Pardnocchio’s been at it again!With two one goal victories under his belt against Fulham and Aston Villa, Alan Pardew has started getting very cocky again. Speaking in one of his post match interviews after the Villa game he said the following amongst other things:
“Our home form since I’ve been at the football club has been brilliant”
So, I thought I would look deeper at his bullish claim and put it to the test, as going from what I have seen at St James’ Park in Pardew’s time at the club, it certainly hasn’t seemed that way. It has seemed like more like one good season sandwiched by one and a half poor ones.
Before I begin though, it should be remembered (though I’m sure you know already) that a team’s home form is almost always better than it’s away form, and sometimes much better with even mediocre teams getting around a 50% win percentage, though if those teams had a 50% win percentage for ALL their games, they would stand a very good chance of getting into the European places, not at the very top, but like Tottenham, or Pardew’s Newcastle when we came fifth and competed in the Europa League the following season. In that 2011-12 season, Newcastle United won 50% of all it’s Premier League games (19 out of 38), and 51.16% of all games (22 out of 43). So, bearing all that in mind, I have looked at ALL of Pardew’s home games at St James’ Park, both in the Premier League and in cup competitions. (more…)
ST: we must improve at homeNewcastle United defender Steven Taylor talks about how he wants our home form to improve next season.
Steven Taylor wants to turn St James’ Park into a fortress. He’s not talking about a drawbridge, some cannons and a couple of Rottweilers, but rather our ability to remain undefeated on the pitch during home games.
We were second bottom of the home wins table this season, equal with Birmingham, with only West Ham, Wigan and Blackpool having won fewer games at home than us. In total we won 6, drew 8 and lost 5 at St James’ Park in the league this season.
Many folk feel one of the secrets to Premier league success is to be virtually unbeatable at home and Steven Taylor tends to agree.
“It’s something we’re definitely looking to improve on.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better year in the Championship when we managed to stay unbeaten at home throughout the season.
“And last summer the main aim was to continue that in our home games to give us some solid foundations for the season.
“But it didn’t turn out that way, and it’s something we need to address.” (more…)
