aimaad22

I am well aware of that theory. However, having spent nearly 7M on the likes of Anita, Im sure a few quid would have been available for a defender too. Maybe Pards was just hoping for another injury free season from Colo.

If this is what mackems are like I salute you guys for bearing with them. Im kind of having a mental image where there's something like the wall from Game of Thrones separating Sunderland from the rest of England and Newcastle walking the top of the wall. Black and white and all Charged with keeping the great unwashed from corrupting the rest of the country by constantly keeping them in their shadow and watching them obsess with it

Thats what pisses me off about Williamson as much as his league 2 standard defending. Same goes for Simpson. Shame we saw this weakness a long while back but our management just couldnt.

Aye! Might have something to do with the fact half of them are very uncomfortable on the ball so dont want anything to do with it. Always thought that people who enjoy having the ball and have the capability of holding onto it are priceless.

3? Shola? No no no no no no we are not putting him in the Ba/Cisse category!!

I get that but nobody wants a public bashing episode anyway. Pards has generally been quite objective in interviews for us which shows he believes our players are not so weak mentally so as to collapse over a bit of honesty from their manager. When we havent played well he's been man enough to admit so. So to see him start making excuses left right and centre now is a bit unsettling. Oh well, much ado about nothing anyway.

The way refs hand out cards these days....

Really pissed at Pardew's interview. As expected, blamed everything on luck and injuries and Senegal. Pathetic. Yes it wasnt a great week for us, but that is to be expected at this level. All these things are. There are rubbish tactics and some rubbish players that need sorting. Get your thick head out of Ashley's arse for a while and realise there's a bit of a job to be done here.

Santon? Please, he's been class on the whole after taking a couple of games to settle in. Haha, class! We'll at least she's seen the worst now, future visits can only get better. Must be quite a feeling, walking out there for the first time. Going to do it someday too, dont know when or how, but I'll bloody do it!!

Nice to know there was something good about today.

Dont know what that exactly means but I did acknowledge I ought not react THAT badly. Just feeling like shite thats all If Pardew blames injuries etc again he can fuck right off. Because its him and the management that decided not to strengthen in the summer knowing full well we have some league 1 standard players in the squad.

Shocking. Just shocking. Can't believe this is the same team from last season. Noone apart from Ba and HBA deserves to be called a footballer on the basis of the last 2 games. And Williamson and Simpson are fookin liabilties. Bloody takes me back to Boumsong/ Cacapa/Babayaro. And we're playing the sort of football we did in those days too. Just abysmal stuff. Shocking. Guess we were wrong to get excited after last season. Nothing really good ever happens to us. I know I ought not to feel this down but I am!! Fook this.

Early days but he doesnt impress me at all. For the talk about his delivery 75% of his crosses are wayward. And doesnt seem to have any other attributes that would make you think he can succeed at this level. Anyway, early days. And Williamson nearly does it again, what a shambles.

Better but HBA looking like the only one with any quality on the final ball. Absolute shambolic defending there from Williamson, saved yet again by Krul. This guy is an absolute embarrassment of a defender.

Looked like a definite red to me.

Thats better, I thought Marveaux might have been given a chance today though. Our management staff really doesnt rate him if he's behind Ferguson in the pecking order. And thank Goodness Shola isnt starting.

Sammy in for Shola, Ferguson/Marveaux for Obertan. Pards is going to go for what you put out though.

Agree to disagree then, cant argue with the last bit though. The mistake was not strengthening the weak areas were we were found out last season. And its hurting us now, the management has to take the fall for that.

Think I just spent 15 minutes starting at that. Ridiculous.

A few decent games? Come on, we had to grind out a few results but we had some fantastic team performances too. The Manure home game comes to mind. I personally think last season was thoroughly enjoyable on the whole. For instance the game at Old Trafford, we rode our luck but got stuck in and defended with our lives with a man down. I enjoyed that game as much as the one where we played them off the park at home. Maybe its just me but I love it when you see the players not doing well but working their arses off to try and get a result for the team. Shows you they respect the shirt they are playing in. We had that last season, we had some great team performances, moments of individual brilliance, we spanked a fair few of the big boys. Memories to last a long while!! How can anyone play down a season like that?? The fact that a few years ago we looked down and out and not coming back to this league anytime soon just made it all the more enjoyable. I absolutely loved every minute of it and desperately hope people like Cisse can get back to that kind of form so the party can begin again!

Same here! I think growing up has a bit to do with it, and the years under Fat Sam and relegation toughened us up a bit

We had our odd bad game but I think we were pretty decent to watch on the whole, and we scored a ridiculous amount of cracking goals. Bit harsh to put that on luck or anything of that sort. 5-6 of our players showed great quality and there's no taking away that. No doubt this season's form is worrying. But I dont believe the kind of quality people like Cisse and Cabaye displayed last year was a flash in the pan sort of thing. Its all about getting the system right again and getting the players' confidence back up. A lot of this down to Pardew obviously. The question is bloody when will he get it right. 10 games is a lot and we are not showing much signs of improvement. Need a bit of a spark we do.

Return to last seasons formation please. Ba has been brilliant but if putting him on the left and Cisse in the centre is what gets us going, as it did last season, then I hope Pards has the steel to do it!