Newcastle: Alan Pardew Is The King Of Wishful Thinking

By Simon Gallagher / November 20, 2014

Alan Pardew comes out with some corkers. The man who flip-flops on pretty much everything he says about Newcastle United, welcoming contradiction into his life like an old friend has given everyone something to talk about this morning after the revelation that he has said that his side are inspired by - and even built on the same principles as - Bayern Munich. Fair play to him for the self-confidence, but you have to wonder on the sense behind such comments when they are so easily picked apart. The manager, who has seen his side win the last four in the league on the trot, as well as ousting League Cup holders Man City to set up a Quarter Final with Spurs, has ignored pretty much everything that makes Bayern Bayern, and reduced them down to one aspect alone:

€œOur strengths are we have incredible discipline in the team from our offensive players. The current top model in Germany are Bayern Munich. That€™s their strength, that€™s what we have got, and pace.€

Discipline in the offensive players is one thing, but it's not right to suggest that that is only Bayern's strength. The Germans are a power-house, finely tuned, offensive and brilliant on the ball, and they don't sit back and let the opposition have the ball in order to limit, contain and counter-punch. Yes, there is discipline in Newcastle's deep lying model, but the suggest that makes them the same as Bayern Munich is the most self-serving rubbish heard for some time. The manager is the new King Of Wishful Thinking, inheriting the not-at-all self-aware title from Sam Allardyce who seems to think he's permanently on the verge of being invited to manage Real Madrid. The crown relies on ignoring 90% of the circumstances of your career and of your success, and linking on to another far more successful team who have won far more cleanly and are plainly more refined animal altogether. That is what underpins Pardew's judgement that Newcastle are "like" Bayern Munich, and frankly it makes him look like he has no idea what he's talking about. He claims Newcastle have turned their back on precisely the principles that make Bayern so powerful - possession, attacking and high pressing - but in the same breath likens his team to them. It's just baffling, and unfortunately all it does is give more external commenters the ammunition they need to attack Newcastle even more.