Alan Pardew And The Problematic Transfer Policy

If you think Newcastle's problems -- this season and moving forward -- start and stop with Alan Pardew, then you are simple-minded. That might sound a tad harsh, but it's true.

Pardew deserves to draw criticism in the wake of a troubling season that saw his team tumble from Champions League contenders to relegation survivors. (Granted, it seems fairly clear at this point that Newcastle overachieved in 2011-12.) His teams tended to encounter the same difficulties match after match, including (but not limited to) a penchant for losing its grip on games after halftime, a complete aversion to set piece success and an inability to string together solid defensive performances.

Newcastle's seemingly endless injury list no doubt hindered Pardew's efforts to eradicate those problems. Pardew finally settled on a 4-2-3-1 formation in the second half of the season, but Newcastle never truly appeared fluid in any alignment. Pardew has long talked about his teams "playing on the front foot" and establishing a "rhythmic passing game," but his team hasn't turned that talk into a reality on the field often enough.

Still, Pardew didn't go from a solid Premier League manager to a complete oaf overnight. We all may have oversold his abilities in the delirium of last season, but he merited considerable praise for integrating new signings, getting the best out of Newcastle's most talented players and establishing a solid defensive backbone. Pardew drew deserved plaudits for overseeing a fifth-place finish. So did Newcastle's French-and-on-a-budget recruitment policy.

Yet only one seems to have been placed under the microscope this season.

The decision to only sign one senior player last summer -- and one who, with everyone available, wouldn't be expected to start -- set the tone for a season in which the club as a whole seemed to only aspire to do just enough to get by. But there are wider issues when it comes to Newcastle's much-celebrated transfer strategy.

What sort of players is the club signing? Available, affordable and young don't tell me anything about how they'll perform on the field. Newcastle may be collecting promising assets while avoiding sky high transfer fees, but is the club giving Pardew the players he needs to succeed in the Premier League? Let's even take Pardew out of the equation. Every manager has a philosophy, a style, a preference. Isn't synergy between scouting and transfer strategy and the manager's plans essential?

Moreover, no transfer policy can be totally rigid. A long-term plan is necessary; so, too, is having the flexibility to consider short-term needs. Team needs change from season to season. Key players get injured. Promising youngsters regress. Veterans start to slip. Clubs have to react to those developments. And sometimes, the appropriate response is to pay the necessary price to bring in proven, Premier League-tested players. Or at least to look outside of Ligue 1, a league that, at best, is the fifth-strongest in Europe.

This isn't manager mode on a FIFA video game. Buying nothing but young players doesn't guarantee future success. Intangible attributes like toughness -- both mental and physical -- and leadership matter. Newcastle, for all its promising French imports, badly needs more of those qualities. I'm not arguing that the club should return to the days of signing the Nicky Butts and Alan Smiths of the world. But there are plenty of 24- to 28-year-olds with Premier League success on their resumes, and Newcastle would be wise to consider a few of them.

Pardew has taken flack this season for not having a "Plan B" when his team struggles. His superiors at St. James' Park deserve similar criticism. And their chance to respond begins this summer.

Comments

[Mark David]

I can't say I agree with much of this, Pardew may vocally tell people all day long he plays attractive flowing football, in reality he never has in any of his previous jobs, and here again it's a direct hit the front man ASAP-fest.

As for what kind of players the club is buying, Anita full Dutch international midfielder who received and played the ball 40% more per game at Ajax than he does here He gets about 30 touches of the ball/match here 50 at Ajax. Ajax play almost 200 more short passes than us per game, they dominate possession. He's also been played in his first season in a foreign league in Def-Mid,Mid,Att-Mid, Right-Mid and Right back.

Debuchy full french international, at Lille all their play 41% of their football down the right flank, Newcastle play it much more balanced. Lille also play over 150 more short passes per game than we do keeping almost 60% of possession, Newcastle coming in at 49% possession.He's used to having the ball and pushing on, and seeing alot of the ball. He started playing in midfield and moved backwards, .. he's a wing-back for all intents and purposes. He's having the same problems in this style of football we're playing as Marcelo would on the left hand side.

Mbiwa comes in from Montpellier, hes only 23 years old but has been a regular starter since he was 18, he already has 186 first team games under his belt before arriving here. He won the title last year with them as a CENTRAL figure, their club captain. All for the one club, a club that plays a noticeably higher possession based game than we do, the pass it more, the pass it short more and they play the ball in midfield not across the back 4. Montpellier are also aggressive in closing down the opposition. We're not. He comes from one of the best drilled, organised defenses in France, one in which he was the captain, and key component.

We're buying players who play possession football, then playing direct hit the striker fast crap, at our best we're playing counter attacking quick direct football. With a squad built to play something completely different. We play the ball in our own half more than any of the teams the players used to play for, we shoot long and early instead of building steadily.

We have a fantastic group of players assembled, time to let them play the football they were bought for, the football that showed us how fantastic they were elsewhere.
Time to go continental, and pass the ball along the ground, and attempt to keep the ball.

[greg]

Well I guess that makes me simple, but that is a good thing as it means my mind is not clouded by last seasons over achievement and good luck. I do not believe he is a good solid premiership manager but in your words was a complete oaf.
I think most supporters are sick of hearing from his very large book of excuses and how it was not his fault this season.
Last seasons football was not much better the main difference was that decisions and luck mainly went for us last season but not this season. Plan B this season "Ameobi" is a year older and he has lost his edge,he never was a game changer, we should have had a plan C.
The failure to bring players in lays between Pardew, Ashley and Lambias but he got his players except for one in January and produced very little in the way of points. He declared us safe in March but of course anyone could see he was wrong.
His record with other clubs has been very similar to his Newcastle record ie a good first full season followed by an appalling second season.
I suggest that you take your Turnip coloured Pardew glasses off and get some black and white ones and you will see the simple unclouded facts
This does not mean he should be sacked now but he should be replaced as soon as possible.

[Expert]

The problem is an owner who only is interested to make profit on thr club instead of winning anything. We will never be a stable top team before he sells us. A new owner like aCity or PSG owner is our only hope

[greg]

This is as pro Pardew as I am anti Pardew I guess we will never have any common ground regarding him as you seem to have convinced yourself what a wonderful manager he is. Have you seen this link from fans at his previous clubs :-http://www.nufcblog.org/2013/05/does-this-sound-familiar-west-ham-charlton-and-southampton-fans-on-pardew/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=does-this-sound-familiar-west-ham-charlton-and-southampton-fans-on-pardew#.UZZdqaKGyE0 So thats my final say on this story no point in repeating it all over again.

[terry]

it seems like a lot of the comments kind of missed the point of the article. i don't think you've made pardew blameless - far from it. i actually agreed with a lot of what you said that there are so many factors in the successes of last seasons and the massive shortcomings this time around that deserve the credit and the blame. yes, i understand at the end of the day its pardews job to get the players organized and performing, but when he's left short of key tools, we're never going to get the desired results.