I think we came out of it with credit...

  • by Gordon Thrower
  • Sunday, 10th September 2006

Alan Pardew comments on an interesting couple of weeks after the 1-1 home draw with Aston Villa ...

The crowd were up for it today. I have to praise them because I’m sure that they would have been disappointed that the two players weren’t on the team sheet.

When you see the sort of names we’ve brought to the club you want to see them play. I felt we played maybe 5% tentatively and that’s enough for us to lose what we’re about – we can’t play like that.

The job for me and the staff – and some of the senior players too was to remind those players that started the second half of all that – “let’s just do what we want to do”. And we did that. We moved the ball quicker, we were tighter, brighter in our minds - but those who watch us here regularly will probably say “yeah, recent events did affect us”.

Did the need to establish that it was MY team affect selection? No absolutely not. There was no statement of intent in leaving Tevez and Mascherano out today. It was purely a football decision.

The guys who played up at Liverpool did a terrific job. We lost John Pantsil so we brought in Tyrone Mears – who I thought was terrific today – so it wasn’t about that. But I did want to give a message to the fans today.

Things are in flux. There’s a possible takeover going on. We could have the same regime with Terry Brown and Paul Aldridge who I work very well with. We’ve taken this club forward very quickly. The message I want to give to the fans is that the integrity, the history of this club, I’m going to protect it. I can only do that while I’m the manager of this club. I’ve tried to get that message across today.

The Trevor Brooking era, the Tony Cottee era right through to the current era we’ve always been about playing it the right way. We’ve done it in a style that befits the history of that club and we must never lose that. Any football club that goes through this situation must never lose sight of that.

Does the current situation concern me? No I’m not one who thinks like that – I always see the glass as half full rather than half empty. I’m thinking “it’d be great if I could build this club with extra finance”.

I’d like to think that we’ve done a good job finding small gems close to home. Maybe perhaps we can look worldwide. Those two guys have done enough in training to impress not just the staff but also the players. They’re very good players but they’re only 22 – there’s a lot more to come from them.

Yeah, in an ideal world I’d like to see the takeover situation sorted out quickly but these processes take time and I understand that. What was important was to get this game out of the way with all the speculation and the media stuff going on and come out of it with our heads held high.

In terms of our performance it was low down on our scale of 1-10 but I think we came out of it with credit in the way we approached the game. We tried to boss it as best we could. We introduced the substitutes - one of whom was one of the new signings; the crowd were brilliant and I’m pleased with the way the day has evolved.

Yeah I’d loved to have won it. I’d loved for the two guys to have come on and won it for us. But football doesn’t work like that. The world doesn’t work like that. You’ve got to be patient.

These guys got me where I am today and I’m gonna keep faith with them. As long as they come along for the ride and believe that they’re good enough why shouldn’t they get to start.

Will I give the same message about honesty and integrity to any new owners? Certainly. The message I’m getting from supporters I’ve spoken to lately shows that they know I’m in an important position now in terms of looking after the club and I’ll do everything I can to do that.

Harewood’s substitution? Well regardless of Tevez coming on I had a few words for Marlon when he came off. This time last year he’d missed chances and people were suggesting that he should be out of the team. Next week he got a hat-trick.

He needs a goal at the moment. Once he gets inspired he becomes awesome. He didn’t have a great game today so I just wanted him to have a few nice words when he came off.

Tevez? Well we asked him to play a bit deep and wide when he came on – we were hoping he’d be able to take on a few players and generate a bit of excitement. We need to see how he evolves – we’ve only had him a few days and only two days with the whole group.

I’ve gotta be honest; I don’t really know exactly how he’s gonna fit in the team – that goes for every new player not just him. It was the same when Marlon and Bobby joined the club. You never quite know.

Look at Villa - Petrov has come in and I’m sure Martin will sit here in a minute and tell you how pleased he is with him.

Have I spoken with Joorabchian? No he hasn’t been in contact. I don’t think that would be the right thing to do bearing in mind all the speculation going on.

I’m just concentrating on doing my job as thoroughly as possible – I’ve tried to take on a bit more of the media stuff this week because I thought it was important to get the right message across.

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