This match saw the losing streak halted at six, Newcastle earn 3 points (with a padded scoreline that didn't reflect the performance) and Cardiff confirming their relegation, but none of that was the focus of the day as the fans chose to make their voices heard at the last home game of the season via a plethora of banners, booing of Pardew if he dared to leave his seat, a variety of chants, and a couple of walkouts. Since this was a pretty unusual occurance, we also polled our members on their thoughts on the fans' performance, the average rating being an 8.38, which I guess could also result in a man of the match award for them (otherwise it's Krul and his 7.30).
Gouffran continued to draw fire for his lacklustre performances, and this time it was enough to earn him mug of the match. The team averaged 5.77, and Pardew got a 2.42, with the main criticism being of him cowardly defending a 1-0 lead at home to the worst side in the lead by going to 6 at the back at times.
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(You can click on player names to go to their pages)
Krul - 7.30 (MOTM) Ratings ranged between 6 and 8"Some top saves, flapped at one cross they really should have scored from."
"Kept us in the game."
"Some excellent saves, but made some errors that almost gifted Cardiff goals."
Debuchy - 6.60 Ratings ranged between 5 and 8
"Never stops running. Does the right thing 9/10 times as well. Got beaten by Zaha too many times though."
"Lost Zaha a few times but our biggest threat going forward."
"Got done a couple of times by Zaha but mostly excellent, both in defence and attack. Player of the season for me."
Williamson - 5.27 Ratings ranged between 3 and 7
"Bit shaky at times. As terrible in possession as ever."
"Not that good."
"A bit shaky but made a load of clearances."
Coloccini - 6.30 Ratings ranged between 3 and 7
"Back to somewhere near his best, easy against such limited opposition."
"Amazing goal line clearance, other than that average."
"I don't get why people say he doesn't care anymore."
Dummett - 4.64 Ratings ranged between 3 and 6
"Useless free-kicks, not as good as Haidara or Santon."
"Had a bit of a shocker. Visibly lost confidence as the first half went on."
"Poor defensively and going forwards, he was lucky he was only up against someone s***."
Anita - 5.70 Ratings ranged between 4.5 and 6
"Didn't get involved enough, lost the ball a few times."
"A few good passes, but didn't see enough of the ball for someone in his role."
"Not one of his better games but his passing was tidy."
Tioté - 6.07 Ratings ranged between 4 and 7
"Seems to care more than the rest."
"He wanted the ball, wanted to attack the ball and go forward."
"Decent, but not a captain Tioté performance. Brought down by his stupid shooting and wastefully losing the ball on runs."
Sissoko - 6.77 Ratings ranged between 5 and 8
"Looked dangerous. We only play well when Sissoko plays well. Which has been twice since Christmas."
"Great cross in for the first goal, standard Sissoko performance, good runs, needs to get his head up."
"Great assist, unlucky not to score. Typical Sissoko/Debuchy right flank performance."
Gouffran - 4.23 Ratings ranged between 3 and 6
"Looked off the pace yet again."
"Ran about a bit, didnt do anything though, seems to be enough for Pardew. not a winger."
"Was he even on the pitch?"
Rémy - 4.96 Ratings ranged between 3 and 7
"Did next to nothing all game but still got a goal. So ball greedy."
"Constantly gave the ball away and ignored players in good positions to go for glory himself."
"Greed is allowed and kind of a good thing for strikers, so I don't mind him showing that. Didn't do well for most of the match, but came to life near the end and padding the scoreline nicely."
Shola - 6.00 Ratings ranged between 3 and 8
"Scored and looked good in the first half, but predictably burned out in the second."
"To be fair, he was decent today."
"Scored and held-up play well, a shame that he drifted out to the wings so much given how terribly Cardiff defended against aerial threats. Best LB at the club..."
Haïdara - 5.93 Ratings ranged between 5 and 7
"If he starts on the bench behind Dummett again then I just don't know whether I can live in this world."
"Offered more than Dummett, gave the left a bit of life in attack."
"Much more solid than Dummett."
Gosling - 5.11 Ratings ranged between 3.5 and 6.5
"Didn't do much, but didn't lose the ball or inhibit us either."
"A couple of decent touches, made the last goal."
"Where's the point in playing him?"
Taylor - 5.86 Ratings ranged between 4 and 7
"Didn't get involved in the play too much but got a fortunate goal. Customary OTT celebration. What was with all of the booing?!"
"I hate that he was brought on for a midfielder, but that was not his fault. Scored a goal, fair play. This might mean he'll start fist pumping though..."
"Shows passion, effort, makes errors in the process but gives it his all."
Pardew - 2.42 Ratings ranged between 1 and 4.5
"Odd decision to try and defend a 1-0 against Cardiff. Cardiff. I mean f*cking Cardiff. They did nothing all game, they're as good as relegated, they're in dreadful form and he sits deep. Other than that it was meh."
"To be fair we got what was needed. We were desperate for that win. Pretty crap performance overall if we are honest, how we won 3-0 I'll never know. Had the sense to stop coming out of his dugout and also give the lap of dishonour a miss, something I wasn't expecting from him considering his lack of self awareness. Pre and post match comments beggar belief, totally missing the point and not addressing any of the criticism that has been aimed at him personally. Classic Pards, never your fault, head in the sand."
"I was happy with the way we were set up and how we played first half, but sitting on a 1-0 lead at home to the worst side in the league? F*ck off."
"Only luck and some excellent stops from Krul/Colo prevented a terrible and dejected Cardiff side that mostly didn't seem interested in the game from taking points. Pardew's response? 6 at the back to protect a 1-0 lead at home to the bottom side."
The Fans - 8.38 Ratings ranged between 5 and 10
"Thought the constant booing any time Pardew came out of the dugout was ridiculously petty. I want him gone as much as anybody, but that was an embarrassment imo. Singing was good though"
"Mixed feelings, the atmosphere leading up to the 'exodus' was as good as I've heard it in a long time. It begs the question of where the support has been all season. People say 'support the team, not the regime' but it seems the 11 on the pitch get very little support at most home games. It shouldn't take something like this to create an atmosphere at SJP. The walkout thing was exactly what I thought it would be, insignificant. Hopefully the few thousand that walked out and the banners will have made some sort of difference but I am skeptical. As many have said before, turning up and leaving early will achieve nothing other than unsettling the team on the pitch, Cashley already has your money, he couldn't give a monkeys when people leave. The booing of Steven Taylor was unnecessary, I'm not his biggest fan but I just didn't get it, never boo your own players. As usual it could be heard coming from 'the corner' only. Aside from that, it was nice to have some noise back at SJP, even if it was fuelled by Sam Jacks' Fosters and WKD."
"Bit quiet at the start, but a few banners and the walk-out stuff was quite good. However, the 'Ashley Out' stuff is counterproductive at this point - antagonising him will only make Pardew more likely to stay. I say fight the battles you can win, i.e. go all out for Pardew instead of shouting about Ashley as well. Once Pardew's gone, if things are still s**** after the summer, then I'll be doing all the 'Ashley Out' stuff too, but in the short-term I think it's really not helpful. Booing whenever Pards stood up was great though."
"A good mix of making their dissent known and getting behind the players on the pitch. A bit more cohesion would have been nice, but there are naturally divisions over the right course of action. One of the local journos said that this display will give people in the club pushing for positive change something tangible to work with, let's hope so."
