Sunday 28 April 2013

Alan Pardew - Manager of the Year to Relegation Favourite!

Newcastle United lost 0-6 against Liverpool and now sit 16th in the league, hovering over the relegation zone. This time last season we had just lost 0-4 away to Wigan, but were chasing Champion's League football in 4th place.

This season has been quite the disaster as injuries and European football have took its toll on a small playing squad. However when you take away the excuses about the team performance this season and look at the basics there are two glaring faults.

Firstly the defence are often left exposed against teams who are quick and can pass the ball. Newcastle set up yesterday with Perch and Tiote as two defensive midfielders and part of a five man midfield, but Coutinho still managed to find space to execute some excellent passes. Within the first 20 minutes Liverpool managed to expose the back four and there was countless attacks of either 4v4 or 5v4. Three of the back four playing yesterday arrived this season so it could be a lack of playing time together or lack of communication as some defenders were playing for offside, but others were slow to push up. It wasn't just yesterday the game against Everton at home the same problem occurred where the defence was left exposed as they played the ball out wide which created space in the centre of the pitch. Anichebe was able to come on and exploit this as the central defenders were forced to cover the full back position, but no midfielders tracked back to cover the space.

As an attacking side Newcastle offer little threat which means the other team can either have a high line or wait for a long ball to go aimlessly out of play or to their goalkeeper. Papiss Cisse has often been left isolated as the lone striker with no support play from wide players or midfield. It seems like a tactic this season has been for Cisse to be on the shoulder of the last defender which means he has been caught offside numerous time (38 times before yesterday). Moussa Sissoko who arrived in January looked extremely promising as he had strength, pace and could deliver a defence splitting pass. However now it seems that his main instruction is to run at people until he tires or loses possession. Jonas does well in supporting the full back, but offers little when attacking often going down under pressure to win a free kick. Yohan Cabaye has been a shadow of himself from last season, although depression has been talked about this season. Ultimately there has been little movement from attacking players and we have relied on Hatem Ben Arfa when he is fit to come up with another goal like Bolton or Blackburn last season. The "team" is split into position so nothing becomes interchangeable and they don't support each other. For example Debuchy and Haidara got forward a few times past the midfield yesterday with a couple of successful crosses delivered. There was not one time Cisse received the ball on the edge of the 18 yard line to feet that he was able to pass to an onrushing midfielder. There is no point in discussing set pieces as the delivery is either not good enough or the aim is to hit Taylor and hope he can get it on target. It must be over 300 corners since we last scored from a corner as it was back in October 2011 which is shockingly bad.

Last season Pardew kept to the basics which proved to be successful and this season Newcastle have looked anything like a team. He needs to address the issues quickly otherwise his future will be elsewhere because the owner backed him with funds in January and another relegation would mean missing out on the new TV money. Hopefully this seasons finishes with Newcastle still in the Premier League, however the summer will need some major issues sorted out between management and playing style.

Where do NUFC go from here?
Should Pardew be given a chance?