10 Worst Decisions Alan Pardew Has Made As Newcastle Boss

7. Constantly Jamming Square Pegs Into Round Holes

There is one phrase that will come to define Alan Pardew's incumbency at Newcastle when he's finally booted out of St James' Park; jamming square pegs into round holes. Pardew, himself, falls into that bracket as a manager ill-suited to the Magpies. On paper we possess a squad stocked to the gills with talented internationals and players capable of consistently challenging in the upper reaches of the Premier League with the subtle guidance of a tactically astute coach in the dugout. But what we've subjected to every Saturday afternoon for the best part of 18-months is a severely disjointed and imbalanced team of players selected in positions for which they are incompatible. Moussa Sissoko, for example, is the most pertinent example. Despite being a powerful box-to-box midfielder Pardew has attempted to convert him into an attacking no.10, operating just behind the striker, upon his arrival from Toulouse and last season stuck him on the right wing to limited success, subjugating his influence and development as a result. But the most laughable is Pardew's obvious shoehorning of Cisse and Ba into the same team with the former shunted out to the wing in order to accommodate his Senegalese compatriot and suffering terribly as a result in 2012/13. Deploying Davide Santon, a left-back, in central midfield against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge is also up there.