Alan Pardew

[ponsaelius]

Your posts are so long, man.

 

I don't like Pardew much but he's doing a better job than anyone else has for a while, so you of course stick with him.

 

It worries me when our manager considers Joey Barton wide left as a good decision

 

Playing him wide left once is not as mental as managers consistently playing him in the middle.

[Cajun]

Is it true that 'tl;dr' was invented because of HTT?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Dontooner]

It depends on who we replace him with, Some of the better British managers got re employed recently and there aint many good continental ones that are available right now. I hope we finally go foreign with names like loius van gaal. It would bring back attacking footy on the deck straight away.

 

You say it like we play Allardyce-levels of long ball. Is this really how other people are seeing us at the moment? I really don't get it.

 

The only players who punt it long in the side, in my opinion, are Simpson occasionally and Krul. I honestly don't think we're particularly direct. To me we look as slow-building as i've seen us in years; sometimes too slow (a la Brighton and, at times, QPR). But again, i make a suggestive nod to the lack of mobility up front being a reason for that.

We dont open up teams from open play much or through the middle , we rely more on the traditional crosses or long ball footy. From what i have seen recently with the inclusion of HBA we have a couple of defense splitting passes , but thats about it. The lack of mobility up front is a definite factor, but we dont create enough space or pass into space often enough before we turn to the cross or an over the head long ball.

Playing on the deck means trying to exploit space that the opposition is making, taking advantage of numbers in general , it accounts to when we cross the ball or when we are in a good position to do it, rather then lets try to pin one on the

strikers head on nearly every attack. Just analyze our attack patterns, and how we have scored the majority of the goals this season. We are no definitely not a dominating team in most of our matches. And btw  loius van gaal as compared to Pardew's footballing coaching....hope we are not having a laugh at attempting that.

[toon25]

Pardew's done a great job so far. Just goes to show how much a little bit of success can raise expectations. I'm fucking delighted where we are and, whilst we'll have frustrating games like Fulham and Brighton, it wasn't so long ago that we were playing in the Championship. We've come a long way in a short time and Pardew's played a key role in that transition. He deserves time.

[Cajun]

Pardew's done a great job so far. Just goes to show how much a little bit of success can raise expectations. I'm fucking delighted where we are and, whilst we'll have frustrating games like Fulham and Brighton, it wasn't so long ago that we were playing in the Championship. We've come a long way in a short time and Pardew's played a key role in that transition. He deserves time.

 

Sums it up for me. There will always be something that can be done better.

[Parky]

When the fuck is this Pardew hunt starting proper?

[Guest Howaythetoon]

 

Interesting read. For me he's a good organiser and we hold our shape a lot more than we used to. He drilled the def into something or a wonder those early games. But the bottom line with him is that he is a thinly veiled long ball merchant and would have persevered with the bigun over the top to Obartan if he hadn't proved to be a total disaster. When Tiote and Cab play we play on the ground a bit more and try and keep posession more. He's been a bit underhand with his handling of Hatem yet let s*** performances from others slide. He has an agenda.

 

We seem to play better when the players react to what is actually happening in the game or during the game themselves rather than when reacting to Pardew's tactics or changes which often seem to dumbfound them or help the opposition.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Pardew's done a great job so far. Just goes to show how much a little bit of success can raise expectations. I'm f***ing delighted where we are and, whilst we'll have frustrating games like Fulham and Brighton, it wasn't so long ago that we were playing in the Championship. We've come a long way in a short time and Pardew's played a key role in that transition. He deserves time.

 

Sums it up for me. There will always be something that can be done better.

 

Success? Nothing has been achieved yet. Let us not forget we threw away a top 10 finish last season and this season despite sitting 6th, we are more likely to finish lower than staying there or finishing higher. If we do finish sixth then of course that will be success.

[Parky]

 

Interesting read. For me he's a good organiser and we hold our shape a lot more than we used to. He drilled the def into something or a wonder those early games. But the bottom line with him is that he is a thinly veiled long ball merchant and would have persevered with the bigun over the top to Obartan if he hadn't proved to be a total disaster. When Tiote and Cab play we play on the ground a bit more and try and keep posession more. He's been a bit underhand with his handling of Hatem yet let s*** performances from others slide. He has an agenda.

 

We seem to play better when the players react to what is actually happening in the game or during the game themselves rather than when reacting to Pardew's tactics or changes which often seem to dumbfound them or help the opposition.

 

YOu've alluded to this before. You think the players re-adjust in gametime to what's happening on the park and the initial tactics go out the window?

[Guest Howaythetoon]

My company cleans offices and one of the directors of an office we clean is a lifelong Hammers fan and in a conversation I had with him regarding Pardew the other day he basically said, in summary:

 

He is a patter merchant who loves the sound of his own voice and will talk s*** to the press daily if allowed.

 

He will sign some good unknowns and some duds but will generally come out on top in the transfer market.

 

One week we'll play good football the next long ball.

 

We will do better against the better sides, not so good against the lesser sides.

 

Will thrash a team or two and be thrashed likewise.

 

Will be a mid-table side who could threaten top 6 on our day but more than likely to hover between top 10 and below.

 

He will fall out with players.

 

He will eventually p*ss of fans, players, media and board and be booted.

 

He did say however that this being NUFC or rather Mike Ashley's NUFC to quote him, Pardew is not likely to last that long anyway. The overall impression I got was that Pardew has some good ideas and isn't too bad a guy but he rubs people up the wrong way with the way he handles certain situations and players via the press. His hero is Mourinho apparently too which could explain the media angle with him.

 

I did ask the guy what he thinks of Pardew today and he said he took them up, signed some good players, finished mid-table (threatening more) and took them close to an FA Cup win, one of their better managers in recent years who shouldn't have been sacked.

 

 

My feelings on Pardew are that he's a complete fuckwit and will be a huge disaster here but the West Ham fan in question is a clever lad who isn't your typical over emotional and reactionary type of fan, he's fairly well balanced with his views and seems to rate Pardew but thinks because its NUFC and the way we seem to work, Pardew or no Pardew it doesn't matter, they are all destined to fail, something he says is not too dissimilar to how West Ham operate by the way.

 

Not long after he was appointed.

[Cajun]

Pardew's done a great job so far. Just goes to show how much a little bit of success can raise expectations. I'm f***ing delighted where we are and, whilst we'll have frustrating games like Fulham and Brighton, it wasn't so long ago that we were playing in the Championship. We've come a long way in a short time and Pardew's played a key role in that transition. He deserves time.

 

Sums it up for me. There will always be something that can be done better.

 

Success? Nothing has been achieved yet. Let us not forget we therw away a top 10 finish last season and this season despite sitting 6th, we are more likely to finish lower than staying there or finishing higher. If we do finish sixth then of course that will be success.

 

Success is relative I suppose but you would be hard pushed to convince me Pardew hasn't been a success so far and we can only judge on what he has done at the moment.

 

Basically when Pardew was signed just over 12 months ago many thought we would go down.

 

When Carroll was sold just under 12 months ago a lot thought that was relegation confirmed.

 

Now we are sitting in 6th after 22 games with the same points as 5th placed Arsenal and one point ahead Liverpool, two clubs who no-one would have given us any chance of being near at this stage if asked at the start of the season.

 

If we did manage to finish above one of them at the end of the season, for some it will 'it's more to do with Arsenal/Liverpool doing poorly rather than Pardew doing well'.

 

I didn't want the bloke and there is every chance it will go sour as it has done with every manager since SBR left in 2004 (bar maybe Hughton who did well but we will never know where he could have taken us) but to try and find excuses for our success apart from admitting Pardew has played a part is a bit narrow minded imo.

 

He makes mistakes, he does/doesn't do things a lot of fans think are the obvious decisions but you will struggle to find a manager who doesn't often do this.

[littlelunchbox]

Pardew's done a great job so far. Just goes to show how much a little bit of success can raise expectations. I'm f***ing delighted where we are and, whilst we'll have frustrating games like Fulham and Brighton, it wasn't so long ago that we were playing in the Championship. We've come a long way in a short time and Pardew's played a key role in that transition. He deserves time.

 

Sums it up for me. There will always be something that can be done better.

 

Success? Nothing has been achieved yet. Let us not forget we threw away a top 10 finish last season and this season despite sitting 6th, we are more likely to finish lower than staying there or finishing higher. If we do finish sixth then of course that will be success.

 

we finnished higher than the season before? not success?

 

you expect too much from pardew, we are in no state to be demanding a better manager considering where we are and where we came from.  pards is a half decent manager and he's at his level which is nufc. 

 

im more than willing to stick by him regardless of how much i hate his direct approach to football, long ball bullsh1t and playing turds like ameobi upfront on his own,  loads of stuff he does i dont agree with, but be fair, he's the best manager we can afford right now.  i believe he can help us establish ourselves as a top 6 team,  and that really is more than acceptable. he will hit his brickwall just like bobby did when he made us a top four side, but even the most hardend bobby fan would agree we were never going to be title contenders under his stewardship. 

 

give that silver fox a chance, we know he is limited, but he's still decent enough.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

 

Interesting read. For me he's a good organiser and we hold our shape a lot more than we used to. He drilled the def into something or a wonder those early games. But the bottom line with him is that he is a thinly veiled long ball merchant and would have persevered with the bigun over the top to Obartan if he hadn't proved to be a total disaster. When Tiote and Cab play we play on the ground a bit more and try and keep posession more. He's been a bit underhand with his handling of Hatem yet let s*** performances from others slide. He has an agenda.

 

We seem to play better when the players react to what is actually happening in the game or during the game themselves rather than when reacting to Pardew's tactics or changes which often seem to dumbfound them or help the opposition.

 

YOu've alluded to this before. You think the players re-adjust in gametime to what's happening on the park and the initial tactics go out the window?

 

To be fair I believe most players from most sides react better to what is happening or isn't happening during a game than to the tactics and whathave you from their manager. Super Mac said he was always told to do this, do that, and play this way and that way and what did he do when he crossed that white line? Totally ignore the manager's instructions and played to how he felt he could play. He said one day he was told to go out and rough up some brick shit house of a player and Super Mac was like but he's slow as fuck, I'll just take him on.

 

Back to our games this season and even last season, again our better moments have come during periods of the game where tactics and what have you were left by the wayside. Take at home to Spurs for example, we played some great football in the final 25 minutes and really got at them. The players were not playing to instruction or to tactics, they were playing to the tune of that particular game and of course the atmosphere. Likewise at home to Arsenal last season in coming back from 4-0 down and even against man Utd at home this season.

 

When we go out there set up to a certain system or set of tactics like against QPR we looked and performed poor. Likewise last night in which we were shocking. Constantly hitting it on the diagonal to Best to err, what, whip it into Shola who was 10 yards outside the box? Awful tactics from a manager who should be much smater than that.

[Guest Dontooner]

I think in general we agree we want to dominate sides knowing that we lost or drew only because we missed chances or the opposition's team defense were ace on the day. I doubt we would be able to see such dominance under Pardew's tactics or system's but i am happy to see him out for another 2013/14 season ( he might improve for all we know) where we should definitely try to employ a manager like loius van gaal. Side note maybe we could employ a 2nd man that is good with coaching , always thought Sammy Lee was a pretty good second.

[littlelunchbox]

I think in general we agree we want to dominate sides knowing that we lost or drew only because we missed chances or the opposition's team defense were ace on the day. I doubt we would be able to see such dominance under Pardew's tactics or system's but i am happy to see him out for another 2013/14 season ( he might improve for all we know) where we should definitely try to employ a manager like loius van gaal. Side note maybe we could employ a 2nd man that is good with coaching , always thought Sammy Lee was a pretty good second.

 

van gaal? why? becuase he's foreign? managed barcelona?

 

come on, you can't just throw names out there like that,  there's absolutely no garentee that the dutchman would do that much better.  can you really see van gaal getting on with mike ashley.  cant see that relationship lasting that long. 

[Parky]

 

Interesting read. For me he's a good organiser and we hold our shape a lot more than we used to. He drilled the def into something or a wonder those early games. But the bottom line with him is that he is a thinly veiled long ball merchant and would have persevered with the bigun over the top to Obartan if he hadn't proved to be a total disaster. When Tiote and Cab play we play on the ground a bit more and try and keep posession more. He's been a bit underhand with his handling of Hatem yet let s*** performances from others slide. He has an agenda.

 

We seem to play better when the players react to what is actually happening in the game or during the game themselves rather than when reacting to Pardew's tactics or changes which often seem to dumbfound them or help the opposition.

 

YOu've alluded to this before. You think the players re-adjust in gametime to what's happening on the park and the initial tactics go out the window?

 

To be fair I believe most players from most sides react better to what is happening or isn't happening during a game than to the tactics and whathave you from their manager. Super Mac said he was always told to do this, do that, and play this way and that way and what did he do when he crossed that white line? Totally ignore the manager's instructions and played to how he felt he could play. He said one day he was told to go out and rough up some brick shit house of a player and Super Mac was like but he's slow as fuck, I'll just take him on.

 

Back to our games this season and even last season, again our better moments have come during periods of the game where tactics and what have you were left by the wayside. Take at home to Spurs for example, we played some great football in the final 25 minutes and really got at them. The players were not playing to instruction or to tactics, they were playing to the tune of that particular game and of course the atmosphere. Likewise at home to Arsenal last season in coming back from 4-0 down and even against man Utd at home this season.

 

When we go out there set up to a certain system or set of tactics like against QPR we looked and performed poor. Likewise last night in which we were shocking. Constantly hitting it on the diagonal to Best to err, what, whip it into Shola who was 10 yards outside the box? Awful tactics from a manager who should be much smater than that.

 

For me the Swansea and Wba games were the most telling one passed it all around us and the other just ripped our high line to shreds by veiled and timed attacks (what Hodgson has always done). I've erased the Fulham game from the mind.

[Wallace]

I have to say I am not convinced by Pardew as my impression of him is someone who starts off well and then it all goes wrong for whatever reason. 

 

I agree that we have some exceptional players and 6-7 of them are being talked about as going to clubs above us in the league so I would say we are comfortably a top 7 team as I reckon there are few if any teams below us that have as many players of that calibre.  Whether the manager is good enough to get the best of those players we will have to see but it does worry me that he seems to be lukewarm towards Ben Arfa but keener on "team" players.

 

I am hoping that Pardew proves me wrong and that we continue to improve but I still think it is too early to judge him.  However, I would worry about what kind of replacement Ashley would come up especially as the reportedly basic salary is so low that few established managers would even contemplate the position and I am not sure whether we have the abllity to "scout" a good up and coming manager.

 

 

 

 

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Do you know what, Pardew would do much better if he just trusted his players more and gave them a more simple game plan rather than these at times complex setups, odd tactics and of course poor use of subs. Pick your best 11 Alan and by that I mean your best 11 players, tell them to keep the ball on the deck and to try and keep it moving and sit back and enjoy. I think he is trying too hard from a coaching persepective. I know he has all these books on his shelf about the art of war, tactics and so on, but NUFC is not a fucking game Alan.

 

It is no coincidence that we play better and get better results when the side picks itself and doesn't have too many tactical questions asked of it. It is no coincidence either that after our good start and being so high in the table Pardew has abandoned a simplified aproach for a more risky and tricky one obviously with the sense that he's earned it and can get away with it more now.

 

I remember the West Ham fan client of ours saying he'd start tinkering and messing about which would piss people off and it looks as if that's the kind of thing among other things he's now doing.

 

What gets me, he is actually quite a positive guy and I love how hard we work at pressing and how hard we work off the ball, I've never seen an NUFC side like it in that sense, but his meddling if you like is fucking things up.

[Guest Dontooner]

I think in general we agree we want to dominate sides knowing that we lost or drew only because we missed chances or the opposition's team defense were ace on the day. I doubt we would be able to see such dominance under Pardew's tactics or system's but i am happy to see him out for another 2013/14 season ( he might improve for all we know) where we should definitely try to employ a manager like loius van gaal. Side note maybe we could employ a 2nd man that is good with coaching , always thought Sammy Lee was a pretty good second.

 

van gaal? why? becuase he's foreign? managed barcelona?

 

come on, you can't just throw names out there like that,  there's absolutely no garentee that the dutchman would do that much better.  can you really see van gaal getting on with mike ashley.  cant see that relationship lasting that long. 

Have you watched his teams play? i would think its exactly the type of football Newcastle fans would love to watch week in week out. Not just throwing his name out from no where, its because he is un employed and that is still a chance that he might finally fancy coming to BPL for once. Wont debate you on the Mike Ashley thing though but still a good chance. Btw he has always brought some success to the clubs his at, dont have to look at his stats to figure that out , since they prove it on the pitch. The AZ match still makes my piss boil every time i think about it but they were the better attacking side.

[Interpolic]

Your posts are so long, man.

 

I don't like Pardew much but he's doing a better job than anyone else has for a while, so you of course stick with him.

 

That depends on what you want and see long-term.

 

Me, I see a rather mediocre future under Pardew which would be acceptable if we had mediocre players but we don't and I doubt we ever will under this set up. We look to sign good players that can only get better, for the youth sides all the way to the number 9 shirt itself. These good footballers don't tally with Pardew's football philopsphies which seem to be long ball and percentages football.

 

It worries me when our manager considers Joey Barton wide left as a good decision, or Leon Best wide left. Or Ryan Taylor wide right at home to QPR in favour of Ben Arfa who a week prior had scored a wonder goal and generally terrorised the left-flank of the opposition. It worries me that despite seeing these good players week in week out in training he continues to deploy a long ball game which at times completely nulifies our strong area - midfield - while also playing into the opposition's hand up top with the listless Shola and Best combo that is so easy to defend against when the ball is launched long to them.

 

Its a simple game for example. If you are to play Best and Shola up top they have to stay there and you have to put crosses in which means playing it wide quick and early with the full-backs pushing on.

 

I'm no mug, I have a L3 coaches badge (for what its fucking worth by the way) so I know a little bit about tactics and the game, but surely nowhere near as much as Pardew who has played the game at the highest level and been a coach and manager for over a decade or so now, no?!

 

This is why he scares me so much and forces me when judging his ability to come to these conclusions that long-term if we are to acheieve things, he is not and never will be the answer. He's all talk, a confidence trickster. He'd make a great salesman.

 

Ironically, the reason he was appointed

 

Responds to complaint about posts being too long with long post. http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/000/160/673/ScumbagSteveHat.png?1313097115

 

I wasn't really complaining, I was just reiterating a commonly made observation.  I'm far too lazy to read long posts much of the time mind.

[Guest BooBoo]

We really can't underplay the negative effect on the side created by the naffness of Shola and to a lesser extent Best. Take any side, remove their number one man and replace them with carthorses and you'll see a drop in quality.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

For all those saying we should be grateful for being sixth blah blah blah, just take a look at some of our players for a moment and then take a look at those around us or below us.

 

Krul - arguably the best up and coming keeper in the country and easily the top perfoming keeper this season.

 

Colo - arguably the best performing centre-half in the country. He'd walk into any of the top 5 sides in this country for me.

 

Santon -  he looks a naturally gifted footballer going forward.

 

S. Taylor - he's been playing like an international centre-back and of all the English centre-backs I'd say he was playing better than any of them before his injury.

 

Jonas - is there a better outlet player in the league? I remember against Stoke away and Blackburn at home in the FA Cup, he ran them raggid so much the opposition simply gave up because they couldn't keep up with his work-rate and drives forward. Yes he's frustrating but he causes so many problems and helps this team a lot as an outlet.

 

Cabaye - his passing, his energy, his tackling, his running... he just keeps going. He has been brilliant for us, easily one of the best midfielders outside of the top 5.

 

Tiote - on his day there is no one better at breaking up play and then driving forward. He's a beast and potentially world-class.

 

Ben Arfa - how many players in our league could score the goal he score against Blackburn? He has the potential to be a huge star of this league.

 

Ba - he has scored 15 goals and is the best striker I've seen at Newcastle since Shearer and I include Sir Les in that. he's on course to score 20 league goals. Masn Utd don't have that kind of striker nor do Liverpool or Chelsea.

 

In short we have the nucleaus of a really good side and squad wise it isn't that bad either. Guthrie is playing well and looking a good player for example. Best is a decent all-rounder and a cool finisher on his day. Williamson is an adequate PL defender.

 

We have a good starting 11 and a decent enough squad. And I haven't even mentioned Cisse yet (I haven't seen him play basically).

 

Again, starting XI vs starting XI I'd say we are on a par with Liverpool and that to me suggests we are indeed a top 6 side at least.

[Jayson]

The people who against Pards are just discrediting the clear positives from his time here. You cant solely focus on when things dont work out, complain about his tactics but say nothing about us completely outplaying Man United. Say we're a one man team with Ba, then ignore which manager actually worked hardest to sign the lad.

 

We're joint 5th. The grass isnt always greener, it should be massively obvious tbh.

[54]

The people who against Pards are just discrediting the clear positives from his time here. You cant solely focus on when things dont work out, complain about his tactics but say nothing about us completely outplaying Man United. Say we're a one man team with Ba, then ignore which manager actually worked hardest to sign the lad.

 

We're joint 5th. The grass isnt always greener, it should be massively obvious tbh.

Exactly, his tactics can't be that bad when we completely outplayed Man Utd, he may have ballsed up yesterday but at least it was in the cup and not the league.

[Interpolic]

HTT does have a point about the players Pardew's got to work with like.  Our backup options are shite on the whole though.