Alan Pardew

[Spudil]

The problem with the Premier League nowadays is every team can be turned over by another. Just look at some of the results. Now that he has the players that he should have had in the summer lets see what happens.

And i havent included January because we still need another striker IMO.

 

aye man that's the crux of the problem

 

and are you seriously letting the man in charge of this squad

Tim Krul

2 DF Fabricio Coloccini (captain)

3 DF Davide Santon

4 MF Yohan Cabaye

5 DF Danny Simpson

6 DF Mike Williamson

7 MF Moussa Sissoko

8 MF Vurnon Anita

9 FW Papiss Cissé

10 MF Hatem Ben Arfa

11 FW Yoan Gouffran

13 DF Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa

14 DF James Perch

15 MF Dan Gosling

16 DF Ryan Taylor

17 MF Romain Amalfitano

18 MF Jonás Gutiérrez (vice-captain)

19 DF Massadio Haïdara

No. Position Player

20 MF Gaël Bigirimana

21 GK Rob Elliot

22 MF Sylvain Marveaux

23 FW Shola Ameobi

24 MF Cheick Tioté

25 MF Gabriel Obertan

26 DF Mathieu Debuchy

27 DF Steven Taylor

28 FW Sammy Ameobi

29 MF Haris Vučkić

30 FW Nile Ranger

31 DF Shane Ferguson

32 FW Xisco

34 DF James Tavernier

36 DF Paul Dummett

37 GK Steve Harper

39 MF Mehdi Abeid

49 FW Adam Campbell

off the hook because you rekon he needs another striker?

 

 

[hoppaz]

Aye go and look in the 'Arry thread at the QPR squad and see what a relegation rival has. You can remove xisco from that list as he is on loan isnt he? Then there are question marks over sammy and AC as i dont think they are ready and ranger is well ranger. What strike force do we have then?

[LFEE]

Thought he got his subs & bench wrong again...

[Spudil]

Aye go and look in the 'Arry thread at the QPR squad and see what a relegation rival has. You can remove xisco from that list as he is on loan isnt he? Then there are question marks over sammy and AC as i dont think they are ready and ranger is well ranger. What strike force do we have then?

 

Wtf are you talking about man?

 

Our squad is better than QPR's. Simple.

 

Our strike 'force'is Cisse>Goufrann>Shola.

 

[hoppaz]

WTF really? 

 

Cisse who is out of form, Gouffran who has played 1 game and doesn't know the league and Shola who wants put out to pasture with the gate being locked and the key thrown away. Andy Johnson and DJ Campbell would get a game here 

[Mick]

WTF really? 

 

Cisse who is out of form, Gouffran who has played 1 game and doesn't know the league and Shola who wants put out to pasture with the gate being locked and the key thrown away. Andy Johnson and DJ Campbell would get a game here 

 

Knowing Pardew, you might be right.

[Mole_Toonfan]

WTF really? 

 

Cisse who is out of form, Gouffran who has played 1 game and doesn't know the league and Shola who wants put out to pasture with the gate being locked and the key thrown away. Andy Johnson and DJ Campbell would get a game here 

 

3 in his last 6.

[hoppaz]

WTF really? 

 

Cisse who is out of form, Gouffran who has played 1 game and doesn't know the league and Shola who wants put out to pasture with the gate being locked and the key thrown away. Andy Johnson and DJ Campbell would get a game here 

 

3 in his last 6.

 

Yup I cant argue there but watching his play he is only just getting his shit together which means we have one striker who is actually scoring, something that wins games. That is the point I am making. Gouffran is better than Shola but I would hate to rely on him only.

[Guest neesy111]

The hoofing second half was diabolical, and everyone was doing it, as a clear instruction from the manager. No doubt about it.

 

However, the particular enthusiasm with which Steven Taylor carried out this command really wound me up.

 

He wasn't even attempting to aim for Shola. He was just ballooning that thing into the stratosphere.

 

It was down right offensive. Honestly.

 

Despite clear footage to the contrary.  Ok then...

 

Aye you could see Pardew going nuts on the sidelines in the last 15 or 20 minutes because of the hoofing. It clearly wasn't a gameplan at all, and just the sign of a nervous team desperate for a win.

 

The first half performance was entirely down to luck too.

The first half performance was down to Pardew setting us up well, as he did against Reading. The 2nd half performance was down to him undoing his good work.

 

If he wants to keep us up he needs to sort it out as 45 minutes of good football against poor sides isn't going to be enough.

 

I kind of agree. Players do need that extra bit of confidence to be able to sustain a performance over 90 minutes too. Not just the manager.

 

I'm getting the feeling we have some fitness issues with some of our squad members which could be hampering things as well.

[Sifu]

So I've slept on it and I'm still annoyed by Pardew's incompetence last night.

[Guest tollemache]

Well, I've slept on it too.

 

I think what's wrong with our surrendering of the initiative in general is confidence that ultimately stems from having had a difficult start to the season. As has been pointed out, in the past we've sat back and successfully (in some cases comfortably) held onto leads but this season the tendency has been for that to lead to an unbearably high level of pressure, which is not the idea of sitting back.

 

Basically, in itself it isn't a bad idea. Man Utd are fantastic at leaning back on the ropes and waiting for you to shoot yourself in the foot, and if you want to build a team that can compete at a very high level, such as the Champions League, sitting back is a compulsory part of your arsenal.

 

This season and at other times in the past we've been shit at it, no doubt about that. But I think the question should be less "Why do we try to sit back?" and more "How can we get better at it?" to which signing a load of really good players and boosting the confidence of the squad is quite an encouraging answer.

 

Last night, Villa put us under insanely intense pressure right from the 46th minute, such as their fans might be wondering why they don't do it all the time (Answer: Everybody gets injured). They deserve a lot of credit for that, and a lot of teams would've buckled under it. The fact that we didn't have much of a say in the game for a lot of the second half is largely down to their possessed, Braveheart-like assault and that makes last night unlike most other examples you can think of. Reading didn't muster anything like that level of intensity, and nor do 98% of teams, ever.

 

As at West Brom last season, we should be glad when we successfully take a counter-attacking approach. If we try to get by without it, and without being able to slow games down, we'll never get anywhere. The question is, now we've got good enough players to play it around at the back, can we get better at steering matches - forcing opponents to play in front of us, making them chase, etc? We can put out a back 6 now with every inch the pedigree to do that and it's now we should be looking to make it a real arrow in our quiver.

[Belfast Mags]

We were OK at sitting back last season at times which makes this season even more inexplicable.

 

[taxfree]

We definitely rode our luck quite a bit last season too.

[Interpolic]

We were OK at sitting back last season at times which makes this season even more inexplicable.

 

 

It doesn't really, as that approach is far easier to carry out when confidence is flowing.  When it's not then it's risky to the extent that it's often foolish.  Couple of people have said to me today "Well we got the 3 points, so it worked" - well I've seen it many times this season when it didn't work and it very almost didn't work last night.  It's permissible in certain situations, but not every fucking situation against every fucking team and regardless of every other fucking influence or circumstance.

 

Getting in front and scrapping our way to a win appears to be plan A, B and C - no wonder we never hammer teams and no wonder we never come from behind to win.

[Spudil]

Well, I've slept on it too.

 

I think what's wrong with our surrendering of the initiative in general is confidence that ultimately stems from having had a difficult start to the season. As has been pointed out, in the past we've sat back and successfully (in some cases comfortably) held onto leads but this season the tendency has been for that to lead to an unbearably high level of pressure, which is not the idea of sitting back.

 

Basically, in itself it isn't a bad idea. Man Utd are fantastic at leaning back on the ropes and waiting for you to shoot yourself in the foot, and I'd even say that, if you want to build a team that can compete at a very high level, such as the Champions League, sitting back is a compulsory part of your arsenal.

 

This season and at other times in the past we've been s*** at it, no doubt about that. But I think the question should be less "Why do we try to sit back?" and more "How can we get better at it?" to which signing a load of really good players and boosting the confidence of the squad is quite an encouraging answer.

 

Last night, Villa put us under insanely intense pressure right from the 46th minute, such as their fans might be wondering why they don't do it all the time (Answer: Everybody gets injured). They deserve a lot of credit for that, and a lot of teams would've buckled under it. The fact that we didn't have much of a say in the game for a lot of the second half is largely down to their possessed, Braveheart-like assault and that makes last night unlike most other examples you can think of. Reading didn't muster anything like that level of intensity, and nor do 98% of teams, ever.

 

As at West Brom last season, we should be glad when we successfully take a counter-attacking approach. If we try to get by without it, and without being able to slow games down, we'll never get anywhere. The question is, now we've got good enough players to play it around at the back, can we get better at steering matches - forcing opponents to play in front of us, making them chase, etc? We can put out a back 6 now with every inch the pedigree to do that and it's now we should be looking to make it a real arrow in our quiver.

 

:lol:

 

what a load of s****. this post could have been written by Alan Pardew himself ffs

 

I actually cant believe that you are  making out that there is practically nothing we could do about their "possessed, Braveheart-like assault". Did you watch the fucking match? For the last half hour we had not one  SINGLE outlet to relieve pressure.

Jonas and Cisse as wingers ,

Shola up front

and a clusterfuck of everybody running around  in front of the back four.

 

We were practically begging for Villa to score it was that bad.

 

 

 

 

 

[huss9]

Well, I've slept on it too.

 

I think what's wrong with our surrendering of the initiative in general is confidence that ultimately stems from having had a difficult start to the season. As has been pointed out, in the past we've sat back and successfully (in some cases comfortably) held onto leads but this season the tendency has been for that to lead to an unbearably high level of pressure, which is not the idea of sitting back.

 

Basically, in itself it isn't a bad idea. Man Utd are fantastic at leaning back on the ropes and waiting for you to shoot yourself in the foot, and I'd even say that, if you want to build a team that can compete at a very high level, such as the Champions League, sitting back is a compulsory part of your arsenal.

 

This season and at other times in the past we've been s*** at it, no doubt about that. But I think the question should be less "Why do we try to sit back?" and more "How can we get better at it?" to which signing a load of really good players and boosting the confidence of the squad is quite an encouraging answer.

 

Last night, Villa put us under insanely intense pressure right from the 46th minute, such as their fans might be wondering why they don't do it all the time (Answer: Everybody gets injured). They deserve a lot of credit for that, and a lot of teams would've buckled under it. The fact that we didn't have much of a say in the game for a lot of the second half is largely down to their possessed, Braveheart-like assault and that makes last night unlike most other examples you can think of. Reading didn't muster anything like that level of intensity, and nor do 98% of teams, ever.

 

As at West Brom last season, we should be glad when we successfully take a counter-attacking approach. If we try to get by without it, and without being able to slow games down, we'll never get anywhere. The question is, now we've got good enough players to play it around at the back, can we get better at steering matches - forcing opponents to play in front of us, making them chase, etc? We can put out a back 6 now with every inch the pedigree to do that and it's now we should be looking to make it a real arrow in our quiver.

 

:lol:

 

what a load of s****. this post could have been written by Alan Pardew himself ffs

 

or Llambias 

[Guest Bert Shaft]

Well, I've slept on it too.

 

I think what's wrong with our surrendering of the initiative in general is confidence that ultimately stems from having had a difficult start to the season. As has been pointed out, in the past we've sat back and successfully (in some cases comfortably) held onto leads but this season the tendency has been for that to lead to an unbearably high level of pressure, which is not the idea of sitting back.

 

Basically, in itself it isn't a bad idea. Man Utd are fantastic at leaning back on the ropes and waiting for you to shoot yourself in the foot, and I'd even say that, if you want to build a team that can compete at a very high level, such as the Champions League, sitting back is a compulsory part of your arsenal.

 

This season and at other times in the past we've been s*** at it, no doubt about that. But I think the question should be less "Why do we try to sit back?" and more "How can we get better at it?" to which signing a load of really good players and boosting the confidence of the squad is quite an encouraging answer.

 

Last night, Villa put us under insanely intense pressure right from the 46th minute, such as their fans might be wondering why they don't do it all the time (Answer: Everybody gets injured). They deserve a lot of credit for that, and a lot of teams would've buckled under it. The fact that we didn't have much of a say in the game for a lot of the second half is largely down to their possessed, Braveheart-like assault and that makes last night unlike most other examples you can think of. Reading didn't muster anything like that level of intensity, and nor do 98% of teams, ever.

 

As at West Brom last season, we should be glad when we successfully take a counter-attacking approach. If we try to get by without it, and without being able to slow games down, we'll never get anywhere. The question is, now we've got good enough players to play it around at the back, can we get better at steering matches - forcing opponents to play in front of us, making them chase, etc? We can put out a back 6 now with every inch the pedigree to do that and it's now we should be looking to make it a real arrow in our quiver.

 

Dear "Derek", your mate Pards is putting too many square pegs into round holes and has been doing for some time.

 

Cisse on the right wing, Mbiwa in midfield, Ameobi in midfield, Anita at right back  Demba Ba stuck out on the left etc etc....  the list goes on and has done for months now.

His tactical nous is also highly questionable and he has form for doing well in his first full season at whatever club he is at and struggling after that.

Check his stats......

 

These things are contributing to the fact of why we are getting "knobbed on a regular basis" by supposedly inferior teams.

 

Have a nice day!

 

PS/..  Man United do not replace attackers with defensive midfielders when they are chasing a game unlike a certain somebody does at Newcastle United.

 

[Gallowgate Toon]

Having watched the game again, I'm less annoyed with him. I was frustrated with him straight after half time, but watching it back, he was doing well up until he took Perch off and went 4-4-2. That switch was daft, and while he quickly rectified it for a bit, he then went all out stupid with Shola as a centre back etc.

 

He needs a better gameplan when we're under pressure. They had good physical players, so having height made sense, but we weren't set up to threaten them at all which could have been a massive help in pinning them back, more important than simply having some big lads there to help.

 

In his defence, I think the new recruits were caught out in that second half and consequently tired very easily, and while we have strengthened, there still isn't much in the way of attacking options off the bench. Obertan would have been useful but he was strangely absent.

[merlin]

Well, I've slept on it too.

 

I think what's wrong with our surrendering of the initiative in general is confidence that ultimately stems from having had a difficult start to the season. As has been pointed out, in the past we've sat back and successfully (in some cases comfortably) held onto leads but this season the tendency has been for that to lead to an unbearably high level of pressure, which is not the idea of sitting back.

 

Basically, in itself it isn't a bad idea. Man Utd are fantastic at leaning back on the ropes and waiting for you to shoot yourself in the foot, and I'd even say that, if you want to build a team that can compete at a very high level, such as the Champions League, sitting back is a compulsory part of your arsenal.

 

This season and at other times in the past we've been s*** at it, no doubt about that. But I think the question should be less "Why do we try to sit back?" and more "How can we get better at it?" to which signing a load of really good players and boosting the confidence of the squad is quite an encouraging answer.

 

Last night, Villa put us under insanely intense pressure right from the 46th minute, such as their fans might be wondering why they don't do it all the time (Answer: Everybody gets injured). They deserve a lot of credit for that, and a lot of teams would've buckled under it. The fact that we didn't have much of a say in the game for a lot of the second half is largely down to their possessed, Braveheart-like assault and that makes last night unlike most other examples you can think of. Reading didn't muster anything like that level of intensity, and nor do 98% of teams, ever.

 

As at West Brom last season, we should be glad when we successfully take a counter-attacking approach. If we try to get by without it, and without being able to slow games down, we'll never get anywhere. The question is, now we've got good enough players to play it around at the back, can we get better at steering matches - forcing opponents to play in front of us, making them chase, etc? We can put out a back 6 now with every inch the pedigree to do that and it's now we should be looking to make it a real arrow in our quiver.

 

Dear "Derek", your mate Pards is putting too many square pegs into round holes and has been doing for some time.

 

Cisse on the right wing, Mbiwa in midfield, Ameobi in midfield, Anita at right back  Demba Ba stuck out on the left etc etc....  the list goes on and has done for months now.

His tactical nous is also highly questionable and he has form for doing well in his first full season at whatever club he is at and struggling after that.

Check his stats......

 

These things are contributing to the fact of why we are getting "knobbed on a regular basis" by supposedly inferior teams.

 

Have a nice day!

 

PS/..  Man United do not replace attackers with defensive midfielders when they are chasing a game unlike a certain somebody does at Newcastle United.

 

 

You might be on to something here, Wally - I asked last week whether this guy could be a board troll...

Nail on head.

[merlin]

His Plan A for when we're both ahead and behind is Shola, it makes no sense at all.

 

I'm going to quote that again because it's just hilarious and frighteningly true at the same time.

All true - Pardew has Plan A...then he has Plan A.

[merlin]

I wouldn't say i'm pro Pardew, but personally I want to see him finish this season before making any sweeping judgement.  He deserves that after last season and personally I am sick to death of the managerial carousel at our club. 

 

The team has gone through one really bad patch of form and suddenly there should be drastic change? It's clear he has all the support and respect of the whole dressing room.  How many of our previous managers have had that?

 

If he went who would we appoint?  Be Terry Venables or someone of that ilk. 

 

A common line I have seen in this thread has been 'Pardew is a coward', 'shits himself when his team is in front, loses his bottle and tries sit on a lead.' - It's a complete myth.  Just take a look at last season:

 

Chelsea (A) 2-0

Stoke (H) 3-0

Bolton (H) 2-0

Swansea (A) 2-0

Liverpool (H) 2-0

WBA  (A)  3-1

Blackburn (H) 2-0

Manchester United (H) 3-0

 

Those fixtures were just from January 2012 until May 2012, they're the only ones that i could be bothered to dig out.  All those wins suggests that he didn't sit on the lead back then and didn't stop playing after being ahead.  So why accuse him of that if it's not true?  Something has changed yes, but the blame is better pointed at the players.

 

From the above it's obvious that a part of the problem this season is with their confidence, it has been massively hit by the bad run of form.  It led them to collapse against Reading and nearly again yesterday - but all the criticism from this is on 100% on Pardew - it's almost unthinkable to blame the players in anyway.  His subs have been somewhat of a problem in these games but that completely absolve the players for collapsing.

 

Yesterday, when the opposition asserted some pressure the team dropped noticeably deeper and deeper and no-one looked like they wanted the ball.  Especially after a few hefty Villa challenges, their aerial prowess and their constant closing down it's all something that really unsettled us.  So i can even understand Shola's introduction, I hate the guy, but can sort of see the logic, as at least he would stay further up front and not look to drop deep like Cisse was doing the entire second half.  Before Shola's introduction, when we weren't in possession i couldn't believe that Cisse was almost back in the right back position on a few occasions.  When we are playing with one striker that falls right into the opponents hands.

 

The positives that i can see for Pardew are that he wants the team to play good football - we haven't been playing 'hoofball' for over two months now.  He does seem to recognise the weak areas of the squad (Simpson, Williamson, Jonas - publicly) and has replaced them this month with genuine quality.  Undoubtedly has the support of the dressing room and the top of the hierarchy and also has on his CV that he led a weaker squad within a few points of a Champions League position.

 

 

 

Nice post, 

 

I agree about giving him until the end of the season, Some of the subs baffle me but as you say he seems to have the support of the dressing room which is a major plus.

 

Hopefully this could be the result that kicks our season into gear?!?

 

You cannot keep quoting last season's results to defend a manager - Pardew has form with other clubs that indicate he has initial success with a club then it all goes pear-shaped...why does anyone believe it will be different at NUFC ?

 

I know for a fact that the Southampton Chairman warned that this would happen when he joined us.

[Guest tollemache]

Well, I've slept on it too.

 

I think what's wrong with our surrendering of the initiative in general is confidence that ultimately stems from having had a difficult start to the season. As has been pointed out, in the past we've sat back and successfully (in some cases comfortably) held onto leads but this season the tendency has been for that to lead to an unbearably high level of pressure, which is not the idea of sitting back.

 

Basically, in itself it isn't a bad idea. Man Utd are fantastic at leaning back on the ropes and waiting for you to shoot yourself in the foot, and I'd even say that, if you want to build a team that can compete at a very high level, such as the Champions League, sitting back is a compulsory part of your arsenal.

 

This season and at other times in the past we've been s*** at it, no doubt about that. But I think the question should be less "Why do we try to sit back?" and more "How can we get better at it?" to which signing a load of really good players and boosting the confidence of the squad is quite an encouraging answer.

 

Last night, Villa put us under insanely intense pressure right from the 46th minute, such as their fans might be wondering why they don't do it all the time (Answer: Everybody gets injured). They deserve a lot of credit for that, and a lot of teams would've buckled under it. The fact that we didn't have much of a say in the game for a lot of the second half is largely down to their possessed, Braveheart-like assault and that makes last night unlike most other examples you can think of. Reading didn't muster anything like that level of intensity, and nor do 98% of teams, ever.

 

As at West Brom last season, we should be glad when we successfully take a counter-attacking approach. If we try to get by without it, and without being able to slow games down, we'll never get anywhere. The question is, now we've got good enough players to play it around at the back, can we get better at steering matches - forcing opponents to play in front of us, making them chase, etc? We can put out a back 6 now with every inch the pedigree to do that and it's now we should be looking to make it a real arrow in our quiver.

 

:lol:

 

what a load of s****. this post could have been written by Alan Pardew himself ffs

 

I actually cant believe that you are  making out that there is practically nothing we could do about their "possessed, Braveheart-like assault". Did you watch the fucking match? For the last half hour we had not one  SINGLE outlet to relieve pressure.

Jonas and Cisse as wingers ,

Shola up front

and a clusterfuck of everybody running around  in front of the back four.

 

We were practically begging for Villa to score it was that bad.

 

I didn't say there's nothing we could've done, I'm saying it's not often an utterly desperate team puts you under the kind of pressure they did, and for stretches we did well just to live with it. I didn't say we couldn't have made better changes, in fact I didn't mention them at all. I just said that last night was slightly exceptional, and that in general we need to get better at sitting back when we're ahead, not simply stop doing it. Most of the points you and the other fella I don't respond to anymore just tackled, I didn't raise in the first place. In fact you seem not to have read what I've said, just quoted my post and then had a generic anti-Pardew rant under it.

[toontownman]

Alan Pardew - The single reason I am still bricking it that we might go down.

 

Given the squad we have it would seem impossible to fail, yet the complete negligence displayed by Pardew makes any positives hard to accept because we are used to his idiocy prizing defeat from the jaws of victory.

 

For the love of everything living let this man leave the club in the summer. Lets hope that is not too late.

[Zero]

Put it simple, he has no more excuse now. We are out of all cups except Euro, Colo stayed, a few French signed, Williamson and Simpson benched. I am "ok" to give him another half of the season to put things right again (in fact I can't see we hire anyone better than him at the moment).  But if he still costs us points and make us finish any places lower than 13-4, he should be sacked.

 

[alpal78]

I just want to add that there is a world of difference between sitting back and holding on to possession and using quick counter attack to kill of a game which teams like Man United have mastered as opposed to the panick clearing the ball at all cost, with no outlet and only to have the ball launched back at us within 10 seconds that we seemed to have mastered at least this season. They are not even comparable. One is mastered by teams that go far in the Champions League (coincidentally also why the England team of late do not go beyond QF in the World Cup) and the other practised by teams that are usually favorites for relegation.