Even after a month filled with plenty of injuries, questionable managerial decisions, and missed opportunities against weaker teams, Newcastle still have hopes of playing in Europe next year. Tonight’s trip to Anfield is a golden chance to help make those European dreams a reality. And as my co-blogger Bob controversially explained earlier in the week, it’s also past time for Alan Pardew to make a tactical switch.
Fortunately, Newcastle won’t have to worry about Luis Suarez: he’s been banned for his gesture to Fulham fans in a match earlier this month. (Of course, Liverpool also face the prospect of Suarez being out for several more games because of the Patrice Evra incident.) That means a virtually guaranteed start for the £35 million man, Andy Carroll.
Carroll’s taken so much criticism at this point that his manager felt the need to defend him in the press--which will intensify the scrutiny on him even more. We all know what Carroll is capable of at his best. But for most of this season, Newcastle’s former number nine has looked like Leon Best at his worst: totally out of sync with the rest of the team, with a poor first touch, and presenting absolutely no threat to the opposition goal. Although Carroll’s a shell of the player he was this time last year, it’s nice to have Mike Williamson back in the lineup to watch him on set plays. I’d cringe at the thought of James Perch trying to mark him on a corner.
Meanwhile, Jose Enrique has looked every bit as good as he did while patrolling the left side of the field in a black and white shirt. He’ll almost certainly be battling Gabriel Obertan, and it’s a bit ironic: after months of wishing that Obertan would use his pace to go after opposing left backs, he finally does it on Monday. Flush with confidence, he now runs into a player in Enrique who seems totally impervious to that approach. Of course, given that Obertan’s attempts at trickery have mostly been fruitless, I don’t see much good coming down Newcastle’s right side tonight.
So how should Alan Pardew set Newcastle up for victory? Exactly the way the three of us have been advocating all along. (Since I’m still a newcomer to the site, just trust me that I’ve been in total agreement with Bob and Tom on tactics.) The slick passing of Cheick Tiote, Yohan Cabaye, and Hatem Ben Arfa can help slice through a Liverpool midfield that hasn’t looked especially impressive, and present scoring chances for Ben Arfa and Demba Ba.
Despite Ba’s height, he’s better with the ball at his feet than as an aerial threat, and ditching the 4-4-2 gives Newcastle’s creative players more opportunities to get the ball to Ba for a blistering shot. While Ba and Leon Best seemed to have established a good partnership earlier in the season, Best hasn’t been the same since returning from injury two weeks ago, and Pardew has cause to send him back to the bench after Monday’s nightmare performance.
Reviving a creative passing game in the center of midfield will also relieve the pressure on Obertan and Jonas Gutierrez, neither of whom is much of an attacking force. Though Davide Santon has apparently recovered from his knee injury, it’ll help immensely tonight if Gutierrez can use his tireless defensive work to aid Santon in bottling up Glen Johnson’s attacking forays. It will be even more of an imperative if Pardew decides to go with Ryan Taylor, as this would be the sort of game to expose Taylor’s defensive deficiencies.
That being said, Pardew still seems in no mood to switch tactics. In fact, his quotes after the Bolton match were pretty much exactly what those of us advocating change didn’t want to hear. In particular, he cited an “important meeting” which allowed the team to “get back to a few things that we’re good at.” And after this meeting, the team set out to aim punts at the heads of Best and Ba for the first hour of Monday’s game before making any adjustments.
In another Bolton postmortem, Pardew seemed to discount the chances of Ben Arfa returning to the starting lineup, saying that “at the moment he’s limited to cameos for us.” So while a formation change would seem to make sense, expect the standard Pardew 4-4-2 once again, perhaps with Shola Ameobi partnered with Ba, if Best’s Monday outing was deemed sufficiently disappointing.
Though Liverpool have yet to lose at home this season, they’ve not been terribly impressive either, with six draws in nine games. The right approach by Newcastle could certainly produce a victory. But there has to be more of a sense of purpose in Newcastle’s attack for that to happen, and I’m not sure that’s something we’re likely to see tonight.
Fortunately, Newcastle won’t have to worry about Luis Suarez: he’s been banned for his gesture to Fulham fans in a match earlier this month. (Of course, Liverpool also face the prospect of Suarez being out for several more games because of the Patrice Evra incident.) That means a virtually guaranteed start for the £35 million man, Andy Carroll.
Carroll’s taken so much criticism at this point that his manager felt the need to defend him in the press--which will intensify the scrutiny on him even more. We all know what Carroll is capable of at his best. But for most of this season, Newcastle’s former number nine has looked like Leon Best at his worst: totally out of sync with the rest of the team, with a poor first touch, and presenting absolutely no threat to the opposition goal. Although Carroll’s a shell of the player he was this time last year, it’s nice to have Mike Williamson back in the lineup to watch him on set plays. I’d cringe at the thought of James Perch trying to mark him on a corner.
Meanwhile, Jose Enrique has looked every bit as good as he did while patrolling the left side of the field in a black and white shirt. He’ll almost certainly be battling Gabriel Obertan, and it’s a bit ironic: after months of wishing that Obertan would use his pace to go after opposing left backs, he finally does it on Monday. Flush with confidence, he now runs into a player in Enrique who seems totally impervious to that approach. Of course, given that Obertan’s attempts at trickery have mostly been fruitless, I don’t see much good coming down Newcastle’s right side tonight.
So how should Alan Pardew set Newcastle up for victory? Exactly the way the three of us have been advocating all along. (Since I’m still a newcomer to the site, just trust me that I’ve been in total agreement with Bob and Tom on tactics.) The slick passing of Cheick Tiote, Yohan Cabaye, and Hatem Ben Arfa can help slice through a Liverpool midfield that hasn’t looked especially impressive, and present scoring chances for Ben Arfa and Demba Ba.
Despite Ba’s height, he’s better with the ball at his feet than as an aerial threat, and ditching the 4-4-2 gives Newcastle’s creative players more opportunities to get the ball to Ba for a blistering shot. While Ba and Leon Best seemed to have established a good partnership earlier in the season, Best hasn’t been the same since returning from injury two weeks ago, and Pardew has cause to send him back to the bench after Monday’s nightmare performance.
Reviving a creative passing game in the center of midfield will also relieve the pressure on Obertan and Jonas Gutierrez, neither of whom is much of an attacking force. Though Davide Santon has apparently recovered from his knee injury, it’ll help immensely tonight if Gutierrez can use his tireless defensive work to aid Santon in bottling up Glen Johnson’s attacking forays. It will be even more of an imperative if Pardew decides to go with Ryan Taylor, as this would be the sort of game to expose Taylor’s defensive deficiencies.
That being said, Pardew still seems in no mood to switch tactics. In fact, his quotes after the Bolton match were pretty much exactly what those of us advocating change didn’t want to hear. In particular, he cited an “important meeting” which allowed the team to “get back to a few things that we’re good at.” And after this meeting, the team set out to aim punts at the heads of Best and Ba for the first hour of Monday’s game before making any adjustments.
In another Bolton postmortem, Pardew seemed to discount the chances of Ben Arfa returning to the starting lineup, saying that “at the moment he’s limited to cameos for us.” So while a formation change would seem to make sense, expect the standard Pardew 4-4-2 once again, perhaps with Shola Ameobi partnered with Ba, if Best’s Monday outing was deemed sufficiently disappointing.
Though Liverpool have yet to lose at home this season, they’ve not been terribly impressive either, with six draws in nine games. The right approach by Newcastle could certainly produce a victory. But there has to be more of a sense of purpose in Newcastle’s attack for that to happen, and I’m not sure that’s something we’re likely to see tonight.
nothing wrong with 4-4-2. Even though Best turned in a stinker at Bolton, he isn't as bad as many make out. If we start with Best/Ba - i'll have no problem with that. Ben Arfa will become a regular in the starting XI when his performances deserve it - it really is as simple as this.
Maybe he'll get his shot tonight, if so he must contribute more than he did against ManU/Chelsea. I hope he does because potentially he is very very good indeed
Posted by: M | 12/30/2011 at 04:48 AM
It will never happen, but I wouldn't mind seeing Vuckic in the hole in a 4-5-1 ...
Posted by: Tom | 12/30/2011 at 09:39 AM
I thought Best was quite good prior to his injury, even when he wasn't scoring, and if he were playing that well right now I could see persisting with 4-4-2. He definitely deserves to be the main striking option when Ba heads off to the ACON, as well.
And yeah Tom, that does seem to be Vuckic's natural position, doesn't it? Maybe worth an FA Cup experiment, especially since Ba won't be playing in that game anyway. Vuckic behind Best with Jonas on one side and HBA on the other...
Posted by: Matt | 12/30/2011 at 10:38 AM