Since Alan Pardew arrived at Newcastle we have played Manchester City seven times, and Newcastle have a perfect record so far of seven defeats, and in the last 14 games against City, we have lost 13 of them, and two in three fans in our poll on the expected result, think we’ll lose the game today.
Alan Pardew – wants to finish higher than 5th place
So what does that tell you?
Well, it tells us that we are due a win, and that’s even possible if Newcastle play at or near their best, and after all Alan Pardew and the players have had a full eight days to prepare for this game, after our defeat against Cardiff City and yesterday.
And even West Ham managed to beat Cardiff 2-0 in South Wales yesterday for their first win in eight games. 😀
The performance of the Newcastle team last Saturday was simply unacceptable, and we are hoping we get a good reaction from the lads today.
Alan Pardew had this to say in the Express today about today’s game:
“We need a Loic Remy, Yoan Gouffran or Moussa Sissoko to have an extra special day.” “What you need is the wind in the right direction, the sun on your back, the referee to be living in Durham or somewhere.”
“Actually, I better be careful with that after Brendan Rodgers’ comments!” “You need all the elements to go your way, even if you play well, to beat City with the form they’re in.”
“I want to finish higher than fifth. That’s my best finish as a manager in the Premier League, and I want to beat that. Can I do it this year? I’m going to try. Can the club do that? Yeah, why not?’’
“I don’t dread playing City, but we haven’t really come close in the league against them.” “In the cup, I thought we had a good chance but we couldn’t quite get the goal.”
“It would be nice to run them tight and get a result.” “This game is a bit like the one here recently with Arsenal.”
“There were a lot of comments coming out of Arsenal when they played us that it was a game they hadn’t always won over the last three or four years, and it was a watershed performance.”
“I’ve seen that said by some of their senior players, like Mathieu Flamini.” “It might be for Man City, too. If they can beat us it might be a watershed moment in terms of their away form.”
“But we’re certainly going to give it a good go. We’re pretty good at throwing a spanner in the works.’’
Newcastle are well placed in the league even after two league defeats in a row, and we are in 8th place with 33 points from 20 games, but 10 points above 10th placed Hull City, so unless there is a dramatic collapse in the last 18 games of the season, we should be at least finish in the top half of the table.
But the teams above us like Everton (who signed Newcastle target Aiden McGeady yesterday), Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United all won yesterday.
It will not be a disaster if we lose today and put in a good performance, but then we have to get wins at West Ham, Norwich City and at home to Sunderland, in the next thee games, against sides fighting relegation and in the bottom six in the league.
And West Ham and Sunderland both won yesterday, and in fact Sunderland now have three wins on the trot in all competitions.
9 points in those three games will see Newcastle flying high – even if we lose today to a very powerful Manchester City side – that’s Newcastle’s upcoming challenge.
If we are finish in the top four we need 9 points from the next four games – that’s for sure.
Comments welcome.
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24 comments so far
Newcastleforlife
Jan 12, 2014 at 9:03 AM
Comment #1Himanshu…
Not sure about Thomas.. but i will definitely take one of the following as manager
Quique Flores
Roger Schmidt
Huub Stevens
Ricardo Moniz
Guy Luzon
JAMSHA
Jan 12, 2014 at 9:08 AM
Comment #2OMG HIGHER….. UNLESS WE BEAT CITY WE WONT FINISH HIGHER THAN 5TH
geordiemark
Jan 12, 2014 at 9:15 AM
Comment #3hahaha god he knows how to make ya laugh doesnt he mr pardew, with that team finish above top 5 obviously someones been on the drink be lucky to stay where we are now
geordiemark
Jan 12, 2014 at 9:17 AM
Comment #4Newcastleforlife
id take daffy duck as manager over that deluded pardew
wingspan
Jan 12, 2014 at 9:22 AM
Comment #5You have to think we wouldnt let Jonas go if we didnt have a replacement lined up
Ince?
Cabella?
Ive heard the asking price for cabella is 16mil euros so i think thats a no go.
I would prefer Ince anyway.
Thanks to Jonas for his service and efforts of the past seasons.
welshgeordie9
Jan 12, 2014 at 9:26 AM
Comment #6Like I said last week, we can finish fifth or sixth if we add another 2 or 3 players. But we won’t sign anybody this window so I think we will probably finish in the top 10.
shearer and the duchess
Jan 12, 2014 at 9:28 AM
Comment #7I like Mr Pardews spunk!
Black and White with an army lol
Jan 12, 2014 at 9:33 AM
Comment #8i admire Pardew’s determination but lets face it he must know himself that he’s not good enough to reach top 8 never mind above top 5
Nomad
Jan 12, 2014 at 9:33 AM
Comment #9New to the blog posting wise, but been reading for the past two years, and I just don’t get half of the fans on here, one minute Pards is terrible because he has no aspiration, the next he’s an idiot for thinking we can get Top 4.
Obviously actions speak louder than words, and he’ll have to change his approach in coaching style if we wants to get that place, but we’ve seen him change slowly from hoof ball to a half and half with possession as well, give him a chance and he may improve his style more, we’re not having a horrible season so I don’t see why we should get rid of him, or who we can replace him with right now.
Obviously these could be empty words, especially with no proof that Ashley backs him in this at all, but if we have a successful next two games, and even if we lose today but play well I’d class that as successful, there’s all the possibility that Pards is genuinely trying.
Don’t worry, I’m more than prepared for the bombardment of hate 😉 But if I’m missing something, I don’t mind being wrong
Tsunki
Jan 12, 2014 at 9:36 AM
Comment #10Beattie or a co.uk prankster, which is it?
To finish 5th Ashley needs to make a significant purchase – a time machine.
That way we could go back and beat Hull, West Brom, the mackems, Swansea, WHU…
Newcastleforlife
Jan 12, 2014 at 9:40 AM
Comment #11we are safe and it requires a great run to reach the europe…
if i was pardew , i will put up my best attacking team ut there and say guys ‘ we have nothing to loose. ‘
we can win millions of geirdie hearts if we qualify for CL.
ben10 ur new contract and plane ticket for brazil are up for grabs.. no tracking back but play for the team…
we should be playing 4-3-3 irrespective of opposition..
Black and White with an army lol
Jan 12, 2014 at 9:41 AM
Comment #121 thing i’m looking forward for today and that’s my Sunday dinner, 1 thing i’m not looking forward to is my beloved team play defensive at home against Man City.
i only hope Pardew gets our lads playing like we did against Man U he got everything spot on that game.
as many i would expect a lose today a draw would be fantastic a win would be amazing but if we came out fighting for the full 90 minutes and still lose i would classify that as a bonus
welshgeordie9
Jan 12, 2014 at 9:44 AM
Comment #13Tsunki
We did beat man utd away
Spurs away
Chelsea home
West brom home
Cardiff away
You can’t win every game, we be champions if that’s the case.
Dragon64
Jan 12, 2014 at 9:46 AM
Comment #14City team are way about the toon’s but doesn’t mean they carn’t be beat have some faith lads. It will be a very hard game make no bones about that. Depends it they come out scared shitless or they give it a go so let’s hope they try and give there all or it will be 5 or 6 but have a feeling we might get something out of this game well hope.
Tsunki
Jan 12, 2014 at 9:49 AM
Comment #15Welshgeordie – yes we did, but my point is winning those games against lesser opposition Is the difference between being 5th or a feisty 10th.
Tsunki
Jan 12, 2014 at 9:51 AM
Comment #16Newcastleforlife is right on the money. If we sit back it will be a disaster. I am not saying reckless, but press them and keep them wary of attack.
breno95
Jan 12, 2014 at 9:51 AM
Comment #17@ B & W
It would appear Mr Pardew has proved you wrong regarding your recent post as not being good enough. He has already obtained 1 top 5 finish and currently, even after a defeat today sadly, will still sit in the top 8 of the league.
The bloke cannot win on here. All the protesters slagging him re clubs publicised objections for a top 10 or above finish saying that lacks ambition. Pardew says he now wants to try and beat the 5th place finish and he still gets slagged.
As for transfers – in and out – they will happen and it will be interesting to read the protesters posts after this month is out. however, they will still find something to moan about.
Tsunki
Jan 12, 2014 at 9:52 AM
Comment #18Plus they have a shaky away record
.
🙂
Dragon64
Jan 12, 2014 at 9:52 AM
Comment #19If Pardew wants to finish top 5 cashley needs to buy simple as that
Douglas
Jan 12, 2014 at 9:54 AM
Comment #20I simply can’t understand all the chat about buying players. FMA runs the club to ensure survival and to maake money for SD. He does not need to buy at the moment.
Like a lot of busineses we are an xl spreed sheet under FMA. Put your ambitions and dreams away until he’s gone. Which won”t be soon.
Black and White with an army lol
Jan 12, 2014 at 10:12 AM
Comment #21breno95
lets wait until the end of the season mate before anyone says Pardew has proved me wrong, when we finished 5th it was through plenty of luck to get results just like this season, i can’t count how many games we scrapped a win this season but against Liverpool with 10 men, Chelsea & Man united we were good and deserved them results but against the likes of Stoke who we were fortunate for them to get 2 red cards we could of lost that game if the cards weren’t given, Swansea were very tired and still manage to beat an fully fit Newcastle side 3-0.
we were extremely lucky against Spurs if it wasn’t for Krull and do i need to mention Hull or the Mackems, also lets not forget a second Cardiff team against our strong first team in the cup that ended in disaster or the WBA game away when this time they didn’t have Lukaku.
toonbrother
Jan 12, 2014 at 11:02 AM
Comment #22oh dear looks like the legend pardumb has struck again
lesh
Jan 12, 2014 at 11:35 AM
Comment #23Nomad @9
you’re quite right in referring to some fans being less consistent. I’ve said before that we couid wiin the World club cup under Pardew and to some, Pardew’d still be in for criticism.
Fickle’s the word to describe the usual suspects..
magicbus
Jan 12, 2014 at 11:43 AM
Comment #24Unfortunately its nowt to do with you Mr. Pards its what Ashley wants and as he hasnt the least bit of ambition in him to take us forward I`m afraid its just wishful thinking on your part.