Alan Pardew

[alpal78]

Poor from Pardew tonight. We were having a legitimate go at Arsenal in the first half so really, if he had used the same tactics that had served us pretty well in the first half then it would have arguably led to us getting a result imo (nicking a win that is).

 

Those second half tactics were completely atrocious and uncalled for. By adopting the long ball tactic, we basically decided to gift Arsenal with a lot of (too much) possession which, of course, led to a barrage of attacks from them. Such tactics also led to the entire midfield not being fully utilised and that was clearly to our detriment - it meant that Ben Arfa and indeed, our midfield became less influential as the minutes went by.

 

To be brutally honest, we didn't deserve to win and that's down to Pardew's negative showing in the second half - it was almost as if our entire plan for the second half was to hold onto a 1-1 draw and not "go for it". So disappointing. Oh and it's also quite worrying that this isn't the first time that the long ball has formed the basis of a gameplan. I'm really hating the sight of Krul hoofing it forward every single time the ball's played back to him - for me, Krul doesn't do that out of choice, it's quite apparent that it's all Pardew's instructions and I've got to say, I'm becoming increasingly worried about Alan's recent over-reliance on the long ball.

 

Pass and play, Alan, pass and play! We've seen that he is willing to adopt some form of carpet football so the fact that he's not using it often enough is so frustrating. Losing Steven Taylor has really been a massive blow for us - he was one of the players who liked to play the ball out of defence instead of hoofing it forward and by losing that key cog of the pass and play tactic, Pardew's tactics have become more direct which has been to our detriment at times. I still have faith in Pardew btw but it has to be said that these last couple of months have been really frustrating and that's really down to the manager. Pardew should really be brave and go for it in the remaining 10 games. Time to earn your money, Alan!

 

Agree with the assessment except for the last paragraph. Whilst Steven Taylor is important, even without him we do have players who can play passing football. In our team, only Williamson and Simpson are the sort that would resort to long balls. I would argue that all other 8 outfield players are the type who would be more comfortable passing the ball around. So the fact we're not is not down to the players but the manager's instructions.

[Sifu]

Poor from Pardew tonight. We were having a legitimate go at Arsenal in the first half so really, if he had used the same tactics that had served us pretty well in the first half then it would have arguably led to us getting a result imo (nicking a win that is).

 

Those second half tactics were completely atrocious and uncalled for. By adopting the long ball tactic, we basically decided to gift Arsenal with a lot of (too much) possession which, of course, led to a barrage of attacks from them. Such tactics also led to the entire midfield not being fully utilised and that was clearly to our detriment - it meant that Ben Arfa and indeed, our midfield became less influential as the minutes went by.

 

To be brutally honest, we didn't deserve to win and that's down to Pardew's negative showing in the second half - it was almost as if our entire plan for the second half was to hold onto a 1-1 draw and not "go for it". So disappointing. Oh and it's also quite worrying that this isn't the first time that the long ball has formed the basis of a gameplan. I'm really hating the sight of Krul hoofing it forward every single time the ball's played back to him - for me, Krul doesn't do that out of choice, it's quite apparent that it's all Pardew's instructions and I've got to say, I'm becoming increasingly worried about Alan's recent over-reliance on the long ball.

 

Pass and play, Alan, pass and play! We've seen that he is willing to adopt some form of carpet football so the fact that he's not using it often enough is so frustrating. Losing Steven Taylor has really been a massive blow for us - he was one of the players who liked to play the ball out of defence instead of hoofing it forward and by losing that key cog of the pass and play tactic, Pardew's tactics have become more direct which has been to our detriment at times. I still have faith in Pardew btw but it has to be said that these last couple of months have been really frustrating and that's really down to the manager. Pardew should really be brave and go for it in the remaining 10 games. Time to earn your money, Alan!

 

Agree with the assessment except for the last paragraph. Whilst Steven Taylor is important, even without him we do have players who can play passing football. In our team, only Williamson and Simpson are the sort that would resort to long balls. I would argue that all other 8 outfield players are the type who would be more comfortable passing the ball around. So the fact we're not is not down to the players but the manager's instructions.

 

We do indeed have players who like/prefer to pass the ball around but I really think Saylor's absence has really affected the way we play these days. Saylor would, more often than not, play it out of defence and pass it to Tiote/Cabaye instead of hoofing it forward - the simple things really. Williamson, on the other hand, doesn't seem to very confident with the ball and so he usually resorts to the long ball or gives the ball back to Krul. It's usually the simple things which make something work. What needs to/could be done is for one of our midfielders to come deep and receive the ball from Williamson which lessens the need for him to hoof it forward. I do agree with your last sentence though, it is apparent that the long ball is an instruction from the manager, a tactic which Pardew should really eradicate from his thinking ASAP.

[Jayson]

Its definately a tactic from Pards to Krul. Debatable whether it is for the defence though, id expect Colo to hoof it aswell if it was which he doesnt often. Unless Pards specifically says he can try more with it but gives less freedom to Willi/Simps etc. Thats understandable though aswell really.

Cant actually remember Santon booting it much either apart from when hes under a lot of pressure & just clearing it quickly.

[Ronaldo]

Before today we'd played 24 games with 2 fit Cb's & only conceded more than one goal 6 times.

Take away pens/Deflected goals from those 6 times, it was only 3 from 24 (Spurs, Lpool, Fulham)

 

Class record really.

Arse needed the last min to add themselves to that now ofc.

 

its a fair point given the defenders we've got, can we expect to have such a great record.

 

colo and simpson i think are good defenders, i know simpson has this compulsion of hoofball, but set that aside defensively he is capable.

 

then what are we left with?  no one else.    Perch is a liability at central defence, Kadar? a kid we're not even going to bother giving him a new contract , that shows how good he is.  Saylor injured. 

 

raylor, santon, perch are not really fullbacks.  what we've got? fergie? unproven , heardly even get on the bench these days.

 

its pretty horrible isnt it?

 

 

 

 

What on earth are you talking about?

[littlelunchbox]

Before today we'd played 24 games with 2 fit Cb's & only conceded more than one goal 6 times.

Take away pens/Deflected goals from those 6 times, it was only 3 from 24 (Spurs, Lpool, Fulham)

 

Class record really.

Arse needed the last min to add themselves to that now ofc.

 

its a fair point given the defenders we've got, can we expect to have such a great record.

 

colo and simpson i think are good defenders, i know simpson has this compulsion of hoofball, but set that aside defensively he is capable.

 

then what are we left with?  no one else.    Perch is a liability at central defence, Kadar? a kid we're not even going to bother giving him a new contract , that shows how good he is.  Saylor injured. 

 

raylor, santon, perch are not really fullbacks.  what we've got? fergie? unproven , heardly even get on the bench these days.

 

its pretty horrible isnt it?

 

 

 

 

What on earth are you talking about?

                                                                                                                        talking about our lack of quality options in defence.  not something i expect from you, to understand .

[Guest neesy111]

Before today we'd played 24 games with 2 fit Cb's & only conceded more than one goal 6 times.

Take away pens/Deflected goals from those 6 times, it was only 3 from 24 (Spurs, Lpool, Fulham)

 

Class record really.

Arse needed the last min to add themselves to that now ofc.

 

its a fair point given the defenders we've got, can we expect to have such a great record.

 

colo and simpson i think are good defenders, i know simpson has this compulsion of hoofball, but set that aside defensively he is capable.

 

then what are we left with?  no one else.    Perch is a liability at central defence, Kadar? a kid we're not even going to bother giving him a new contract , that shows how good he is.  Saylor injured. 

 

raylor, santon, perch are not really fullbacks.  what we've got? fergie? unproven , heardly even get on the bench these days.

 

its pretty horrible isnt it?

 

 

 

 

What on earth are you talking about?

                                                                                                                        talking about our lack of quality options in defence.  not something i expect from you, to understand .

 

[STM]

I'd like to see how we would play with some better quality in defence. I'm not ready to jump on Pardews back yet. Williamson becomes worse by the game, even his headers are directed straight toward the opposition. Simpson whilst steady enough in defence, just isn't good enough in the opposition half. Santon is also very raw. We looked a much better side with Taylor and Colo playing centre half.

 

Hopefully in the summer we will invest in some quality in our back four.

[Dr Venkman]

Argh, this debate is a perfect circle. Rest assured, if he'd been picking Raylor instead of Simpson for any length of time he would be getting much more stick than he is now.

 

He's been picking Taylor ahead of Ben Arfa ffs, never mind Danny Simpson.

 

Well that's a totally different debate, I've always said that was a mistake.

 

It's not though, the fact that Pardew picked Obertan and Raylor over Ben Arfa for so long sums up exactly what type of manager he is and exactly why we'll only go so far with him in charge.

 

You can all talk about the players being the cause of the long ball shite all you want but it's heads in the sand stuff, Pardew could've re-evaluated what we are as a team when Saylor got injured and focused our efforts on making the best of what we've got. He didn't and he still hasn't.

[ponsaelius]

Only got back a couple of hours ago. Was gutted by the goal at the time but in all honesty I find myself far more annoyed with the way we played yet again.

 

It's getting beyond a joke now. That second half was absolutely pathetic. Hoofball towards Ba that resulted in giving them the ball over and over again. We made absolutely no attempt to make a match of it - which for me is completely unforgivable when we were right in the match at 1-1.

 

There's nowt wrong with maybe shutting the game down but try and keep the fucking ball for a bit. Fuck

me what are we doing on the coaching side of things during the week. We went there and mugged them a bit last season but when we got the ball in that game we played confidently and economically in possession.

[Guest Dontooner]

I'd like to see how we would play with some better quality in defence. I'm not ready to jump on Pardews back yet. Williamson becomes worse by the game, even his headers are directed straight toward the opposition. Simpson whilst steady enough in defence, just isn't good enough in the opposition half. Santon is also very raw. We looked a much better side with Taylor and Colo playing centre half.

 

Hopefully in the summer we will invest in some quality in our back four.

Poor from Pardew tonight. We were having a legitimate go at Arsenal in the first half so really, if he had used the same tactics that had served us pretty well in the first half then it would have arguably led to us getting a result imo (nicking a win that is).

 

Those second half tactics were completely atrocious and uncalled for. By adopting the long ball tactic, we basically decided to gift Arsenal with a lot of (too much) possession which, of course, led to a barrage of attacks from them. Such tactics also led to the entire midfield not being fully utilised and that was clearly to our detriment - it meant that Ben Arfa and indeed, our midfield became less influential as the minutes went by.

 

To be brutally honest, we didn't deserve to win and that's down to Pardew's negative showing in the second half - it was almost as if our entire plan for the second half was to hold onto a 1-1 draw and not "go for it". So disappointing. Oh and it's also quite worrying that this isn't the first time that the long ball has formed the basis of a gameplan. I'm really hating the sight of Krul hoofing it forward every single time the ball's played back to him - for me, Krul doesn't do that out of choice, it's quite apparent that it's all Pardew's instructions and I've got to say, I'm becoming increasingly worried about Alan's recent over-reliance on the long ball.

 

Pass and play, Alan, pass and play! We've seen that he is willing to adopt some form of carpet football so the fact that he's not using it often enough is so frustrating. Losing Steven Taylor has really been a massive blow for us - he was one of the players who liked to play the ball out of defence instead of hoofing it forward and by losing that key cog of the pass and play tactic, Pardew's tactics have become more direct which has been to our detriment at times. I still have faith in Pardew btw but it has to be said that these last couple of months have been really frustrating and that's really down to the manager. Pardew should really be brave and go for it in the remaining 10 games. Time to earn your money, Alan!

 

Agree with the assessment except for the last paragraph. Whilst Steven Taylor is important, even without him we do have players who can play passing football. In our team, only Williamson and Simpson are the sort that would resort to long balls. I would argue that all other 8 outfield players are the type who would be more comfortable passing the ball around. So the fact we're not is not down to the players but the manager's instructions.

 

We do indeed have players who like/prefer to pass the ball around but I really think Saylor's absence has really affected the way we play these days. Saylor would, more often than not, play it out of defence and pass it to Tiote/Cabaye instead of hoofing it forward - the simple things really. Williamson, on the other hand, doesn't seem to very confident with the ball and so he usually resorts to the long ball or gives the ball back to Krul. It's usually the simple things which make something work. What needs to/could be done is for one of our midfielders to come deep and receive the ball from Williamson which lessens the need for him to hoof it forward. I do agree with your last sentence though, it is apparent that the long ball is an instruction from the manager, a tactic which Pardew should really eradicate from his thinking ASAP.

I simply disagree, although Steven is a big miss but even the midfielders are hoofing, i think that tell the true story. Stated somewhere Pardew works 4 days on the defence and leave the attacking play to the coaches, imo we have no style or standard going forward..pretty much leaving it to the players to improvise. If this is the truth, which it is quite apparrent with our poor constant performances, we need another coach. Sammy Lee anyone?

[madras]

I'd like to see how we would play with some better quality in defence. I'm not ready to jump on Pardews back yet. Williamson becomes worse by the game, even his headers are directed straight toward the opposition. Simpson whilst steady enough in defence, just isn't good enough in the opposition half. Santon is also very raw. We looked a much better side with Taylor and Colo playing centre half.

 

Hopefully in the summer we will invest in some quality in our back four.

Poor from Pardew tonight. We were having a legitimate go at Arsenal in the first half so really, if he had used the same tactics that had served us pretty well in the first half then it would have arguably led to us getting a result imo (nicking a win that is).

 

Those second half tactics were completely atrocious and uncalled for. By adopting the long ball tactic, we basically decided to gift Arsenal with a lot of (too much) possession which, of course, led to a barrage of attacks from them. Such tactics also led to the entire midfield not being fully utilised and that was clearly to our detriment - it meant that Ben Arfa and indeed, our midfield became less influential as the minutes went by.

 

To be brutally honest, we didn't deserve to win and that's down to Pardew's negative showing in the second half - it was almost as if our entire plan for the second half was to hold onto a 1-1 draw and not "go for it". So disappointing. Oh and it's also quite worrying that this isn't the first time that the long ball has formed the basis of a gameplan. I'm really hating the sight of Krul hoofing it forward every single time the ball's played back to him - for me, Krul doesn't do that out of choice, it's quite apparent that it's all Pardew's instructions and I've got to say, I'm becoming increasingly worried about Alan's recent over-reliance on the long ball.

 

Pass and play, Alan, pass and play! We've seen that he is willing to adopt some form of carpet football so the fact that he's not using it often enough is so frustrating. Losing Steven Taylor has really been a massive blow for us - he was one of the players who liked to play the ball out of defence instead of hoofing it forward and by losing that key cog of the pass and play tactic, Pardew's tactics have become more direct which has been to our detriment at times. I still have faith in Pardew btw but it has to be said that these last couple of months have been really frustrating and that's really down to the manager. Pardew should really be brave and go for it in the remaining 10 games. Time to earn your money, Alan!

 

Agree with the assessment except for the last paragraph. Whilst Steven Taylor is important, even without him we do have players who can play passing football. In our team, only Williamson and Simpson are the sort that would resort to long balls. I would argue that all other 8 outfield players are the type who would be more comfortable passing the ball around. So the fact we're not is not down to the players but the manager's instructions.

 

We do indeed have players who like/prefer to pass the ball around but I really think Saylor's absence has really affected the way we play these days. Saylor would, more often than not, play it out of defence and pass it to Tiote/Cabaye instead of hoofing it forward - the simple things really. Williamson, on the other hand, doesn't seem to very confident with the ball and so he usually resorts to the long ball or gives the ball back to Krul. It's usually the simple things which make something work. What needs to/could be done is for one of our midfielders to come deep and receive the ball from Williamson which lessens the need for him to hoof it forward. I do agree with your last sentence though, it is apparent that the long ball is an instruction from the manager, a tactic which Pardew should really eradicate from his thinking ASAP.

I simply disagree, although Steven is a big miss but even the midfielders are hoofing, i think that tell the true story. Stated somewhere Pardew works 4 days on the defence and leave the attacking play to the coaches, imo we have no style or standard going forward..pretty much leaving it to the players to improvise. If this is the truth, which it is quite apparrent with our poor constant performances, we need another coach. Sammy Lee anyone?

interesting listening to martin keown last night on radio 5 (decent pundit but he does go on too much when the match is in progress) saying that's basically what wenger does. when out of possession get into a team shape and work and express yourself when in possession with very little tactics done what to do when in possession.

[thomas]

Well then they're both horrible, terrible men. 

[thomas]

And my bezzie chris should never have been sacked.  Excuse me while I go on a 20 year whinge about it.

[Guest Dontooner]

Aye...dont care where we finish..this season tbh, just as long as its not below the Mackems but looking through the fixture list ..its going to be a close call.

 

[Jagten]

Do we really only have 19 from 17 played?

[Guest neesy111]

Do we really only have 19 from 17 played?

 

Yeap.

[Jagten]

Deary me.

[Big Geordie]

I knew our recent form wasn't good, but 19 points from 17 isn't great! Need to beat Norwich on Sunday, otherwise questions will start being asked.

[Jagten]

I started asking them long ago.

[alexthegreat]

At the start of the season I thought a defence of Simpson, Perch, RTaylor, STaylor, Coloccini, Williamson, Ferguson, and no one except later Santon was at least as bad as what got us promoted and possibly the worst I had ever seen us have in the Premiership.

 

I think Pardew would like to play more attacking football but I can see why he wants to focus on protecting the back 4 and agree with the approach. We have seen them completely collapse on several occasions, to have the best defence in the league after 10 games with that lot was a remarkable achievement.

 

We haven't got good enough wide players to compensate for constantly leaking two or three goals a game, and while we could get more from Cabaye in the final third, Tiote will never offer much in this area. We were fortunate (and Pardew deserves credit) that at the start of the season that Ryan Taylor (at leftback, unbelievably) and Jonas were in the the form of their lives.

 

Obertan just isn't good enough, we took a gamble on the cheap option with a poor injury record in Marveaux and it didn't work. The result, inevitably, is the ball ends up in the air a lot. With that midfield and Williamson and Simpson at the back it would be the same regardless of who the manager is.

 

Its a shame because in Ba and Cisse we could potentially have a very good strikeforce, but they need the ball on the deck. The solution everyone wants is to just play BenArfa on the wing and go for it. I'd obviously like to see more from him and couldn't understand what Pardew was doing with him but his defensive play really is feeble and does cause us problems. He represents the complete opposite of the attitude that had us in the top 4.

 

In simple terms the squad isn't good enough for us to do any better. We were a very direct team last year, Pardew wanted us to be more entertaining this year. He didn't get enough backing to make the full transition and now we are stuck half way between the two, with a manager who is correctly inclined to err towards defence.

 

If we do manage to finish 6th or 7th it will be because of Pardew's ability to extract passable and sometimes decent performances from RTaylor, Best, Guthrie, Williamson, Simpson, Shola, and even James Perch on a regular basis. I reckon Souness could get that lot relegated and thats why Pardew's a decent manager regardless of what formation he plays.

 

[Mole_Toonfan]

Do we really only have 19 from 17 played?

 

Yh we are lucky as hell that we had such a good start and Liverpool have only been able to obtain 5 points since Jan 1st 

 

Why cant we just play how we did up until christmas? i cant be that hard surely Pards?

[mrmojorisin75]

Liverpool have only been able to obtain 5 points since Jan 1st 

 

woah!

[TRon]

The thing is yesterday's defeat while it was hard to take wasn't that bad compared to a lot of games we've played this season. My problem is with the remaining fixtures. We haven't developed any style or method all season, instead chopping and changing in reaction to our last game. Now we are coming into the final lap I'm just not confident that Pardew has instilled enough of the right disciplines to keep the likes of Everton and Sunderland off our tails. He'll probably think we lost because Ryan Taylor was out ffs.

[eliassenfredrik]

Yep. Spot on. Raylor will be brought back into the team on a golden chair. Now obviously he can't drop Ben Arfa after he's been one of our best players for the last two games (it may not say that much, but at least he's been one of the few players making a difference in attacking play), with Pardew backing him with promising quotes on both occasions. In other words Raylor will return to the good old left back, either pushing Santon into oblivion or right back (never gonna drop Simpson I'm afraid). I can't get over how much Pardew rates Ryan Taylor and Simpson. And Obertan.

[thedudeabides]

At the start of the season I thought a defence of Simpson, Perch, RTaylor, STaylor, Coloccini, Williamson, Ferguson, and no one except later Santon was at least as bad as what got us promoted and possibly the worst I had ever seen us have in the Premiership.

 

I think Pardew would like to play more attacking football but I can see why he wants to focus on protecting the back 4 and agree with the approach. We have seen them completely collapse on several occasions, to have the best defence in the league after 10 games with that lot was a remarkable achievement.

 

We haven't got good enough wide players to compensate for constantly leaking two or three goals a game, and while we could get more from Cabaye in the final third, Tiote will never offer much in this area. We were fortunate (and Pardew deserves credit) that at the start of the season that Ryan Taylor (at leftback, unbelievably) and Jonas were in the the form of their lives.

 

Obertan just isn't good enough, we took a gamble on the cheap option with a poor injury record in Marveaux and it didn't work. The result, inevitably, is the ball ends up in the air a lot. With that midfield and Williamson and Simpson at the back it would be the same regardless of who the manager is.

 

Its a shame because in Ba and Cisse we could potentially have a very good strikeforce, but they need the ball on the deck. The solution everyone wants is to just play BenArfa on the wing and go for it. I'd obviously like to see more from him and couldn't understand what Pardew was doing with him but his defensive play really is feeble and does cause us problems. He represents the complete opposite of the attitude that had us in the top 4.

 

In simple terms the squad isn't good enough for us to do any better. We were a very direct team last year, Pardew wanted us to be more entertaining this year. He didn't get enough backing to make the full transition and now we are stuck half way between the two, with a manager who is correctly inclined to err towards defence.

 

If we do manage to finish 6th or 7th it will be because of Pardew's ability to extract passable and sometimes decent performances from RTaylor, Best, Guthrie, Williamson, Simpson, Shola, and even James Perch on a regular basis. I reckon Souness could get that lot relegated and thats why Pardew's a decent manager regardless of what formation he plays.

 

 

Cracking post.