Memphis

HOPE

You can always count on us getting humped at Anfield and yet, when we need it to happen to get rid of the idiot in charge, Liverpool bottle it.

The organisation on show today defensively makes it clear just how unmotivated the team has been for the last 2 months.

Julien Laurens on Twitter: Galtier's agent, Jean-Pierre Bernes has just said that he never had any contacts with any english clubs

Pardew decided to have the lads in the squad vote on the proper punishment so the Argentinian Tevez was forced to train in a Brazil shirt for a week.

PARDEW ON HATEM BEN ARFA:

March 2012: "Not many players would have been blessed with the talent 'Atam has, and the French manager should take note of it."

September 2013: "His performance today was unplayable. He was on fire. He has the ability to hold onto the ball and explode past two or three players. This is what the supporters pay to watch."

------------PARDEW ONLY STARTS HBA 6 MORE TIMES THIS SEASON--------

December 2013: "(To get back in the starting XI) First he has got to get in front of Yoan Gouffran and Moussa Sissoko and that isn't going to be easy because they have been brilliant."

March 2014: "I've not lost patience with him but Hatem has to gain the trust of not just me but our players and fans. He has to show he's the real deal if he's going to play."

"Hatem needs a good finish to the season and he's aware of that for a number of reasons."

"The bottom line with Hatem is if he's getting assists and goals, then it all balances out," he said.  He needs to get the balance right between delivering for us in an offensive way and the team keeping its discipline intact with him in the side. If he isn't doing it, then it isn't balancing out."

HATEM BEN ARFA ON PARDEW:

April 2014: "I feel sad and frustrated but not angry. I think I could make a difference and I'd like to try. I think Pardew believes in me, but he doesn't show it. I don't know why. He needs to give me more confidence to build my best game because, at the moment, I don't have that."

"It's not easy when you come on and we're 2-0 down and everybody wants you to do something great. The manager told me I had to score more and get more assists, I said 'OK, but I have to play'. It would be better if I started games."

------------------------------------------------------------------

PARDEW ON CARLOS TEVEZ/JAVIER MASCHERANO:

September 2006: "I was blown away by Tevez's talent. You don't turn down the chance to sign two world-class players. I know West Ham fans will take to Tevez straight away. He is in the same bracket as Paolo Di Canio in terms of what he can bring - charisma, high skill and excitement. Mascherano is a different player - he brings a calming influence in possession and is an intelligent player on the pitch."

PARDEW ON MASCHERANO AFTER ONLY STARTING HIM TWICE IN TWO MONTHS AFTER SIX WEST HAM DEFEATS:

October 2006: "He's an outstanding player.  I need to just adjust his game a wee bit to the Premiership and I think he's aware of that. But he needs to play for that to happen and unfortunately, when you've got six defeats, you need to go with people who know the job inside and out."

November 2006 - Tevez forced to train in a Brazil shirt away from squad after angry reaction to being subbed in 1-0 win over Sheffield United

PARDEW SACKED AS WEST HAM MANAGER ON 11 DECEMBER 2006; MASCHERANO MADE 5 WEST HAM APPS; TEVEZ DIDN'T SCORE HIS 1ST GOAL UNTIL 4 MARCH 2007

CARLOS TEVEZ ON PARDEW:

January 2007: "I was surprised to see how long Pardew held on to the job in the end. I was never given the chances I thought I would be given and I was told to play out of position against my will.

"I had to sacrifice myself for the team which I don't think helped. I was playing in ways I did not understand well and I lost a lot from my own game.

"It didn't fit where he put me, but I wanted to help."

"I don't think he had a clear idea about my game or what to do. He was more suited to coaching English teams without foreign players with big reputations."

The tide is turning. But unless supporters vote with their cash and their feet and not just with their voices and fingers, it will be to no avail. The fat man cares not if you hate him, he has utter contempt for the customers, er...fans, who are merely an obstacle in the way of establishing Newcastle United as the mightiest mid-tabliest mouthpiece for Sports Direct in the world.

"The first arf wuz all uphill for us, and after half time, if I'm honest, it was all downhill from there."

 

"Jack and Jill suffered under those conditions and we was no different"

That's superb!

The standard for writing and punditry regarding Newcastle is shocking. Even Douglas' piece today, while mentioning Pardew being deserving of a sack, barely scratches the surface of the rationale behind such a move.

Whether it's through being on the club's payroll, being too afraid to ruffle feathers, or just plain thick, it's embarrassing to read. The divide between journalists/pundits (except for Caulkin, pretty much) is vast and infuriating.

And to get back to the topic of this thread, it matters not who we sign because we're either going to Pardew the shit out of them or sell them on before they can make a real impact for us.

We have scored precisely 6 goals in the 11 matches since Cabaye was sold. All 6 against Hull, Crystal Palace, and Villa. 10 points out of a possible 33.

So we've failed to score in 8 of those 11 matches. No one should be allowed to continue doing a job as poorly as Pardew has done without getting more media criticism. He is bulletproof. It's astonishing.

Fans attending matches at SJP haven't seen the home side score 2 goals in a game since Boxing Day.

Manchester United scored twice as many Premier League goals at SJP yesterday as Newcastle United have in calendar year 2014. That sentence alone would get 99% of managers sacked.

Funny that headbutts nowadays are always headpresses but in any event Pardew is a complete idiot of the highest order for doing that.

How he could ever demand composure from his players after that display is beyond me. Easy to see why his teams so rarely come back from adversity; he can't seem to deal with the simplest of conflicts on the touch line.

A manager headbutting a player? It defies all logic. So embarrassing for everyone.

He's been completely found out. Bereft of ideas and ability to generate even an ounce of extra motivation - not that players would be motivated anyway due to the club's complete and obvious lack of ambition - from any of the squad. Should have been sacked ages ago, of course, but he's going to have to go soon.

He's taken international-level players and Pardewed them down to headless chickens running around. He's taken wonderfully creative talents and sanded them down to pitiful nubs. He's a fraud and a charlatan.

It's not as if removing him would solve all or even most of the club's problems, but seeing his face as the frontman for this rabble is infuriating.

Not our worst performance but probably the most depressing one.

The malaise surrounding the club is palpable. It virtually oozes out of the pores of every player on the pitch. There is nothing to play for, no one capable of giving the team something to play for, no leadership on the pitch and certainly none off it.

It is a slow slide to the inevitable lower mid-table finish and to whatever awaits us in the summer. Players aren't motivated, why on earth would the supporters be? This is the inevitable end to the argument that mere existence in the glory of the Premier League should be our only hope. We have it, and for what? To have weekly confirmations on the pitch that we exist merely to make up the numbers in the world's richest league? What supporter wouldn't get excited about that?

This season has made me less angry than just sad.

Few journalists write with the passion and skill he does.

Remember the club's motto:

http://inbedwithmaradona.com/100-2013-review/2013/12/8/filip-duricic

2013 has been…

 

Cheeky. Why would you simply knock it past a defender and do him for pace when you can nutmeg him first to really make the point? Why would you roll it past the keeper to score when you can dribble around him or chip him to show your superiority? Why would simply trap the ball when you can take it on the outside of your foot as if it was nothing? Why would you dummy to try and buy some room when a series of elaborate step-overs will not only buy it but also keep the change?

 

This was basically the story of Filip Djuricic’s time at Heerenveen where he grew into an outstanding talent. In his 100 plus games in Holland he grew from an occasionally brilliant but most often frustrating youngster who needed to learn that impudence can only be earned through consistency, to a player capable of turning games on his own. His eye-catching style and flair for the elaborate always brought him followers, but once he managed to add some maturity and consistency to his natural talents the blue touch paper was really lit.

 

The inevitable transfer came in the summer after a standout season in the Eredivisie and it was Benfica who moved decisively. Several clubs retain an interest, Liverpool and Manchester United said to be chief among them, but the player has made no secret of his desire to one day play in Spain and the similarities in climate and playing style may well have been a factor in his decision to opt for Portugal. Since the move his form has dipped and playing time has been limited making it a year (to coin a cliché) of two halves. They’re yet to see the very best of him in Portugal but they shouldn’t rush to judgment yet, the talent will shine through in the end.

 

What next?

 

He needs to settle in his new surroundings and get some time on the pitch to earn some patience as he recovers his form. He may well frustrate in the short term as his natural style can look over elaborate if he’s not consistently pulling things off, but the talent remains and will come to the fore again we’re positive.

 

Internationally he’s very much part of the first eleven and already has plenty of games and goals for the full Serbian international side. A bright future awaits at all levels and his indifferent start to life with Benfica will be a character-building memory soon enough we’re sure. He may be a touch more highlight-reel than dogged worker but that’s no bad thing, football needs entertainers and it’s worth keeping an eye out for him if you see his name on a team sheet. A grade B for his last season with Heerenveen, a D for his start to life at Benfica, a C for the twelve months as a whole seems fair.

 

“One of the many youngsters dubbed 'the Cruijff of the Balkans', Djuricic wowed the Dutch crowd with superb performances. Technically perfect, a great dribbler and a well deserved transfer to Benfica followed, but struggles to get game time there” - Michiel Jongsma, Benefoot

Go on then...

If you constantly worry about what your players CAN'T do, while worrying only about what the opposition CAN do, you're going to be a pragmatic, dour, boring manager with no ambition. You'll never get beyond your expectations because you won't allow yourself to have that chance.

Thus is it ever with Pardew. Think small and you can only fail small, but you'll never win big.

If you cannot find a role for HBA in a starting XI that's often bereft of creativity, you are managing wrongly. If you are too worried about what the likes of West Brom will do to test the limits of what your team - with HBA - can do against them, you are doing it wrong.

Similar request.  Anyone know where you can find where each teams goals have been scored from - inside or outside the box.

 

I've got the shots from whoscored and was interested that Newcastle have had a higher percentage of shots from outside the box than any other team.  Wondered how many of those translated to goals scored.

http://www.squawka.com/teams/newcastle-united/stats#total-goals-scored#english-barclays-premier-league#season-2013/2014#64#all-matches#1-19#goal-mouth-zone

Click on the tab marked "pitch view" and you can see that 7 of the goals have come from outside the box.  There are lots and lots of other interesting tidbits throughout the site.

It was a very mini-Mourinho effort from Pardew today. Looked very reminiscent of the Chelsea/Arsenal match last Monday, very tight and pretty boring, one moment would win it - they got it, we didn't. That style is not a lot of fun to watch, and without the phenomenal talent at Mourinho's disposal, it becomes stultifyingly unambitious.  The style of play also requires great physical exertion, and without the depth of talent Chelsea have (and an unwillingness to rotate even amongst the talent we do have), we will tend to tire, as we did today. Not bad, just not good enough.

That said, we are, as usual, in a position where a bit more investment would allow us to be more expansive and have a go at a decent position. We will not go for it, of course, but we aren't far away.

First half we were not good at all. Looked tired, didn't have much tempo or energy. Sissoko wasn't very good at all in a more advanced role in the middle, while Santon was the worst player in black and white, did little going forward and was susceptible in defence. Whelan got his first yellow for kicking the ball away, not the challenge - kicking it away is an easy timewasting yellow, no doubt.  The second was a yellow every day of the week, a straight thuggish hack of the legs. Stoke can have little complaint. Personally I didn't think the second was a red, looked like another defender was there to cover. It was certainly a penalty, though.

At that point it was over as a contest but we asserted the dominance well without overexerting ourselves. I thought it was overall a controlled performance with an eye on the calendar, knowing we don't have much depth and have quite a few games to play. We were walking a fine line in the first half by doing that, and it might have cost us, but in the second the two reds made it easy. Cabaye's goal was brilliant, Debuchy's pass gave the ball all the pace it would need, Cabaye simply redirected it beautifully into the net.

Ben Arfa looked magnificent though his inclusion on the wing pushes Sissoko back inside, which he didn't seem to cope with well on this evidence. Perhaps it's just an adjustment thing.

Tired tired performance. Tactics suggested trying to keep the players fresh for as long as possible by more or less letting Swansea play as much as they liked in the first two-thirds of the pitch.

Would have been an ideal time to rotate a few players. Not that we've got a huge squad but it would have helped a really leggy performance.

Hard to imagine anyone getting less from more.

So many of our top players have declined in form under this genius.

Transfer window hardly matters when you know that the sharpness of a top player will be dullened to a round lump by the time Pards gets done with his tremendous management.

He's been Pardew'd.

To be forced to play Dummett/Williamson as a CB partnership in a match like this...

Occasion was too big for Dummett, hopefully it provides a huge learning platform but it could very easily stunt his budding confidence. Hope he's managed well.

Genuinely baffled by what the tactics even were when we had the ball. He must have told them something, but what?

"Give it to Cabaye or Ben Arfa then DO NOT MOVE WITHOUT THE BALL! Let them have a go from 30 yards. Should work well."