Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has accused Andre Villas-Boas of showing a “lack of respect” and hints that the Chelsea boss is struggling to cope with the pressure after an inconsistent start to his career at Stamford Bridge.
Following Chelsea’s 3-0 win over Newcastle United at St James’ Park on December 3, Pardew hit out at Mike Dean’s failure to send off David Luiz following the defender’s fourth-minute challenge on Demba Ba.
Villas-Boas subsequently accused Pardew of making a ‘big scandal” over the incident but the Newcastle boss has since admitted his surprise by the Portuguese’s remarks.
“The guy [Villas-Boas] is new to our country, he’s new to our press and I think he’s under a bit of pressure. I think maybe he could throw a little bit more respect at it,” said Pardew.
“I think it would be more honourable of him if he’d accepted that Luiz should have got sent off, like the referee did.
“Sometimes when you’ve had a defeat you have to find certain reasons why you’ve had that defeat and you voice those concerns. But when you have a victory it’s nice to be a bit more respectful and bit more honourable in saying: ‘Well, OK, we won the game but decisions went our way’.”
Pardew reiterated his stance that David Luiz’s red card escape meant Newcastle had to continue their high tempo, rather than enjoy comfortable spells in possession against a Chelsea side who were down to 10 men, and felt Steven Taylor’s injury was linked with the decision to allow the Brazilian to stay on the pitch.
“When I looked at the stats of my players – Steven Taylor put more work rate and effort into that game than any game he’s played this season,” said Pardew.
“Did that maybe factor in the fact he got an injury to his achilles? Maybe it did. If they had 10 men he might not need to work so hard. That was my only point.
“I’m not saying that the guy [David Luiz] didn’t get sent off and it related to his injury. But I’m saying because we were forcing and pressurising the game there was a factor of that and it’s foolish to ignore to that.”