If HBA played for Everton....

He'd frustrate the **** out of me that lad, as he's got all the talent in the World, but just appears to lack conviction or effort at times. I've always thought he'd be better played centrally off the striker, which would get him on the ball more and get him into better shooting positions.

 

I'll stand by my comments of wanting him out, regardless of Southampton result, regardless of Man U result. For me, he's at a point of no return - it's an embarrassment now that we allow and accept home hammerings off the likes of Everton or Spurs. I don't mind that we as a mid-table club write off results against perhaps the top 4 or 5, anything better than a P10 W0 D0 L10 record being good. But when you're now allowing and writing off 14 or 16 matches because those clubs are "better" than us, then I don't see the point in supporting a team. Hopeless is pointless with football, all you can ever do is aspire and we are absolutely an aspiration-free zone.

Besides which, what's your logic in then losing in the cup to Cardiff, at Fulham, at home to Sunderland, at Swansea. I could go on but the performances are so awful, so disgraceful and with such alarming regularity that I cannot fathom in the slightest how any fan of this club can 'accept' it.

 

Hi Roland,

ill just base this on myself and not any other fans, at the start of the season i wanted the club to avoid relegation and to have a top half finish, at certain points i thought we were capable of a lot more, but after cabaye went my aspirations reverted back to what they were at the start, mid table, solid finish. am i happy about early cup exits? no, am i happy about when we lose we lose big, no. however i cant see anyone else doing a better job with the squad we have and the constraints the management team are under. And while i dont want to be hammered by everton and spurs, i would actually expect to lose to the teams in the top 5/6 and for us to beat most of the teams in the bottom 14 - saying that with us there is a freak result in there. My aspirations for this season have been met, i do hope however the board kick on and actually invest in the squad, or like you say whats the point?

 

It's a fair and valid point, but for me I just don't feel like Alan Pardew contributes anything to the point where I think he has an actively negative influence!! It may be harsh because, to be completely fair, we are pretty much where we 'should' be. 7th is 1st to Newcastle, so I do accept that on paper, or staring at a league table, we look ok. The trouble I have is Pardew said this same thing about 3 weeks ago. He said "Everton are supposed to be having a great season, yet we're not, and they're only 2 points ahead of us." That's more or less word for word. Today we're 11 points behind them, with them having tanked us at home. Let's not forget that the 45 minutes AT GOODISON were among the worst this club has ever seen, or am I wrong?

The lows outweight the highs to such an extent that I cannot feel anything good towards them, my hometown club. That they are followed by such nonsense is what destroys my soul - when Pardew says the Sunderland performance, 0-3 at home for the second season in a row, "must be put right" then follows it up with 0-4 vs Spurs tells you all you need to know. He has no control, no ability, no character. This is a man who wore the Newcastle crest and nutted a player. Seriously, that did actually happen, yet here he is.

Whichever way Pardew is spun - as an extension of Ashley, as the worst "tactician" since Souness, as a smug, arrogant bastad - I just don't want the guy near the club.

Don't get me wrong, the owner is as much to blame. But the owner can turn around tomorrow and invest £50m on players. Unlikely, but he can. Can Pardew suddenly become good at his job? Nope. So the only answer is for him to go. It's a test of Ashley's ambition as to whether he'll bother. Sadly, I imagine when the Summer window closes we'll be stuck with a rubbish squad and the same useless fecker in charge.

 

At the end of the 2011/12 season the club finished 5th, I presume you were still unhappy with the manager then, having had a poor tranfer window or 3 now I am going to wait and see what happens next, this season is over really and as far as aims go the club will finish in the top 10. Enough for now.

 

C'mon Roland what has happened to your positivity and give Ashley until September.
Two months on here and look what its done to you.
Is that another beacon of light slowly but surely being extinguished.
Welcome to the cynical gang.

As far as Pardew goes, I wouldn't argue with anything you've said but, its what comes next after him that worries me.
I think fans are either (a) pro Pardew, (b) anti Pardew or (c) will keep him because you just know who Ashley will appoint next time around. I'm a big C. (not C***)

Again HBA splits fans down the middle in many respects, but, personally I've had enough of him.
Fair enough he crossed for Cisse against Palace, but for the other 35 minutes he was on the pitch, he was a lazy waste of space.
The PL doesn't allow teams to carry passengers, and that's what he is.
If he played for Everton, he wouldn't even be in the squad IMO - compare him to the Spanish kid, Deulofeu and only one winner as far as I can see and its not HBA.

 

Aaaarrrggghhhh, get out of my head! My thoughts exactly. Particularly the Pardew bit.

 

Great minds.

 

!

 

[video=youtube;qLC9o_unLq4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLC9o_unLq4[/video]

 

With Ashley, we probably don't really have a choice in the matter. He has the money, he has the business behind our business so with a bit of support it's not beyond the realms of feasibility that he might invest.

I guess in the same token as supporting Ashley in the possibility he may invest, so it follows that I can hope he will invest in a useful manager. Let's be honest - there is a greater chance of hoping Ashley will do something like that, than in ever believing Pardew will 'come good'. I get what people are saying about the 5th finish - let's not forget we were above Chelsea that year, an anomaly to say the least. Factor Liverpool in and these are things out of ours or Pardew's control - much like his tactics, much like the results. Bottom line is that I don't think you can be as random as Newcastle if the manager is having an influence. I will cite Everton - for the last few years, you almost always know what's coming at you. I'm not even using Man City, Chelsea, or anyone with money - I'm using Everton as an example. They didn't get relegated, promoted, finish mid-table, 5th, 16th, 9th. They don't tend to lose so badly every 3 games or so. With Newcastle, you have no idea what will turn up. Against Palace, we could have played all week and they wouldn't have scored. Against Everton, WE could have played all week and we wouldn't have scored. It's random and impossible, and it's the manager to blame. I have to cling to the hope that we can do better than Pardew. Doesn't have to be a big name, just someone progressive. I doubt we'll be trying to bring in Diego Simeone! But I'm that desperate I'd welcome Lee Clark, Eddie Howe, Nigel Clough, or abroad the likes of Thomas Tuchel or Vitor Perreira.

 

You're not alone, but don't let WP or DMW know that.

 

Bang goes all credibility in your argument I'd definitely stick if these were the guys on offer. Not bad managers but hardly inspiring and certainly nothing in their records to warrant swapping places with Pardew.

Now Tuchel is an interesting one as he flies straight in the face of what you and many other people call for on here - identity. His coaching focus in training is based around ‘rhomb-training' with the pitch dimensions being cut to resemble a diamond-shape in order to cut out long-passes down the touchlines. The Mainz squad are accustomed to training in different shapes on pitch sizes varying from rhomb to circle, or 18m wide x 75m length and 30m length x 70m wide. He calls it a “systematic approach” with his preferred formation on a matchday mirroring – and countering - how the opposition line-up on the park. Essentially his teams have no identity, they simply counter the opposition. He makes mass changes depending on the game to personnel, tactics and formation. I read up on him a bit recently and he is a really interesting character. Whether he'd come and work under Ashley, I'm not sure because he likes things done his way.

Perreira - haha he has already shown his hand when he left for Saudi. I'm not sure Ashley pays Saudi type money to managers!

 

I have to be honest, I didn't bother to do any research into the names, I just threw out what I'd heard about, so you've got me bang to rights on that.

So applying a bit more thought to it, I'll suggest Unai Emery - not a great time in Russia, but a decent record in Spain - Jens Keller, Sami Hyppia, Leonardo Jardim? I mean, it's all irrelevant, I supposed, but I can't imagine Pardew is the best we can bet. Take Ashley out of the equation, who would you have?

 

Tough but I like the way Ajax play under De Boer and Atletico under Simeone. Even without Ashley they'd be pretty unrealistic for a side like us. Rudi Garcia or Conte likewise.

More realistic ones, maybe the likes of Pavel Vrba or Jackie McNamara. Both place an emphasis on youth, passing attacking football. We really have missed the boat on a few I think. Rodgers, Poyet, Martinez, Pochettino are the new breed type you want. There will be more of them out there, you just have to actually give a **** and look as an owner.

 

Problem is Mike Ashley only employs people he knows and he only knows 3 people in football. One is the current manager, one is the recently departed DoF, and the other is Dennis Wise. I reckon we should stick.