Alan Pardew

[Mick]

Think i'll get annoyed reading this thread tonight. Not sure how anyone can argue that tactics, were within a whisker or working perfectly.

 

Keep it tight for the first half, get the flair players on a bit later and have a real go at Benfica, while ensuring those players remain fresh for the arguably more important game on Sunday.

 

Anyone who disagrees must simply have an anti Pardew agenda.

 

  Aye, because you just have to be right and because you think it's true then it must be.

[TRon]

Disappointed he didn't gamble from the start but I see why. Really needed a creative spark as a result but defended the clean sheet. Pardew still thinks we can play defensively and grind out a result, we can't. This tactic is ironically more of a gamble than attacking one.

 

Surely this negative tactic only drags down the confidence in our defence. Makes it look like he has no confidence in our defenders to get the job done if we play attractive competitive football.

 

I'm not really ranting about pardew today I understand his reasoning for starting a more defensive line up. With fitness levels of marv and benarfa not likely to last the full game we would have been in the s*** had we conceded being hit on the break, but who knows if we had stuck early they might have folded.

 

Pardew has created a culture within the squad that genuinely plays for the shirt, fans and each other. I think the club is closer to the fans than it has been in a long time (definately safe house needed for that comment).A new manager is at risk of losing that..but pardew clearly has no tactical clue and I blame the coaching set up aswell as him.

 

I hope he gets replaced but I am scared at what would follow. At the bare minimum we need a tactical coach to work with pardew carver et al are obviously not up to it.

 

 

I don't think he'd have set up this way had we had Coloccini/Taylor and Santon fit. I think a lot of his thinking was not having a particularly strong back four, and not having his "door openers" available to play much more than half an hour each.

 

Haven't we set up the same way (defensive and hoping to grind out results) pretty much the whole season?

 

We see weaker squads play better football every week. It's all about psychology and inspiring players to push themselves to play better. Just because we have alot of international class professionals doesn't mean they don't need inspiration to push them from time to time or that arm around them to help.

 

That said the players are clearly united with pardew and have bought into what he feeds them. For me it just looks like it's easier for him to play defensive than try to inspire his players mentally to step up.

 

 

If Swansea play the way they do against someone like Benfica next season, I think they'd get ripped apart tbh. I think our best chance of winning the tie tonight with the players available, was the way we set out.

 

That, imho, is bollocks. Swansea may well get seen off for a variety of reasons but because they have the ball a lot more than the other team won't be one of them.

 

And if the only chance we had of winning the game tonight was the way it panned out, 10 mins of pressure out of 90, then we just had no chance, simple as.

 

That's bollocks like. No chance? When Cisse scored there wasn't a person in the ground who wasn't fairly confident we would win it. We were incredibly close.

 

Not for me. ON is of the opinion that the way we approached the game was the best tactically that we could have done. Don't agree with that and my point was, if that was the best approach possible then we weren't ever really in it.

 

Tell me how we could have been better tactically?

 

I wouldn't have started Bigi in the first 45 mins. Sissoko out wide and either Marveaux or Shola would have given us far more bite IMO.

[Wullie]

We had a game plan and so nearly pulled it off,  i thought the tactics of keeping it tight and trying to win it late was the correct way to go about it,  the lads i went with thought the same, bloke behind me the same,  bloke in the bogs at HT was saying the same that after keeping it tight we can win it 2nd half with our subs, coming out after the game speaking to others again no grumbling and were happy with the tactics, i log on facebook and someone posted a great write up on true faiths page agreeing with the tactics and then i come on the Pardew thread and its not a really a shock to see the anti Pardew brigade yet again out of touch with the majority of supporters of NUFC.

 

That's not fair. Myself, midds, colinmk and lovejoy have been some of his fiercest critics every week but we all thought he got it right tonight. He's a very negative manager and tonight that was essential.

 

All this "we needed to just go for it" is nonsense. The away goals rule makes a monumental difference to any other game.

[Optimistic Nut]

Disappointed he didn't gamble from the start but I see why. Really needed a creative spark as a result but defended the clean sheet. Pardew still thinks we can play defensively and grind out a result, we can't. This tactic is ironically more of a gamble than attacking one.

 

Surely this negative tactic only drags down the confidence in our defence. Makes it look like he has no confidence in our defenders to get the job done if we play attractive competitive football.

 

I'm not really ranting about pardew today I understand his reasoning for starting a more defensive line up. With fitness levels of marv and benarfa not likely to last the full game we would have been in the s*** had we conceded being hit on the break, but who knows if we had stuck early they might have folded.

 

Pardew has created a culture within the squad that genuinely plays for the shirt, fans and each other. I think the club is closer to the fans than it has been in a long time (definately safe house needed for that comment).A new manager is at risk of losing that..but pardew clearly has no tactical clue and I blame the coaching set up aswell as him.

 

I hope he gets replaced but I am scared at what would follow. At the bare minimum we need a tactical coach to work with pardew carver et al are obviously not up to it.

 

 

I don't think he'd have set up this way had we had Coloccini/Taylor and Santon fit. I think a lot of his thinking was not having a particularly strong back four, and not having his "door openers" available to play much more than half an hour each.

 

Haven't we set up the same way (defensive and hoping to grind out results) pretty much the whole season?

 

We see weaker squads play better football every week. It's all about psychology and inspiring players to push themselves to play better. Just because we have alot of international class professionals doesn't mean they don't need inspiration to push them from time to time or that arm around them to help.

 

That said the players are clearly united with pardew and have bought into what he feeds them. For me it just looks like it's easier for him to play defensive than try to inspire his players mentally to step up.

 

 

If Swansea play the way they do against someone like Benfica next season, I think they'd get ripped apart tbh. I think our best chance of winning the tie tonight with the players available, was the way we set out.

 

That, imho, is bollocks. Swansea may well get seen off for a variety of reasons but because they have the ball a lot more than the other team won't be one of them.

 

And if the only chance we had of winning the game tonight was the way it panned out, 10 mins of pressure out of 90, then we just had no chance, simple as.

 

That's bollocks like. No chance? When Cisse scored there wasn't a person in the ground who wasn't fairly confident we would win it. We were incredibly close.

 

Not for me. ON is of the opinion that the way we approached the game was the best tactically that we could have done. Don't agree with that and my point was, if that was the best approach possible then we weren't ever really in it.

 

Tell me how we could have been better tactically?

 

I wouldn't have started Bigi in the first 45 mins. Sissoko out wide and either Marveaux or Shola would have given us far more bite IMO.

 

I think it's clear Marveaux wasn't fit...and this place had Shola started.

[Interpolic]

Disappointed he didn't gamble from the start but I see why. Really needed a creative spark as a result but defended the clean sheet. Pardew still thinks we can play defensively and grind out a result, we can't. This tactic is ironically more of a gamble than attacking one.

 

Surely this negative tactic only drags down the confidence in our defence. Makes it look like he has no confidence in our defenders to get the job done if we play attractive competitive football.

 

I'm not really ranting about pardew today I understand his reasoning for starting a more defensive line up. With fitness levels of marv and benarfa not likely to last the full game we would have been in the s*** had we conceded being hit on the break, but who knows if we had stuck early they might have folded.

 

Pardew has created a culture within the squad that genuinely plays for the shirt, fans and each other. I think the club is closer to the fans than it has been in a long time (definately safe house needed for that comment).A new manager is at risk of losing that..but pardew clearly has no tactical clue and I blame the coaching set up aswell as him.

 

I hope he gets replaced but I am scared at what would follow. At the bare minimum we need a tactical coach to work with pardew carver et al are obviously not up to it.

 

 

I don't think he'd have set up this way had we had Coloccini/Taylor and Santon fit. I think a lot of his thinking was not having a particularly strong back four, and not having his "door openers" available to play much more than half an hour each.

 

Haven't we set up the same way (defensive and hoping to grind out results) pretty much the whole season?

 

We see weaker squads play better football every week. It's all about psychology and inspiring players to push themselves to play better. Just because we have alot of international class professionals doesn't mean they don't need inspiration to push them from time to time or that arm around them to help.

 

That said the players are clearly united with pardew and have bought into what he feeds them. For me it just looks like it's easier for him to play defensive than try to inspire his players mentally to step up.

 

 

If Swansea play the way they do against someone like Benfica next season, I think they'd get ripped apart tbh. I think our best chance of winning the tie tonight with the players available, was the way we set out.

 

That, imho, is bollocks. Swansea may well get seen off for a variety of reasons but because they have the ball a lot more than the other team won't be one of them.

 

And if the only chance we had of winning the game tonight was the way it panned out, 10 mins of pressure out of 90, then we just had no chance, simple as.

 

That's bollocks like. No chance? When Cisse scored there wasn't a person in the ground who wasn't fairly confident we would win it. We were incredibly close.

 

Not for me. ON is of the opinion that the way we approached the game was the best tactically that we could have done. Don't agree with that and my point was, if that was the best approach possible then we weren't ever really in it.

 

What? We were a goal away from doing it and we were very close to getting that.

 

We weren't very close to getting it, Ben Arfa hit the ball over the bar and that was basically it.  Who knows what we could have achieved by orchestrating the odd attack over 90 minutes?  It's this idea that you need to not attack or attack like madmen that is a product of Pardew's very limited idea of the game.  The first 40 minutes were fucking embarrassing, you could push that to the first 70 minutes really.

[Rich]

I enjoyed the bit of the match where we attacked relentlessly, I'd like to see a bit more of that please.

[Mick]

We played the game tonight as if we only had to win, we didn't play like a team that HAD to win by at least 2 goals.

[Optimistic Nut]

Disappointed he didn't gamble from the start but I see why. Really needed a creative spark as a result but defended the clean sheet. Pardew still thinks we can play defensively and grind out a result, we can't. This tactic is ironically more of a gamble than attacking one.

 

Surely this negative tactic only drags down the confidence in our defence. Makes it look like he has no confidence in our defenders to get the job done if we play attractive competitive football.

 

I'm not really ranting about pardew today I understand his reasoning for starting a more defensive line up. With fitness levels of marv and benarfa not likely to last the full game we would have been in the s*** had we conceded being hit on the break, but who knows if we had stuck early they might have folded.

 

Pardew has created a culture within the squad that genuinely plays for the shirt, fans and each other. I think the club is closer to the fans than it has been in a long time (definately safe house needed for that comment).A new manager is at risk of losing that..but pardew clearly has no tactical clue and I blame the coaching set up aswell as him.

 

I hope he gets replaced but I am scared at what would follow. At the bare minimum we need a tactical coach to work with pardew carver et al are obviously not up to it.

 

 

I don't think he'd have set up this way had we had Coloccini/Taylor and Santon fit. I think a lot of his thinking was not having a particularly strong back four, and not having his "door openers" available to play much more than half an hour each.

 

Haven't we set up the same way (defensive and hoping to grind out results) pretty much the whole season?

 

We see weaker squads play better football every week. It's all about psychology and inspiring players to push themselves to play better. Just because we have alot of international class professionals doesn't mean they don't need inspiration to push them from time to time or that arm around them to help.

 

That said the players are clearly united with pardew and have bought into what he feeds them. For me it just looks like it's easier for him to play defensive than try to inspire his players mentally to step up.

 

 

If Swansea play the way they do against someone like Benfica next season, I think they'd get ripped apart tbh. I think our best chance of winning the tie tonight with the players available, was the way we set out.

 

That, imho, is bollocks. Swansea may well get seen off for a variety of reasons but because they have the ball a lot more than the other team won't be one of them.

 

And if the only chance we had of winning the game tonight was the way it panned out, 10 mins of pressure out of 90, then we just had no chance, simple as.

 

That's bollocks like. No chance? When Cisse scored there wasn't a person in the ground who wasn't fairly confident we would win it. We were incredibly close.

 

Not for me. ON is of the opinion that the way we approached the game was the best tactically that we could have done. Don't agree with that and my point was, if that was the best approach possible then we weren't ever really in it.

 

What? We were a goal away from doing it and we were very close to getting that.

 

We weren't very close to getting it, Ben Arfa hit the ball over the bar and that was basically it.  Who knows what we could have achieved by orchestrating the odd attack over 90 minutes?  It's this idea that you need to not attack or attack like madmen that is a product of Pardew's very limited idea of the game.  The first 40 minutes were f***ing embarrassing, you could push that to the first 70 minutes really.

 

Cisse was about a foot away from giving us a goal before half-time or is that not close either?

[Interpolic]

We had a game plan and so nearly pulled it off,  i thought the tactics of keeping it tight and trying to win it late was the correct way to go about it,  the lads i went with thought the same, bloke behind me the same,  bloke in the bogs at HT was saying the same that after keeping it tight we can win it 2nd half with our subs, coming out after the game speaking to others again no grumbling and were happy with the tactics, i log on facebook and someone posted a great write up on true faiths page agreeing with the tactics and then i come on the Pardew thread and its not a really a shock to see the anti Pardew brigade yet again out of touch with the majority of supporters of NUFC.

 

That's not fair. Myself, midds, colinmk and lovejoy have been some of his fiercest critics every week but we all thought he got it right tonight. He's a very negative manager and tonight that was essential.

 

All this "we needed to just go for it" is nonsense. The away goals rule makes a monumental difference to any other game.

 

We couldn't have attacked at all for the first 40 minutes, Wullie?  Really?  And we could only have pushed on like we did for the last 20?

[Wullie]

We played the game tonight as if we only had to win, we didn't play like a team that HAD to win by at least 2 goals.

 

We had to win 2-0. There's actually a fairly big difference between that and "having to win by at least two goals"

 

3-1 is still only extra time, with a derby ahead and no guarantee of winning. 4-2 is defeat.

[Interpolic]

Disappointed he didn't gamble from the start but I see why. Really needed a creative spark as a result but defended the clean sheet. Pardew still thinks we can play defensively and grind out a result, we can't. This tactic is ironically more of a gamble than attacking one.

 

Surely this negative tactic only drags down the confidence in our defence. Makes it look like he has no confidence in our defenders to get the job done if we play attractive competitive football.

 

I'm not really ranting about pardew today I understand his reasoning for starting a more defensive line up. With fitness levels of marv and benarfa not likely to last the full game we would have been in the s*** had we conceded being hit on the break, but who knows if we had stuck early they might have folded.

 

Pardew has created a culture within the squad that genuinely plays for the shirt, fans and each other. I think the club is closer to the fans than it has been in a long time (definately safe house needed for that comment).A new manager is at risk of losing that..but pardew clearly has no tactical clue and I blame the coaching set up aswell as him.

 

I hope he gets replaced but I am scared at what would follow. At the bare minimum we need a tactical coach to work with pardew carver et al are obviously not up to it.

 

 

I don't think he'd have set up this way had we had Coloccini/Taylor and Santon fit. I think a lot of his thinking was not having a particularly strong back four, and not having his "door openers" available to play much more than half an hour each.

 

Haven't we set up the same way (defensive and hoping to grind out results) pretty much the whole season?

 

We see weaker squads play better football every week. It's all about psychology and inspiring players to push themselves to play better. Just because we have alot of international class professionals doesn't mean they don't need inspiration to push them from time to time or that arm around them to help.

 

That said the players are clearly united with pardew and have bought into what he feeds them. For me it just looks like it's easier for him to play defensive than try to inspire his players mentally to step up.

 

 

If Swansea play the way they do against someone like Benfica next season, I think they'd get ripped apart tbh. I think our best chance of winning the tie tonight with the players available, was the way we set out.

 

That, imho, is bollocks. Swansea may well get seen off for a variety of reasons but because they have the ball a lot more than the other team won't be one of them.

 

And if the only chance we had of winning the game tonight was the way it panned out, 10 mins of pressure out of 90, then we just had no chance, simple as.

 

That's bollocks like. No chance? When Cisse scored there wasn't a person in the ground who wasn't fairly confident we would win it. We were incredibly close.

 

Not for me. ON is of the opinion that the way we approached the game was the best tactically that we could have done. Don't agree with that and my point was, if that was the best approach possible then we weren't ever really in it.

 

What? We were a goal away from doing it and we were very close to getting that.

 

We weren't very close to getting it, Ben Arfa hit the ball over the bar and that was basically it.  Who knows what we could have achieved by orchestrating the odd attack over 90 minutes?  It's this idea that you need to not attack or attack like madmen that is a product of Pardew's very limited idea of the game.  The first 40 minutes were f***ing embarrassing, you could push that to the first 70 minutes really.

 

Cisse was about a foot away from giving us a goal before half-time or is that not close either?

 

It's not close in the sense that you usually need more than one half chance to score a goal, law of averages of most football games as both you and I know.  If we'd tried to carve out half chances for 90 minutes without going fucking mental about it, it gives you more chance of scoring the goals you need.

[TRon]

Disappointed he didn't gamble from the start but I see why. Really needed a creative spark as a result but defended the clean sheet. Pardew still thinks we can play defensively and grind out a result, we can't. This tactic is ironically more of a gamble than attacking one.

 

Surely this negative tactic only drags down the confidence in our defence. Makes it look like he has no confidence in our defenders to get the job done if we play attractive competitive football.

 

I'm not really ranting about pardew today I understand his reasoning for starting a more defensive line up. With fitness levels of marv and benarfa not likely to last the full game we would have been in the s*** had we conceded being hit on the break, but who knows if we had stuck early they might have folded.

 

Pardew has created a culture within the squad that genuinely plays for the shirt, fans and each other. I think the club is closer to the fans than it has been in a long time (definately safe house needed for that comment).A new manager is at risk of losing that..but pardew clearly has no tactical clue and I blame the coaching set up aswell as him.

 

I hope he gets replaced but I am scared at what would follow. At the bare minimum we need a tactical coach to work with pardew carver et al are obviously not up to it.

 

 

I don't think he'd have set up this way had we had Coloccini/Taylor and Santon fit. I think a lot of his thinking was not having a particularly strong back four, and not having his "door openers" available to play much more than half an hour each.

 

Haven't we set up the same way (defensive and hoping to grind out results) pretty much the whole season?

 

We see weaker squads play better football every week. It's all about psychology and inspiring players to push themselves to play better. Just because we have alot of international class professionals doesn't mean they don't need inspiration to push them from time to time or that arm around them to help.

 

That said the players are clearly united with pardew and have bought into what he feeds them. For me it just looks like it's easier for him to play defensive than try to inspire his players mentally to step up.

 

 

If Swansea play the way they do against someone like Benfica next season, I think they'd get ripped apart tbh. I think our best chance of winning the tie tonight with the players available, was the way we set out.

 

That, imho, is bollocks. Swansea may well get seen off for a variety of reasons but because they have the ball a lot more than the other team won't be one of them.

 

And if the only chance we had of winning the game tonight was the way it panned out, 10 mins of pressure out of 90, then we just had no chance, simple as.

 

That's bollocks like. No chance? When Cisse scored there wasn't a person in the ground who wasn't fairly confident we would win it. We were incredibly close.

 

Not for me. ON is of the opinion that the way we approached the game was the best tactically that we could have done. Don't agree with that and my point was, if that was the best approach possible then we weren't ever really in it.

 

Tell me how we could have been better tactically?

 

I wouldn't have started Bigi in the first 45 mins. Sissoko out wide and either Marveaux or Shola would have given us far more bite IMO.

 

I think it's clear Marveaux wasn't fit...and this place had Shola started.

 

Marveaux looked plenty fit to me - and Pardew really shouldn't give a toss about what this place would think about Shola starting tbh.

[Guest bimpy474]

Problem with all this ?. This is how we approach nearly every game, not looking to concede, trying to nick a goal. We never attack from the off, never have sustained pressure and never ever look to bury teams when on top.

 

More predominantly in the league, we have looked slightly more positive in the Europa.

[Optimistic Nut]

Disappointed he didn't gamble from the start but I see why. Really needed a creative spark as a result but defended the clean sheet. Pardew still thinks we can play defensively and grind out a result, we can't. This tactic is ironically more of a gamble than attacking one.

 

Surely this negative tactic only drags down the confidence in our defence. Makes it look like he has no confidence in our defenders to get the job done if we play attractive competitive football.

 

I'm not really ranting about pardew today I understand his reasoning for starting a more defensive line up. With fitness levels of marv and benarfa not likely to last the full game we would have been in the s*** had we conceded being hit on the break, but who knows if we had stuck early they might have folded.

 

Pardew has created a culture within the squad that genuinely plays for the shirt, fans and each other. I think the club is closer to the fans than it has been in a long time (definately safe house needed for that comment).A new manager is at risk of losing that..but pardew clearly has no tactical clue and I blame the coaching set up aswell as him.

 

I hope he gets replaced but I am scared at what would follow. At the bare minimum we need a tactical coach to work with pardew carver et al are obviously not up to it.

 

 

I don't think he'd have set up this way had we had Coloccini/Taylor and Santon fit. I think a lot of his thinking was not having a particularly strong back four, and not having his "door openers" available to play much more than half an hour each.

 

Haven't we set up the same way (defensive and hoping to grind out results) pretty much the whole season?

 

We see weaker squads play better football every week. It's all about psychology and inspiring players to push themselves to play better. Just because we have alot of international class professionals doesn't mean they don't need inspiration to push them from time to time or that arm around them to help.

 

That said the players are clearly united with pardew and have bought into what he feeds them. For me it just looks like it's easier for him to play defensive than try to inspire his players mentally to step up.

 

 

If Swansea play the way they do against someone like Benfica next season, I think they'd get ripped apart tbh. I think our best chance of winning the tie tonight with the players available, was the way we set out.

 

That, imho, is bollocks. Swansea may well get seen off for a variety of reasons but because they have the ball a lot more than the other team won't be one of them.

 

And if the only chance we had of winning the game tonight was the way it panned out, 10 mins of pressure out of 90, then we just had no chance, simple as.

 

That's bollocks like. No chance? When Cisse scored there wasn't a person in the ground who wasn't fairly confident we would win it. We were incredibly close.

 

Not for me. ON is of the opinion that the way we approached the game was the best tactically that we could have done. Don't agree with that and my point was, if that was the best approach possible then we weren't ever really in it.

 

What? We were a goal away from doing it and we were very close to getting that.

 

We weren't very close to getting it, Ben Arfa hit the ball over the bar and that was basically it.  Who knows what we could have achieved by orchestrating the odd attack over 90 minutes?  It's this idea that you need to not attack or attack like madmen that is a product of Pardew's very limited idea of the game.  The first 40 minutes were f***ing embarrassing, you could push that to the first 70 minutes really.

 

Cisse was about a foot away from giving us a goal before half-time or is that not close either?

 

No cos it's offside.

 

I seriously despair at this place sometimes.

 

People take everything fucking literally. Like someone else said, left the ground and the bars after the match pretty proud of coming close to getting to the last 4 of a European cup, come on here and it flattens the fuck out of you. I should have known better.

[Mick]

 

 

We had to win 2-0. There's actually a fairly big difference between that and "having to win by at least two goals"

 

3-1 is still only extra time, with a derby ahead and no guarantee of winning. 4-2 is defeat.

 

I know what different permutations of the score line meant to both teams.

[Rich]

Disappointed he didn't gamble from the start but I see why. Really needed a creative spark as a result but defended the clean sheet. Pardew still thinks we can play defensively and grind out a result, we can't. This tactic is ironically more of a gamble than attacking one.

 

Surely this negative tactic only drags down the confidence in our defence. Makes it look like he has no confidence in our defenders to get the job done if we play attractive competitive football.

 

I'm not really ranting about pardew today I understand his reasoning for starting a more defensive line up. With fitness levels of marv and benarfa not likely to last the full game we would have been in the s*** had we conceded being hit on the break, but who knows if we had stuck early they might have folded.

 

Pardew has created a culture within the squad that genuinely plays for the shirt, fans and each other. I think the club is closer to the fans than it has been in a long time (definately safe house needed for that comment).A new manager is at risk of losing that..but pardew clearly has no tactical clue and I blame the coaching set up aswell as him.

 

I hope he gets replaced but I am scared at what would follow. At the bare minimum we need a tactical coach to work with pardew carver et al are obviously not up to it.

 

 

I don't think he'd have set up this way had we had Coloccini/Taylor and Santon fit. I think a lot of his thinking was not having a particularly strong back four, and not having his "door openers" available to play much more than half an hour each.

 

Haven't we set up the same way (defensive and hoping to grind out results) pretty much the whole season?

 

We see weaker squads play better football every week. It's all about psychology and inspiring players to push themselves to play better. Just because we have alot of international class professionals doesn't mean they don't need inspiration to push them from time to time or that arm around them to help.

 

That said the players are clearly united with pardew and have bought into what he feeds them. For me it just looks like it's easier for him to play defensive than try to inspire his players mentally to step up.

 

 

If Swansea play the way they do against someone like Benfica next season, I think they'd get ripped apart tbh. I think our best chance of winning the tie tonight with the players available, was the way we set out.

 

That, imho, is bollocks. Swansea may well get seen off for a variety of reasons but because they have the ball a lot more than the other team won't be one of them.

 

And if the only chance we had of winning the game tonight was the way it panned out, 10 mins of pressure out of 90, then we just had no chance, simple as.

 

That's bollocks like. No chance? When Cisse scored there wasn't a person in the ground who wasn't fairly confident we would win it. We were incredibly close.

 

Not for me. ON is of the opinion that the way we approached the game was the best tactically that we could have done. Don't agree with that and my point was, if that was the best approach possible then we weren't ever really in it.

 

Tell me how we could have been better tactically?

 

I wouldn't have started Bigi in the first 45 mins. Sissoko out wide and either Marveaux or Shola would have given us far more bite IMO.

 

I think it's clear Marveaux wasn't fit...and this place had Shola started.

 

Marveaux looked plenty fit to me - and Pardew really shouldn't give a toss about what this place would think about Shola starting tbh.

 

Pardew said post-match that Marveaux struggles with a lot of games in a short space of time, which is why he didn't start tonight.

[Wullie]

We had a game plan and so nearly pulled it off,  i thought the tactics of keeping it tight and trying to win it late was the correct way to go about it,  the lads i went with thought the same, bloke behind me the same,  bloke in the bogs at HT was saying the same that after keeping it tight we can win it 2nd half with our subs, coming out after the game speaking to others again no grumbling and were happy with the tactics, i log on facebook and someone posted a great write up on true faiths page agreeing with the tactics and then i come on the Pardew thread and its not a really a shock to see the anti Pardew brigade yet again out of touch with the majority of supporters of NUFC.

 

That's not fair. Myself, midds, colinmk and lovejoy have been some of his fiercest critics every week but we all thought he got it right tonight. He's a very negative manager and tonight that was essential.

 

All this "we needed to just go for it" is nonsense. The away goals rule makes a monumental difference to any other game.

 

We couldn't have attacked at all for the first 40 minutes, Wullie?  Really?  And we could only have pushed on like we did for the last 20?

 

Personally I wanted 0-0 at half time. Imo we needed to keep Benfica at arm's length and almost keep them happy. If we'd led 2-0 then, that's actually a worse scenario than 0-0. No way would we have withstood a barrage from them, and they only need one goal.

[Skeletor]

Disappointed he didn't gamble from the start but I see why. Really needed a creative spark as a result but defended the clean sheet. Pardew still thinks we can play defensively and grind out a result, we can't. This tactic is ironically more of a gamble than attacking one.

 

Surely this negative tactic only drags down the confidence in our defence. Makes it look like he has no confidence in our defenders to get the job done if we play attractive competitive football.

 

I'm not really ranting about pardew today I understand his reasoning for starting a more defensive line up. With fitness levels of marv and benarfa not likely to last the full game we would have been in the s*** had we conceded being hit on the break, but who knows if we had stuck early they might have folded.

 

Pardew has created a culture within the squad that genuinely plays for the shirt, fans and each other. I think the club is closer to the fans than it has been in a long time (definately safe house needed for that comment).A new manager is at risk of losing that..but pardew clearly has no tactical clue and I blame the coaching set up aswell as him.

 

I hope he gets replaced but I am scared at what would follow. At the bare minimum we need a tactical coach to work with pardew carver et al are obviously not up to it.

 

 

I don't think he'd have set up this way had we had Coloccini/Taylor and Santon fit. I think a lot of his thinking was not having a particularly strong back four, and not having his "door openers" available to play much more than half an hour each.

 

Haven't we set up the same way (defensive and hoping to grind out results) pretty much the whole season?

 

We see weaker squads play better football every week. It's all about psychology and inspiring players to push themselves to play better. Just because we have alot of international class professionals doesn't mean they don't need inspiration to push them from time to time or that arm around them to help.

 

That said the players are clearly united with pardew and have bought into what he feeds them. For me it just looks like it's easier for him to play defensive than try to inspire his players mentally to step up.

 

 

If Swansea play the way they do against someone like Benfica next season, I think they'd get ripped apart tbh. I think our best chance of winning the tie tonight with the players available, was the way we set out.

 

That, imho, is bollocks. Swansea may well get seen off for a variety of reasons but because they have the ball a lot more than the other team won't be one of them.

 

And if the only chance we had of winning the game tonight was the way it panned out, 10 mins of pressure out of 90, then we just had no chance, simple as.

 

That's bollocks like. No chance? When Cisse scored there wasn't a person in the ground who wasn't fairly confident we would win it. We were incredibly close.

 

Not for me. ON is of the opinion that the way we approached the game was the best tactically that we could have done. Don't agree with that and my point was, if that was the best approach possible then we weren't ever really in it.

 

What? We were a goal away from doing it and we were very close to getting that.

 

We weren't very close to getting it, Ben Arfa hit the ball over the bar and that was basically it.  Who knows what we could have achieved by orchestrating the odd attack over 90 minutes?  It's this idea that you need to not attack or attack like madmen that is a product of Pardew's very limited idea of the game.  The first 40 minutes were f***ing embarrassing, you could push that to the first 70 minutes really.

 

Cisse was about a foot away from giving us a goal before half-time or is that not close either?

 

No cos it's offside.

 

I seriously despair at this place sometimes.

 

People take everything fucking literally. Like someone else said, left the ground and the bars after the match pretty proud of coming close to getting to the last 4 of a European cup, come on here and it flattens the fuck out of you. I should have known better.

 

How is it close when it's against the rules?

[TRon]

We had a game plan and so nearly pulled it off,  i thought the tactics of keeping it tight and trying to win it late was the correct way to go about it,  the lads i went with thought the same, bloke behind me the same,  bloke in the bogs at HT was saying the same that after keeping it tight we can win it 2nd half with our subs, coming out after the game speaking to others again no grumbling and were happy with the tactics, i log on facebook and someone posted a great write up on true faiths page agreeing with the tactics and then i come on the Pardew thread and its not a really a shock to see the anti Pardew brigade yet again out of touch with the majority of supporters of NUFC.

 

That's not fair. Myself, midds, colinmk and lovejoy have been some of his fiercest critics every week but we all thought he got it right tonight. He's a very negative manager and tonight that was essential.

 

All this "we needed to just go for it" is nonsense. The away goals rule makes a monumental difference to any other game.

 

So you agree with his starting line up of 4 central defenders, one defensive winger and one forward?

[Guest neesy111]

I enjoyed the bit of the match where we attacked relentlessly, I'd like to see a bit more of that please.

[Wullie]

Problem with all this ?. This is how we approach nearly every game, not looking to concede, trying to nick a goal. We never attack from the off, never have sustained pressure and never ever look to bury teams when on top.

 

More predominantly in the league, we have looked slightly more positive in the Europa.

 

I agree but that's what made him perfect for tonight. Negative was the name of the game tonight, we won't play another game for a long time where one goal conceded is curtains.

[Wullie]

We had a game plan and so nearly pulled it off,  i thought the tactics of keeping it tight and trying to win it late was the correct way to go about it,  the lads i went with thought the same, bloke behind me the same,  bloke in the bogs at HT was saying the same that after keeping it tight we can win it 2nd half with our subs, coming out after the game speaking to others again no grumbling and were happy with the tactics, i log on facebook and someone posted a great write up on true faiths page agreeing with the tactics and then i come on the Pardew thread and its not a really a shock to see the anti Pardew brigade yet again out of touch with the majority of supporters of NUFC.

 

That's not fair. Myself, midds, colinmk and lovejoy have been some of his fiercest critics every week but we all thought he got it right tonight. He's a very negative manager and tonight that was essential.

 

All this "we needed to just go for it" is nonsense. The away goals rule makes a monumental difference to any other game.

 

So you agree with his starting line up of 4 central defenders, one defensive winger and one forward?

 

Yes, we needed to kill the first half and basically make it a complete waste of time for the neutral.

[Interpolic]

We had a game plan and so nearly pulled it off,  i thought the tactics of keeping it tight and trying to win it late was the correct way to go about it,  the lads i went with thought the same, bloke behind me the same,  bloke in the bogs at HT was saying the same that after keeping it tight we can win it 2nd half with our subs, coming out after the game speaking to others again no grumbling and were happy with the tactics, i log on facebook and someone posted a great write up on true faiths page agreeing with the tactics and then i come on the Pardew thread and its not a really a shock to see the anti Pardew brigade yet again out of touch with the majority of supporters of NUFC.

 

That's not fair. Myself, midds, colinmk and lovejoy have been some of his fiercest critics every week but we all thought he got it right tonight. He's a very negative manager and tonight that was essential.

 

All this "we needed to just go for it" is nonsense. The away goals rule makes a monumental difference to any other game.

 

We couldn't have attacked at all for the first 40 minutes, Wullie?  Really?  And we could only have pushed on like we did for the last 20?

 

Personally I wanted 0-0 at half time. Imo we needed to keep Benfica at arm's length and almost keep them happy. If we'd led 2-0 then, that's actually a worse scenario than 0-0. No way would we have withstood a barrage from them, and they only need one goal.

 

But we could have scored again ourselves.  I don't buy into this at all, mental things happen in the later stages of European competition and you need to buy into it and trust in the ability of your own players.  We could've beat Benfica 3-1/4-1/whatever tonight, these things happen in European competition at this stage when you have a few matchwinners in your side - it seems to me we placed all our eggs in one very small basket and are now saying that basket was the only basket.

[Guest bimpy474]

Problem with all this ?. This is how we approach nearly every game, not looking to concede, trying to nick a goal. We never attack from the off, never have sustained pressure and never ever look to bury teams when on top.

 

More predominantly in the league, we have looked slightly more positive in the Europa.

 

I agree but that's what made him perfect for tonight. Negative was the name of the game tonight, we won't play another game for a long time where one goal conceded is curtains.

 

Tonight i can see where people are coming from, i still think we could have been more positive without being reckless. Like i say though this whole approach is why we are struggling to stay up. It so negative and it comes from Pardew, the players back him which is good but i just can't see him turning into a positive, good football bringing manager.

[Wullie]

We had a game plan and so nearly pulled it off,  i thought the tactics of keeping it tight and trying to win it late was the correct way to go about it,  the lads i went with thought the same, bloke behind me the same,  bloke in the bogs at HT was saying the same that after keeping it tight we can win it 2nd half with our subs, coming out after the game speaking to others again no grumbling and were happy with the tactics, i log on facebook and someone posted a great write up on true faiths page agreeing with the tactics and then i come on the Pardew thread and its not a really a shock to see the anti Pardew brigade yet again out of touch with the majority of supporters of NUFC.

 

That's not fair. Myself, midds, colinmk and lovejoy have been some of his fiercest critics every week but we all thought he got it right tonight. He's a very negative manager and tonight that was essential.

 

All this "we needed to just go for it" is nonsense. The away goals rule makes a monumental difference to any other game.

 

We couldn't have attacked at all for the first 40 minutes, Wullie?  Really?  And we could only have pushed on like we did for the last 20?

 

Personally I wanted 0-0 at half time. Imo we needed to keep Benfica at arm's length and almost keep them happy. If we'd led 2-0 then, that's actually a worse scenario than 0-0. No way would we have withstood a barrage from them, and they only need one goal.

 

But we could have scored again ourselves.  I don't buy into this at all, mental things happen in the later stages of European competition and you need to buy into it and trust in the ability of your own players.  We could've beat Benfica 3-1/4-1/whatever tonight, these things happen in European competition at this stage when you have a few matchwinners in your side - it seems to me we placed all our eggs in one very small basket and are now saying that basket was the only basket.

 

3-1's still only extra time and that was the last thing we needed. I also didn't trust us to score 3 without further reply but I did have faith we could sneak a late one, we've been doing little else at home for months.