Pardew: 'Strikers Need Better Service'

Last updated : 15 August 2011 By Footy Mad - Editor

AP

Alan Pardew: “We knew that one of Arsenal's weaknesses was from set plays.

“Ryan had a go, Joey had a go and Yohan had a go – we couldn’t fault one player because they all tried them.

“We’ll have to work on that. We have players who can benefit from them like Steven Taylor and Shola Ameobi, but we didn’t capitalise from them.

“Demba, bless his heart, didn’t even get a pass.

“I sacrificed him tactically to get an extra midfielder on, because we were being over-run a bit.

“You couldn’t judge the forwards. Demba, especially, is the sort of player who needs balls in the box, and he didn’t get any.

“There was hardly a shot that had to be saved by either keeper.

“We had a few long range efforts, and Peter almost had a chance at the end. They had one or two little chances in the box too, as they always do.

“But we defended very well. The two centre-backs were absolutely magnificent.”