Newcastle united as ‘Colo’ answers Pardew call

Newcastle United 1 QPR 0

Yet the very public display of reconciliation between Alan Pardew and Fabricio Coloccini suggested anything but.

“There was a reason for going on the pitch at the end of the game to see ‘Colo’,” Pardew said, after Newcastle emerged victorious from an encounter they had, rather unwisely given the added pressure it placed them under, labelled as must-win, the kind of vacuous phrase normally reserved for games nearer the sharp end of the season.

There had been a disagreement between the pair, a difference of opinion. Pardew wouldn’t go into specifics, suffice to say it involved Coloccini defending the players from criticism by the manager, the result of six defeats in seven league games before these tentative steps on the road to redemption courtesy of inflicting a first loss on Harry Redknapp since he took charge at Loftus Road.

“I said to Colo before the game, ‘look, we’re both winners, we’re allowed to fall out,’” added Pardew, after his animated post-match clinch with the South American. He added: “We fell out this week and we’re entitled to do that, as the captain and the manager. I don’t want you to go searching for why, it was just a silly little thing and I know he was determined to get the result today.

“I said to him before the game ‘be our leader, be a captain and make sure they don’t get a sniff of a goal’. When you ask someone to do a job and they do it, it’s only right that you pay your respects to them.”

It was a fair appraisal. The visitors hardly had a shot in anger, but for a Djibril Cisse effort early in the second half, in stretching winless run on Tyneside towards two decades.

Keen to clarify the situation with Coloccini in a part of then world where idle football gossip is often corrosive, Pardew added: “You fall out with players all the time as a manager, because if not you’re not doing your job. Sometimes I have to say what I think is right — even your most senior players can disagree with it. I have no problem with that. In any walk of life you have to be a man sometimes and admit when you’re wrong and also pay your respects when someone does something very right and I thought Colo was brilliant today. He was never off my Christmas card list because it wasn’t me who had the problem.”

For an hour, Newcastle were mugs before the hugs, finally sparked by a trio of substitutions that saw the manager earn the displeasure of the locals.

The boos at the withdrawal of Papiss Cisse, who took a little persuading to shake Pardew’s hand, were soon replaced by an altogether more positive reaction when the African’s replacement, Shola Ameobi, scored his first Premier League goal for nine months with a confident close-rang finish to seal a tense affair.

Sylvain Marveaux, who set up the winner for his fellow substitute, twice came close to embellishing the margin of victory, which would not have flattered the hosts, given their dominance of the final half hour.

“It was the like Alamo at times,” Ryan Nelsen, the Rangers skipper, confessed. “I swear I heard the horns and the cavalry coming.” The New Zealander and centre-back partner Clint Hill were exempted from Redknapp’s withering post-match comments, revealing his frustration at what he sees as the unjustly high remuneration enjoyed by several of his under-performing squad.

Jose Bosingwa has been fined two weeks wages — £130,000 — for refusing to sit on the bench last week. “That’s not a bad amount to earn for two weeks’ work, is it?” Redknapp insisted. Expect the Portuguese full-back to be on his way in January if the new manager has anything to do with it.

NEWCASTLE (4-3-3) Krul 8; Simpson 7, Williamson 7, Coloccini 8, Santon 7; Perch 6, Tiote 6 (Marveaux 77, 7), Anita 7; P Cisse 5 (Shola Ameobi 61, 7), Ba 5, Gutierrez 5 (Obertan 61, 7).

QPR (3-5-2) Green 6; Ferdinand 6, Hill 6, Nelsen 6; Mackie 5, Mbia 5, Granero 5 (Wright-Phillips 56, 6), Faurlin 5 (Derry 78, 6), Da Silva 5; Taarabt 5, D Cisse 6 (Hoilett 65, 5).

Referee: Kevin Friend 7.