God. How is it silly? He's just fighting his player's corner, man - as he does every single week. Good on him, it's called man-management. Every account you hear from one of our players about the manager speaks of their trust in him.
Tedious how every solitary detail of the weekend gets nitpicked with a pre-conceived negativity, every time we lose. Pardew is honest about our performances in the press, and whatever you say about his tactics, he's meticulous in his approach before (and probably after) games. I'm sure he's not going to gloss over the horrendous start when it comes to the de-brief in training.
Every interview a manager gives post-game needs to be taken with a pinch of salt these days. Frustrating when people get irritated over post-match comments (unless there's a constant excuse or bitterness in there, a la the likes of Hughes or whatever). Particularly with Pardew cos, like i say, he's generally totally honest about the performances - without absolutely laying into his players to a massive audience.
This, all of the above