2. Mistakes In The Transfer Window
Newcastle, and Alan Pardew in particular, have made mistakes in the transfer window. At the end of last season, still basking in the glow of their fifth placed finish, the Magpies had the opportunity to use the fact that they would be playing in Europe in the upcoming campaign as a bargaining chip to attract some high quality individuals to the club. The likes of Mathieu Debuchy, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Massadio Haidara and Moussa Sissoko, as good as they are, should have been brought in during the summer. Had that have happened, they would have had much more time to gel on Tyneside and the French contingent of players would have had more room to forge a cohesive understanding of Premier League football. As it was, they were all brought in during the January window and were thrown in at the deep end when Newcastle were struggling at the bottom. Very few of them have shone this season as a result - Sissoko notwithstanding. Another mistake Pardew and Newcastle made in the transfer window was their failure to lure Loic Remy to the club. He would have been the perfect replacement for the departed Ba, and the fact that he has found himself in such free-scoring form at Loftus Road and rivals QPR tells you as much. Instead, Pardew brought in Yoan Gouffran, who has scored but two goals since his move from Bordeaux.