You've asked for the impossible though, and even referenced why its impossible. No manager under Ashley will have that kind of power. Just an unrealistic goal. To be honest Van Basten is unproven as a manager full stop. Was poor at Ajax, and its early days with Heerenveen. Did ok with national team, but so did Mark Hughes. Gourcuff has never stayed at a club long enough to really judge. Plays nice football in those short periods.
Kone's first year in the league, McMannaman first season in the prem. James McArthur and McCarthy are both very young lads. Last year was Alcaraz's first year in the league, Joel's first year in the league. Ronnie Stam helped keep them up last year in his first season. No Diame and Rodellaga this year and they still don't resort to long ball when things aren't going their way. It's very much a manager's choice as to they style of football the team plays. I mean look at Crewe, they've been relegated in the past playing some of the best football ever seen in the lower leagues.
I think with those players there is an atmosphere within the club and the area that Wigan are a team fighting at the bottom each season. For Newcastle, we're a team that finished 5th last season and have all constantly said ( as have the press) that we're a team not expected to be in a relegation scrap. Can the same be said about Wigan? McArthur and McCarthy have experience of last season whilst the others have been bought in as one of only one or two to experience this alongside 8 or so others who have experience of it. You take Taylor and Jonas out of the team yesterday and not a single one of the players has been involved in a Premiership relegation scrap before.
But then that goes back to the fact we shouldn't even be in this position in the first place. Meaning Pardew's job should most definitely be on the line because he has us under performing in almost every aspect of the game. We leak goals for fun. We don't score too many. Our set pieces are by far the worst in the league. We've played more long balls than any team in the league this year (including Stoke). I think we've only won two league games this year by more than one goal, 3-0 at home to 10 man Wigan and 4-2 at home to Southampton, that in itself shows that we've pretty much not outplayed one team ALL season. Every statistic is alarmingly poor and the buck stops with the manager, always has done and always will do.
I'd say the reason we leaked goals for fun was the combined absence of Taylor and Collo throughout the season that meant we relied massively on Williamson who isn't as solid and is also massively prone to playing long ballls. ( the absence of colo/taylor last season coincided with that mini dip of form as well). I think the absence of Cabaye for a large part of the season, as well as Ben Arfa took away our attacking intent and ability to create chances which meant we didn't create much for Ba or Cisse; led to more long balls because players weren't as comfortable on the ball and put more pressure on the defence. I think set pieces need to be addressed because with Cisse, Taylor, Colo,Mbiwa, Sissokho potentially in the team and Cabaye's ability on the ball we should be doing better. The games we've got hammered such as Arsneal we actually went after the game but didn't have the quality players to do it. Other than Man City and Sunderland ( which was a poor day at the office) we haven't been conceding a lot of goals since the new guys came in.
I don't think I've ever seen a football team, let alone NUFC, be so predictable. As the second half rapidly deteriorated, was there one person who didn't know what was coming in the 60th minute? We get reduced to 10 men by bringing on Shameobi. Then his new favourite change, Benny for the left back and Jonas going even further backwards. The same thing happened at West Brom as the world witnessed v Sunlun - the new lb was targeted, we became even worse and all Steve Clarke did was say to one player (Brunt, I think, or Dorrans) - keep an eye on HBA. So we were effectively down to 9 men, with a **** left back. It's all become so tiresome. The same "tactics", hoofball appearing with Shola's introduction, the managers insistence that Cabaye is a "quarterback" and has to play miles behind Sissoko, who is clearly more Vieira than Toure. I mean, the numbers are right. 4-5-1/4-3-3 is right for us, Cisse is smart enough to be a lone striker but by God he - like anyone in this formation - needs creativity or support either side. In Gouffran, it's nearly there. In both Marveaux and Ben Arfa we have it in spades. How any times have these three started on the field together? Never. Your midfield three should then have one DM, one CM and one AM, a triangle with the most capable engine pinning together the offensive and defensive midfielders. And there they are - Cabaye AM, Sissoko CM, Tiote/Perch DM. Pards has it all fcking wrong - he holds Cabaye back and deep, meaning it's long, US Football style passes all the time, he's not far enough up the field to do his real work. It also means that in conceding posession, Yohan is in the complete wrong position as he can't tackle for ****. Sissoko, however, is strong, tough in the tackle but offers much more than the destructive Tiote/Perch and we still get good outlets on the wings from our wide strikers or marauding full backs. It just looks incredibly obvious but Pardew is going to die by his own hand if he persists with the bullsht notion of Sissoko up front, Jonas in the team and just the wrong ideas of how to play. I honestly think anyone could do a better job. The excuses are beyond a joke and he's not dealing with the difficult times well at all. One thing we hate is deluded opinion, and in saying how good we were vs West Brom he shot himself in the foot. Backs to the wall vs the baggies having controlled one half is as big an indictment as you can get. Put a first eleven on the pitch and allow them to attack, they're as good as anyone. However, give Pardew a halftime team talk and some substitutions and you're happy with a point.
I have lost all faith in Pardew thanks to his persistence with Jonas, where he's put in the team despite a poor performance in so many games this season. His entertainment style is shocking and when we do get a win, we never really outplay the opposition. It's clear many people are happy the way we are but that's my opinion.
It would be pointless sacking him now. I don't think he should be sacked unless we get relegated. Roberto Di Matteo please.
He needs to go at the end of the season as the football he plays is desperate longball ****. I'm also sick of his PR flip-flapping spin he does in every interview.
Boa, you destroy any chance of your opinions being listened to "That's a good point, but to counter that, look at the shape of his head!" I'm on your side and I facepalmed!
Posted comment below on another thread but it goes better on this one: We started the season with what everyone, and I expect this includes Pardew, knew was an inadequtely sized squad, especially given our European commitments. We now have a quite decent core of players, but have only had them for 11 league games. In those league games, we have averaged 1.8 points, which is pretty respectable. The season is ending with a bit of a whimper. We wouldn't feel like that, though, if the Sunderland match were taken out of the equation. Benfica definitely was a factor in the Sunderland result. Pardew has had one fantastic season and one disappointing season. Chopping and changing solves nothing. Next season proves whether he is the man for the job or not.
Before the season Pardew pointed that a top 8 finish would have been decent (we pretty much all agreed). We've end up in a relegation battle that we're far from out of. He's now come out and said next year that we're aiming for a top 10 finish. If that isn't a sign of regression I'm not sure what is? A top 10 finish should be the bare minimum with this squad regardless of europe. He's come out today and said Colo is now unlikely to make the Liverpool game, well first he'd be fit for the derby, then the West Brom game and now he's very doubtful for the Liverpool game. How can our manager be so wrong (on so many occasions) when it comes to predicting when our injured players will return??? He will literally say anything to deflect attention away from our performances, our results and our league position.
Depends which quote you want ot take. He also said before last season that there was no way we could hope to replicate a top ten finish and compete in Europe with a squad this small. I suspect someone higher up then told him to say something positive, so he obliged. Maybve he shouldn't have,but we all love to hear happy words. As for the medical prognoses, I doubt that he comes up with them. And finally, when has changing a manager last worked ? If I were looking back to the start of the century, I can think of two examples where the introduction of a new manager was followed by a significant improvement in our league standing: a. SBR and b. Pardew.
Howay that is naive in the extreme. Every manager says things in the press that do not stack up whether its aims, players fitness or whatever subject you choose. Bobby used to get things wrong all the time. I can remember countless occasions where he told us Bellamy, Shearer, Dyer etc would be back for certain games, then they wouldn't be there for another 3 games. The same for predictions, he told us every season we were going for the league and had a good chance of winning the cups, we never did. KK was the same, indeed every manager is. The press is just a tool they use and get used in. The press ask loaded questions, the managers give loaded answers, and the board do likewise. We've had a major fall from grace this season, have underperformed at every level (board, manager, coaches, players) but handpicking comments from the press as a stick to beat him with is just silly.
