Hark...what light through yonder window breaks?

There seems to be a lot of doom and gloom on here and at times... more knee jerkers than at a cossack dancing convention....

I therefore thought I'd air my thoughts.....

There's quite a few positives in my view right now:

1- We are 4th place in the best league in the world
2- We can, at last defend and have one of the best defensive records for many a season
3- The emergence of SAmeobi
4- We are 6 points ahead of SAFC after only 4 games
5- We are ahead of the big spending bin dippers
6- Now Ramadan is over, Ba and Tiote will continue to get back up to speed
7- Ben Arfa is to return shortly and Pardew is on record as saying he will play in 'the hole' behind a striker
8- If reports are to be believed the (potentially disruptive) politics in the dressing room have now all but gone with the departure of Barton = better team ethic

In short, we will only get better IMHO and have a solid foundation to build on for the rest of the season.

It's a marathon not a sprint of course but we've certainly started much better than I would have expected.....

HWTL

 

Aye and with 8 points we're 20% of the way to safety from just four games.

 

Yes, things could be a lot worse. Just look at our uhygenic neighbours.

 

Have to say I agree with all but Barton was no disruptive influence. The players and manager have confirmed as much. Should have been retained, because of his great team ethic. All the media stuff levelled at him has proved untrue. Captaincy issue? Colo has actually said he was his biggest help when becoming captain. Foreign/new player integration? Cabaye commented that he was the first to approach him and help him settle. You look last night and that lad was playing for the wrong team. He looked gutted and the love with the players was evident for all to see. Top man and his clapping of the fans etc was first class. Massive mistake by the board but we move on.

The rest I agree, we have lots to be happy about. We are 4 games in with 8 points, almost a quarter of the initial survival target, what do people want? I'm not saying ignore the performance last night, but you are allowed to have bad games as a manager and players. When you are picking up points as they come along, its a good sign!

 

If in doubt........

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Once we beat Villa we will be laughing

 

I wonder if there's any value in the club shop selling crested incontinence trousers for old boys like me to save us from embarrassing situations if we do hammer the Vile again, my old ones stretched beyond recognition after I'd filled them after the 6-0 thrashing.

 

But please please please bring in a quality striker in January to help out up front.

 

I'm not too sure whether anyone on here will know but anyway,

With the large amount of coverage the olympics next year is getting, it clashes with Ramadan. I can't remember where but I heard that some athletes who celebrate Ramadan are allowed to delay it. So my question is, could these players not have celebrated it early instead?

Surely a less effective pre-season would make more sense as the players lack match fitness anyway. Or is it not allowed outright.

 

I believe everyone in the NUFC dressing room misses Barton; did you see the love-in between him and the likes of Sammy and Saylor after the QPR game. Pardew was complimentary of his performance last night when interviewed too.

Agree with the +ve vibes on the other points though!

 

Actually to a manager, probably not. Pre season is where you get your base fitness to get you though the season. So a manager would probably say it is better to sacrifice early games. I struggle with the whole thing anyway as I'm not religious at all and think its a load of bollocks whichever one you choose. However I realise you have to keep an open mind and respect their choices.

 

Hell hath no fury like a well-timed grenade!

Interesting to see if anyone works out what that's about without google

 

All of what you say is true - the fact remains though that we could have lost by 2 or 3 goals last night and had no complaints.

We were absolutely hopeless in the first half and should have been dead and buried.

I'm with you on the positive note though - we are 4th but we don't look nearly capable of maintaining it.

 

This! Why is everything you say always spot on?!

 

But would it not offset the work during preseason? By fasting during preseason those early season games will allow the players to get up to speed quicker without suffering the physical consequences during those same games + the following games getting back up to speed.

 

I will be happy if we pick up another point at Villa at the weekend, regardless of our performance. Any point away from home in the Premiership is a good one.

 

I agree with the general positivity, but you're clearly grasping with some of the points. Going to do letters as I cba to order them relative to yours.

A) being 4th means nowt right now. Sbr said never to take notice of the table til November.

B) our "defence" hasn't been great. 3/5ths of it have been phenomenal though.

C) pardew is on record as saying a lot of things which haven't worked out.

D) who cares about the mackems or the scousers?

 

I know what you mean. They do it differently and to be honest even at junior level upwards I was always told to grind yourself to a halt in pre season. It always stood true aswell later in the season, especially around Chrimbo when the ground got heavy. Maybe they think without the fuel in your system you wouldn't get a true base fitness because your body couldn't do the work. I suppose they look at it over a whole season and many games with big squads. Mind I'm not sure if your team was struggling badly early doors bebcause of it you'd feel quite the same. Tough one.

 

Feeling the love bud! Do you wanna have a word with wor lass, she sees it the exact opposite!