View from the opposition

Whenever weve played against Newcastle,it's generally a given that its going to be a tough game where no quarter is asked or given.

The insipid tacticless performance last night was frankly dreadful
I've no idea what formation or what instruction Pardew gave to the players to stop City playing as the evident general disinterest from the majority of them gave no clue to any tactics.
There are many examples how to play at City,from Sunderland to Southampton or any Champions league team that's visited.Close us down,give us no time on the ball and show desire and commitment. It's not always enough but as an opposition supporter I'm sure that you'd take a defeat if they'd given everything.Some of them gave very very little

The dreadful fullback who didn't want to be there to Cisse who couldn't be arsed to make any runs or find space,the petulant Taylor who was dire didn't deserve to be on the same field as the excellent Krul or Ben Arfa who always wanted the ball or the young lad who came on just before the break and looks bright & promising.

It will be a long season if this becomes the norm,getting points away at the top clubs won't define the destiny of the season but unless the players on the park can replicate anything close to the passion and commitment shown by the lads & lasses in black & white packed behind the goal and stayed to the bitter end,then the relief of escaping the drop last season may well be short lived

Sorry for the doom but Its honest and as I saw it,rightly or wrongly

 

Sounds about right! That's why so many people on here are so upset. It's not the getting beat part, it's the manner in which it happens. You are right, and it's the way to play all the best teams - close them down and give them no time on the ball. Tactically, that's a gimme - everyone knows that, yet we did not even attempt to do it! (Much the same as last season, unfortunately!) I take it the 'dreadful fullback' you refer to is Debuchy? - I've seen enough of him to say he's not good enough! (Simpson was better!!!)

 

It's seems to be the way Pardew views big games against big teams, don't bother lads we are going to get a beating.
Couldn't believe we got rid of both Simpson and Perch both lads usually gave 100%.

 

Do we have a team for the West Ham game?Jonas,Saylor,Cabaye(?),Remy,Santon will be missing unless some will be back,no loss on Jonas,Saylor though!

 

Williamson will be back at centre half and of course we have the Ameobi's to fall back on

 

We have a bench with both Ameobi's on. That sums it all up.

 

No loss on Taylor as far as I'm concerned - has been poor for a while now and last night that sending off was stupid. Get Colo and MYM as the back 2 and stick with them all season.

Dummett looked great if you ask me - was very impressed.

The thing I was most annoyed about was the formation - the standard 4-4-2 - couldn't see the point in it - not defensive enough to keep man city out, not attacking enough to take the game too them. Pointless.

 

Going to be stuck with Sammy for the next ten years just like Shola.

 

I don't think we're very good. You have hit the nail on the head. It matters not how you prepare a team or formation you ask them to play if their heart is not in it. They just didn't fancy it and didn't really believe. You can blame the manager so far, but at some point the players have to shoulder some responsibility. The only good thing to come out of last night was Paul Dummett.

 

Dummett to LB and Santon to RB for the next game could work well. I knew when they announced Cabaye was refusing to play that it was going to be a rough night. Now if we don't get a result against West Ham i expect all hell to break loose.

 

Certainly players are not performing to the levels you would expect of them. HBA, Colo and Krul have proven they can more than cut it in the Prem... If they can stay fit. Of the rest, Sissoko, Mbiwa, Santon, Anita, Gouff and Marv have shown that they should have what it takes to make good Prem players. Cisse and Tiote need to get back to the best we've seen from them, but I'm starting to wonder if they ever will. Dummett looks promising. Debuchy looks very poor but may be able to turn that around - see Colo's first 12 months.

The players certainly need to be held accountable however the managers input in team performances through weekly preparation, game day tactics and general football philosophy cannot be underestimated. If the players don't like Pardew and/or the style he wants them to play... Well, we wouldn't be the first team to suffer from the resultant sulks and half-hearted efforts that all too often seem to result from that kind of situation.

 

Nail on head there. I have to say it looks like Pardew has lost the respect and confidence of his players, and he doesn't seem to have the creativity or ingenuity to change things (or, on the other hand, the downright ruthlessness to just bulldoze over them). You can imagine the team turning up for last week's paintball session thinking "we need to train hard, we don't need more curry nights and bridge building exercises".

 

On the plus side you can probably look forward to seeing Taylors terrible dress sense while he do the rounds on MOTD and Sky as a "pundit" got sod all else to do until the 21 September.

 

The words Pardew and tactics should never be uttered together again.

JFK thinks tactics are little mints in a plastic box.

 

Pardew is a joke, his tactic is don't close them down, we never closed down teams last season.

 

He comes across a smug ****er too.
Burn him... Burn him good....

 

Quite possibly. I personally I find that a bit unprofessional. I've disliked loads of my managers at works and in teams I've played in. However when I walked into work or crossed the white line, I still tried my best. It is a culture of being sackless wonders for me. Don't get me wrong I've played with and worked with people who have that same unprofessional attitude. Hated them for it. I can't say I've been in a team on a pitch or at work though where it was 75% of the ****s!

Someone pointed out the Rooney comparison with Cabaye last night. Rooney has been a little **** with Man U over the last couple of years. However he has still rocked up and give his all, fought for his teammates. These ****ers have hearts like split peas. You can get a new manager in, you might get a honeymoon period, but at some point you'll face a tough period. These ****ers don't have the cojones to deal with adversity.

 

No arguments that it's unprofessional. However I think there have been plenty of occasions when it has been said of a manager that they have 'lost the dresssing room' when the majority of a team are lacking respect for playing style/decision/everything to do with that individual.

As for Cabaye, forget Rooney - we should compare him with Peter Lovenkrands who chose to play for us against West Brom after his father had died. He played that match, performed well and scored. He said the following after the match:

“It was a difficult decision to play, but one that I wanted to make for my father who was a big football fan,”

“I’d like to dedicate that goal to him.”


I think that is the only comparison that we need make regarding Cabaye and his poor wee head not being right.

 

Aye and we admired Lovenkrands for that. In fact we generally admired him for his work ethic. He may not have been the best striker ever but he tried which is something.

We need triers in this team. Another not great player but one who really ran himself into the ground was Scott Parker. Who can forget him throwing up on the side of the pitch from sheer effort? Great bloke and I really wish that we had more of them here.

 

It's fascinating to read the view of opposition fans.

You're not wrong either, sadly.