Pardew's tactics- my thoughts on the game

Pard demeanour in games is looking more and more worrying, he looked as scared as i felt of a loss. Shuda been giving em a full on rolicking at HT but something tells me he didn't. Sorry to say it but English players turn up for a derby, a team full of French players don't

 

Got slagged off by a Mackem on our board for saying this but Sunderland just got lucky.You had nearly all the play just like we did against Cardiff.

 

French players, don't enjoy nor understand that niggly (****ing dreadful) type of English football, which is always on show in our derby. Derby's being technically speaking, the worse games of football you'll see all year bar the Manchester Derby.

When the game was over all I could say was "Now our season can resume." Because while we lack a lot of more physical players we will lose every derby, and most definitely conceding in the first half is almost a certainty. When Sunderland where fired up, they swarmed almost every player on the ball with atleast four guys. Our French players who are pretty much still fresh off the boat, have not experienced it nor will ever enjoy it. And when Sunderland play like that, you get our lot hacking down everyone in front of them and picking fights. That's how they think they SHOULD respond to the derby environment.

So is it Pardews fault? No. Well not specifically anyway. Does he deserve to be sacked for it? Insanity to even suggest that, I mean look at last season. If we didn't sack him for that, and even some people supported him then how can we justify sacking him now? We'd look a laughing stock. (and right now we're retaining some dignity.)

We can't sack Pardew now, because we should of sacked him half a season ago. And brought in, GUS POYET. That is all.

 

Let's stop this French players BS. Debuchy can't be accused of shirking it, and I thought Tiote put in one of his better performances, albeit making mistakes near the end due to fatigue (he was essentially running that midfield by himself).

Let's face it - if that Shola shot goes in and we win the game, everyone would be saying how we controlled large parts of the game, Sunderland as per usual had a strong first half but faded badly in the second. The game looked to be petering out to a draw but one moment of slackness from us and one of brilliance from them won it. That's all. I really don't see how people can keep trotting out 'they wanted it more' and played with more 'passion'. I didn't see Sunderland's 'mostly British team' pulling up trees against every other team they've faced this season.

Now I'll be the first to admit if we're shockingly bad. The 0-3 derby showed a disgusting lack of effort. I didn't see that so much yesterday. Some anonymous performances yes, but a few of those can be put down to Pardew's awful tactics to a large extent. In front of our back 4 I never know what the **** is going on.

 

Sorry but these foreign players fail to show the collective commitment on a consistent basis. Pardew wasn't blameless, but the key factor in the defeat was undoubtedly players lacking cojones.

 

I would still have said we looked a gash and got lucky, we could have got 3 lucky goals and i would still have said that, we barely built one reasonable attack whereas a team with one point managed it.
And they performed in this 'one' game because they're up for the derby, just like last season. They came in with the right mentality, we didn't.
I honestly think it wouldn't matter what formation pards tried we would still have spent most of our possession on Tiote doing his scott parker turns as we got utterly scared by Sunderland having 2 or 3 pressing our defenders whenever we had the ball

 

Everyone who said they performed because it was a derby game obviously didn't see the Sunderland-Man Utd game. For large parts it followed the exact same pattern. They came out the blocks faster, got the early goal, chased everything first half, almost got a second. Then the second half they faded badly, Man Utd got the equalizer, and their heads started to drop. The difference this time however was that we did not have the cutting edge or creative spark (talent is probably the word I'm looking for) to get the second as Man Utd did, which surely would have knocked the stuffing right out of Sunderland. They were there for the taking prior to that, but as per usual we ****ed it up for a variety of reasons, as most of us suspected we would.

 

The main reason was Cisse, or a lack thereof a better option. If we'd been able to bring on RvP, we'd have won that. That's not Pardew's fault.

It's very difficult to keep playing a decent passing game when your talentless opponents are tearing after you as though their lives depended on it.

 

YES! Somebody talking sense.

I am SO tired of the "Pardew's Gotta Go" mantra. Does anybody really think it's that simple? That we just change the manager and players who clearly don't give a rat's patootie will suddenly play like Messi out of love for the new manager?

When are the players going to be held accountable for their own performances? These are not children. They are professionals being ridiculously overpaid to do a job. Do they really have to depend on a manager to make them do their job properly?

How much do you think Sissoko cares about the derby? Gouffran? Remy, who doesn't even know WHERE he wants to be, let alone why? And even Benny who seems more interested in lazily pursuing his own moments of glory rather than putting the team first.

I know many would disagree, but I would rather have Jonas running his little butt off and throwing himself on the flames for Newcastle than Benny's half-hearted, uncommitted technical superiority. Coloccini and Krul make mistakes and have their off days, but I never doubt for a moment that either of them would crawl over broken glass to get a win for the team. Colo's wife and kids are in another hemisphere, but even with the "personal problems" of last season, he will certainly break more bones if that's what it takes. Cisse, on the other hand, appears so uncommitted that he will avoid any body contact for fear that he might break a nail. Lovely man that he is, I do not want to see him play for Newcastle again.

And the people who tweet “Defending was shocking – Pardew’s gotta go”. Er, did anyone honestly think that we had a hope in heck once we knew Colo was out? Did they think that Dummett and Williamson could successfully defend against Wolverhampton Under 8s let alone a desperate and hungry Sunderland? I have no strong opinions about Pardew one way or the other, but it seems hugely naïve to assume that he can produce imaginary players from a squad which is so deficient and lacklustre for most of the time. He’s criticised for using Cisse, for using Shola, for using Gouffran, for using Sammy, for using…..just who is he supposed to use to get all those goals we expect?

I have to agree with the person who said “Pardew is being hung out to dry”. He works for a boss and the boss calls the shots. It is Mr Ashley who has the final say on how much money is spent on which players. Bringing in Kinnear, and now putting Pardew in the awful situation of facing the press while having to refuse to speak to certain journalists suggests to me that Mr Ashley is making things as difficult as possible for him. Ashley doesn't have to face the fans. He doesn't have to face a hostile media. He doesn't have to be subjected to abuse week after week. He's sitting somewhere in his comfy chair, pie in each hand, dreaming about his Scrooge McDuck money bin. Nothing is going to change at NUFC unless he wants it to change. Do the "Pardew's Gotta Go" brigade really think Pardew's in charge?

This is not meant to be a defence of Pardew -- more a criticism of the overly simplistic attitude of so many who hang all the problems of a club around the neck of the manager (and I mean any club, not just NUFC). Surely it must be acknowledged that the owner plays a huge role here. If he's not willing to change the recruitment policy/ cough up the cash, no amount of manager-changing will fix things.

In the meantime, can we start expecting the players to take at least some responsibility for the job they do?

 

You could say that it's up to the manager to make sure that the players do care a rat's patootie.

 

Please post more Sandra we need more ladies.

 

That is the best job application I've ever seen and on behalf of Warm Pouch and myself I can confirm that you have been successful and subsequently appointed PR officer of the St Alan Pardew Appreciation Society.

 

Finally got the money for the operation, eh, Hacky?


Jokes aside, fine post. There is a further level, however, in that getting rid of this owner is impossible without £250m available. So what we need to do is understand our position as a club, accept it and - for the love of God - try and enjoy it.

Last January, I didn't see any complaints when Debuchy, MYM and Sissoko turned up. I didn't see many people moaning when Sissoko hammered home the winner vs Chelsea, certainly the transfer policy wasn't being derided then. HOWEVER a few in the media, like Gary Neville, questioned the purchases from France and whether they'd work out. They haven't, really, at the level we wanted. But hindsights a wonderful thing - I don't think it's fair or right that we organise protests when the club invested around £20m for the calendar year Jan-Dec. Take out the mega rich and you'll be lucky to find any club spending more. I even pointed out that Spurs NET spend is around £500k, whereas we sold nobody of note when spending. I work with a Coventry City fan who finds Newcastle fans' complaints at being a lowly 11th in the top flight laughable. This is a club that averages 27 people for home matches, because they can't play in Coventry, at their own stadium.

I don't know, I could go on and on and on. I just think that too many fans are a victim of over-exposure and no longer get simple pleasure from football.

 

Go on you old smoothie, get in while the iron's hot.

 

Choo choo all aboard the reality train! Post more Sandra, your t-shirt is in the post. Really though is where we are.

Jim - This adds credence to our society, we now have a lady on board. Diversity and all that. Don't suppose you're black?

 

Alan gave me the money, said he got it off Mike for his continuing good work in carrying out his evil plan.

 

One point I will make is OK, MAYBE we weren't bang up for the game, but if I was a Sunderland fan I'd be more concerned that their players can only seem to get themselves up for a derby. If they showed that kind of commitment every game they sure as hell wouldn't be as far down the table as they are now. But they don't and next game they could well be back to their usual "gutless" selves (to quote the mirror). One ragged derby win hasn't solved their issues. I'd rather be in our situation than theirs that's for sure.

Maybe that shows I have a lack of ambition in terms of where I want us to be. Yeah I'd love us to win the league and everything, but for what the club is right now we're not doing that bad. It'll be a frustrating Souness/Roeder type of season, inconsistent, some decent performances and some bad. It's just how we are and I doubt that'll change anytime soon.

 

We're getting inconsistent performances from the players but one of the main reasons for this that they're receiving inconsistent management and instructions.

I touched upon it in another thread but Ben Arfa has played LM, RM, Number 10, RW & LW (of a front three) and as a "False 9". Ben Arfa didn't play against Cardiff, so in 8 matches he's occuppied 6 different positions. I know he is both lazy and greedy at times but how is he meant to produce consistent performances when he's given different instructions on a near every game basis???

You then have Sissoko who is the single most lazy player I've witnessed in a Newcastle shirt. However in hsi defence (if there is one) he's been played as a winger, a defensive midfielder and a number 10 so is it really that surprising that he's not producing the goods? Granted only three different positions, but he's never been a winger and never will be. It's not like he's been asked to paly in three different positions over the course of a season or due to injuries. We're a quarter of the way through and Pardew hasn't even got close to indentifying how he wants us to play and who's best position is where.

Cabaye is another, one week he's sitting deep and the following week he's told to push on and support the front man. Anita another, played consistenly well, got three solid 7/10 performances in a row and is dropped for no reason. Would you want to play for a manager that treats you like that? Hardly great man management.

Gouffran & Remy, one week Remy is on the left, next week he's up front. Gouffran is on the right one week, the next game on the left and then he's pushed up top every now and then too. Some examples of what consistency can achieve, Baines & Pienaar, Neville & Beckham, Harte & Kewell (when at Leeds), Enrique & Jonas, Beresford & Ginola, Hughes & Solano etc etc etc etc. You get the picture. Neither Debuchy or Santon (for all there flaws) have had any opportunity to built up any kind of relationship or understanding with a wide player for us as the wide player changes on a game by game basis.

Sissoko, Tiote & Cabaye look unbalanced as Sissoko and Cabaye keep being rotated as to who sits and who supports etc.

It sounds like I'm getting at Pardew here, which I am I guess but don't mistake this for me not attaching a fair proportion of the blame in the direction of the players. I'm just saying, inconsistent team selections and formations will make for inconsistent performances. It's not rocket science.

 

Surely you can see though if you don't buy players who understand football in this country you also get inconsistency. I've never seen a better advert to understand what is wrong with our transfer policy than yesterday. I realise it isn't going to change so it is pointless moaning about it but just signing a british spine like we had in days gone by would completely alter the consistency of this team.

 

I both agree and disagree. If we had the likes of Barton, Nolan & Carroll back etc then we'd have more fight. But if one week Joey was on the wing, and then put at DM the next week, and for the third match asked to play off the striker then no you wouldn't get consistency from him.

We'd get a bit more fight and spirit, but our performances would still be disjointed and lacking any sort of cohesion as it's impossible to be consistently good at any job in life if you are being asked to do things in a different way every time you go to work.