Breaking News! Alan Pardew has spoken a little sense regarding our form!

Redknapp has effectively said the same thing as Pardew regarding the (serious **** is going down in china-freaking-town) rolling up of the sleeves... Only he can acceptably say that because he's just took charge... Pardew can't say what he's said because it makes him look like he's previously been giving less than the 2 ****s required... Am I alone in thinking this is piss-poor PR work?

 

Screw it, I'm not waiting any longer then, Pardew out!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also on the Out list is the foodstand girl. Hot chocolate... HOT CHOCOLATE... NOT PIE!!!!!!!!!! Every f-ing week... I'm not Welsh, those two things don't sound the same!

 

Who cares, comment on my injury stats you bastard It took me fecking ages and I'm a lazy bastard, the least you can say is "you are talking horseshit mate"

 

I'm not going to lie... I thought to myself "that's pretty impressive data collection right there... just to prove a point as well... kudos...", shortly followed by "well he can get fecked if he thinks I'm going to want to talk about it... Wayyyyy too Lazy"...

 

You are not alone, Agent Scully says there are people out there!

 

I've just checked and against Liverpool they had 62% possession, so no we didn't keep the ball well and the games where Krul didn't play shouldn't affect the style of our play, if anything Harper has far better distribution than him so it should improve us in that area.

Liverpool have been missing Lucas all season, you don't see them pumping long balls from back to front, they've been calling up players from their U12's team and they still keep the ball.

Having players missing will affect results, I get that but what It shouldn't do is affect the philosophy of the whole team.

When we played Swansea they were missing Vorm, Taylor, & Chico (3 of their back 5) but I didn't see the mighty Gary Monk smashing the ball high in to the sky from back to front. A manager chooses the the teams style of play, Pardew is choosing to go long, it's so obvious.

 

Liverpool have better young players than us so I'm not surprised they called up youngsters. Suso, Shelvey, Wisdom etc are cracking young players and far better than what we possess. While Liverpool had 68% possession we adopted the same tactics we did against Swansea last season (Rodgers). When we had it we played proper football is probably a better term for it rather kept it. Basically we kept it on the deck and just let them pass around in non dangerous areas, cracking performance for me and good management/coaching by the staff. Liverpool have a deeper pool of players, yet haven't been much better than us so far.

Swansea were full of confidence, we haven't been all season long.

Krul will affect things for me despite his penchant for long balls, because the other players have more faith in him than Harper. Or they did rather up until recently

We agree we have been too long ball this season, we just disagree on the reasons for it. You think it is tactical, I disagree and think it is a combination of confidence, key players missing or form, and some poor coaching i.e. they should be focusing on it more (although I accept they are trying to instill fight first and foremost at present)

 

Swansea had won 1 of their last 7 league games when they played us (just as we had done), just another excuse for me. As you say we both accept we play long far to often, lets just hope that whatever the reason for that it changes...and fast.

 

You are being a bit naughty here by painting stats as you choose. Bit of context always helps:

SAT 6 OCT
Reading
Barclays Premier League
Att. 20,336 H 2 - 2
SAT 20 OCT
Wigan
Barclays Premier League
Att. 19,696 H 2 - 1
SAT 27 OCT
Man City
Barclays Premier League
Att. 46,801 A 1 - 0
WED 31 OCT
Liverpool
Capital One Cup
Att. 37,521 A 1 - 3
NOVEMBER
SAT 3 NOV
Chelsea
Barclays Premier League
Att. 20,527 H 1 - 1
SAT 10 NOV
Southampton
Barclays Premier League
Att. 30,501 A 1 - 1

So they'd won away at Liverpool in the capital cup, drawn with Chelsea, deserved something from the Man City game, beaten Wigan and picked up points from the improving Reading (fresh from a win and draw in previous 3 games) and Southampton (beginning of 3 match unbeaten run) since the beginning of October. No argument to be had really here they were a side coming out of a slump (3 league defeats in a row) who were full of confidence, and it showed.

 

Not really mate, it's a fact that they'd won 1 out of 7 league games. Against Liverpool in the capital one cup both teams played reserve/squad players so can't see that lifting confidence massively for the first team players.

 

Its a fact without context is what it is. Its also a fact they'd lost only one of their previous 6 games. Not losing breeds confidence.

Regardless what side Liverpool put out, they went to the side their manager dumped them for and beat them comfortably. They'd drawn with a top 3 side in Chelsea. They ran the champions close on their own patch. Of 5 league games they picked up points in 4 of the 5.

They arrested a slump the media were claiming would see them struggle to rise into mid table. Not only that but their excellent form has continued with a further 4 points garnered. This means they have lost 1 in 7 so they have picked up an excellent 10 from 21 points. If you continued that over the course of a whole season you'd have a team doing very well (particularly this season when league is tight)

End result? They were confident.

 

Our results before we played West Ham:

Sunderland (A) 1-1 draw with 10 men.
Club Brugge (H) 1-0 with weakened team
WBA (H) 2-1 with last minute goal to raise spirits
Liverpool (A) 1-1
Club Brugge (A) 2-2

So where was our confidence against West Ham & Swansea??? It's up to the manager to motivate the players to play for the shirt, he's not doing that at the moment in my opinion.

It could be just me, I don't know...but did you get the impression the team gave up in the last 10-15 minutes against Southampton? I did if I'm honest, but not sure If I'm over thinking it just because of how I feel about our manager.

 

I seem to remember the vast majority felt that West Ham would finally kick start our season. Clearly it didn't. We've spiraled from there although West Ham and Swansea, it wasn't for lack of motivation or effort. Southampton was our first really awful display this season and it reminded me of our pathetic effort at Spurs last year or the 2nd half against Fulham. There was a lack of effort and Pardew failed to get them in a fighting mindset which I believe was required on a day of driving rain and high winds. We bottled it for me and that is not good enough. However I'm not going to question our manager because of one game.

The one area which concerns me and something Pardew seems to be missing (and results bear this out massively), is that Europe is having a massive impact on our season. SAF, Wenger, Mancini, Chelsea's various managers, Pulis, Moyes, Jol and every other manager who has taken part in european competition over recent seasons has commented on this. Our results and performances after European games have been particularly poor. It is blatantly obvious to me that the lack of preparation time for games is absolutely killing us. All these experienced managers have realised this and it is up to Pardew to work out how they get around the problem. Whether that is to get additional staff from Mike, or simply being more brutal about how we prepare for the Europa, I don't really care, the PL comes first.

 

Pardew talaks **** generally - I noticed within 2 weeks of his appointment he likes the sound of his own voice, however the fact he says we was good instead of we were shows he shouldn't.

 

Says who?

Gaston Ramirez, Llalana & Clyne would walk into the side that you put out.

Southampton aren't as bad a side as people think they might be and Gaston Ramirez would probably get into most team's starting 11 in this league.

 

Says me, you've named three players, what about the other eight?

Krul, Santon, Taylor, Tiote, Jonas, Ba & Cisse, seven players there that were part of a team that mustered up one of the worst performances I've seen from us in years. We had no desire, effort or the necessary work rate to win that game and played like a bunch of strangers that had just been thrown together. It was truly pitiful.

 

Throw Colo, Hatem, and Dreamboat into the mix as well and the only one who'd get in would be Clyne.

 

He did say "that day" to be fair and he is correct about Southampton. Recent performances suggest they can be competitive in the PL. Every team outside the top 5 is closely bunched. Long way to go and plenty of time to climb into a decent position. We just need to restore some confidence. I'd just go back to basics, forget they football for now and get back to working our socks off and keeping clean sheets, the rest will follow.

 

May shock you bud but I agree, the next step at the moment has to be getting the team fighting for each other, winning the majority of both first and second balls. Get supporters (such as me) back on side.

It will improve the atmosphere at the ground and the rest could indeed follow.

Edit: I'm not sure where that burst of positivity has just come from, its most unlike me of late

 

Its time to get our hands dirty. Its a cold wet horrible time of year and it finds people out at all levels of football. I've been in teams where players have hearts like split peas when the going gets tough, and the worrying aspect on Sunday is we reminded me of that. The players have to look in the mirror there. That is not your manager, that is about your players respecting their club and being professional. A manager can motivate them to a point but really his job is just to boost that a little, come up with a structure which gets the best from them and give them as much useful information as possible. I was very disappointed on Sunday I thought we bottled it and as a supporter, I do not accept that from professional footballers. At lower levels that can happen for a number of reasons, but pro footballers with their pampered lives, I'm not having that. I understand Pardew was the only one who bothered to go and clap the supporters at the end, that's not on. People have spent mountains of cash, travelled the length of the country and been served up ****e. The least you can do is respect them.