Alan Pardew

[quayside]

Yesterday I felt we could have won the game in the first half - but we didn't and AP needed to freshen things up after about 65 to 70 minutes. The Swansea defence is efficient and their central defenders were winning every header (their number 4 in particular was nutting everything that came anywhere near him). Our delivery from wide positions was pretty poor all day tbh and Cabaye's set pieces were providing virtually zero threat. Our tactic of trying to win the game through the aerial threat of our front two was looking stale and, as I said before, the delivery wasn't that great anyway. So it seemed to me that we needed to find another way to unlock a stubborn defence and I think sticking HBA in behind the front two was worth a shout with 20 odd minutes to go. Cabaye wasn't making much happen in an advanced role so he could have sat a bit deeper when Tiote went off.

 

For the record I'm a fan of Pardew and I do think he's the right manager for this club at this time but, as it is with our players, his performances are always open to discussion. The 4-4-2 was looking a bit predictable and a change of approach was called for imo..

[Dr.Spaceman]

Pardew's just had a photo with a lad on my facebook at Amsterdam airport, apparently he's off scouting (players, not married women) and has a connecting flight somewhere.

[Dave]

I suggest people complaining about the criticism take a look at the poll on this thread. Virtually everyone feels Pardew has done a fine job overall so far. Doesn't make him immune from criticism, and to be frank I find the 'gawd what an overreaction' and 'omg sack him lol' pisstake posts every bit as annoying as anyone saying they felt he got things wrong. Nobody that I've seen has called for Pardew's head and of course not because that would be ridiculous.

 

There's regularly a load of 'wow you're so negative, stop whinging, we're not going to sell our best players, we're as good as Liverpool' type of reactions on here whenever anyone predicts anything bad for the club. Well if we're as good a team as that, and Pardew is as good a manager as that, then we would surely expect to beat Swansea at home, there's a problem if we don't and therefore criticism is to be expected. Make your mind up.

 

So, in brief:

 

You find the reactions of people who you don't agree with annoying, but you find the reactions of the people you agree with justifiable.

 

I find it annoying when people misrepresent the opinions of others.

[TRC]

Bit random, considering we have a game in 3 days.

[Guest thenorthumbrian]

I worry that Pardew seemed to think United had a strong squad going into the season, recent events prove we don't.

[madras]

We are still playing well and dominated yesterday without scoring. Time to worry is when we stop playing and despite recent results that is not the case.

Yes he should have introduced HBA and with hindsight I reckon he'll know that. I think at the time he was still concerned about losing the game, which is a reasonable concern at 0-0, and didn't want to change the shape.

Disappointing points return of late, a bit unfortunate but still playing decent stuff.

Still doing a fine job overall, club going in the right direction but will really miss Cabaye on Wednesday and I will be very,very happy if we're still in top 7 at end of January.

 

Exactly - was just thinking about the reaction on here if we had gone all out for victory from 55 minutes into the match and then been hit on the counter (as Swansea were beginning to do in the second half) and lost.  Hindsight is a marvellous thing.  Especially if the ball had been lost from a Ben Arfa dribble...

 

We had done enough in the first half to persist with the team as it was set up.

not really hindsight as many were saying it as it happened. also, as the game went on, despite the good first half, our attacks were less effective and needed a change.

[STM]

Think Pardew has done an excellent job and has got very few things wrong.

 

It would be nice to see Ben Arfa involved more but i trust Pardew has his reasons for not playing him.

[Hughesy]

I suggest people complaining about the criticism take a look at the poll on this thread. Virtually everyone feels Pardew has done a fine job overall so far. Doesn't make him immune from criticism, and to be frank I find the 'gawd what an overreaction' and 'omg sack him lol' pisstake posts every bit as annoying as anyone saying they felt he got things wrong. Nobody that I've seen has called for Pardew's head and of course not because that would be ridiculous.

 

There's regularly a load of 'wow you're so negative, stop whinging, we're not going to sell our best players, we're as good as Liverpool' type of reactions on here whenever anyone predicts anything bad for the club. Well if we're as good a team as that, and Pardew is as good a manager as that, then we would surely expect to beat Swansea at home, there's a problem if we don't and therefore criticism is to be expected. Make your mind up.

 

So, in brief:

 

You find the reactions of people who you don't agree with annoying, but you find the reactions of the people you agree with justifiable.

 

I find it annoying when people misrepresent the opinions of others.

 

Was a bit of a joke to be honest.  Obviously should have whacked a smiley in there somewhere.

[Dave]

Sorry.

[taxfree]

Think Pardew has done an excellent job and has got very few things wrong.

 

It would be nice to see Ben Arfa involved more but i trust Pardew has his reasons for not playing him.

 

Obertan, Raylor/Santon, refusal to use Ben Arfa on the right, (lack of) use of subs. A few pretty significant, ongoing mistakes. He had a great start, but of late his faults are really showing.

[Cajun]

Think Pardew has done an excellent job and has got very few things wrong.

 

It would be nice to see Ben Arfa involved more but i trust Pardew has his reasons for not playing him.

 

 

 

Obertan, Raylor/Santon, refusal to use Ben Arfa on the right, (lack of) use of subs. A few pretty significant, ongoing mistakes. He had a great start, but of late his faults are really showing.

 

Raylor? Didn't we have the joint best defence in the league before the big 3 games?

 

We don't have a recognised right winger to play ahead of Obertan, people talk about Ben Arfa like he would definitely do a good job and definitely be more beneficial to the team on the whole but that's pure guess work. The manager and coaches will see these players in training, will have no doubt tried different tactics and I guess will have a better idea than any of us of what works best

 

All grasping when we have hit a rocky patch, something most teams will go through during a season especially when they play the likes of those 3 all on the bounce.

 

It's easy to sit behind a computer and list of these 'mistakes' when we have absolutely no idea how it would have gone if Pardew chose the options you wanted him to. I have to keep looking at the league table to check we haven't slipped down into the relegation zone.

[Taylor Swift]

It was a good first eleven, Obertan aside, and the players came out with some fire, which he deserves credit for. We could very easily have been up 2-0 at HT and no one would be talking about Pardew's decisions. The ball just didn't fall for us yesterday. It happens sometimes. His substitutions were very questionable, especially the timing because it was obvious after 60 minutes that we needed a change.

 

It's been the case for many matches this season and it's something that is imo one of Pardew's greatest faults: he takes too long to make a change. Sometimes he gets the change right, sometimes he gets it wrong. Yesterday was wrong and so he deserves criticism, but overall, he's still done a very good job with the squad that he has - and let's be clear that it's a very thin squad with not much quality apart from the first eleven - and we look like a good football team. This wasn't a hopeless 0-0 where we didn't create much and let the opposition dominate the ball. It wasn't reminiscent of anything from the Souness, Roeder and Allardyce era, which is the silver lining.

 

Let's hope he improves his substitutions, especially the timing because ten minutes isn't enough for a player to make an impact. I suspect that his subs will improve when our squad improves. We have a lot of kids on the bench so Pardew may be hesitant to throw them on too early, which is somewhat understandable.

[Cajun]

I don't remember a manager we have ever been happy with when it comes to subs, even SBR used to get a lot of stick for it.

[Taylor Swift]

Yup, that's true (to Jon). That's probably because they know more about the players - injuries and other issues - than we do, which is something that needs to be considered when criticizing Pardew. The timing is still the issue, though. There's no logic to waiting until 80 minutes have passed and we look tired before making a change. Let's make a change when the players look like they still have some steam left and the crowd's in the match.

 

After 60-65 minutes, we should have made a couple of changes. Then make the last change at around 75-80 minutes if the score hasn't changed. Making one change - throwing on Shola! - after 70ish minutes then making two more changes at 82 minutes is just far too late. Vukcic had some good touches but he barely had a chance to join the attack. Sammy, as well.

[Hughesy]

I don't remember a manager we have ever been happy with when it comes to subs, even SBR used to get a lot of stick for it.

 

He used to love the triple substitution.  And it worked once from my memory when Stephen Glass scored vs Man Utd in 2000.  After a Lua-Lua miskick.

[Taylor Swift]

It worked against Liverpool too. We were down 2-0.

[Beren]

I don't remember a manager we have ever been happy with when it comes to subs, even SBR used to get a lot of stick for it.

 

He used to love the triple substitution.  And it worked once from my memory when Stephen Glass scored vs Man Utd in 2000.  After a Lua-Lua miskick.

 

I loved the triple substitution. If you're gonna shake things up, shake them up proper!

[Guest]

From Cordone's pull back who was the third sub.

[taxfree]

Raylor? Didn't we have the joint best defence in the league before the big 3 games?

 

We don't have a recognised right winger to play ahead of Obertan, people talk about Ben Arfa like he would definitely do a good job and definitely be more beneficial to the team on the whole but that's pure guess work. The manager and coaches will see these players in training, will have no doubt tried different tactics and I guess will have a better idea than any of us of what works best

 

All grasping when we have hit a rocky patch, something most teams will go through during a season especially when they play the likes of those 3 all on the bounce.

 

It's easy to sit behind a computer and list of these 'mistakes' when we have absolutely no idea how it would have gone if Pardew chose the options you wanted him to. I have to keep looking at the league table to check we haven't slipped down into the relegation zone.

 

Raylor, yes. We had, but that's not to say there can't be a player amongst that defense who's not good. The biggest reasons for our good defensive record was the centre backs and Krul. Apart from some great blocks, i'm not sure what he did (defensively) that pretty much anyone else couldn't have.  It was justifiable to play Raylor for a while, as he had a period where he had matches without significant/goal leading mistakes, and played decent, but he also went on to have some poor displays, and some absolutely terrible ones. It has been time to play Santon for a good while.

 

Ben Arfa is a better player than Obertan. It really is that simple. He will be way more effective than Obertan. If just going off Obertan not being at all. Not saying he will take the Premier League with storm, but he will contribute more than Obertan. "The manager always knows best". Not so sure that's always right tbh. Point being proved in that Obertan is always starting despite playing badly. It's not like Ben Arfa haven't played out wide before either.

 

It is easy to point out mistakes. He keeps making the same ones, and people are very aware of them.

 

Why do you have to check the table? Is it not fair to point out mistakes, even if we're sitting nicely in the table?

 

 

[Cajun]

Because they way some go on it's like we are struggling. All managers will make mistakes but again just because you would do something else doesn't mean it's right.

 

We have no idea on Ben Arfa's fitness or form, I personally don't think Obertan is so bad that Ben Arfa is definitely going to be better no matter what shape he is in or how he is currently playing

[Parky]

Raylor? Didn't we have the joint best defence in the league before the big 3 games?

 

We don't have a recognised right winger to play ahead of Obertan, people talk about Ben Arfa like he would definitely do a good job and definitely be more beneficial to the team on the whole but that's pure guess work. The manager and coaches will see these players in training, will have no doubt tried different tactics and I guess will have a better idea than any of us of what works best

 

All grasping when we have hit a rocky patch, something most teams will go through during a season especially when they play the likes of those 3 all on the bounce.

 

It's easy to sit behind a computer and list of these 'mistakes' when we have absolutely no idea how it would have gone if Pardew chose the options you wanted him to. I have to keep looking at the league table to check we haven't slipped down into the relegation zone.

 

Raylor, yes. We had, but that's not to say there can't be a player amongst that defense who's not good. The biggest reasons for our good defensive record was the centre backs and Krul. Apart from some great blocks, i'm not sure what he did (defensively) that pretty much anyone else couldn't have.  It was justifiable to play Raylor for a while, as he had a period where he had matches without significant/goal leading mistakes, and played decent, but he also went on to have some poor displays, and some absolutely terrible ones. It has been time to play Santon for a good while.

 

Ben Arfa is a better player than Obertan. It really is that simple. He will be way more effective than Obertan. If just going off Obertan not being at all. Not saying he will take the Premier League with storm, but he will contribute more than Obertan. "The manager" always knows best. Not so sure that's always right tbh. Point being proved in that Obertan is always starting despite playing badly. It's not like Ben Arfa haven't played out wide before either.

 

It is easy to point out mistakes. He keeps making the same ones, and people are very aware of them.

 

Why do you have to check the table? Is it not fair to point out mistakes, even if we're sitting nicely in the table?

 

 

 

Good post.

[Mick]

Because they way some go on it's like we are struggling. All managers will make mistakes but again just because you would do something else doesn't mean it's right.

 

We have no idea on Ben Arfa's fitness or form, I personally don't think Obertan is so bad that Ben Arfa is definitely going to be better no matter what shape he is in or how he is currently playing

 

You're right that we don't know something different would work, we do know that what we did do, didn't work.

 

As for Ben Arfa's fitness, it was good enough to last 75 minutes against Man City and set up a really good chance for Ba and it was good enough for 80 minutes against Man U when he won the penalty that got us the point.  On that basis I think it's reasonable to assume that he could have played at some point yesterday.

[Interpolic]

Because they way some go on it's like we are struggling. All managers will make mistakes but again just because you would do something else doesn't mean it's right.

 

We have no idea on Ben Arfa's fitness or form, I personally don't think Obertan is so bad that Ben Arfa is definitely going to be better no matter what shape he is in or how he is currently playing

 

You're right that we don't know something different would work, we do know that what we did do, didn't work.

 

As for Ben Arfa's fitness, it was good enough to last 75 minutes against Man City and set up a really good chance for Ba and it was good enough for 80 minutes against Man U when he won the penalty that got us the point.  On that basis I think it's reasonable to assume that he could have played at some point yesterday.

 

Yep, and don't forget he hit the post against Man City.  Very strange goings on, finding myself agreeing that there must be something happening behind the scenes, otherwise it makes no sense.

[Cajun]

Because they way some go on it's like we are struggling. All managers will make mistakes but again just because you would do something else doesn't mean it's right.

 

We have no idea on Ben Arfa's fitness or form, I personally don't think Obertan is so bad that Ben Arfa is definitely going to be better no matter what shape he is in or how he is currently playing

 

You're right that we don't know something different would work, we do know that what we did do, didn't work.

 

As for Ben Arfa's fitness, it was good enough to last 75 minutes against Man City and set up a really good chance for Ba and it was good enough for 80 minutes against Man U when he won the penalty that got us the point.  On that basis I think it's reasonable to assume that he could have played at some point yesterday.

 

Just for arguments sake as none of us have a clue what is going on but he could had a twinge or felt a bit uneasy about something since those games

 

Sure I read someone say today that Pardew was going on about having to take it easy with HBA, we don't know how he is feeling after these games. I know my ankle still plays up from time to time now.

[Interpolic]

You've never been the same tbh, Cajun.