For a band from Las Vegas, it seems odd The Killers have put their emphasis on tunes rather than show. It's all very well doing so, and few can argue with the power their singles have, but it would be nice to see a world of glitz and glamour from their home city bought across with them.
Arguably though, they work just as well without the zazz and the oomph. While their contemporaries Muse, Coldplay and Kasabian have turned up on the arena circuit with massive stage shows designed to give visual spectacle to go with their massive sound, the Las Vegas quartet (a sextet live with two additional keyboard/guitar players) are content with a big screen, a big box of laser-lights and tunes by the bucketload.
Naturally, as its Halloween night, there's nods to it everywhere. The band walked on to Victims-exclusive feature Zombie Hands, with the band dressed as ghostly ghouls on the big screen playing a weirdly hypnotic tune as the band strutted on (drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr arrived in a skeleton onesie, in contrast the black leather/denim of his bandmates).
This led itself into surprise opener Bones, with its Tim Burton-directed music video taking the place on the screen and the true sensation of a whole arena chanting "Don't you wanna come with me, don't you wanna feel my bones all over your bones?"
It maybe the Battle Born tour, but the band weren't to be rushed in delivering new songs - 4th song The Way It Was, sounding much meatier than the Dirty Dancing knock-off on record, was the first number. The delightful ballad followed on from Hot Fuss power-pair Jenny Was A Friend of Mine and Somebody Told Me, which got the crowd singing and jumping.
Frontman Brandon Flowers was bouncing around as ever, posing with his microphone and delivering rousing chorus after chorus and the odd speech over the top of the tightly-woven instrumentation. When he wasn't doing this, he was tinkling away at a black piano at the back of the stage or his keyboards behind a thunderbolt-shaped lighting array.
The band happily chucked in new songs and old songs together, with a lot of them seamlessly clicking with the oldies. Album opener Flesh & Bone seamlessly followed classic Spaceman, while future single Miss Atomic Bomb was a delightful confection as the song led into laser-accompanied 2008 mega-hit Human.
Re-worked numbers also cropped up - For Reasons Unknown and From Here On Out were introduced with sprightly drum interludes from Vannucci, while a delicate, new piano arrangement begun the moving Dustland Fairytale.
But despite the new songs all sounding excellent - the surging A Matter Of Time was a particular delight, while Here With Me was a lovely ballad - the Brummie crowd were in the mood for the hits.
They got what they wanted with an almost comical splurge of big hitters that ended the main set. Read My Mind, fuelled by a delightful riff from guitarist Dave Keuning, led into the dramatic new hit Runaways, and was followed up by the song that launched it all - the glorious Mr. Brightside - before a final run through of When You Were Young ended a fantastic 18 song set.
Except it wasn't quite over - the band strutted back out after a breather for three more. A Hot Fuss duo got the crowd back in the jumping mood with Smile Like You Mean It leading into All These Things That I've Done, fuelled by its refrain of "I've got soul but I'm not a soldier" that sounds made to be sung by 13,500 people all at once and a flash flood of red and silver confetti.
All this led into show closer Battle Born, with more fireworks than Bonfire Night and glorious riffs and chourses that united the arena for one last singalong. It all ended with Flowers introducing us to the members of the band before high-fiving the ecstatic front row as riffs pounded and a final flourish of fireworks bought the song to a close.
In keeping with the Halloween spirit, a lovely touch saw the band hand the crowd sweets before taking a final bow to end their show.
This really was a night of glamorous zazz. The power of the tunes and the delightful live show the Las Vegas band have always looked like delivering produced a truly incredible treat for Halloween night. It seems like such a big trick though that it's now all over.
4.5/5
Supporting the band were Canadian duo Tegan & Sara, who begun the night with a good set of electronic-pop tunes. The duo, augmented by a quartet of additional musicians, looked far from daunted at the prospect of playing to someone else's audience in a room the size of the Vatican City, and certainly will have won some fans over with an impressive display.
Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Saturday, 27 October 2012
Muse at the O2 Arena - Live Review
Over the years, Muse have built up a reputation as one of the world's best live bands. They have played gigs in venues normally the home of football stars and rock dinosaurs, played on productions that wouldn't look out of place in films and have anthems that can get a crowd singing so loud it's a wonder they haven't deafened entire cities.
With new album The 2nd Law charting at number one in many countries, Muse hit the road again with a suitably massive production.
Not that it's immediately apparent - when the trio roll onto stage, they are playing in front of a video bowl-shaped design while Dom Howard's drum riser glows with stock market numbers and robot faces for opening song The 2nd Law: Part One - Unsustainable.
The dubstep-inspired tune caused a wave of internet hysteria when it first dropped in June, but as a concert opener it works exceptionally well, as strings give way to loud, punchy swells of noise and chants.
The following pair of Supremacy and classic Map of the Problematique swagger past, all massive riffs, delightful vocal touches and pounding rhythms before the staging reveals itself.
As spaceship noises fill the venue, a massive upside down video pyramid opens up above the band. The layers stretch down from the roof of the venue above the drumset in the middle of the stage. It's almost a strange touch that this spectacle turns into Panic Station, but the funky riffing number more than holds its own.
The new songs are abundant but also fit in well, with Animals and the Chris Wolstenholme-sung Liquid State both flavoured by heavy touches aimed squarely at the moshpit.
The moshpit is also catered for with some delightful oldies. Timeless classics not only well-worked at getting moshpits bouncing, but venues chanting like mad, and none work better than Supermassive Black Hole and (via a surprise half of early number Host) Time is Running Out.
Surprisingly, Muse also dust off a few chill moments that work delightfully well. Newie Explorers and Showbiz album song Falling Down (the night's rarest tune, getting a first UK airing in 12 years) provide a welcome breather from rampant 1000mph riff-based monsters.
Saying this, not everything Muse throws into the live mix works. The moments that hit the low spot come off 2009's The Resistance, which continues to be a divisive presence amongst the fanbase. Resistance is a bit of a buzzkill after the aforementioned Supermassive, despite it's big chorus and riffs. A later airing of Undisclosed Desires is also fairly nondescript, although it gives Matt Bellamy a chance to play proper walk-around frontman, high-fiving the front rows, bouncing around the bowl at the back and beatboxing his way back to his guitar tech at the end.
Undisclosed... follows fellow electronic numbers Madness and Follow Me, which sound a lot better live than the mishmash on record. Madness is also lit up, quite literally, by a pair of video sunglasses Bellamy dons for the first part of the tune, in a very impressive touch for the tune.
The main set concludes with a rip-roaring Plug in Baby and, after a roulette video interlude, it's Origin of Symmetry album-mate New Born. But while the first of this pair is as impressive as ever, the slowed down New Born just doesn't have the urgency that it has had at previous outings. It said a lot the best part of the tune was the closing touch of a Deftones riff as the pyramid lowered and "consumses the band", and one can't help but feel they should have spun again so it landed on Stockholm Syndrome.
After a video interlude which is set to The 2nd Law: Part Two - Isolated System, the pyramid visuals transforms into a dojo where Howard takes on bankers kung-fu style to the beats of Uprising. It's a humorous touch to the heavy "kill all bankers" subject of the tune, not least when the pyramid rises to reveal Howard in his bright red ninja costume pounding away at his instrument.
A final trio of Olympic-anthem Survival, the pretty Starlight and a rampant Knights of Cydonia (with it's usual Man with a Harmonica intro) brings the curtain down on the show.
Overall, it was a confusing affair that could've used a little bit of re-ordering and swapping (No Bliss? No Butterflies and Hurricanes? Still playing Undisclosed Desires?) to make it truly incredible. But there's a reason Muse are heralded as an amazing live act, and what we got was nevertheless a very good show delivered by a band at the top of their game.
Shows like this certainly cement Muse's reputation ahead of next summer's expected stadium tour. Can't wait.
7/10
Also playing were The Joy Formidable. Singer Ritzy Bryan missed the previous night's show after losing her voice, but she recovered in time to play. She and her bandmates delivered an impressive 45 minute set to warm the crowd up, with drummer Matt Thomas in particular playing a very tight array of percussive riffs and engaging with the crowd.
With new album The 2nd Law charting at number one in many countries, Muse hit the road again with a suitably massive production.
Not that it's immediately apparent - when the trio roll onto stage, they are playing in front of a video bowl-shaped design while Dom Howard's drum riser glows with stock market numbers and robot faces for opening song The 2nd Law: Part One - Unsustainable.
The dubstep-inspired tune caused a wave of internet hysteria when it first dropped in June, but as a concert opener it works exceptionally well, as strings give way to loud, punchy swells of noise and chants.
The following pair of Supremacy and classic Map of the Problematique swagger past, all massive riffs, delightful vocal touches and pounding rhythms before the staging reveals itself.
As spaceship noises fill the venue, a massive upside down video pyramid opens up above the band. The layers stretch down from the roof of the venue above the drumset in the middle of the stage. It's almost a strange touch that this spectacle turns into Panic Station, but the funky riffing number more than holds its own.
The new songs are abundant but also fit in well, with Animals and the Chris Wolstenholme-sung Liquid State both flavoured by heavy touches aimed squarely at the moshpit.
The moshpit is also catered for with some delightful oldies. Timeless classics not only well-worked at getting moshpits bouncing, but venues chanting like mad, and none work better than Supermassive Black Hole and (via a surprise half of early number Host) Time is Running Out.
Surprisingly, Muse also dust off a few chill moments that work delightfully well. Newie Explorers and Showbiz album song Falling Down (the night's rarest tune, getting a first UK airing in 12 years) provide a welcome breather from rampant 1000mph riff-based monsters.
Saying this, not everything Muse throws into the live mix works. The moments that hit the low spot come off 2009's The Resistance, which continues to be a divisive presence amongst the fanbase. Resistance is a bit of a buzzkill after the aforementioned Supermassive, despite it's big chorus and riffs. A later airing of Undisclosed Desires is also fairly nondescript, although it gives Matt Bellamy a chance to play proper walk-around frontman, high-fiving the front rows, bouncing around the bowl at the back and beatboxing his way back to his guitar tech at the end.
Undisclosed... follows fellow electronic numbers Madness and Follow Me, which sound a lot better live than the mishmash on record. Madness is also lit up, quite literally, by a pair of video sunglasses Bellamy dons for the first part of the tune, in a very impressive touch for the tune.
The main set concludes with a rip-roaring Plug in Baby and, after a roulette video interlude, it's Origin of Symmetry album-mate New Born. But while the first of this pair is as impressive as ever, the slowed down New Born just doesn't have the urgency that it has had at previous outings. It said a lot the best part of the tune was the closing touch of a Deftones riff as the pyramid lowered and "consumses the band", and one can't help but feel they should have spun again so it landed on Stockholm Syndrome.
After a video interlude which is set to The 2nd Law: Part Two - Isolated System, the pyramid visuals transforms into a dojo where Howard takes on bankers kung-fu style to the beats of Uprising. It's a humorous touch to the heavy "kill all bankers" subject of the tune, not least when the pyramid rises to reveal Howard in his bright red ninja costume pounding away at his instrument.
A final trio of Olympic-anthem Survival, the pretty Starlight and a rampant Knights of Cydonia (with it's usual Man with a Harmonica intro) brings the curtain down on the show.
Overall, it was a confusing affair that could've used a little bit of re-ordering and swapping (No Bliss? No Butterflies and Hurricanes? Still playing Undisclosed Desires?) to make it truly incredible. But there's a reason Muse are heralded as an amazing live act, and what we got was nevertheless a very good show delivered by a band at the top of their game.
Shows like this certainly cement Muse's reputation ahead of next summer's expected stadium tour. Can't wait.
7/10
Also playing were The Joy Formidable. Singer Ritzy Bryan missed the previous night's show after losing her voice, but she recovered in time to play. She and her bandmates delivered an impressive 45 minute set to warm the crowd up, with drummer Matt Thomas in particular playing a very tight array of percussive riffs and engaging with the crowd.
Sunday, 21 October 2012
Gamesmanship
There is no denying that football is a sport full of cash. Vast amounts of money are sunk into teams by success-hungry billionaires and TV companies, who promptly spend it on wages and transfer fees to hunt for players.
The pursuit of money therefore requires teams further income to fuel this alongside the revenue sources that wealthy backers and the television people give, and there are three main avenues for this - tickets (VIP or otherwise), merchandise and sponsorship.
Sponsorship of football clubs is a delicate issue - the image of the sponsor is transferred to the club and the club is associated with them. This can be trouble in a way depending on who you ally yourself with.
As a result, Wonga.com's £24M deal with Newcastle United is pretty syptomatic of the league.
I personally am not impressed by this deal. Wonga.com's wealth comes from exploitation - its 4214% loans ensuring the company's coffers are lined up very well with the money of those who find it hard to repay, and their debt collection practices are also highly immoral. It also reflects poorly on us. By association it can be seen that having their company's logo emblazoned on our replica shirts, training ground and other associated things helps to legitimaise their brand.
But at the same time, it seems that the owners are playing a game in the same way the rest of the league are.
All it needs is a look around. The league itself is sponsored by Barclays, who got in big trouble earlier this year for LIBOR interest rate fixing and have historically been in trouble for a manner of business practices. It doesn't get much better looking down, with the Football League sponsored by NPower and their annual extortionate energy prices rises, while the FA Cup is sponsored by alcohol company Budweiser.
Premier League clubs also have their own share of dodgy sponsorship deals. Gambling companies in particular are the main promoters of immorailty adorning shirts. Stoke, Swansea, West Ham and Wigan are all sponsored by online gambling sites, while Chinese casino operators Genting have their logo on Aston Villa shirts.
Alcohol also has its presence, although its more limited to billboard space with just Everton shirts emblazoned with the name of a booze corporation. It's certainly a long way from the 1990s, where Blackburn, Ipswich, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle and Spurs wore alcohol companies on their shirts at various stages in the FA Carling Premiership.
Not that finance in football is limited to the obvious amoral duo of gambling and alcohol companies. Sunderland are indirectly sponsored by Tullow Oil under their front investment charity Invest In Africa, and the reputation of oil corporations is not exactly strong.
This is before the deals of the champions. Manchester City are sponsored by Etihad Airways in a deal that seems designed to circumvent the UEFA Financial Fairplay regulations.
The two big fish in the shirt-selling stakes are also adorned with slightly dodgy deals. United are sponsored by insurance company AON, who have been fined for breaching US insurance selling regulations. Not quite the same league as AIG, whose balls-out financial failures cost the American taxpayer $100billion in bailout money, but still not exactly rosy. As for Liverpool, they wear the name of Standard Chartered, who are currently in trouble for laundering Iranian terrorist money, having previously had alcohol company Carlsberg on their shirts.
Wonga.com are also about in football teams anyway. Championship outfit Blackpool and Scottish side Hearts also have the blue speech bubble on their shirts. Certainly, there was no hysteria surrounding this deal when Ian Holloway's side played in the Premier League.
I am not saying of course that Wonga.com is what I want to see on the front of our shirts. But regardless of my personal opinion, the leagues have always been full of this sort of thing since football started taking shirt sponsorship.
This is, of course, before the other hysteria surrounding ownership and television rights is thrown into the potent mix. It basically shows the bombastic levels of financial antics that carry on in football and the corporations involved in the sport means we cannot simply pick and choose sponsors along moral lines.
The pursuit of money therefore requires teams further income to fuel this alongside the revenue sources that wealthy backers and the television people give, and there are three main avenues for this - tickets (VIP or otherwise), merchandise and sponsorship.
Sponsorship of football clubs is a delicate issue - the image of the sponsor is transferred to the club and the club is associated with them. This can be trouble in a way depending on who you ally yourself with.
As a result, Wonga.com's £24M deal with Newcastle United is pretty syptomatic of the league.
I personally am not impressed by this deal. Wonga.com's wealth comes from exploitation - its 4214% loans ensuring the company's coffers are lined up very well with the money of those who find it hard to repay, and their debt collection practices are also highly immoral. It also reflects poorly on us. By association it can be seen that having their company's logo emblazoned on our replica shirts, training ground and other associated things helps to legitimaise their brand.
But at the same time, it seems that the owners are playing a game in the same way the rest of the league are.
All it needs is a look around. The league itself is sponsored by Barclays, who got in big trouble earlier this year for LIBOR interest rate fixing and have historically been in trouble for a manner of business practices. It doesn't get much better looking down, with the Football League sponsored by NPower and their annual extortionate energy prices rises, while the FA Cup is sponsored by alcohol company Budweiser.
Premier League clubs also have their own share of dodgy sponsorship deals. Gambling companies in particular are the main promoters of immorailty adorning shirts. Stoke, Swansea, West Ham and Wigan are all sponsored by online gambling sites, while Chinese casino operators Genting have their logo on Aston Villa shirts.
Alcohol also has its presence, although its more limited to billboard space with just Everton shirts emblazoned with the name of a booze corporation. It's certainly a long way from the 1990s, where Blackburn, Ipswich, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle and Spurs wore alcohol companies on their shirts at various stages in the FA Carling Premiership.
Not that finance in football is limited to the obvious amoral duo of gambling and alcohol companies. Sunderland are indirectly sponsored by Tullow Oil under their front investment charity Invest In Africa, and the reputation of oil corporations is not exactly strong.
This is before the deals of the champions. Manchester City are sponsored by Etihad Airways in a deal that seems designed to circumvent the UEFA Financial Fairplay regulations.
The two big fish in the shirt-selling stakes are also adorned with slightly dodgy deals. United are sponsored by insurance company AON, who have been fined for breaching US insurance selling regulations. Not quite the same league as AIG, whose balls-out financial failures cost the American taxpayer $100billion in bailout money, but still not exactly rosy. As for Liverpool, they wear the name of Standard Chartered, who are currently in trouble for laundering Iranian terrorist money, having previously had alcohol company Carlsberg on their shirts.
Wonga.com are also about in football teams anyway. Championship outfit Blackpool and Scottish side Hearts also have the blue speech bubble on their shirts. Certainly, there was no hysteria surrounding this deal when Ian Holloway's side played in the Premier League.
I am not saying of course that Wonga.com is what I want to see on the front of our shirts. But regardless of my personal opinion, the leagues have always been full of this sort of thing since football started taking shirt sponsorship.
This is, of course, before the other hysteria surrounding ownership and television rights is thrown into the potent mix. It basically shows the bombastic levels of financial antics that carry on in football and the corporations involved in the sport means we cannot simply pick and choose sponsors along moral lines.
Sunday, 7 October 2012
Off Day Or Symptomatic One?
Newcastle's display against Manchester United was, undoubtedly, not a good one.
A terrible opening 20 minutes against Sir Alex Ferguson's mob meant we had way too much to do. And although we did create chances, we tested David De Gea way too little before Tom Cleverley wrapped things up and ended the game as a conteet.
This was a thoroughly underwhelming display, espicially in defence, with the centre back pairing of Mike Williamson and James Perch struggling and goalkeeper Steve Harper also looking decidedly suspect.
Some pundits felt the Toon could do some damage to their opponents - after all, we beat them 3-0 at St. James' Park in January and still had our attacking options - not least Demba Ba, the Premier League's top scorer.
But neither him, Cisse or others could unlock a defence some pundits had called the worst in Sir Alex Ferguson's long and distinguished tenure at Old Trafford.
Fergie's lot are not unbeatable but it is dispiriting that we didn't try and test this, with one point blank De Gea save that may have crossed the line from Cisse the nearest we really came to scoring.
It is one possibility to dismiss the result as an off day. After all, every team has them and teams can't win every game. But despite this, there's a nagging feeling that there's something more than this underfoot at the Toon.
This summer, our targets were simple - cover at both defence and attack. We got youngsters and an extra midfielder that plays better as a full back, but our first choice targets were not signed as we seemed unwilling - petulant, almost - in refusing to pay one or two extra million for these players.
It looks like the ownership was hedging their bets that we mantain luck with injuries - with the exception of a defensive collapse against Norwich due to having a quarter of full backs as defenders, we got lucky with injuries in that area last season.
No such luck with Danny Simpson, Fabricio Coloccini and Steven Taylor all suffering injuries, along with goalkeeper Tim Krul.
Obviously luck with injuries is something you can never factor in when the transfer recruitment policy but it pays to be aware problems like this may occur and our policy failed to take account of this. Steve Harper and Mike Williamson were great options in the Championship and on our return to the Premier League but if we have aspirations of being top 4/5 regulars we need to upgrade our options, while James Perch seems better as a full back/holding midfielder than as a centre option.
Having just three senior centre backs is a worrying problem, with only up top the other area where bodies look light - the surprise drafting in of misfit Xisco shows the problems in these areas.
However, until January, there is nothing to be done for this. But that's not the only problem facing us right now.
Tactically, things have not been right. The run that steamrolled us into the top 5 at the end of last season saw Pardew put his men into a 4-3-3 formation, with Ben Arfa and Ba operating as wide forwards either side of Cisse. This season has seen a shift back to a 4-4-2, with the manager trying to incorporate Ba back into our system after he seemed on the fringes last season.
But although Ba has been been scoring, 4-4-2 looks like an uneasy fit for us. We perform poorer in the 4-4-2 formation than we do when we change to a 4-3-3 tactic, which has been a situation that has repeated itself more than once so far this campaign.
This leads to sluggish starts from the team. The first 15 minutes today were horrible viewing - the last time we started so poorly at home was the immortal game against Arsenal in February 2011, where a Robin van Persie-led attack bagged four in 26 minutes, and at one point it looked like his new mob were set to replicate that approach.
Not the only time we have started sluggishly this season - poor opening displays against Chelsea, Aston Villa, Everton and Reading cost us the chance to win the games. But this was a genuinely horrible opening display that could well have seen us buried before the half hour point.
False hope was generated when we came back into it but we had to test De Gea to have any remote aspiration of scoring, and by the time Tom Cleverley put the game beyond doubt it remained that Cisse's was-it-or-wasn't-it-over header was the only real time the Spaniard was tested.
It is certainly food for thought for Pardew and his backroom staff. They may have 8 year deals to try and take us towards the highest honours, but we won't get there with displays like the ones so far this season.
This makes the Derby post-internationals an intriguing proposition - both sides are coming off the back of deflating three goal thumpings by Manchester sides and will be hungry to show what they are capable of.
All we need now is a display that keeps the doubters quiet, and victory in the Derby is certainly the right way to do this. With any luck, it could help bury the memories of a day when nothing went right for the black and whites.
A terrible opening 20 minutes against Sir Alex Ferguson's mob meant we had way too much to do. And although we did create chances, we tested David De Gea way too little before Tom Cleverley wrapped things up and ended the game as a conteet.
This was a thoroughly underwhelming display, espicially in defence, with the centre back pairing of Mike Williamson and James Perch struggling and goalkeeper Steve Harper also looking decidedly suspect.
Some pundits felt the Toon could do some damage to their opponents - after all, we beat them 3-0 at St. James' Park in January and still had our attacking options - not least Demba Ba, the Premier League's top scorer.
But neither him, Cisse or others could unlock a defence some pundits had called the worst in Sir Alex Ferguson's long and distinguished tenure at Old Trafford.
Fergie's lot are not unbeatable but it is dispiriting that we didn't try and test this, with one point blank De Gea save that may have crossed the line from Cisse the nearest we really came to scoring.
It is one possibility to dismiss the result as an off day. After all, every team has them and teams can't win every game. But despite this, there's a nagging feeling that there's something more than this underfoot at the Toon.
This summer, our targets were simple - cover at both defence and attack. We got youngsters and an extra midfielder that plays better as a full back, but our first choice targets were not signed as we seemed unwilling - petulant, almost - in refusing to pay one or two extra million for these players.
It looks like the ownership was hedging their bets that we mantain luck with injuries - with the exception of a defensive collapse against Norwich due to having a quarter of full backs as defenders, we got lucky with injuries in that area last season.
No such luck with Danny Simpson, Fabricio Coloccini and Steven Taylor all suffering injuries, along with goalkeeper Tim Krul.
Obviously luck with injuries is something you can never factor in when the transfer recruitment policy but it pays to be aware problems like this may occur and our policy failed to take account of this. Steve Harper and Mike Williamson were great options in the Championship and on our return to the Premier League but if we have aspirations of being top 4/5 regulars we need to upgrade our options, while James Perch seems better as a full back/holding midfielder than as a centre option.
Having just three senior centre backs is a worrying problem, with only up top the other area where bodies look light - the surprise drafting in of misfit Xisco shows the problems in these areas.
However, until January, there is nothing to be done for this. But that's not the only problem facing us right now.
Tactically, things have not been right. The run that steamrolled us into the top 5 at the end of last season saw Pardew put his men into a 4-3-3 formation, with Ben Arfa and Ba operating as wide forwards either side of Cisse. This season has seen a shift back to a 4-4-2, with the manager trying to incorporate Ba back into our system after he seemed on the fringes last season.
But although Ba has been been scoring, 4-4-2 looks like an uneasy fit for us. We perform poorer in the 4-4-2 formation than we do when we change to a 4-3-3 tactic, which has been a situation that has repeated itself more than once so far this campaign.
This leads to sluggish starts from the team. The first 15 minutes today were horrible viewing - the last time we started so poorly at home was the immortal game against Arsenal in February 2011, where a Robin van Persie-led attack bagged four in 26 minutes, and at one point it looked like his new mob were set to replicate that approach.
Not the only time we have started sluggishly this season - poor opening displays against Chelsea, Aston Villa, Everton and Reading cost us the chance to win the games. But this was a genuinely horrible opening display that could well have seen us buried before the half hour point.
False hope was generated when we came back into it but we had to test De Gea to have any remote aspiration of scoring, and by the time Tom Cleverley put the game beyond doubt it remained that Cisse's was-it-or-wasn't-it-over header was the only real time the Spaniard was tested.
It is certainly food for thought for Pardew and his backroom staff. They may have 8 year deals to try and take us towards the highest honours, but we won't get there with displays like the ones so far this season.
This makes the Derby post-internationals an intriguing proposition - both sides are coming off the back of deflating three goal thumpings by Manchester sides and will be hungry to show what they are capable of.
All we need now is a display that keeps the doubters quiet, and victory in the Derby is certainly the right way to do this. With any luck, it could help bury the memories of a day when nothing went right for the black and whites.
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