Cabaye and Demba Ba... Cabaye pulls all the strings (amazing signing for 6mil -ish). And Demba Ba is a good poacher. Also they seem to have a consistent back 4 that play week in week out and work well as a unit - Krul is a decent keeper too. To be fair on Newcastle they look a very good outfit this season.
They have been excellent all season. Solid in defence, brought some good players (Ba & Cabaye) and are good going forward.
You see this is what's pissing me off right now. OK, we have our issues which still need to be ironed out, but we're a far better outfit than last season, yet here we are chasing the likes of bloody Newcastle and Spurs. And don't get me started on citeh! It's just not bloody fair!
Tiote in there aswell Sky protecting the back four. Pardew seems to has built up a great team spirit there where all the players are playing for each other rather than having 11 over paid primadonas - it will be interesting to see how this spirit serves them once they lose a game or two though but fair play to them so far.
2-0 up now! Demba Ba with his second of the game and his seventh of the season. Not bad for a free signing...
Yeah Tiote is vital to them. Although he's not playing tonight, usually he's a major part. He's basically their Lucas, just not quite as good.
If the score stays as it is, they will be 3rd in the league. 3 points ahead of Chelsea with the same goal difference. They will only be 1 point behind United! I bet nobody saw this happening at the start of the season...
They've probably had the best list of fixtures so far. The hardest game of their season is probably tonights v Stoke and possibly Spurs. So fay they've played Arsenal (when they were terrible), Sunderland, Fulham, QPR, Villa, Blackburn, Wolves, Spurs, Wigan. QPR, Blackburn, Wolves, Wigan all going to be fighting to avoid relegation and Villa, Fulham & Sunderland all mid table teams.
Krul deserves a mention too, as do Collocini and Steven Taylor. Pardew's assembled a team of good players, for the most part, who are all playing out of their skin for him. There don't seem to be any egos damaging the team spirit and they all put in a real shift in every game. Considering that most people, including me, thought that he'd flop miserably when he joined them, I think that he deserves a lot of credit for their start. Squad depth could cost them in the long run though, as could the January window.
That's true - but also there aren't any easy fixtures in the EPL. Be interesting to see how they cope with their next few fixtures, think they've got Man Utd, Man City and Chelsea coming up soon.
This - I too was suprised when they appointed him and thought he would flop but he's done really well - so far.
They'll lose Tiote for the African Nations too, though they seem to be dealing with Stoke pretty well without him.
You can only beat what is put in front of you... And they should be full of confidence when they play teams like Chelsea, Liverpool etc. I think everyone was stunned when Hughton was sacked and replaced by Pardew and after the sales of Barton, Nolan and Enrique, many people, including me, thought they might struggle. However, Pardew has brought well (Cabaye looks a steal at £5M) and they have the base of a very good team. I fear they may struggle in January when Tiote and Ba go to the African Cup Of Nations.
What's annoying me right this minute is Stoke didn't play this **** against us! You can't rely on anyone these days, can you?
Also the first few games of the season Tiote was terrible and they done fine. Some fans blame Ramadan on his poor form back then, I'm not so sure.
