IndianMag

I'm glad we won. We were due a win after playing well in the last couple of games and having nothing to show for it. Dummett is absolutely rubbish. The number of times he just gives possession away is embarrassing for a professional footballer. This central midfield pairing is the worst I've seen as a Toon supporter since the Fat Sham days of Alan Smith, Geremi and Butt in midfield. For me, we need to buy a quality deep lying playmaker before a defender or winger.

To be honest there are decent continental managers out their who work in similar set ups. Garde and De Boer have tight budgets as well and Lyon and Ajax have been selling clubs themselves. Maybe we can't attract the best managers in the business, but I definitely think we can attract a decent manager. Also boils down to assurances from the board about the budgets, vision, ambition, etc. However if the board states outright that they are satisfied with consistent mid table mediocrity, it might put off even the decent managers who put their name into the hat.

The only thing is that I read somewhere about Garde being quite direct in his style of play, not that the right kind of direct football is particularly a bad thing. I just think that with our current squad (if we use the right players in the right positions), we would be better off with a system of slow build up play from the centre. We've always looked far better when we've slowed the game down and kept the ball against teams around and below us in the league. Example - against Burnley in the first half I personally wouldn't even mind a Pochetino-sque high-pressing style of attacking football, but that would completely expose our defense.

Jesus, trust dogshite managers to try and be oversmart and play players completely out of position for 'tactical' reasons. Some terrible ones that spring to mind :- 1) Bellamy on the right side of midfield when he was in the form of his life to accommodate Shearer and Kluivert- Sourmess 2) My favorite one - Shola on the left - Sourmess 3) Zog/Duff as left backs - Joe Kinnear/Shearer 4) Alan Smith on the right side of midfield - Fat Sam 5) Geremi on the pitch - Fat Sam 6) Luque as a lone striker - Roeder and ofcourse, 7) Cisse on the right wing - Pardoo Will be very interesting to see where Perez will end up playing a few years down the line. Will he be like a Rooney who will be floated around for the sake of the team or will he develop into a specialized striker/number 10? Personally think he's tailor made for the number 10 role. Knowing our luck, we will probably hoy him on one of the flanks to be the second full back.

Aye, I remember that Fulham game. I still don't know how we managed to win that game. Derby away was another one. We dropped 5 points against Derby that season. They only managed 14 that entire season.

Allardyce completely destroyed our team. The amount of dross he bought and the kind of football we played was one of the worst I've seen by any manager at the club. Cant believe he wasted money on the likes of Cacapa, Faye, Smith, Geremi when there were so many better options out there available. I still meet a few 'fans' of the game, who thought he was treated badly by the club and supporters because we were 11th when he got sacked.

The accent is a bit strange, but he's quite insightful. Actually gets into the intricacies of the game and doesn't spout the usual rubbish. The problem with most of these pundits is that they only keep a tab on the big 6 and are clueless about any other team. The other day there was a debate about Sam Allardyce where almost all the other pundits were saying 'You don't get anywhere in football by sacking your managers.' Basically giving the West Ham owners credit for sticking with Sam. Fact of the matter is, his tactics were absolutely atrocious. Any fan who wanted him out had every reason to. Friedel mentioned this and also called this a honeymoon season/period for Sam, and you know what? He's absolutely correct. Sam is a shitter manager than Pardew.

To be fair, we aren't the only club that has sold high profile players in the last 5 years. The likes of Tottenham, Arsenal, Liverpool haven't held onto their best either. Honestly, except City, Manure and Chelsea, all clubs are prone to losing their players these days. It's just that we don't really reinvest the money to strengthen the squad. We try to find a cheap alternative or in a lot of cases, no alternative. That's the problem.

Here in India, we get a feed from Premier League TV. Some decent pundits there. I have a lot of time for Dun Hutchison. One of the better pundits on the show. He gets a lot of flak from neutrals though about his thoughts on Pardew and Newcastle in general. Jermaine Jenas has been another breath of fresh air. Brad Friedel, is quite a decent pundit too. The host, John Dykes is quite good as well. The only thing is we have to deal with Andy Townsend who is another 'expert' who just speaks in cliches all the time. Oh and Michael Owen makes an appearance every now and again as well.

No proper sources to be fair. I think it's just some Twitter mischief.

He's a class act and except for this season he has been consistent for us by and large. It's all a sorry state of affairs to be honest. If he's sidelined this season, he goes to another club this season. If he has a good season, his contract runs out and he chooses another club for sure. Either ways, we'll lose him either this season or the next.

I'd be really tempted to try Gouff & Remy upfront some time this season against one of the weaker teams. I think it could work quite well.

I actually think, like Villa, we can become a good counter attacking team away from home with the likes of Sissoko, Gouff, Remy and Arfa.

I have a terrible feeling we'll end up replacing only a few of those players and it'll be back to square one again.

Don't think anyone deserves that accolade this year. Maybe Ba?