When Alan Pardew began his first full season as Newcastle manager, supporters held their breath in concern at how Alan Pardew would do after a steady, if unspectacular start to his Newcastle career. Newcastle soared into the top four, briefly, with a defence that was to be one of the strongest in Britain, a far cry from the current Newcastle defence. In the 2012/13 Newcastle conceded over 60 goals. One of the league's best defences, had now become one of the worst.
One of the reasons Newcastle have conceded so many goals has been because of the severe pressure that the Newcastle centre backs have been put under due to the full backs inabilities to prevent crosses and dangerous balls into the box. In the cases of Davide Santon and Mathieu Debuchy, their cavalier approach offensively has led to both getting caught out far too frequently. In the case of Danny Simpson, his habit of backing off in one-on-one battles often leads to a cross undefended. While both Debuchy and Haidara may well use their inexperience as an excuse, it is still a prevalent issue with Newcastle that needs resolving. The reason Pardew originally had success at the back was due to a solid back four that defended first, attacked second. If Pardew can return the full backs to this mentality, or at least work on their positioning, the centre backs should experience a whole lot less pressure than the season just gone.
It would be wrong to blame the full backs alone for the defensive issues. The back four as a whole have often been ruthlessly exposed by the lack of midfield cover. Too often, a loss of the ball in the opposition half would lead to a swift unopposed attack from the opposition. While the midfield has contained the most players out of form this season, it has gone in hand with the defensive issues. Cabaye and Tiote have struggled to replicate their commanding and controlling midfield duo, and this has impacted the defence just as much as the strike force.
It would be wrong to consider the defence a consistent disaster. Strangely, the defence has seemed to only become a calamity from 46 minutes onwards. In fact, Newcastle conceded 45 second half goals. This would suggest that defensive capabilities are there, but the team suffers from a lack of concentration or focus in the second half. While it is easy to level the blame at Alan Pardew's half time talks, it also shows that the players themselves are not playing for 90 minutes consistently. The many individual mistakes of all of the individuals within the defence is really beyond Pardew's control. As a collective, the team and manager have to resolve the habit of only defending well for 45 minutes a game.
Some would argue that the team's struggles to score goals and put games to bed is a larger issue than the defence, but the reality is that Newcastle won 9 of their 11 victories by 1 goal margins. More concerningly, Newcastle lost 11 games by one goal margins. It is clear that the defence is just as large an issue as the goal scoring conundrum. While the forward position requires, more urgently, several signings; the defence does not as much. The defence merely needs working with and fixing rather than the addition of two or three players.
Over to you Alan, and your staff.