Alan Pardew looks back on the 0-0 draw with Arsenal ...
We’re slightly disappointed – especially in the second half when we had chances to capitalise. There’s a feeling of regret in the dressing room at the moment.I couldn’t fault the players today. I couldn’t fault their mentality. When you play Arsenal one of the key aspects is the way they can lull you in and make you switch off. Konchesky and Gabbidon in particular were fantastic.
There’s been a lot of talk about the quality in the Premiership lately but I thought the defences today – and I’m including the Arsenal defence in that – were excellent. Certainly our defence restricted them to few clear cut chances – maybe Ljungberg might have done better when his touch let him down at the end but the chances generally came from distance, from that pocket in front of the defence.
Penalties? I thought we had a good shout for one – maybe two. The handball? Well he definitely went up with his hands above his head and I’ve seen them given before
There’s been a lot of press attention us this week and I was pleased with the way the players have come through it. The test is going to come when we’ve lost a match. It’ll be a matter of how the players react to a defeat – and that defeat could come against a team we might be expected to beat – so how we progress will be a matter of how we react to that.
The crowd were good again today. Some of those players have been here when it wasn’t always that way so I’m pleased for them to hear the crowd getting behind them and chanting their names.
This game’s about thinking as much as any thing else. I thought we showed good intelligence on the pitch. I thought we got what we deserved in the end today. Maybe we didn’t do quite enough to win it but we certainly deserved the point.
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