Barry the Badger

..is sh*t. Every time he says "discretion being the better part of valour" I want to plunge my fist into the TV screen.

But the thing is, to use a well worn phrase on here, "this is not football manager". AP cannot just set his team to 'short passing' from the touchline and suddenly everything is ok. Football players are human beings, and at this level they will react in the same way as other human beings in all walks of life. Under pressure they will lose their composure, start to panic, and forget what they have been told. When he took off Lambert, I'm sure he had been trying to get the message across but it was not working and the players were still panicking. Pardew clearly felt he needed to bring Lambert off to discourage this. My point was that he is obviously not advocating the long ball game, and your continual insistence that he likes hoofball is completely ridiculous.

From what I've read (can't remember where), they couldn't diagnose exactly what was wrong with Lallana's knee, so were hoping it would clear up with playing time. Theres no point going under the knife if you don't know what to slice up.

AAAAAAAARRRRGHHHHH!!! Pardew is not telling the team to play hoofball!! The first two league games we have come out and played brilliant football, on the deck, knocking it wide, getting crosses in, intricate passing etc etc for the first half hour at least. Then as the game has gone on we have gradually resorted to longer balls upfield. Does that not suggest to you that Pardew is telling the team to play passing football but as the players get frustrated they are losing their way? Pardew has spoken after both games about the need for the team to stay patient and keep playing their football. After the Bolton game he even said he took Lambert off to DISCOURAGE the team from playing long balls into the box. Please please get it out of your head that Pardew is telling the team to play long ball. It flies in the face of all the evidence in front of us.

I think we are more likely to end up with a loan here.

I think it's just that he is "anyone but Jaidi" and the grass is always greener for some people. The fact is, we've played 2 league games and conceded 2 goals, Jaidi was only in any way involved in one of those. I don't think defence is our problem. Yes, his distribution is poor, and that is particularly frustrating when we are chasing a game, but Pardew should be able to sort this by making sure somebody (Schneiderlin perhaps) always makes themselves available to receive a short pass from him.

I bloody hope so!!! I want us out of this league.

Which perhaps suggests that there are better players available to us on loan, than there are to buy.

and right back at ya.... I suppose my point overall is that I don't believe there are "massive gaps". A lot of players are being written off as **** based on the start to this season. Hammond, Puncheon, Jaidi etc. But I beleive that they are just out of form, that doesn't mean they need replacing, they just need managing back into form. Somewhere along the line you have to draw the line and say this team should be good enough. This team were certainly good enough last season. Hammond is the best example as he was excellent alongside Schneiderlin last year, he hasn't started the season well but that doesn't make him a bad player. There is a tendancy to decide that players are crap when they are simply in a run of bad form, so far this season we have had a few too many exhibiting bad form or patchy confidence, but I don't think the transfer market is the place to go to solve this. I am frustrated that we've not hit the ground running, and I don't neccesarily feel that pre-season was the best preparation it could have been. That said, I think the lads just need a league win and we will be off, lets just hope that first win comes sooner rather than later.

Personally, I am going to spend next week being quite excited about seeing Guly play for us, and in all honesty I just feel sorry for anybody that can't be excited about it.

No, there aren't. I can give you two players in each position and these players should be capable of promotion. GK: Davis/Bialkowski LB: Harding/Dickson RB: Richardson/Butterfield CB: Fonte/Martin CB: Jaidi/Seaborne LM: Lallana/Mills RM: Puncheon/Oxlade-Chaimberlain CM: Scneiderlin/Guly CM: Hammond/Wotton ST: Barnard/Connoly ST: Lambert/?? Ok, so we are one short. But really aside from that this squad should be good enough to challenge. There is a tendancy to always think we need more players, more players, more players, rather than focus on what really matters, which is making the (quite frankly excellent) team we already have play better! Of course you can always improve the squad, but I believe our players are already good enough and now it's about getting them playing like they were from January onwards last season.

I think he means the identitiy will be a surprise.

This quote alone demonstrates to me that you have no idea what you're talking about, I'm afraid. Admittedly in the two home league games so far, we have become a bit desperate and relied on the hoof a bit too much as the game has progressed. But to suggest that it is all Pardew is capable of telling the team is completely ridiculous. We have played some great football on the deck, just not got the finishing touch in the box yet.

He played Centre Back all last season I believe.

I would suggest that had we played 3 won 3 in the league by now, he wouldn't have played such a strong lineup, but he was trying to get them some momentum going. I am loathe to make excuses for the team, but am trying to ease my frustration by remembering that 4 of our best players (Lallana, Lambert, Puncheon, Schneiderlin) picked up injuries in pre season and at least 3 of them are yet to get back to speed IMO. We know Lallana is playing through a knee problem, Lambert looks clearly off the pace, and Puncheon has lacked his usual dynamism. I am happy to believe for now that this is due to those injuries. With this in mind, I am prepared to wait and see but a bad result at Rovers and the doubts will grow.

Perhaps as an example of one of the poorest, scankiest areas of the country which would benefit from the "FIFA TM WORLD CUP Copyright TM". "FIFA TM copyright all rights reserved" love all that ****e.

Is this serious? Didn't realise this was a big problem for people. I will pretty much go anywhere if needs be. I always need a poo when I'm about to play football (I get nervous), so can't be too fussy as most changing room toilets are pretty awful.

I'm not convinced that the loan part of the deal means that pardew is unsure, if it was a doable deal then why not. I might be buying something, and be absolutely certain it's perfect, doesn't mean I won't ask the shop if I can take it back if I don't like it, it makes sense to get that reassurance even if you don't feel you need it.

Ultimately, yes, the deal is more risky than buying a proven english quality player directly from the championship or something. I think where the difference is, is that most people are able to trust AP in his tranfer dealings, given his excellent record for us. If others don't feel they trust AP to bring in good players then fair enough, but I think he's done more than enough to suggest he knows a good player for this level when he sees one.

I think we should all give up here. Most seem to think Guly is a decent calculated risk in the circumstances, but think and hope he should be good. Alpine thinks Guly is too much of a risk in the circumstances, and is underwhelmed and thinks AP is due a bad signing. Nobody is going to change their mind. End of discussion I reckon.

But the fact is he still turned down a higher level of football. Makes no difference which way he's going. He is an example of a player turning down top flight football to play in a lower division. So a perfectly valid example thank you. Ok, so if he is their second or third best player and would easily be in the Cesena team, why did they accept a five month loan deal? They're clearly keen to shift him. Sorry, but what you are saying just doesn't add up, Cesena clearly do not feel he is up to Serie A standards. Not that I am not excited about the signing, he looks good but I don't think there's anything odd going on here, just a player who is no longer wanted by his club, moving to another club.

Happens quite often. Pitman turned down Blackpool. Probably didn't fancy a year of sitting on the bench for a team getting stuffed week in week out. Perhaps some footballers are intelligent enough to know their own limits.

The only thing that matters to me when assesing the health of the club, is the league table. Rupert Lowe got absolutely slated (and rightly so) for trying to suggest that despite relegation, the clubs off the field infrastructure was more of an indication of where the club was. I do not give a damn about sponsors boards, corporate boxes, how the newspapers refer to us and so on. All that matters is the score at 5PM on a saturday, and the league table. I really feel that anybody getting so caught up in the overall corporate health of the club has lost their way a little as a football supporter.

Arteta is eligible for England, he doesn't need an English grandparent or to have "engaged in a minimum of five years' education under the age of 18 within the territory of the relevant association". Hopkins proving once again he knows very little about a subject and has decided to get all excited before stopping and looking at the rules. ;-)

Just one, walked along the bottom of the Northam. Personally, I joined in a few of the chants but more in a 'banter' sort of way rather than being particularly angry. I didn't realise anybody was genuinely angry about it, just seemed like an excuse to sing a few songs at a policemen.