I want the **** that Pards is smoking - My thoughts on the Man Utd game

We have no chance if we try and beat them with Long ball.

 

Completely, It's early days for him but haven't seen anything of him to convince me he's a better option than Guthrie!

 

Cove called it ages ago lads. He said he was too short for CM. At fullback he can at least use his pace, but other than that he seems, dare I say it, average...

 

Anita cannot play in a 4-4-2. Cabaye cannot play in a 4-4-2. Tiote is just passed around in a 4-4-2.

In a 4-2-1-3, Anita and Tiote could play at the back as DM's, and they'd both be far more useful.

Anita has shown some good quality at times, good tackles, decent passing and pace.

 

I want the **** that Pards is smoking.

Thought you already had it Tash.

 

Look we played ok but things just went their way that's all.

we matched them in all the stats for the game other than goals so stop moaning and claiming you all know better about tactics n stuff.

 

People expressing an opinion about what team/formation we should play is what this forum is all about fella, football debate. If people disagree then that's fine, but you can't just tell people to stop moaning if their opinion differs to yours.

 

Yes, would rather have Guthrie back.

 

To be fair i think Anita hasn't impressed yet but then several of our foreign stars haven't shone much in their first season. As for being too short for CM well Cove obviously reckons Xavi and Iniesta would be poor signings too.
As for todays performance, if we could adequately defend corners today would have been a very close game so overall as a team i thought we were ok, not good but ok against a good side.
As for long ball stuff well for me we did too much of that last season but then we finished 5th then so who knows but we do look better when we play more football. I would have started Shola ahead of Cisse today anyway, long ball or not.

 

To be honest, the way Pardew has us playing at the moment, you could sign them and Messi and they'd absolutely look like poor signings. Small players (no matter how technically gifted) in a long ball system just doesn't work.

 

Thats true but then i dont think you or Cove were referring to a long ball system, purely height for CM, after all any player would be pointless in CM in a long ball system as you infer so why mention Anitas height?
I do agree that our constant long ball stuff at the moment is frustrating though as we have the quality to produce better. Nothing wrong with a few long balls but not as much as we are playing at the moment.

 

Thank **** Sunderland are even more ****e than us or we would be getting royally buttfucked in a fortnight's time.

 

If Sunderland had won at Man City yesterday we'd never have heard the end of today's display.

 

Good to see all the North East lads in the same boat... Unfortunately it might be heading down a certain strong smelling creek, and Mike Ashley forgot to keep up his Wonga payments on that paddle

 

Tash, no need to get ****ty cos someone disagrees mate. Its a game of opinions thats all. Lighten up.

 

Agree with Tash on this one, our midfielders are not suited to 4-4-2. 3 in the middle gives Cab's more time, space and options and also allows the full backs to push on with more players to cover for them. HBA and Fergie out wide then Ba/Cisse upfront.

Also while Anita has not set the place alight I would say he has done OK so far and needs time to settle in. To say he's no better than Guthrie after 3/4 Premiership games is jumping the gun a bit for me, but maybe that's because I was not a fan of Guthries...

 

If you match the other team in all the stats it is declared a draw !!!!!!!

 

In general, I agree with all except a couple:

Bigi great pace ? Great pace after giving the ball away perhaps.

Am I the only one who thinks Jonas played much better than his rating of a 3? Tiote on the other hand was nowhere near his destroying best, and Harps was awful this game especially almost left red-faced if Welbeck could strike a ball at all..
The sooner Krul, Saylor, Colo come back to the team the better, and an awful decision by Pardew to start Ferguson in this game

Also, to those who are saying we looked better after we were down 2-0...If we led 2-0 in an away ground, would we still commit forward that much in search of more goals? If you genuinely have followed enough of our games under AP, you would know that we'd always sit back and soak up the pressure, sometimes even with a 1-0 lead. Take for example the Arsenal away game last season, we all know what happened after we scored first. Point here is its a non-issue, any team down 2-0 would have to take control of the game and try to fight back obviously, and even then they still scored a third, a glorious one too.

Overall I'm not too unhappy as we really just lost to a side with better quality than us, and it showed. When we put the likes of Willo and Harps in the lineup, the talent level would not be there, and they'll hopefully make up for it with their effort.

 

As usual we didn't start playing until we were about 20 mins in, which is when we went from 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3.
There was no organisation in the back 4 which MOTD highlighted and by the time we got our act together we were 2-0 down, you can't afford to give teams like Manure a head start like that.
After we changed formation and got our act together I felt we pretty much matched them but couldn't find the break through, the goal not given was marginal whether it was over or not (Same as Evertons). And the 3rd was a bit of a fluke goal which killed it for us.
Cisse should have had a pen at 2-0 since Evra seemed to want his shirt and had a few decisions go against on us. But the end of the day we were the architects of our own down fall.
Hopefully we'll have more players fit for the Derby match next week and really wouldn't like to call the result.

 

Just a poor performance. I'd agree though, the tactic was clearly go direct again. Such was the poor quality up to the front men, that it just didn't work. You need the likes of Colo for those tactics, the balls have to be put in the right area. Willo etc just launch and hope and it was a pretty easy opening 15mins for Rio and co.

I'd have also have started Shola. He was in form and relishes a physical battle. Bottom line is though that the dead balls cost us dearly and we got caught napping. The players were way too passive for the first 15mins, preferring just to sit in and try to frustrate them. I felt we should have been the ones starting quickly and trying to get on the front foot. Obviously Williamson should have done better with the first, although I do think Evans movement in the box was excellent all game. He met that ball full tick and sometimes you have to give a bit of credit to the oppo on dead balls. It is symptomatic of Williamsons general problems at this level though, movement is a killer for him.

The second goal was the game killer and we simply have to be better organised and aware of our responsibilities. They were stood arguing who's man Evra was as the ball was about to be delivered!

Not Pardew's best day and nto the players best day either. They deserved their win even if it flattered them a little in the end. I thought they defended really well and restricted us to half chances. We needed to put one away but couldn't manage it and as a result failed to get them truly rocking. One to write off as a bad day and move on for me.

As for Anita, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned. He doesn't look half the player he was at Ajax and doesn't look like he can cut it. However I said the same about Solano and we just need to give him a season to settle in and get used to the pace of the game. Because he is struggling with that, his passing is woeful.