Alan Pardew - Poltroon sacked by a forrin team

[Kid Dynamite 7174]

The only half they looked better than us was the second half over there. If you say otherwise you are a liar

[Kid Dynamite 7174]

 

 

Did we fuck.

 

You also haven't said what he's actually good at.

 

Getting us 5th and to 1/4 finals in Europe. Or was that a fluke?

[Tooj 17]

Roeder got us to 7th and took us far in Europe too. He was mint.

 

Yet again you're still not telling me what he's good at tactics wise?

[@yourservice 67]

Everything is rosy in the garden.

[Kid Dynamite 7174]

Roeder got us to 7th and took us far in Europe too. He was mint.

 

Yet again you're still not telling me what he's good at tactics wise?

 

Roeder did a decent enough job, aye

[ewerk 31209]

Without calling him shite, I don't think anyone can argue that based on the size of the club and the talent in our first XI that we could and should have a much better manager than Pardew.

 

Ashley was ruthless when he got rid of Hughton with the expectation that Pardew was a step up, I really hope he thinks the same this summer and does get us someone substantially better than what we have.

[Monroe Transfer 0]

The set piece thing is beyond a joke now.

 

Like I said in the match thread I expect nothing out of set pieces unless they're free kicks in goal-scoring range. Never feel excited about corners or free kicks in threatening positions. I struggle to understand how the likes of Cabaye can mess them up so much. Ryan Taylor is the only set piece taker I trust to put in a good delivery.

 

And it's not just a delivery thing - outside of floating one to Williamson and Steven Taylor winding keepers up we appear to have no discernable specific tactics for certain scenarios outside of hoping someone gets their head on it. Off the ball movement is lacking.

 

When was the last time we scored from a corner (even on the second ball)?

[Kid Dynamite 7174]

Shola nearly hit the corner flag with a free header

[Renton 22002]

For some odd reason - I don't know why - I really like the Pardew. Not now though, I've had enough. Today was a disaster.

[Renton 22002]

Someone told me we haven't scored in 250 odd corners now. Dunno if its true but feels like it is. Beyond a joke.

[Tooj 17]

For some odd reason - I don't know why - I really like the Pardew. Not now though, I've had enough. Today was a disaster.

 

He says the right things more often than not, he just doesn't seem to be able to deliver what he talks about.

 

He can be quite negative the way he comes across at times to the press. Post-match I do believe he blamed the fact we had a European game as one of the reasons that we lost as they had more time to "prepare". How about letting the opposition worry about your team for a change? Remember how brilliant we were after playing in The Champions League under Sir Bobby? We were fearless that's why. Our players look terrified of doing anything positive when they're out there on the pitch due to the way he has us setup.

[Chronic the Drug Wasp 6]

We're set up to not get beat and that's why we often get beat. Pardew is s cunt and oozes cuntishness, fuck knows why anyone would like him.

[Happy Face 29]

Its been a running joke where we sit for the last few games. Every time another one goes begging someone asks "how many is that?"

 

[Monroe Transfer 0]

someone said it was 2011 since we scored from a corner

 

You're joking. That is shocking. We must average a good 4-5 corners a game too.

 

I just don't think it gets any attention whatsoever on the training field. I don't get the impression Cabaye practices corners at all. Marveaux is a little better at them but not massively so.

[donaldstott 0]

It's got to the point that we no longer look a threat from corners even, I'd start playing it short, give it to HBA and get him to run in to the box.

[Dappa03 0]

Feared on wearside hahahaha quality

[Kevin Carr's Gloves 3974]

Feared on wearside hahahaha quality

 

Not as feared as your father is among the children and parents mind.

[Christmas Tree 4831]

Desperate times for Alan Pardew and Newcastle

 

George Caulkin

 

 

On the coach to the stadium, Jay Z pumped and thudded through the speakers. Screens beamed pictures of the city and its supporters, promoting pride, conveying meaning. Each player was shown in a moment of brilliance – a goal, a shimmy, a tackle or a save – building confidence and adrenaline as St James’ Park came into view and the bus was swarmed by black and white and red and white, mayhem and cacophony.

 

So much for Newcastle United’s attempts at motivation ahead of Sunday’s capitulation to Sunderland. So much for that. When the whistle shrilled and the game kicked off, their legs were leaden and their brains numb, they were ponderous in possession and careless out of it and if they truly felt the historical heft of the fixture – felt it to the core – then the scoreline presented a competing argument.

 

This is what the Tyne-Wear derby does. It does not tolerate frailty or make exemptions for it. It shines a spotlight on weakness, exposing every acne scar, wrinkle and imperfection, turning the plain into ugly, sweeping away excuses. Because there are no excuses for a 3-0 defeat at home to your local rivals in your biggest game of the season, no mitigating factors. None.

 

This, again, is what the Tyne-Wear derby does; desperation, like a baton, is passed between the clubs. No other match can steal momentum like this one and the reverse applies, too, because Sunderland arrived on Gallowgate traipsing towards relegation and left it with an electrical charge coursing through their club. Victories like that are mould-breaking; unlike any other, they persuade supporters to invest belief.

 

We saw the power of the derby in the second game of last season when, after a settled summer, Sunderland hosted Newcastle. Steve Bruce had brought a whole team of new players to Wearside and had done most of his business early while, after a disrupted pre-season and a few high-profile departures, Alan Pardew was batting away questions about crisis and dispute.

 

Newcastle’s 1-0 win was a shape-shifter; the clubs exchanged roles. Pardew’s standing soared and Bruce, already tainted by the 5-1 hammering at St James’ the previous season, slumped and although there was more to it than that – Sunderland’s signings were unfocussed, events ran for Newcastle – momentum was captured and calcified. It powered them both, upward and down.

 

Sunderland stood behind Bruce for as long as they could, allowing him scope to turn things until that raw November defeat to Wigan Athletic when the bonds finally snapped and fans voiced their rebellion. Good intentions wither in football; earlier this season, for instance, Ellis Short told Martin O’Neill that he would remain in situ no matter which division the club were in next August.

 

It was only September that Pardew signed a new eight-year contract, a measure designed to smooth the turbulence which has long been a side-effect of his position. Newcastle’s board looked to Everton, as many clubs do, and how an organisation of limited resource could repeatedly over-achieve. Stability was the key and stability has now become their own mantra.

 

Just as David Moyes has been permitted the odd sticky season, so would Pardew, but this is it. The Europa League has papered over Newcastle’s difficulties, just as their fifth-placed finish last time provided a sheen, but their aggregate defeat to Benfica has opened them to view and all that context about injury and fatigue and a lack of time on the training ground were made moribund by Sunderland. Pardew must staunch the wound swiftly.

 

Newcastle have 36 points and have won once in their last six fixtures in all competitions. In the Barclays Premier League, only Reading have lost more than their 17 games (Aston Villa and Wigan Athletic are the only sides to have lost more home matches). They went out of the Capital One Cup after a solitary fixture (albeit to Manchester United), and surrendered to Brighton and Hove Albion in the third round of the FA Cup.

 

Away from home, Newcastle’s record is miserable. Their single victory came at Villa in January and, in terms of points, only bottom-placed Reading have amassed fewer than Newcastle’s eight. Some stirring late winners recently have spoken of their spirit (and a little of their desperation), yet this is a team with no natural get-out clause, because their record at set-pieces is awful. Quite why corners are still celebrated is a mystery.

 

There have been challenges – Demba Ba’s contract and departure to Chelsea, Fabricio Coloccini’s request to leave – which would previously have thrown them into disarray, but the club’s sturdiness has not been reflected on the pitch. Too many players have underperformed – and they have good players – they are a striker light and Papiss Demba Cisse has often been isolated. Newcastle struggle to take the game to their opponents.

 

Fourteen extra games does not cover this, particularly when they departed the other cup competitions so early. The traveling is wearing, there is no question about that, and Newcastle were under-prepared for it – the hierarchy’s reluctance to strengthen the squad further last summer was self-defeating – but that cannot compensate for so many other failings.

 

The last week or so on Tyneside has seen the pendulum swing. There was Cisse’s late winner over Fulham, the stirring, force of nature second-half against Benfica, whose late equaliser brought supporters to their feet in emotive recognition of a job nearly done, the journey. But just as that felt like an embodiment of Newcastle’s potential – as were the 150,000 fans who trooped through the turnstiles – so Sunday was a betrayal of it.

 

Perhaps it would not be like that if Newcastle were challenging for a trophy, or a place in the top-four, if their skirmish with Sunderland signified nothing aside from yah-boo parochialism. There are times when the prominence given to derby matches interferes with progress, but until there are real prizes at stake – let us not hold our breath – it is how we measure ourselves. It is ludicrous in some ways, but that is how it is.

 

One game does not ensure that Sunderland are safe, but this one sets a narrative and the extent of their victory over Newcastle was the sort which lifts heads. They need that because even though they have established some solidity in the division, each season has brought a long stretch of barren football and memories of their last two relegations are still livid. Alive and energetic, they are a different club and this should propel them.

 

Equally, one defeat is not Newcastle’s full story but, for the moment, it defines them. The music blared, the video played and the coach disgorged them, but for the biggest game of all they did not turn and it is inexcusable. First things first, they must stay up, but a veil has been lifted and the fuzziness provided by Europe has gone. This has been an awful season and they are on the back foot.

[Happy Face 29]

 

Based on Premier league results only, no cup games or second tier

[Happy Face 29]

Not sure if Pardew STILL doing better with a team fresh out the championship than Dalglish did with a team that had just been chasing the title says more about one or the other.

[Monroe Transfer 0]

This has been one of the worst seasons ever, to say the very least. Thoroughly hated it.

 

Only Newcastle could go from challenging for a top 4 place to fighting relegation (with, aside from Ba for half the season, the same squad) in the space of a season.

[aimaad22 4222]

somebody please change the 'feared on wearside' description from the thread title

[DubiousBobcat 0]

This has been one of the worst seasons ever, to say the very least. Thoroughly hated it.

 

Only Newcastle could go from challenging for a top 4 place to fighting relegation (with, aside from Ba for half the season, the same squad) in the space of a season.

 

Totally agree on this. Only Newcastle could be so random. I've actually got to the point now this season that when we lose, it doesn't even hurt anymore. I just laugh, call them a bunch of overpaid twats and move onto the next instalment of this crap season. I had to do a double take today that May is fast approaching and for once i thought "thank fuck for that". I can't wait for this season to end. The manager doesn't excite me and the players don't excite me (Ben Arfa aside). I'm more excited about the snooker for the next 2 weeks so go figure!

Edited April 17, 2013 by DubiousBobcat

[Happy Face 29]

Except that it's been seen time and time again that a newly promoted team have a good season and them sink without trace.

[Christmas Tree 4831]

 

 

Totally agree on this. Only Newcastle could be so random. I've actually got to the point now this season that when we lose, it doesn't even hurt anymore. I just laugh, call them a bunch of overpaid twats and move onto the next instalment of this crap season. I had to do a double take today that May is fast approaching and for once i thought "thank fuck for that". I can't wait for this season to end. The manager doesn't excite me and the players don't excite me (Ben Arfa aside). I'm more excited about the snooker for the next 2 weeks so go figure!

 

Pretty much how I feel bar the snooker. Only a dramatic change in style or effort against West Brom will have me turning up for the last two home matches and only a change of manager will have me back next season.