Newcastle: Giving Everything Isn't Always Enough
Fighting in the wrong system will not lead to redemption.
Alan Pardew might have acknowledged already that everyone wants him to stop making excuses, but they just keep pouring out of him, with the latest distraction attempt coming in the wake of the 2-2 draw with Swansea.
Ordinarily, that result would not be a bad one - especially with Swansea as high as they are in the league - but the manner of the performance, and the necessity for a complete change of system indicated that all is still not well at Newcastle.
Players still looked clueless at times, the defence was appalling for both of Swansea's goals, and the options through midfield were limited by the continued insistence on playing two deep-lying defensive midfielders. But for Pardew, none of that matters because of how hard the team - and he himself - are fighting at the minute.
The language of his post-match interviews has changed from defeated excuses and blinkered analysis (grasping at positives of possession or increased threat in front of goal) to the dogged war talk of a besieged under-dog. The team are digging in, fighting, working hard... and the implication is that things will get better through industry, because as we're being told from all angles the team are fighting for their manager:
One thing you have analyse when you are a football manager is whether the team is giving you everything. I dont think that even our worst critic could argue they gave me everything today could argue with that.
But once again that misses the point: no matter how dedicated the players are to the cause, if they are being set up in the wrong system, by the wrong manager, their fight and their mettle will get them nowhere. Fight and industry are not the answer when the manager is trying to put square pegs in round holes, or attempting to play entirely the wrong formation, and no amount of bluster in the post-match press conference covers that up.
At some point, that will have to reach breaking point and the commentators and media who say everything is fine as long as everyone is pulling in the same direction will have to accept that Pardew is not the right man to call the punches.