Pardew identifies shortcomings despite our lofty 4th place

Posted on October 3rd, 2011 | 7 Comments |

Alan Pardew identifies problems.
We should have had a 3rd goal
Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew identifies some areas in which we can improve, despite our creditable 4th place Premier League position.

There has been a lot of comment since our 2-1 victory over Wolves on Saturday, much of it of the pat-on-the-back variety, which – it has to be said – is better than the poke-in-the-eye variety that might follow a defeat.

Alan Pardew, however, still has some room for criticism. Pardew said:

“I’m just disappointed we didn’t get the third goal – it wouldn’t have then been a grandstand finish, it would have been game over. We missed a couple of big chances in that period.”

Indeed, whilst it may appear churlish to criticise a team that’s currently performing beyond expectations – at least in terms of league position – one problem I think we do have is that we don’t close games down very well.

It seems to me that there are two ways of doing that. The first is simply to score more goals and put the game completely beyond the opposition. The second is to nullify the opposition with possession, not allowing them to put us under pressure. The latter trait in particular is one which I think we can improve upon a lot.

Pardew goes on to say he wasn’t particularly happy with the shape of the pitch. It was an oblong of the variety used for most football pitches rather than, say, a triangle, but it was the length and width of it that Pardew didn’t like:

“The pitch has been shortened down and narrowed, and that didn’t help us. For us, it meant there was more pressure on the ball, and that caught us out,” said Pardew.

And as the the upcoming international break, Pardew thinks we need it:

“I think perhaps we do need a break, and in any case we’ve got internationals going away.

“It was a really tough game – we had cramp on the pitch because of the heat. The heat was a factor and probably caught us out, as it did with a lot of Premier League sides.

“We got very tired towards the end of the game, and made a lot of errors. It almost cost us three points.”

But it just seems so long to wait two weeks for a game!

NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10). Hugh de Payen has written 634 articles on this blog.

Related Posts:

Posted on by Hugh de Payen in category: Alan Pardew and Hugh de Payen and Interviews and Thoughts and reflections , with tags: ,
Comment on this post

7 Responses

  1. To be honest the team is fine. We would survive all but the worst injury crisis. Our youth system is developing and some could easily fill up the bench.
    A bonus would be:
    Junior Hoilett in solves our striker issues – refusing to sign a contract at Blackburn.
    Pieters or another Defender in.

  2. Aye,
    if Ba had buried that one early in the second half that Best brilliantly set up for him, there woulda been no drama, game over!
    But hey, 3 points.
    Now a boring non-football break, tsk!

  3. The shortcoming we have, despite our league position, is still the lack of a good quality striker.
    If Ba is injured, and it’s looking likely. we will be struggling as I don’t think Best will set the place alight even though he may get the odd goal.
    Lovenkrands and Shola are just not good enough and should be replaced ASAP. It wouldn’t take a fortune to improve those two.
    Maybe Sammy will have to step up to the plate but I’d still like to see a top front man (Cisse?) come in, in January.
    Nice, though, to think we’ve still got Ben Arfa, Marveaux and Santon to integrate yet.

  4. We lost our defensive shape towards the end with everyone piling back, our box got congested.
    & Tiote was guilty of trying to overplay right in front of our box again, once or twice.
    It was all hands to the pump, but too many hands on one pump, as it were.
    :)

  5. The best way to stay forth is to beat spuds next time out.
    That’d put a little daylight between us & them.
    Tough game though!

  6. “It was all hands to the pump, but too many hands on one pump, as it were.”

    Lovely mental image there, Clint. Yeah, beating Spuds is going to be a tall order. However, if we keep picking up points from the likes of Wolves/Blackburn/etc we’ll have a good season.

  7. Heat, shape of the pitch, lack of possession, did’nt get the third goal, etc. etc.
    What about poor tactical advice, an obvious lack of knowing what to do for the entire second half, following Wolves domination by McCarthy replacing their two inside midfielders.
    Excuses and bull***t, this guy is unbelievable.