Newcastle United had a pretty disappointing campaign and failed to build on the great season they had the year before. Alan Pardew was determined to rebuild and make the team stronger after a brilliant fifth-placed finish but he had to do only with the signing of Dutch utility man Vurnon Anita in the summer. Thus, despite holding on to their prized assets, the Magpies failed to strengthen their squad for the impending Europa League campaign. They did get off to a rather mixed start of the season, losing only to Chelsea in their first six league games but also winning only three of the first 14 games. The constant injury problems of important players like Hatem Ben Arfa, Yohan Cabaye, Cheik Tiote and Fabricio Coliccini forced Pardew to constantly shuffle the pack and the overall lack of solidity in the first 11 was showing through. And the season started to go from bad to worse as defeats to Southampton, Fulham and Stoke City left the Magpies looking behind their shoulders and into the lower regions of the table. Their defence was just failing to cope and the team shipped 11 goals in just two games over Christmas away at Manchester United and Arsenal, rendering the fact that they scored six goals during these two games irrelevant. The brilliant form of Demba Ba was carrying the team at that tough stage of the season but he was soon off to join Chelsea who triggered his release clause. Pardew used the money to bring there good French players in Mathieu Debuchy, Moussa Sissoko and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa. There was a brief rejuvenation by the Magpies as they claimed two wins on the trot against Aston Villa and Chelsea with Sissoko turning a brilliant performance against the Blues for a last-minute 3:2 win. Newcastle definitely had more depth and cohesion about them and looked a more settled outfit but late defeats away at Swansea and Wigan kept them very much in the battle for survival. At the same time, they were still going in the Europa League after narrow knockout wins over both Metalist and Anzhi and set up a great tie against Benfica in the last-eight. They failed to overturn a 3:1 loss from the first leg to only draw 1:1 at home and only a few days later had to face a struggling Sunderland side battling for their lives. Newcastle were looking to pile on the misery of their rivals but instead suffered a miserable 3:0 loss that was the absolute low point of the campaign for the team. Yet, they had another shocker only a week later when Liverpool came to Tyneside to score six goals without response. Suddenly Pardew was facing enormous pressure with the bottom three only a few points behind. Yet, four points from games away at West Ham and QPR were eventually enough to see Newcastle over the line but few players can look back at that season with pride and the challenge is to come back stronger next season.
