Hope we can put a good run together based on this set-up allowing players to learn not only their position/role, but also those of the players alongside them.

Good luck to the funny fuck. One of my dad's favourites and as a 2 time prostate cancer beater himself, he'll be gutted by the news.

Jesus! Felt like I was sitting on krakatoa (east of java) by the end of the call. Power walking down the room while nipping it in I must have looked worse than CT on the treadmill. All sorted now, you'll be pleased to hear.

Frustrated. Need a shit and stuck on a conference call.