Game On! West Brom v Newcastle

Game on at The Hawthorns
Game on at The Hawthorns
Firstly let me just say a very Happy New Year to you all. I trust you are all feeling well and didn’t get tipsy last night?

Now lets get to the point – football. More specifically our visit to West Brom this afternoon.

I had the dubious honour of following the United team bus yesterday as they made their way to the Black Country. I didn’t see anything spectacular or controversial and nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but for all I know they could have been getting twisted and playing shot games behind the blacked out windows, but I guess that will soon show in our level of performance.

Performance is key, in every game. I picked up some comments in the match preview thread which hinted that this may be an easy game owing to the poor form of West Brom. Make no mistake, there are no easy games in the Premier League, especially away from home and even more so against sides which are now gearing themselves up for the business end of the season where titles, European qualification and relegation are to be contested.

Anyway, sermon over. For more of a background on the match including news of injuries for both sides, a look at the history of the fixture and some stats and facts why not take a look at the match preview which you can view here? Latest team news will be published at the very bottom of this article when it becomes available.

The game itself is not being shown live here in the UK owing to the fact that it is a 3pm kick-off. However it’s not all bad news as a host of overseas channels are showing the game so hopefully picking up a stream should be too much of a problem. Once again though guys please share it if you do find one and leave a link in the ‘comments’ section below.

And that is just about that. Will we return to winning ways? Was Arsenal just a blip? Was it the start of a decline in fortunes? Have we peaked too soon? All questions to be answered soon of course.

Howay the lads!

West Brom: Foster; Jones, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell, Mulumbu, Yacob, Amalfitano, Sessegnon, Brunt, Anelka

Subs: Myhill (gk), Vydra, Berahino, Gera, Morrison, Long, Lugano.

Newcastle: Krul; Debuchy, Coloccini (c), Williamson, Santon; Cabaye, Tiote, Sissoko; Remy, Shola Ameobi, Gouffran.

Subs: Elliot, Haidara, Yanga-Mbiwa, S.Taylor, Anita, Ben Arfa, Cisse.

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.

352 thoughts on “Game On! West Brom v Newcastle

  1. @KK

    MA would love it if Pards didnt ask for a new striker.

    Cisse isnt playing well and doesnt look like finding his form anytime soon, Shola is his replacement but is worse.

    We desperately need another striker. forget about what Pardew thinks regarding a new contract for Shola, If he thinks that, then we’re in trouble.

    If we want to remain in the top half a striker is a must.

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  2. KK – Shola can not be given another contract IMO. He has to leave in the summer. We need 2 strikers before the start of next season as Remy will not be with us – its about planning ahead mate.
    We definately need a CF and a winger.

    But Joe should be looking at CBs to replace Colo in summer, CFs and wingers.

    To suggest we don’t need anyone is crazy when 2 CFs have 1 goal between them.

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  3. Sharpy,
    I agree we need more depth. My question is… will Pardew us them? He doesn’t rotate the squad. So they’ll be sitting on the bench.

    We already have four players who should be rotated only getting 30 to 15 minutes a week.

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  4. Biggest improvement to the club would be hiring a foreign manager. WTF does mike ashley not ask graham carr for a recommendation.

    Carr must have known about Rudi Garcia, Rene Girard & Phillipe Monatanier.

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  5. @MARK & SHARPY17

    I agree, we definitely need a Striker to replace Shola in January.

    Shola is not a ‘proper’ goalscorer. If either Remy or Cisse get injured, we’d be down to 1 striker (i’ve excluded Gouffran because apparently he is a left winger).

    The point i was making was from the perspective of Mike Ashley.

    Mike Ashley is not the manager. If the manager needs new players, Mike Ashley will fund it. It’s in Mike Ashley’s best interest to do so.

    However, Mike Ashley will not shell out a few million just because Pardew says he needs a new player or 2.

    There needs to be a business case for it (Joe Kinnear’s job!). Buying a player is a big deal. It’s an asset. It makes sense.

    Why spend a few million on a player only for them to come & sit on the bench. If the new player will go straight into the first 11, then that means one of the current ‘purples’ will be on the bench.

    We already have too many unused squad players.

    If i was Mike Ashley, i would be saying no new transfers in until some players get transferred out. It’s fair & it’s what happened in the summer,

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  6. JJ@220
    I was saying the same 3 years ago and got berated by the Shola Fan Club,
    all 10 of them post on this blog 😀
    He is still here . 😥
    Pardew out!
    Add me to the list Troy 😀

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  7. Steven Taylor will be put next to Willo with M’biwa at right back, won’t he?

    This will mean Willo is blamed for Taylor’s **** ups.

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  8. JJ – we need strength in depth, but what we have up front right now isn’t good enough. You can’t count Remy coz he’s not our player.
    Shola and Cisse aren’t good enough. If we signed Gomis and Finnbogason in this window (for arguement sake) Shola would leave in the summer and Cisse would be 3rd choice.

    This squad rotation holds some weight if you’re talking about players like Gouffran who covers loads of ground or Santon who barely misses a game. But the fact is that he’s rotating the forward options with games being shared between Benny and Shola recently. The midfield has been rotated thru injury and suspension as well as has the back 4 to a degree.
    But then we are only half way thru the season, so the players shouldn’t be too knackered just yet I’d hope.
    The fact is they aren’t good enough, not that they are knackered.

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  9. I must admit to Troy that I was one who wanted Pardew replaced but I was pleased we were doing so well. However the man hasn’t changed from the one who nearly took us down last year. Does he not see the same games as most of us do? I agree with KK about squad rotation as it was obvious against Arsenal there were some heavy legs in our team. I did say last year that no youngsters would develop under Pardew but we now have squad players going backwards because of a lack of appearances. I also agree with someone who said that you do not make subs at 65 minutes. You do it as the game dictates. As for the continued selection of Shola. Well it’s incredible. For the constant selection of Shola read instead Jonas last season. Pardew has not changed one bit.

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  10. In the end it was a disappointing result against a poor team. However not sure if it’s that big a deal. Players imploded- Debuchy and Krul giving away pivotal decisions.

    We played well against Arsenal, poorly against Stoke and very well against Palace. So an average Xmas period.

    I’m not happy with everything but I’m not getting depressed either. We’re better than average in this league right now and at the start of the year I would have bitten off anyone’s hand had they offered this position.

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  11. Funky – with Colo injured and Debuchy suspended, if Saylor can’t get into the back 4 I’d think his NUFC career is all but over.
    Personally I’d have MYM at CB with Willo. Santon over to RB and Haidara at LB – bye bye Saylor.

    However, I think Pardew will go Saylor at CB and MYM at RB.

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  12. Sidekick,
    Ye mate, there’s a fair lot of Shola lovers on here. They sneek out when he plays a good pass once every six games 😉

    FJ,
    I’d imagine Hadaira will go to left back and Santon right back with Mbiwa in for Colo.
    Doesn’t look good to have two changes in defense for Man City 😥

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  13. I don’t think Pardew got the tactics that wrong. We dominated play but just lacked that final ball.
    I think that was a mix of Shola’s poor performance and bad midfield passes at key moments.

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  14. Solano,
    I don’t think we’ll ever agree. I thought Pardew was shocking. His management today was far far worse than Shola’s display.

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  15. Shocking performance!
    The FOOL went there for a point and got his grubby fingers burned yet again!
    This bloke is a charlatan!

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  16. I’m not gonna argue that today was disappointing and agree that I think Pardew got some things wrong today – but **** me man!, I can’t believe there are people saying he’s the wrong man and wanting him replaced with some fucking foreign manager?!

    Bad day at the office but were still 8th with 33 points!!. Get a grip man.

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  17. I think he will go with Anita at rb to cover Debuchy and Mbiwa to replace colo .I dont think Pardew rates Saylor all that much .Pards for me though has undone all his good work today ,he said himself that the players looked tired against Arsenal and changes would be made yet all he did was bring effing Ameobi in !!!!!typical one step forward then 2 steps back .

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  18. Christ think I’m going to have to give the blog a miss for a few days.
    JJ and KK with their similar names and similar moronic views.
    Pardew out!
    All these armchair managers claiming we lost the game because we didn’t rotate the team. Why don’t you look at other PL teams and see how much rotation they have done 🙄
    Ameobi was terrible today but people need to stop with the “what will players like Marveaux and Cisse think” Cisse has been our worst player this season, as he was last season. Marveaux is named “the invisible man” not only because he hasn’t appeared in the squad for a while, but because he is anonymous in half the games he plays.
    We lost a game to the league leaders and another away from home 👿 Unacceptable for a team whose level is around 50-60 points.
    Pardew out!

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  19. Sorry Solano,
    I’m afraid you are clueless again mate. Cisse has been better than Shola. And yes, he’s been bad. Shola has been worse.

    Quite honestly with your football knowledge it doesn’t surprise me you think Pardew didn’t do much wrong. It doesn’t surprise me you rate Shola either.

    When anyone gives an opinion that opposes yours you come up with this “armchair managers” “moronic opinions” ****.

    We are ALL “armchair” managers. That’s why we come onto this blog and share opinions.

    Nobody is upset with our position. Its not even that we lost. It’s the pathetic decisions made by Pardew that led to those defeats. **** poor.

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  20. Sharpy,
    I’m resigned to the fact Ashley probably won’t get a decent manager in because it’d cost him too much.

    So we’re stuck with Pards. He’s done ok this season. He’s even improved a bit. But today he was absolutely pathetic and there shouldn’t be any thing wrong in saying that.

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  21. The refusal by Pardew and some on here to accept rotation shows what a small club we are. The good managers make at least two changes every game. It isn’t dropping people it is getting the maximum out of your squad. If the argument back is they are not good enough to play then why in the hell are we paying their wages. Get rid and get players who are good enough

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  22. Troy – This ‘done deal ‘ for Luuk De Jong still hasn’t been announced and I’ve been glued to SSN all day waiting in vain.
    If the deal was done a few days ago, as you suggest, I am sure NUFC would have announced it today.
    I know you are never wrong and that you are going to go through yet another year being always right – but howway man, your going to be wrong in the first 24 hours of this year 😛
    I am the only one who is always right. 😀
    Luuks Loic Cisse and Shola being our two main strikers next season. 😥

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  23. It’s not that I “rate Shola”, it’s that he has added more on the pitch than Cisse this season. There is simply no disputing that. I’m not denying Cisse has more talent (somewhere among the tripe he serves up), and I’m not denying that Ameobi was absolutely ***** today.
    JJ@ 248 on Pardew “He’s done ok this season”
    Given that we are still only 5 points off 4th, and 6 points clear of 9th, I think it is fair to say that that statement is a bit moronic. 😆
    I don’t think many fans on here have heard of the saying “don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater”
    Pardew out!

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  24. Energy didn’t appear to be the problem today so I don’t understand why people are getting worked up about squad rotation.
    We dominated possession in the first half. I thought our problem was leaving a striker whose only offering is to create space and knockdowns for a strike partner, completely alone up front. It didn’t work in the first half, so Pardew remedied it by moving Remy up front to play alongside Shola.
    Shola continued to play poorly, HBA and Sissoko were also pretty bad, Debuchy’s sending off handed them the boost they needed to win.

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  25. it aint all that bad. We’re sitting pretty in 8th, 10pts more than 10th…

    Yes the team selection looked a bit dubious with Shola starting but we did keep possession, we failed to create chances, thats the problem. Shola was very poor today although there wasnt many that looked much better.

    If we want to make progress we need to show ambition and buy a striker that can hold the ball up, similar to shola, but a footballer 😀

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  26. JJ – granted today was **** poor, like I said nee arguements here. But to say he’s the wrong man or replace him is a bit premature and crazy IMO.
    Like I say, it was a bad day at the office but it was 1-0 away to WBA that has dropped us to 8th in the league and kept us on 33 points.
    People shouting on that its same old Pardew – same Pardew that oversaw a very good Chelsea win and how many year wait for the win at Old Trafford.
    All I’m suggesting is that we keep a bit of perspective in today’s game. Did people really think Pards was leading us to the title?. We don’t have a top 4 manager or squad – shock horror!. Only that comes as nee surprise to me to be honest.
    Time for reality to kick in.

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  27. Solano,
    Stats don’t back up your statement that Shola adds more on the pitch.

    That that statement is a bit moronic. But you comment with such ignorance all the time that its just the norm really.

    The absolute minimum we should be in the table is 8th-9th. So Pardew isn’t exactly excelling. He’s done ok.

    We’ve had the rub of the green in most matches. That will balance out over the season. I think a monkey in a clown suit would manage us to a top 10 finish with the squad we have.

    If I were Pardew, I’d be ashamed of the mistakes he’s made the last three weeks after the progess that had been made.

    I hope he wakes up soon and corrects it. He can start by dropping Shola.

    We don’t have a chance in hell of beating Man City. So that’ll be three defeats on the trot. So I hope it doesn’t start a rot. Or it’ll be another season of opportunity missed.

    I can see us finishing in 9th. Anything lower I’d say is below average with the squad we have and there being no distraction of Europe or a cup run which is never going to be an issue with Pards here.

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  28. Sharpy,
    I have no doubt in my mind we won’t win anything under Pardew. And we’ll be a 8th to 14th mid table team occasionally flirting with relegation.

    To me, that’s not good enough. So I don’t think he’s the right man. Like I said though. I’m resigned to the fact Ashley won’t get anyone better. So if he has ***** days like this. I need to get rid of the frustration. 😉

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  29. Sharpy – Exactly.
    JJ – you say 8th/9th. We are as close to 4th as we are to 9th, does that not suggest he has done well so far this season? Especially given that we have only one goal scoring striker.
    And I don’t think you will find too many fans that agree that Ameobi has been worse than Cisse this year, whereas most *should* agree that us being anywhere near 4th at this stage of the season is a job well done.

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  30. Sharpy,
    IMO, our squad is as good as Man United apart from up front.

    I think we have a squad capable of a top six finish. That would be a great achievement. A top eight finish would be an good acceptable job. So that’s why I say he’s done ok so far.

    I may seem like an over reaction. But I can see this as the start of a slump. Which results in four or five defeats.

    Pardew has always been able to ride the highs. But he’s been poor at getting us out of a slump. When confidence is down. I guess time will tell. But I’m not confident. Not after today.

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  31. JJ
    Are you high?
    No wonder you’re always moaning. Man Utd’s whole squad is better than ours.
    http://www.nufc.com/html/2011-12html/fixtures.html
    We had two slumps in this season, and we came out of both strongly.
    Last season we struggled to get out with it.
    Your assertion that he’s been poor at getting us out of a slump = bollocks.

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  32. Solano,
    I actually think our squad is under rated. We have goal scoring strikers. But Pardew can’t get the best of them. No surprise there. So he reverts to a donkey. It’s his only solution.

    I think with a quality manager many people would be surprised at just how good some of our players are.

    So while we are only six points off fourth. I think you’ll see that gap widen very rapidly as Pardew’s lack of rotation and ideas starts to tell as the season goes on.

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  33. JJ – and a blog is the perfect place to do that mate 😆

    All I’m saying is that we should keep a bit of perspective about things. I’d say we are a 5th to 12th position team personally – 5th being an excellent season.
    We don’t have the financial clout of Man City, Chelsea, Man U, Arsenal, Liverpool or Tottenham. That’s 6 teams we are likely to finish behind most seasons.
    We’re competing with Everton, Southampton, Swansea and Newcastle – there’s 9 teams. If we finish 12th that’s a terrible season and he should be sacked. 10th is a bad season and would be just enough.

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  34. Our midfield is stronger than Man United’s . Our wing backs are better and their central defence is better. Perhaps they slightly edge it overall.

    So no, sorry, I’m not high. You are just blind to the quality of our squad.

    We’ll judge Pardew at the end of the season and his ability to get the best out of this squad.

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  35. JJ – Man Utd?! WTF?!. You mean the Man Utd who were league champions last season while we were 17th?.
    No wonder you’re ****** off mate 😆

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  36. Sharpy @263,
    I agree, we are competing with Southampton, Swansea, Everton. We should be competing with the teams above that. But we don’t invest enough. In either players or a better manager.

    We certainly have more resources than Southampton and Swansea. But we are still on par. Although being in Europe with a tiny squad doesn’t help Swansea.

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  37. Yes Sharpy, Man U, who were raised to another level by a manager that made players believe they were better than everyone else.

    Without van Persie and Rooney they are a mid table side. They’ve been beat four times at Old Trafford this season. Not because Moyes is a bad manager. But because their midfield is very average and their defense is not that great either.

    I said at the start of the season they won’t finish higher than 5th. As usual it looks like I’m right 😉

    If we had a quality striker like Suarez or Aquerro or van Persie our first eleven would be better than theirs.

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  38. Its no wonder Newcastle can’t win anything when their home support is so negative and has no belief. That energy probably transmits to the team.

    If we had a world class manager with this exact squad I’d expect a top six finish every season and Champions league qualification on a fairly regular basis.

    I think we’re only one or two quality players in the right positions away from being as good as Man United and Liverpool.

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  39. For the record I would have started HBA and Anita in place of Ameobi and Sissoko in a 4-2-3-1.
    I don’t like the idea of rotating defence as a stable back line seems key to a good defensive record.
    On that note, I’m gutted that Coloccini is now set for a spell on the sidelines, he was great today and has been fantastic since he returned to the starting XI.

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  40. “All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.”

    As long as we have a manager who goes to places like a managerless West Brom, looking for a point with a negative 4-4-2 set up. Well he’s not really dreaming big is he?

    He needs to up his ambition, up his belief and positivity and that will reflect in the team.

    Problem is, I don’t think Pardew believes in his own ablity. So why should I?

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  41. First time I agree with you Solano,

    The defense is the one place you don’t rotate unless nessessary or you have major resources and quality in your squad.

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  42. JJ
    I can’t do this. Going to have to let Sharpy and whoever else can be arsed explain why Man Utd have a better squad than us throughout.
    For a start – Rafael + Evra > Debuchy + Santon.
    Debs has looked great recently but not so long ago fans were crying for Simpson to return so we’ll have see whether he can maintain this level (I think he will).

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  43. JJ
    Surely if you believe that we have a similar squad than Man Utd when you take out their strikers.
    And you believe that without their strikers they are a mid-table team.
    Then… you believe that we have a mid-table team ❓
    Therefore Pardew is doing well according to you judgements?
    Pardew out!

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  44. I think Evra has been terrible this season and that Debuchy is better than Rafael.

    Our squad is on par with them with Pardew as manager. With a top manager, our squad (strikers excluded) would be better than theirs, so I’d expect us to finish above them if we had strikers of their quality.

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  45. Well we can pretty much assume City will beat us so that will be 3 on the trot like I said this morning. This obviously means it’s imperative we beat West Ham , Pards has a big job on his hands to get the right team out and restore confidence should we lose to City. The Hammers lost again today they are on a slippery slope but no doubt Fat Sam ,Nolan and co will be well up for beating us. It’s a pity Nolan isn’t suspended for our game really.

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  46. Kimtoon would have to agree about Manchester City winning. The F.A cup will be our best chance of silverware this season. Top 8 is good enough for me.

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  47. Kim – Agree, he’s definitely thereabouts atm.
    Just a bit reluctant to say he is better than Rafael or whoever unless he has kept a similar level for a whole season.

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  48. I wonder whether Williamson is close at all to an England call up for a friendly.

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  49. KK

    January 1, 2014 at 15:00

    Ok, this first 11 is a joke.

    What’s the point of a squad if the squad players don’t get used?

    This is the busiest time of the year for us but instead of keeping players fresh by rotating the team, pardew prefers to play fatigued players (cabaye, gouffran etc) whilst ensuring the squad players stay rusty.

    We could have won vs arsenal if the likes of cabaye & gouffran were rested vs stoke.

    I expect this to be a tough game because most of our players will still be tired from the arsenal game.

    truly prophetic KK
    Total and utter bullshit from Pardew.
    wtf he was thinking I just don’t know.
    Virtually the same players match after match. Pathetic and clueless, yet so highly predictable.

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  50. Can’t wait until 2.30pm this Saturday.
    “What the hell is Pardew playing at putting out that team, how the hell are we going to win a trophy with that side. He said in interview ‘x’ that he wanted to win a cup at all costs, so why isn’t he playing our best players. 👿 ”
    🙄 😆

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  51. ST – ” why isn’t he playing our best players.”
    because they are all crocked and injured.

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  52. Solano,
    You do understand what squad rotation is? It doesn’t seem like you do?

    Its when you rest one or two players each week to allow players to recuperate.

    It doesn’t mean that you have a cup team and a league team where you make six or seven changes to the side and put players in that haven’t played 90 minutes of football in a few months. 🙄

    You really aren’t the brightest are you?

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  53. JJ
    Where have I expressed confusion at what squad rotation is?
    Mark my words, we will rest a few players on Saturday and there will be some on here complaining that we aren’t taking the cup seriously.
    Thanks for the insult. Whatever makes you feel better.

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  54. JJ – I would probably give you that 1-11 first team players we are stronger in certain positions, but as a squad I would say they are still stronger.
    You don’t win titles and trophies simply by one man raising the self belief of a bunch of players mate.

    Moyes isn’t a bad manager, but he’s totally out of his depth with a very inexperienced staff behind him – and that was foolish on his part. How many seasons did he manage Everton when they were in the CL or even Europa? – how much experience has his staff at it?. Every interview he does he has this cheesy grin whenever his name and Man Utd are mentioned in the same sentence.
    He proved he was out his depth when he made the ‘marque’ signing of Fellani. He knew that Everton squad better than anyone and instead of having the guts to sign the lesser known, probably cheaper Ross Barkley who would be a better play for them, but probably would have been questioned by the media – he went with the obvious signing of Fellani coz he cost more.

    They have a better squad overall and will go out and probably spend big in Jan mate and they’ll finish in the top 5 I reckon.

    However – FFP may well be our best chance of a leveller and put us on a fairer playing field. If that it brought in properly then that would be our way into the top 6 I reckon.

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  55. I think the toon are sitting quite rightly where they belong with the squad they have.

    Mid table mediocrity. 🙄

    Pards has us right on track. 😉

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  56. “You don’t win titles and trophies simply by one man raising the self belief of a bunch of players mate.”

    I disagree. I think you do. Obviously those players have to be quality but without a quality manager to guide them. It won’t happen.

    That’s why bobby Robson took us from relegation fodder to a regular Champions League side with just a few additions.

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  57. Troy
    I disagree – remember that game when HBA ran the length of the pitch and scored? He’s better than Ozil and Cazorla. We should be properly challenging for 4th place, mate.

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  58. I don’t have much faith in Kinnear either but I would like to give the guy a chance to prove me wrong. I doubt that will happen because Ashley won’t let that happen. He just takes the blame for him, unfair really

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