Happy Face

Who would have told them that, and does it benefit them to make the claim?

https://twitter.com/GaryLineker/status/369825513168461824

Mbiwa wide is not what I want to see. Pardew should be drilling players with their specific roles in his team...or if they come into the team. When there's injuries, don't move a player out of the position they've trained for, bring in the cover we have for that specific position, whatever level they are currently at. In this case Dummet.

Parky Wenger sacked (20/08)

Was it MT who had that in the prediction thread last year anaarl?

It's in your interests to tout that line, given your history on here of claiming Wenger is a spent force going back years. He still gets in the top 4 every year without fail though, without spending huge, despite what you say. I'd be very interested to see what they did if they could secure Suarez.

They are nowhere near the top 3 after 1 game. They finished 4th last year which is about as close as you can get.

It will be excellent news if we sign a replacement for cabaye and some other attacking options that are any good. Big if. Cart before horse to say it's excellent news at the moment. Typical of your enthusiasm for all things Ashley, despite there being nothing to get excited about.

Aye He's on there.

Bump

The thing is, Hughton was a manger who fostered pride amongst his players. He got them playing to their abilities as a team, for each other, in spite of the owner, Chief exec, DoF... According to CT, people upstairs didn't like that sort of togetherness in the team. Our dressing room leaders (Nolan/Barton) were sold cheap, along with our best performers (Carroll/Enrique). Whatever any manager can achieve on the field at NUFC will be very quickly undone off the field, either for political or financial reasons.

I'm not saying we don't need to sign anyone. Clearly we're lacking. But what we have is capable of more. Whoever we bring in will come down to the clubs current level, rather than lifting the club to better things. this is the club that thinks Joe Kinnear should be empowered with oversight of the entire operation. It's bound for failure.

Better team/squad than Hull, Palace, Cardiff, Norwich, WBA, West Ham, Southampton, Sunderland...? They won't go to Man City exppecting to win, but not many of them will look as poor as we did. The indifference on the field is bred from the very top of the club. If the bloke paying the wages just pisses about bringing in cheap, unprofessional dinosaurs, why would they do any different. Hughton did an excellent job of spreading pride into his group of players despite the owner. It seems to be beyond Pardew.

Think we need to disassociate the transfer dealings from the running of the club. The transfer dealings have been widely praised for their shrewdness. It's the other areas that sap any momentum whatsoever that can be built up. Keegan was poddling along comfortably in mid-table, we had improving team spirit and were fighting for each other. Getting a draw at Man U wasn't a bad start....but Ashley had decided...Fucking Dennis Wise was his man. Hughton was poddling along comfortably in mid-table, we had excellent team spirit and were fighting for each other. Best exemplified by the Arsenal 4-4 that stayed his execution....but Ashley had decided...Fucking Pardew was his man. Pardew was poddling along semi-comfortably in mid-table, team spirit was on the edge, but there had been a great improvement since the transfer window closed....but Ashley had decided...Fucking Kinnear was his man. It's a pathetic cycle of mis-mamagement of the personell at the club, not the players we buy.

6 years ago I was saying he's as bad as Bramble... http://www.toontastic.net/board/topic/15491-newcastle-v-aston-villa/page-6#entry375659 Still true.

Simpson never made the grade because he was no more than a cone. He knew his limitations and placed himself between the ball and the goal...he never displayed anything more than that. You can see Debuchy has more about him than that. It's blatant. His tackling, positional sense and anticipation are evident much of the time, he just needs to build some consistency.

Debuchy is a good footballer. Anyone watching him can see that. He's just prone to panic with the pace of the game over here. We aren't seeing the best because that was his 15th game in the league. Do you not remember the mistakes that Coloccini and Enrique were making in our relegation season? They've become 2 quality premier League defenders though.

Debuchy no better than Simpson, Cabaye being sold, Jonas past it ( "it" never being great) would not be things Pardew could do anything about, surely?

To be fair... Cisse £9m, Anita £7m, Mbiwa £7m, Debuchy £5m.... The proportion of it that is reinvested just won't be where/when it is critically needed

Possibly Debuchy's worst game for us. Ignoring his glaring mistakes he had the worst outfield pass completion, he committed most fouls, was dispossessed more than 93% of players and got himself a pointless booking. Positives are that he made more tackles and more interceptions than any other player. He was just tortured all night long by top top quality, and wasn't getting much cover from anyone else playing on the right. Ben Arfa looked fit again. Glad to see he's worked hard to shift his bait in pre-season. In terms of being a team player, he played 25 passes in 65 minutes, so 0.4 per minute. That's better than Debuchy, Cisse, Mbiwa, Sammy, Dummet, Taylor or Gutierez. He tried 3 dribbles. He had 3 shots, more than the rest of the team combined (2). Cabaye... Sissoko and Tiote (and Jonas) totally lost the fight for the middle of the park. Cisse, weak as piss, he is the other 7%. Dispossessed 4 times didn't get a single shot off. Did a lot of running. Hope Remy helps him.

Nah, stupid stuff like throwing the ball away and clotheslining opponents too. Indiscipline is rife.

We committed 8 fouls last night. Total. Only Cardiff committed less all weekend. We have the worst disciplinary record with 3 bookings and one straight red.

All but one of their players involved in the 4th goal. Only one attempted challenge to win the ball back, in the last of the 48 seconds of the build up.