Alan Pardew confident of “bouncing back” against Mackems.

Posted on January 12th, 2011 | 56 Comments |

Pardew: Confident despite injury concerns.
Pardew: Confident despite injury concerns.
Newcastle United manager, Alan Pardew has been speaking on the importance of the upcoming Tyne-Wear derby, and says that his players are determined to “bounce back” after a very disappointing performance against League Two’s Stevenage in the F.A. Cup.

Speaking to local newspaper, The Chronic, Pardew started by commenting on the importance and scale of the event, saying:

“It is certainly the biggest game I will have as Newcastle United manager this season.

“I have seen many Tyne-Wear derbies before and I know what they are – explosive.

“I have played in London derbies, and last year I was at Southampton when we played Portsmouth for the first time in a few years. That was quite ferocious.

“However, I know that this will be on a much, much larger scale than that. I am sure of that.”

Pardew then moved on by hinting at the disappointment felt by last weekend’s result, but felt confident that the F.A. Cup exit would not affect the team’s Premier League form:

“I am looking forward to it and I know the players are and they are determined to bounce back from the weekend and get a result.”

“My view is we go there confident with our Premier League form and rested after a few days off.

“Everybody has rested up and hopefully most of the lads are back. That is the most important thing.”

However the team faces quite a few injuries at the moment, with the manager closely monitoring the fitness of Andy Carroll, Shola Ameobi, Jonas Gutierrez, Steven Taylor and finally, recent Everton signing, Dan Gosling. Gosling has yet to play for the team having been signed with a rather serious anterior cruciate injury picked up with his former club. However, the midfielder is ready for a return, with a special game being arranged against Colin Calderwood’s Hibernian, where Pardew will take a closer look at the fitness levels of Gosling and fellow midfielder, Danny Guthrie. Left back, Jose Enrique also missed the Stevenage game with a bout of ‘flu, however he should be OK for Sunday’s derby.

Of course, Newcastle United also have to face being without defensive midfielder, Cheik Tiote, who recently lost his appeal with F.A. for a three match ban picked up for a straight sending off in the aforementioned FA Cup tie with Stevenage. On the current situation with players out, Pardew added:

“My aim this week is to get the best team available together and make sure we put in a show like we did against West Ham.”

Let’s hope that The Mackems are as accomodating as West Ham were in that game!

NUFCBlog Author: workyticket workyticket has written 1096 articles on this blog.

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Posted on by workyticket in category: Alan Pardew and Injuries and fitness and Interviews and Workyticket , with tags:
Comment on this post

56 Responses

  1. Lets hope he doesn’t include Smith as part of his best “team” although he would probably have a blinder if he did play, hat trick for him anyone? ;)

  2. Grumpy,
    what do you think ‘is’ our best team mate?

    Harper
    Simpson
    Colo
    Willo
    Enrique
    Barton
    Tiote
    HBA(when fit)
    Jonas
    Nolan
    Carroll
    ?

  3. We need our anti-mackem missile available for this one. Ameobi has to start.

    Clint not a bad selection. Some will say replace willo with saylor, but I agree with you. Saylor is a liability.

  6. Micky,
    my thoughts exactly mate.

    Pearceet,
    There was no particular positional settings in that list mate. Though, i would have HBA as a fluid ‘in the hole’ player.

  8. CLINT ime with you there on benny,got to be free roll type of player to his best imo,strikes me hes a got to love me type player,got to have a pacey type player up top with andy too

  9. Yeh but then we have to drop one of Nolan(captain who has scored goals and who seems to really be a key team player) Barton (whose service is second to none) or tiote (arguably our best player this season) OR you play 4-4-1-1? I’m not sure that with Carroll, playing him on his own is best?

    At least its a ‘we have some good players here someone is going to have to miss out’ dilemma rather than a ‘sh*t who do we play there’ dilemma!!

  10. I can’t see HBA going straight into the team and hitting top form I reckon he is going to need some rehab sub time. I still feel Routledge has a lot more to offer and I think his ability to beat people down the wing is underestimated. Both he and Guti contribute a lot to the attacking side of the team despite the lack of end product that I think is actually better than perceived. I would start with one or both everytime.

    Still think we could do with a Van Bommel in mudfield.

  13. pearceet,
    na mate, don’t see why we’d have to drop Nolan like.
    Just play him as ‘sneaking in’ & popping up with goals type.
    That’s why he’s got so many goals so far, after all.
    Have a more fluid form, going from 4411, 433, 4132 etc.
    :)

  14. Grumpy,
    i tend to agree about Routledge too.
    Other teams are scared of his pace & tend to double team him, which makes it difficult for him to shine, they do the same with Jonas. That though, allows Nolan & the like more space & that’s why he scores so many.

  15. Micky, I have to say I have been hot and cold for Shola over the last few seasons. Despite his goals I feel his inability to beat a player and his poor first touch tends to kill attacking play for us, I’d rather see Best playing. Still Get what you are saying, horses for courses but it is a big gamble imo.

  17. Icedog, not sure I would put him in the Chopper Harris or Norman Hunter mould, more like a creative Tiote. I get your point though.

  18. CLiNT FLiCK says:
    January 12, 2011 at 3:28 pm

    “ice,
    aye mate, maybe HBA ‘is’ that player, when fit of course.”

    Clint, I have worries about Ben Arfa and “confrontational” Pardew. When fit of course.

  19. Worky, not bad mate. Find myself between here and Toonsy blog these days. Not sure where ill end up if I’m being honest. Got Nowt against either blogs or blog owners, so its a difficult decision. Here feels like home, but less people are posting here these days.:-(

    Grumpy – I know what you mean about ameobi, but he seems to be the man against the Mackems.

  20. Worky, I reckon you are correct. A Krul type dressing down would likely see a real hissy-fit. At the risk of opening a sore, CH was good at player management.

  21. Mickey good point, perhaps the blogs ought to merge into a super blog.

    Duck into trench. :)

  22. WORKY aye good point there,he had that type of manager in france,maybe he needed a hoots type guy,wont find out now like,until hes fit and how he plays when fit

  23. Grumpy Old-Toon says:
    January 12, 2011 at 3:31 pm

    “Icedog, not sure I would put him in the Chopper Harris or Norman Hunter mould”

    It was a different world in those days though, Grumpy. Refs would often do nothing about things that would get players a straight red, and possibly more nowadays.

  24. Micky Toon says:
    January 12, 2011 at 3:34 pm

    “Worky, not bad mate. Find myself between here and Toonsy blog these days. Not sure where ill end up if I’m being honest. Got Nowt against either blogs or blog owners, so its a difficult decision. Here feels like home, but less people are posting here these days.:-(”

    I miss your ‘blogs on here, Micky, well, the few that you did anyway. Fancy another bash?

  25. Just had a butchers at a couple of the Jam samidges blogs and the hype is posatively warm enough to cook an egg. Iv,e got a shrewd suspicion that the Jammie,s may even be a little too warmed up which could well work in favour of the Mags. Old fat face is saying that the only thing that matters on Sunday is REVENGE! ! ! .Thats fine as long as they can control the hype.So long as we stick to the task and don,t let the atmosphere cloud the occasion, we may well get something good out of this.
    HOWAY THE LADS.

  28. I must admit that I’m not confident about Sunday. Tiote missing is a biggie, and that’s before allowing for the lack of match practice for Carroll, Jonas, Enrique and others.

    No point in speculating on starting line-ups, as nobody – not even AP – knows yet who’ll start. I think we may see 4-5-1 if Jonas is fit; at least for the first half. Dominate the midfield and get some reducers in, then work forward once they’ve lost their bite a bit.

    I agree with Grumpy about Routledge and Jonas – I know they’re frustrating sometimes, but the chaos they create leads to a lot of chances, and the final ball isn’t as bad as it was. Jonas particularly has put some lovely through-balls to feet recently.

  29. Piers – It’s early days yet though to be fair. I’m not surprised this window is quiet to be honest, and I reckon it will stay that way. The 25 man squad plus lack of money and forthcoming “live within your means” rules was always going to quieten things down in prospect. Time will tell if it will or not.

  30. Porcie: let’s just hope the pressure on the players works in our favour. Unlike us, it’s not like they can play a load of local lads who will react well to expectations.

    Thinking about it, not only do we play at least seven Englishmen most matches – we can also boast Harps, Saylor, Shola and Carroll as our own. Not bad in this day and age!

  31. Alreet toonsy,
    have you got your blog up & running mate, wouldn’t mind a skeg, what’s the url?
    Hope all’s well mate.

    worky,
    well at least AP wanted to sign HBA immediately, which he did. So that’s a canny start.
    He does seem a bit more confrontational though.
    Time will tell, i guess.
    Though, so long as HBA gets a game, i don’t know why he wouldn’t, he’ll be all sweetness & light.

  34. Toonsy and Piers: I’m actually surprised that the new rules coming in haven’t caused a lot more transfer activity from the likes of Citeh. It may be their last chance to use their financial clout to land players who won’t look at them once the big wonga is off the table.

    Personally, I can’t wait for these new rules. It’s all been a pile of meaningless shite at the top for years now, and knowing teams are (more or less) built on a self-funded basis again will make life a lot more interesting.

    (Not that supporting a club with a hyyyaaaawge ability to bring in money has owt to do with that, of course.. :)

  35. Good point Toonsy, it will be interesting looking forward. In other news has anyone seen Chamberlain (South Hampton) play? 10 mil bid for a 17yr old, thats quite impressive

  36. Whumpie,
    teams can’t go ‘big spending’ now, cos the averages & whether your club is within the rules are based on this & next years figures mate. S, effectively, it’s from now.
    At least that’s my understanding of it, from what i’ve read so far.
    ;)

  37. CLiNT – It’s from next season mate. If clubs want to wax the cash then this is the time. Problem is, they haven’t got the spaces in their squads to do it.

  38. Toonsy – didn’t know that. Being a offcomer myself, I’m perhaps less picky and less informed! Has spent his entire life in the club, mind…

  40. Anyway, leaving qualifying parameters for ‘our own’ aside, my point is this: someone who’s grown up with these derbies will react to them a lot better (I believe) than someone bought in who has to learn to take on that pressure. I think we saw that at the scum-thrashing earlier in the season.

  41. Cheers, Clint – that’d explain it! Blimey – how much have Citeh just spent? That’s a lot of shirt sales…

  43. Apparently Gosling had a good game in the closed match against Hibs. So it would seem did Guthrie. Don’t know if it will be enough to sway AP one way or t’other.

  45. CLiNT FLiCK says:
    January 12, 2011 at 4:48 pm

    “Aye Grumpy,
    just tried to paste the link to that, but, no dice.”

    I’ve just posted a new story about it, Clint.

  47. Apparently Larsson, he say no! Re-signing for Birmingham, so it just looks like he was using us as a bargaining chip. Can’t say I’m bothered about the news though. (assuming it is correct)

  49. Grumpy Old-Toon says:
    January 12, 2011 at 4:59 pm

    “Can’t say I’m bothered about the news though. (assuming it is correct)”

    I do hope that we’re not returning to just chasing the same old predictable targets such as Larsson and Keane since Hughton was sacked. He was digging up some real gems with the likes of Tiote, Ben Arfa, and possibly Gosling.

  50. Worky, been thinking about coming out of retirement. I’ll try and drop you a line when I’m at home.

    Lads, not sure that is Toonsy posting. He said on his blog someone was posing as him on here.

  51. Micky Toon says:
    January 12, 2011 at 5:21 pm

    “Worky, been thinking about coming out of retirement. I’ll try and drop you a line when I’m at home.

    Lads, not sure that is Toonsy posting. He said on his blog someone was posing as him on here.”

    Excellent news, Micky! Do you have my direct e.mail? I’ll send it just in case.

    As for the other thing, I chased that up. There was one comment the other day that wasn’t by Toonsy, and the spoofing is happening on both blogs by the look of things. Someone was posting as batty on Toonsy’s ‘blog as well, and some others too. As I mentioned to Batty though, I can’t win. If I switch the comments to “registered users only” everyone complains about having to sign in and fecks off to Toonsy’s where he doesn’t do that. If on the other hand, I don’t, some people still moan about impostors! I am monitoring the situation closely.

  53. toonsy says:
    January 12, 2011 at 5:34 pm

    “Should be easy to tell. If it’s me commenting you will see be Ron my avatar. If it’s not, you won’t”

    Toonsy, that gadgie really puts me off my dinner! Sorry about the delay with the e.mail BTW. I’m getting ’round to it soon but I’m like a headless chicken ATM.