Mentioned this on another thread Pardew is not Mr Popular. Just seem to tolerate him while they are winning. If they slip further he could face some real dissent from the fans. Let's hope that begins on Saturday!
I think the problem with our pressing is that we can press high up the pitch, but if the ball is shifted into our half quickly or we lose the ball around the half-way line there can be a lot of open space between their player on the ball and our centre-backs, with only Cork and/or Schneiderlin to fill it. Then you have the problem that our full-backs are often high up the pitch, and Cork and Schneiderlin can be caught ahead of the ball, and so there can be a lot of open space and not a lot of our players to fill it. There were several times against QPR where Taarabt was able to run at the defence, we didn't get punished for it in the end but it was a danger, their only real danger. We can press teams well at times, but sometimes there's not enough balance and we can get caught short, at which stage it becomes not about pressing but just about trying to protect. If we let Ben Arfa receive the ball and turn in field and run without covering him well we could have trouble, the same that Taarabt, Mulumbu, Fellaini etc. caused us. We'll need some good discipline to nullify that threat, would like to see Schneiderlin play very defensively, always behind the ball and be regularly on hand to aid Shaw.
He was a legend last year, that relationship seems to of soured quickly due to their season so far, and controversy with their formation and team selection. Hopefully the players don't like him either and they play like QPR did on Saturday!
I thought our players handled Taarabt quite well actually, he had a lot of dribbles but didn't manage to really do anything with it. He had one shot from wide and one from distance and that's it. Hopefully Ben Arfa is in for similar treatment (although Ben Arfa is better than Taarabt in my opinion). You're right about us being vulnerable on the break though. Our quick passing in midfield is very nice but it's proven quite risky at times and our midfielders have been caught ahead of the ball quite a lot this season. Cockney mafia innit! They love him when they're winning but they won't forget he's not one of them.
We dealt with him well in that he had no end product most of the time (although you could label the blame for that on QPR rather than praise our players, if you want to be harsh), although he did get an assist, but not in bottling him up and not allowing him time to run and dribble in dangerous positions, there were certainly a few times in the first half where he was in very dangerous positions, running at the defence or through the defence, but just did nothing with it. And like you say, Ben Arfa is undoubtedly a better player and may well do something in those positions. Think it's something we'll need to be aware of and plan for.
