Every manager has had a point where, for better or worse, the end of their tenure becomes unpreventable. Recent Newcastle managers certainly have a spectacular litany of moments where the tide has overwhelmed them.
From the infamous Tyne-Wear derby defeat in 1999 to missing out on the Champions League in 2004, and from losing Michael Owen to a crazy 12 months in 2007/08 where a UEFA Cup exit, a change in ownership and the presence of Dennis Wise effectively put paid to three managers, each manager has often met their maker after a sequence of things going wrong builds to a head.
It is ridiculous to think that, just a year after Alan Pardew won LMA Manager of the Year and finally looked to have become the elite manager he had potential to be, he has reached this moment. But a catastrophic home defeat by Reading is certainly as big a moment as any to end his spell.
As mentioned several times, the team has failed to match the heights of the spectacular 2011/12 campaign, where we got 5th place in the Premier League table. This was probably to be expected as it was unlikely we could match the heights with a squad that was still wafer-thin and faced additional games with Europa League football.
But only the most pessimistic could have predicted a relegation battle. Most fans were expecting top half but instead we are in a battle to stay in the Premier League and looking like the fall guys. We are in worse shape, both in terms of squad depth and points, then we looked in January 2009 when we ultimately fell through the trap door - even before Shay Given and Charles N'Zogbia's departures that month - and we don't look like getting the vital points required.
Obviously one win can make a difference and a valuable three points off Aston Villa on the 29th will go a long way to keeping us up. But the fact of the matter is that it's outrageous we are even in a position where we are facing relegation.
There have been many blogs and comment pieces - not least this one - arguing reasons why we find ourselves in this mess. Some cite the refusal to strengthen the squad after last seaon's heroics. Other cite tactical failures that have seen us somewhat avoid using our players in positions that a cohesive team could come from. Another popular explanation is luck, both with the fact a lot of our best players have been injured - something we didn't have much trouble with last year - and in actual games where a lucky break for the opponents has seen them take a game we should have won. There is also the likelihood of arrogance and complacency in some sectors after the success, and feeling it could be so easily replicated.
In combination, all four look like a very detailed and accurate explanation for our relegation, but the first two reasons are definitley fair indicators.
The club should have seen the unexpected success last year as a chance to strengthen and build on it. But instead Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias decided they wanted to gamble that the previous season's strategies would pay-off again. There were some youngsters bought in to flesh out the side, a replacement for the departed Danny Guthrie in the form of Vurnon Anita and that was that.
Trouble is that when someone gambles a lot and think they are on a permanent winning streak, they almost inevitably lose a massively high-risk game and lose everything. Ill fortune often follows the ill-prepared and the weaker overall squad than the one 12 months ago meant that there was no back-up when there were inevitable injuries.
Take Mike Williamson. No doubt a handy defender at lower league level, this season he has been the mother of all weak links. The former Portsmouth defender has made countless crucial errors that have repeatedly cost us, but in the absence of either the unsettled Fabricio Coloccini or the injury-prone Steven Taylor there is no other option.
Or take Nile Ranger. The 'striker' has more arrests than goals for the club, and has made laughable attempts to lecture Newcastle fans on how to behave after the boos during the game. Any sane club would've sacked or sold him ages ago - to be fair to the club, he was transfer listed in the summer - and found a better player with less baggage. Yet following the loss of Demba Ba, he not only remains but is one of our only options, which is just madness.
We had to strengthen in the summer. New right back Mathieu Debuchy is a great signing and a vast improvement on Danny Simpson. But while we were stunned by Loic Remy's decision to chase the money at QPR, we still need a new striker. Montpellier centre half Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa would be a great signing, and a steal given he's been linked with Arsenal, but our entire squad needs renovation that looks impossible to accomplish in this window.
As for tactics, Reading became the latest team to expose our failings after spending most of the game on the end of our best football of the campaign. A passing trio of Sylvain Marveux, Anita and the world-class playmaker Yohan Cabaye created opportunities at will, even if Shola Ameobi and Papiss Cisse both displayed spectacular failings at scoring them. But the removals of Marveux and Cabaye for the more defensive James Perch and Gael Bigirimana gave us trouble.
With the creative heart of the team replaced by a utility man and a youngster with barely more than 10 Premier League games in him, we were asking for trouble. This was only exacerbated when Anita was hooked off for the hit-and-miss Gabriel Obertan, leaving Ameobi and Jonas Gutierrez - both of whom had horrible games - on the field.
Like the end of the game against Everton, we looked nowhere near getting an equaliser and the visitors were allowed to close things out.
Pardew tried to say the same fans he'd been bigging up the day before had cost them the game by creating a negative atmosphere, but giving them a negative team that looked in no way like maintaing the team's advantage was never going to end well.
His excuses all season long have been tiring and exhausting. His attempts to blame the fans for spreading a negative atmosphere were stupid, as the atmosphere was kicked off by his idiotic substitutions.
Although replacing him was booed, it is probably understandable that Cabaye could not play 90 minutes against Reading - it was his first start in two months and after an afternoon running the show 75 was probably enough. But the tactical decision making all season long has been unimpressive and this was the undeserved face of it.
This saw the biggest show of dissent against the manager all season long and such dissent is counterproductive. But with reports he's lost the dressing room as well as the fanbase and SkyBet making him the odds-on favourite to be next out the door, a perfect storm appears to be building.
Defeat against the claret and blues already saw for two managers. A 2004 defeat was the end of the road for Sir Bobby Robson, which at the time seemed a harsh sacking, while the infamous 2009 game where a pathetic Toon display ended in relegation was Alan Shearer reach the end of the road. We've already lost one must-win game amid a firestorm of protest. Another one will leave us in a desperate position, louder protestations and the probability of a managerial chance go higher.
No comments:
Post a Comment