Shocking tactics from Pardew yesterday. The amount of times the defenders simply passed it back to Krul just for Tim to hoof it forward and hope for the best was very worrying indeed. It meant that Ba wasn't much of an influence upfront (apart from his part in Cissé's goal) and it also meant that Cabaye couldn't really do much either (what with the ball bypassing midfield).
We weren't great in the first half mind but I also really thought Wolves were no better so when the second goal went in, I really thought we would go on and win comfortably. However, there was that element of complacency from the players in the second half. It seemed as if they (and probably Pardew) thought the game was won at 2-0 and that all was needed was to see the game out. Well, that didn't happen did it, Alan? Wolves had more urgency about them while we were just simply pissing about, giving the ball away and playing it long. Negative tactics all round, we simply had no answer to Wolves' attacking nor an answer to how we could win the game (a plan B if you will). Tbf though, the way I saw it, think Pardew brought Guthrie and Ben Arfa on and tried switching it to a 4-3-3 so that we could get that third goal but ultimately that plan went out the window when Wolves scored the equaliser. Overall it was a very poor showing and one that left a very bitter taste in my mouth. Having seen Pardew's post-match comments too, got to say things aren't exactly looking too rosy (footballing performance-wise) atm. My view of Pardew's handling of Ben Arfa is slowly changing too, really not sure why Alan's going about it the way he has (I really don't see it as a situation that is comparable to the Tevez/Mascherano situation at West Ham) - it is completely the wrong thing to do imo. If he had started Hatem, it would have been seen as a positive attacking threat - starting Raylor at RM was, in my eyes, a conservative view and one which isn't exactly a positive attacking sign.
Having said all that though, I still have faith in Pardew to do the right thing. We are still in a great position in the league and Pardew does indeed deserve credit for that - for the first few months of the season, he got us playing in a way that made us very hard to beat and that in itself is quite an achievement. Unfortunately, ever since the Chelsea game (a game where we did not deserve to lose 3-0), we haven't been performing to the heights that has got us into such a great position in the league (Man U at St. James' aside). This is very worrying but, at the same time, we have been getting the right results as well and football is a results-based game after all. Yes, I understand that with the players we have, we should be performing better but it could (still) be the case that Pardew is "playing it safe". That is, he's sticking to these tactics because the situation in the table (our aim of European football aspirations and all that) is quite precarious. Hopefully though, after seeing yesterday's showing, Pardew will now think twice and actually change some things around instead of sticking to his usual way of doing things on the pitch. Managers get criticised accordingly - if the team does well, Pardew receives praise but if the team does badly, Pardew deserves all the criticism he gets. If we finish in the top 6/7, that is massive progress for us as a club and Pardew will deservedly receive the plaudits for that (considering where we were two or so years ago).
