I don't know - I don't really know what we should be aiming for anymore. We have proven that a Europa League finish is - apparently - nothing more than a catalyst for relegation, and there's less and less chance of getting anywhere near 4th, so what's it about? Is every year going to be a race to 40 points and fingers crossed for the cup? Just seems a little aimless. I think the most underwhelming thing about this season has been the lack of ambition from the board upon actually getting into Europe and the woeful exposure of Pardew as a 2nd rate manager, yet 1st rate bullshtter. It's been quite a giddy sense of underachievement but it's the lack of honesty that has left me coldest. Claims that we were tired after a few extra games in Europe are the main culprit here, which throw up so many questions that remain unanswered;
- We would often play between 3 and 8 different players on a Thursday, were they really that tired?
- Did the abysmal failure in the two domestic competitions not help compensate for the dozen or so extra games we had to play?
- There was no correlation between playing Thursday and failing Sunday; we fcked up just as many games over Xmas.
It doesn't really stack up. There's the great raft of unsolved mysteries that will plague us until Pardew finally leaves - why is Gouffran subbed every match? why is Shola brought on at all? where is Marveaux? where's Coloccini? why is Sissoko playing a role in which he's done well ONCE? why is Cabaye asked to play an offensive role from our own 30 yard line? why was Cisse sacrificed for the first half of the season? why was he out of position? why is Jonas playing at all, let alone left back? why do we have such an endless stream of injuries?
Do you know something - it all seems very similar to the man I consider to be the worst in recent memory...Graeme Souness. He loved **** football, remember he was always about "players win matches, not tactics", remember the endless hamstring injuries we used to get with him in charge? It's that all over again. Even Pardew's start is similar - underwhelming background, replaces man who has essentially done well for the club. Not quite on the same scale, mind, but parity can be drawn. There's one other thing that I find frustratingly similar - tomorrow is always a brighter day with both, and neither accepts what is going on in the here and now. With Pardew, the 1st half of the year it was about Ba's clause, then it was about Europe, then it was about injuries, then it was about the lack of investment. Blame, blame, blame. Into this year he was allowed to bring in 5 players in January, but still the excuses rolled out - Europe again, tiredness, Coloccini's situation, and so on. Yet still the performances have remained almost identical, the set-plays, the substitutions, the bad positioning of his players and so on. How long before Cabaye openly complains about his role in the team? How long before people like Santon, Ben Arfa and Marveaux get plain frustrated with a lack of clear plan. It was Sourmess who said that NUFC were always one or two games away from a crisis, but the problem has been people like him who seek to point the blame out. Were we so perilous under SBR, or KK's first stint? Or has it just been every twot, dick and larry in between has had the same flavour of arrogance that means somehow it's someone else's fault?
We need a change in direction and the only proviso I would make for a new manager is this - humility. But here's the kicker - we have the most arrogant (bar Roman) owner in the league. And so the chance of him admitting he's made a mistake in Pards? None. There is no way this manager is leaving this side of Xmas and even then we'd have to be floundering for him to get the boot. And so comes the apathy we always associate with NUFC - we all see the need for change, but just won't get it. In an ideal world, Pardew would shake it up, move those players around, accept he's made mistakes, sell Shola, or whatever. I'd love the stability, the man seems to care what happens. But as has always been the problem, it's not about caring or standing by your beliefs - it's about being man enough to accept they may be wrong and man enough to do something about yourself, not worry about those around you.
