First and foremost for Pardew to sort!

Before any transfers or fancy "entertaining" squad additions is this take the foot of the gas mentality which has caused us countless late collapses this season costing us an awful lot of points.

The three that spring immediately to mind is yesterday's shambles, and the last gasp equalisers conceded against the spuds and the mackems. 6 points, would have placed us 4 places higher!

Now worryingly, alot of these collapses seem to be, in part, down to the tactical substitutions (or lack of) made at the latter stages. Pardew seems to have a worrying inability to make tactical calls to close out a game or to react sufficiently to the changing momentum of a game. Now I am not pinning this on Pardew, at the end of the day the lads themselves should be able to close out a game 3-0 up and they should all take a good look at themselves and I hope there were a few rollickings given out to the players on that field who already thought they were on holiday *ahem* Simpson *cough*

However, ending on a positive note, it has still been a fantastic rollercoaster ride of a season with the team's performances on the pitch performing beyond our wildest expectations at times. The aim was suvival, we achieved that and some! If the summer transfer activity matches the good noises made by Pardew and Ashley then we should really only go further next year.

Onwards and upwards! Howay

 

Simpson is just not good enough, the amount of times he just switches off is inexcusable....

 

Correct, for all the talk of building an exciting attacking team we need a better right back as a matter of urgency.

As far as yesterday goes I think Pards hands were tied a bit by the lack of depth on the bench (Guthrie starting!), but the collapse while making subs was unforgivable. Lovenkrands went off for Smith, and we looked like we didn't have a clue where we were playing. Guthrie went up top, Smith meandered about, and we conceded. We then ended up with Shola having to stay on when he looked battered. Hopefully we won't have so much of an issue next season with Nolan, Tiote et al back, but we can't afford to be carrying players who can never last a full game. That includes Shola, Lovenkrands, and worrying Ferguson who seems to hobble off every game.

 

First thing he needs to do.. do what I do on fm and do all of the business in the first week!

 

Simpson is starting to annoy me now I have to say.

 

his subs yesterday were pathetic why the **** bring on 2 players who have just came back from injuires and both looked unfit...

he should of chucked on ameobi and ranger or even stuck flipping kuqi on...but nope he goes for 2 unfit players.

fair enough the game was pretty much a dead rubber,pointless really nothing riding on it thankfully, but his subs have been strange/daft ones all season.

 

Used to be pretty solid in defenc ebut we were crying out for a bit more attack from him, so he learned to cross and in the process it seems he forgot how to defend. We agreeing that a new RB should be on the summer shopping list?

 

Same with Enrique....

 

I couldn't help feeling that two of the substitutions were emotional rather than tactical. Giving Smith a swansong performance before showing him the door maybe? And giving Best a chance to get a few minutes under his belt following his injury despite the fact he didn't seem match fit.

We definitely seemed to go off the boil as a result of the changes and I have to put it down as a Pardew mistake. Saying that though we still had enough experience and quality on the pitch to have closed that game out so the players take some blame too.

Like Chappaz I am also getting a bit annoyed with Simmo. He seems to have taken his eye of the ball towards the end of the season. Proving that RB is yet another position where we need competition for places so that complacency can't creep in.

 

this all day long

 

I must admit - I thought Simpson was class when he first arrived and his attitude was great! Recently though he has more than a whiff of a wannabe "Big Time Charlie" about him and I think Raylor should be getting a look in more than he does.

 

Why the **** does he take off Lovenkrands? Lover is one of the fittest players in the squad and works hard constantly, Shola looks like he's run a marathon after 5 minutes of walking.

Best should have came on and Shola should have came off at half time. I just feel sorry for Lover. Does more for the squad than he's credited for. Came so close so many times and deserves more goals.

Lover is excellent with Best on the pitch because they link up very well and both work extremely hard. Shola is usually offside or somewhere in midfield while Lovenkrands is in the oppositions box trying to score a goal.

Best did more in 20 minutes that Shola has done in the last 5 games.

We need to stop giving away **** goals. It's our two fullbacks that piss me off. Simmo stands off players and watches them walk into the box, Enrique tries to skin everyone and if it wasn't for Taylor we would have been 1-0 down in 5 mins thanks to Enrique.

We need to learn how to shut up shop properly. We don;t need to score 6 goals, we just need to keep a lead.

 

Simpson switches off no more than Enrique.

 

Aye Simmo is infuriating at times, recently he always seems to back off the player instead of putting a tackle in which gives them the space to put in a cross or cut inside past him.

 

pretty sure Enrique just has his eyes on pastures new and is far from giving a **** anymore

 

He always switches off and always has done. Whether it be with a sloppy 5 yard pass, poor poor marking or getting caught in possession. Always has done this! Just it gets overlooked because he's Enrique. Much like Tiote's bookings and sloppy mistakes are overlooked because he is Tiote. Or Colo being done well too easily and defending like an 8 year old for the 1st goal yesterday is overlooked because he is Colo.

 

Enrique switches off when in possession and will occasionally lose it, Simpson just loses his man or refuses to make a tackle if he is with him, allowing them to get in the box and play a pass. Both are problems, but at least Joses usually gives another man time to cover him, Simpsons is just fundamentally bad defending. Its something that could and should be coached out of him but theres no evidence of it so far.

Maybe we could tweet him?

 

his defensive lapses are probably due to him thinking what he will tweet next, and it cant be coached out of him because as he is training he is not listening and still tweeting away

 

Simpson is, and will always will be a useless ****er unfortunately

 

In theory it should be possible to coach it out of him. But for me if a full back hasn't learned the basics of positioning, tackling and jockying by his age then he is probably a lost cause. I fear that he may never get any better than he already is and we may need to look for a better player for our starting eleven and use him as backup. On his day he can put in a good performance he just doesn't seem to be able to sustain it over a period of time.