One point further away....

I've no doubt that there will be countless people on here moaning about a poor display, should have won, what's Pardew doing etc etc but we're now 6 points clear of the bottom three with a hugely superior goal difference.

Let's not forget we're newly promoted and our aim is and always has been to stay up. We're a step closer to that. There was a time where we'd go to Rovers and lose 1-0 and I feared before the game that we'd have another Fulham, losing out by a single goal. The lads got a cleansheet, very welcome after the 1st half defensive horror show last weekend. If we get a draw at Birmingham on Tuesday and beat Bolton at home in a couple of weeks I'll be pleased. Let's not hope for too much too soon.

Stay up this year, hopefully in a respectable position. We've got the likes of Ben Arfa and Gosling to look forward to next season (although we'll see a bit of Ben Arfa towards the end of this season). They're two players that will be like new signings and will massively improve the midfield. Get 3/4 decent signings in summer and we'll have a very strong team that can look for a top 8 finish next season.

We've home games against West Brom, Wolves and Birmingham as well as Bolton and Everton. If we get decent points there, which we can, then we're safe. If we pick up a few points at the likes of Blackburn, Blackpool, Birmingham and Villa then we'll be very happy.

As I've said, a point on the road, closer to safety and winnable home games to come. Win those and avoid defeat on the road at those around us and we'll have a decent finish to the season.

 

Just not a disappointing performance, just a very disappointing result!

 

Just noticed we're 5 clear not 6, the beeb hadn't updated their table. Still I'd have taken our position and a point at Rovers.

 

We knew we should struggle with no decent strikers. A point away at Blackburn is good stuff, and a promising performance. Get Ranger to start next match and see how things go from there. A point closer to PL survival .

 

We apparently dominated and should have won but 1 point gained at ewood and st andrews next on tuesday. We will stay up

 

Game we should have won.

 

I did hope Ranger would start, Lovenkrands offered very little v Arsenal. Maybe Ranger will start at Birmingham....

 

Spurs, Mackems and Blacburn.... 6 points dropped in the last few weeks. 6 massive points that would've ensured safety and an excellent league position.

 

My main critisism of Pardew is that he made the substitutions too late. I'm not sure if he was gambling on Lovenkrands doing something or not, but hopefully he'll learn from this and start Ranger against Birmingham

 

your very negative today, every post or thread you have done is just slating the team or Jonas, did you even watch the match

 

Dominate is an understatement!

 

If we can get 3 points from these games this season, then when we make a few additions to the squad in summer and get players back fit then it looks good for next season. Less than a point per game will guarantee us survival which is massive. Then we can start moving forward and I'm very optimistic about the future.

On another positive, I had Enrique, Colo and Harper in my FF team so decent points for the cleansheet.

 

Birmingham on Tuesday is going to be a tough game.

Their head's will be up after a win against Stoke.

 

Haha sorry Bull, its more frustration than negativity- the match stream i had didn't help!

I haven't slated the team, I said Jonas was poor today, but i think that was harsh of me and it was his crossing that was a let down for me

 

Could have been better if Coloccini had socred that goal he deserved.

 

8 points away from that magic number 40 and looking at our next 6 games i wouldn't be supprised if we'd made it by then

 

Hear, Hear!

 

i watched the game and yes we should of won but we got a point at ewood park, blackburn have been a bit of a bogey team for us. i thought our overall team performance was excellent, people say lovenkrands was poor but apart from enrique we lacked a final ball and lovenkrands thrives on the throughball, cut him some slack as nelsen and samba are 2 of the hardest players in the league and i thought him and best looked decent but yeah we lack a slight cutting edge in the final third and i think we can beat birmingham as there last few goals have been set-pieces to 6ft 8 zigic but i think our defence can handle him.

 

If it had been a boxing match we'd have won by a country mile on points. However it wasn't a boxing match and we had to share the points with an inferior team.

As for our team, Tiote had his worst game since joining us, Barton wasn't up to his recent best, Lovenkrands and Best just aren't up to it and Ranger when he came on didn't do anything to inspire confidence. There's a hell of a lot of work to do to get a good string of results together but I'm sure we'll be safe even if it isn't by much.

We live in hope.
HTL.

 

Tiote was class as always I thought, their midfield didn't get a kick! Didn't play a single pass wrong from what I can recall, another midfield general performance.