Toon faithful: Do not look now but your beloved Newcastle United are now in 11th-place in the English Premier League.
There is no need to break out the champagne, but this is more like it from the Magpies.
After a dismal start to the 2014/15 campaign, Newcastle are unbeaten in their last five matches in all competitions, including four consecutive wins over the likes of Leicester City, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, and Liverpool.
Speaking ahead of the Magpies’ league fixture against Liverpool on Saturday, Alan Pardew compared managing a football club to assembling Ikea furniture.
“It’s like Ikea furniture packs. You can’t get to the end; you’ve got to do all the little bits to get there, and it takes time,” Pardew said.
“I’ve done a few because my wife’s Swedish. You’ve got to box it down.
“It’s about doing that little bit first, and if you get that wrong, the second bit doesn’t work. If you get the second bit wrong, the third bit definitely isn’t working.
“If you’re in the coaching or managerial world, you actually segment it down. We’ve put some blocks in place that now gives us some sort of thing to hinge on to.”
If Pardew can keep up this purple patch of form, Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley might be receiving a call from Ikea regarding a potential sponsorship deal.
Now then, how has Pardew reversed Newcastle’s fortunes?
Sturdiness
It all starts at the back. The Magpies have kept three clean sheets in their last four games, much to the delight of Paul Dummett’s and Tim Krul’s fantasy owners.
Moreover, captain Fabricio Coloccini and Steven Taylor were absolutely fantastic in central defence against Liverpool, while summer signing Daryl Janmaat did well enough to help secure the points.
It gets even better for the Magpies, as Italian full-back Davide Santon is nearing a return to the first-team after missing the first two months of the 2014/15 season with a knee injury.
Furthermore, the presence of France Under-21 international Massadio Haïdara gives Pardew some insurance should Dummett or Janmaat go down with an injury.
Flair
The general rule of thumb when it comes to sport is that you cannot win if you do not score. Simple enough.
At the start of the season, Newcastle could not score, predominantly due to the fact that the attack lacked pace.
Emmanuel Rivière, who arrived on Tyneside via Monaco for a fee believed to be in the region of £6 million during the summer transfer window, was not providing anything to write home about.
However, to be fair to Rivière, his team-mates were not creating many chances for him.
Enter the likes of Ayoze Perez, Gabriel Obertan, Rémy Cabella, Rolando Aarons, and Sammy Ameobi.
Perez joined Newcastle from Tenerife for around €2 million in the summer and has scored the match-winning goal in back-to-back Premier League fixtures against Tottenham and Liverpool.
The 21-year-old forward was named man-of-the-match against the Reds after taking advantage of an Alberto Moreno howler to give Newcastle all three points at St James’ Park on Saturday.
Perez has both guile and pace, and will be a big player for the club whether he starts or comes off the bench.
Obertan, who bagged the match-winner against Leicester last month, has been given a new lease on life by Pardew, while Cabella has shown flashes of brilliance, and understandably so given his unbelievable quality.
Both Frenchman are excellent dribblers and have given the a new dimension. The same applies to Rolando Aarons and Sammy Ameobi.
Aarons–also known as ‘the next Raheem Sterling’–has tallied two goals in five appearances for the first-team this term; Ameobi has added one goal and two assists in eight games.
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