Alan Pardew: Should He Stay Or Should He Go?

Today’s Jekyll & Hyde performance has rightly led to renewed question marks circling over the head of Alan Pardew. One point from a possible nine this season and one of the worst first half performance in years meant both the team and Pardew were booed off at half time, an occurrence only reserved for the very worst of times at Selhurst Park. Before I tackle the potential future of Pardew it’s necessary to take a look at exactly what happened today.

I could choose any number of negative words to describe our first half performance today, half of which would almost certainly get edited out if I even attempted it. Let me give it a go anyway. Clueless. Abysmal. Directionless. Dire. Shambolic.

Anyway, I digress. We looked off the pace from the start to be honest, our passes weren’t sticking and Bournemouth looks sharp going forwards. Within 10 minutes we were behind and when Cabaye missed a penalty that just compounded the souring mood. The rest of the first half played out in the same uninspiring fashion, worse even than the last 23 or 24 games. It’s no secret that we’ve been poor lately, winning 2 league game since mid-December is something of a tell-tale sign in that respect, but today seemed worse somehow. We just seemed completely devoid of direction, the players looked lost and lacking confidence – it took be back to the last days of Holloway and Warnock and there is no greater insult I can possibly muster.

The team that came out for the second half however, bore no resemblance to the one that went into the tunnel 15 minutes earlier. We kept the ball well, our link-play was excellent and our flair players came into their own. At the start of the season Pardew identified our ability to keep the ball as one of the deciding factors for our success this season – we had to evolve into a team that could keep the ball better. In the first half we just didn’t do that and ended up with just 35% possession but in the second half we flipped that round and enjoyed more like 65% of the possession and from there it’s no surprise we looked more dangerous.

Christian Benteke was one of the only players to come out of the first half with any credit and while he continued with his neat touches and good movement in the second half, the rest of the team started playing. Townsend and Puncheon looked sharper and more purposeful, Yohan Cabaye began to really pull the strings in the midfield, switching the ball from side to side and Pape Souare provided a wonderful outlet going forward as opposed to looking a liability at the back. Bournemouth really didn’t do much wrong but we were in complete control and with that control came wealth of chance and yes, we didn’t score them, but we were damn close.

Back to the original question though, what of Alan Pardew’s future?

If you’d asked me at half time, I’d have said that it looked like the beginning of the end for Alan Pardew. After spending £60 million this summer already he was never going to be dismissed right now, but the first half performance yesterday was so directionless, so poor that it summoned memories of the last days of Holloway - as if the players were as disillusioned with the manager as everyone else sat in the stadium. Booing is not a ‘done thing’ at Selhurst Park, I could count on one hand how many times I’d heard booing from the home support but yesterday large portions of the crowd felt it necessary and I completely understand.

The reaction we saw in the second half yesterday changed my mind though. The result at the end of the 90 minutes was still not the one we wanted or expected of course but the way that the players came out swinging for the second 45 minutes. We were truly exciting to watch (a phenomenon not often seen lately). Townsend’s mazing runs across the face of the box, the one touch play from Puncheon and Cabaye in and around the box and Benteke’s classy touches and physical presence – it was really excellent. To me, that second half performance told us that the players still believe in Pardew, it showed that he can still motivate them when the going gets tough and it showed what we had always suspected: this strengthened squad can produce some magical football.

My conclusion then? Pardew must stay for the time being, now is simply not the time to be making a change at the top and even if I’d thought otherwise I don’t honestly believe that Parish would have either believed a change was necessary nor done so. Like I said, half of yesterday’s performance showed me enough to not be demanding change right now, but performances like we saw in the second half simply must continue if Pardew is to reaffirm his popularity with the support in the long term because right now he’s stood on shaky ground with much of the fanbase, and rightly so.