Alan Pardew last night admitted he had no problem with Newcastle United legends criticising the club because they had earned the right to do so. No less than Alan Shearer, Andy Cole and Rob Lee lined up to take potshots at the current state of the Toon last week. But it would have comforted the manager that yesterday’s 2-1 win at Aston Villa, the best Newcastle Premier League performance since the win against Chelsea last season, that even this trio would have welcomed such a victory. Pardew said: “These ex-players that made those comments have earned the right to have an opinion about the club. They have been brilliant servants for Newcastle United. “Out players can only aspire to what they achieved. We are not in a position to compete financially like they did because the game has changed dramatically. “Their comments, we accept, it’s OK. The only answer is to win games. My job is to get my team out there to win games as we did today.” And he added: “When you are manager of Newcastle, it is a bumpy ride. But you just try to be consistent in your work and I try to be that.” This was a good day to be the Newcastle manager. Pardew’s team played well and looked a real solid unit who in Moussa Sissoko and Hatem Ben Arfa had the two best performers on the park. The manager couldn’t hide and didn’t try to hide the contentment he felt. He said: “The most important thing at our football club is the team. They carry the flag, they carry the banner. For the first time today since Demba Ba left, we carried an attacking threat a Newcastle team should have. “Loic Remy has boosted that. I think it puts the opposition on the back foot a bit and that makes a big different to how you control the game. “We got more players in the box today. Hatem got the simplest goal he will ever score because he got in the box and that’s something we’ve encouraged him to do. “I thought we controlled the first-half. We came under pressure in the second, but we played really well. “Hatem Ben Arfa was unplayable at times. He was brilliant. I thought some of the reaction two weeks ago was over the top, but it can’t be over the top this week.” This was a fine three points. Aston Villa might not be quite the team some of their billing suggests, but not many sides will dominate them on their own patch as United did for long spells yesterday. Pardew said: “When you are a manager of Newcastle, and you talk about the Europa League and injuries, it sounds like rotten excuses. “We had our best players available today and anyone who was at the game would say that when that happens we look a good team. If we can keep them all fit then we can have a good season.” Yohan Cabaye started and while he wasn’t back to his best, he played well and got a good reception from the travelling support. “I was glad to see that,” said Pardew. “He hasn’t fully repaired the relationship, but that will happen if he keeps playing like that. “The fans who clapped him off the pitch would have been impressed, but those back home want to see him do it as well.” /Loraine
Posted on: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 09:19:45 +0000
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