AP to blame or players?

[St Marco]

On the match thread i notice some people have said the tactics,team selection were all poor and that Pardew should take some blame etc..

 

Personally i disagree. I think he is not to blame one bit.

 

I think the players are now the main problem this club has. Being at the game reminded me that while so much has changed in the past three years one thing still remains the same. The performances on the pitch.

 

In that time has there ever been really much to be proud about? We have had countless managers all defending the players after dire performances. That must now stop.

 

I am not one to bash players, it does no good but the attitude of a lot of our players stinks and i truely believe that nothing will change until they are gone. You could have Fergie in charge and he would not do any better.

 

The defence = Perry is past it, Olly is young and makes so many mistakes, is nowhere near 1st team level in this league. Thomas is good in the air but is crap on the floor, has a tendency to just grab people and give away stupid freekicks or penalties. Murty and Harding are new players and the one thing i have noticed more then anything is their desire to get to a ball 1st. I notice it because we are not used to it. That attitude of wanting to impress shines through. Perry and Olly need to be replaced from defence and Thomas needs to learn to be a defender.

 

Midfield = Wotten is past it, brings nothing to the team at all. Morgan is very weak and has very low confidence. Plays more **** games then he does good. We can't afford to have a player who plays only when things go right. Those 2 players make our midfield truely woeful. An old man with his zimmerframe could get past them. Lallana is a player who really angers me right now. His attitude is pitiful. In pre-season he expressed desire to leave, rumours saying he refused to play etc.. He is over hyped and again not a player we should be having here. He creates next to nothing. From his last 40 games of which 33 were starts he has 3 assists. That is ****. These stats show he is not ready for the first team. His performance today once again gave me the impression he will not be the guy to create the chances we need, he will not be a player to run for every ball and help set up anything.

Mellis is young and un-experienced. He is like the players from last year, learning their trade. He cannot be expected to be the creative force behind our team.

The same can be said about Gillett,Thomson and Gobern.

 

Our midfield overall is very very poor. 2 of the 4 are attitude players where if they are not feeling it will not have any influence. This in turn causes our crap defence more problems. One of them is old and past it, bringing nothing to the team but mistakes. And the others are young and vastly un-experienced. We cannot expect them to produce like a vetran.

 

The forwards - Lambert is new so obviously cannot include him. But both Rasiak and Saga both want out. In their years here they have never really come across as players who badly want to play for us, another case of i will play when i feel like it. While they are both here the attitude will always remain. This in my view is why they do not start. That is the right decision. What is the point in playing people who don't want to be here? How can you build a team around that type of attitude? You can't.

Lambert is someone who you can see wants to impress. He tries to get involved even though the service is not there. Being up on his own is always going to be hard but if 5 players behind him can't grab a hold of the game and push forward how will 4 do it?

Patterson is a young player so again cannot expect him to be anywhere near ready for this level.

 

My view is the team is utter **** overall. You got a mixture of players who don't want to be here and players who are not good enough to be here. The reason Davis keeps winning man of the match is down to both his ability but more importantly his attitude. If we had a team of Davis' we would not be in this situation.

 

So i think after three years of being defended by both the staff and the fans some players now need to take a long hard look at themself. They are letting the club down and can no longer hide behind the excuse the club is in freefall etc..

 

The players who want to go should be dropped altogether. That means Rasiak and Saga. Take them away from the squad, do not let them train with them or have any influence on them. Football is a case of confidence and i do not believe having people thinking they want out around a team will help with that.

It is like a business, if someone you employ wants to leave they will never put in the same effort as a new guy who has just started.

 

Lallana needs to be dropped as i said before. He needs to get himself sorted. Maybe all those people whispering in his ear over the last few months of last season have taken there toll, he thinks he is better then he is right now and has a guranteed 1st team place. A break will do him the world of good.

 

Perry,Wotten and Olly should not be used unless nobody else is available, period. Wotten has the attitude of wanting to do well and this should be commended but he like Perry are now to old. In this league you need players switched on for the whole game, every game. Today once more showed total lack of marking for their goal etc.. too much pressure on our goal caused by stupid decisions like Wotten's.

 

So basically we need a lot of players. Not just any player but players who will be consistent with their performances. Players who have the ability to push the club forward but more importantly help to get rid of the "can't be arsed attitude" that has become en-trenched in our club. Once we get players in who are like this, who want to play for the club, make something from their careers and progress then the club will progress with them.

 

Because of that i do not blame Pardew one bit, i think you cannot blame him for the players he has. We have tried pretty much every team selection available over the past 3 years and none of them have worked. Is it just that every person is a muppet and can't see what we can see?

 

Until we have a team spirit we will never be a team. When you have players not wanting to be here, that will always effect players who do.

Pardew will build a team. He did it at Reading, and did it at West Ham. He will do it here. It is going to take time, a longtime. This time next year i would be very surprised if the team out there this evening looked anywhere near the same.

 

Dean coming in today is a type of player we need. The problem is we need a lot more of them. I hope ML realises this and let's Pardew get them.

 

Rant over

[RedAndWhite91]

Didn't read all of that cos I am too tired but get the general idea, and I agree. At the end of the day it is the players on the pitch who are making the difference. The players lose the game out on the pitch, not the manager, and the players did not play well tonight.

[.comsaint]

Without doubt the finest, truest & most spot-on post I've read on this forum for many, many months. Hat's-off to you St Marco. That is exactly how it is!

[RedAndWhite91]

I will read it properly tomorrow after .comsaint's glowing review

[trousers]

Superb OP. Suggest printing it out and send it to every player, coaching staff and management at the club. Seriously.