The list of things wrong at Newcastle United at the minute is unfortunately a long one - the idea that it is crowned by a supposedly "tiny" screen is just ludicrous - and something really has to change soon. Sadly for all Newcastle fans, it won't be the manager, it won't be the transfer policy, it won't be the coaching set-up and it definitely won't be the owner (yet), so the only thing left to change is the playing system. So far this season, Alan Pardew has been fiercely reluctant to change his system, even without wins and even with the keystone player - the number 10 who was supposed to be the focus of attack - out injured for most of those games. The only time he has done so was towards the end of the Swansea game, when we had two strikers on the pitch - even at the start of the game, with a supposedly different starting formation it was exactly the same system - and the team looked energetic and alive. But then the inevitable feeling now is that Pardew will start with a single striker against Leicester City again, and if the positive result he needs to "turn things round" does indeed come, he will persist into the Spurs, Man City and Liverpool games. Right now, any goals the team scores, and any positives that are to be taken from games - few and far between sadly - are happening precisely despite the system: players are being asked to play roles they aren't used to, in a system that doesn't suit them, and are an ill-fitting jigsaw puzzle at best. Those small successes - and any forth-coming wins - will paper over the problems with the system: it is too focussed on possession without progress; the gap between attack and defence is jarring, and opposition teams are invited to have a fatal amount of space. But Pardew likes it, despite everything, and as long as players publicly call him "fantastic" and there's no hint of him losing the dressing room, he will continue to, because the fans have already voiced their concerns over the formation, and nobody has listened. Overall, you get the picture of a team of eleven men trying to bale water out of a sinking ship without ever thinking about plugging the hole. That can only end one way, and if the hole that is plugged isn't to be the sacking of Pardew, then it surely has to be changing the system. After all, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
