Long Ball...

Well said, that lady.

 

Hi AB not a happy journey for you yesterday.

 

I disagree, i remember a home game against norwich this season where he had a penalty and about 3 clear cut chances that he didn't put away, but i do agree that in the last 5 or 6 matches we have created next to nothing so he can't be blamed for those games...

 

Is Alan Pardew asking his players to hoof it long? No. In a training match, is the NUFC 'B' midfield closing down with the intensity of Premier League opposition? No. Is Anita used to the Premier League? No. Is Williamson/Simpson/Taylor good enough for this passing game, out of defence? No.

My problem runs deeper, though - it's all got a bit "why bother?". I mean, why qualify for Europe if it doesn't strengthen your transfer hand? If all it is, is a drain on your resources, then why qualify in the first place? We might as well aim for 17th every season, because our owner won't invest anywhere near enough to aim for 4th. But then you go further and think 'why bother with football at all', if you can't strive for European qualification? We don't have a team capable of winning a cup, capable of competing in Europe, nor does our owner want to invest in football as he's dead set on somehow running it as a business.

 

Are the long balls a symptom of our teams shape and predictability in midfield. We lack the experienced older head in the team to act as a calming influence and set the tempo - this is the problem with only signing players under 25. Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea all have players that are experienced either at the back or in midfiled that set the tempo for their team, when Colo is missing we lack this and play hoof ball.

 

To be fair we weren't long ball last season and Pardew doesn't want to play that way. Saylor and particularly Willo are regularly guilty. But to be honest Krul is the worst. Colo will bring some calm and get us playing properly again. Him, Tiote ans Cabaye have yet to play 90 mins together this season. That is where our mojo has gone for me

At some stage players also have to take some responsibility

 

Krul is shocking at times, he hoofs the ball out without purpose or direction, (after holding on to it for way too long) if he would just remember to bowl it out to someone occasionally, preferably to the player who is screaming for it, wonder if Monty Panesar could give him a few tips.

 

In my opinion it's naive to think Pardew doesn't want us to play that way, when we win a free kick on the half way line it gets lumped in to the box 99 times out of 100, this must be an instruction from Pardew, if it's not it would be easy for him to get the team to NOT do this.

Also two players (Saylor & Williamson) shouldn't automatically mean we play the MOST long balls in the league, it may add to the total of long balls we play by having those two at CB but if our tactic/philosophy wasn't long ball these two wouldn't automatically put us top of that particular league. For instance if those two were the CB pairing for City, Chelsea, Man Utd, Arsenal, even Wigan etc then none of those teams would even be close to being in the top five teams for the most long balls.

We played long ball in the games when only Tiote was out (when Colo & Cabaye were fit), just because one player is missing it shouldn't affect our whole game plan. For me Williamson and Taylor don't do us any favours when it comes to wanting to keep the ball on the ground, but it's definitely an instruction from Pardew for me.

If he didn't want them hoofing it he'd have them working on that aspect of their game day in, day out, and we'd see gradual improvement in that area of their/our game. However as we've seen zero improvement in this area, I can only assume that firstly Pardew isn't working with them on this in training, and secondly that he's not working on this with them because he favours the long ball tactic.

 

I was loving this today after our pathetic show and Vettel yesterday. Swanny, Monty, KP and Cooky were fantastic. KP even managed to be humble. Strange times.

 

Anything but happy for more reasons than one.

 

I'd agree our dead balls are shocking and he must ask them to play percentages there. But since he came in we've passed the ball a lot better and more than we are at present. A lot of it of course is confidence, there is a "someone else have it mentality" at present. It takes strong characters and senior players to snap you out of that. A manager isn't on the pitch, he can tell them till he is blue in the face but they have to do it and replicate training. I think we're getting hustled a lot at present and wonder if the training intensity has been lowered because we're a bit thin on the ground? The lack of fluency otherwise is simply down to constant changes week in week out. Its obvious to me we lack depth pf quality and I'd be interested to know how many times we have field the same league team two games in a row. As we found last season it gives you a solid base to work from.

I disagree on Saylor and Willo, definitely not an instruction from Pardew for me. I think one is panic and one struggles when Colo is not there, always has done. I also disagree massively its easy to stop. Football doesn't work like that in my opinion but each to their own. Its a very easy trap to fall into not playing out from the back. It comes from taking the safe option due to fear. Pardews job is to get that belief back in there with the help of the senior players and coaching staff.

I get why fans see it like this but I've played in good footballing teams who have got in a tough trot and its fecking bizarre how hard it can be to snap it. When you do manage to you end up thinking "what the **** was all that about?"

 

To be fair although me and you disagree on pretty much a daily basis at the moment mate , have to say you do always present a decent counter argument and it makes for a good read (for me anyway, can't vouch for everyone else)

 

Excellent, I've found the cricket thread

 

How long before Katmandu arrives to say "I ****ing hate cricket, its boring. Corkers are ****. Stumps smell."

 

I think we're clear for the evening, Newcastle aren't getting humped tonight
Bloody good show from the chaps over the last 5 days, excellent comeback when the whitewash looked assured!

Liked Cook's tactic of constantly smashing the silly point fielder out of the game... Pardew should just get Tiote thundering balls off Peter Crouch until he's too broken to continue!

 

Paid dividends didn't it, Pujara wasn't the same 2nd innings. He truly did bat them out of the game

As you know I'm all for bendings the rules in sport..............damn you Massa

 

With EVERY fibre of our bitter beings until the end of time!!!

Or until we forget... Either or...

 

Source?

Sauce?



<boredwithpardewbashing>

 

To be fair, the source they're using actually states a long ball is any pass over 25 yards in length... While that is a lot, direct teams are going to play balls of 25 yards every move because it's called a cross...

If you manipulated the stats by saying a long ball was 45 yards or more, it might be more revealing. I still think we've been too long ball this season, but we've also been **** passing it around ourselves over 5 yards...

 

We're scared ****less of the ball full stop at the minute.