I think it's wrong to say that he's an out and out bad manager, much as I've found the job he's done this year to be very poor.
I do think he's very good at organising us from a purely defensive point of view. Williamson however has no business even being a squad player at this level, he's a complete and utter liability, and since Pardew's basically been forced into starting him this year I can sympathise with him a bit. Last year our good start was largely founded on how difficult it was to score goals against us, only Man City managed to score more than once against us last year until Taylor went out injured. This year it's been difficult for him to build that solid base again. Hopefully the arrival or MYM coupled with the return of Taylor means that Williamson has kicked his last ball for us, I'll be interested to see if we can get back to being a difficult side to score goals against.
We're also capable of going out and playing decent stuff when we actually try to. The last two games we've completely bossed the first 45 minutes, against Reading we could easily have been three or four up by half time and obviously last night against Villa we played excellently in the first half.
The problem, as has been pointed out countless times over the last dozen pages, is of course that once we get a lead we're far too negative. Games that we have the initiative in we just relinquish our grip and invite our opponents to have a go at us. This isn't necessarily a bad strategy, but only if you're going to set up to play on the break and try and score more goals that way. We don't do that. We just stick everyone bar Cisse/Shola behind the ball and try to keep them out as best we can. When we do get the ball it inevitably gets launched towards the lone striker, with very little attempt from our midfielders to break quickly and try and exploit the space teams leave at the back while chasing a goal.
If we can avoid a serious bad run of injuries between now and the end of the season I think we'll stay up. Not expecting anything from the next two games but after that our fixture list gets a lot more manageable, with Ben Arfa hopefully to come back couple with the new arrivals I think it'd take something truly special to take this squad of players down.
But then what?
With the way he manages during games I can't see him ever being able to achieve top six finishes on a regular basis, and with the quality of players that Graham Carr has been recruiting the last couple of years I truly believe that's an achievable aim in the very near future. The Manchester clubs and Chelsea might be beyond reach, but the rest of the league is there to be fought with IMO. Add a quality striker/winger type to the current squad and it looks very, very impressive to me.
But is Pardew good enough to lead them anywhere better than mid table? I really can't see it I'm afraid, not unless he changes his approach considerably. We'll be a hard team to beat, but he just doesn't have the killer instinct that good managers do. He plays to not lose rather than playing to win.
I think we're putting together a great little team, and it would be a shame if we didn't give them a manager who can get the best out of them. The key in all this will be Ashley. Will he be happy enough to cruise along with his yes man in charge and hope that Pardew improves with time, or will he be bold and take a risk on someone who he thinks can be better? I'm guessing it'll be the former, so let's hope Pardew grows a pair at some point.
