‘I wanted Ba or Ben Arfa to take Norwich penalty’ – Pardew
MISS ... Newcastle striker Papiss Demba Cisse steps up to take his penalty against Norwich.
ALAN Pardew will designate penalty-takers from now on at Newcastle United.
Papiss Demba Cisse blazed a spot kick well over the bar in yesterday’s 1-0 win over Norwich City.
Hatem Ben Arfa had the ball in his hands after Mike Williamson was fouled by Steve Morison late in the first half at St James’s Park.
After a discussion with stand-in captain Jonas Gutierrez and Demba Ba, Ben Arfa tossed the ball to Cisse.
The idea was to give Cisse, struggling for form this season, a goal to get him off the mark, but it backfired.
And Newcastle, leading through Ba’s 20th-minute strike, had to endure a nervy second half.
“I kind of expect Demba or Hatem to take the penalties,” Pardew told the Gazette.
“Papiss missed one in pre-season (against Olympiakos). It wasn’t the professional thing to do, but I understand it.
“I’m not going to criticise the group over putting Papiss up for that.
“I made it clear from now on that there’ll be a designated penalty taker.
“It might be Shola. It depends who is playing, but it’ll go up on the board.”
Ben Arfa netted a penalty in United’s season-opening win over Tottenham Hotspur after tussling with Ba for the ball.
The bench appeared to indicate that Ba was the preferred penalty-taker.
Meanwhile, Cisse, out of sorts so far this season, will soon be up and running, according to Pardew.
“He had three good chances,” said Pardew. “One he mis-kicked, the penalty and a header.
“I know in training he’d get those three chances and score.
“It just goes to show that when you’re in front of 50,000, even the best players can get slightly nervous and slightly lacking in confidence.
“He’s after one of them chances that hits you in the face and goes in.
“Then he’ll be off and running. He’s a great player.”
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Weather for Hartlepool
Tuesday 21 May 2013
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