Three Points: Spurs Victory

Three takeaways from Newcastle United's gutsy 1-0 win over Spurs at White Hart Lane:

Don't count him out
However you feel about Alan Pardew — and it's perfectly valid to still question whether he's the best long-term manager for Newcastle — you have to applaud his resiliency. Every time he appears headed toward unemployment, Pardew finds a way to survive.

Pardew has responded to the latest crisis — the tame 2-1 derby loss at Sunderland — by reshaping his team into a 4-4-2 alignment that emphasizes quick ball movement and soaks up pressure. He's made bold decisions by removing Hatem Ben Arfa from the lineup, inserting Shola Ameobi, and moving Moussa Sissoko to the right wing. He made another big call on Sunday by sticking with Mike Williamson and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa in the center of his defense, in spite of captain Fabricio Coloccini's recovery from injury.

Those moves have keyed back-to-back upset wins, during which Newcastle has produced passages of attacking play that would rival any during the Pardew era. Now, the challenge is to develop some level of consistency.

Krul and unusual
Now that we've patted Pardew on the back, let's admit that Newcastle would have left north London with, at most, one point had it not been for a superhuman performance by its goalkeeper.

Tim Krul's distribution might disappoint at times, but the Dutchman with the haircut of a 1990s American teenager is about as good of a shot stopper as you'll see. Krul's only real blemish was a 63rd-minute shot from Andros Townsend that he pushed into the path of Roberto Soldado.

Admittedly, Newcastle needed some luck to keep Spurs off the board — how, exactly, did Younes Kaboul not score? — given the amount of scoring chances they allowed. Overall, though, the backline coped well with the sustained pressure and Krul won Newcastle three points.

Sign that man!
Of course, Newcastle still needed a goal to get the win, and Loic Remy obliged. The two touches Remy took to evade ageless Spurs goalkeeper Brad Friedel were beyond the capability of any other striker on Newcastle's roster.

Quite simply, Remy is the most elegant striker Newcastle has had during my time following the club (2006-07 was my first season). Assuming Remy's legal issues are resolved later this month, Newcastle should do everything in its power to sign Remy permanently in January, regardless of what the Frenchman has said about waiting until the summer to decide on his future.

Remy has been Newcastle's best player through 11 Premier League games and gives Pardew more tactical flexibility up front than any of his other strikers. If signing him means moving out a couple of fringe players — Sylvain Marveaux, in particular, comes to mind — to free up money to make it happen, so be it.

Comments

[Jaeger]

i would say the first six months that Ba was here were just as nice as remy is playing like right now. cant complain as long as he's still scoring though. brilliant last two games though. HTL

[geordiepat]

I'd agree Ba was just as much the complete striker, and if anything, was scoring his corkers in a lesser toon team with less movement. That's nitpicking however, Remy is in a different class to the likes of Bony, Soldado, Van Wolfswinkle and various other expensive summer imports. Don't get too attached is my advice- which top club in Europe wouldn't take him at £10m now? Not many.

Pardew replicated last week's gameplan - down to the substitutions. It's worked twice against two top sides but it won't work every week. Despite his critics - including your podcast team cough, cough- Shola is playing well. He performs a clear and specific job on the pitch to help his team retain possession and mount attacks from higher up the pitch. When he went off we retracted and resigned ourselves to hoping that 1 of 30 shots wouldn't go in. Knowing Spurs this season it's a risk worth taking, but it's not a gameplan for any kind of longterm success, as it will inevitably lead to conceding late equalisers - a hallmark of Pardew's 1st (half) season at the helm.

Arfa is in danger of becoming a scapegoat. Dropping Cisse has liberated NUFC on the pitch, but unfortunately for Ben Arfa his withdrawl from the team occurred at the same time - and he has since achieved a 'luxury item' status, which undermines his record for us of late. The Villa and Fulham games were basically won on the back of his attacking verve. That's 6 points. I would find a place in the team for him against Norwich no matter what - especially considering the possibility of Remy and Cabaye's January exits.

I like Pardew. I'm pleased he's still with us and managing the team reasonably well, considering the toxic atmosphere he's working in.

[Ben from Aus]

GET ON THE GOUFFRAN BAND WAGON - SET UP THE GOAL WITH AN EXCELLENT PASS AND WORKED HARDER THAN ANYONE ON THE FIELD. HIS FANTASTIC PERFORMANCE WAS ONLY MASKED BY THE GOD THAT IS KRUL

[jaeger]

i agree with you geordie pat....ben arfa should start vs. norwich..it would be a good game to go back to the 4-3-3 and maybe give cisse a start and remy on the left. have tiote cabaye and sissoko in the midfield and anita at RB because of debuchy's suspension.

i don't think we'll keep remy after the summer. could see chelski or spurs go for him. and i could see chelski in for krul too.

i think 6 or 7 points from our next three matches (norwich, west brom, at swansea) would be very nice, minimum of 4.

[toonfin]

I pray that we can get remy signed up however I fear a top top club will more likely be his destination. He reminds me alot like Henry and with all their talk about a lack of a world class striker I think they will be in for him. On another note I'd like to see Shola dropped with Remy through the middle leaving an extra space for Ben arfa to come in for home games and anita to shore up midfield for away games.