Southampton Away

[Lake Bells tits 1]

The problem is our midfield, with or without cabaye and tiote.

Its the reason for goals conceded and goals scored. We are being overrun there, and I can bet you my 7 inch willie if we played a top championship team they would overrun us as well.

Its oh so easy to completely nullify our threat because of this glaring issue.

 

Cabaye and tiote must be thinking this is getting old, and fast.

Can see Yohan leaving in january unless a new manager comes in and starts keeping his promises about possession and not this "front-foot fastball" bullshit

[Lake Bells tits 1]

The problem is our midfield, with or without cabaye and tiote.

Its the reason for goals conceded and goals scored. We are being overrun there, and I can bet you my 7 inch willie if we played a top championship team they would overrun us as well.

Its oh so easy to completely nullify our threat because of this glaring issue.

 

Cabaye and tiote must be thinking this is getting old, and fast.

Can see Yohan leaving in january unless a new manager comes in and starts keeping his promises about possession and not this "front-foot fastball" bullshit

[Happy Face 29]

Many of our goals came from individual performances, thats probably the magic he is talking about. It has nothing to do with pardew.

Aimaad, can you please link me a goal coming from good build-up play and not ben arfa nutmegging 4 people or ba hitting a wondervolley? I promise you there arent many, and its no coincidence.

 

Are you asking people to come up with good goals.....apart from the good goals our good players made? Or the rgument is lost?

 

Some Jedi Shit.

[sweetleftpeg 0]

Whilst I like to think I'm neither a panic fan or a team positive fan, the alarm bells are starting to ring a bit for me. If you fail to win at home and get beat off shite away from home then it really is time to start looking over your shoulder. Two winnable home games we've lost (and we stole 2 points off West Brom as well) and getting beat off a team with the worst defense in the league (30 goals they've shipped this year already) who've only beaten the pretty desperate QPR all season. It's certainly justifiable that fans will be a little worried.

 

What worries me more is that if we get nowt against Stoke (anyone confident?) then next Monday for me is a must win, even a draw is not good enough against Wigan. We need a really early goal against Wigan as well, because the longer that goes on 0-0 the more the crowd get nervous/impatient and we all know how that transfers across on to the pitch..

[Lake Bells tits 1]

No Im asking to come up with goals that followed build-up play on the ground towards the other sides box and not goals following either hoof or ben arfa skinning 7 players ( which no matter how you spin it, I will NEVER give pardew credit for)

[Lake Bells tits 1]

Whilst I like to think I'm neither a panic fan or a team positive fan, the alarm bells are starting to ring a bit for me. If you fail to win at home and get beat off shite away from home then it really is time to start looking over your shoulder. Two winnable home games we've lost (and we stole 2 points off West Brom as well) and getting beat off a team with the worst defense in the league (30 goals they've shipped this year already) who've only beaten the pretty desperate QPR all season. It's certainly justifiable that fans will be a little worried.

 

What worries me more is that if we get nowt against Stoke (anyone confident?) then next Monday for me is a must win, even a draw is not good enough against Wigan. We need a really early goal against Wigan as well, because the longer that goes on 0-0 the more the crowd get nervous/impatient and we all know how that transfers across on to the pitch..

 

Top post and some sense for once.

I wish people would look away from statistics and last years finish, and start looking at how we actually perform. Its 15 games in soon and we are not getting better, we are getting worse. Its been two years now and if the identity of the team hasnt set yet, it never will.

 

Fans are worried, and its justified. Injuries and a small squad is not something he can put the blame on when he was very happy with the summer window only 3 months ago. Its his job to bang on the door to the board, he said so himself.

[Happy Face 29]

No Im asking to come up with goals that followed build-up play on the ground towards the other sides box and not goals following either hoof or ben arfa skinning 7 players ( which no matter how you spin it, I will NEVER give pardew credit for)

 

Reading

Substitute Shane Ferguson was played in down the left and whipped in a perfect ball for Demba Ba to seemingly head the ball goalward with McCarthy only able to spoon the ball into his side-netting. TV replays later showed Ba's last contact came off his right arm but his post-match comments suggested that it was an accidental contact 2-2

 

Mackems

3 mins With home fans still making their way into the ground, a mackem attack floundered down their left flank on halfway. Danny Simpson intercepted a pass and his first-time ball set Hatem Ben Arfa away down the wing, taking a touch to come inside before feeding Demba Ba deep in the box. Despite being shadowed by a defender and with only a narrow sight of goal, United's top scorer was able to get a shot on target that Mignolet blocked with his legs. The ball bounced free in the area and fell nicely for Yohan Cabaye to sweep home a low right footed effort into the opposite side of the goal from around 12 yards 1-0

 

Liverpool

43 mins Hatem Ben Arfa skipped past Jose Enrique and found Yohan Cabaye lurking beyond the far post. Newcastle's own fab four took a touch before lashing the ball beyond Brad Jones in the Kop end goal.

 

Swansea

93 mins Well into added time, Hatem Ben Arfa took Cheick Tiote's pass down the left flank and sped towards the byline. His pullback fell into the path of Sylvain Marveaux as a result of Gael Bigirimana's instinctive block and when the Frenchman's first-time effort from six yards clattered back off the crossbar, Demba Ba rose highest to head it in 1-2

 

 

The fact you won't give credit to Pardew for turning Ben Arfa's lacklustre, selfish performances of early last season into man of the match performances of great flair AND application says how little sensible contribution you have to make.

 

Was he not involved in the transformation of Perchelino into Perchinho either?

 

He must sit in his office all day on the sex lines.

[David Kelly 1117]

Whatever Pardew said about the window is irrelevant tbh. It was a massive mistake not to capitalize on what happened last season and everyone knows in this game, if you're not moving forward, you're going backwards. Pardew knew this in the summer and he knows it now but he also knows the restrictions he has to work within and that's why he tried to spin it positively.

 

Last season we had nearly all of our key players available and playing well for nearly every game. That hasn't happened this time around and we can see how it's effecting us. We are having to play young players in a team that's struggling and in turn they're struggling too. We need to have as many of our established players back in the team and playing week in week out so that they can find some form and consistency. If we can get this then we will start picking up results again and we will start playing much better football.

 

Until then it's going to be a struggle and Pardew is going to have to show his abilities to get us through this. So far I admit this hasn't happened but it's ridiculous to put all blame at Pardews door. The blame lies with the fat cunt who owns us and Pardew is the one having to try and deal with it. You'd struggle to get anyone better in and anyone with any sense knows that.

[Lake Bells tits 1]

 

 

Last season we had nearly all of our key players available and playing well for nearly every game.

 

Oh dear....

[Happy Face 29]

I think a lot of the injury situation is chicken and egg by the way.

 

All players want to be in a team that is playing well and pushing on. When things aren't quite going as well average players tend to hide. Niggles that they might have played through before are enough for them to want to come off or sit out a game. Especially with the cunty chops we have as a support like CT and LBT who will have a good moan about any deficiency if we aren't in the top 10.

 

Obviously we have some long termers like Raylor an Cabaye who it can't be levelled at.

[Lake Bells tits 1]

You are missing the point Happy Face. Im not moaning about the results or table standing. Mid-table will do me as long as we deliver decent performances and show that we are capable of producing interesting fotball.

Ive moaned for a long time even last season when results were good but performances as bad as they were now ( ok maybe not that bad).

 

I think the fight have gone out of the players as they no longer believe in the manager and what he is trying to do.

Flair players being asked to play it long is only working for so long, eventually they get fed up with it.

we would be struggling with Xavi and iniesta atm as they would be told to hold their position too.

[David Kelly 1117]

Oh dear....

So which of out key players weren't playing well last season you mong? Cabaye, Tiote, Colo, Krul, Ben Arfa, Cisse, Ba?

[sweetleftpeg 0]

It was a massive mistake not to capitalize on what happened last season and everyone knows in this game, if you're not moving forward, you're going backwards.

 

Yup. We took the gamble that we would stick to going with unknowns and out of contracts whilst sticking with what we had. Yes, we did spend some cash on Anita who I personally think is starting to adapt to the English game but we haven't had the luxury of being able to be patient about that seeing as he was hoyed in the deep end pretty much straight away due to injuries. We knew we had a European campaign and we also knew how many games that would involve.

 

I'm def not anti-Pardew, but he is getting on my tits by going on about the European campaign taking it's toll. We've played piss poorly pretty much all season, I'd rather he held his hands up to that instead and say we're looking to address it. Nowt I hate more than a manager trying to put a brave face on it when we can all see it's not working at the moment for whatever reason. We are playing fringe players who are supposed to be able to compete, it's not like we are chucking in a boatload of teenagers with no experience. This is a tester of Pardew's management skills, and I hope that next Tuesday morning we are all laughing about this mini blip..although at this point you're scratching around looking for the positives.

[David Kelly 1117]

Yup. We took the gamble that we would stick to going with unknowns and out of contracts whilst sticking with what we had. Yes, we did spend some cash on Anita who I personally think is starting to adapt to the English game but we haven't had the luxury of being able to be patient about that seeing as he was hoyed in the deep end pretty much straight away due to injuries. We knew we had a European campaign and we also knew how many games that would involve.

 

I'm def not anti-Pardew, but he is getting on my tits by going on about the European campaign taking it's toll. We've played piss poorly pretty much all season, I'd rather he held his hands up to that instead and say we're looking to address it. Nowt I hate more than a manager trying to put a brave face on it when we can all see it's not working at the moment for whatever reason. We are playing fringe players who are supposed to be able to compete, it's not like we are chucking in a boatload of teenagers with no experience. This is a tester of Pardew's management skills, and I hope that next Tuesday morning we are all laughing about this mini blip..although at this point you're scratching around looking for the positives.

Yeah I'd agree with all that.

 

What does worry me, is the last time we took the same gamble that Ashley took this summer was when we last qualified for the Champions League and then only added Bowyer. Obviously we had a better team then and the immediate impact wasn't as bad as it's been this season. But it really did put on on a slippery slope that led to Souness, Roder and Allardyce and ultimately relegation. That should never have happened then and this shouldn't be happening now. Hopefully Ashley will make the moves to try and sort it in January but I doubt it!

[Lake Bells tits 1]

So which of out key players weren't playing well last season you mong? Cabaye, Tiote, Colo, Krul, Ben Arfa, Cisse, Ba?

 

We didnt play well as a team last year and thats a fact. Alot of back against the wall wins and miles from looking like a top-5 side.

[Happy Face 29]

You are missing the point Happy Face. Im not moaning about the results or table standing. Mid-table will do me as long as we deliver decent performances and show that we are capable of producing interesting fotball.

Ive moaned for a long time even last season when results were good but performances as bad as they were now ( ok maybe not that bad).

 

I think the fight have gone out of the players as they no longer believe in the manager and what he is trying to do.

Flair players being asked to play it long is only working for so long, eventually they get fed up with it.

we would be struggling with Xavi and iniesta atm as they would be told to hold their position too.

 

Last season you were saying....

 

He doesnt deserve any credit. Pardew deserves credit. and Carr deserves credit. Mike just sits in his office with a shut purse and a sandwich and telling people to find cheap prospects with resale-value. The man has no clue whatsoever when it comes to fotball.

 

http://www.toontasti...40#entry1004592

 

I gave the performances as much stick as anyone last year. I got a lot of peoples backs up going on about our easy start and the multitude of sins it would camouflage. But at the end of the season when we were 5th and in Europe, you had to say it proved effective to use what little talent we had the way Pardew did. This season every other club in the league is onto us, and it's going to take some rework and reinvestment to answer the questions other clubs now ask of us.

[ChezGiven 0]

You cant underestimate the impact of the change in the opposition's preparation from 'playing the side that just got promoted' to 'playing the side that finished ahead of Chelsea'.

 

You cant underestimate the impact of the change in our preparation from 'if we fight for every ball we might get a result' to 'we should get a result here'.

 

You cant underestimate the long term impact of stability.

[David Kelly 1117]

We didnt play well as a team last year and thats a fact. Alot of back against the wall wins and miles from looking like a top-5 side.

Where did I say we played well as a team? I said our Key players played well and they did. That's why we got all those top class individual moments of brilliance you keep bleating on about!

 

Mind you, I would say we did play well as a team in the sense that we stuck together and battled and ground out wins. The fluency of our football can certainly be questioned and you can say we didn't entertain (although I think that's bollocks. I was certainly entertained even if it wasn't by pretty football) but we played to a plan and battled hard to get what we got out of the season. And in that sense, 5th place was certainly deserved!

[Lake Bells tits 1]

You were entertained with the goals and the results, but entertainment for me is the 90 minutes on the pitch not glaring at numbers on a sheet. Incidentally thats how pardew coaches.

[Christmas Tree 3997]

We haven't generally played any better with a full strength team this season either.

 

Exactly. All these things add to the mix but regardless of who has taken to the field the performances have been dire.

 

If not for massive luck against Everton and West Brom we would already be in the bottom three.

 

Wake up and smell the relegation battle.

[Lake Bells tits 1]

Look at what we fielded yesterday. Two holding midfielders and Jonas on the flank. ( not even gonna bother with the other flank)

Id be DELIGHTED to face pardews troops atm, has to be one of the easiest fixtures of the year. There is ZERO threat.

And that to me, is worrying.

[Happy Face 29]

Thought we played the mackems off the park for those 24 minutes we had a first choice 11.

[David Kelly 1117]

Yes I was entertained by the goals and results but I was also entertained by gritty determined performances from a team who were all in it together and playing for each other. We don't have to play like Barca for it to be entertaining.

 

For whatever reason (dissatisfaction with the owners lack of investment, having their heads turned by their agents, lack of any consistency in the team) we don't seem to have the same togetherness this season and the performance and results have been effected by this.

[ChezGiven 0]

Its only a relegation battle if nothing changes, we are at our lowest ebb performance wise since 2008 really and no one would argue that if things stay exactly as they are we arent going to be in trouble. However, i dont think we can get much worse than we've been so i see us only getting better. I see players coming back from injury and incoming in January so there is plenty of support for the view things can get better. Obviously defeats to Stoke, Wigan and Fulham would precipitate an evolution in this viewpoint.

[Christmas Tree 3997]

Its only a relegation battle if nothing changes, we are at our lowest ebb performance wise since 2008 really and no one would argue that if things stay exactly as they are we arent going to be in trouble. However, i dont think we can get much worse than we've been so i see us only getting better. I see players coming back from injury and incoming in January so there is plenty of support for the view things can get better. Obviously defeats to Stoke, Wigan and Fulham would precipitate an evolution in this viewpoint.

 

Some players will return from injury others will be injured.

Some players may arrive but they may not live up to their billing. (See coloccini, Anita etc)

We have a manager who seems reluctant to return to a formula that produced results last season (Ba on the left).

Morale is through the floor and as HF suggest, players will be staying out or hiding

A select few will be treading water thinking "Im a good footballer, get me out of here"!

 

Its a perfect storm and we certainly dont look like a team of battlers so far. Pardew may be a decent manager or may have just rode the luck of decent players last year.

 

Stability is all well and good, but if he ISNT good enough to turn it around, I would rather we got someone who was.

 

I dont think its time to pull the trigger just yet, but the blase approach some have to our situation seems odd.