The infamous "honest performance" that extended our losing streak to four. The team lined up in something between a 5-3-2 and 3-5-2, depending on who you ask, and played direly, much like our opponents, conceding only to a cross from former target Erik Pieters that wormed it's way into the net. Out of position Anita, played at right wing-back, earned man of the match with a lowly rating of 5.77, while Shola, who partnered Cissé up front, was mug of the match with a 3.07. On average the team was rated 4.84, while Pardew yet again drew ire and earned a 1.69.
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(You can click on player names to go to their pages)
Krul - 4.93 Ratings ranged between 3 and 6"Not much he could do for the goal, caught him off guard. Complete fluke goal."
"He could have done better for the goal. His attempt was laughable. I'm not saying he should have saved it, but what was he doing?"
"To blame for the long range cross going in."
Taylor - 4.67 Ratings ranged between 4 and 5.5
"I really don't like him very much, but he was decent enough."
"Poor, slow, unresponsive."
"Stood off too much for the goal."
Williamson - 4.83 Ratings ranged between 4 and 6
"Mostly assured. Up front for the last 15 minutes."
"Average, should have scored."
"Lost Crouch far too many times. Nearly scored though."
Coloccini - 4.33 Ratings ranged between 3 and 6
"Probably the best of our three defenders although that's not saying much."
"Decent for 70 minutes, then fell to pieces."
"Very poor. He could ripped apart by Arnautovic and was very lucky not to get a red card for the cynical pull back. He was lucky MYM was so quick. If that was Saylor, he would have seen red. He obviously doesn't want to be here, get rid in the summer. His past few performances are starting to ruin his reputation as a great player for us, I hope he has a strong finish to the season."
Anita - 5.77 (MOTM) Ratings ranged between 4 and 7
"Hard to judge, got overran defensively but to be fair he got no help. Our only source of creativity going forward though."
"He was good at RWB, should've closed their goal down more but it's such a fluke I'm not going to mark him down for that."
"Had a good game despite being out of position. Don't know how he contrived to miss that header though."
Gosling - 5.57 Ratings ranged between 4 and 7
"Probably our best player, but no killer instinct when in good positions."
"Not bad. The closest thing we had to creativity along with Anita, unlucky not to score."
"Did okay. Showed attacking intent and made a few nice runs into the box. Should have scored."
Tioté - 5.53 Ratings ranged between 4.5 and 6.5
"Can't say I noticed him."
"Our best player again, only player playing decent right now."
"Did his job."
Gouffran - 4.23 Ratings ranged between 2 and 5
"Quiet, seems to have gone backwards since Christmas."
"Knackered, still."
"Out of position. Hardly touched the ball. He has been dreadful since the turn of the year."
Dummett - 5.17 Ratings ranged between 4 and 7
"Solid I thought, and got forward well."
"A few good runs forward but a little rash at times. He just doesn't look a footballer at times, he certainly doesn't run like one, his running style is more comparable to a drunken bloke running to catch the last bus."
"I'm not his biggest fan, but he played well. He was a lot better going forwards and he made several good tackles."
Shola - 3.07 Ratings ranged between 1 and 5
"Average game for Shola, one good cross. By anybody else's standards though this would be lower."
"Alarmingly one of our better players."
"Don't understand what he was meant to offer us bad passes, rubbish crosses, knocked off the ball too easily no shots."
Cissé - 4.53 Ratings ranged between 3 and 6
"Should have had a pen but otherwise did nothing. "
"Tried, put in a few good crosses, but that isn't his job."
"Not that good, thought he might have had a goal in him."
Yanga-Mbiwa - 4.93 Ratings ranged between 3.5 and 6
"Came on and did quite well, how Taylor starts in front of him is beyond me."
"Not much he could do in a team like that. Better than Taylor and Willo."
"Should have started."
Ben Arfa - N/A (4.14) Ratings ranged between 3 and 5
"Not fair to rate him when he was limping for most of his time on. Should have started."
"Came on, lost the ball, got injured, limped around for 20 minutes or so."
"Did nothing. Although he looked like he was playing through injury."
Armstrong - 5.30 Ratings ranged between 5 and 7
"Tried to get involved, brining him on will have done him no favours considering our crazy formation."
"I liked his holdup play despite being out on the wing for some reason. An infinite improvement on Shola."
"Hardly touched the ball. Needs game time in his correct position."
Pardew - 1.69 Ratings ranged between 1 and 4
"Stupid formation, why did he pick Saylor, why Shola played 90, why Gouffran, why no Ben Arfa. Just WHY?
Said he wouldn't play Armstrong so as not to ruin him, then plays him!"
"Tactical gamble made sense, players selected for it didn't. Dummett? Gosling? SHOLA? No Ben Arfa? Crazy. While Gosling played quite well, he was the closest we had to a creative midfield player. How you can pick a team where Gosling is the creative player, I don't understand. Stupid decision Made his subs too late, and when MYM came on put him at right-back because he doesn't trust him at CB. Which is mental. Hopefully this was Pardew's last game..."
"Just horrendous. We want to change tactics, but not go back to a system which has got us humped on the last two times we've used it. He saw that Anita was constantly being caught out and did nothing to change it. He goes on about "protecting" youth players a couple of weeks ago and chucks Armstrong on anyway. He starts SHOLA. He leaves Ben Arfa on the bench. The players look content to lose 1-0 cos hey, at least it's not four! F*ck off Alan, you smarmy, cockney, tactically-inept, player-ruining, Ashley-worshipping, useless, violent, abusive c*nt."
"5 at the back. Really? Loads of players out of position. Horrifically negative tactics. Stoke were absolutely awful and still deserved to win. The bloke hasn't a clue. Just f*ck off man you muppet. On the plus side it was nice to hear the full away end singing Pardew out. First time its been the entire support and not just segments."
"Tactics wrong, if he thinks taking Gosling and Cisse off improved the side he was wrong. Time to go, I can't see him getting us another win this season. Thank God we had a good first half of a season otherwise it would be US and the lambs going down."
"C*nt."