Game On! Southampton v Newcastle

Game On at St Mary's
Game On at St Mary’s
North travels South today as two teams from opposing ends of the country face each other at St Mary’s Stadium this afternoon.

The difference in geographical location is however a complete opposite when you look at the close proximity of these two sides in the league table.

Realistically one of us is going to finish 8th and one of us is going to finish 9th. It’s just a matter of who finishes above the other and I get the feeling that the game this afternoon will have a rather large bearing on the answer to that particular question come the end of the season.

Later than I would have liked, but last night I did indeed publish a match preview which can be viewed here. It details a history of the fixture, news of injury concerns from both sides, some stats and some associated waffling so take a look if you haven’t already done so.

You all know the drill with regard to live TV transmission of kick-off at this time here in the UK so once again a lot of people will be looking for streams. The good news is that some overseas channels are showing the game so finding a stream shouldn’t be too much of an issue. You can find links in the ‘comments’ section below.

Team news will be added in below as and when I can get to it but it shouldn’t be too much after 2pm although someone will always post it in the comments far quicker than my ageing hands can get around a keyboard.

Howay the lads!

Southampton: Artur Boruc, Calum Chambers, Jose Fonte, Dejan Lovren, Luke Shaw, Jack Cork, Steven Davis, James Ward-Prowse, Adam Lallana, Jay Rodriguez, Rickie Lambert

Subs: Paulo Gazzaniga, Morgan Schneiderlin, Gaston Ramírez, Guly do Prado, Jos Hooiveld, Harrison Reed, Sam Gallagher

Newcastle: Rob Elliot; Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Massadio Haïdara; Vurnon Anita, Cheik Tioté; Moussa Sissoko, Hatem Ben Arfa, Yoan Gouffran; Papiss Cissé

Subs: Jak Alnwick, Davide Santon, Paul Dummett, Steven Taylor, Dan Gosling, Shola Ameobi, Luuk de Jong.

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

781 thoughts on “Game On! Southampton v Newcastle

  1. @Kim

    I’ve told you repeatedly, Pards can jump up and down and hissy fit like Aussie but it wouldn’t make a ha’peth bit of difference.

    He has no say on the matter. If a player wants to go then you can’t keep him. If an owner wants to sell then he’ll sell.

    You are showing a real lack of understanding about football, with the greatest of respect. 😉

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  2. @Ice

    Pards does talk some ***** no doubt. But sometimes, when a manager is repeatedly quoted, then it’s easy to pull those quotes apart.

    Very very few managers say it how it is to the press. They would lose the dressing room overnight if they did.
    You know that.

    A lot of managerial talk is bullshit from every manager in the league. Pardew is not alone. Heaven forbid, Mark might tell us I’m wrong and say, Paul Jewel only says it how it is. 😛

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  3. TROY you mean like Rogers not selling their best player because of all **** he caused the owners wanted him out,Rogers stood his ground and said no I want to keep him and did,maybe he has got pair unlike other we can name,reminds me a bit like KK,its my way or no way

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  4. @MM

    I think Pards has tried to change the style of play this season after the hoofball criticism he received last season.

    You say, in the last 3 seasons you can think of 6-8 really good performances. We finished 5th 3 seasons ago and whether those performances were convincing or not, that was one hell of an achievement.

    We were doing very well up to January this year and were in a strong position to push on, not only for Europa but an outside chance of CL.

    That was blown away by Ashley, not Pardew.

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  5. @Ice

    Rodgers is a totally different scenario as you well know. I don’t even know why you are making that comparison with the owners of Liverpool & NUFC.

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  6. Troy you do make me laugh mate , would SAF of let a player go if he didn’t want to?, and as Ice points out Rogers wouldn’t let the Beaver leave either. Bottom line is Pards has no balls.

    We got a good start to the season no doubt and we’re safe but Ican’t think of more than a couple of games where we have looked assured and entertaining tbh.

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  7. Ice – whether they win the league or not, I think Rogers deserves manager of the season.
    He has totally transformed Suarez from being a cheating little ***** to a team player. The diving has gone from his game and he looks to play in his team mates now when once he would have went for glory.
    He has the likes of Henderson and Sterling playing some cracking football and also brought in the likes of young Flannigan.
    Part of me hopes they win the league over huge spending Chelsea and City to be honest.

    Paul fucking Jewel!!! 😆 😆

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  8. Did Rogers say no, or did Henry? As I recall Henry was vehement they wouldn’t sell Suarez and especially to a “rival” like Arsenal. Did we have any sound bites from mikey? Of course not, just the sound of the cash machine and calculator in the background.

    Agree with Troy @680 too 😯

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  9. TROY all Ime saying is some managers have balls and will stand or walk for there way of playing the game,some managers will not join a club if they don’t have the last say on transfers which has happened a few times,and stand or fall by that,ts not like the old days,managers are not short of a few quid and can refuse jobs,I just admire guys that have a set,so should you if you are anything like your grandad

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  10. Plus Suarez is head and shoulders above Cabaye. 40 million would have been a steal even before this season imo, he is the kind of guy who could get you champions league almost all on his own. As it happens Liverpool have clicked as a team and have him playing brilliantly. Kudos to em, how many of us were laughing at them only a year or two ago ❓

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  11. @ Kim

    As I say, with the greatest respect, by your latest comments, I genuinely don’t believe you get how football works.

    Ice, with his age and football background, really must know the difference between NUFC, LIVERPOOL, MAN UTD, SAF. etc

    We all know Pardew is a puppet. But NUFC want a puppet. It’s pointless crying on wanting someone else to come in and not to be a puppet. That will not happen under Ashley.

    Having said all that, I believe Pards has done a decent job under the circumstances.

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  12. NEWKIE I seem to remember Henry say he was not going to allow the good name of the club dragged through the mud by any one player,so don’t know mate,this footy game is getting like politics they all talk ****

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  13. Ice

    In not disagreeing with you about Pards and not walking out. But you can never really believe he could have prevented the sale of Cabaye in January? Surely not?

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  14. well its Paul Jewel or Bryan Robson for me 😆

    Aye kim, I definitely saw a lost team in our last 2 games. Mbiwa wasnt interested at all. Even if he was out of postion theres no excuse for not trying.

    Mike has made it unbelievebly hard for Pards but he still picks the team poorly and his tactics are so predictable without a plan b.

    I can’t believe Troy is so excitedly supporting Pardew as if he shoulders no blame and its all mikes doing 😯

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  15. Reet off to bed. So I’m not ignoring anyone if they post.

    I’ve just spat some pips oot. 😛

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  16. Troy , Ah but that’s the thing I’m too aware how it works, that’s why I’m so cynical about it all. And you know I’m right Pards IS ball less, he will do what ever he’s told to keep in his dream job, he will never get a better job than this and Jabba will never get a better puppet.

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  17. @Troy. Pardew has told us numerous times we have identified players and apparently the Cabaye deal was done a while ago. The guys a puppet who constantly talks **** and is making a mug of himself and the fans. Jewels wouldnt stand for this ****..

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  18. Ice-yeah mate, and Liverpool fans were saying the same thing. I knew a few who at the end of last season wanted him gone. But the kop are back to worshipping him like a god now the filthy **** 😆

    If an offer of 50-60 mil had come in then Henry could have sold Suarez and said he was doing it because Suarez had no respect- he could then go and buy some other class players in order to keep liverpool fighting for a CL spot. Everyone would have been happy with that, 40 mil would have meant he lost face.

    But with us we sell and apparently don’t get any reinvestment… 😕 We also only sell for 19mil when Fellani just cost manure 27.5mil? I don’t think cabs is worth it but we should have been holding out for more.

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  19. TROY I think it was smoking Joe that done that sale mate,another reason pardew should have stood his ground until the season end,you cannot say pardew hands are tied and then come out with the **** he comes out with,he is just going along with what they want,he cannot have it both ways,in any walk of live if someone takes your tools away you carry on or walk

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  20. I don’t disagree with anyone that Patds is a puppet. It’s as if I’ve never even posted the same views above by reading the latest comments. 🙄

    These pips are stuck right in my teeth now. 😆

    He won’t walk, cos he has the dream job. True.

    However, all I’m saying is, he talks rubbish just like every other manager does. No more, no less.

    Do you not think the WH fans are sick of Fat Sam and his contradictory comments.
    Arsenal fans with Wenger.
    Moyes, Sherwood, poyet, & Jose.

    Rodgers is escaping the flak because cos he is doing well.

    Pardew is not alone. A football managers job involves bullshitting because they are asked questions by the press daily. They simply can’t say it how it is cos what goes on in the dressing should stay in the dressing room.

    What bit of that do some of you not understand?

    As far as the football goes, he’s got a pile of **** to work with. You can’t have plan A plan and plan C with mediocre players.

    I’ve just spat those pips out eventually! 😉

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  21. Pardew OUT!

    The players may not be up to scratch, but I firmly believe that a better managerment team, with better coaching would get 50% more out of this group and wouldnt require the massive cull. It may even persuade Remy et al to stay with us, may even attract better players to come to play for him, Laudrup/De Boer for example, would attract much better players to come to play for them rather than the plum we have in charge.

    Looking forward to another humping on sat. How many on the trot do we need to have before the axe is weilded out? No plan to win the game?! Thats the only line he needs to put in his resignation letter.

    I want him replaced ASAP

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  22. Troy , KK wasn’t afraid to say it how it was and I’m pretty sure Fat Sam doesn’t take any **** either, Jose defo wouldn’t either . We all know SAF was outspoken and had the last say most of the time. As for the dressing room ,I tend to agree that most managers keep any unrest in house but our initial conversation was about Pards not standing up to players and Jabba wasn’t it 😉 . Is that another pip I can see in your teeth 😀

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  23. Troy, you can’t say all our players are **** or mediocre, they aren’t, they just have a mediocre managers tactics to play to . Look how Rogers is getting the best out of players that had previously been written off by Liverpool fans under Dalglish like Henderson as Sharpy pointed out. The same applies to West Ham ,he wouldn’t play Tevez or Mascherano hardly at all and when he did he played Tevez out of position ,Alan Curbishley had no problems playing them and we all saw how effective Tevez was when used properly. IMO Pards has big issues with creative flair players ,quite why I have no idea, he seems to prefer work horses , that’s fine they have their place in every team but you also need that bums off seat type of player who can win you a game ,a point well made by Rob Lee when talking about Benny and his time alongside Ginola.

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  24. @Kim

    Putting it simple and to finally rid myself of this irritating pip in my tooth, managers don’t speak the truth. They say things are well when clearly they are not.

    All managers, as does Pardew, say they aren’t happy with the players after poor performances, but equally, once the tempers cool, they are put positive spin on the situation and build the team and performances back up, which is what they need to do. Even when they know it’s not the truth , they all do it.

    Pardew is no different to any other manager anywhere when under pressure.

    The fans know it’s bullshit and so does the manager but it has to be done that way or you lose the dressing room overnight. It’s a simple concept, tried and tested and there’s no right or wrong, it’ always the right tactic.

    KK said it how it was and was sacked/ walked or whatever.

    That doesn’t help does it?

    We all know what the alternative is to playing the party line, it’s walking.
    So the next man comes in and either accepts the conditions or walks after a short period.

    We all know, Pards accepted the terms & conditions from the outset. He knew he had to abide by Ashley’s wishes. He saw what happens if you speak out. Why are you surprised.

    Every manager other than SAF & Fergie have had to. Even Jose was sacked for speaking out.

    Now get out of my teeth. 😉

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  25. Troy – You are right about the post match comments on performances by managers but what all managers don’t do is praise an unpopular owner, dedicate results to them and continually tell the supporters what we can’t do, rather than what we can do. I am a bit tired of hearing from Pardew that we can’t compete with the big boys and that we are susceptible to them taking our players. The taking our players thing really bugs me. Liverpool held firm over Suarez in the summer and just look at them now. If they had sold him to Arsenal they would be about 7th and Arsenal would probably be top of the league.

    In short we all know the clubs ethos is totally pathetic and flawed but I am totally sick of the manager protecting it and making excuses for it.

    His words more than his performance as manager is annoying more.

    As I said last week I would make the change now, if only for changes sake. How much worse can we be? I just want to see some good football now as winning something is never going happen with these restrictions and attitudes.

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  26. It is possible that Troy is right. Or maybe half right. We all know Ashley has no football knowledge. He proved it immediately by giving Allardyce all that money to buy over the hill useless players and his massive staff, hiring Keegan, Shearer, sacking Hughton and then installing only puppets and totally restricting their budgets. Good way to run a shop but a football club?

    Sow e’re left with Troy’s puppet bending backwards to come up with new excuses for his puppetry. We had no PROCESS to win the game. Our kids have no intelligence or education. We’ll DO a good performance against ManU. I disagree Troy about all managers. Martinez always speaks sense, so does Wenger. I reckon we’ll see Martinez replacing Wenger. Meanwhile we’re left with a total pile of rubbish. Even Iron Mike has reverted to falling down every time he makes a challenge or gets nudged. Mbiwa’s eyes are on a return to France, Benny doesn’t care any more, Colo doesn’t and Tiote’s just a ****.

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  27. Is it having balls or is it throwing your toys out the pram?.

    People are lauding KK as a man who stood up against the regime – I saw a man run when the going got tough!.

    I wish everything in my work place was exactly how I wanted it by the way!. I don’t believe any football manager in the history of the game had it all their own way – because when you work for someone else there is always boundaries and constrains placed on you.
    Pardews are simply great than others, but to read that KK was some working class hero or something like that – I’m not buying that at all.

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  28. Sharpy – I never liked KK but he was brilliant for five years here and was right to walk away from Wise etc. Pardew’s in a different class altogether. He is the one lacking intelligence and education. He’s the one who can’t string a sentence together that makes sense and he can’t even dance very well when the strings are pulled. He needs and deserves Wendy Taylor. He has us playing 1980s football. Remember the mantra – keep your 442 shape at all times. Go up like that, defend like that. Be rigid and work hard.
    The club needs a total overhaul. Nothing else will work.

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  29. “We all know what the alternative is to playing the party line, it’s walking.
    So the next man comes in and either accepts the conditions or walks after a short period.
    We all know, Pards accepted the terms & conditions from the outset. He knew he had to abide by Ashley’s wishes. He saw what happens if you speak out.” Troy.

    I agree entirely mate but does it have to be a truly **** manager? A decent one would just get on, ignore the infrastructure and work with the team to produce good football. Pardew’s rubbish.

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  30. Here Here Stuart,

    AP is a spineless *****, and acts as an enabler for MA to treat the club with contempt. The club is rotten to the core, and AP is very much a major part of that. Regardless of all the dressed-up bollox he has spouted about the club and the fans, he has failed in his years at the helm to convince ashley that it is worth investing in him/club/team. That is a major failing of his and his alone

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  31. RAFFO
    April 3, 2014 at 10:49
    Agree Stu. Who would you have, Zola, Dyche, Laudrup?

    I think I would take Laudrup. I liked Swansea’s football.

    I must stress though I still believe Pardew has done a decent job under extraordinary circumstances.

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  32. Interesting stuff from other sources.

    Southampton (A) 29/03/2014 0 – 4

    “I can’t explain (the lack of energy) compared to theirs”

    I can. They’re managed by a modern-thinking football manager and not a 1990’s dinosaur attempting to shoe-horn all sorts of players into some sort of 4-4-2.

    So there we have it, just under 14 percent of Newcastle’s league games under Alan Pardew have ended in a loss by three or more goals. Seven of these hammerings have come at St James’ Park. This is simply not good enough.

    and

    Sissoko was substituted late in last weekend’s 4-0 defeat to Southampton at the St Mary’s Stadium.

    And the 24-year-old is undergoing treatment for an unspecified injury at the French national team’s Clairefontaine base.

    Sissoko tweeted: “Early rehabilitation Clairefontaine today!! Back in 2 or 3 weeks!!”

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  33. I guess we’ll now get to see if that Gosling kid is any good. Looked good at Everton. 😳

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  34. GEORGIO@709 I agree mate 100% but not on your point of KK,all this **** pardew spits out is getting very very boring,I think the PL needs characters JM, Holloway, KK ect but that’s just IMO like

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  35. Pardew is pathetic. Ashley is obviously in love with him that’s how he gets away with awful results. Joe gave him an ultimatum and sadly for Joe, Ashley picked Pardew. Clowns

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  36. Stu – Agree on Laudrup, dont agree on Pardew. Yes he has had his hands tied money wise, but the failings on the pitch are down to him and his methods. He does have an awful lot to be accountable for and needs to be replaced for us to move forward.

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  37. Troy-I agree completely with the manager talking nonense thing. They all do it.Ferguson was one of the best at talking ****, whether he was on the wind up or completely deluded was never really clear.

    It gets swept under the table when the team does well and picked up on when they aren’t-it’s the same for all of them. Pardew’s problem is that at the same time as talking **** he sounds a bit smug or rubs people up the wrong way, whereas when Hughton talked **** you just wanted to ruffle his head and give him an “aww look how cute and innocent he is, at least he tries”

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  38. I’m also interested as to how he’s become a die hard “4-4-2” man. Do people think we have played the vast majority of games this season…bearing in mind how much Remy was on the left until we realised he’s actually our only striker capable of scoring?…. 😉

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  39. Georgio/Ice – dont get me wrong, KK was brilliant for us. He was an inspirational manager and built one hell of a team and played footy the way it should be played – to entertain.
    But I would argue that CH had more balls staying and working with a squad that was basically being sold from underneath him.

    To be honest, I couldn’t give a **** whether Pardew has balls or not!. I’d far sooner he had a bit of footballing nouce and a desire to play football in a way that entertained the fans – that’s all I’m really arsed about.

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  40. Sharpy-Agree with all that really. For me, KK is the perennial quitter and he’s shown that on a number of occasions now. A great footballing philosophy but perhaps better suited as a no.1 coach rather than a manager, the pressure gets to him. Not too disimilar from Wenger in some respects.

    If we want managers with balls then we will be a revolving door again, I just want some entertainment and the outside chance of a trophy, historically that pretty much sums us up and nowt will change until the owner does or the whole of the footballing world adjusts and introduces wage caps or whatever.

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  41. So according to Pardew we have an injury crisis. It doesn’t help having a **** squad.

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  42. So Sissoko, Krul, Debchy and Remy all out of the Man U game. I try and look on the bright side but can see another 3 or 4 nil drubbing on the cards. By the time we play Stoke they might be just three points behind us, not that staying ninth is going to make me feel better.

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  43. We’ll be lucky to take another point this season. Cardiff maybe, Swansea maybe. Then we’ll be back to when Pardew came in. That’s the kind of progress Ashley loves.

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  44. Newkie we used to win games 4 4 2 when SBR was here. I don’t understand how we don’t score from set pieces from time to time. Our wingers look lost at set pieces and crosses since Ba left. Who surprisingly was the best at getting crosses into Cisse.

    I’m absolutely furious that Pardew has been here 3 years and hasn’t done anything in training to improve the situation. He is a championship manager and is out of his depth. If he had one shred of decency he would resign!

    I really think this club could be much better off with a new manager and decent coaches that can motivate players for big games with minimal investment. I think we need more than a fitness coach and why hasn’t Ashley addressed this ?

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  45. Stem-exactly, there isn’t specifically anything wrong with that formation because you can still play it, look good and win. Athletico Madrid are a bit of an obvious example. A simple “4-4-2” or “4-3-3” doesn’t denote forward thinking or a higher plane of tactical thought simply by where the numbers are in the formula, it’s so much more than that and people who stick to it for a reason of failure with little other explanation do my head in.

    We don’t actually have any wingers and haven’t done for a while, that being said both goof and sissoko have done well out there at times. It’s notable that neither of them are natural wingers though and their crossing is poor which makes us quite one dimensional. I’m not particularly sure Pardew chooses them over others because he likes workhorses or because our other wingers-Sammy, Obertan (lol) etc can’t do it at this level?

    If we want to see less work horses/power houses perhaps Carr should stop recommending people like Tiote, Sissoko and Goof.

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  46. I don’t think we need coaches to motivate the players either-i think we need a pack of coaches to reinvent the culture at our club. Swansea and Southampton haven’t got to where they are in football ethos just because one manager has come in. Saints have had a good youth level for ages now and any players that progress in the first team can compliment the style they’re aiming for. Swansea have had this coaching style for for or five managers now, so imo we need to look deeper than just a figurehead in Pardew.

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  47. have to agree with some of the comments above. It would be oh so much easier to gloss over and ignore the ball less one and the **** that he spouts, if only he had the ability to get us playing good entertaining football.
    But for me that is his biggest weakness of all.
    No ability to motivate
    No game plan
    No plan B
    Not prepared to try anything new.
    Sticks with his favourite players, regardless of form.
    An over reliance on individual player brilliance to get results.
    There is no method to his madness. It’s clear to see he is utterly clueless.
    That the players have no process to win a game, is 100% down to his own inabilities as a head coach/manager.
    This is why I want to see the back of him.
    PARDEW OUT

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  48. I wonder if Jabba missing out on that £70m SD bonus will mean he gets a pissy on and spends less on players come summer 😉 Someones got to suffer for him missing out on that bonus. 🙁

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  49. Newkie@730, that’s an interesting angle on things, ffs what a lethergic bunch we have 🙁

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  50. I think it’s high time we got serious and helped Mike run the club on here mates. Down deep Mike is a good lad. He loves to run his chubby little fingers through a wad of cash it’s true but also he loves his football. Oh yes. And he loves Alan. And Alan returns that love. It’s a beautiful thing. So let’s give them a little respect on here! Harrumph!

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  51. Let’s inject some new ideas into the discussion mates. Let’s get creative. We have the mental capacity for it. We can come up with something brilliant, I just know it. I’ll wait………

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  52. Can’t believe Joe was brought in to stop transfers, but I can believe he was incompetent and lost in the DoF position. The game had passed him by and it was obvious. Mike has no clue so he just hired someone he knew. For Mike it’s all a big game as all he really wants is advertising space and a club in the Prem with no real chance to compete for anything. Spending by other clubs is steadily increasing while Mike thinks 10M pounds is a huge amount to spend on one player. A complete idiot.

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  53. We are ready to break out against ManU. And not just with pimples on the players’ faces! We will stun them with our attacking creativity. Let me see, I’m guessing 4-5-1 with Cisse up front and De Jong in behind to start? Then after they score 2 or 3 quick ones we switch to some clever hoofball up to Shola. That will definitely frighten the bejesus out of them! Harrumph!

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  54. I’m thinking we may see a record breaking performance against ManU. They could score 6 or 7 with the number of injuries we have and the general indifference of our players. Benny looks a wreck now. Thick around the waist and fed up. De Jong has yet to have a decent shot on goal with us. Gouffy played his worst game with us against Southampton. Please don’t play Dummett again Pards. This is a complete mess and we have Mike and Joe to thank for it as well.

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  55. KIM aye its a shame,just thinking he was another player that wanted to leave and put in transfer request,but manager dug his heels in and said no,another manager with a pair lol

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  56. Munich-the players are already on holiday mate and they have been since Cabaye was sold. Pardew and the coaches have plenty of failings but players need to take responsibility, and **** like that they need to take on the chin, shocking from the lot

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  57. Newkie, Aye it’s a poor show for sure, but I wonder if some of it is to do with how they feel about Pards and the regime. In particular I’m thinking how they may feel about letting Cabs walk before season end and not bringing in a replacement. It sends out the wrong message on so many fronts imo. It’s like the regime are saying , well you’ll just have to get on with it without him or anyone to replace him and well we’re not that arsed about Europe anyway so long as you make top 10 . Little wonder they don’t bust a gut knowing the level of ambition being shown from above. Another factor is, I reckon a few are pacing themselves for the world cup so as they don’t burn out. It’s common knowledge that England do **** at WC due to our long tough season and they won’t want to suffer like the England players do. Just a thought like, or maybe they are out to get Pards the sack or themselves transfer listed 😉 .

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  58. Lyon 0 Juve 0 at half time. No place for Gomis in the line up, despite the fact that Lyon have several key players, including Grenier, missing.

    Top man for Lyon is ex Fulham player Steed Melbranque. What does that tell us about the French League side ? 🙄

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  59. KIM some good points there and a few truths,on the WC for my money none of the teams from europe will win it they just cannot take the heat over a long period of time which has been proved in the past

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  60. Interesting interview with Barton on 5live particularly his thoughts on pardew; One of the top 3 managers hes worked with, Best man manager and the way he dealt with taking over at NUFC.

    Not the first time he or others have said so, I remember lovenkrands on that fantasy football thing saying he was the best man manager he had worked with and gave the best team talks. Ahead of Advocat, Laudrup, Walter Smith, Morten olsen

    If he could bring in some half decent coaches to do the dirty work for him like Fergie used to he might actually be quite effective 😯

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  61. Kim@733
    Quite easy for Mike to get his bonus.
    Simply put his NUFC hat on and invoice Sports Direct for £20m per season for advertising space and backdate it for 7 seasons. Then he can put his Sports Direct hat on and pay it.
    That would result in Mike getting £140m and he could take £70m out against his loan leaving £70m with NUFC in the transfer war chest.
    OK , it would leave nothing paid off against the loan and nowt in the war chest, and Mike would have £140m in his pocket 🙁

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