Game On! Newcastle v Sunderland

Game On at St James' Park
Game On at St James’ Park
The 150th competitive Tyne-Wear derby is upon us which means that once again bragging rights are up for grabs.

Those rights have been firmly held on Wearside after back-to-back defeats against the Mackems who go looking for a third successive victory over us for the first time in 91 years.

Yet another miserable transfer window will do nothing to lift the pressure on Alan Pardew. His derby results have been poor since that 1-0 win at the Stadium of Light so he needs a result on that basis, but he also needs one to quell the anger that is rising regarding a lack of transfer activity. I’ll go into more detail on that front in the next few days but at this moment this game is the most important thing and should be the focus of everyone connected to either club.

News of injuries and suspensions for both sides, some stats and facts and a background of the fixture can all be found in the match preview for this game which you can view here if you haven’t already done so. For full team news please see the bottom of this article roughly one hour prior to kick-off.

The match isn’t being shown live here in the UK although it scheduled to be broadcast on a wide range of overseas channels so picking up a stream shouldn’t be too difficult for those who aren’t in the fortunate position of being inside the ground. If you do find a stream please share it and leave a link in the ‘comments’ section below.

I haven’t got that usual derby feeling if I’m being honest. Not yet anyway although I’m pretty sure it will kick in at some point before kick-off. I can’t quite put my finger on why I feel that way, I just do. Maybe a game in midweek along with transfer deadline day (also known simply as Friday in these parts) has kind of ruined the build up?

I guess it doesn’t really matter how I feel now, it’s what happens on the pitch that is most important. At the moment they are the form team of the two but as has been said and demonstrated so many times previously, form is irrelevant on the day.

Howay the lads!

Newcastle:Krul; Debuchy, Williamson, S.Taylor, Santon; Tiote (c), Sissoko, Anita; Ben Arfa, Shola Ameobi, Sammy Ameobi.

Subs:Elliot, Dummett, Haidara, Yanga-Mbiwa, Marveaux, Armstrong, de Jong

Sunderland:Mannone, Bardsley, Alonso, Brown, O’Shea (c), Bridcutt, Colback, Ki, Johnson, Borini, Altidore

Subs: Larsson, Gardner, Wickham, Giaccherini, Vergini, Scocco, Ustari.

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.

668 thoughts on “Game On! Newcastle v Sunderland

  1. If sunderland win at wembley they are planning to hang a tyre swing off the bob stokoe statue for in honour of Poyet

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  2. Munich Mag that was our cup final. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it was any other team but Sunderland and Poyet. Ashley must be laughing his *** off at us. This owner should be livid with Pardew and the players.

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  3. What’s happening with Vuckic anyway? Wasn’t he touted as a box to box midfielder? I haven’t seen hide nor hair of him for a long while, so is it safe to assume he’s not coming along, or is he still on loan, or back with us or what?

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  4. Watching the Dippers vs West Brom and it really puts into context how bad some of our training must be.

    Obviously players like Suarez, Sturridge, Coutinho would waltz into our team, but it’s the squad players (on both sides, to be fair) that impress too. Both teams are getting players into the box when attacking, committing more than 1 or 2 players forward and pressing high.

    These are all basics that a team of athletes from any sport could accomplish (although admittedly cricketers might stuggle with the whole ‘kicking the ball’ bit that follows)… so why can’t our lads? Why do we persist with playing it safe? With hoofball? Expecting a moment of magic from Benny or whoever’s upfront at the time?

    It’s absolutely maddening.

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  5. @FSOTC We’ve just extended his loan to Rotherham until the end of the season.

    He’s not even starting games reliably there, so probably safe to assume he’s not pulling up many trees.

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  6. Just picked this up from the comments section on Eds blog , i always thought the ground and area around was owned by the council so cant imagine its true but if true its time to start lobbying the city council and local mp’s.

    MA making hay while the sun shines????? I remember the so called discussions for the casino, then it all wehe Mag” had a good article today, but it was comments from one of the readers that caught my eye – does anyone know if this is true, or where it can be verified?? Quote-

    “Wish an investigative journalist would dig into MA as not only is he selling our playing assets but he is selling the land he inherited with the Club. This is all in the accounts and Mash Holdings (no prizes for guessing who this is) took the Pitt Street site out of the Club and it is now being built on as a hotel. This is not on the radar compared to the fact that the land above the St James Metro Station which the Club at one point was going to develop with MGM for a casino was also stripped out. This is now also up for sale and with it goes the chance to extend St James Park.”

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  7. Lee Ryder ‏@lee_ryder · 4 hrs
    Pardew on derby: “Maybe the pressure of losing the last two played a part because we certainly rushed possession.” #nufc

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    Lee Ryder ‏@lee_ryder · 4 hrs
    Pardew on derby: “We had some performances from individual players that really bemused me” #nufc

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  8. pardew should have subbed ameobi for our – healthy – looking balance sheet at half time

    – it would have frightened to death that overspending lot from down the road.

    i reckon a good few of the players have hoyed the towel in now – so we could witness a few more horror shows before this season ends.

    you could always join me at the heed like – at least their season hasn’t finished yet.

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  9. I am worried about Pardew’s statement about getting back to basics. Yesterday’s football was as basic as it can get – more like the lower reaches of the Conference. No! Conference isn’t that bad.
    In spite of Ashley and Kinnear and the fact we didn’t replace Cabaye, yesterday’s dismal performance was solely down to Pardew. From the off it was clear to anyone in the ground that we were hoofing the long ball. Presumably that is why he insists on picking Shola. How often does Shola win a header. I think you can count it on the fingers of one hand and still have some digits left over. We have good players but we do not have a good manager. We deserve better.

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  10. For me, sensible fans wouldn’t have a problem with Ashley so much if he tried to get us to reach our full potential by spending the funds made available by the sale of players.

    I accept some will never forgive Ashley, but most would if he changed his ways.

    I am not asking him to spend his own money. I’ve come to accept that he is not interested in doing so. He simply treats us as a business and not a plaything. That’s fair enough.

    I would accept being 8th if we spent those profits trying to better the team and squad. That’s not being done and there’s no excuse will wash with me.

    We all knew Cabaye was going to leave for a profit and they have had long enough to organise a replacement. I’m sure they will say January is not the time to strengthen, yet they bought 5 players last January when forced into it by Ashley’s incompetence.

    Pardew doesn’t help the situation. He’s in it up to his neck. He’s to acquiescent. He goes along with any decision Ashley makes.

    For that reason I have no sympathy for him. He’s handsomely paid and takes the praise when it’s given. He has to be prepared to take the flak as well. The problem is, he does and does it without a hint of shame.

    Unless we are threatened with relegation I can’t see Mikey sacking Pardew but even if he did, I would trust Mikey to appoint a decent replacement. He’s surrounded by an idiot in Jokey.

    Jokey has no shame and would see our club rot if it benefitting him.
    I can’t see how the man could care about the club. He’s willing to be at the forefront of what’s happening and what’s happening is an utter disgrace.

    Ultimately though, the buck stops firmly at the door of Ashley.

    He appoints the manager, the DoF and all decisions go through him including the restriction on transfer funds.

    Some of those profits are from mine and my son’s season ticket money. Get the ******* spent you greedy cockney tw@t

    Nice to be back. 😉

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  11. So you did not cancel your season ticket Troy.
    You should avoid going into the club shop , Mike sells mugs in there.

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  12. TROY even if the Tw@t changed his ways , too much water has gone under the bridge for anyone too forgive him . In the summer he had a chance too kick the club on ,it would only have took 2 good permanent signings ,it did not happen ,ok most of us would have forgiven that if the signings were made in this window ,they were not even though he made a massive profit on our biggest asset . Yesterdays humilliation was just the straw that broke the camels back but we all know the reason for the anger is his hopless inability to run a football club and the ruination of it . Pardew has his limitations as a manager but his limitations are being compounded by having his best players sold and getting nothing back ,thats not his fault but he is having to try and work an impossible job . Keeping us the fans happy ,the players happy and in form while being shat on from above .Even the best coaches in the world would not be able to make us a winning team with this owner .We are not going to get anyone better until fatboy is gone.

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  13. Our beloved director of football didn’t attend the match yesterday. A man with no balls same could be said for Ashley.

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  14. @Troy. Id agree with all of that m8.

    9pts from 4th (b4 2days game) spot and we sell our most influential player who we’ve known for 6 months wanted out, without a replacement lined up.

    Mike has no ambition and I think we’re starting to realise that he wont change his ways..

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  15. Kim
    Very true. My wife buys stuff in there to take over to the grandkids in the US.
    I do tell her to stop but she never listens to me .

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  16. so without being a drama queen or making in ten time worse than any other club…. 😉 was Cisse injured y’day? as the link with the Russian clubs seems too coincidental. a 16yr old named on the bench before him…

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  17. Lee Ryder ‏@lee_ryder · 49 mins
    Papiss Cisse being tracked by Russian outfit Rubin Kazan http://bit.ly/1fARLC7 #NUFC

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    . H’areet then mochamad adib

    6:58 am – 2 Feb 2014 · Details

    Martin Johnson ‏@MartinJohnson10 · 48 mins
    @lee_ryder it’s almost as if fcb is asset stripping ahead of selling the club. Here’s hoping

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    6:59 am – 2 Feb 2014 · Details

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  18. Seriously don’t mind cisse leaves, if only there is replacement. Oh wait. transfer window closed. 🙄

    De Jong was the replacement. 😐

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  19. If Cisse leave though Ashley will just pocket the cash. Ameobi might get his extended contract after all.

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  20. well that’s us not beating anyone for the rest of the season we were a one man team and cabaye gone so that’s it,well that’s the way pardew sees it the guy opens his gob andshite pours out,bet the rest of the players feel great been told they are no good without cabaye,the mans a ****

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  21. Ice, I told you that would be his no.1 excuse, it doesn’t wash with me though as we managed fairly well albeit we didn’t win against Norwich. More importantly he should not be reliant on one player and it shows his limitations if he is. What if Cabs had been out long term injured ala Raylor style, what then?, there simply has to be a contingency plan for such events, a plan B….Oh hang on there is , lump it up to Shola and by pass all our creative players . 🙄

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  22. KIM aye.mate,I just have no time for the guy no matter what he says,and for jabba and Joe not to bother turning up for the.derby just shows how much he cares for club/fans,quite the talk on SSN about it,but that won’t bother one tiny bit

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  23. KIM have a read ofThe Mag on the news now site,for J Barton’s one liner I had to laugh,sorry cannot copy and paste on this tablet

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  24. Kim @629,

    Remember Solano arguing nearly an entire day saying that Shola and long ball is NOT Pardew’s plan B when he feels he’s losing the midfield battle?

    I wonder if he’s man enough to admit he was wrong.

    No goals in 29 games now. Still a better option than Cisse?

    Cisse has been treated disgracefully after what he did for us when he arrived. Disgusting. Only one man to blame there. Pardew.

    Mbiwa, Ben Arfa, Marvauex, Anita, Cisse, have all been wasted because of Pardew’s limitations.

    Carr scouts all these decent players and Pardew doesn’t know how to use them. I don’t even think he got the best out of Cabaye.

    Carr is wasting his time. Its a complete mismatch of styles. No wonder all these talented youngsters we’ve bought have rotted away. Except for Krul of course who is a goalkeeper.

    How many careers have we wasted?

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  25. Pardew really has his work cut out now to keep the team motivated and focussed. Apart from Shola and Remy, no World Cup places to play for.
    Cisse on the verge of leaving for Russia apparently.

    It’s going to be a turbulent close season, I hope the club are beavering away in the background lining up replacements.

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  26. Does any poor soul pay for nufctv or whatever? Or does anyone have a link? Apparently in Tiote’s interview there he says he has no idea why the players started hoofing it, that that wasn’t actually the plan, but the players got forced into it or something?

    I haven’t seen it, just going on what I heard.

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  27. Good to see Troy back on here. Strange story about Cisse. How does that work then with the window closed? Is it because we’re selling, not buying? Pardew on about changing our approach. He knew he would be missing Cabaye, Colo, and Remy yet he isn’t prepared with a different game plan? Shola up front wasn’t going to work against the mackems. We needed a hard working bunch of scrappers out there. Now we’ll have to park the bus against Chelsea. No goals in the team right now. When is Gouffy due back? Very frustrating! 👿

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  28. I see villa is going to be sold to another yank,£200mil,wish we could find someone with £300mil and get jabba out. 👿

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  29. Our manager didn’t realize 3 of his best players were unavailable yesterday? His backup plan is to put Shola on and lump it up to him? Pulis is doing better with Crystal Palace as far as tactics go with almost nothing to work with. Our owner is so detached from the club he doesn’t care he’s sabotaged us again? He gives away millions in TV money if we slip down the table. Joe is useless, Mike may as well be catatonic and Alan has woken up and realized we actually may need a plan to play football matches. Amazing.

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  30. So what is our plan going to be going forward Alan against Chelsea and Spurs? Is the mighty Shola going to lead the line again? How many goals does he have this season in the league? Zero? We’ll park the bus against Chelsea as West Ham did but they will break us down more easily. We need Gouffy back badly. A hard worker who tracks back but can also attack. So few of those sorts in the club now.

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  31. @Ice

    I find it astonishing that clubs like Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool etc are taken over by ambitious owners yet we get an absolutely unambitious moron.

    Everything is in place to take the club to the top level.

    The fact the two jokers didn’t bother turning up for the biggest game this season beggars belief.

    I would definitely participate in an organised boycott of the games.

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  32. Wasn’t it the same thing with Arshavin leaving Arsenal to go back to Zenit despite it being a month after the window? The Russian window is a different timeframe to most others, I believe.

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  33. The only current plan in existence at NUFC: hire your cronies and slowly suck the life out of the club but make sure you make it very slow and painful. Sell the best players and then lay low for a while. Let Alan and Joe take the heat. Try to bring in another 23 year old in the summer if the price is right and on a relatively low wage to line up another sale. Nothing to do with improving the football at the club. We may as well be a used car lot. 👿

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  34. Those 2 are far too cowardly to show up for the game Troy mate @639. They knew what was coming. Probably down in London somewhere having a good pissup and counting the money.

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  35. TROY me to,maybe jabba will try to get blogs barred as he did with the local rags over the last protest some fans done,the man cannot take any bad mouthing against him,a coward with cash. 👿

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  36. Troy@639, regarding boycotting games, I would imagine the will is there now amongst the supporters. Once we get to 43 points and are safe, then the protests should kick in.

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  37. The sooner everyone gets fed up with Ashley and cronies the better. All peaceful forms of protest should be on the table. Make it clear once and for all we want him out. Probably the most serious form of protest is boycott. That is what it might take since his only real concern is money. Nobody who cares about the club should buy his tat. He’s just hoping it all blows over again so he can lie and bluff his way through the summer. Let’s not let him do that.

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  38. Ice@631 Yep :lol

    Joseph Barton ✔ @Joey7Barton
    Follow
    The Toon must have lost? My timeline is filled with 5under1and fans getting excited. Well done. Maybe you’ll all get baths now? #unwashed

    3:50 PM – 1 Feb 2014

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  39. Ice-It’s bullshit, why the hell would you go for villa over us, 50 mil on the asking price isn’t that much considering we don’t lose shitloads of money year on year.

    😕

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  40. Carroll-Liverpool
    Enrique- Liverpool
    Ba -Chelsea
    Cabaye- PSG

    all great players for us, all gone in search of cups and titles, something they all came to realise they won’t get here 🙄 🙁 Fact is Remy will not sign up for the same reason and Debs, Benny, Krul , Marv, even Goofy will likely all want out, not counting Cisse as think he’s away soon as Russian window open until 27th feb and we can sell but not buy.

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  41. The Ashley plan is so obvious now. But it will get harder and harder to carry out. Teams in France are on the lookout for us. No more cheap bargain deals on young players. Ashley will focus on financially strapped clubs now for the best deals. We’ll probably need 2 or 3 players in the summer. He will get us a cheapish striker, a young bargain MF if possible and a defender. Total spend? About 20M pounds or less so already paid for with the Cabaye money. No real outlay from the owner and with 3 new players to potentially sell in a couple of seasons. Keep the club between 10th and 14th, soak up the TV money, then finally sell in a few years time. Oh and lots of free advertising with that so-called interest free loan. It’s not interest free if you’re not paying for advertising.

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  42. Newkie@634, I find that hard to believe, how the hell do 11 players collectively decide to all have a brain fart and play hoof it all at the same time :shock:, something very wrong there like.

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  43. G2 ,Yes that’s his Modus operandi in all his dealings, take advantage of the weak and pick them off .

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  44. JJ
    Give it a rest pal. Of course I can admit that long ball was our tactic yesterday.
    However that hasn’t been the case in general this season, despite Shola playing, and the website you pulled up had the stats to prove it.
    There’s no way Shola should ever be played without a strike partner, but I’m struggling to see what other options Pardew had in that regard yesterday.

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  45. Yes I don’t buy it either Kimtoon lass. And Pardew is standing on the sidelines watching us hoof it? We did look a bit better for about 20 minutes in the second half. But 20 decent minutes out of a full game at home? And against the mackems? Madness. I would bench Santon. His corners, crosses and free kicks are laughable. I would have retired Shola at the end of last season and brought in (I mean paid for!!!) an actual decent striker. I would have sorted out Obertan (gone), and Gosling (gone). What the f**k are Ashley and Kinnear doing? Clueless morons.

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  46. Everything to do with the club feels very bleak atm.
    Within 6 months we’ll have lost our best striker, midfielder and defender.
    It’s unbelievable how slack they are in planning for players leaving.

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  47. Kim
    Yeah the only slim use he has is when he links up or creates space for a strike partner.
    Do we just fling de Jong straight in though?

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  48. Absolutely Kimtoon @652. Ruthless but also completely uncaring oaf. We needed a very creative plan yesterday but instead got Shola up front. I would have tried to avoid that for at least the first half because Shola can’t last a whole game anyway as we well know by now. Why not start with no true striker. Have an attacking trio of Benny, De Jong, and possibly Marveaux. In behind are Tiote, Anita, and Sammy. Then Debuchy, Willo, Saylor, and Mbiwa across the back. I know hindsight is 20/20 but I would never have started Shola.

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  49. Solano , Yep I would go De jong & Cisse if fit and still here or Remy in 2 games time if not. I would also seriously consider giving Armstrong some 1st team action. What I don’t want is Shola alone up top as we may as well play 10 men, he only works if partnered and even then it’s not brilliant.

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  50. Obviously Pardew didn’t send the players out to play long ball.

    However we had 1 centre forward leading the line & unable to move.

    It’s quite hard to pass it to feet when opposition players can simply just step in front of Shola.

    Shola also can’t run into space or run onto the ball.

    How else do you get the ball to shola? Easy, you hoof it.

    When shola gets the ball & flicks it on there was no one to pick up the second ball.

    Sammy & sissoko were too wide & too far from shola because of the trouble we were having down the wings.

    Ben arfa could only dribble it because no one was making runs in front of him. Anita tried to provide support but kept having to rush back to provide support tiote.

    We had a centre forward with no one to flick the ball to.

    We had sissoko playing a winger (yes he looks good out wide but he is not a winger)

    Anita was playing a box to box role.

    Things improved when we went from 451 to 442 but even then it was still rubbish.

    Only when Marveaux came on did we actually look dangerous in & around the area but even then there was hardly anyone busting a gut to get forward.

    Either no one wants to score or everybody is told to stay in position.

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  51. Obviously Pardew didn’t send the players out to play long ball.

    However we had 1 centre forward leading the line & unable to move.
    .
    It’s quite hard to pass it to feet when opposition players can simply just step in front of Shola.

    Shola also can’t run into space or run onto the ball.

    How else do you get the ball to shola? Easy, you hoof it.

    When shola gets the ball & flicks it on there was no one to pick up the second ball.

    Sammy & sissoko were too wide & too far from shola because of the trouble we were having down the wings.

    Ben arfa could only dribble it because no one was making runs in front of him. Anita tried to provide support but kept having to rush back to provide support tiote.

    We had a centre forward with no one to flick the ball to.

    We had sissoko playing a winger (yes he looks good out wide but he is not a winger)

    Anita was playing a box to box role.

    Things improved when we went from 451 to 442 but even then it was still rubbish.

    Only when Marveaux came on did we actually look dangerous in & around the area but even then there was hardly anyone busting a gut to get forward.

    Either no one wants to score or everybody is told to stay in position.

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  52. I would have played De Jong from the start instead of Shola.
    In fact , I would have started Mbiwa at the back and played Saylor as a lone striker before Shola.

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  53. We have some decent players and some young talent but to me Pardew doesn’t use them well at all. Sammi has some natural talent and skill as well but Shola is finished. It’s going to be a struggle now for a couple of games and then it will depend on injuries with our razor thin squad (again). We clearly aren’t going to play certain players for whatever reason. Marveaux is finished under Pardew. Obertan should already be gone if Joe was doing his job, as should Gosling. Joe fiddles while Rome burns. Brilliant.

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  54. Thanks G2 for the welcome back. 😉

    I don’t see any point in hounding Pardew out.

    What’s the point?

    Is Ashley going to replace him with a top manager. I don’t think so.

    Top managers want big wages and big transfer budgets. That’s not in Ashley’s plans.

    As a consequence, no matter who he appoints, whether a Martinez or Laudrup type of manager, we aren’t going to achieve our potential with the resources we have.

    The team are again on the brink of achieving a decent finish, possibly a Europa position, only for Mikey to pull the plug.

    No manager with pride, such as Keegan, would put up with it.

    I’ve been banging on about Mikey and his mediocrity plans for years now. Slowly, but sury, it’s starting to dawn on many of those who couldn’t see it at the time.

    Let’s not forget, the loan has not decreased since he took over. It’s a fact, by his incompetence, it’s increased.

    Our wage to turnover ratio still remains the same near 70%.

    We haven’t been any closer to winning a trophy, in fact, we have barely got past the third round in the domestic cups.

    Can an Ashley fan tell me how long Ashley’s 5 yr plan is? It’s now 7 yrs this May since he took over. Where’s the improvement. All I see ahead is mid table mediocrity. 🙄

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  55. New thread up. Another “drama queen” has joined the ranks of us it appears 😉

    Solano. In fairness I did say that when Shola plays as an advanced striker we play hoof ball. When he drops a little deeper in his immobile no.10 type role, he can play a role. He’s still poor for me though.

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  56. Double post because what i posted is important.

    Read it twice & then read it again.

    Pardew was to blame. However he was also restricted because no cisse, gouffran & remy.

    At the very least we should have controlled the game, dominated & had them on the backfoot even without our better forwards.

    The anita penalty happened because of his desperation to help the team. The debuchy red card a few games ago was the exact same thing.

    The team under pressure & suddenly someone makes a honest mistake.

    The point is that without cabaye & remy we still had enough quality to beat them.

    Either ALL the players just forget what their role was & what they had been doing in training OR the training has been substandard.

    If the average fan was given 3 days to train & manage the team for the derby, i’m 100% sure it would not have been worse than what we saw yesterday.

    Alan Pardew has not had 3 days, he’s had 3 YEARS & we still have players that don’t know their roles.

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  57. KK@667 agreed there..

    there is no way we should have produced such a shambolic performance against the makkems…

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