So what can you say about Alan Pardew?
Well, imo, he's a brilliant man manager and does handle the media rather effectively. Tactically though (the most important aspect of any manager), he's a very overcautious man, much to our detriment really. It can be argued a flat 4-4-2 is Pardew's way of "playing it safe" and counteracting the opposition (ie. the aim of being defensively solid) - he used it quite a bit last season and to an extent it did "work" and this is probably why he's persisting with it. It's evident that he primarily works on the defensive side of our game with the attacking side most likely being left on the back burner until a few/couple days before the day of the game - this is somewhat supported by the fact that we don't seem to have many ideas when we do attack during a game - it's usually the case that we pass it to Ben Arfa and let him do something magical/out-of-this-world. Not the right approach at all if you ask me.
From what I've seen this season, our standard approach seems to be that of letting the opposition attack us for 20 minutes before we actually do something of note in their half - if this is Pardew's plan of "lulling them into a false sense of security", then again, that is not the right approach to adopt. When we do get into the game, we do show glimpses of doing something good but our shape and lack of movement means that we ultimately do nothing of note in the final third. This again is down to the limitations of the flat 4-4-2. The 4-4-2 vs 4-3-3 argument has been done to death so I won't go into it in depth about it but what I will say is that 4-3-3 gets the best out of the players we have at our disposal whilst the 4-4-2 restricts them. 4-4-2 can be a good system btw but only with players who are suited to it, ie. natural wingers - something we don't have. Admittedly, there will be times when a cautious approach will be key to coming out on top of a game but there is a need for flexibility.
Are the players inculpable? Not really, some of our players have been underperforming (messrs Tiote and Cissé for me) in comparison to their outings last season. Our reliance on limited players such as Simpson and Williamson was always going to go up to a point where it was going to detriment us rather than benefit us - don't get me wrong they are players who are capable of putting in a decent shift when called upon but ultimately if we are to progress, we can't be seeing their names on the teamsheet week in, week out. You could put that down to failings from the powers above - I do appreciate their approach of not giving in to silly money demands from other clubs but there does come a point where you have to bite the bullet and offer that extra million pounds - it can reap benefits in the long run. Pardew has been let down in the summer, he did make it clear that he wanted 2/3 new first teamers in but nothing materialised.
There have been worrying signs for the last three months now (which Pardew has acknowledged tbf) and thus far, they haven't really been addressed - there have been glimpses of improvement imo but they only ever happen for about 5/10 minutes in a game. Something does want to come out but we shy away from it time after time. I still trust Pardew btw, the things he did last season are more than enough evidence to me that he can get us playing in a way that is great to watch - my overly optimistic mind tells me that he will get things clicking eventually. However, it's an undeniable fact that his current tactics have been p*ss poor and he needs to sort it out and fast. His overcautious (and what appears to be his only) approach (score first, defend for the rest of the game) is a hindrance. It's now really time for him to properly earn his money. Howay Alan, time to "live a little".
The inevitable discussion with workmates did me no favours in my attempt to forget about yesterday.