Alan Pardew

[Stuy_O]

Pardew absolutely does tell the players to retreat and defend the lead. That is obvious from watching his team for two years. This idea that it keeps happening out of his control is laughable.

 

Out of interest, do you think he tells them to retreat and hold onto the lead and play possession football or does he tell them to retreat and hold onto the lead by panicking and hoofing the ball to the opposition?

Both, when stress is slightly applied and we are in the lead or holding out for a drawn, we will sit deep and the players will drop dribbling forward. Just watch the last 20 games again. in the second half our players stop dribbling up the field and choose to hold positions. Its exactly why we start hoofing it. GO watch the Game stop being muppets of Pardew when you guys dont actually watch it properly.

 

Ahh yes, our undying love for Pardew is clouding our vision when we watched the match. Actually that same logic can be applied for your seemingly pathological hatred of him.

 

He may have instructed the team to dig in and defend for the latter stages of that match, but I will be utterly astounded if he told them to do it in the manner they did. Pardew was going mental with Krul for blasting straight up to Villa's back four, and that moment where I think it was either Cabaye or Debuchy ran to the corner flag to then simply turn and chip it to a Villa player defied belief.

 

Like Pardew said, the players were extremely nervous, a natural mindset given the run we're on. We could have imploded 2nd half.

I do not Hate Pardew, my criticism comes from the fact of his tactical flaws, it was clear to me even when we were beating Man United last season. I was one of the few that were still criticizing his tactics even on a good run.

 

We defended for a whole second half and sat back, if we have pushed forward, We would not have being pin back for 45 minutes.

45 minutes is half the game in football, i cant see how a team can be push back by fatigue for one whole half apart from instructions.

Every second half is the same doesnt it ring a bell?

 

I'v never once mentioned fatigue on here.

 

This team has not won away all season and the game was of unbelievably important scope. What did you expect after we let one in after 49 minutes? I'm sorry but imo Villa we're always going to inflict some sort of pressure on us if they scored early enough, they would have done it to several other teams.

 

Do I think the manner of some of our play in the 2nd half could of been better? Yes of course I do, but like I said in an earlier post, our player's were simply bricking it that second half, hence some of the rushed clearances and rushed passing. They, like us, knew exactly what was at stake here.

 

If we had got to 60 at 0-2, that stadium would have emptied rapidly, they would have been completely shot, and we would have had a few more, not a single doubt in my mind about that. They needed something urgently to give them a lift and they got it. It was a case of surviving after that.

 

[womblemaster]

`hit teams on the break when they are throwing the kitchen sink at us is beyond me. `

 

i recall us using ben arfa like that, so in 2 weeks time this could be possible.

[Guest neesy111]

`hit teams on the break when they are throwing the kitchen sink at us is beyond me. `

 

i recall us using ben arfa like that, so in 2 weeks time this could be possible.

 

You can counter attack with other players as well or counter attack as a team.

[Gallowgate Toon]

It's not so much the beginning of the second half that scared me, it was his (slow) reaction to Lambert's changes. We needed Sissoko to drop back, we were effectively 4-4-1-1 against a team with a packed midfield, it was extremely risky and they were ripping through us at will. He tries to be too clever with the 'link' player, always using them to pressure full backs and centre backs, effectively taking away a layer of protection and giving us a 4 man midfield.

 

He needs to be smarter and faster, he's been caught out by formational changes before, see Fulham for example.

[Guest Dontooner]

Pardew absolutely does tell the players to retreat and defend the lead. That is obvious from watching his team for two years. This idea that it keeps happening out of his control is laughable.

 

Out of interest, do you think he tells them to retreat and hold onto the lead and play possession football or does he tell them to retreat and hold onto the lead by panicking and hoofing the ball to the opposition?

Both, when stress is slightly applied and we are in the lead or holding out for a drawn, we will sit deep and the players will drop dribbling forward. Just watch the last 20 games again. in the second half our players stop dribbling up the field and choose to hold positions. Its exactly why we start hoofing it. GO watch the Game stop being muppets of Pardew when you guys dont actually watch it properly.

 

Ahh yes, our undying love for Pardew is clouding our vision when we watched the match. Actually that same logic can be applied for your seemingly pathological hatred of him.

 

He may have instructed the team to dig in and defend for the latter stages of that match, but I will be utterly astounded if he told them to do it in the manner they did. Pardew was going mental with Krul for blasting straight up to Villa's back four, and that moment where I think it was either Cabaye or Debuchy ran to the corner flag to then simply turn and chip it to a Villa player defied belief.

 

Like Pardew said, the players were extremely nervous, a natural mindset given the run we're on. We could have imploded 2nd half.

I do not Hate Pardew, my criticism comes from the fact of his tactical flaws, it was clear to me even when we were beating Man United last season. I was one of the few that were still criticizing his tactics even on a good run.

 

We defended for a whole second half and sat back, if we have pushed forward, We would not have being pin back for 45 minutes.

45 minutes is half the game in football, i cant see how a team can be push back by fatigue for one whole half apart from instructions.

Every second half is the same doesnt it ring a bell?

 

I'v never once mentioned fatigue on here.

 

This team has not won away all season and the game was of unbelievably important scope. What did you expect after we let one in after 49 minutes? I'm sorry but imo Villa we're always going to inflict some sort of pressure on us if they scored early enough, they would have done it to several other teams.

 

Do I think the manner of some of our play in the 2nd half could of been better? Yes of course I do, but like I said in an earlier post, our player's were simply bricking it that second half, hence some of the rushed clearances and rushed passing. They, like us, knew exactly what was at stake here.

 

If we had got to 60 at 0-2, that stadium would have emptied rapidly, they would have been completely shot, and we would have had a few more, not a single doubt in my mind about that. They needed something urgently to give them a lift and they got it. It was a case of surviving after that.

 

Now explain how we play like this for the last 20 odd matches? Always defending a lead in the second half?

To remind you not the last few matches where it was obviously we were in a fight for survival but before that where he was still harping that we are a class above everton and are in another league

[Hughesy]

Pardew absolutely does tell the players to retreat and defend the lead. That is obvious from watching his team for two years. This idea that it keeps happening out of his control is laughable.

 

Out of interest, do you think he tells them to retreat and hold onto the lead and play possession football or does he tell them to retreat and hold onto the lead by panicking and hoofing the ball to the opposition?

Both, when stress is slightly applied and we are in the lead or holding out for a drawn, we will sit deep and the players will drop dribbling forward. Just watch the last 20 games again. in the second half our players stop dribbling up the field and choose to hold positions. Its exactly why we start hoofing it. GO watch the Game stop being muppets of Pardew when you guys dont actually watch it properly.

 

Sitting deep and not dribbling in itself is not a tactical flaw.  Plenty of teams can effectively close a game out by retaining possession and not taking risks.

 

 

Nothing wrong with sitting deep in itself, I agree. It's a great opportunity to hit teams on the break if you set your team out right to take avdantage of the opposition throwing everyone forward. But you need to pass the ball out when you get possession, not thump it 70 yds down the pitch in the direction of 6'5 substitute striker.

 

Well - I agree entirely with that.  Lumping the ball upfield is brainless and self-defeating - especially when Shola had no-one within 20 yards of him to even play the ball to.  What I am trying to gauge is whether people think that Pardew actually tells them to do this or it is the reaction of a team that is low on confidence, desperate to get a win and was under severe pressure.

 

I just don't believe that Pardew actually instructs them to hoof it upfield whenever they have the ball.

[Guest neesy111]

Pardew absolutely does tell the players to retreat and defend the lead. That is obvious from watching his team for two years. This idea that it keeps happening out of his control is laughable.

 

Out of interest, do you think he tells them to retreat and hold onto the lead and play possession football or does he tell them to retreat and hold onto the lead by panicking and hoofing the ball to the opposition?

Both, when stress is slightly applied and we are in the lead or holding out for a drawn, we will sit deep and the players will drop dribbling forward. Just watch the last 20 games again. in the second half our players stop dribbling up the field and choose to hold positions. Its exactly why we start hoofing it. GO watch the Game stop being muppets of Pardew when you guys dont actually watch it properly.

 

Sitting deep and not dribbling in itself is not a tactical flaw.  Plenty of teams can effectively close a game out by retaining possession and not taking risks.

 

 

Nothing wrong with sitting deep in itself, I agree. It's a great opportunity to hit teams on the break if you set your team out right to take avdantage of the opposition throwing everyone forward. But you need to pass the ball out when you get possession, not thump it 70 yds down the pitch in the direction of 6'5 substitute striker.

 

Well - I agree entirely with that.  Lumping the ball upfield is brainless and self-defeating - especially when Shola had no-one within 20 yards of him to even play the ball to.  What I am trying to gauge is whether people think that Pardew actually tells them to do this or it is the reaction of a team that is low on confidence, desperate to get a win and was under severe pressure.

 

I just don't believe that Pardew actually instructs them to hoof it upfield whenever they have the ball.

 

Sounds to me it's a consequence of what he's asking them to do though Steve Stone's comments after the Swansea game of us kicking it longer could fit in with the theory of him asking them to do it.

[Guest Dontooner]

Pardew absolutely does tell the players to retreat and defend the lead. That is obvious from watching his team for two years. This idea that it keeps happening out of his control is laughable.

 

Out of interest, do you think he tells them to retreat and hold onto the lead and play possession football or does he tell them to retreat and hold onto the lead by panicking and hoofing the ball to the opposition?

Both, when stress is slightly applied and we are in the lead or holding out for a drawn, we will sit deep and the players will drop dribbling forward. Just watch the last 20 games again. in the second half our players stop dribbling up the field and choose to hold positions. Its exactly why we start hoofing it. GO watch the Game stop being muppets of Pardew when you guys dont actually watch it properly.

 

Sitting deep and not dribbling in itself is not a tactical flaw.  Plenty of teams can effectively close a game out by retaining possession and not taking risks.

 

 

Nothing wrong with sitting deep in itself, I agree. It's a great opportunity to hit teams on the break if you set your team out right to take avdantage of the opposition throwing everyone forward. But you need to pass the ball out when you get possession, not thump it 70 yds down the pitch in the direction of 6'5 substitute striker.

 

Well - I agree entirely with that.  Lumping the ball upfield is brainless and self-defeating - especially when Shola had no-one within 20 yards of him to even play the ball to.  What I am trying to gauge is whether people think that Pardew actually tells them to do this or it is the reaction of a team that is low on confidence, desperate to get a win and was under severe pressure.

 

I just don't believe that Pardew actually instructs them to hoof it upfield whenever they have the ball.

 

Sounds to me it's a consequence of what he's asking them to do though Steve Stone's comments after the Swansea game of us kicking it longer could fit in with the theory of him asking them to do it.

No proof of that, Pardew is a Manager and absolutely like Souness is beyond fans in terms of tactics. Fans are muppets that pay money to watch games, and know shit about football. We are there to be high and enjoy the fun fair like spirit. So be Happy

[Guest neesy111]

[Stuy_O]

Pardew absolutely does tell the players to retreat and defend the lead. That is obvious from watching his team for two years. This idea that it keeps happening out of his control is laughable.

 

Out of interest, do you think he tells them to retreat and hold onto the lead and play possession football or does he tell them to retreat and hold onto the lead by panicking and hoofing the ball to the opposition?

Both, when stress is slightly applied and we are in the lead or holding out for a drawn, we will sit deep and the players will drop dribbling forward. Just watch the last 20 games again. in the second half our players stop dribbling up the field and choose to hold positions. Its exactly why we start hoofing it. GO watch the Game stop being muppets of Pardew when you guys dont actually watch it properly.

 

Ahh yes, our undying love for Pardew is clouding our vision when we watched the match. Actually that same logic can be applied for your seemingly pathological hatred of him.

 

He may have instructed the team to dig in and defend for the latter stages of that match, but I will be utterly astounded if he told them to do it in the manner they did. Pardew was going mental with Krul for blasting straight up to Villa's back four, and that moment where I think it was either Cabaye or Debuchy ran to the corner flag to then simply turn and chip it to a Villa player defied belief.

 

Like Pardew said, the players were extremely nervous, a natural mindset given the run we're on. We could have imploded 2nd half.

I do not Hate Pardew, my criticism comes from the fact of his tactical flaws, it was clear to me even when we were beating Man United last season. I was one of the few that were still criticizing his tactics even on a good run.

 

We defended for a whole second half and sat back, if we have pushed forward, We would not have being pin back for 45 minutes.

45 minutes is half the game in football, i cant see how a team can be push back by fatigue for one whole half apart from instructions.

Every second half is the same doesnt it ring a bell?

 

But i'v criticised him for making such decisions in previous matches and earlier on in the season, and I would agree it made little sense. I can only say that I think Pardew want's his teams to maintain some sort of discipline, and I hope now he has good players available to him he starts to show common sense.

 

However i'm talking about this match, and saw conclusive proof his players are playing for him.

[Guest Dontooner]

No denying that he hasnt lost the players, he is indeed a good Man Manipulator. But don't deny the fact he has made mistakes with his clueless tactics and has been using excuses to cover his ass for the last 20 matches. Pardew can be a good Director of Football with his social skills but he needs help with coaching the team.

[Guest icemanblue]

'Man Manipulator'.

 

Even his plus points are being made into negatives.

[NG32]

The fact that people are still defending him, when we are in a relegation battle, and just scraped past a team that got beat by bradford and millwall, with the squad we have

 

 

Villa were never just going to lie there and let us f*** them up the arse, did you think or expect the villa match was gonner be a walk in the park?

 

We've been s*** most of the season, then you expect us to hand villa a damn good beating away from home.

 

I think you need to lower your expectations a little.

 

 

[Guest Dontooner]

Man Manipulator is a compliment , you just can't be one if you feel like it. 

Quite obvious when its relating to work. Always at the top.

 

[Stuy_O]

The fact that people are still defending him, when we are in a relegation battle, and just scraped past a team that got beat by bradford and millwall, with the squad we have

 

 

Aye your right sorry, because being positive towards your team who have just won and who are fighting like fuck is shit support.

 

And because Villa have been beaten by lower league teams, they were going to show absolutely nothing here and roll over despite getting a foothold with 40 minutes still to play. Aye shit, forgot football was that simple.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Villa were always going to scrap for their lives, and with our recent form we were always likely to shit the bed. It's getting through the situation that builds the confidence back.

[Stuy_O]

No denying that he hasnt lost the players, he is indeed a good Man Manipulator. But don't deny the fact he has made mistakes with his clueless tactics and has been using excuses to cover his ass for the last 20 matches. Pardew can be a good Director of Football with his social skills but he needs help with coaching the team.

 

I don't deny he is tactically strange, but we got the job done last night and that's all i'm taking from it. Played really well 1st, dug in 2nd and won.

 

The players looked absolutely chuffed at the end and it was good to see.

[Taylor Swift]

We won a game away from home.

 

Wow, at the end of January! He's doing a great job!

 

Who would do better??.

 

When we have a fully fit squad starting next season IF results remain poor, he'll be gone. He was manager of the year last year, as voted by his peers, I'll take their judgement over some randoms off the internet.

 

Patience is not a noted virtue for football fans, the sort who would have had SAF out at Man U in his early time. I am prepared to give him time (especially given the lack of depth and injuries we've had to KEY players).

 

You mean his peers many of whom have bankrupted many clubs, buy players on obscene wages and the majority of whom don't have a clue about players outside of Britain? I'll take the collective wisdom of N-O over those fuckwits, thank you very much. We see our players every minute of every match. They see us play for two minutes a game. They have no clue about our players. That's why every new manager comes in and starts the same losers until they figure out what we figured out years ago. That's why it's frustrating when Pardew sends Shola on. It's like he's a new manager who's feeling out the squad. He's not. He should know that Shola is useless and keeping the ball. For f***'s sake, most of us figured this out ten god damned years ago.

 

So the combined view of some fans on the internet is of more value than the views of people who work (and get well paid) within the profession, aye OK. 

 

It's fine to have an opinion but to even think that opinion holds any water against professional opinion (in any walk of life) is beyond crass.

 

BTW our management/coaching team see them for every minute they kick a ball or run about, every week, know if they're 100% or not etc etc.

 

This supposedly garbage team of ours (or manager) gave Man U the best game I can recall down there for 90 minutes, we were excellent against Arsenal for 70 minutes until we ran out of gas.

 

The answer is not one extreme or the other, it's somewhere in the middle.

 

You gotta be shitting me.

 

The amount of idiot football managers that exist is obscene. It's an old boys club. Look at how stupid the average footballer is. Some of them become managers. Many of them are pretty closed-minded and stupid. The best ones - Wenger, Mourinho, AVB - are usually the ones who have been educated in something else. Have you ever heard Wenger speak compared to someone like Paul Merson? There are a lot of Mersons out there managing clubs.

 

Look at what's happened in other sports. Your argument is exactly the same argument that was made against outsiders in baseball, NFL and basketball. The opinions of people within the game mean fuck all unless they have success to back it up. Pardew doesn't.

[TRon]

Pardew absolutely does tell the players to retreat and defend the lead. That is obvious from watching his team for two years. This idea that it keeps happening out of his control is laughable.

 

Out of interest, do you think he tells them to retreat and hold onto the lead and play possession football or does he tell them to retreat and hold onto the lead by panicking and hoofing the ball to the opposition?

Both, when stress is slightly applied and we are in the lead or holding out for a drawn, we will sit deep and the players will drop dribbling forward. Just watch the last 20 games again. in the second half our players stop dribbling up the field and choose to hold positions. Its exactly why we start hoofing it. GO watch the Game stop being muppets of Pardew when you guys dont actually watch it properly.

 

Sitting deep and not dribbling in itself is not a tactical flaw.  Plenty of teams can effectively close a game out by retaining possession and not taking risks.

 

 

Nothing wrong with sitting deep in itself, I agree. It's a great opportunity to hit teams on the break if you set your team out right to take avdantage of the opposition throwing everyone forward. But you need to pass the ball out when you get possession, not thump it 70 yds down the pitch in the direction of 6'5 substitute striker.

 

Well - I agree entirely with that.  Lumping the ball upfield is brainless and self-defeating - especially when Shola had no-one within 20 yards of him to even play the ball to.  What I am trying to gauge is whether people think that Pardew actually tells them to do this or it is the reaction of a team that is low on confidence, desperate to get a win and was under severe pressure.

 

I just don't believe that Pardew actually instructs them to hoof it upfield whenever they have the ball.

 

What else are they going to do when you bring on Shola then ask your centre forwards to drop onto the right wing? I don't want to labour this point because I'm sick of making it. I just don't see any evidence that we've ever planned how to bring the ball out of defence in Pardew's time here. Let's hope now he's got his quality players he'll be able to develop it.

[Happy Face]

Aye your right sorry, because being positive towards your team who have just won and who are fighting like fuck is shit support.

 

And because Villa have been beaten by lower league teams, they were going to show absolutely nothing here and roll over despite getting a foothold with 40 minutes still to play. Aye shit, forgot football was that simple.

 

I think Fifa on the x-box is teaching a generation that, as a rule, the team with the highest rating should always dominate teams with lower ratings, and it's unforgiveable when that doesn't pan out.

 

These games are still struggling to recreate chaos.

[buzza]

Just read all of the dailies and one thing that sticks out is that they all have completely contrasting opinions on Jonas' contribution last night to the majority of this board. Taking a deep breath and thinking about his game last night he played an excellent first half and first 15-20 in the second half, he just couldn't keep up with the pace for the last twenty or so...

As for Pardew and for sitting deeper:

If Villa bring on Anhonlagor and weimman who both have pace and play between the lines, you have to sit deeper, reason being is that they fire long balls up to benteke and any flicks or passes through defence can result in greta pace outdoing you.

The shola substitution was for reasons twofold (although shola badly let us down tbh), he was supposed to hold the ball up and act as an outlet and secondly to help out in the aerial battle in corners and freekicks (which he did). Anita and Mapou were obviously meant to stem the midfield onslaught but villa chose to bypass the midfield the majority of times and Mapoue became a huge asset then to us.

I don't think Pardew is at fault for our second half display with regard to passing and fluent football, I saw a side yesterday willing to battle it out and putting every last sinew into holding a lead...

Bit sick of the negativity, teams have to be able to see out games this way because you just cannot control a game for 90 mins and Villa had the momentum after the debuchy mistake. You could hear the crowd also giving their all...

I reckon Chelsea are there to be won (or drawn), I doubt we'll see a defensive display but if we do go up a goal or two I still won't mind Pards trying to close the shop (copyright - fergie) as other better managers do....

 

[TRon]

Like I said earlier, nothing wrong with sitting deeper to counter opposition team's speed, but it's how you bring the ball out that differentiates the football teams from the cloggers.

[Taylor Swift]

Aye your right sorry, because being positive towards your team who have just won and who are fighting like fuck is shit support.

 

And because Villa have been beaten by lower league teams, they were going to show absolutely nothing here and roll over despite getting a foothold with 40 minutes still to play. Aye shit, forgot football was that simple.

 

I think Fifa on the x-box is teaching a generation that, as a rule, the team with the highest rating should always dominate teams with lower ratings, and it's unforgiveable when that doesn't pan out.

 

These games are still struggling to recreate chaos.

 

Of course the team with the higher rating should always dominate the team with the lower rating. Do you see Man Utd dropping deeper and deeper when they're ahead? No. They have better players, they dominate the match and try to score more. That's why they win so often. Funnily enough, they also win often on FIFA.

 

Why do we always drop back to defend leads? Even against teams that everyone knows is worse than us. Why did we drop back against Reading? Why did we drop back last night? Why can't we ever counterattack? When was the last time we scored a counter attacking goal?

 

Tell you what, no 8 year old kid playing FM would put Cisse on the right wing, ever. And none of them would ever drop him for Shola too. Pardew did and the results this season have been abysmal.

[Toonpack]

We've played utterly s*** and won in must win games before and they've gained no confidence from it.

 

How can you get any confidence from being thoroughly outplayed for 45 minutes by a team of kids who've just been beaten over two legs by Bradford City and were recently beaten 4-0 at home by bloody Wigan. You can be pleased at dragging yourself over the line against Man United but not this Villa side.

 

I know a win was the most important thing, but we've heard it all before after West Brom, QPR etc, "now we can kick on" - we never do. Last night gives us nowt to go into Chelsea feeling particularly positive about,  it will just enhance the fear if we take the lead, but beating them 4-0 would have done us the world of good.

 

Utter Utter Utter Garbage

 

We held on after being under the cosh, having gifted them a goal - if Simpson had done what Debuchy did he'd be getting crucified on here, Krul actually made some saves for once. We won away from home, Cabaye and Sissoko were excellent until they tired.

 

We won after a team came back at us, previously a team scores and we fold, this time we didn't.

 

Laugahable !!, when we lose it's Pardew's fault, when we win it's despite Pardew.

 

WE WON A GAME, AWAY FROM HOME, NO LESS !!!

 

If winning 4-0 is your benchmark of acceptability, you may as well pack in and start watching basketball.

 

Confidence is an incremental thing and I'll quite happily take some scraped results whilst it builds.

 

Either you have as much comprehension of tactical changes as Pardew has or you never actually watched the second half.

 

Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise you were a professional coach, which club do you work for ??

 

BTW - Yes we were poor second half, but we hung on, Debuchy doesn't have a brainfart and they would have fizzled out. Them scoring early combined with our lack of confidence meant we were on the back foot. Agree with the changes or not - we held on, and we won, ergo the substitutions worked.

 

Do you have a problem with people passing an opinion that doesn't go along with yours ?

What makes YOU think you are in a position to use your pathetic attempt at sarcasm by

asking another poster if they were a qualified coach ?

 

You lost any credibility when you started quoting Talksh--e - those people are living adverts for the lousy standard of the UK media, and as for the BBC...doesn't that stand for the Biased Broadcasting Corp ?

 

IF you want to judge any situation properly, you try to get as much info about it as possible....you claim that you want to give Pardew time - have you studied his record with his previous clubs ? Has it occurred to you that there may JUST be a pattern there...?

 

If you are a Pardew fan that's fine....just don't expect the rest of us to take the sort of crap you are dishing out in his defence if we disagree - and the percentages of voters who either have lost faith with him or didn't have much in the first place far outweighs those with opinions like yours.

 

You can freely discuss your views about the majority when you meet with those who think like you in a telephone box.....

 

I'm not particulalry, that's the problem with you zealots, it's one or the other, or black or white even, as I said earlier the truth is somewhere inbetween.

 

Changing managers willy-nilly has never done anyone any good as we well know, I am of a mind to try something different, like allowing a lot more rope before hanging anyone.

[bealios]

It's difficult to try and retain a balanced view when we have looked dreadful at some points this season. But we also looked dreadful at certain points last season, at least as bad as this season. However when you're in the top 6 and scraping wins, with the odd excellent performance (Man Utd, Liverpool etc.) then people tend to worry about it less.

 

So far this season we have had the Euro games to contend with, the terrible summer transfer window, injuries to key players (Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Taylor), the Ba situation to deal with (and by that I mean accommodating his wishes at the expense of Cisse in the hope he would re-sign in the summer), the recent Colocinni situation (which I think has affected his form a little over the season), and a serious drop in form by some squad players who managed to do a competent job last year even though they are not fan favourites (Williamson, Shola, Jonas).

 

Is that bad management, or is that something outside of Pardew's control? We can't just ignore it and say it has no affect, it must do.

 

Has Pardew become a bad manager over the summer? Has he been "found out"? I doubt it, and to suggest that he has also suggests that last season he had an element of tactical genius which other managers couldn't work out, but now they have. Hardly likely is it?

 

You might say he was lucky last year, that the team performed well in spite of Pardew. Seems a bit unfair, to suggest that if we do well then its the players dragging  us along despite Pardew, and if we do badly its due to Pardew and not the players.

 

The most likely answer is probably the lease interesting - Pardew is not a terrible manager and he is not the best manager in the league. We overperformed last year, and the joy of finishing 5th tends to erase the memory of some dreadful performances, and some lucky scraped wins. How many points did Ryan Taylor win us? Move forward a season, throw in a load of Euro games, and squad depth becomes a hell of a lot more important. Add to that a drop in form of the sorts of players who make up the squad depth, then you can see how it can start to affect performances. It would take a top top manager to take that scenario and turn it into a season the fans would be pleased with, and Pardew is not one of those managers. However, very few of those managers exist, and those that do are not coming to Newcastle in the near future.

 

Michael Laudrup is the current hot name in management. How do you think he will do if he is still at Swansea next year, they are likely to be in Europe, and lets just assume they have the same lack of strengthening we had this year, and the same issues to deal with. I've seen nothing to suggest that he would cope any better than Pardew, and I would say the same about most managers in this league, perhaps Moyes and Ferguson aside.

 

When you're p*ssed off with the manager it is always easy to point to specific perceived tactical errors that do not work out. Sending Shola on last night and taking Perch off looked like a bad decision in hindsight. However with Shola on a good day (as was the case at some points last season) it sometimes worked well, and he defends corners well and if he holds the ball up properly it takes pressure off the midfield and defence. However, he didn't do that job well last night, so it will go down as a bad decision.

 

Trying to give a balanced view probably comes across as relatively Pro-Pardew, which I'm not. I just think that unless you bag a really top drawer manager then the best you can hope for is a manager who is reasonably competent and that the players want to play for, and Pardew would fit that bill.

This post should be made into its own thread and stuck at the top of the forum.

 

well said. Agree with most...but the shola sub, come on! no excuses. He did fine as a sub last season for 5-10 minutes. He has been really really poor this season and sometimes like yesterday the task asked of him is very difficult to do. How cant pardew see that. If he came on for the last 5-10 minutes and was put in our own box to defend set pieces i could understand. But he cant run and takes away our chances of counter attacking.

 

It would have been much better to pack the midfield, keep cisse central - not on the wing. Then we could have been a threat on the counter with cisse and for example anita running at them.

 

With cisse out wide and shola on top we do not have anything and that is one of the main reasons why we were such under pressure.

 

Point I was trying to make with the last bit is that sticking a player on up front who can hold the ball up and relieve pressure on the midfield and defence when you're under a bit of pressure is a perfectly acceptable tactic adopted by many managers who don't manage the top 3 team, often with success. Problem is that we have nobody who can do that except Shola, and Shola just doesn't seem to have it this season for any more than a 15 minute cameo, and was not replaced in the summer by someone who can. Pardew obviously formed the view that Shola at least attempting to hold the ball up was better than the alternative, which is to not have that outlet and be vulnerable to constant pressure from a resurgent Villa at home with the crowd behind them and an away side low on confidence. Turned out Shola was ineffective, so it didn't work out (although lets not forget we came away with three points).

 

I actually think DL/MA have Carroll earmarked for that holding striker role in the medium term, and there is a reluctance to spend any serious money on replacing Shola until Carroll's long term future is decided. I might be wrong, but I think all of our striking targets so far has been the pacey forward types, and not a genuine ball holding target man.