by Heisen » Sat Jul 06, 2013 6:25 pm
AC Jimbo wrote:Jaiston wrote:
He has shown time and time again that he isn't better than last season. 5th was a freak result, which won't happen again with Pardew. Pardew does well for 12-18 month until he inputs all his footballing philosophies than it is all down hill.
This. 5th was a freak result, and to the other extent 16th was at the wider end of a spectrum of expected and acceptable performance. Therefore Pardew's true abilities lie somewhere in the middle - I think that's anywhere between 9th and 20th. I don't believe 16th was a fluke, and it was certainly a true reflection of how Pardew set that side up, - I just tried to use the supposed word 'irregardless', clearly I meant 'regardless' - of injuries, Europa League or any other half baked excuse.
Therefore, if Pardew is going to be sacked sooner or later - it's near inevitable. If there is a projected class ceiling upon his abilities as a manager, and that glass ceiling is around 8th/9th, add to the fact that there are simply six or so clear better squads in this league than us, he would have to be performing at his upper limits to finish in the top 10, and thus at an acceptable level.
The natural flutuations of performance during the course of a season would surely see him go through a bad run of form, and be sacked - simply because the peaks of performance are only going to be tipping satisfactory standards (8th, 9th), yet the troughs of performance are going to see us residing where we finished last season.
I have hope. Perhaps I'm just an optimist, and whilst I know fifth is out of the equation, I think we should be aiming for top 8. We have a fantastic starting XI, and with a full pre-season under their belt the January acquisitions should look better next year.
The key areas for me are:
*Keeping Ben Arfa fit
*Utilising Sissoko effectively
*Adding a good left forward
*Keeping a settled back four
*Scoring more from set pieces
Teams on average score between 7-15 goals a season from set pieces, this is the one major area we need to be focusing on during pre-season. 15 goals a year from set plays is probably enough to jump a couple of positions up the league table. Whether Pardew realises all of the above and works on this is another matter - I've always said Pardew is a manager that relies on defensive stability and moments of magic to win games, this really needs to change. We have a very attacking squad - Pardew needs to learn this.
[quote="AC Jimbo"][quote="Jaiston"]
He has shown time and time again that he isn't better than last season. 5th was a freak result, which won't happen again with Pardew. Pardew does well for 12-18 month until he inputs all his footballing philosophies than it is all down hill.[/quote]
This. 5th was a freak result, and to the other extent 16th was at the wider end of a spectrum of expected and acceptable performance. Therefore Pardew's true abilities lie somewhere in the middle - I think that's anywhere between 9th and 20th. I don't believe 16th was a fluke, and it was certainly a true reflection of how Pardew set that side up, - I just tried to use the supposed word 'irregardless', clearly I meant 'regardless' - of injuries, Europa League or any other half baked excuse.
Therefore, if Pardew is going to be sacked sooner or later - it's near inevitable. If there is a projected class ceiling upon his abilities as a manager, and that glass ceiling is around 8th/9th, add to the fact that there are simply six or so clear better squads in this league than us, he would have to be performing at his upper limits to finish in the top 10, and thus at an acceptable level.
The natural flutuations of performance during the course of a season would surely see him go through a bad run of form, and be sacked - simply because the peaks of performance are only going to be tipping satisfactory standards (8th, 9th), yet the troughs of performance are going to see us residing where we finished last season.[/quote]
I have hope. Perhaps I'm just an optimist, and whilst I know fifth is out of the equation, I think we should be aiming for top 8. We have a fantastic starting XI, and with a full pre-season under their belt the January acquisitions should look better next year.
The key areas for me are:
*Keeping Ben Arfa fit
*Utilising Sissoko effectively
*Adding a good left forward
*Keeping a settled back four
*Scoring more from set pieces
Teams on average score between 7-15 goals a season from set pieces, this is the one major area we need to be focusing on during pre-season. 15 goals a year from set plays is probably enough to jump a couple of positions up the league table. Whether Pardew realises all of the above and works on this is another matter - I've always said Pardew is a manager that relies on defensive stability and moments of magic to win games, this really needs to change. We have a very attacking squad - Pardew needs to learn this.