It's not Pardew's fault.....

It's my wife's fault.

Last year my missus said " take my car " when I went up to Manchester airport to pick my lad and his wife up on their return from honeymoon......the result a 3-0 " howkin " against the Mackems.

This year " let's take my car " when we drove up to Beadnell to visit family on Saturday and subsequently drove back on Sunday afternoon when the match was on.....the result a 2-1 defeat against the Mackems.

I should have realised the omens weren't good, the f*cking thing's a Nissan made in Sunderland, if only she'd made Pardew aware of this I'm sure he would have made the necessary tactical changes to nulify this quirk of fate.

 

You owe me £100.00 for the 3-1 bet I put on for you.

I hope you haven't forgotten.

 

Could you go by train next time Jim?

 

Make a date in diary Jim 1/2/14 and don't let her talk you into using car, tell her it's broken the day before.

 

I knew you'd be involved somewhere along the line.

 

Of course if Pardew's fault, he doesn't get the derby never will, 7 more of years of feeling this after derby day what a great thought. Results in other games are rubbish and we are nothing more than Coventry or Southampton were 15 years ago with half the France squad. No one can defend this moron anymore.

 

Bollocks

 

Except Hacky.

 

Thankfully I'm not alone AB.

 

That's worrying are you generally happy to be a team who scraps to survival every year until we eventually get relegated. We're in the **** now, especially with Tottenham and Chelsea coming up, lose those two at it's our worst start since 1999.

 

You, Pards and who else?

 

I've never said I'm generally happy. I am a realist though and have an opinion on how the club is run, and how far that can take us. We're not that good, have a poor transfer policy, an owner who isn't interested and feel the last thing we need is more destabilising action in my opinion. What worries me more is fans who jump off the deepend after each defeat, think we're better than we are and can't see the alternatives are worse. I honestly believe if we go down the sacking route the club will go down. Simply because this is as good as the players are and to get more blood from the stone, you'll need a top boss. Mike won't pay for that, they wouldn't come, vicious circle.

 

We have good players most of that team are international footballers for countries who will or could be at the World Cup next year, yet we are continually battling relegation, I quite agree that Ashley & Co need to go, but no other Premier League team would touch Pardew because he's not a Premier League manager.

 

Jim, Sandra and a select few others. We still have t-shirts if you want to join?

 

Again its all very well moaning but who else are we going to get? Personally I think you over rate the players. They look mid table players maybe lower in the main. Sissoko is a good example. Some seem to think he is suddenly going to give a **** with a new manager and look good. This is despite having probably played well in 10% of his games so far, costing 2m and facing zero competition for his signature. Sure I blame Pardew for continuing to select him ahead of Anita but I ain't kidding myself about our overall level. Our crown jewel HBA is a joke. 1 game in 6 he scores a wonder goal. Discarded by clubs his whole career with the same inconsistent tag yet our fans worship his lazy arse! Most teams in the Pl are full of internationals, that doesn't mean they're a good team.

 

Are they? Sissoko is a quality player but for some reason Pardew doesn't know what to do with him, Ben Arfa is a quality player but yet again Pardew can't work out what to do with him. Santon is ****e but never gets dropped, Santon hasn't had a good game in 2013.

 

Sissoko is not a quality player on all known evidence. Just because he warms the bench for an average French national team, that doesn't make him top class. He has play 90% of the games this season in his favoured central midfield role. He is lazy, one of the worst I've seen for laziness in a B&W shirt. He makes Emre look like a workhorse! He has had maybe 2 good games since arriving. Maybe he is struggling to adapt but one thing for sure, he sure as hell isn't performing in his favoured role. The excuses have ran out.

I don't mind saying it and a lot of fans will not like it. HBA is not all that. He is supremely talented but lacks the professional application to make the most of his talent. It doesn't matter where he plays, its the same thing, 1 in 6 performer. The 1 is very very good. To carry a player in the PL (which is not easy now), he needs to be producing something in most of the games. To not even perform in 20% is unsustainable. I wouldn't even pick him. He'd make a good impact sub, a Tarrabt type character.

Santon should be dropped and this falls solely with Pardew.

I think we seriously overrate our team. Outside of Newcastle everyone views us the same way. Decent side, some decent players on their day, soft centre. Its hard to argue with that assessment. Changing Pardew will not change it. Not with the options you'd have for a replacement.

 

Maybe it is my black and white tinted spectacles, but I really am baffled by the reaction this week. Really? You were surprised we lost when we are missing our first, second, and third choice center-halves and have started our fourth choice alongside our third choice left back? I knew that once Yanga-Mbiwa picked up the red card that we were going to struggle to contain Fletcher and Altidore. Dummett did alright against the smaller line-up of Liverpool, but stood no chance against Sunderland. Anita? I love him as a player, but once again, he would have been battered by Sunderland's midfield. I was almost thinking that our best option would have been to play 3 across the back with Tiote and Sissiko playing as defensive midfielders/centerhalves. Once the game started, I though Pardew did well to adjust his formation do give us more width and attack because it was obvious that Poyet had set up his team to press when not in possession. Spreading them out more increased their work rate and tired them out. Bringing on Cisse at halftime for Sissiko was ok, but I would have brought on Ameobi instead, just because of his strength. After that? No idea because we were doing well in terms of holding the ball. Borini's strike was an exceptional strike and turned out to be the difference between the two teams. It was one of those that you see happen and think that if you have to lose, at least it was to a goal like that. I think we will be ok this season. We are actually trying to play the right way and are posing a pretty good attack. Hopefully, we will pick up someone to shore up the back line in January.


And breathe...

 

As you say, hopefully!

 

Pardew must start Anita though. Its all very well worrying about physicality but Sissoko brought nothing. No physicality. No effort. No quality. Zero. Hasn't done for a long time.