Newcastle United v Stoke City - Official Matchday / Buildup Thread

I was so pleased that Cisse scored in added time
especially when you had seen how long it took for Stoke's Jerome to get off the pitch
despite the ref pushing him along, he still walked off slowly
just pleased that his efforts for wasting time wasn't dismised by the ref

 

One thing different about the tramp in a track suit (Pulis) today, he seemed to have had his track suit dry cleaned.

 

Looks like he nicked one in Toon colours to try and blend in.

 

Loving Pards sticking it right up Boa! Boom.

 

He must try harder!

 

I think Pardew deserves enormous credit for another tactical masterclass.

Many managers would have shaved a beard off in the early growth stages especially when it's quite obvious that there are areas on the face that don't produce a thick enough covering to get uniformity across the face and chin( the flanks/sideburns being the main areas of weakness ).

Whilst against Anzi it was obvious he'd adopted the Spanish approach by growing a beard overnight, there were one or two grey areas which were very apparent in an otherwise good attempt at this tactic. Pardew didn't panic, he knew if he persevered with his original plan and didn't shave, whilst introducing a more windswept hairstyle and teasing the longer bristles over the ' thinner ' growth areas with a suitable brush he would end up with the desired outcome. The knock on effect of this was that he had a thicker chin growth to scratch when pondering substitutions, resulting in the inspired change of personnel which gained another 3 points.

In my opinion Alan Pardew is not only a very astute but very brave manager at a time of the season when mistakes can be costly.

Well played Pardew, he's certainly my choice for bearded manager of the month...