true faith : TIFOSI (Swansea City (h))

by | Apr 20, 2014 | Match reports | 4 comments

true faith : TIFOSI (Swansea City (h))

The starting line-up today was one of the most baffling we’ve had in a while. I have SimonCampbellnewsympathised with Pardew a lot of the time this season on the grounds that the size of the squad leaves him very little choice and makes it very difficult to just field 11 players in position. Thinking back to the mackems away, Paul Dummett and Mike Williamson, who was in no sort of form, at centre back and we lost the game conceding two very shite goals.

Alas, here we were with a lot of players back from injury and the option not to play Paul ‘set-piece’ Dummett. Haidara and MYM must seriously be wondering what they have to do to get a game ahead of this guy. I’ve said it before, it is great to see a home-grown player given a chance, but he’s just not very good and all the other defenders available are better than him. Anita at full back and Dan ‘not a football player’ Gosling running the show in the middle – The mind boggled. That said, we had no midfielders on the bench.

Thankfully an injury to Cisse (poor bugger stuck out wide again) brought Debuchy into the game. He is a world class full back. I still laugh at the suggestion when he had a poor start for us that he was no better than Danny Simpson. Hilarious. We continued to look nervous but somehow found a typical out of nothing Shola goal. I’d forgotten celebrating a goal and it was a great feeling. Inevitably though, the result went sour again.

Swansea were shite and had 2 shots and won 2-1. Ridiculous challenge from Tiote and, although we weren’t brilliant, that’s the least deserved 3 points any team has taken from St James’ Park.

That said, we started the game with Mike Williamson instead of an accomplished France international centre half. Paul Dummett who can’t cross, can’t be in position and doesn’t want the ball at left back (no support whatsoever for Remy when he came on) and Dan Gosling. It’s probably a little harsh to criticise Mike Williamson as he’s had a decent couple of years playing within his limitations. However, he is what he is and if we want to be any better than mid-table, we need better football players.

That’s three of our starting 11 that don’t really want the ball and couldn’t dream of playing for anyone who is above us in the league at present.

Nobody could complain if Pardew lost his job now. Even with the plight of our squad since Christmas, it’s just been too poor. If we hang on to a top 9 spot and rebuild in the summer then I still maintain that we are making progress but the last couple of months need to be addressed very seriously and everyone at the club (whoever is there) needs to be working hard from the last kick of the season.

SIMON CAMPBELL

Seeing as the strange team selection and idiosyncratic formation worked so well against Stoke City, Pardew
Man wearing ski maskdecided to do it again; this time omitting Steven Taylor to allow three target men  to start upfront. For a little bit we sort of flung everything forward and were rewarded with a goal. Luuk De Jong’s performance was marginally better, in that he did a bit more running around and set up Shola to open the scoring.
Playing two wing-backs who can’t tackle, cross or run very fast allowed Swansea to stroll their way down the flanks and every one of their attacks looked dangerous. Wilfred Bony equalised easily from a corner at the end of the first half.
The introduction of Debuchy brought some much-needed class to the right side but with no one up front to do anything with it, the impetuous simply faded away. The return of Remy was welcome but, for all he is, the lad can’t do it on his own. Both Cisse and de Jong limped off with injuries.
United could only muster two shots in the second half, one of them off target; not one of the players looked capable of unlocking a poor Swansea side. Tiote (who actually had had a particularly good game beforehand) made a ridiculous challenge on Marvin Emnes in the final few seconds of added time and it was inevitable that the record of five successive defeats in the Premier League  racks itself up on Pardew’s achievement list this season.
The good bits: The attitudes of a few key players (namely Coloccini and Gouffran) were slightly better than last time. Not that it did any good…
The bad bits: “Wilfried Bony Bony, score us a goaly-goaly.” That would have been funny if he hadn’t done…twice…
MATT STARK TF_INITIALS_LOGO

4 Comments

  1. Stephen Brownlow
    Stephen Brownlow on April 20, 2014 at 8:46 pm

    Still making progress Simon? Are you for real??

    • Simon C
      Simon C on April 21, 2014 at 11:13 am

      Yes Stephen. 9th or higher would be progress on last season. Further progress would be a higher finish the following season. That hinges on how we go about this summer, which can’t come soon enough.

      • Rob
        Rob on April 21, 2014 at 3:08 pm

        Depends how you define progress really. I don’t think finishing higher in the table in one season is an indicator of ‘progress’- the view should be much longer term. Yes, you could argue that it’s progress in our 4th season ‘back up’ to “consolidate top flight football,” but we’re Newcastle United. That shouldn’t be seen as progress, it should be an expectation.
        The club as a whole is taking remarkably backwards steps.
        (Think giving Glenn Roeder the job full-time after finishing 7th).

      • David Rutherford
        David Rutherford on April 21, 2014 at 5:34 pm

        I admire your positivity but personally I hope we finish 11th and as for progress, with little hope of strengthening in the summer I think we’re in a far worse position than we were this time last year. Finishing 9th will stand for fuck all if we start next season with the same manager, owner and (even more depleted) squad.