HawK

He's nae Mourinho but in the summer he pointedly came out and said that he wanted to introduce his new style of football which is why he'd started bringing in the players he did. That we started the campaign with a couple of key players (a LB, HBA, another attacker) not available for selection somewhat forced him to continue with the existing methodology - make the team hard to break down and exploit the attacking situations. It was effective, not exactly free-flowing football. We came unstuck with the trio of difficult matches co-inciding with Colo's first injury and Saylor going down - two major losses and it told on the pitch as we dropped points in the three games after Man U/Man C/Chelsea. Some people saw this as a sign of Pards' "luck" running out (many of these didn't/don't trust the man). Some saw it as a flaw in his managerial accumen, as he wasn't able to change things when we'd been "worked out". Some rode out the rough after so much (relative) smooth. We also had the distraction of a not fully fit HBA having to be integrated back into the side with the vast majority pinpointing him as our real flair player who would at least be exciting, if not match-winning. We then lost Ba and Cabaye for a few matches (along with new signing Cisse) but stuck to the older methodology to grind out wins and points. We get howked off Fulham experimenting with the 4-3-3 (using Best and Shola instead of the first choice pair who were unavailable) - although the match isn't a total write-off as we were very good for 30-45mins at the start. With the full squad almost back and more than enough points on the board to surpass this season's expectations, Pards can now begin to 'experiment' with his chosen formation and the best players playing (injury permitting). The last 60mins of Wolves was a shambles, but every team has it's off day and there were extenuating circumstances (to some extent) and we battered the mackems for 45minutes before losing to a last gasp Arsenal goal at the Emirates. In any league, going without a win for 4/5 games is tough, so that's why the emphasis was placed on securing the 3pts against Norwich. The press have stopped dropping our name into Champs League talk (thankfully) and it looks as though Europa League is going to be out of our hands - all we can do is use the last 8 games to find our 'best' set-up and get as many points as possible so we set the standard for next season, but without having any real pressure on us. I don't see this as a new side to Pardew, I see this as him doing what he originally set out to do: get enough points to secure safety (done by Xmas really), then kick on from there after seeing out the Jan transfer window. If anything, he's encouraging the development of our football at a quicker rate than he probably envisaged with us having the 'comfort' of such an expectation-surpassing opening 30 games. His critics/detractors will call this revisionist, but I he's either the luckiest man in the world or he's got half a brain. That hardly required a Picard did it? And in the end you basically agreed with the part you decided to embold in the quote, that you're happy for him to continue also.

Yep I wasn't happy with the man's apparent ability, and to be honest it has still taken him this long to attempt what to most of us seems a very obvious square pegs to square holes solution. That he chose to do this in an away game was a bit baffling, but hey I'm a lot happier now that he has seemed to have grown a pair in finally taking that decision. This is a new side to Alan Pardew and I'm happy to see how he develops, he's showing something now that he hasn't shown before. I honestly think he or someone close to him reads what is written about him, because I've noticed several times when a few people are chiming with the same chords on here, there seems to be a reaction on the pitch. For what it's worth, I still don't think based on evidence so far that he's going to be as successful as Sir Bobby or KK; he is limited and is being flattered by the personal available to him. That said, he isn't royally screwing it up, and we could do with a bit of stability right now and a couple of seasons challenging in and around 6th I think is exactly what we need. Happy to bide time with him and see what happens, if this new side to Alan Pardew progresses.

http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae191/neisied1/giant_rolleyes.gif It's well documented that he's on a numeration package that includes percentages payable on transfer fee profits.

AP just needs to pay a bit more off now, that's all.

His goal was brilliant =D

Closer to 14th than 6th, poor team with a poor manager with 2 outstanding players.

English, it wasn't that bad tbh. Would pay to hear it in English. He came across quite shy and happy =)

Omg he comes across so shy !

I just cannot believe we'll win with that back 4 on the pitch, they are atrocious! I'll be ecstatic at 3-3, with the way Pardew has us playing now. Anything more would be a bonus for me.

Topics like this always amuse me when I dip in to read, it's like some people feel the urge to try to convince those that cannot be swayed. Personally, I am well informed on the subject past and present, and it's my opinion that he is the best footballer in the world right now, and almost up there with Pelé - you simply cannot refute the fact that in nowadays football he is protected to such a huge degree, and the method of his style of play is tailored to that protection. I'm not saying he couldn't cope back in Pelé's era, he'd be a fantastic player still, as is evidenced by the numerous youtube videos of Messi refusing to fall over when fouled and just continuing with play, but it was a different level of physicality in the 60's. Perhaps people just like to argue against the established opinion when a new idea comes along, a healthy rebellion-fueled debate as it were. I'd like to see Messi truely carry a team that he doesn't play regularly for - Maradona with Napoli and Agentina for example - rather than win a WC, which can be down to so many more factors that just one person's outstanding ability.

Lost something like 10 games in a row. If anyone thinks Keegan could do a better job than Pardew, then they are insane. lol

Tend to agree, stats without context are useless. He has such a high successful tackle percentage compared to the others because he's too afraid/not good enough to pull off the necessary/risky tackles in the first place, and just makes the easy ones on the half way line.

By 'Him' I meant Raylor

Gives us another option on the right ahead of Raylor, stick him at LB and Santon RB and we're half way towards a balanced lineup, obviously only if his skill is up to it of course - haven't seen much of him.

I am thinking now that I wish some of these posters here had crossed my path in the Alan Pardew thread instead and could have received an education. Alas I just can't be arsed now =) 'I play Football Manager, I know what I'm talking about' is where it's at here apparently

Completely different to Shola situation, you are 100% clueless. One of the best squad players you could get behind the top 4 teams in the country with his versatility, commitment and what he offers on the pitch. Do I want him starting when our first XI is fit - of course not, but you need options. Good signing. Agree would rather we had young+upcomings on the bench, but we're not exactly in a position to gamble big bucks on young players like Wickham or Oxade-Chamberlain. Be thankful that we have at least Krul so far, he's worth all the money put into the other youngsters that failed combined, the multiply by a hundred. Young players don't just magically appear to fill the bench, it takes 10-15 years to get the structure right before we can ever hope of having players coming through like Man United or Liverpool. We're still recovering from the first Keegan period where he axed the entire infrastructure beyond the first team, we didn't even have a reserves.

Against pace? When? whoosh.

Can we agree to agree? lol

What? That's exactly what I said lol. I think he means that we were allowing them to win the second ball and then trying to contest the next phase - i.e. when they attack us with the ball they just won. Ah Ok.. seriously? Without wanting to sound too chastising, who on earth would set their team up to just give the ball to the opposition and tell them to attack us, at home lol. the hope is that the ball will stick with the forwards. it didn't. several times on sunday ba was waving for the midfield to come in to challenge the second ball he had went for and it had dropped away. Which comes full circle to many of the points I've made regarding Pardew's tactics in the past few pages, in summary to do with his inability to adapt or set up a team with a basic strategy that plays to the strengths of the players. Not that I'm disagreeing with you, entirely the opposite, but I've made those points quite a few times now I think I should just copy + paste =)

What? That's exactly what I said lol. I think he means that we were allowing them to win the second ball and then trying to contest the next phase - i.e. when they attack us with the ball they just won. Ah Ok.. seriously? Without wanting to sound too chastising, who on earth would set their team up to just give the ball to the opposition and tell them to attack us, at home lol.

What? That's exactly what I said lol.

Ashley's infrastructure behind the first team and the economy behind it has simply been a breath of fresh air, first class. If only someone could get him to understand the value of spending big on the most important position in the club

Perhaps I should just stop writing 'megaposts' Edit: Just realised I should probably change the avatar now, appears he's spent a lot of it