Santon

I love this total assumption that managers 100% know best then us lot.

By that logic they never make mistakes, they never get things wrong, every decision they make is the correct one....which a touch of common sense would tell you this is bullsh*t.

For all we know Pardew has been dying to play him, but has been too terrified to change a 'winning' defence. (not won every game but you know what I mean)

Pardew has done awesome this season. No question. However, he strikes me as a if it isn't broke dont fix it kind of manager. ie never change a winning team. There is some substance behind this, but I cant say I am one of those (if I were to get my coaching badges in order and become a manager in several years time....)

Squad management isnt the one thing you want from a manager, but its an important quality to have.

Our squad is f*cked at the minute. Make of that what you will.

 

Unless you have the squad depth of a top 4 club, the "never change a winning team" mentality is the probably the best way to go and its pushed on you anyway. This doesn't apply to Santon though who is a cut above our current full backs. The problem is though he is still nursing a nagging knee injury. I fail to see how anyone can criticise Pardew for not bringing Santon in earlier. The results were good and it gave him additional time to rest his knee. Its a no brainer. To be honest I think he'll be reluctant to push him too hard and risk flaring it up again.

 

Italy U21's had no hesitation in playing Santon. Dont see why we couldnt have made more of an effort.

On another note, our transfer policy seems to be cracking under the strain of Premier League games....

If Santon is crocked? And Marveaux is crocked? Demba has a ticking time bomb of a knee? (not to see yet like) Was it not wise to bring in a few more bodies?

Especially when you throw in the fact the players that are already here are; long term injured HBA, long term injured Gosling, injury prone Guthrie...?

To have only 2 solid Premier League Centre backs and an average back up in Williamson is a slight risk needlessly taken; its gone wrong badly.
You couldn't foresee Tiote getting injured however to have Guthrie and Gosling as our only back ups with their injury history is also a risk. Not paid off. Especially selling Nolan.
Having one right winger in the team that doesn't exactly have pedigree in Obertan and have a player with the injury history of Marveaux is a slight risk. Then to get rid of Barton for free? Not paid off. Obertan has been maily w*nk...but who do we bring in instead? HBA isnt getting a crack and Sammy is far too raw.
Imagine if Ba breaks down or heaven forbid his knee implodes?
Is Harper staying now or what...because if Krul gets a knock.....not even worth thinking about.

Seeing as we had a net spend of zero in transfer money, when we raked in a massive £35mil, to take risks in bringing in injury prone players (possible injury prone) and still have a lack of depth in certain positions is just ridiculous.

We have been unlucky. Obviously. But it seems we had no contingency plan whatsoever if the worst case scenario happened.

..................Even England will take a 23 man squad for possibly 3 games to the Euros............where as we have a smaller squad for 40plus games.....?!!

Where is the logic?

 

Ahahaha Jamie Redknapp was brilliant last season, Luis Enrique and Raul Morales

 

based on what? Norwich didn't play any wingers so no1 had a run at him. It's his first full game, doesn't speak the language and therefore there are gonna be moments of confusion at times but didn't see anything too troubling personally.

 

You think Pardew doesnt want a bigger squad? Ashley signs the paychecks and transfer deals and if it were up to Pardew our squad would be much better. Dont be so stupid as to blame the manager, of course he isnt happy with gambling on a load of players on a shoestring budget.

 

Learn to read then, that is literally what his post was about.

 

It's not from his games at Newcastle, I've seen him play for Inter. I will be nervous because i have a feeling he'll be like David Luiz and give away pens or get caught over playing.

Nevertheless, against Spurs and against Norwich he looked better than Simmo and Raylor so he should get time.

 

If you've seen Santon play for Inter and think he's no better than Raylor defensively, I would advise you to have yourself checked out, you may be ******ed.

 

BTW how do people know about this nagging injury? From Pardew's quotes, I was led to believe he was fully recovered but that Raylor was ahead of him on merit? Either way, didn't look like he had a problem on Saturday...

 

Also worth remembering is it could easily take Santon the entire season to get used to England, he's joining in very similar circumstances to Enrique (arguably with even more potential), and we reaped the rewards by being patient with him.

 

He just needs a few games

 

He's had it for a little while and it flared up after he joined, but Raylor was playing ahead of him because we were getting good results and had a fantastic defensive record.

 

Fair enough. The only time I saw him for Inter was vs Utd when he OWNED Ronaldo!! But I accept that you shouldn't judge him on one game...

 

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Definately. Remember N'Zogbia getting games ahead of Enrique at LB (albeit under silly management).

Santon has a long contract with us, plenty of time for him to shine even if he's not getting in the team atm.

 

100% this.

 

I agree but I got slaughtered on these boards pre season when I suggested we had a small squad. The thing I don't understand is his reluctance to use younger players. Only Sammy has been given much of a look in.

We took this risk and it has come back and to give us a bite. This is one of the main reasons I wanted to retain Nolan and Barton, and just add to them. But you can't blame Pardew. He has to work within the parameters the board sets him. He'd have liked to retain Barton, and probably Nolan, but to get Cabaye etc something had to give. The way I see it the board has taken a gamble, and its paid off up until recently. Now it looks really bad because we have Santon, Saylor, Guthrie, Ba, Marveaux, Gosling, Ameobi who are all very very injury prone. We'll just have to cross a few fingers and hope Mike has a good Chrimbo.

 

Well Simmos rejected another contract theres him off in the summer