Archive for category: Interviews.

West Bromwich Albion vs Newcastle United match banter!

April 20th, 2013 | 75 Comments |

WBA v Newcastle United.
Pardew really can’t lose this one!
Venue: The Hawthorns, West Bromwich.
Date: Sat 20th April, 2013.
Kick off: 3.00pm.
Referee: Mike Jones.
UK TV: None.

Hello, good afternoon and welcome to our “match banter” feature for this afternoon’s game against West Bromwich Albion.

Though we are sitting in 13th going into the game and we won’t be relegated if we lose, I think it would be fair to say that Geordies all over will be pressing panic buttons if we don’t get at least a draw this afternoon.

Blaming tiredness for the club’s poor form this season, Pardew seemed almost relieved that European football will not hinder Newcastle United’s form as it has with other clubs in European competition such as Barcelona, Manchester United and of course our Euro nemesis, Benfica. In one of his pre match interviews, he spoke on this, putting the tiredness excuse to bed (so to speak): (more…)

Newcastle United are still the biggest long ball side in the Premiership

April 17th, 2013 | 189 Comments |

NUFC - Route One.
NUFC: More ‘hoof’ than a Tesco economy burger.
“We were tighter as a team. We kicked the ball longer. We tried to get as many bodies around the ball as we possibly could to make it difficult for their passing game.” – Newcastle United first team coach Steve Stone praising a route one performance against Swansea City (which we lost).

“Alan Pardew will tell you that he tries to play good football – That’s rubbish, he plays long ball football. It’s very direct, there is no creativity in midfield, he just wants to play route one football. Every time I’ve seen his teams play, they play that way but he’ll say in the Press ‘we play good football.’ At times he can be a conman.” – ex player and pundit Stewart Robson when Pardew was appointed as Newcastle United’s manager.

Although Newcastle United have never been what could be described as a “pass and move” side, in their early season games I noticed Alan Pardew’s sharply increasing reliance on the long ball as a tactic in early season games against teams such as Aston Villa, Everton, Norwich and Reading. Because of this, and also because of Alan Pardew’s previous reputation as an old school “hoofball merchant” before he joined the club in December 2010, I decided to track Newcastle United’s performances in this respect. (more…)