Alan Pardew

[Dave]

Funny how 'try harder to win the game' translates as 'go all out gung ho' some how. We went 40 minutes without a shot when we needed to score 2 goals.

 

Pardew: 'Try to score, lads'

Lads: 'Okay, we will let them score'

[Legacy]

Funny how 'try harder to win the game' translates as 'go all out gung ho' some how. We went 40 minutes without a shot when we needed to score 2 goals.

 

It's not even just tonight, a lot of our games this season we've had fuck all in terms of shots on goal.

[Mole_Toonfan]

f*** it- Had he had a fully fit squad or even the likes of a fit Ben Arfa for 90 minutes we'd have won this. And perhaps a different result in Lisbon.

 

Let's get Sunday right AP.

 

F*ck all the injuries stuff, we would have gone through if Santon didn't pass back to the GK that is the moment i will always remember for the rest of my life.

 

Football at this level is fine margins and unfortunately the fine margins went against us in this tie.

[SteveMc]

And there are other matches to consider too. The man is coping with an injury list as long as yer arm and a  derby on Sunday. So who were we unhappy with him not starting?

 

Ben arfa? With his 2 games in 4 months

Perch? Who missed the last match injured

marv? Who was riddled with cramp to the extent he couldn't move a few days ago

 

Maybe he should have opted for Gosling

[Flip]

Think I'll give this thread a miss tonight. He's overachieved in Europe with that squad, as s*** as he's been for us in the PL this year.

 

We squeezed past Atromitos to qualify.

 

If that Maritimo clogger had scored a fairly presentable chance in the last five minutes, we would have been out in the easiest group the tournament had.

 

We did not overachieve, you're just so used to us being s*** that you think this is the best we can do.

 

We did tbf, majority of the footballing watching world had Anzhi as favourites against us.

 

Yes, because we're in a relegation scrap and we can't play attacking football.

 

Which is down to Pardew. So basically the only reason we were underdogs to Anzhi (who btw are absolutely unimpressive and played with a man less in the game they lost to us) is because of Pards.

[Keefaz]

Thought he did alright, tbh. If Ben Arfa had scored and we'd won 2-0, everyone'd be singing his praises. It's a fine line. Don't agree that we'd have been better off attacking from the off: Benfica would've bummed us.

 

What absolute bullshit. (second sentence)

 

Whatever. A manager who secured us a memorable 2-0 victory to get us in the semis of a major European league? People would be saying he got it spot on, man.

[JH]

Don't agree with us 'being bummed' for attacking them like.

 

We finished the game with

 

Cabaye Sissoko Marv

  HBA    Shola  Cisse

 

and didnt get 'bummed'. Needed a midfield 'key' like Marv or HBA at HT at the very least.

[Flip]

At home in front of 52000 passionate supporters, let f***ing Benfica worry about us. Never mind lay off them for an hour. It is his cowardly and negative style that makes me want him to get the bullet.

 

 

would you have celebrated if it worked ?  did it come close to working?

 

Of course I would, but to restrict yourself to a third of the game to get in front doesn't make sense. It would if we were away but we were at home. The law of averages say we would have had more chance had we have been positive for 90 rather than 30.

 

We needed Benfica to be winning the tie for as long as possible because if they'd gone through the gears and got a goal at any point, we're either dead in the water or into a very unwanted period of extra time - at best.

 

1-0 up after 80 minutes was a miles better scoreline than 2-0 up after 30 minutes imo.

 

I don't agree. I'd rather them piled pressure and we countered then we try to find that winning goal. How anyone can prefer your situation is beyond me...

[SteveMc]

Oh and these are unbeaten in an aeon.  Give your heads a shake

[Dr Venkman]

I love the way people blame Pardew for how everything that happens in all our games. Did no one see Benfica harassing us and getting pretty much everyone behind the ball every time we even looked to attack first half? I swear some people just see a football pitch with only our players on it and just expect us to tear teams to shreds.

 

We lost this tie because of two brain lapses in the first leg from players. We had a game plan, scored two (rightly) offside goals and had a side who have been on an incredible run completely under the kosh, hammering the ball away in a panic. I personally think we can be proud of how we played tonight and Pardew deserves credit for picking a side that kept us in this tie until it was there to be stretched. Tired legs were much more at threat for the likes of Ben Arfa and Marveaux tonight.

 

Spot on.

 

We had to at the very least beat a very good side 2-0. We scored one and had 4 other very good opportunities (Cisse offside x2, Cisse put through by Bigi and Ben Arfa towards the end). We also kept a side who aren't exactly the worst attacking team around out until right near the end when we were stretched and allowed them to take advantage.

 

We didn't win by the required margin to go through so if you are being pedantic we didn't do enough but we didn't massively fall short. To EXPECT to beat a team like Benfica by 2 clear goals isn't realistic, well not to me anyway. We played a conservative game, road our luck a little but even in our poorer periods we were creating the odd chances or breaking but being let down by the final ball (that attempted cross by Cabaye ), we then went all out and put them under immense pressure but couldn't make that break through.

 

I certainly won't be embarrassed by our performance.

 

That's right actually. Expecting to beat them in 20 minutes is canny mad as well.

[thenige]

I really think some people really have an overinflated opinion on how good some of our players are. We started a game with a back four which included Simpson, Williamson and Hadiera and people expected Pardew to go for broke with only Cabaye as real protection?

 

Thought Anita looked dreadful today unfortunately. He's not penetrative enough with his passing to sit deep, nor is he great running with the ball and he seems to lose nearly every tackle he goes in for. Still have hopes that he'll get better mind. We missed Tiote today, even if he's been all over the place this season, at least when he goes in for a tackle he'll win the ball or take the man out.

 

See this post epitomises the Pardew lovers view. Your post is so contradictory that it makes me want to vomit to be honest. You want to defend him trying to contain Benfica while still playing to our strength which what you posted wasn't defending or containing.

 

Go take a walk and then re-post because that is absolutely dreadful. And as for Anita, he was actually having a decent game. 

 

You do realise you defend as a team right? He picked a side to contain a free-flowing fast paced attacking side. He knew very well the game would have been dead had they scored first, not only from a perspective of being that many goals down, but from the fact both the crowd and the team would have been completely deflated.

 

So pushing on early with a weakened back-line would have invited Benfica to come back at us on the counter - which they had the exact players to do. With only a fairly limited defensive line to protect Krul would have been a crazy gamble. Containing the a very strong opposition then bringing on two creative outlets and more attacking threat for the last third of the game made much more sense. Being fresh, Marv and HBA had much more time, space and opportunity to create havoc with the game still in the balance and the Benfica players being tired.

 

He picked Anita to contain but I don't felt he performed well enough. It basically meant Sissoko dropped deep and Jonas spent the entire first half protecting the full back. If Anita would have done his job a bit better we perhaps could have more space to create more going forward. Likewise Bigi aside from one decent clipped through ball didn't really justify his selection.

[Cajun]

Don't agree with us 'being bummed' for attacking them like.

 

We finished the game with

 

Cabaye Sissoko Marv

  HBA    Shola  Cisse

 

and didnt get 'bummed'. Needed a midfield 'key' like Marv or HBA at HT at the very least.

 

Yet we conceded a goal, if we were playing like that and conceded after 30 minutes due to leaving ourselves open the tie would have been over a lot earlier.

[SEMTEX]

Who do people think Benfica are anyway, that they are simply too great to be beaten 2-0 away from home in Europe? They are a very good team, but it's not like they're world class. They are not incapable of being beaten. They looked shaky defensively every time we attacked them, but unfortunately that's not saying much given we barely even fucking tried to attack them.

[ponsaelius]

Have no idea why he seemed to think we could only play for 25 minutes today out of 90.

[Dr Venkman]

Big picture. Always about the big picture. He's not good enough.

[TRon]

I didn't 'EXPECT' us to beat them. I would have preferred us to try a bit harder to beat them.

 

If we went all out I think we would have been caught like we did at the end. Just based on how they play.

 

None of us like the ugly stuff but I think we played it pretty well tonight, we couldn't afford to spend 90 minutes throwing the kitchen sink at them, we kept them out (just) and put them under sustained pressure that saw us score one and go close on a few occasions.

 

I was dismissive of the comments pre-match, couldn't believe Shola came on so early but given how close we were to pulling off a very difficult result I really can't complain.

 

We didn't have to go all out attacking, but to put Bigirimana on the right wing when you already have Cabaye and Anita in the team - what was the point of that when you are at home and need to win 2-0?

 

 

[JH]

Don't agree with us 'being bummed' for attacking them like.

 

We finished the game with

 

Cabaye Sissoko Marv

  HBA    Shola  Cisse

 

and didnt get 'bummed'. Needed a midfield 'key' like Marv or HBA at HT at the very least.

 

Yet we conceded a goal, if we were playing like that and conceded after 30 minutes due to leaving ourselves open the tie would have been over a lot earlier.

 

Howay Jon - we had one pathetic little effort on target in the first half.

 

For a team at home, needing 2 goals, it's just not good enough.

 

You don't have to commit 10 players up the pitch to attack a team.

[Flip]

Don't agree with us 'being bummed' for attacking them like.

 

We finished the game with

 

Cabaye Sissoko Marv

  HBA    Shola  Cisse

 

and didnt get 'bummed'. Needed a midfield 'key' like Marv or HBA at HT at the very least.

 

Yet we conceded a goal, if we were playing like that and conceded after 30 minutes due to leaving ourselves open the tie would have been over a lot earlier.

 

We conceded a goal in the 90th because of the tired legs ffs.

[Wullie]

At home in front of 52000 passionate supporters, let f***ing Benfica worry about us. Never mind lay off them for an hour. It is his cowardly and negative style that makes me want him to get the bullet.

 

 

would you have celebrated if it worked ?  did it come close to working?

 

Of course I would, but to restrict yourself to a third of the game to get in front doesn't make sense. It would if we were away but we were at home. The law of averages say we would have had more chance had we have been positive for 90 rather than 30.

 

We needed Benfica to be winning the tie for as long as possible because if they'd gone through the gears and got a goal at any point, we're either dead in the water or into a very unwanted period of extra time - at best.

 

1-0 up after 80 minutes was a miles better scoreline than 2-0 up after 30 minutes imo.

 

I don't agree. I'd rather them piled pressure and we countered then we try to find that winning goal. How anyone can prefer your situation is beyond me...

 

Because that's how we've been winning games of late. We're utterly fucking dire at trying to hold onto a lead.

 

Much better to have to contain a Benfica side who actually couldn't give much of a toss about scoring (like the first half) than contain one who are desperate for a goal.

[Guest bimpy474]

Pardew's football is like a joy vacuum......it's just no fun.

[Flip]

Who do people think Benfica are anyway, that they are simply too great to be beaten 2-0 away from home in Europe? They are a very good team, but it's not like they're world class. They are not incapable of being beaten. They looked shaky defensively every time we attacked them, but unfortunately that's not saying much given we barely even f***ing tried to attack them.

 

This. We beat Man U 3-0 at home why wouldn't we be able to beat them 2-0?

[Cajun]

Who do people think Benfica are anyway, that they are simply too great to be beaten 2-0 away from home in Europe? They are a very good team, but it's not like they're world class. They are not incapable of being beaten. They looked shaky defensively every time we attacked them, but unfortunately that's not saying much given we barely even fucking tried to attack them.

 

Not impossible but also not easy. We came very close.

 

Didn't someone say only Barcelona had beaten them by +2?

[Skeletor]

The one plus point of going out is that he's not untouchable now. Will probably still be manager at the beginning of next season but he'd have bought himself three years worth of invincibility hacks if we'd won the whole thing.

[TRon]

Who do people think Benfica are anyway, that they are simply too great to be beaten 2-0 away from home in Europe? They are a very good team, but it's not like they're world class. They are not incapable of being beaten. They looked shaky defensively every time we attacked them, but unfortunately that's not saying much given we barely even fucking tried to attack them.

 

Benfica will be out in the semis. Other teams won't give them the respect we did. They are a side with plenty of heart, but serious flaws that the better teams will exploit.

[colinmk]

Who do people think Benfica are anyway, that they are simply too great to be beaten 2-0 away from home in Europe? They are a very good team, but it's not like they're world class. They are not incapable of being beaten. They looked shaky defensively every time we attacked them, but unfortunately that's not saying much given we barely even f***ing tried to attack them.

 

This. We beat Man U 3-0 at home why wouldn't we be able to beat them 2-0?