Alan Pardew

[Guest Dontooner]

Sir Bobby imo should never be mentioned or compare to Alan little Pardew, the man is a Legend and his achievements and football tactics will never be match by Pardew or many English base Managers.

 

I remember hating Bobby's Hoof to CF ,knock down to speedy striker strategy as it was a big part of our game however we were always able to control games against any of oppositions for a good period of 10 to 15 mins. It was exciting as we were a counter attacking team and could keep the ball if we decided to do so.

[Pilko]

Demba Ba's areet but let's compare him to Jimmy Greaves. He's shit.

[captainhaircut]

Revisionist history at it's greatest.

 

Our first few seasons under Bobby included plenty of shit performances, ridiculous decisions and poor signings.

 

I remember seeing Bassedas, Jenas and Brian Kerr play wide, people begging for Lua Lua to be picked and Bernard being stuck behind Elliott for an age to name a few.

 

Pardew is doing considerably better than Bobby did in his first full season and he lost four of his best performers in Barton, Enrique, Nolan and Carroll. Bobby didn't have to deal with that at all. The equivalent would have been similar to him losing Shearer, Solano and Speed and having to replace him.

 

I'm not saying that Pardew is a better manager but you can hardly compare Bobby's team that took 3/4 years to build to Pardew's team of a year.

 

 

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Another thing to remember, Sir Bobby transformed a then average side playing poor football into a top side playing great football, in the main by adding Bellamy and Robert to the side, all in a short space of time. That alone takes some doing. He then built on that and took us even further, at one point very close to an actual title challenge. Indeed we were right in there competing for it until key injuries especially to Bellamy.

 

Bobby did a magnificent job here looking back. That season we finished 5th was massively disappointing given we had finished 3rd the season prior but we didn't spend any money, suffered injuries to key players throughout, especially at critical stages of the season, but we still finished 5th and reached the semis of the UEFA Cup. In fact I believe if we didn't have European football that season, we would have fared better in the league.

 

Remember he was picking strong sides in that competition and rightly so because he believed we were capable of winning it and that was an actual target of his. But it took its toll on the squad and indeed our league campaign.

 

Sir Bobby had to put up with many a circus off the field too, but his team always went oute there to play football, to attack the opposition, to win the game. Those wins at Leeds, at Charlton away where we absolutely murdered them, Arsenal away, man Utd 4-3, for example, we played superb football.

 

If this side we have now played like that, we'd be 4th comfortably given the form of Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool in general this season. Who knows, we may be competing with Spurs even for 3rd. Instead, as good as it has been overall and as high as we are, we could well finish outside of the top 7 and all because we do not play good enough football or use the right kind of tactics and team selections.

[Guest Dontooner]

Not really sure why Pardew (or any NUFC manager) has to be compared to SBR. I don't think anyone is claiming Pardew is a better manager. Pardew should be judged on what he's doing with the current team. Right now, he's a rousing success.

 

If you really want to compare to past managers, how about we include Allardyce, Roeder, Souness, etc. as well instead of just putting him up against one of the greatest ever British managers.

 

Probably just trying to point out the difference in attacking Philosophy and Safe/Defensive Philosophy.

[Guest BooBoo]

For balance, there was some absolutely shocking performances under SBR in his first two years at the club.

[Guest Dontooner]

Revisionist history at it's greatest.

 

Our first few seasons under Bobby included plenty of s*** performances, ridiculous decisions and poor signings.

 

I remember seeing Bassedas, Jenas and Brian Kerr play wide, people begging for Lua Lua to be picked and Bernard being stuck behind Elliott for an age to name a few.

 

Pardew is doing considerably better than Bobby did in his first full season and he lost four of his best performers in Barton, Enrique, Nolan and Carroll. Bobby didn't have to deal with that at all. The equivalent would have been similar to him losing Shearer, Solano and Speed and having to replace him.

 

I'm not saying that Pardew is a better manager but you can hardly compare Bobby's team that took 3/4 years to build to Pardew's team of a year.

 

 

 

Honestly Doubt given 10 years in charge Pardew could bring us to the heights of where Sir Bobby brought us. Let reserve judgement as and when , Alan Pardew could finish a team in the top 6.

[alexf]

HTT, your saying if we played better more attacking football we would be even higher but I have to disagree. The more open we are could expose us defensively. Which we haven't really been this season hence wins we have with narrow margins. The times we have been exposed, West Brom/Fulham/spurs we have been torn apart at the back because we lack pace.

I am a huge critic of Pardew and would love him to play Ben Arfa more etc. But I believe we have played a certain way as some of our players are not top 6 quality and therefore have got the best we can out of them.

 

I think we need to get as high as possible this season and then try and upgrade on the crap in the squad and kick on and play better football next season. It remains to be seen whether Pardew can produce a team that plays good football but it would be extremely harsh to make a judgement on him in his first full season with his team.

I think he has just stuck with what has got us placed so high this season and doesn't want to mess with it. Next season will be the time to judge as if we try to replicate this season with the same style we will go backwards in my opinion.

[Guest BooBoo]

I think it's just time we gave another manager some time to at least try and build something up over a few years. Last time we really gave a manager years was with SBR. If Pardew finishes top 7 in his first year that's a massive step forward considering what the club has been through since SBR left.

 

Performances aren't exactly Brazil 70 but fucking hell, half our players are realistically not top half PL players. We have a decent core and are making big strides forward this year. A lot of that is down to Pardew who has us punching above our weight with a relatively small squad. There's been clear progress in his time at the club, let's just see what stability and some long term thinking can do for the club, rather than the "quick fix or get out" attitude that we've demanded far too often over the years.

[Dave]

I think it's just time we gave another manager some time to at least try and build something up over a few years. Last time we really gave a manager years was with SBR. If Pardew finishes top 7 in his first year that's a massive step forward considering what the club has been through since SBR left.

 

Performances aren't exactly Brazil 70 but fucking hell, half our players are realistically not top half PL players. We have a decent core and are making big strides forward this year. A lot of that is down to Pardew who has us punching above our weight with a relatively small squad. There's been clear progress in his time at the club, let's just see what stability and some long term thinking can do for the club, rather than the "quick fix or get out" attitude that we've demanded far too often over the years.

 

Can't see why any sensible and reasonable fan would suggest otherwise tbh.

[Spudil]

I think it's just time we gave another manager some time to at least try and build something up over a few years. Last time we really gave a manager years was with SBR. If Pardew finishes top 7 in his first year that's a massive step forward considering what the club has been through since SBR left.

 

Performances aren't exactly Brazil 70 but f***ing hell, half our players are realistically not top half PL players. We have a decent core and are making big strides forward this year. A lot of that is down to Pardew who has us punching above our weight with a relatively small squad. There's been clear progress in his time at the club, let's just see what stability and some long term thinking can do for the club, rather than the "quick fix or get out" attitude that we've demanded far too often over the years.

 

Can't see why any sensible and reasonable fan would suggest otherwise tbh.

 

I'll give him the rest of he season( I mean this as in my head; do I like him going forward) to see if he properly incorporates Ben Arfa into the team.

 

Edit: Even then I guess he could sell Ben Arfa in the summer so long as he incorporated other new flair players into the team. Which I suppose would prove that it was a  personal problem with Ben Arfa rather than an objective one with that type of player.

[Guest BooBoo]

It's baffling the hang ups people have over HBA when you consider that he has contributed very little in his time at the club.

[Beren]

It's baffling the hang ups people have over HBA when you consider that he has contributed very little in his time at the club.

 

That's actually not true. I don't agree with the fixation on him as being determinative of Pardew's success so far, but his productivity-to-time ratio is mightily impressive as it happens.

 

[Parky]

It's baffling the hang ups people have over HBA when you consider that he has contributed very little in his time at the club.

 

That's actually not true. I don't agree with the fixation on him as being determinative of Pardew's success so far, but his productivity-to-time ratio is mightily impressive as it happens.

 

 

Same amount of assists as Guti who's played nearly every game.

[Wullie]

More goals than any other midfielder too?

[NEEJ]

More goals than any other midfielder too?

Cabaye has three as well like.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

If we finished 7th I'd be disappointed. I believe 5th is there for the taking and if we just went for it, perhaps 4th wouldn't be out of the reach either. It is about recognising the moment and this could be ours.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Not really sure why Pardew (or any NUFC manager) has to be compared to SBR. I don't think anyone is claiming Pardew is a better manager. Pardew should be judged on what he's doing with the current team. Right now, he's a rousing success.

 

If you really want to compare to past managers, how about we include Allardyce, Roeder, Souness, etc. as well instead of just putting him up against one of the greatest ever British managers.

 

I'm not really comparing the two as such, I'm comparing their respective mentalities/philosophies and what that meant for our team and our performances.

[Optimistic Nut]

If we finished 7th I'd be disappointed. I believe 5th is there for the taking and if we just went for it, perhaps 4th wouldn't be out of the reach either. It is about recognising the moment and this could be ours.

 

We're within touching distance the way we are now. What's to say if we went for it (no idea how the hell we're not "going for it" now like considering how close we are), we'd improve results wise anyway?

[Guest Dontooner]

If we finished 7th I'd be disappointed. I believe 5th is there for the taking and if we just went for it, perhaps 4th wouldn't be out of the reach either. It is about recognising the moment and this could be ours.

Quite native tbh, if we just sat and watch the rest of the 6 top teams around us, the performance or football is still levels ahead of us. I do however agree that a couple of them are not performing to their usual high standards but coming to the last string of 10 games they usually finish quite strongly hence my believe we will fall out of the top 6 at least.

 

Pardew has already spoken to Ashely about transfers for next season, the likelihood that he is here for at least another season pretty high.

Too bad about Ben Arfa tbh, we are not ready for him , quite confident he will perform well in a real top class team.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Revisionist history at it's greatest.

 

Our first few seasons under Bobby included plenty of s*** performances, ridiculous decisions and poor signings.

 

I remember seeing Bassedas, Jenas and Brian Kerr play wide, people begging for Lua Lua to be picked and Bernard being stuck behind Elliott for an age to name a few.

 

Pardew is doing considerably better than Bobby did in his first full season and he lost four of his best performers in Barton, Enrique, Nolan and Carroll. Bobby didn't have to deal with that at all. The equivalent would have been similar to him losing Shearer, Solano and Speed and having to replace him.

 

I'm not saying that Pardew is a better manager but you can hardly compare Bobby's team that took 3/4 years to build to Pardew's team of a year.

 

 

 

Sir Bobby took over a Newcastle United side that was playing extremely poor, and one that was going only one way - backwards and not forwards. Furthermore he took over a side that had no real team spirit or game plan. Pardew took over a side that had won promotion and consolidated itself in mid-table, a side witha  fantastic team-spirit and work ethic that played to a plan or to a system.

 

Pardew's arrival didn't do anything to remotely effect that other than to maintain the status-quo if you like. Of course this season we have moved on results wise, but the side has changed massively. We now have quality players all over the park whereas last season we didn't really have any outstanding players other than perhaps Colo and Enrique at the back.

 

League position wise we are dong very well but then we do have a striker who has banged in 15 league goals, a keeper who has kept several clean sheets and a a decent side in general so we are probably where we should be based on all of that. Performance wise though we have been poor to average in the main with perhaps 3 or 4 stand out moments during certain games. There has been no game this season where we have comprehensively beaten a side in terms of our performance.

 

A better manager with tactical nous and the ability to get these players playing an expansive type of game, would have us performing to such a standard, I believe we would have swept many a team aside this season, especially your Villa's and QPRs at home and would not have been beaten so heavily on the road to Fulham and Spurs in particular.

 

That's my opinion anyway.

 

Back to Sir Bobby. You are right, some of the performances, tactics, results and team selections was poor especially in his first year at the club but there was many a sign that we could compete right at the top end of the league. People will point to lowly finishes in his first season and the one after that but we were going through many transitions on and off the field. Bobby had to put out a lot of fires if you like while managing expectations and trying to build a side to compete. The fact he did that in 2 seasons and not the 3-4 you claim, speaks volumes.

 

Bobby identified what was needed to take us to the next level and then went out and got the right players. It didn't stop there though, the hard part was to fit those players together and get them playing the kind of football that would take us away from mid-table mediocrity and towards challenging for the title and European honours.

 

I personally do not believe Pardew deserves credit for example for spotting Cabaye or Cisse. I believe our scouting system identifies the players and brings them in. Pardew's only input probably bolis down to psoition and things like "must have pace".

 

In that sense his job is simple, prepare, motivate, select and coach. And to be fair he's doing those very things well enough hence our position but if we are to move on in ways that Sir Bobby took us, we need a better coach if you like. Just like we will need a better right back than Simpson or a better centre-back than Williamson.

 

People will look upon my views of Pardew as harsh and perhaps so but if he were a player in our squad, many would want him replaced eventually because he simply isn't good enough if we have aspirations of top 6/regular European football and even silverware.

 

Again, I'd look to replace him in the summer. I don't have any names but someone with tactical nous and footballing philosophies would help for me, the most talented side we've had since Sir Bobby's days, massively, especially from a performance point of view.

[Spudil]

It's baffling the hang ups people have over HBA when you consider that he has contributed very little in his time at the club.

 

Besides the second part being rubbish as has been pointed out, it's not only a hang up about Ben Arfa but the type of player he represents.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

It's baffling the hang ups people have over HBA when you consider that he has contributed very little in his time at the club.

 

Not as baffling as Obertan starting ahead of, well any fucker, that's how bad he is. Pardew knows best though.

[Dr Venkman]

Pardew's persistence with Obertan over HBA is a major black mark for me, it's just foolish.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Again, I'd look to replace him in the summer. I don't have any names but someone with tactical nous and footballing philosophies would help for me, the most talented side we've had since Sir Bobby's days, massively, especially from a performance point of view.

 

I've heard it all now like, that's insane. Replace Pardew in the summer, after possibly our best finish in recent memory? And replace him with who exactly? Fabio Capello's available I suppose.