We cannot get too down in the dumps after Newcastle’s second five goal thrashing in the last four league games.
Alan Pardew – we stress this was taken before the game started Saturday
The good news is we won the other two games in those last four, against Blackburn and Aston Villa, so even when we are thrashed we have managed to come back with some wins.
And if we can win the next two games at home against Wolves and Sunderland, we’ll still be in great shape in the league.
That’s the only way to look at Newcastle’s current situation, and of course we cannot get carried away too much, because we are still probably only the 7th best side in England.
But that doesn’t mean we cannot finish higher in the league in mid-May, given some much better performances than the lads gave at White Hart Lane, against a Spurs side that looked simply fantastic in that first half.
But the lamentable performances in London against Fulham and Spurs are cause for concern for manager Alan Pardew:
“It has to be a concern for us,” “That’s twice now, and we’re not going to ignore the fact we’ve been involved in two heavy defeats in a fairly short space of time.”
“But I didn’t really think the problems we had here resembled what happened in the Fulham game. I thought the issues at Fulham could be rectified.”
“The problems here were down in a large part to a team that was just too good for us. Sometimes you have to accept that.” “It couldn’t have gone any better for them really.”
“Harry must have been sitting on the sidelines 2-0 up thinking he was having the week of his life.” “My team have responded well to setbacks in the past.”
“We had a great win last week against Aston Villa and we need to bounce back again.”
“If we beat Wolves in their next game a week on Saturday and Arsenal and Chelsea draw, we’ll be in a Champions League position so we mustn’t get too carried away by this, even though we’ve been thumped.”
“There were two quick goals and we couldn’t even get ourselves settled. I thought we had a really bad 15 minutes after that where we were all over the place.” “You can narrow up your back four, but then their width will cause you problems.”
“They can pose a real danger in every area and caused us a lot of problems.” “Every one of their players played absolutely brilliantly, I can’t think of a player who had an off day for them.”
“I’m just pleased we stayed disciplined in the second half, got in our holes and didn’t really let them expose us too much, even though they had their tails up. That’s the only thing we can take out of it really.”
We suppose we can put this one down to a better side playing at their very best on Saturday, but that cannot be an excuse in many of the games we have left this season.
We still have to play the likes of Wolves, Norwich, West Brom, Swansea, Stoke and Wigan and they have to be three point games for Newcastle, if we are to finish high up in the league table.
We also have Sunderland at home in the game after Wolves, and that has to be a must-win game too, but this time it will not be easy, since it seems our cover of Sunderland having a Geordie manager has finally been blown. 😀
Comments welcome.
21 comments so far
king123
Feb 13, 2012 at 10:11 AM
Comment #1As far as the fulham game goes, we lacked any threat going foward and thus paid the price in the 2nd hlaf, with regards to saturday its was simple we missed mrT and yohan, we all need to take a step back and judge the once we those 2 back.
milk or cream
Feb 13, 2012 at 10:13 AM
Comment #2before all of you pardew fans start getting at me please look at the facts and stop being blinded by the fact that we are 6th in the league
CH did a much better job than pardew, he got the job of re building a team that had been torn apart and getting us back into the prem, all ov which he did in one season, his first season back in the prem he was 11th then he was sacked, we ended up 12,
this season has been a very poor season for us to watch football, yes we are 6th, but can you honestly say, hand on heart that we fully deserve to be there on on merit, and by that i mean go out there and win and say we domanated from start to finish, cos i carnt,
what iv seen this season is a manager who refuses to play his strongest 11 for what ever reasons, only plays kids in games where he knows we are more likely to lose, and in strange positions, vuckic i feel sorry for him
iv seen a manger who says the same things , we was lucky, but sometimes you need a bit of luck, YES you do but you carnt build a solid team around luck, he is that one player that will go missing, take luck and ba out of our team and we are buggered,
in the summer his statement was we got some great ball players, we will get the ball down and play it, now i dont know about you, but i think we are one of those teams that have played the most football in the air this season,
he never seems to have a back up plan, you can see him on the side lines scatching his head thinking what can i do, i know i will put perch on,
look at tiote and ba going to the CAN, what does he do, he changes the whole system and all our players look lost, the one bright spark we had HBA, yes he loses the ball at times, but he was one of the only players trying to play positive football, and what gets me about the way pardew is treating him is a lot of you guys on here are backing him, which means your being 2 faced on one hand you have obertan who is one of the least confident players iv ever seen, also one of the least tallented , he and some of you say give the guy a chance, build his confidence up, then you have HBA one who seems to have to much confidence, but it seems ok to treat him like shit, tell him you want more out of him, when in 3 games he played we got more out of one guy (him) than we get out of 3 guys obertan perch and shola in many games, i really dont get the logic behind that,
not for one minut am i saying HBA is in the same league as modric, messi, but he dose have a style like theres, and can open doors, he is our most gifted footballer, yet in barca and spurs, they have built teams around them guys, and no one expects them to tackle every one in sight, they just give them the ball and say they you go, get at them,
pardew, he says, shola, your great, keep doing what your doing, obertan, wow you have ability somewhere, i will find it,,
for me pardew is a joke, and has been very lucky this season,,
and you know what, open your eyes and see, its there,
milk or cream
Feb 13, 2012 at 10:15 AM
Comment #3king123 // Feb 13, 2012 at 10:11 AM
are you saying those 2 make our team so much we carnt score or defend without them, is our squad that bad??
Brutooon
Feb 13, 2012 at 10:17 AM
Comment #4I am concern that we concede 5 goals in four games eventhoug both games we play away from home
hope we bounce back
Edd Case
Feb 13, 2012 at 10:18 AM
Comment #5@ 2
CH did a better job than Pardew?
Really?
You simply can’t compare! CH was good and got us promoted but I reckon Pardew would have done so too.
We had the best players in the league, maybe even I could have got us promoted!
There’s no need for this comparison rubbish – we’ve moved on from CH and we have Pardew now.
Personally, I like Pardew, I like the players he’s brought in and I like where we are at.
I won’t be getting angry or worried over a few defeats…
We’ll be fine and you only have to look at the league to see that actually, we’re doing better than some allegedly MUCH bigger teams…
(and we’re still well above the mackems!)
Relax! This is NUFC – since when did we do things the easy way?!
milk or cream
Feb 13, 2012 at 10:23 AM
Comment #6Edd Case // Feb 13, 2012 at 10:18 AM
it kills me to say this, but sunderland will finish above us this season,
there playing good football and winning, we have been lucky to win, and when we get beat we are getting murdered ,
Brutooon
Feb 13, 2012 at 10:26 AM
Comment #7milk or cream :
CH is a good coach, i repeat a good COACH but not a manager.
CH did well bringing us up back but he is NOT the man who can bring us European spot back.
CH will be a good manager if every year our target is avoid relegation
Jarra_Mag
Feb 13, 2012 at 10:30 AM
Comment #8Good post @ no. 2 milk or cream
Lynxie
Feb 13, 2012 at 10:33 AM
Comment #9milk or cream:
SunderlndNIL gonna finish above us thsi season?
Yeah really? And its probably gonna rain, and next doors cat is gonna crap on ya lawn, and when is the government gonna sort out the economy, and everything is sh*t. Jesus man, get some councelling. They are gonna have thier bubble burst at SJP in a fortnights time, lets not metaphorically drag ourselves down to their level please. We are where we are, either by luck or hard work or a combination of both. The problem is, the players seem to think they no longer need to put in the effort, and we are there because we deserve to be. Wrong! They have hopefully had the wake up call that Fulham delivered (and was ignored), and normal service can be resumed. Remember Arsenal shipped 8 at Manure, however, I fail to see that happening again in a hurry. We got caught with heavy defeats twice in 3 game, and Pardew needs to get his ‘top coach’ head on.
Lynxie
Feb 13, 2012 at 10:37 AM
Comment #10By the way, We would habve lost at WHL by at least ten under CH, so please lets get a grasp of reality. Hughton was tactically bankrupt, and paid the price with his job, regardless of the affection we had for his achievement of the previous 12 months. Anyone who witnessed the surrender to West Brom before he was axed will testify to this. Pardew has won games which we previously would not have. However, he has blinded himself to the fact a midfield consisting of Perch / Guthrie / Jonas / Obertan is a match for even the bottom sides, let alone the top ones…….
milk or cream
Feb 13, 2012 at 10:40 AM
Comment #11Lynxie // Feb 13, 2012 at 10:33 AM
are you forgetting the shambles at brighton?
did you watch the same game i did at blackburn where there by far the better team and created chance after chance,
no i believe the luck is starting to run out on pardew,
other than the man u game and stoke game this season, please tell me when you have sat back and thought wow, pardew played a blinder there,
not many games this season where iv sat back and said, wow, that was a great game, unless you can say lump it long is a great tacktic
milk or cream
Feb 13, 2012 at 10:42 AM
Comment #12Lynxie // Feb 13, 2012 at 10:37 AM
im not saying CH would have taken us to that next level, im saying pardew is no better
and for the reason, you just said, he seems to think that midfield is a good one,
grantasss
Feb 13, 2012 at 10:46 AM
Comment #13milk or cream // Feb 13, 2012 at 10:13 AM
Get a grip, under Hughton we lost a few games by the same score line and that was only half way through the season. We are down to the bare bones in defence and CM for FS. We are not in our current position through luck alone, its called team work. And on that point ‘team work’ that is what HBA currently doesn’t possess. If you watch messi, modric the both track back all the time ‘TEAM WORK’ thats why he doesn’t get in the team. NO ‘I’ IN TEAM Milky. HWTL
milk or cream
Feb 13, 2012 at 10:46 AM
Comment #14Lynxie // Feb 13, 2012 at 10:37 AM
he stuck with that midfield and never changed a thing, taken one of the forwards of would have been a good start, most of us on could see that, spurs had a game of there lives, and pardew just watched like a fan,, hmmmmm
Lynxie
Feb 13, 2012 at 11:07 AM
Comment #15milkor cream:
My point exactly. Pardew did not have a clue how to immediately rectify his tactical stupidity. What was he expecting, Spurs to suddelny start playing like tw*ts? At 2-0 (6 minutes) it was glaringly obvious that we did not have a midfield, and damage limitation should have started then. Only Pardews ego and blind faith in the Guthrie Perch (MAKESHIFT) midfields capability, prevented him putting it right. It was glaring to me that Ba and Cisse were in for a lonely evening, if the ball was gonna be at the feet of Parker and Modric and Krancjar all night…… Pardew had his plan, and boy was he going to give it a real long looking at, even as the goals avalanche continued. I was watching Pardew and wondering to myself: Exactly at which point are you going to admit to yourself that you screwed up here?
toonincheek
Feb 13, 2012 at 11:09 AM
Comment #16milk or cream – lots of people taking the bait.
I’m sure that’s what you want.
Rotonda heights
Feb 13, 2012 at 11:18 AM
Comment #17I think CH and Pardew are both typical English managers. Enough said.
Surely whoever the manager is, the first objective must be to get your best 11 players on the pitch, regardless of playing your favourites over someone you don’t like.
Not only is Pardew being stubborn, but there’s a spitefulness creeping in as well there.
I just wish Pardew could be flexible on occasions. If you haven’t got a plan B, learn one and quickly and put personal issues and prejudices aside for the greater good.
If 442 is his bible and not working some days, try a 433 with your best players like below when available and maybe drop wingers.
Krul
Tavernier Colo Taylor Santon
Guthrie Tiote Cabaye
HBA Cisse BA
Lynxie
Feb 13, 2012 at 11:23 AM
Comment #18toonincheek:
not bait, just honest personal opinion. There are times when you have to think on your feet, and Pardew failed miserably to do so. What he did at half time (Obertan off) should have been done on 6 minutes.
davis_toons
Feb 13, 2012 at 3:21 PM
Comment #19To learn to play nice and passing footbal..we can start from Norwich, WBA and Swansea. Nice football they have play…Should we buy their players?
davis_toons
Feb 13, 2012 at 3:24 PM
Comment #20I only can see both our striker wasted theri energy on chasing the ball back form Spurs midfielder..and Ap watch at the sideline ..at times pointing…
dave m
Feb 13, 2012 at 8:50 PM
Comment #21good quote from Mancini, ‘better to lose one game 5-0 than 5 games 1-0.’ we have been punching well above our weight most of the season. and some people saying that is down to luck are daft.
pardew has average players playing way above their level. they cant do that week in week out. we will get beaten like this sometimes. just got to take it and move on, bouncing back and getting a good result in the next game is important and we generally have done that this season.
it was awful and hard to watch on saturday, but realistically, what else could pardew have started with?
got to strengthen in the summer, new full back, centre back, and maybe two wingers, without any out goings of our big players would be great.
cant expect the likes of r taylor, guthrie, and williamson to fill in, as they just arent really good enough at this level, add danny simpson, obertan and guttierez to that list for me as well.