Happy Face

I've not picked on one thing. People have harped on about us sitting on top of the chart for long balls. That's a fact used to beat Pardew up. But its a problem that has been rectified. Only the seasonal averages of Arsenal and Man City are lower than ours for the last 12 games. I'm really amazed how few people can comprehend this simple point.

We stopped playing long balls because it was windy.....for 3 months? :lol:

If that happens then once again it will be Ashley who has failed the club in not providing a squad that can cope with the demands. If we have a fit squad, with ample quality on the bench too and Pardew has a bad start he will have no excuses when he is fired. If we have that and pardew picks up where he left off LAST season...Europa here we come.

Wind? Fucking hell.

There is a clear trend to play less long balls as the season has gone on. It becomes most pronounced after January, when we brought in technically better players, so absolutely, yes, a lot of it is players being more comfortable, passing it out of defence. But Pardew needed those more capable players to be brought in. Comparing the long balls per game stats of key players highlights this... Long balls ber game Simpson 69/19 = 3.6 Williamson 93/19 = 4.9 Taylor 88/24 = 3.7 Perch 81/27 = 3 Combined = 331/89 = 3.7 Debuchy 24/13 = 1.8 Mbiwa 52/13 = 4 Haidara 0/4 = 0 Sissoko 30/12 = 2.5 Combined = 106/42 = 2.5 This does not necessarily mean we don't try to hit the big man up top, of course. We still loft balls into the box an awful lot, and it fails over and over again. But in terms of playing out of defence and getting towards the final third there has been a marked improvenment. I would hope he would have an extra strike option (or 2) at the start of next season. When he had Ba and Best, we would play 442 very effectively. With Ba and Cisse 433 looked canny for a run of games. I'm interested to see who he brings in and what he does with them.

I think you're spot on there. Ferguson had his time at Aberdeen, Moyes at Preston, Wenger managed over in Japan for a while as I remember. Even O'Neill (as shit as he was in his later years, he was decent when he was younger) did his time at Wycombe and Leicester. Aye, there's nowt to say that a manager will be any good at the very top level, even if he does spend years learning the job before he accepts a big offer, that takes something special. But he's much more likely to succeed if he HAS been learning the job. Mourinho wasn't onyour list either...learned from the best I'd be interested to listen to someone more knowledgable than me about the penchant for appointing past players with no manegerial experience straight into a management role with tens of millions of pounds at stake. Is it a recent development? First I can think of is Dalglish at Liverpool. I always thought he was con artist, whether inheriting the greatest team in English football to win trophys there or inheriting all the money he wanted to do it at Blackburn.

Isn't the difference that most of those continental managers earn their stripes on the training pitch first. Managing youth teams or assisting other managers. Learning their trade. The likes of Hughes, Bruce, Pardew and Souness walk straight into high profile jobs, spending no time off the radar where they can make mistakes, learn from them and come into a top job a more educated manager. They come into it having only observed management from a players perspective. Moyes earned his stripes taking a club about to be relegated from division 2 up to the playoffs for a place in the Premier league. He had the respect of players at PNE as a player that had played at the top (for a short while), played at the club, before becoming a coach, then assistant manager and then manager. He had the respect of Everton players for what he did at PNE. He'll have the respect of man U players for what he did at Everton. There's nothing a Newcastle player can respect about Pardew at all.

I don't think there are any "Pardew fans". There are people that believe Pardew's definitely not going to be any better next season and want rid, happy to let the chips fall where they may. There are others that believe the mitigating circumstances of this season suggest he could do better. Combined with the risk involved whenever Ashley gets involved in making an appointment, we might do better next season by leaving the current manager in place. If he doesn't show any signs of sorting our problems early on, then his position will become untenable. I wonder what Pardew will say in his defence at this meeting though. He can hardly go in and tell Ashley he shouldn't be sacked because Llambias and he are incompetent.

No stats to back this up Restricting it to Premier League We didn't score more in 1998, 2001, 2007, 2008 & 2009 We lost as many in 2009 We didn't win more in 1998, 1999, 2007,2008 or 2011 He's spot on that we've never conceded this many like

After losing 10 out of 13 league games. Only losing 6 in 14 is much improved. Aye.

So. In October it was clear that we played more long balls than anyone else. Pardew was rightly criticized. In the last 3 months we've played less long balls than all but a few teams. I take that as an improvement. But Pardew is still criticised because even though we use much less long balls, those that we do use are poor quality. Your complaint is not about the quantity of long balls but the quality? You don't want him to play on the deck necessarily? Less doesn't mean they are any better, and i dispute your stats, stats mean nothing and for to keep using them toward me is not going to work. They are still aimless punts which we dont win. We have a Cisse, so unsuited to a long ball aimed at him it's untrue, but yet we still persisited. Now i want us to play good football, possession football. That doesn't mean all tippy tappy, a mixture. Like i say, which you and your chums seem to be dismissing, a longer pass is fine, now if Andy Carroll say was up top i've no doubt he would turn a aimless long ball into a decent one. But i want us to play short, fast controlled possession football, with lots of movement. Now this is where you have avoided answering, Pardew throughout his career has never got any of his team to do this, so why should he get anymore time. We are more than two years into his reign and our football has got worse and worse. He isn't going to change, Jesus our set pieces tell you all you need to know about his lack of imagination. If he stays, we will continue to play boring, direct, non possession percentage football. Which might be slightly better if we sign a Andy Carroll type suited to it. But i, as someone who wanted him gone over 6 months ago because if there's anything i hate, it's poor football and that mate is exactly what Pardew gives you. I don't think you have understood my posts. Sorry I've not been clearer. Pardew has recently managed to get his team playing less long balls than almost all other teams in the league. As they have started playing a more passing game results have also improved. Given time, as the new players settle more and Pardew hopefully decides who will play where this interplay will hopefully improve. It doesn't happen from one game to the next. But in putting a stop to the goofball that we were playing the first step has been taken.

Jose Bosingwa. I was on here a month or two ago defending Pardew. I can see why you might think its some sort of band wagon. Especially given how keen people seem to be to join band wagons on here But unfortunately, not so.

So. In October it was clear that we played more long balls than anyone else. Pardew was rightly criticized. In the last 3 months we've played less long balls than all but a few teams. I take that as an improvement. But Pardew is still criticised because even though we use much less long balls, those that we do use are poor quality. Your complaint is not about the quantity of long balls but the quality? You don't want him to play on the deck necessarily?

I think it's pretty much down to quality. Simpson, Williamson, Taylor and Perch are much more likely to go long than Debuchy, Mbiwa, Haidara or Sissoko.

I don't get this counter argument that some long balls are passes and others aren't. What does it matter? How does that counter the fact that on average, we've hit 20 less long balls per game in the last 3 months than in the first 3 months. An improvement, for those that don't like long balls/passes.

It's not a stats based argument. I never brought a stat into it. I said 3 times that Pardew is relying less on long balls...you can see that if you watch our games and have watched them all season. But saying this obviously means nothing to people with preconceived notions and I was told he is as bad as ever. So I had to go to defcon 3.

You've basically posted what I mockingly said the response would be. Not sure if it's serious. If we've averaged less than 55 long balls per game for the last 3 months, that is one of the lowest in the league man, irrespective of whether they're pinpoint or wild hoofs. Why is it irrespective? its completely relevant. You can use stats to prove a numeric value, but the interpretation is always key. There is obviously a massive difference. I'm staggered you think its the same thing. The condescension is great considering your point is invalid Its the same with any stat. A player could have 100% passing success. Each pass being 2 yards square. See the post from Chez to Wullie about shots on goal. He explained it far better than I could.

Cheers Those OPTA numbers in their report confirm the exact same trend. Over the season we have averaged most, but our trend is towards getting better, to a massive extent... http://i41.tinypic.com/ru1vs9.jpg Most recent fixture first the way they've ordered it though.

You've basically posted what I mockingly said the response would be. Not sure if it's serious. If we've averaged less than 55 long balls per game for the last 3 months, that is one of the lowest in the league man, irrespective of whether they're pinpoint or wild hoofs.

pick a game at random. Click "match report" here.... http://www.whoscored.com/Teams/23/Fixtures/England-Newcastle-United Observe the breakdown of pass types and tell me if I falsified any. How do you know that site is accurate? Jesus Wept. Aye, they're Pardew lovers there.

http://i41.tinypic.com/2re6x09.jpg There's the numbers. So, tell me how Pardew isn't doing anything to reduce our reliance on long balls if we've avearged 20 less in the last third of the season compared to the first 3rd? Fucking stats. Shit Mean nowt. I see us hoof it with me eyes man, I trust them more. Bollocks, you've a pavlovian response to any long balls. Every one sticks like a craw in your neck and you're blinded to the actual real improvements being strived for.

pick a game at random. Click "match report" here.... http://www.whoscored.com/Teams/23/Fixtures/England-Newcastle-United Observe the breakdown of pass types and tell me if I falsified any.

There hasn't been a huge shift in approach and if anything we actually played less long ball football leading up to January than we did after January. Against Man Utd and Arsenal for example, for long spells our football was good, very good. That short shift in approach mainly coincided with the Jan arrivals anyway, but once the dust had settled so to speak, the long ball soon reappeared to the point where we used it a lot, even in Europe. Our football hasn't really improved at all, if anything its worse given the higher calibre of players/more options. http://i41.tinypic.com/2z8c09f.jpg

It's a fact. We've relied less on long balls as the season has gone on. Whether Pardew has the ability to have his team pass it and move around our opponents effectively is another matter. But those that don't like hoofball should give credit the change in approach, rather than blindly repeat that we're still as bad as we were in September for it.

He's saying the stats show that Pards isn't as bad as we make out he is. I'm saying we can surely dig a little deeper than JUST that "He's shit" Pardew is still pummelled for favouring hoof ball. Despite us generally not actually resorting to it until late on in games. I say that's the poorer players last line of defence. Not Pardews "vision". Even if you think we have played hoofball all game every game, I think that's become less valid as the season has worn on. We are MUCH less reliant upon it. But complaints about it have kept rising because lazy people criticise our perceived problems rather than the actual ones.