Whitewashed By 'Arry And Co.

This instalment should be kicked off with a critical review of Saturday’s whitewash defeat at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur and that’s exactly what’s going to happen.

After a week of media microscope treatment for Harry Redknapp, the whole nation was tuned in to watch Newcastle United throw away a match in record time and gift title-hunting Spurs a generous three points.

I have a sixth-sense for identifying complacency but to be quite frank it didn’t take that to predict an embarrassment last weekend.

The run of good form Alan Pardew has instilled into the club has been highlighted throughout the season and rightly so but in turn as the good PR heightens so does that imminent fall from the sky. Everybody knows the current NUFC squad is at worst a top half team and no better, something that ‘Arry and co enforced a reminder of.

Hull City manager Nick Barmby was approached by Sky Sports with a proposed weekend feature piece but the crew were turned away in a bid to keep the spotlight off the Tiger's good run of form to prevent the football world from picking up on how well they had been playing, all to avoid that 'fall from the sky'.

All the talk of ‘top four/five/six’ had understandably gotten into the players heads on Saturday and as a result had forgotten the things that originally brought all that talk about. A team cannot cross the white line just expecting to play well by default.

I didn’t manage to cast my eyes over the team's warm-up but I imagine it was lacklustre, light-hearted and lightweight because the troops certainly weren’t rough and ready to battle from the first whistle on Saturday.

Pardew and Steve Stone need to ensure that the pre-match preparation hard work is followed through in the warm-up and consequently not thrown into the gutter on the ten minute mark because a clinical team like Tottenham Hotspur will capitalise on that mistake and... embarrass you.

No FA Cup fixtures remain to bolster the fixture list which is somewhat saddening because with both Manchester City and United out of the fold, it could be anyone’s to lift this year. I can’t help but wonder.

Senegalese duo Papiss Cisse and Demba Ba

However a free-weekend for the squad to do whatever they like to rest up and recharge will do no harm (excluding any Joey Barton/Andy Carroll/Nile Ranger-esque misdemeanors), especially for the returned African trio of Papiss Cisse, Demba Ba and Cheick Tiote.

I for one am becoming ever more impatient by the day to know how the Toon Army's season is to conclude.
Will it be a disappointing finish to an encouraging start or will last weekend prove to be nothing more than a blip with the team defying all odds by pipping Liverpool and Arsenal to the European post?

We can dream.

Cloud Eight

The overachievement of Newcastle United this season has heaped further expectation and pressure onto the team.

It is time that someone, preferably Alan Pardew, takes a step back to highlight the following:

1. Man City (54pts)
2. Man Utd (51pts)
3. Tottenham (46pts)
4. Chelsea (41pts)
5. Arsenal (36pts)
6. Newcastle (36pts)

NUFC prop up only five teams and any level-headed Geordie would not be surprised to see those clubs above us especially at this stage in the season.

The attractive sixth spot comes as a result of a few factors:

• The Premier League adopting a pattern, the same which has run its rule over the Championship in recent years with it becoming so difficult to predict the outcome of any fixture.

• Two or three players at NUFC hitting 'Player of the Year' form to claim points which would ordinarily have been lost.

• Alan Pardew instilling a die-hard ethos into the playing squad as well as doing what he can to eliminate any high maintenance personnel who bring negativity towards the club (the exception is Hatem Ben Arfa who has outspoken about his prolonged bench-warming duty... understandable).

• A pinch of luck.

AP has turned NUFC from a club that is less stable than the coalition government into one that is now the surprise package of the season.

Newcastle United Manager Alan Pardew

AP hasn’t yet seen a campaign through from start to finish with Newcastle and he now speaks of the Europa League but in doing so he is lumping unwanted expectation onto not only the club but himself.

There are many potential hazards that could harm the club's domestic form e.g. the unavailability of Cheik Tiote and Demba Ba as well as The FA Cup padding out the current fixture list.

Last year, Premier League survival was all that any Geordie wanted to achieve and to escalate those targets within one year to qualifying for the Europa League is unrealistic despite current form.

The dangers of sitting on cloud nine are that everything is seen through rose-tinted spectacles and if somebody doesn’t turn down the pressure levels sooner rather than later, I predict that AP’s head will be on the block and once again the club will be back to square one.

It’s no secret that the Geordies have high expectations but there is absolutely no requirement for these expectations to be rocketed.

Can everyone please take one step back on to cloud eight and accept;

‘We are overachieving, enjoy it and build on this form game by game without that reluctance to prematurely rework our targets.’