8:20am Tuesday 16th March 2010
By Gordon Simpson
ALAN Pardew has hailed the “outstanding” partnership that centre halves Radhi Jaidi and Jose Fonte have forged.
Since Fonte’s arrival from Crystal Palace in January, Saints have conceded just six goals in ten League One matches.
The pair shackled the fearsome Leeds duo of Jermaine Beckford and Luciano Becchio in Saturday’s 1-0 win.
And Pardew believes they are good enough to be a strong Championship pairing.
“They have been outstanding,” he said.
“If you’re going to push onto teams like we have and press them, then at the back you need to be comfortable that your two centre halves can deal with whatever strikers are on show.
“Now, we dealt with Beckford and Becchio very, very easily Saturday and we’ve got a different proposition tonight.
“Swindon have two good strikers and they need to deal with them and they’re doing that job.
“Our goal difference is now only second to Leeds and Norwich. That tells you that we’re not only scoring goals, but we’re doing a pretty good job defending too.”
Pardew believes the competition for places that has increased with the arrival of the likes of Dan Seaborne has taken Jaidi’s game up a notch.
“I think the injury to Seaborne has given the opportunity to Radhi to show his true worth,” he said.
“Radhi is a very, very good player, but, when competition arrives at your door you’ve got to step up and Radhi’s done that.
“Fonte is just an outstanding player and the performances he’s put in are nothing more than I expect and that’s why we paid a lot of money for him.
“But we’re going to try and make him better.
“There’s things he can improve on, but they’re an aggressive pair and I think in this division that’s what you need.
“Radhi played 40 games for Birmingham and got promoted.
“Jose played 30-odd games for Palace when they were in the playoff positions, so there’s absolutely no doubt they are good enough for the Championship.”
But it is not just at the back where Pardew has noticed a particular improvement in recent weeks.
He said belief is growing among the players all over the pitch on the back of recent results.
“I think that’s a key thing, because you can have good players and you can see them on the training ground and think, ‘I can compare him with players I’ve had at West Ham, etc, etc’,” explained Pardew.
“But they need to bring it to the playing surface, and of course they have gone up a level in recent weeks if I’m honest.
“Sometimes other players arriving can take the level of players up a bit, like the arrival of Jason Puncheon has taken Adam Lallana’s game up a level. And this is what happens, you feed off each other and it is about belief and momentum.
“Of course if we get a win tonight that will be tremendous momentum for us.”
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