Alan Pardew: Newcastle need better possession against Manchester United

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/dec/25/alan-pardew-newcastle-united-manchester-united

Version 0 of 1.

Alan Pardew knows Newcastle United can be extremely accomplished on the counterattack but his new year’s resolution is to improve their ball retention and tempo control. “Two areas of this team need improvement,” said Pardew looking ahead to the Boxing Day trip to Manchester United. “For the man in the street the obvious thing is goalscoring but possession is also going to have to improve in 2015.”

He believes it is the reason why, thanks to a Yohan Cabaye goal, Newcastle won at Old Trafford last season. “The big reason we did well is that we retained the ball,” Pardew said. “We had an equal share of it – and we need that again because, with this particular Manchester United side, if they get to 60% possession you’ve no chance of winning the game. It’s because of the players they’ve got – Rooney, Van Persie, Di María – they’re just top talent. If they see enough of the ball they’re going to score a goal.”

Starving Louis van Gaal’s team of possession will be harder in practice than theory – and particularly for Newcastle’s class of 2014-15. “Our team is very different from last year when we were about possession-type football with Yohan Cabaye in the No10 role,” Pardew said. “We haven’t got that type of player now and we’re not going to be able to dictate like we did that day; we’re a different side, with different attributes. But we have good pace on the break. At times Manchester United could struggle against us but I’ll have to try to set up my team with some more passing options and possibly a change of personnel.”

Pardew appreciates the atmosphere at Old Trafford is transformed since this time last year. “You can sense the difference because they’ve got security at the club this year,” he said. “Last year there didn’t seem that sense of security around David Moyes. But they’ve definitely got it now. I think the board have made a statement that Van Gaal’s the man and he’s made it very clear that he’s their man too.

“Put that all together and those great players at Old Trafford, those great strikers, they have got a great base. That’s what Van Gaal’s been trying to create. Like ourselves, he’s had terrible luck with injuries but they’ve got a great chance of the Champions League now and that’s what I think they’re really pushing on for.”

Newcastle, who are ninth, have ambitions of their own. “We’ve done well against the top teams,” said Pardew, aiming to recover from last Sunday’s unwanted home defeat by Sunderland. “And we’re not far from the top.

“If we get a win at Manchester United, we’ve then got Everton and Burnley at home and strong results could put us in a great position. So it’s all to play for. I do think this Newcastle team is stable, it’s a strong middle-of-the-table Premier League team at the moment but we need to be better than that if we can. I think this January is important.

It’s important that we do some transfer market business – and that our important injured players, people like Siem de Jong, Tim Krul and Davide Santon, come back to us.”