Alan Pardew

[Skeletor]

Just watched his interview on NUFC TV "....shown enough tonight that we can cause them problems but think we're going to have to win on Sunday to get the momentum for our fans and for our players as well......"

 

Am I mis-interpreting that?  Was winning on Sunday optional like?

 

Wouldn't surprise me

[SteveMc]

Think you've misinterpreted. He's saying Sunday is the priority and will impact on how we approach the second leg. Total sense tbf

[Guest bimpy474]

Think you've misinterpreted. He's saying Sunday is the priority and will impact on how we approach the second leg. Total sense tbf

 

I was just about to post the same thing, completely agree

[ScottishMagpie]

Thanks.  So either way he's saying he's going to be going out for the win on Sunday for two reasons a) premiership survival and b) build momentum for the 2nd leg.  Will be interesting to watch his team/tactics on Sunday.

[Stu]

I dont buy this. The was we played in the first 20mins is how we set out in the beginning, and how Pardew set us up. So credit there.

Benfica then started playing well, and our players take responsibility here. We got sloppy and let them back in to the game.

 

 

 

I must have missed the 20minute-mark team talk that Pards gave when he deliberately changed tactics and invited Benfica to come back into the game. What did he say?

 

more importantly Stu, what did he do to stop them doing whatever they liked and come back from a goal down to go in front?

 

away team plays well goes a goal up, home team reacts (maybe changes tactics) and fights back...pretty common in football really and pardew's job to adjust the team tactically whenever required and something he consistently fails at

 

 

 

Funnily enough, that bit in bold isn't what happened. We went a goal up, everyone assumed it would spark Benfica into life (they'd not done much up until that point and seemed pretty rocked by our positive play) but we continued to enjoy lengthy spells of possession (relative to what we're used to, not Barca). It wasn't until the Cisse effort that got deflected onto the post, then heart-breakingly stayed out, rather than trickle over the line, that Benfica jumped into action.

 

In all likelihood this was probably a combination of a) their players realising the first wasn't a fluke and we weren't there to make up numbers and b) some (if not all) of our players being a little disheartened by the 'miss'. They knew Benfica were a formidable prospect at home, so to come within an inch of going 2 goals ahead is pretty galling (see the match thread for evidence). For Benfica to then equalise almost straight away is just another kick in the teeth. I thought the players did well to see it out until half-time level, as Benfica really didn't want the half to end.

 

There's not a lot Pards can really do from the sidelines (EDIT: up until halftime of course, although this in itself has been repeatedly highlighted as a weakness of his this season), his best bet is to tell them to forget about 'lady luck' not going our way with that effort and to go out and start the second half the way we started the first...amazingly enough, we do that and we come inches away from taking the lead again.

 

In the professional game, where mentality and psychology are often the difference in high-stakes games, there's a lot for a plucky team to 'forget about' and keep playing. Maybe Santon was half-thinking 'maybe tonight's not going to be our night' when he took that second ball down on his in-step and hadn't picked up Lima's run...who knows, but the team still kept on even after that howler.

 

They were individual mistakes that led to the 3 Benfica goals; from Krul's 'rusty' parry and no-one picking up the runner, to Santon's backpass and STaylor's handballs. We had two (or three) moments of misfortune at the other end, coupled with some poor decision making by our attackers at key points, which could have been two or three goals of our own on another night.

 

For me and several others, Pards did a good job last night but was 'let down' by the individual errors...if he sticks with game-planning as accurate as that, he'll have a good end of season run in regardless of next Thursday night. The defensive players won't be making mistakes of those magnitude (and in the same match) again.

 

 

[Guest bimpy474]

Strange subs last night, but generally can't fault him.Begs the question why we cant attack teams like that from the off in the league, showed how dangerous we can be.  And also validated what people had said about giving the ball early to Cisse

 

The key to giving it early to Cisse was, Cisse held it up and laid it off well, gives the team the chance to break and get forward.

 

Most of this season he's been so poor at it, he was very good last night. Just need him to take it into the last half a dozen games too.

[Disco]

Strange subs last night, but generally can't fault him.Begs the question why we cant attack teams like that from the off in the league, showed how dangerous we can be.  And also validated what people had said about giving the ball early to Cisse

 

Perch was carrying a card against several tricky players and can't be trusted not to dive in

Simpson went off injured

Marveaux has been down with cramp moments before getting hooked

[Guest neesy111]

Strange subs last night, but generally can't fault him.Begs the question why we cant attack teams like that from the off in the league, showed how dangerous we can be.  And also validated what people had said about giving the ball early to Cisse

 

Perch was carrying a card against several tricky players and can't be trusted not to dive in

Simpson went off injured

Marveaux has been down with cramp moments before getting hooked

 

Maybe he's on about the people who came on?

 

I honestly believe Obertan should of had a run out against their suspect and high line defence.

[Al Moody]

Strange subs last night, but generally can't fault him.Begs the question why we cant attack teams like that from the off in the league, showed how dangerous we can be.  And also validated what people had said about giving the ball early to Cisse

 

All of this.

 

I'm not sure how people can blame Pardew for anything that went wrong last night. Haters gonna hate.

[Dr Venkman]

Every time Stu says Pards, a fairy loses it's wings.

[mrmojorisin75]

Every time Stu says Pards, a fairy loses it's wings.

 

can't wait to see this strong finish to the season...Pards in-depth preparation should be a sight to behold again once we're back in the PL

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I dont buy this. The was we played in the first 20mins is how we set out in the beginning, and how Pardew set us up. So credit there.

Benfica then started playing well, and our players take responsibility here. We got sloppy and let them back in to the game.

 

 

 

I must have missed the 20minute-mark team talk that Pards gave when he deliberately changed tactics and invited Benfica to come back into the game. What did he say?

 

more importantly Stu, what did he do to stop them doing whatever they liked and come back from a goal down to go in front?

 

away team plays well goes a goal up, home team reacts (maybe changes tactics) and fights back...pretty common in football really and pardew's job to adjust the team tactically whenever required and something he consistently fails at

 

 

 

Funnily enough, that bit in bold isn't what happened. We went a goal up, everyone assumed it would spark Benfica into life (they'd not done much up until that point and seemed pretty rocked by our positive play) but we continued to enjoy lengthy spells of possession (relative to what we're used to, not Barca). It wasn't until the Cisse effort that got deflected onto the post, then heart-breakingly stayed out, rather than trickle over the line, that Benfica jumped into action.

 

In all likelihood this was probably a combination of a) their players realising the first wasn't a fluke and we weren't there to make up numbers and b) some (if not all) of our players being a little disheartened by the 'miss'. They knew Benfica were a formidable prospect at home, so to come within an inch of going 2 goals ahead is pretty galling (see the match thread for evidence). For Benfica to then equalise almost straight away is just another kick in the teeth. I thought the players did well to see it out until half-time level, as Benfica really didn't want the half to end.

 

There's not a lot Pards can really do from the sidelines, his best bet is to tell them to forget about 'lady luck' not going our way with that effort and to go out and start the second half the way we started the first...amazingly enough, we do that and we come inches away from taking the lead again.

 

In the professional game, where mentality and psychology are often the difference in high-stakes games, there's a lot for a plucky team to 'forget about' and keep playing. Maybe Santon was half-thinking 'maybe tonight's not going to be our night' when he took that second ball down on his in-step and hadn't picked up Lima's run...who knows, but the team still kept on even after that howler.

 

They were individual mistakes that led to the 3 Benfica goals; from Krul's 'rusty' parry and no-one picking up the runner, to Santon's backpass and STaylor's handballs. We had two (or three) moments of misfortune at the other end, coupled with some poor decision making by our attackers at key points, which could have been two or three goals of our own on another night.

 

For me and several others, Pards did a good job last night but was 'let down' by the individual errors...if he sticks with game-planning as accurate as that, he'll have a good end of season run in regardless of next Thursday night. The defensive players won't be making mistakes of those magnitude (and in the same match) again.

 

Good post, hopefully you're right about the end of season run.

[Stu]

Every time Stu says Pards, a fairy loses it's wings.

 

forgot my " ' "  :neesy:

[Stu]

Every time Stu says Pards, a fairy loses it's wings.

 

can't wait to see this strong finish to the season...Pards in-depth preparation should be a sight to behold again once we're back in the PL

 

Are you still certain we're going to be relegated?

[mrmojorisin75]

I dont buy this. The was we played in the first 20mins is how we set out in the beginning, and how Pardew set us up. So credit there.

Benfica then started playing well, and our players take responsibility here. We got sloppy and let them back in to the game.

 

 

 

I must have missed the 20minute-mark team talk that Pards gave when he deliberately changed tactics and invited Benfica to come back into the game. What did he say?

 

more importantly Stu, what did he do to stop them doing whatever they liked and come back from a goal down to go in front?

 

away team plays well goes a goal up, home team reacts (maybe changes tactics) and fights back...pretty common in football really and pardew's job to adjust the team tactically whenever required and something he consistently fails at

 

 

 

Funnily enough, that bit in bold isn't what happened. We went a goal up, everyone assumed it would spark Benfica into life (they'd not done much up until that point and seemed pretty rocked by our positive play) but we continued to enjoy lengthy spells of possession (relative to what we're used to, not Barca). It wasn't until the Cisse effort that got deflected onto the post, then heart-breakingly stayed out, rather than trickle over the line, that Benfica jumped into action.

 

In all likelihood this was probably a combination of a) their players realising the first wasn't a fluke and we weren't there to make up numbers and b) some (if not all) of our players being a little disheartened by the 'miss'. They knew Benfica were a formidable prospect at home, so to come within an inch of going 2 goals ahead is pretty galling (see the match thread for evidence). For Benfica to then equalise almost straight away is just another kick in the teeth. I thought the players did well to see it out until half-time level, as Benfica really didn't want the half to end.

 

There's not a lot Pards can really do from the sidelines, his best bet is to tell them to forget about 'lady luck' not going our way with that effort and to go out and start the second half the way we started the first...amazingly enough, we do that and we come inches away from taking the lead again.

 

In the professional game, where mentality and psychology are often the difference in high-stakes games, there's a lot for a plucky team to 'forget about' and keep playing. Maybe Santon was half-thinking 'maybe tonight's not going to be our night' when he took that second ball down on his in-step and hadn't picked up Lima's run...who knows, but the team still kept on even after that howler.

 

They were individual mistakes that led to the 3 Benfica goals; from Krul's 'rusty' parry and no-one picking up the runner, to Santon's backpass and STaylor's handballs. We had two (or three) moments of misfortune at the other end, coupled with some poor decision making by our attackers at key points, which could have been two or three goals of our own on another night.

 

For me and several others, Pards did a good job last night but was 'let down' by the individual errors...if he sticks with game-planning as accurate as that, he'll have a good end of season run in regardless of next Thursday night. The defensive players won't be making mistakes of those magnitude (and in the same match) again.

 

do you think pardew made any mistakes last night?

[Stu]

do you think pardew made any mistakes last night?

 

Not convinced that Shola was the best sub for Sylvain. Don't agree that Campbell is some sort of wondersub either (especially as he'd be replacing his partner in crime, Marveaux) - maybe Obertan in hindsight as Benfica surprisingly kept a high-line when 3-1 up. Not sure that was great management by their boss, as it allowed us to scrape a couple of half-chances together (Cisse's attempt to square it to Sissoko springs to mind).

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Their defensive approach was totally wrong really. Sure, Cisse can be offside a lot, but they underestimated our ability to get behind them.

 

I guess they were never going to sit deeper at home.

[STM]

I'm a critic of Pardew but he didn't do a great deal wrong.

 

Its his work on the training ground which worries me.

[mrmojorisin75]

do you think pardew made any mistakes last night?

 

Not convinced that Shola was the best sub for Sylvain. Don't agree that Campbell is some sort of wondersub either (especially as he'd be replacing his partner in crime, Marveaux) - maybe Obertan in hindsight as Benfica surprisingly kept a high-line when 3-1 up. Not sure that was great management by their boss, as it allowed us to scrape a couple of half-chances together (Cisse's attempt to square it to Sissoko springs to mind).

 

fair enough, in general he worries me when you can sense a change in the game coming...he just doesn't seem to sense it himself, to anticipate it and make adjustments to counter the opposition

 

too often he just seems passive in that respect to me

 

i sincerely hope you're right about the remaining games this season

[Stu]

Like I said, if he gameplans as effectively as he seemingly did last night, we'll have a decent run in.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I don't think we really sat back and invited attacks that much last night, other than what would normally be expected when a good team like Benfica are pushing for a goal.

 

I think people have that criticism prepared beforehand TBH, it's become something to post every time we don't dominate a game from start to finish.

[Lotus]

Like I said, if he gameplans as effectively as he seemingly did last night, we'll have a decent run in.

 

How have his game plans been so far this season, in your opinion? Given that precedent is an indicator for future behaviour.

[midds]

I don't think we really sat back and invited attacks that much last night, other than what would normally be expected when a good team like Benfica are pushing for a goal.

 

I think people have that criticism prepared beforehand TBH, it's become something to post every time we don't dominate a game from start to finish.

 

The away results and performances have been a joke though. Of the 160 teams that make up the top 7 divisions in English football 156 have picked up more points away from home than us. The only teams who've picked up fewer points than us (8) are Droylsden (3), Hinckley (4) and Reading (5). Whatever his gameplans have been away from SJP it's gone horribly, horribly wrong more often than not. It's happened too often to be written off as a coincidence or a fluke. It's an atrocious stat.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I don't think we really sat back and invited attacks that much last night, other than what would normally be expected when a good team like Benfica are pushing for a goal.

 

I think people have that criticism prepared beforehand TBH, it's become something to post every time we don't dominate a game from start to finish.

 

The away results and performances have been a joke though. Of the 160 teams that make up the top 7 divisions in English football 156 have picked up more points away from home than us. The only teams who've picked up fewer points than us (8) are Droylsden (3), Hinckley (4) and Reading (5). Whatever his gameplans have been away from SJP it's gone horribly, horribly wrong more often than not. It's happened too often to be written off as a coincidence or a fluke. It's an atrocious stat.

 

Obviously I can't argue with the stats, just talking about last night.

[Lotus]

I don't think we really sat back and invited attacks that much last night, other than what would normally be expected when a good team like Benfica are pushing for a goal.

 

I think people have that criticism prepared beforehand TBH, it's become something to post every time we don't dominate a game from start to finish.

 

I don't think we did this deliberately either. I think our problem is we are unable to control posession. We give the ball away a lot. We rarely string more than 5 passes together when in the opposition's half. When another teams presses us we go for an 'over the top ball' very quickly. Would be great if it worked, but it hasn't. Everyone can see we can't hold onto the ball. Pardew knows it, players know it, opposition knows it. Wiss we could address it but it obviously we aren't.