Alan Pardew

[merlin]

What is ridiculous and childish about the Pardew debate is the fact that some of those who are firmly in his camp start accusing those of us who are not as being 'haters'.

 

This is pathetic nonsense - how can anyone hate a person unless they know them personally and have had bad experiences with them ? I couldn't give a toss about Pardew as a person and don't have any personal feelings towards him one way or the other but I DO care about his performances as manager of NUFC.

In that respect, I think he is lacking in the qualities necessary to bring any sort of success - and that especially includes entertaining football - to the club.

 

I believe him to be a lower PL/upper Championship manager who has demonstrated his limitations not just at this club, but at the others where he was employed - that is the ONLY basis on which I judge him and I suspect that most of us who are not fans feel the same way.

 

If the board are happy to see us middle/lower part of the table most years and scraping results through negative football, then he'll stay - whether many fans will put up with that over an extended period is another question...

We still need 4 points to be reasonably safe from relegation - if we achieve that it will be interesting to see what happens in the summer both on the transfer front and the manager's position...if we were by any chance to go down, he's out..end of.

 

My ONLY fear about his being sacked is the board's intentions afterwards but I believe that they have done enough in January to allay at least some of the questions a prospective manager would have. They have also given him enough rope to hang himself with the new players......

 

We shall see, but this thread needs to revert to an adult debate about a serious question.

 

Tricky season to judge him on, since we have had our best XI in 1 or 2 games (if at all?) We began the season with a seriously under-strength squad which wasn't his fault and by the time he got the players in the season was gone. The new players also didn't have a pre-season yet some expect them to be playing their best football right away. There are so many examples of top players who took a while to get going after a January transfer, yet people blame this all on Pardew "making them worse" which seems equally childish to me. Much of the criticism for our problems should be directed at the board, who completely f*cked up last summer. I think any manager would have struggled to some extent with that squad, with that many fixtures, and that many injuries.

 

Last season was incredible, with a good slice of luck, and that perhaps landed more praise at his door than was due. But this season has gone the other way; much of it has not been his fault, and I'm not sure all of the criticism is deserved.

 

One excellent season and one terrible one. The jury is still out in my mind. Honestly though, changing manager is a major gamble. Could we do better? Yes. Could we do worse? Definitely. There are loads of iffy managers out there like Souness, Allardyce etc who would be lining up for the post. How many in that line would really be able to take us forwards? Keeping in mind they will be working with the same board who in my view are to blame for most of the current mess.

 

Long story short I think he's worth another season based on his track record, but I am not blind to his shortcomings (negative tactics etc). I just don't think sacking him is worth the gamble, having seen some of the managers we've had in the last 10 years.

 

I agree with much of what you say - there is no question that the board failed miserably in not strengthening the side for a tougher campaign last summer. I also agree that Pardew - and the side - had more than their share of luck last season but that doesn't hide the shortcomings in our play that were evident even then. We scraped results in some games where we didn't deserve to and in many cases, it was like watching paint dry as far as entertainment was concerned. Most of us were prepared to cut him spme slack on the grounds that the end justified the means, but this year, there have been examples - Swansea and Southampton among them - of teams who have patently worse squads than ours and yet are performing well and more easily on the eye. This, to me, has highlighted Pardew's limitations as a coach and manager although I accept that we have had a lot of injuries - one has to ask whether these injuries are partly as a result of lack of proper fitness in the players as other teams do not seem to be as badly affected....Di Canio has already said that he considers the Sunderland squad are below-par fitness-wise and this can make a differnence in players being injured.

 

As you say, one good season, one bad, but in the first we had a lot of luck, in the second too many injuries and too few players. Overall though, I look at Pardew's history and it doesn't give me any confidence that he can take the club where it should be, or get us playing attractive football that has more successes than failures. He is NOT a young manager any more, being over 50, so it is hard to see a pattern of success emerging in future years but he suits the board - or HAS done up to now. I also agree that there are bad managers out there, but that is the responsibility of the board to sort out - if they have any sort of acumen they should be able to find out which manager who would take the job has both the past record and the qualities to take the club forward.

When Liverpool took on Shankly, they were a second division side in decline - they looked at his record at his previous clubs - and were impressed by his personality and rapport with his previous clubs' fans. They hit the jackpot, but no manager at Newcastle would be allowed the leeway Shankly had at Liverpool, OR the support he got from Peter Robinson, who was way ahead of his time as a CEO/Secretary.

 

Pardew may well survive as manager if we stay up but eventually, this thread will be a hot topic within a few months of next season starting...and then there will be far less choice for the board to pick from if they DO decide to bullet him.

[Skeletor]

This thread is just going in circles now. Some people liked the approach, some didn't. No-ones going to budge and its becoming cliquey. No-one's saying any thing new. Time to give it a rest.

[Flip]

This thread is just going in circles now. Some people liked the approach, some didn't. No-ones going to budge and its becoming cliquey. No-one's saying any thing new. Time to give it a rest.

 

 

Anyways, what do you guys think his approach will be against Sunderland? The old same or do you think he might try and get at them from the beginning?

[SEMTEX]

Still lost as to how having a reserve team back line means that we should play more defensively? Surely it'd be advisable to take the pressure off them by being more bothered about keeping possession?

 

I guess pardy at least recognises his limitations. He's not coached a cohesive passing team, so it's either all attack or all defend. And I know which one were going to see more of in the future.

[Stu]

On the other hand I don't understand those that say Benfica should've been a mid-table team in our league yet are far superior than us 

 

Who has been saying this? They're a very good team with some exceptional players.

 

Ask SAF.

[Flip]

Still lost as to how having a reserve team back line means that we should play more defensively? Surely it'd be advisable to take the pressure off them by being more bothered about keeping possession?

 

I guess pardy at least recognises his limitations. He's not coached a cohesive passing team, so it's either all attack or all defend. And I know which one were going to see more of in the future.

 

Semtex, like Skeletor said there's no point in talking about it anymore, some just don't agree with our mindset. My fear is we'll see exactly the same tactics adopted in the weekend...

[Flip]

On the other hand I don't understand those that say Benfica should've been a mid-table team in our league yet are far superior than us 

 

Who has been saying this? They're a very good team with some exceptional players.

 

Ask SAF.

 

I find them an absolute class side offensively but quite weak defensively, but you look in the pre-game thread and there are tons saying they are nothing more than a midtable PL side.

[Stu]

Pardew may well survive as manager if we stay up but eventually, this thread will be a hot topic within a few months of next season starting...and then there will be far less choice for the board to pick from if they DO decide to bullet him.

 

Why is this? Are you expecting a sudden increase in managerial retirements? Are they expanding the number of Premiership teams?

[Stu]

Still lost as to how having a reserve team back line means that we should play more defensively? Surely it'd be advisable to take the pressure off them by being more bothered about keeping possession?

 

I guess pardy at least recognises his limitations. He's not coached a cohesive passing team, so it's either all attack or all defend. And I know which one were going to see more of in the future.

 

Semtex, like Skeletor said there's no point in talking about it anymore, some just don't agree with our mindset. My fear is we'll see exactly the same tactics adopted in the weekend...

 

I would be surprised and disappointed in AP if this was the case.

[Flip]

Still lost as to how having a reserve team back line means that we should play more defensively? Surely it'd be advisable to take the pressure off them by being more bothered about keeping possession?

 

I guess pardy at least recognises his limitations. He's not coached a cohesive passing team, so it's either all attack or all defend. And I know which one were going to see more of in the future.

 

Semtex, like Skeletor said there's no point in talking about it anymore, some just don't agree with our mindset. My fear is we'll see exactly the same tactics adopted in the weekend...

 

I would be surprised and disappointed in AP if this was the case.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to contain Sunderland for the first 15-20 minutes and let them settle into the game. He let Southampton do it and I've seen other clubs do it at our place. I hope he doesn't and try to get the fans behind the team from the off by attacking and attcking them. They're an extremely average side we should be winning both halves.

[mrmojorisin75]

Surely it'd be advisable to take the pressure off them by being more bothered about keeping possession?

 

aye, this is something we're awful at like and would serve us well in a lot of games, make the other team chase the ball...as it stands a lot of the time the oppo can more or less stand still and it'll end up back with them

[Beren]

Beating Sunderland will buy him many fans' favour going into the summer.

[Wullie]

I don't think we played "defensively" last night in the first half, we simply played sensibly. It was very similar to large parts of last season - very rigid four man midfield, stick to attacking with long balls and don't do anything daft, nick one if you can but worry about that later.

 

I even saw someone say that because we once beat Man United 3-0 that we should have gone after Benfica - the gameplan in that game was practically identical! Keep it tight and heave long balls.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Still lost as to how having a reserve team back line means that we should play more defensively? Surely it'd be advisable to take the pressure off them by being more bothered about keeping possession?

 

I guess pardy at least recognises his limitations. He's not coached a cohesive passing team, so it's either all attack or all defend. And I know which one were going to see more of in the future.

 

Semtex, like Skeletor said there's no point in talking about it anymore, some just don't agree with our mindset. My fear is we'll see exactly the same tactics adopted in the weekend...

 

I would be surprised and disappointed in AP if this was the case.

 

I would be surprised too, I think Sunderland's main concern will be pressuring and stopping us. I don't expect them to offer a lot going forward.

[Guest icemanblue]

Beating Sunderland will buy him many fans' favour going into the summer.

 

I'd say he has that from the majority, already.

[mrmojorisin75]

Beating Sunderland will buy him many fans' favour going into the summer.

 

I'd say he has that from the majority, already.

 

me too

[NoU]

Beating Sunderland will buy him many fans' favour going into the summer.

 

I'd say he has that from the majority, already.

Look at the top of this page.

[Guest icemanblue]

Beating Sunderland will buy him many fans' favour going into the summer.

 

I'd say he has that from the majority, already.

Look at the top of this page.

 

The internet is not representative of the club's fans as whole.

[Disco]

Beating Sunderland will buy him many fans' favour going into the summer.

 

I'd say he has that from the majority, already.

Look at the top of this page.

 

N-O is in no way representative.

[Guest neesy111]

Beating Sunderland will buy him many fans' favour going into the summer.

 

I'd say he has that from the majority, already.

Look at the top of this page.

 

 

I don't like the bloke but going off N-O is mental.

[Guest neesy111]

Beating Sunderland will buy him many fans' favour going into the summer.

 

I'd say he has that from the majority, already.

Look at the top of this page.

 

N-O is in no way representative.

 

He's not majorly backed on twitter I'd say 50/50 split.

 

I'd say 50/50 with a 15% margin of error.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I don't think we played "defensively" last night in the first half, we simply played sensibly. It was very similar to large parts of last season - very rigid four man midfield, stick to attacking with long balls and don't do anything daft, nick one if you can but worry about that later.

 

I even saw someone say that because we once beat Man United 3-0 that we should have gone after Benfica - the gameplan in that game was practically identical! Keep it tight and heave long balls.

 

Spot on, it was a clear approach that so very nearly worked against a very good side. It was the first leg where we shot ourselves in the head.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I only talk to a couple of other Newcastle fans outside of this place, I've no idea what the feeling is. But in the media etc there's certainly nothing but support for him.

[Guest neesy111]

Beating Sunderland will buy him many fans' favour going into the summer.

 

I'd say he has that from the majority, already.

Look at the top of this page.

 

N-O is in no way representative.

 

He's not majorly backed on twitter I'd say 50/50 split.

 

I'd say 50/50 with a 15% margin of error.

 

Yeah fair enough, but roughly its half for/against as far as I can tell. I wouldn't express my dislike of the football at a game, not a chance,I'm there to back the team, so I don't think that the match is representative of views either

 

Exactly.  No one really knows.

[Stu]

Beating Sunderland will buy him many fans' favour going into the summer.

 

I'd say he has that from the majority, already.

Look at the top of this page.

 

N-O is in no way representative.

 

He's not majorly backed on twitter I'd say 50/50 split.

 

How often do people go on to the internet to exclaim how non-plussed they are about a product or a company?

 

You only ever get the extremes: people promoting and people complaining. The split is overwhelmingly in favour of the latter.