“We have got a side that needs to get a grip of a game,” then adding later:
“We’re one of those teams who are going to need to keep on our toes because we know we can drop a few levels quite quickly, but we hit a level today which was, perhaps, as good as I’ve seen, and that’s what we’re going to have to try and replicate for ninety minutes if we can.”
Though Pardew is undoubtedly correct in his assessment, I found it strange that he should raise the issue as if it had nothing to do with himself with his repeated switches to negative tactics whenever the Magpies go a goal or two in front, with the team often going from a position of dominance at half time, to either holding on desperately, or throwing away their early advantage with Pardew either running around his dugout area like Corporal Jones from ‘Dad’s Army,’ or doodling in his notepad. (more…)
The Magpies enter the Dragon’s Lair!Venue: Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff. Date: Sat 5th Oct, 2013. Kick off: 3.00pm. Referee: Kevin Friend (Leics). UK TV: None.
As I mentioned in my match preview for this game, this could be a decisive game in the career of our current manager if the Magpies are defeated today as our current form simply cannot go on for much longer. As I already pointed out in that same preview, Alan Pardew’s form in our last 38 games has seen a points return of only 39 points and a win percentage of only 28.95%!
Of course, every game is a ‘must watch’ for many of we fans, but this one even more so as the great Toon soap could go into overdrive once again if we are defeated again, but we’ll see.
As you can already read all the news in the run up to this game in the aforementioned preview, I will once again keep this one brief. But I’ll remind you as I usually do that I will also be posting match highlights, as well as a full match video when the game is over. (more…)
Confused Cardiff fans (thanks to Mike at Urban75.com).Venue: Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff. Date: Sat 5th Oct, 2013. Kick off: 3.00pm. Referee: Kevin Friend (Leics). UK TV: None.
No matter what Alan Pardew or the club say, the sharks have started to circle around Alan Pardew now, and if the Magpies lose this one we could well be be seeing a Sky Sports sacking special live from St James’ Park before long. If he wins, it will be a case of Pardew on probation, but the club will then face a nightmare series of games against four of the Premier League’s top clubs, ie Liverpool, Sunderland (ok, maybe not them!), Man City, Chelsea and Tottenham. Poor Pardew, it might be a good idea for him to have Noda Cabs on speed dial?
If it does happen, it can’t be said that it is a huge overreaction to a handful of disappointing result as it was with his predecessor, Chris Hughton. As site reader ‘tunyc’ rightly pointed out on these pages yesterday (I checked), if we look at Pardew’s Premier League record over the last twelve months it has been P38, W11, D6, L21. That’s a shocking total of only 39 points from a season’s worth of games, with a Goal Difference of -27 and a win percentage of only 28.95%.(more…)
