Pardew - Learning lessons?After Newcastle United’s 5-0 thumping at Tottenham on Saturday, silver supremo Alan Pardew has reflected on his teams defeat and performance at White Hart Lane.
Recent quotes attributed to Mr.Pardew happen to mention the use of formation in recent weeks, which is something I am interested in venting my thoughts on. But before I begin, in case you haven’t had the pleasure of reading his recent reflections on all things Newcastle I shall include the most important snippet for you below. Enjoy…
“We have two good strikers but they didn’t have a chance at Spurs. Papiss isn’t going to win you the game when you’re 2-0 down after five minutes.
“We need to be able to cope with having two strikers. The Press and the fans have criticised us when we have played 4-5-1 at times this year. Now they understand why.”
The formation debate is something that I see / hear on a regular basis, right through all the Newcastle blogs it’s a topic discussed between fans. The main issue I see however has never been in regards to United utilising a 4-5-1, rather, it has been more notably about United using a 4-4-2. It seems, certainly in my case anyway, that most are against Newcastle using 4-4-2 and more pro towards using a 4-5-1. So where Pardew has got this information from seems lost on me. Moreover, Newcastle haven’t used a 4-5-1 all season, but have dabbled with a 4-3-3 and a 4-4-1-1. The latter formation has only been used when Hatem Ben Arfa has been included in the starting eleven (hardly ever), and the former was recently used at Fulham and Brighton. (more…)
Craven Cottage: Home of the "Cottagers"Fulham are one of those inconsistent teams that seem to go from one extreme to the other. This season for example they have crushed Queens Park Rangers 6-0 at Craven Cottage, including a hat-trick for Andy Johnson, but also lost 0-5 to easy meat like Manchester United (did you see what I did there?). As far as this game goes, one of the factors influencing the result will be which Fulham team actually turns up!
This inconsistency could, of course, be partly due to their squad being stretched to it’s limits with their extra games in the Europa League. They are no longer involved in that particular competition following a draw with Odense which ended their interest. As a result however, the game against Newcastle United will be Fulham’s 38th match of the season, and more than one commentator has been heard to remark that they have looked a bit tired lately. Lets hope that continues for at least one more game!
2012 got off to a good start for Fulham with an impressive 2-1 home victory over London rivals Arsenal, and this was followed by a 4-0 victory over another London team, Charlton, in the FA Cup – also at Craven Cottage. Then the inconsistency kicked in when they travelled to struggling Blackburn last weekend and lost 3-1. The danger for United is that Fulham have a pretty good home record, having lost only to Everton, Spurs and Manchester United. (more…)
Africa Cup of NationsThe recent signing of Senegal striker Papiss Cisse by United added to the fact that Demba Ba is also a Senegal star potentially means that Geordie fans will take more of an interest in the African Cup Of Nations (ACON) which kicks off this weekend. And of course we also have our very own (at least at the time of writing!) Cheick Tiote involved as part of the Ivory Coast team.
Obviously, we hope the lads do well – but not too well considering the legions of scouts who will be out there – and that they return to Tyneside fit and injury-free. Here’s a look at the two teams that our African players will be representing.
Senegal – The Lions Of Teranga
The Senegal national football team are nicknamed “The Lions Of Teranga”. They first appeared in the World Cup in 2002 and made an immediate name for themselves by beating France 1-0 in the opening game of the tournament. They made it to the quarter finals that year eventually going out to Turkey. Subsequently, they failed to qualify in 2006 and 2010.
The team have featured more regularly in the ACoN since 1965, their most successful year being 2002 when they were runners-up. Senegal qualified for the finals of the ACON as top of their group, winning 5 of their 6 games between September 2010 and October 2011. This included a 9-0 aggregate demolition of Mauritius and notably beating Cameroon 1-0 at home and drawing 0-0 away. (more…)
"I don't see nothing wrong with a little bump and grind"I think it’s fair to say that yesterday’s win against QPR at Saint James’ Park wasn’t the prettiest game to watch, though it was still a very welcome and grinding win.
While the Toon faithful may not like seeing such meagre fare, I feel it’s a very satisfying way to collect three very important points sometimes. Of course, we can point to the players that have gone to seek their fortune in Africa Cup of Nations, not being here.
There’s also the little matter of QPR kicking one our best players (Cabaye) off the pitch with only 20 minutes on the clock.
It was good for us that their midfield schemer one Joey Barton was prevented from rocking up to SJP with his new club and manager because of suspension for a red card. They also lacked the skill of Taarabt and the power of Troare, also in Africa. It maybe would have been a very different game with them playing. Not to mention Demba Ba and Cheik Tiote.
Oh! I mentioned them!
I think I’m right in saying that Mark Highes has never lost as a manager at Saint James’ with all of his former charges? So it was always going to be a bit of a war of atrition, and so it proved! (more…)
Butch Wilkins: My Word!Venue: St James’ Park, Toon. Date: Sun 15th Jan 2011. Kick-Off: 1:30 pm. Referee: Chris Foy.
United came to this game on the back of 2 excellent straight wins against Man Utd 3-0 (got that one in early today!) and Blackburn 2-1 in the FA Cup. In contrast, Queens Park Rangers had taken only one point from their last 6 games.
Everything pointed to a fairly routine, comfortable home win. However this was the first league game without Demba Ba and Cheick Tiote, and the other potentially influencing factor was the appointment of Mark Hughes, who took charge of QPR for his first game following the sacking of Neil Warnock.
The match referee, Chris Foy, was the man who had sent off Man City’s Captain Kompany the previous week for that 2-footed challenge about which there has been much subsequent debate.
United Manager Alan Pardew was asked by Sky TV before the game about Ba and how he would deal with losing such a prolific goalscorer. He replied that it was about the team, not individuals and that Best and Ameobi would be a handful.
The day got off to an annoying start for those watching on Sky as they insisted on calling St James’ Park the “Sports Direct Arena” for some inexplicable reason. You’d think they would have asked somebody what the proper name was if they didn’t know? (more…)
