Long Ball...

We average 77 long balls every game, the most in the league and 10 more than Stoke's 67 average who are 2nd in the "long ball table".

More unpleasant reading...

 

****ing disgusting. When you factor in that we don't have a traditional long ball centre forward it is even more amazing/depressing, just giving the gift of possession to the opposition.

 

Yeah, as you said if we had Carroll up top and Nolan playing off him you could understand it, but we don't...what we do have is two exceptionally technical CF's who can have the ball played in to feet or in behind to run on to. You then have to factor the fact that we have two of the most gifted and creative midfielder's in the league in Cabaye and Ben Arfa and it just makes no sense as to why Pardew would have us playing this way.

So frustrating to watch, I know Cisse is out of sorts but I can't remember him have more than 1 clear cut chance created for him this season.

 

That's Pardew for you. I happily settled for it in league one, because it won us a load of matches and got Lambert a load of goals.

But had we not been winning the matches, I wouldn't have been so forgiving. Much, much prefer the football we now play under Adkins (even if we have been slightly more direct than usual this season).

Good luck for the rest of the season.

 

I hate play hoofball. And whats even worse about it is that its normally Williamson who's booting it forward, and he can't pass for ****e. But i do think we play more long balls because our midfield are doing nothing to come to the defence and get the ball. I'm blaming our formation if we played 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 we would have two deep lying midfielders and there job should be to get the ball of the defence before Mike thinks hes David Beckham and hits a 40 yard pass to there left back.

 

We miss Coloccini. When he's playing, he plays good, sexual passes from the defence to the attack.

We need a ball player from the back, and we need Colo.

 

Yeah we're so much better in a 4-2-3-1 because it also benefits Tiote, it means he has some help in there so he doesn't have to pick up as many bookings for desperate tackles to prevent breakaways etc.

 

exactly, i know its hard when we have got the players that suit this formation the most out injured, but tbh the way we're playing can't get much worse can it.

 

I'd like to see stats on who plays more long balls - Taylor or Williamson, I think a few would be surprised!

 

I really feel for cisse this season outsiders will look at it and think he's flopped. But we actually create nothing for him all I can remember is the half chance he had at Everton away. We've got some of the most gifted players I've seen at Newcastle for a long time and were not using them right surely ? It's such a waste

 

Completely this...buck stops at the manager for me which is why I want him gone.

I get that teams have to play to their strengths and therefore Stoke, Bolton etc play direct, even Everton go long to Fellaini a lot of the time but it simply doesn't suit the players we have and yet he continues to persist with this style of play.

 

Did we create much last season though? I'm fairly sure we were very low on chance creation last season as well, we just had strikers who had massively high chance conversion!

 

I said this the other day. Ba is missing by inches all the chances that were going in for both of our strikers last year. Also 4-2-3-1 is ****e because it's just basically a 4-4-1-1, 4-3-3 is clearly the best formation for us.

 

The chickens really have come to roost this season for us. Last season we were 3rd in the long ball stakes, and were poor in a lot of games, but won due to moments of unreal genius. Cisse, when in the Bundesliga, was the most offside player in the division and had a very low chance conversion rate. Last season he completely defied this, but now were seeing more of the 'real' Cisse, statistically at least, but were not creating anything like the amount of chances he had in a team that was built around him.

Long ball has been an issue since Pardew arrived, but just like our inability to defend or take set pieces, our woeful crossing and how easy it is for quick strikers to get in behind us, several moments of genius papered over the cracks last season. In no way do I want Pardew out, but we need to improve, big style across the board, and quickly.

 

This abomination of a game , I really bought into the long ball theory. For once, I really am appalled at the aimless long balls that we launched THE ENTIRE GAME. **** off Pardew, seriously what the ****? And his picks for team? I'd really have played Obertan over Sammy( and maybe Fergie ), If I were Overran, I'd be bloody pissed I'm not ahead of Sammy.

 

hate the long ball.

 

How many long balls can be squeezed in to 8 years then?

 

using the current average of 77 long balls a game, 38 league matches a season... so that's 2926.

multiplied by 8 gives us 23408 in league games alone, so feel free to add a few hundred more for cup games.

 

On yesterday's evidence, I thought Pardew had told your team to knock some high balls into the box cos Saints' CBs are suspect at this level. For the first few games of the season, this would have been true, and a reasonable tactic.

Yesterday, Fonte and Yoshida won everything in the air. Also, I thought Demba Ba looked dangerous yesterday, but our CBs stayed tight on him, something else they haven't been doing up to now. If you'd played us a month ago, we'd have been 2 nil down after twenty minutes.

 

In interviews Pardew always comes out with "we arent passing the ball well", well stop the long balls then your the manager, sort it out.