Newcastle grab draw with Hull as Papiss Cissé reprieves Alan Pardew.
Newcastle 2 Hull 2
Premier League| Newcastle |
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|---|---|
| Hull |
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When Papiss Cissé fractured a kneecap in April he was
expected to be sidelined until Christmas. The Senegal striker resolved
to beat the clock but only days ago Newcastle United’s medical staff
were talking about a return in three weeks.
With his job very much on the line Alan Pardew had different ideas and named Cissé on the bench. When Steve Bruce’s Hull City went 2-0 up the No9 was stripped and ready for action and by the final whistle he had quite possibly kept his manager in post by scoring twice.
The resultant point leaves Newcastle still seeking their first League win of the season but Cissé’s intervention succeeded in diluting the anti-Pardew feeling that had festered beneath the game’s surface and was threatening to erupt before his goals finally gave the crowd something to cheer.
A rather odd afternoon began with a group of Newcastle fans applauding Steve Bruce with real warmth as he made the short journey between Hull’s team bus and the doors of the Milburn Stand’s main reception area.
As displays of disloyalty go, serenading a rival manager –
and particularly one who was previously in charge of Sunderland – is
quite a statement but the atmosphere inside the stadium proved somewhat
less mutinous.
Admittedly there was some booing, a few sustained chants of “We want Pardew out” and jeering when he trapped a loose ball but it was all kindergarten stuff. Certainly the mood was infinitely less toxic than when Newcastle’s manager endured wholesale abuse during a 3-0 win against Cardiff here at the end of last season. Protests rarely come more tepid.
A few factors contributed to this slightly uneasy calm. For a start a mass bag-searching operation at the turnstiles had resulted in the confiscation of assorted banners and placards. Indeed from the press box only one piece of cloth emblazoned with “Sack Pardew” was visible.
Then there was the Jonás Gutiérrez factor. Newcastle’s players ran out wearing identical over-shirts all bearing the number 18 and the name Jonás. It was a bid to bolster the morale of their left winger who is undergoing chemotherapy in Argentina after being diagnosed with testicular cancer.
The crowd responded with their own tribute in the form of sustained clapping in the 17th minute. Sixty seconds earlier there had been more of the same – this time in recognition of John Alder and Liam Sweeney, the two Newcastle fans who died when flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine in July.
Much as Milburn Stand season ticket holders jostled to have their picture taken with Hatem Ben Arfa, their one-time darling – loaned, controversially, to Hull by Pardew and although ineligible to play in this one evidently enjoying milking his martyr status – there were clearly a few mixed feelings about trying to force the manager’s ousting.
Quite apart from demonstrating seeming ludicrously petty at a time when, as the cases of Alder, Sweeny and Gutiérrez reminded everyone, there is already enough misery in the world, Newcastle were actually playing quite well.
Back in the team following serious hamstring trouble Cheik Tioté was excellent, the defensive midfielder’s outstanding first-half performance drawing the sting from emotions often whipped up by social media in recent days.
Clearly the better side, Newcastle’s problems were in the final third where Emmanuel Rivière, Pardew’s lone striker, rarely troubled Michael Dawson and Curtis Davies, let alone Allan McGregor.
This was far from a vintage Hull performance – although Andrew Roberston was excellent at left-back, provoking all sorts of danger on speedy overlaps – but Bruce seemed happy enough with his team’s containment policy and, sure enough, their patient approach was rewarded with an opportunistic goal early in the second half.
When Jack Colback lingered a moment too long in possession, Mohammed Diamé stole the ball before backheeling to Ahmed Elmohamady whose cross brought out the very best in Nikica Jelavic.
The striker’s sublime volleyed scissor kick was far too good for Tim Krul and as virtually every other Hull outfield player leapt on Jelavic in delight, Mike Ashley stood up in the directors box, his arms folded and expression inscrutable.
Newcastle’s owner soon received some advice. “We want Pardew out,” sang the St James’ choir, rather more loudly than before. Even so the subsequent refrains of “Sacked in the morning,” soon faded and died. There was to be no outright anarchy in the stands – or at least not yet.
The mood altered when McGregor saved brilliantly from Rémy Cabella, although Pardew will have been relieved many fans did not spot that a linesman had flagged for offside.
Newcastle’s manager breathed an even bigger sigh of relief when Jelavic touched a free-kick to Huddlestone. His shot rebounded off the wall, falling at the feet of Stephen Quinn who, unmarked, missed from six yards.
It was to be a mere stay of execution as when, of all people, Tioté came over all slapdash and conceded possession the impressive Diamé took full advantage. Having turned Daryl Janmaat the former West Ham midfielder lashed a stupendous, swerving shot past Krul.
As he and Ashley took turns to absorb the catcalls Pardew – who remained in his techical area throughout the entire afternoon – played possibly his final card. On came Cissé and, almost instantly, Quinn erred and Tioté capitalised. Atoning for his earlier mistake the Ivorian played in Cissé who unleashed a low shot which, squeezed just inside a post, was too good for McGregor.
Suitably warned, Bruce immediately replaced Jelavic with David Meyler as he switched from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2. It proved a mistake. When Moussa Sissoko’s cross was headed back into the box by Yoan Gouffran Cissé was unattended and he whipped out a boot to hammer the ball beyond McGregor. Finally, Pardew smiled.
theguardian.
With his job very much on the line Alan Pardew had different ideas and named Cissé on the bench. When Steve Bruce’s Hull City went 2-0 up the No9 was stripped and ready for action and by the final whistle he had quite possibly kept his manager in post by scoring twice.
The resultant point leaves Newcastle still seeking their first League win of the season but Cissé’s intervention succeeded in diluting the anti-Pardew feeling that had festered beneath the game’s surface and was threatening to erupt before his goals finally gave the crowd something to cheer.
A rather odd afternoon began with a group of Newcastle fans applauding Steve Bruce with real warmth as he made the short journey between Hull’s team bus and the doors of the Milburn Stand’s main reception area.
Admittedly there was some booing, a few sustained chants of “We want Pardew out” and jeering when he trapped a loose ball but it was all kindergarten stuff. Certainly the mood was infinitely less toxic than when Newcastle’s manager endured wholesale abuse during a 3-0 win against Cardiff here at the end of last season. Protests rarely come more tepid.
A few factors contributed to this slightly uneasy calm. For a start a mass bag-searching operation at the turnstiles had resulted in the confiscation of assorted banners and placards. Indeed from the press box only one piece of cloth emblazoned with “Sack Pardew” was visible.
Then there was the Jonás Gutiérrez factor. Newcastle’s players ran out wearing identical over-shirts all bearing the number 18 and the name Jonás. It was a bid to bolster the morale of their left winger who is undergoing chemotherapy in Argentina after being diagnosed with testicular cancer.
The crowd responded with their own tribute in the form of sustained clapping in the 17th minute. Sixty seconds earlier there had been more of the same – this time in recognition of John Alder and Liam Sweeney, the two Newcastle fans who died when flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine in July.
Much as Milburn Stand season ticket holders jostled to have their picture taken with Hatem Ben Arfa, their one-time darling – loaned, controversially, to Hull by Pardew and although ineligible to play in this one evidently enjoying milking his martyr status – there were clearly a few mixed feelings about trying to force the manager’s ousting.
Quite apart from demonstrating seeming ludicrously petty at a time when, as the cases of Alder, Sweeny and Gutiérrez reminded everyone, there is already enough misery in the world, Newcastle were actually playing quite well.
Back in the team following serious hamstring trouble Cheik Tioté was excellent, the defensive midfielder’s outstanding first-half performance drawing the sting from emotions often whipped up by social media in recent days.
Clearly the better side, Newcastle’s problems were in the final third where Emmanuel Rivière, Pardew’s lone striker, rarely troubled Michael Dawson and Curtis Davies, let alone Allan McGregor.
This was far from a vintage Hull performance – although Andrew Roberston was excellent at left-back, provoking all sorts of danger on speedy overlaps – but Bruce seemed happy enough with his team’s containment policy and, sure enough, their patient approach was rewarded with an opportunistic goal early in the second half.
When Jack Colback lingered a moment too long in possession, Mohammed Diamé stole the ball before backheeling to Ahmed Elmohamady whose cross brought out the very best in Nikica Jelavic.
The striker’s sublime volleyed scissor kick was far too good for Tim Krul and as virtually every other Hull outfield player leapt on Jelavic in delight, Mike Ashley stood up in the directors box, his arms folded and expression inscrutable.
Newcastle’s owner soon received some advice. “We want Pardew out,” sang the St James’ choir, rather more loudly than before. Even so the subsequent refrains of “Sacked in the morning,” soon faded and died. There was to be no outright anarchy in the stands – or at least not yet.
The mood altered when McGregor saved brilliantly from Rémy Cabella, although Pardew will have been relieved many fans did not spot that a linesman had flagged for offside.
Newcastle’s manager breathed an even bigger sigh of relief when Jelavic touched a free-kick to Huddlestone. His shot rebounded off the wall, falling at the feet of Stephen Quinn who, unmarked, missed from six yards.
It was to be a mere stay of execution as when, of all people, Tioté came over all slapdash and conceded possession the impressive Diamé took full advantage. Having turned Daryl Janmaat the former West Ham midfielder lashed a stupendous, swerving shot past Krul.
As he and Ashley took turns to absorb the catcalls Pardew – who remained in his techical area throughout the entire afternoon – played possibly his final card. On came Cissé and, almost instantly, Quinn erred and Tioté capitalised. Atoning for his earlier mistake the Ivorian played in Cissé who unleashed a low shot which, squeezed just inside a post, was too good for McGregor.
Suitably warned, Bruce immediately replaced Jelavic with David Meyler as he switched from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2. It proved a mistake. When Moussa Sissoko’s cross was headed back into the box by Yoan Gouffran Cissé was unattended and he whipped out a boot to hammer the ball beyond McGregor. Finally, Pardew smiled.
theguardian.
