Hoofball was never the problem under Pardew imo. The problem was, and still is, that we play percentage football, which is different and not mutually exclusive to playing long ball - i.e. the players are clearly instructed to get the ball into the box/strikers as often as possible even if the pass isn't on (which is most of the time), with the theory being that just getting the ball into the box results in chances being created if the striker wins it and/or the knockdown and poor clearances favours us. "Get the ball into the box enough times and combined with individual ability the goals are bound to come, keep it tight and stay in position (i.e. no real movement) and opposition teams who are passing and moving will struggle to score" - that's Pardew's theory. There's no thought to passing and moving as a team, interplaying, getting reasonable numbers forward, and creating chances by working the all around and through the opposition - so whilst we are playing on the deck more compared to last season, the net result of the Pardew approach to football means that we just pass it around in straight lines without any intention to create anything until it's time for someone to lump it optimistically into the box/strikers. Hence, we constantly lose possession cheaply, whilst practically every game the opposition cut through us and create the better chances.
It's a philosophy you'd expect in the lower leagues, one where teams with players who "jump higher, win more headers, run faster, get the tackle in" make the difference, and I for one can't believe Pardew is getting away with it in the Premiership in 2013 with this squad of players. It's almost like he's trying to outsmart the opposition by using an approach that they aren't really expecting. And on that note, whilst there's zero evidence for this, I suspect that Pardew may be a "Prozone manager" ala Sam Allardyce, or something of that ilk in that he believes "percentage football" is more effective/efficient than a more creative passing game because a statistic somewhere will show that getting the ball into the box more often results in more goals. It would logically explain why Pardew's team plays this way, what he analyses during the 4 days of the training week where he works on defense/countering the opposition.
