Two months ago in September, when Crystal Palace defeated Stoke City to register consecutive victories in the Premier League for the first time since December last year, their manager Alan Pardew called on his players to show some consistency. Coming back to the present situation, the Eagles find themselves in 16th place having won just once since then with a current run that includes four losses on the bounce.
It was no major surprise when Pardew decided to join Palace leaving his job at Newcastle. With Neil Warnock sacked after a series of disappointing results which pushed his team into the relegation places, the Eagles were very lucky to have convinced Pardew join them in January, when he was adjudged the Premier League manager of the month for November 2014 guiding Newcastle to six consecutive wins in all competitions. But things were no pleasant with the Toon and Pardew.
At that time, no one could have ever predicted that at the end of the season Crystal Palace would finish in the 10th place of the table with Newcastle United at 15th. The work done by the 55-year old Englishman was so impeccable that he became the first manager ever to take over a club in the relegation zone and guide them to a top half finish. In his second season, his side made a dismal start and finished the campaign in the 15th place, very disappointing compared to their performances of last season. In his third season currently with the Eagles, the problem which has troubled all of Pardew’s teams has surfaced yet again.
For one reason or the other, it seems like the Englishman could never provide the consistency to the club he manages. The examples have been in almost all the clubs Pardew has managed in his career. While the manager has a knack of turning things around drastically with his teams pulling upsets, the current Pardew’s teams suffered from their inconsistencies, especially after the first season.
In fact in Alan Pardew is also the only manager to have lost 7 games in a row in three of the clubs he has managed in West Ham United, Newcastle United and Crystal Palace. The manager is regarded as one of the most notable motivators around still at some point he seems to lose the plot with the usual problems at the back, lack of creativity upfront and dubious tactical decisions becoming more and clearer.
While Alan Pardew does have the ability to transform teams into good footballing units playing some nice attacking football, the apparent lack of consistency and stability has hampered their rhythm too many times. While being controversial himself on the basis of his actions and comments, the manager is really a double edged sword, one who is totally unpredictable in his behavior as well as on how his teams will perform on a particular matchday.
