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Stoke’s Peter Crouch header piles pressure on Alan Pardew’s Newcastle Stoke’s Peter Crouch header piles pressure on Alan Pardew’s Newcastle
(about 1 hour later)
At least we can now find out whether Mike Ashley was joking or not when he said that Alan Pardew was “finished” if Newcastle United lost at Stoke. At least we can now find out whether Mike Ashley was joking or not when he said that Alan Pardew was “finished” if Newcastle United lost at Stoke. Peter Crouch’s first-half goal condemned Newcastle to a defeat that leaves them joint-bottom of the Premier League and, in the process, brings that bizarre interview Ashley gave to a reporter outside the Golden Lion pub in Soho on Thursday night sharply into focus. Either Ashley has a strange sense of humour or Pardew is toast.
Peter Crouch’s first-half goal condemned Newcastle to a defeat that leaves them joint-bottom of the Premier League and, in the process, brings that bizarre interview Ashley gave to a reporter outside the Golden Lion pub in Soho on Thursday night sharply into focus. Either Ashley has a strange sense of humour or Pardew is toast. The Newcastle owner was looking on from the stands here as his club slumped to a 10th league defeat in 14 matches. Only Burnley’s pitiful goal return is sparing them from the ignominy of propping up the table. All the while the protests from the Newcastle supporters are getting louder, calling for the manager’s head and railing against Ashley’s regime. It is, in short, a terrible mess.
The Newcastle owner was looking on from the stands here as his club slumped to a 10th league defeat in 14 matches. Only Burnley’s pitiful goal return is sparing them from the ignominy of propping up the table and all the while the protests from the Newcastle supporters are getting louder, calling for the manager’s head and railing against Ashley’s regime. It was also easy to overlook the importance of this result for Stoke. At one stage in the closing minutes both sets of fans were singing “You’re getting sacked in the morning” as Pardew stood on the edge of his technical area, looking like the loneliest man in the world. There was another chastening experience to endure at the final whistle, when the Newcastle manager applauded the visiting supporters – many of whom were holding aloft “Pardew out” placards – and received a volley of abuse in return.
Fourth from bottom at kick-off, Stoke picked up their first home points of the season to climb to 11th. They should have spared themselves a nervous finale but a combination of some poor refereeing and the woodwork kept Newcastle in the game and could easily have ended up with the visitors salvaging a point when Jack Colback, from inside the six-yard box, struck the bar six minutes from time. Even by Newcastle’s standards the buildup to this game had been surreal. The image of Ashley performing a throat-cutting gesture when discussing Pardew’s future with a journalist following that chance meeting in London last week will take some beating. “Dead. Finished. Over. One more game, then that’s it,” Ashley is reported to have said. Ashley’s lawyers, and Newcastle, subsequently claimed that the remarks were made in jest. How Pardew and the Newcastle fans must have chuckled.
Even by Newcastle’s standards, the buildup to the game had been surreal. The image of Ashley performing a throat-cutting gesture when discussing Pardew’s future with a national newspaper journalist following a chance meeting outside a London pub last week will take some beating. “Dead. Finished. Over. One more game, then that’s it,” Ashley is reported to have said. Ashley’s lawyers, and Newcastle, claimed that the remarks were made in jest. How Pardew and the Newcastle fans must have chuckled. It did not take long for the frustration to come to the surface on a dank evening in the Potteries. It was the 28th minute when the first “We want Pardew out” chant emanated from the visiting end. By that point Newcastle were already behind to the goal that would decide the game.
On a dank evening in the Potteries, frustration was never far from the surface. It was the 28th minute when the first “we want Pardew out” chant, complete with raised placards, emanated from the visiting end. By that point Newcastle were already a goal down and fortunate not to have conceded a penalty moments later. Only Craig Pawson, the referee, knows why he failed to point to the spot when Yoan Gouffran barged Victor Moses over inside the area. Mark Hughes was furious on the touchline and it was easy to understand why. It was a clumsy challenge from Gouffran, a classic case of an attacking player trying to defend and making a pig’s ear of things. To add insult to injury for Stoke, Mame Diouf pulled a hamstring just before releasing Moses, forcing Hughes into an early change that brought Marko Arnautovic into the action with only 23 minutes on the clock. With Stoke denied a stonewall penalty in the first half, when Yoan Gouffran somehow got away with barging Victor Moses over, and unfortunate to see Marko Arnautovic’s shot cannon off the upright early in the second period, Newcastle could have no complaints about the result. Despite seeing plenty of the ball in the first half, Newcastle looked devoid of ideas going forward throughout, although they did come within inches of salvaging a point six minutes from time.
The one consolation for the Stoke manager was that his team were already a goal to the good, courtesy of a trademark Crouch header. It was a simple goal in its construction. Gabriel Obertan’s cross dropped invitingly for Jack Colback but the former Sunderland midfielder, from inside the six-yard box, hammered his shot against the crossbar. Colback, Pardew said, was “beating himself up” in the dressing room for failing to snap up a chance that might have brought a little bit of respite for the manager.
Moses, after swapping passes with Charlie Adam, shifted the ball onto his right foot before curling an inswinging cross that Crouch, towering above Fabricio Coloccini, nodded into the far corner. Instead Pardew looked like a broken man when he addressed the media afterwards. He said that he would carry on fighting but his body language suggested that he is expecting a tap on the shoulder any minute. It has got to the point where it might even come as a relief.
That goal ought to have given Stoke a shot of confidence but their threat was sporadic in the first half and largely confined to the counter-attack, which is how the incident with Moses and Gouffran came about. For Stoke and Mark Hughes the emotions were very different. After picking up five points on their travels, including a win at Manchester City, this was their first victory at home in the league this season. Stoke had not even scored at the Britannia Stadium before Crouch, towering above Fabricio Coloccini, headed in an inswinging cross from the excellent Moses. “Victor’s a man on a mission because he hasn’t had a lot of football in the last two seasons,” said Hughes.
Newcastle, in fairness to them, were seeing plenty of the ball but, not for the first time this season, there was a lack of penetration when it was needed most. The Stoke manager should have been spared a nervous finale but the home team’s failure to kill the game meant that there was always a flicker of hope for Newcastle. Only Craig Pawson, the referee, knows why he failed to award a penalty when Gouffran upended Moses. Mame Diouf pulled a hamstring in the lead up to that breakaway, forcing Hughes into an early change that saw Arnautovic introduced in the 23rd minute. The Austrian acquitted himself well on the Stoke right.
The closest Newcastle came to a goal before the interval was in the 43rd minute when Daryl Janmaat drilled a 30-yard shot that was arrowing towards the bottom corner until Asmir Begovic tipped it around the post. Newcastle, for all their possession before the break, took 43 minutes to force Asmir Begovic into a serious save, when Daryl Janmaat drilled a 30-yard shot that the Stoke goalkeeper turned around the post. Pardew introduced Papiss Cissé at the start of the second half but this time there was to be no repeat of the Senegalese’s heroics against Hull. The game was up for Newcastle and the same may soon be true for Pardew.
Pardew responded at the start of the second half by introducing Papiss Cissé for the largely anonymous Emmanuel Rivière, whose only notable contribution was a shot that flashed high and wide a minute before Crouch scored.
Newcastle, though, could easily have conceded a second before Cissé had a chance to touch the ball. Arnautovic, about 16 yards out when Mike Williamson’s header dropped at his feet, thumped a low shot that cannoned off the far post.
Stoke were starting to play with much more conviction and there was another reprieve for Newcastle in the 62nd minute, when the ball broke kindly for Moses on the edge of the six-yard box after some suspect defending. It required Tim Krul to come off his line to smother the danger.
Stephen Ireland, on for Adam, also ought to have done better with a half chance that he wafted over by some distance. Then came that late opportunity for Colback.