In what was his best win since taking over the reigns at Newcastle thirteen months ago from the talented and likable Chris Hughton, Alan Pardew orchestrated a famous victory for Newcastle United last night.
Alan Pardew – it was our best performance in my reign
Pardew was simply delighted by both the result and the performance last night, in front of a sellout 52,299 crowd of mad screaming Geordies, and a watching world-wide TV audience.
And throughout the game last night you could hear the Newcastle fans signing away, in what must have been a terrific atmosphere for our gallant Newcastle players to play in.
Alan was asked today whether that was the best performance during his time as Newcastle manager:
“Yes, I think it was.” “We controlled the game for long periods.” “We had a grip of the game.”
“We went a little bit more direct, and it paid dividends for us.” “That doesn’t mean to say we’ll do it against Blackburn on Saturday, or anybody else, but it worked.”
“We changed our tactics, and it’s kept us competitive in almost every game.” “The first goal was very direct, but it was a fantastic finish.”
“And we should have had a penalty before then when Demba was brought down.” “I’ve seen it again, and I think it was a penalty.”
“Whatever you say about tonight, we were brave. We didn’t let them rest on the ball.” “We were in their faces all night, and didn’t drop off in the second half.”
“We got our rewards and maybe the Liverpool game was a lesson for us.” “After Demba had one cleared off the line, we weren’t positive at all in that period.”
“The last 20 minutes at Liverpool was one of the most disappointing periods of the season for me. Not tonight, though.” “We took the lead, and didn’t drop off, or get negative.”
“We got our rewards.”
In fact two of Newcastle’s goals came from long down field clearances by top goalkeeper Tim Krul into the Red Devils penalty box.
After 33 minutes Shola Ameobi did well to nod on Tim’s punt and the ball bounced once and then the fantastic Demba Ba had the ball in the back of the net with one sweet movement, for a terrific strike.
That was the Senegal striker’s 15th Premier League goal of the season, and he is now in second place in the Premier League scoring charts, just two two goals behind leader Robin van Persie of Arsenal.
And then on 90 minutes defender Phil Jones was being harassed by Leon Best, who had come on as a sub for Shola, and he wasn’t sure how to deal with the long ball into the box from the Newcastle goalkeeper.
So what did he do – Phil stooped down to amazingly to head the ball into his own net to make it 3-0 for Newcastle.
It was a huge howler from the Manchester United center-back, and just about summed up the Manchester United performance last night, against a superior Magpies’ side who out-fought them and out-played them.
But there again Phil had to mark the great Demba Ba all night, and Jones was probably just completely knackered, if the truth be told. 😀
There was an awful lot of positive things manager Alan Pardew will take out of this game with the back four again looking as solid as a rock, and young Italian Davide Santon looked like he had played for Newcastle for years.
And credit to Mike Williamson too, who has come in and significantly bolstered the Newcastle defense, with his no-nonsense defending and his great heading ability.
And we’ll not even mention Demba Ba, Fabricio Coloccini, Yohan Cabaye and Cheick Tiote – who were all simply monumental for the Newcastle side last night.
Comments welcome.
90 comments so far
JackButler
Jan 5, 2012 at 4:17 PM
Comment #81GT89
the story is coming up every where, even his own coach has said we have bid for him
GeordieToon89
Jan 5, 2012 at 4:22 PM
Comment #82still dont believe it until it happens
Jail for Ashley
Jan 5, 2012 at 4:23 PM
Comment #83JB
Forgot about him,well Vukic and Gosling have both been given a chance and Abeid done really well against Forest and I suppose Blackburn will be a Championship side in five months anyway,we can give Smith a run out when he’s finished doing the SD Bentley lol
GeordieToon89
Jan 5, 2012 at 4:23 PM
Comment #84Gold has said Tomkins will not leave
JackButler
Jan 5, 2012 at 4:23 PM
Comment #85Agree with you on that mate, not until he’s in black and white
JackButler
Jan 5, 2012 at 4:24 PM
Comment #86GT989 – Pardew said Carrol wouldn’t leave lol 🙂
Thump
Jan 5, 2012 at 4:53 PM
Comment #87Haha no I didn’t Sweendog. Which one of you motley crew did that?
max
Jan 5, 2012 at 5:06 PM
Comment #88it proves that we need another good defender as cover. no more use of perch and simmo as CB
Rosted Pork
Jan 5, 2012 at 5:06 PM
Comment #89ashwin m.from mumbai mate
Rumsfeld
Jan 5, 2012 at 7:40 PM
Comment #90————Krul
Simo-Wilo-Colo-Santon
—–Guthrie-Cabaye
Raylor-BenArfa-Jonas
———–Best
This team is as good as it gets without Ba or Tiote