IndianMag

Can't wait for tomorrow's game. Personally think we're one win away from safety. Hope we finally get rid of fears of relegation tomorrow instead of having it dragged onto the last day of the season.

You're right about the long balls reducing considerably, but the fact of the matter is he still resorts to it when he doesn't know what to do. When teams have us pegged in our own half like the second half vs Villa (away) or the second half vs WBA (away) or Benfica(away), he goes back to pointless lumps up the field. We seem incapable of slowing the game down or attempting to keep the ball or hitting them on the break or making a substitution to negate the pressure on us. For example - I truly believe getting Ben Arfa on earlier vs West Brom could have helped as we would have been able to keep the ball for longer, and would have had another outlet to hit them on the break. We have players who can keep the ball in midfield like Tiote, Cabaye so the question is why do they attempt a ridiculous Hollywood pass after stringing 3-4 passes together, when they are perfectly capable of slowing the game down. Pardew has to tell them to just keep it simple at times.

Surely we have enough quality in the bag to get at least 1 win from the remaining 4 games. Makes those stoppage time winners against West Brom, Stoke, Chelsea, Fulham oh-so important.

I've always backed Pards, but I'm starting to lose patience in him for the following reasons :- 1. Tactically inept at times. Other managers have time and time again changed things at half time and what has Pards done in response whenever a team has put pressure on us? That's right, start punting long balls, instead of looking to keep the ball or slow the game down or hit teams on the break. This is why we have had so many matches this season where we have only played well for one half. Example - Villa, Reading, West Brom etc etc. 2. Does not have the balls to drop his favourite players. He should be picking players in form. There were times this season when Jonas, Tiote deserved to be dropped for their poor form. 3. Players in wrong positions. Sissoko further up the field? Cabaye in holding mid? Cisse on the right wing? Shola on the pitch? Jonas at LB? FFS man! 4. When in doubt, play the long ball. If it doesn't work, get Shola on. Yes, the same Shola who is probably the worst bl00dy player in the league, who stays offside more than Cisse, who fouls more than a defender and who gives the ball away more times than anyone else . Also, we don't have the resources to play long ball. Even if we punt it up the field and Shola wins the header, there's noone ever around him. 5. Stupid fooking excuses game after game after game. Injuries, boys were tired, refereeing decisions, we don't score from set pieces cause we don't have height. blah blah blah 6. Doesn't have to be a rocket scientist to see that we play much better when we try to keep the ball, attack from central positions instead of going wide and crossing the ball into the box from deep to one player in the box. How many times this season have we actually strung more than 4 passes in the opposition half without giving the ball away because of a needless cross/punt into the box? 7. Assign roles for foock's sake. Tell Tiote not to shoot or try ambitious hollywood passes all the time, tell Jonas to not try crossing the ball all the time needlessly but to keep the ball/cut in/ pass ball to a player, tell Sissoko to slow the game down or release someone instead of running into players all the time. Tell our players to pass the ball to Ben Arfa/Marv when we're chasing a game. Ask Cabaye/Marv to stop that ridiculous set-play routine of aiming for Willo/Taylor at the far post. I believe in long-term stability, but with the right manager. I;m not sure Pardew is that manager. Having said that if we sack him and replace him with a Mclaren, Curbishley kind of manager then the purpose won't be solved. We need someone better I know now is not the time to be discussing this, especially with relegation looming over our heads but Pardew has really been boiling my p!ss off late. Obviously, the players should take a lot of the blame as well, but Pards should take the majority of it in my honest opinion for the reasons mentioned above. Rant over!

Surely the 8 year contract has clauses. In the event that we go down, there's nee chance he should be here next season.

Heh! I meant I backed him till very recently. His tactics/comments in the last month or so have got me thinking.

Pardew's tactics have been horrendous. Whether we stay up or not, he should go at the end of the season and this is not a knee-jerk reaction. I've always backed him

did you see that? long throw to Shola and he flicks it on with not a single Newcastle player anywhere in sight. We're brainless!

whenever Shola comes on, I can't understand our shape.

Just look at our squad of players. Even with all the injuries, we should not be 16th FFS!

Ben Arfa not coming on yet is a bloody joke.

great. The Geordie messiah is coming on to save us from our plight? Where the f@ck is Ben Arfa?

where is the marking? where is the bloody marking? we're losing this for sure unless we change something

how many times have we paid the price for not taking our chances this season?

wouldn't be surprised if Pards didn't get Ben Arfa on as long as we're in the lead

They're bullying us now and Pards isn't going to do shit about it. We need some luck to get through this game with 3 points, that's for sure.

It's the opposition tactics that have outdone Pards.

one way traffic now

It's been so typical of us this season to not capitalise on a 1 goal lead by taking our chances, paying for it later on

He didn't have a great game but he was a lot better than the other attacking options we had yesterday and was a part of the majority of our attacks. I've noticed Marv gets a lot more flak on this board for some reason(don't know if it is the CT factor). Fans on other Newcastle forums/communities online seem to rate him more highly and give him more credit. Also, I can recall quite a few instances when the ball could have been passed to him but Tiote/Cabaye chose to go for the hollywood pass and failed miserably. The game passes him by at times because we keep floating the ball over his head.

Marv looked like one of our best attacking players though. But yes, a motivated Johnson was always going to fancy his chances against Jonas and Marv on that wing.

What's happened to Cabaye? Is it just me or does he look disinterested? Some of his performances of late have been too poor for a player of his caliber. I don't know what the reason is. Is it because he is playing in a deep playmaker role? Is it because he is just knackered after a long season? Is it because he just is not interested? Somehow he always looks like a completely different player for France. For a player of his reputation, he really has to start putting in some more consistent performances for us.

Now that we're out of Europe, reckon he'll have some more time to recup from games. He's been doing 180 minutes a week for awhile now so can understand why he looks so knackered. Having said that, would like to see him release the ball a little sooner at times.

yes, but 3 strikes that should have been closed down better.

It isn't only passion. He seems to have made them more organised at the back and confident on the ball. He's making them play better and more positive football. Also, Fletcher being out seems to be a bit of a blessing in disguise as Graham and Fletch together looked c@ck. Both of them are much better off leading the line by themselves.