After winning promotion to the Premier League in the 2009/10 season Newcastle United consolidated their position in England’s top division with a 12th place finish the following season. But then went on to sell Kevin Nolan, Jose Enrique and Joey Barton along with talisman forward Andy Carroll in the next two transfer windows, ripping apart the core of the team which had won promotion and steadied the ship in one of Europe’s most elite leagues.
Despite these monumental changes Alan Pardew managed to bring in some quality players and led a charge for a Champions League place with new additions; Yohan Cabaye, Cheik Tiote, Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse becoming the new core of his team as well as the resurgence of centre back Fabricio Coloccini, the ever reliable Tim Krul and the brilliance of Hatem Ben Arfa.
Newcastle ultimately finished 5th last season, just five points adrift from a Champions League place and they even managed to finish a point ahead of Champions League and FA Cup winners Chelsea. This season, however The Magpies have struggled and after last night’s away defeat at Stoke, Newcastle find themselves in 14th position just two points clear of the drop a stark contrast compared to their form last season which included a 3-0 win over Manchester United.
Newcastle United have only taken one point from a possible nine against recently promoted teams; Southampton, Reading and West Ham this season. With only one point from their last five league games Pardew’s job could be under real pressure as December’s manager merry-go-round really starts to heat up. Roberto Di Matteo and Mark Hughes have already gone and Pardew looks most likely to go next.
Did Newcastle over-perform last season? The answer seems to be an overwhelming yes. Beyond his first team Alan Pardew has a real lack of depth in his squad (Shola Ameobi is hardly a forward that you would expect to see playing Champions League football) and as their season is now cluttered with Europa League games which hold very little reward Newcastle have seen their league form slip and they have been unable to recreate the magic of last season.
Steve Clark on the other hand has really revolutionised West Brom since he took over the hot seat from Roy Hodgson. Hodgson had solidified West Brom, made them a team who are hard to beat at home and set the foundations for Clark to build upon. But no-one expected the start to the season that the Baggies have had; occupying a Champions League spot 14 games into the season and Clark’s West Brom side even held third spot for a number of weeks ahead of Champions League Winners Chelsea.
West Brom’s 3-1 defeat to Swansea last night shows just how unpredictable and competitive the division has become outside the top 5. Liverpool, a side who usually find themselves in and amongst those Champions League places, have really yo-yoed over the past few seasons. From appearing to fight relegation to a reaching Europa League spot to again struggling to find form at the start of this season under new manager Brendan Rodgers which means that although their form has picked up, they may again struggle to reach that Europa League place.
The question is; how can both managers’ stop the rot? West Brom are clearly over-performing this season as Newcastle did last season but Newcastle with an arguably much more talented team haven’t been able to stop their dismal form so how can Steve Clark hope to avoid Newcastle’s mistakes with very limited resources.
West Brom can take heart from the job that David Moyes has done at Everton, with similar resources Moyes has turned a team who were occupying the bottom half of the table in the late 90’s and early 00’s into a team who are consistently challenging for European football year in year out and some may argue that they have even surpassed city rivals Liverpool in competing for these places. Everton have been possibly helped out, however, by not reaching the Europa League regularly as the crowded fixture list seems to have an adverse effect on the competing teams.
Moyes has made some real quality signings on a very limited budget Tim Cahill, Mikel Arteta, Phil Jagielka and Leighton Baines were all brought into the club for a combined fee of less than £10 million. The sales over some of Moyes’ more successful players such as Wayne Rooney, Arteta and Joleon Lescott have made a profit of almost £50 million for the club and allowed Moyes to bring in more expensive players such as Steven Pienaar, Maroune Fellani and Kevin Mirallas who have all had a major impact on the club.
Maybe this is a point for Clarke and Pardew to pick up on, no player is bigger than the club and if it means selling your best player to bring in two or three players who bring a better quality to the team it might just be worth its while. Demba Ba is reportedly unhappy at being benched in favour of Papiss Cisse so maybe Pardew should cash in on him in the January window and be rid of his disruptive influence, after all he has only had one half of a good season and has really struggled in front of goal since Newcastle brought in Cisse in January.
With Newcastle over performing last season and West Brom this season, it is time to utter the phrase that has been on every Liverpool fan’s lips since 1992; could Liverpool over-perform next season and reach that elusive fourth Champions League place, could next season be Liverpool’s big season?