Is relegation a real cause for concern yet?

Does a repeat of this have you worried?
Does a repeat of this have you worried?
It shouldn’t be the case, not anywhere near it in fact, yet here we are hovering just two points above 18th placed Wigan Athletic.

Our form has been terrible, even if performances have improved against some top sides over the festive period, but you can’t get away from our league position and the fact we’ve lost nine of the last eleven games played.

You can wave your fingers and blame whoever you want for this. The players, the manager, the owner, a bit of everything, injuries. I’ve got my thoughts on what has caused this slump as I’m sure you all have, but I’m almost at the point of not being bothered about apportioning blame and instead I want to start focussing on the job in hand, which is now Premier League survival.

Yet somehow it just doesn’t seem real. I quite often find myself saying “a few wins and we’ll be out of it” but then the same could be said for the teams around us and at the end of the day the results just haven’t been coming. I know our last three games have been tough and in a way I didn’t expect anything out of them given the form we’ve been in, but the fact we didn’t get anything out of them has increased the pressure.

I think we’re good enough to drag ourselves out of it. Not many other sides have players like Yohan Cabaye, Hatem Ben Arfa and Steven Taylor waiting to come back in the side, along with rumoured additions such as Mathieu Debuchy and perhaps more throughout the course of January. We need them though, and we need them all to perform.

So am I concerned about relegation? Yes, but not overly, not yet anyway. We have enough to get ourselves out of it but there is definite danger there. Whether we are perhaps more acutelythat danger is perhaps more acutely aware of due to events back I 2009 I don’t know, but the only way we can get ourselves out of it is by picking up points. And until that happens the worry will deepen.

So how do you feel?

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.

76 thoughts on “Is relegation a real cause for concern yet?

  1. hey guys

    hope it persuades the few that make the decisions on deals that sometimes a bit more leeway on offers can make a big difference

    and that we do need more strenght in depth so any additions will be good enough to still be worthy of a first team place

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  2. Toonsy I’m worried I really am . 🙁

    Micheal12 @previous article, Isn’t it about time you got off Cisse’s back mate

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  3. you are kidding right toonsy?? why would we NOT be worried about relegation…?? we are after all, one game away from being in the drop zone. We have less points now than in the season we were relegated and on current prem form we are the 20th tean in the league. As a fellow stat man.. you should be well worried.
    We were at this point a few years ago and everyone said we would pull away.. just need a few good games adn go on a run.. just need a bit of luck… just need some players back from injury… just my ****.. we went down then and saying as we are statistically worse off this season plus having just flogged the only guy that scores goals… yes, i am very worried.

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  4. sorry wrong thread before…. and yes it is….

    Well 1 week into the transfer window and why do I feel frustrated when 2 pieces of news I wanted happened.
    1) the Ba situation was sorted one way or the other, (go and count your money Ba)
    2) we got a full back in…
    so far so good, now the reasons I feel frustrated.
    1) the interview before the Everton game about “it was too late to change formation” … no its because you want a big man up there to lump it up to..
    2) the comment “we want a big powerful replacement” … see above
    3) the interview “we are going to sit down and identify replacement options”, why the hell isn’t this already in place, we should have replacements identified already for every player, so a big offer comes in for Ben Afra, we go “oh we need to look for a replacement !!!!! no wonder we dont get players “over the line”… Ba’s replacement should have been identified/club sounded out etc months ago and it should have been a follow-up to start the process the day Ba left… a multimillion pound business with no succession planning… p!$$ poor.
    4) an interview with Pardew 15th December 2011, yes 2011… “so Mike asked me where’s my new center half”… well Alan that was three transfer windows ago and still every nufc fan and presumably Mike are still asking, “where’s the new center half ?”
    http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11678/7381187/Pardew-gets-defender-cash
    5) the “purple players” policy, we only have 11 proper first teamers, then some young potential as replacements, well thats fine if 5 of them are not out together, that might sound like hindsight, but I think plenty of people on here pointed that out went it was first announced by Lamearse well in advance of the current seasons woes, you need “purple players” on the bench at least..
    6) too many players seem to want to be elsewhere, simpson/tiote etc… get rid…
    there we go… happy new year all !!!!

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  5. alanthedog… i think that ‘any additions’ is not what we need at all.. we need top look away from the kids, maybe stars and risky buys that could prove good and instead go with three proven top draw players because we just can not take the chance at all that anything other than a known quantity will come good and we have no time to spare. anyone we buy needs to have an impact.

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  6. agree with the ‘need first team replacements not potentials at the minute’.

    why not offer Tiote to Chelsea, money + lampard, give lampard a 2 year deal, by the end of the 2 years Bigi will have grown into Tiote boots, and use the money to buy a quality center half.

    dont think lampard would come this far North, he’ll probably end up with “uncle arry” with a few hundred thousand quid ending up in Rosie’s account”.. but the theory of getting an instant replacement is what’s needed now.

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  7. I think we have enough time / quality to turn things around. I believe we have the quality to go on and win our next 3 on the bounce but at the same time with the run we are on it wouldnt surprise me if we lost another 3 on the bounce. Its the sort of season we are having. But we really do have to stop the rot and quick. I hope the return of a few key players and Debauchy and 2 other signings will help that.

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  8. hey craig

    sorry maybe i should have made my post clearer

    what i meant is i hope that any additions we make will be good enough to still be worthy of a first team place when the likes of cabaye, taylor and ben arfa are back fit, i don’t expect 25 “purple” players but eleven is not enough

    ideally i would like to see us improve by replacing squad players with first team players, this can’t be done overnight and i’m dubious the club would follow this route but it would be my chosen route

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  9. thing that worries me is the teams below us their players seem to be putting a 100% effort in i dont feel the same about our players at times,maybe its just me,there seems to be something missing 🙁

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  10. thik tiote going acon is a blessing in disguise hope saylor stays fit for the rest of the season along with benny and cabaye

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  11. The same thing is worrying me as well Icedog,they look like they lost with very few ideas.It doesnt help having loads of injuries to put up with,but that said we are not the only team that has these problems.The real difference is that the majority of owners realise when their squads lack depth or are decimated with injuries and address the situation,Ashley has never ever done this.You can stick **** in ya shops and it will sell no problem,you do that in a football team you get nowhere.The club have bought some quality players but sadly not enough and seem oblivious to what every fan can see,we need reinforcements…now!!

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  12. we need 20pts to get to the magic 40, that’s 6 wins and 2 draws, so we should be able to do that but its going to be close.

    6 wins from the following group
    (5 homes are a must) (3 of these are our next 3 games, no pressure there then…)
    Norwich (a)
    Reading (h)
    Aston Villa (a)
    Southampton (h)
    Stoke (h)
    Wigan (a)
    Fulham (h)
    Macams (h)
    West Ham (a)
    QPR (a)

    2 draws from
    Chelsea (h)
    Swansea (a)
    Man City (a)
    West Brom (a)
    Liverpool (h)
    Arsenal (h)

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  13. If we don’t get 6 points from the next 3 games I’ll start to worry.

    In other news…Debuchy has signed, holding the shirt and everything :mrgreen:

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  14. All players who were part of the squad who “took us down” last time…..Given, Coloccini, Enrique, Nolan, Barton, Guthrie, Martins, Owen, Duff, Bassong, Harper, N`Zogbia, Milner, RTaylor, Smith, Gutierrez, Geremi, Beye, ****, Shola, Lövenkrands, Staylor, Viduka,

    Is that squad on paper better than our current one ?

    I would tend to say categorically yes, especially now that over 50% of our goals have been sold.

    Are we in danger of going down, you damned bet we are. There can be no complaints of managerial instability this time. It’s all at Pardew’s door this time round. Last year he enjoyed the plaudits, this time he deserves to be battered. He should be battered too, and lot be allowed to lull is with words as we capitulate into the second division.

    Three of those purples…Guti, Collo and Staylor are still in the present squad. Maybe Collo and Guti are worrying now that he may have 2 relegations on there CV’s 👿 👿

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  15. Probably old stuff, but ust what you want to be reading….

    Colo concern

    Unconfirmed comments from Osvaldo Coloccini – father of United’s Fabricio and youth team director at Argentinean side San Lorenzo – made to a TV station in Argentina and reported on the Goal website:

    “Fabricio wants to play for San Lorenzo and he is trying his best to find an elegant way to leave Newcastle. We don’t know what Newcastle will come up with, but Fabricio is trying to rescind his contract because he wants to be back at San Lorenzo.

    “His contract is very good and that could complicate things in an attempt for him to leave Newcastle.”

    Colo’s current deal at SJP runs to 2016 but the link with Buenos Aires-based San Lorenzo first surfaced last month in a number of English newspapers, along with quotes from the club president to a local radio station:

    “We know he is a fan and wants to return, so there could be a possibility.
    It’s not impossible, but of course the only thing that can accelerate the situation is Fabricio’s intentions.”

    When the going gets tough, the tough….leave… 😉

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  16. @ 14 Looks great on paper,but thats not where this team is playing and when they get on the pitch they look all at sea.We cant defend to save our lives at the moment and the goals are only flowing into Kruls net.As said in an earlier post we dont seem to have the drive and desire we saw last season.So we are at the point where teams are well up for coming here at the moment because they firmly believe they are goin away with the points,at the moment this team could not frighten my granny

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  17. gg63 I would have fancied our chances with Ba’s goals in the team.

    Now I’m not convinced at all. If you can’t score you won’t win matches, and we all know we sure can let goals in…

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  18. The big difference this time around is that the club doesn’t feel rotten, we may have just sold Ba but there was no way around that and it will probably actually help the team atmosphere. As will Debuchy’s arrival, he will keep Cabaye and the other French players appeased, which gives us a strong platform to build on. We have not a bad little squad if we can add a couple more in January, with Marveaux, Obertan, Bigi, Perch and Anita having shown what they can do in the last few matches.

    Nobody of course knows and of course we could go down, and if we had continued to play as we were a few games back i would have been really worried. Now is the time for the evolution of our club to come, that means getting out of this this season and actually putting some good performances on the board, so we can build for next year. With, I might point out, a far better all round squad and team atmosphere and unity than the one that did for us in the relegation season.

    We might not like Ashley’s penny pinching but I am finding it hard to see any bad buys, and Anita, just like Ba – who was almost ignored when he first came in – is looking a magnificent buy. The only major mistake I think last summer was not getting in a centre back, and Debuchy then would have been nice. I certainly thought we would have gotten to January in an alright position and then bought, it has just gone more pear-shaped than anyone thought. Just as last year went the other.

    I am not worried, I am intrigued, because this is about the evolution of our club. It is not all upward curves, look at Spurs and Everton for their progress to regularly knocking on the door for CL. Now we are going to see if Pardew is worth his contract. Fuc_ the sniping, looking forward to the battle.

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  19. Your spot on Munich,we have lost a very potent weapon in Demba Ba,now we have to see id Cisse can step up to the plate and re discocer his goal touch,you can forget Shola setting the world on fire as most game he couldnt hit a bulls **** with a shovel! !!!.As has been said by the majority of people on here the chance to push on cement our place in the top 8 season on season was lost by lack of vision and investment from the owner and the management.I think Pardew was blinded by the daft contract Ashley gave him and just went along with the usual,bend over and take this,the stuff Ashley has been dishing out since he came.

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  20. We need to start a winning run over the next 3 games. I’m worried coz the pain of relegation is still fresh in the mind from last time round.
    I do think Reading, QPR and Villa have greater cause for concern but it would be naive to think we will be ok based on our current form like.

    I see Arsenal are looking to active a £3m clause in Jonas Olssens contract at WBA – would be interested in him like. He alongside Colo would sure our defence up and £3m is a steal.

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  21. Toonsy re Pards’ contract – no it was not suprising, just the 1 st time I had seen it printed as fact in a reasonably credible paper – the Guardian.

    Back on topic… **** right I’m worried. Forcall our excuses, the bare bones of it is that we are 1 loss away from dropping into that zone. The team is not working hard for 90 minutes, is that lack of effort of lack of fitness? Either way it’s unforgivable and will cost us if they step it up. Southampton etc may not be as good as us on paper, but if thy are working 30% harder than our boys every game they will have us!

    Plenty of time to turn it sround, but time moves fast…

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  22. pardew says shola might have to be rested on sat as he cannot play two games close together what the fk were they doing giving him a new contract in the first place beats me

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  23. give the – yes man – until the end of jan.

    then if we are still where we are now it’ll be time his cockney **** get’s booted out the door.

    we can then take the smoggies manager off them & we’ll all live happily ever after.

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  24. Sorry Munich Mag,

    Just seen your above post, no way was our relegation team/ squad better than this one at that time. At that time Enrique hadn’t become the player he did later for us, nor Colloccini, Bassong inexperienced, Duff did nothing, Viduka couldn’t run, Martins couldn’t score (apart from a few absolute beauties), Geremi also couldn’t run, Debuchy is better than Beye, Barton was all over the shop and Nolan had got anywhere near the form he did once things took off in the Championship.

    Now: Taylor (better than then) as is Collocinni, Debuchy, don’t think Santon is much different to Enrique as he was then. Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Tiote, Bigi, Marveaux, Perch, Obertan, Anita, Cisse, I would even say Krul is as good as Given or better if he gets his form back. We do need another striker.

    No way on so many levels was that team better than this one, the only thing they could have had was more British spirit but they didn’t, then, even show that.

    We are different club now, a better one. And we have a better manager than the different one’s, apart from Keegan, who took us down.

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  25. I’m not really worried although it is creeping in to my thinking. Still a ghostly presence I can still ignore. Very pleased we got Debuchy but completely at a loss with AP’s latest statement. We’re going for a striker first and then, maybe a CB. Anyone remember previous quotes? Carr provides a list of 7-9 players for each position. If No1 doesn’t come we move straight onto No2.
    That now appears to be bollocks like most of his quotes. The only solid thing at this club is Ashley sitting at the top counting the pennies. Take away Ba’s fee and we’ve spent £2m. Now that’s pushing the boat out.

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  26. Yep, I’m worried. Debuchy in is probably the most significant thing – it was our defence rather than ability to score, that was causing the loss of points. But with Ba gone it’s all down to that replacement. And what about this CB we’ve needed for 3 seasons? There seems to be no mention of that at all.

    We have enough to survive, but only just. If the lack of spirit, organisation and conditioning (injuries are not luck) continue, it’s fizzy league again.

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  27. It’s hard not to worry, given I was so confident in the relegation season that our lads would pull it out the bag. Even on the last day I went to the pub tense but confident that the boys wouldn’t let us down. That confidence was shattered and I guess I haven’t (nor have most of us) recovered from that. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

    Know what you mean about the “a few wins” thing, Liverpool and Arsenal were in similar positions to us earlier this season, but they’ve managed to put it together. What pisses me off is our ***** performances against the ***** teams and then decent performances against the top ones-where we weren’t getting owt anyway. Surely with some additions, no more first team sales and a good bill of health will let us pull ourselves together.

    One thing I don’t want is to be hovering by April, not sure any of our lads have the stones to battle out properly. The newboys are a bit fragile and unused to this affair, the old boys got us relegated the first time around….

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  28. Oh, and now Debuchy is signed, maybe we can stop making those excuses for poor little Cabaye who’s best mate didn’t sign for us after we pwomised it 😥 😥

    He’s not been good enough so far this season, let’s hope he’s back to his best ad we should be alright.

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  29. Wasn’t a hard decision was it, Demba? Leaving your club mid-season when they’re in a relegation battle an easy decision, is it? Speaks volumes that does…

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  30. The Kid-Maybe he’d had enough of the greedy tag and the abuse he’d been getting even from last season, when many people wanted him replaced as a poor winger, so he could sit on the bench/get sold and Cisse could lead the line in a 4-3-3?

    I have no doubt some of our fans wanted that and several of them from on here…

    It was always going to happen, the club allowed such a clause and we were always going to get shafted from it. As for Ba, he’s no longer our player, so I don’t give a ***** about him and he can do one 😀

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  31. I’m worried because the man who comes out with this rubbish is in charge:

    “…we have had some unusual issues to deal with this year. If we can get our best team out there, there is no doubt we have a great side.
    “I’d like to think our fans are more knowledgable than they are given credit for. I’d like to think, when they look at the teams we’re putting out and the team we could put out, they know that we’re a million miles from there.”

    Some people have praised Pardew for this statement. It worries me.

    What are the unusual issues? I’m sick of him talking in riddles!

    What is the difference between the team we are putting out and the team we could put out? At the moment only HBA, Saylor and Cabaye come to mind, and they’ve hardly been out long term. For me, only HBA makes a huge difference, and he covered over Pardew’s tactical ineptitude many times last season. Cabaye was poor earlier in the season, and Anita and Marveaux have done very well lately.

    Besides, he talks as if we don’t play against other teams who suffer injuries. The trick is how you re-shuffle your pack!

    Who is not giving our fans credit for being knowledgeable? That’s an insult to the fans. “I’d like to think …” indeed. I’d like to think he would take a good hard look at himself and take control. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to do that anywhere he’s been.

    On paper, we have a good side. It’s just a pity that too many of the players are having spats with the manager and are leaving or wanting to leave.

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  32. The Kid @33 – Demba isn’t the only striker to leave his club mid-season when they were in a relegation battle. Papiss Cisse did exactly the same thing this time last year, when Freiburg were bottom of the Bundesliga.

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  33. Wasn’t pardew saying at the start of the season that he was more than happy with the squad and if he got one more in it would just be the icing on the cake? What’s gone wrong Alan? What are the “unusual issues” that account for the difference of a “million miles”?

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  34. Blackley and Brownlie,

    Sadly, there is a bit of truth in what you say. I think Pardew is often quite straightforward other times he does steer quite a way far from reality. But, has I suppose got to cover his back a bit. I am just hoping he can turn this around, obviously for us, but also because I think it could be the making of him. He stepped in at a very difficult time, when Hughton left, and dealt with that and got the players onside and performing, let’s hope he can do it again.

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  35. In an interview when he signed for us Ba was asked was it the club ,the fans passion that drew him in . He replied “I asked my agent which club made the best offer ” 😆 well least he was honest I suppose. End of the day we owe him the same loyalty he has shown us ,none .Thanks for the goals and goodbye and good luck end of .

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  36. We’re dropping like a stone, just lost our top goalscorer and have no replacement lined up. Pardew sounds oblivious to the danger. Sure I’m worried.

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  37. MM@21 Bloody hell ,where did you read/hear that little gem ❓ 😯 Would love that to be true. 😉

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  38. Lionel Speed – What are the “unusual issues”? How do those “unusual issues” account for a difference of a “million miles”?

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  39. Got to disagree with that B&B,

    Pardew doesn’t look oblivious to it, he looks worried and desperate to get results on the board. His future livelihood is also on the line.

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  40. Lionel – I’d like to think you’re more knowledgeable than you are given credit for!

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  41. It would be awful timeing if Colo goes now but if he’s home sick what can you do .He stuck with us in the fizzy league so no one can really say he’s a bottler imo. And let’s face it he’s shouldering all the defensive responsibility at the moment trying to cover all areas and making mistakes we don’t normally see as a result ,he must be sick to the back teeth with it.

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  42. Talking of current and ex Chelsea players ,would love to get JT here in a player coaching capacity .

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  43. Lionel – I agree he “looks worried”. That can’t help the players, who already don’t seem to understand his tactics, don’t like his micro-management, and have lost confidence in him. But I said he “sounds oblivious”. His script is ridiculous!

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  44. B&B ,Well his ego has certainly took a bashing since last season. He keeps saying how knowledgible Toon fans are and we understand he hasn’t been able to field a full strength squad. But still I wish some of the press guys would press him on his tactics and strange subs and training/fitness regime as we do seem abnormally injury prone which suggest something is amiss with our fitness training regime.

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  45. to be honest i just dont watch any interview pardew gives or anything he says havent for a while his **** varys day to day,i dont buy it ime afraid,looks like the players are the same too

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  46. Kim – I agree, apart from your point about being abnormally injury prone. I accept I might be wrong on this because I haven’t compared our injury absences to other club’s, but I can only think of Raylor who is a long term problem. I think the reason the press don’t push Pardew is that he can be quite temperamental. He lost the plot at a recent talk in and refused to partake any further when someone said he looked complacent after getting his eight year contract.

    I hope someone is going to tell me what the “unusual issues” are?

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  47. What, teach the youngsters racist ‘game time banter’ and shag everyone’s wives?! No thanks. He’s right up himself, but he can’t half defend!

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  48. Ba may have gone but our top priority is a CB not a striker. That is not to say I wouldn’t welcome a striker it’s just that a CB is the first priority.

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  49. “When the club who won the Champions League wants you, the decision is very easy. This club is massive and that’s something that helped the decision a lot. It was not a hard one.”

    Nothing lost in the translation there from Demba Ba.

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  50. B&B @44, I’ll take someone giving me credit for knowledge wherever I can get it.

    @48 he looks worried and has commented on the fact that results aren’t good enough. Lost the players, I am not so sure about that, I didn’t see the Everton game but he in recent games we have played pretty well, with the players looking up for it. I think considering the run we’ve been on it is impressive that he has got them so up for the games against Man U. and Arsenal, and kept them going for it.

    As I said above, his track record says this may be a step too far for him, I have the feeling if he can pull this one off it will be the making of him. I have certainly heard far more **** from other managers.

    Unusual issues, (over confident manager, fans, players at start of season, plus dissilussionment amongst some players about lack of investment, injuries in key areas, last seasons second half of season super striker totally off form, this season’s super striker messing with things by wanting away, unlucky in some matches, dodgey decisions in some matches, short-term injuries at wrong times, plus suspensions, tactically all wrong at times, days where we looked like a pub team, Krul off form, other teams genuinely coming into form when their next game was against us, there is probably more), everything going wrong that could possible go wrong really.

    Equals a million miles from where we were last season, but recent performances if not results and the emergence of anita and marveaux, and the signing of Debuchy point towards it not being all bad.

    We’ll see. I personally think we are going to be very much ok by the end of the season and looking forward to next season. Time will tell. The ride continues.

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  51. I think it depends on the next 3 prem games in January. They are all a week or more apart with the first being next Sat so we won’t be playing a game every 3 days or more. And they are all against bottom half sides. If we don’t win at least 2 out of 3 or 1 win and 2 draws I would say we are going down. If we are still in trouble before the last 3 games I think we will bottle it and lose as they are not 3 easy games. I think 10-1 is really generous odds from the bookies. I only got 7-1 the season we went down and everyone said we were too good to go down then.

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  52. @34 Newkie, yep and I’ll hold my hand up to say I was one of them, and still am…

    ………………………………….. Krul……………………………..
    ……………………. (new CH)…………Colocini……………………….
    Debuchy……………Tiote…………Anita………………….Santon
    ……………………………….Cabaye……………………………….
    ……………… Ben Arfa………………….(New ben Arfa)……..
    …………………………………..Cisse……………………………….

    Tiote and cabaye need to step up, when Tiote comes back or we buy a powerful midfielder (sissko ??) … we buy the CH we’ve needed for 2 seasons. (Douglas or similar)… and Ba’s replacement, (a skillful provider, like Ben Arfa)..

    this relies on debuchy and santon getting forward to support and getting back, and both look to be exactly that type of full back.

    I’d take this any day rather than Ba up front and the ball being lobbed up there by-passing all the midfield.

    So yes, I hold my hand up to be slagged off if backfires, but I dont think I’ll have to, because I think Pardew will buy and big target man and continue with the lump it up there policy, which might get us out of trouble, but its not going to be pretty…

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  53. TC @60

    🙄 What difference does it make? It’s you vs. the bookie not you vs. the club. Are you married to the club like. 😆

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  54. last time I saw Debuchy/cabaye and Ben Afra play on the right hand side together it was for the French national side, and all three hand a good game, so here’s hoping the right hand side is sorted.

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  55. Sorry DJG, you’re right, I’m the stupid one.

    And on that note I’m off to the bookies to see what odds they’ll give me on my nan popping her clogs this year.

    I mean I lover her to bits, but it least it will soften the blow if she does snuff it.

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  56. @newkie. It is a legit question. Who is to blame now that ba has gone for both cisse and the team’s horrid performance the other night? Now that we have debuchy what new excuses for cabaye’s average performances?

    Cisse is still playing **** coz ba was greedy and moved to chelsea?
    Debuchy’s wag is having a baby and it is affecting cabaye’s performance?

    I will be interested at the innovative excuses.

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  57. MM @56 ,what a pity he couldn’t find it in his heart to throw a couple of compliments our way when he signed for us. 🙁

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  58. In cabaye’s defence (and he has been **** this year), last year he got loads of the ball, passing, getting it back, passing again… this year he’s had to feed off the little scraps that have had to come from the ball bouncing off Ba and Shola heads.. not a lot and I think he said Boll1cks to that and has just stood around, Tiotes not been interested and is just running round kicking people probably because Cabaye hasn’t been making himself available for short passes and Tiote cant pass wind over more than 20 yards, so he’s been **** too trying to spread the ball.

    if you want midfielders who pick up the scraps from the knock downs, go and buy some, Nolans/lampards etc, but thought we’d gone away from that after Pardews comments about a move expansive game when he sold nolan/barton etc.

    looks to me he’s gone back to plan A hence the rumors about carroll coming back…

    whats the odds on “we just failed to get a striker over the line” this window and buying Carroll back in the summer.

    Perhaps he tried to get Ba out in the summer and had carroll lined up as replacement but nobody offer the Ba money, now with his goals this season the moneys come in this window, but Carroll cant play for us this season now.

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  59. We all know there are no more excuses because the need for them will be relegation or **** close to it, and that will trump the excuses all day long.

    It doesn’t matter we are going to start winning and Pardew will have his day again.

    I, along with Pardew, hope so.

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  60. We weren’t great but certainly were not shocking against Everton, the officials had a LOT of sway in that result. Were basically gifted a way back into the game, no excuse for the 2nd goal but we had no recognized right back so understandable to a degree and the club have now rectified that.

    Too many games in a short period of time, playing out of our skin for the first, then dominating first half possession against a fresh faced Arsenal then the obvious tiredness between the 2 teams was evident in the 2nd half.

    Again Cisse was played out of position against Everton. I was initially fuming with Pardew when I seen the team sheet, but it became obvious due to the shortage of players that Cisse was left there to help out at right back…which he did. And scored a goal, was unlucky not to score another and worked all night…can’t ask much more than that from a lad that was forgotten about so Ba could advertise himself.

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  61. Evil @69 ,Exactly ,he played well ,his passing was good and sometimes he had three on him and still came away with the ball 😀 I got no complaints about his performance V Everton and he was unlucky not to score again ,oh my if only Santon had passed and not shot when Cisse was free in the box ,but I’m sure Micheal 12 will find a way to blame Cisse for that too. 😉

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  62. oh my god… I thought I was joking about Carroll…. just read the Pardew interview in the chronical tonight…… quotes…

    1) ” I’d be surprised if I got a striker in before the Norwich game”
    2) “thats what happens, one goes another comes to the fore”
    3) “I thought Shola was terriffic, I was proud of him”
    4) Patience is vital in search for ba replacement.

    ok, thats it then… Shola and ranger to see us through till the summer then carrolls back next season…. Up it goes !!!!!!

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  63. Evil I tend to agree with you there.
    I don’t think we’ll get relegated but I just hope that we start to sort our **** out and the last few games have gave me hope.
    I do think that against Everton we played with more pride, passion and freedom than we have for a long time, until a few stupid mistakes cost us then we fell apart as usual. My main priority is a top CB and a commanding one would be even better as the defence is my main worry as I think we only had 2prem defenders on the feild and even they are struggling but I put that down to having no confidence in the other 2.

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  64. I’m really concerned at some of the speculation in the press regarding Colo, especially the quotes from his Dad and his ex club chairman. That would really be a disaster if he left. Funny it’s come out not long after his spat with Pardew, so there could be some truth in it. Colo’s poor form because he is trying to keep the whole defence together or cos he is fed up with Pardew’s bullshit and the club’s lack of ambition? Hopefully the first one 😯

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