A 7-3 defeat is never anything other than embarrassing, especially at the end of a week when Sir Alex Ferguson described the club as “wee”.
I don't think many of us expected getting anything at Arsenal, but NONE of us expected to be hit for seven.
Pardew has to explain it - but it is not JUST this game. We get excuses week after week after week.
Alan Pardew: “I thought at 3-3, we should have shut up shop and we couldn’t do that.
"The energy levels between the two teams was evident towards the end. Arsenal looked energised and our team looked really leggy.
“The fourth goal knocked the wind out of our sails a little bit because we then conceded some bad goals. It’s why we ended up with the scoreline we did.
“It is hard to take. But we put in a real effort against Manchester United on a really sodden pitch, and that took its toll.
“And the bench today really didn’t have enough on it.
“I didn’t put Remie Streete on there to make a point. He really was my only defender and he shouldn’t be anywhere near my bench – that’s the truth of it. We really were down to the bare bones.
“At least Mike Williamson will come back on Wednesday and hopefully Vurnon Anita.
“We put the ball at risk too many times today and at the end showed too much naivety as we tried to get another goal. Maybe the fact we are scoring so freely has made us too open.
“Even with the players we had available, it was important we attack the game, which we did.
“We had some great offensive performances today.
“Sylvain Marveaux had what was probably his best game for us and Demba Ba scored two goals. But you need to defend as a team and we needed to show a little more nous in the last 20 minutes.
“If Arsenal had played on Boxing Day, we certainly wouldn’t have had the scoreline that we did.”
Source: Newcastle United Mad
Source: FOOTYMAD
