Stoke City vs Newcastle United – What the managers are saying…
Posted on October 31st, 2011 | 35 Comments |
As an addition to Jimbob’s excellent match preview, I will be maing my usual review of what the managers have been saying in the run up to the game. As usual, we will also be running our regular “match banter” feature, as well as post match reports, highlights and post match interviews after the game.
Firstly, with this being a Newcastle United blog, I will be taking a look at the black and white corner to see what Alan Pardew has to say looking forward to this evening’s game. Looking back to the team’s first defeat of the season, in the League Cup to Blackburn, he hoped that the team’s “resilience” would have them bouncing back against the difficult challenge of Stoke at home. On this he remarked:
“I don’t really know how they’ll react to defeat because that (winning Gaël Givet) goal came so late and even then we had a good chance with 20 seconds left through Colo.
“There’s obviously a resilience in this team, that’s a given and we take that to Stoke. We don’t want to get beaten in the league so we’ll be fighting for our lives again. It’s just about getting my head around Stoke. It’s a different type of game, the pitch is narrow, the grass is long and they put you under enormous pressure.”
He then looked back to last season’s 4-0 roasting by the Potters, where he unsuccessfully experimented with a 5-3-2 formation to try and combat Stoke’s bombardment on throw ins and long balls into the danger area. Pardew said of that disaster:
“We had a terrible day there last year, I had to take some fault – I set the team up to combat their style rather than focus on our own.”
Then, going back to the Blackburn defeat once again he added:
“It’s on the back of a defeat – and I can’t say it was a disappointing defeat, because there are things that went very, very right in the game.”
Once again looking at Stoke’s big men on a small pitch strategy at the Britannia Stadium, he also commented:
“It’s such a difficult place to go and try to get a result.
“They play with two wingers and two strikers and there’s not many in the Premiership who do that. They have a stadium that makes a lot of noise and they have a pitch that suits them because it’s a small pitch and a lot of things come in your box (ooh er missus!).
“You’ve got to be big and strong and be able to cope with them. Tony’s done a terrific job – and his staff – in targeting players that have taken the club forward every year, and again they look stronger this year.
“So it’s going to be a big test for every team that goes there.”
Hmm, a cautious assessment from the Silver Supremo there, possibly tempered by the sound thrashing we received last season.
Meanwhile, Potters manager, Tony Pulis has been having a good old moan about the “powers that be” for scheduling games at odd times such as Monday evenings.
“We could have done without the game being on a Monday night. We could have done with it over the weekend but money talks for the powers that be who run football,” he whinged.
However he changed his tuned somewhat in another remark about the fixtures saying:
“But you can’t take the money and then argue about the fixtures and when they’re played.”
Speaking on this evening’s opposition, ie us, he commented:
“Alan has been fortunate in that he has been able to keep a settled side.
“When you get off to a good start, the confidence quickly runs through the group.
“The fact that they have been able to keep a settled side means that the new players have gelled. They look strong and they have also got good balance to the side.”
Finally, the manager’s mutual appreciation society continued as he heaped praise on Newcastle’s manager and players. After their good start to the season he said
“Newcastle are flying at the moment and they will come here full of confidence.
“They are a very good team with some very good footballers.
“Alan Pardew has done a wonderful job up there and really stabilised the club and invested superbly well in the summer.”
And that about wraps it up for this review of what the managers are saying before the Stoke game.
Howay the lads!
NUFCBlog Author: workyticket
workyticket has written 1095 articles on this blog.
Having to wait until 8pm is annoying. I hope we pick up 3 points tonight but 1 will do the job!