With just 7 points between 11th in the Premier League, where Newcastle United currently sit and 20th place, Alan Pardew has reason to be nervous ahead of the final part of the season. "Breathing space" isn't something the fans want, instead they want 3 points against teams where it is a possibility and consistency on the pitch, which should result in a comfortable place at the end of the season.
Instead, Newcastle face their final 8 games of the season desperately seeking points and relying on other teams failures to widen the 4 point gap between them and the bottom 3.
As well as Aston Villa, Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea coming up, fixtures against Wolves, Blackpool, Birmingham and West Brom all pose a threat and are by no means offering guaranteed points.
Pardew said after yesterday 4-0 defeat against Stoke City;
"We have always been conscious we have never been that far away (from the bottom three). The scoreline is going to put some pressure on us in terms of our next home game. It is one of those days you would like to forget as a manager.
I think we have enough in the dressing room and enough quality to win the next game and give ourselves some breathing space."
Pardew Hoping For Some "Breathing Space"
Posted by: TyneTalk (IP Logged)
Date: 20/03/2011 17:33
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Completely agreed. The breathing space he's talking about should have been gained over the last five games.
I identified the run of matches between the 0-0 with Blackburn through the game at Wolves as key some time ago. I guessed we'd need 10-13 points to avoid being sucked into the relegation fight. If we manage to beat Wolves, we'll have gained 8.
Hang on tight!
Another thing: AP's fiddling with the formation has me worried about him handling transfer funds, too.
Losing Carroll has been a massive loss, and with the cr@p up front then maybe changing it may not be the worst thing but I reckon we will struggle to get many more points this season, though I do think we will get enough to stay up, but the top 10 finish is out of the window for me where when Hughton was in charge I was saying it for a while
I reckon you're right. Tactical tinkering against Everton and Stoke have probably cost us points and timidity against Blackburn, too. That last probably would have been the same with CH too and you have to wonder if we'd ever do something like come back from 4 down against him-it just didn't happen much. It's a mixed bag at this point from AP. As with Ashley, the window will be telling for him.
I don't think we would have came back from 4 down under CH, but then I think we would have picked up more points elsewhere to make up for it. Still not a fan of AP but his job has been made hard with losing Carroll especially with the way toon played with him in the team with him being the big man in set pieces.
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