Newcastle Vs Tottenham

[ToonMarshy 2]

I believe we are 6 or 7 points better off than we were 2 years ago

 

But i totally back the sentiment that once the melee is over - 17th is base priority, anything higher is a bonus.

However!

We are playing well despite the absence of arguably our strongest players - we have some tough games left and no doubt will drop points in places we shouldnt and pick them up in places we wouldnt expect to!

 

I hope we dont look back and rue the past 2 games - however there is always a chance the fact that we were unable to put these 2 games to bed could inspire a little more transfer window action? or it could be too little too late.

 

No amount of speculation is gonna change any outcome this season - we can be as optimistic or pessimistic as necessary and we are going to finish where we are going to finish - that being the case I say we just cheer when we pick up the points, get smashed and blame perch when we drop them - and look forward to getting our full strength back and the chance of greener pastures!

[Barney 0]

Good points, Neville x 3.

 

 

I'm still worried about relegation. Pool, Everton, Villa are capable of improving, whilst we're dropping like flies and as folks have said, Jonas, Nolan and Barton look knackered.

[Anorthernsoul 1221]

Rapey implying fitness was an issue conceding 3 late goals in the last 3 games. Says they'll work on it in Portugal.

 

Aye takes an awful lot of fitness to shield the ball in the corner of the pitch in injury time

Exactly.

 

Play it from side to side, go nowhere, short passes.

 

 

Just don't give the ball away.

 

It's not fucking hard is it!

[Happy Face 29]

Rapey implying fitness was an issue conceding 3 late goals in the last 3 games. Says they'll work on it in Portugal.

 

Aye takes an awful lot of fitness to shield the ball in the corner of the pitch in injury time

Exactly.

 

Play it from side to side, go nowhere, short passes.

 

 

Just don't give the ball away.

 

It's not fucking hard is it!

 

 

I was raging at them.

 

If it was a fitness problem, why did we keep piling forward. Harper was raging at Pardew at one point when we had a corner and not a single defender had stayed in our half. Just inviting them to run at us. Mental.

 

In the words of the late, great Boy George, Do You Really Want To Perch Me?

[Anorthernsoul 1221]

Rapey implying fitness was an issue conceding 3 late goals in the last 3 games. Says they'll work on it in Portugal.

 

Aye takes an awful lot of fitness to shield the ball in the corner of the pitch in injury time

Exactly.

 

Play it from side to side, go nowhere, short passes.

 

 

Just don't give the ball away.

 

It's not fucking hard is it!

 

 

I was raging at them.

 

If it was a fitness problem, why did we keep piling forward. Harper was raging at Pardew at one point when we had a corner and not a single defender had stayed in our half. Just inviting them to run at us. Mental.

 

In the words of the late, great Boy George, Do You Really Want To Perch Me?

 

You would have thought they'd have learn't from last week wouldn't you?

 

Especially knowing how quick Spurs are on the counter attack. Some may be down to fitness but the main problem is the inability to finish games off and at the least the incompetence when keeping hold of possession in injury time.

[Guest You FCB Get Out Of Our Club]

Absolutely gutted wouldn't cover how I felt at 453 yesterday. First half we were a bit tepid, two good chances in the half, one for Defoe and one for Best, Spurs looked dangerous on the counter they really are fast as fuck, and we just seemed compact and solid. Massive compliment to Enrique that Lennon switched wings, because he got nee change at all out of him when he was on the right. Thought the ref had a canny game, this wank behind me shouting abuse about his cancer at him pissed me off a bit, especially as he made the right decision. If anything I thought he was a bit biased towards us.

 

Second half I thought we were much the better team, they were good on the counter but we took the game to them. Their major threat was always Lennon, he skinned Simpson two or three times, and Simmo fuckin every time was standing 10 yards off him giving him the opportunity to come inside on his right foot.

 

Shola wasn't his liveliest, typical Shola game really, lazy, one piece of brilliance - what a goal that would've been, and an absolute sitter missed. That header was even easier than Ranger's chance. Then we had the 4 on 2, one decent ball and it would've been 2-0, the kid next to me said at that very time "I'll do time for that scouse twat if this costs us", 20 seconds later it's 1-1. Fuckin gutted. I couldn't even look at the Spurs fans. Their support was astonishingly shit, most they've ever had here 2,800 (which tells you what a wank club they are and have been), but vocally they might as well not have been here, and I'm not sat here saying this because I'm an open Tottenham hater, I'm saying because they're a disgrace. Why get on the train to Newcastle to sit in silence for 90 minutes?

 

Although the players we had played well, this just exposes how weak the squad is. That horrible cunt with his 44 inch waist trousers on sat in the Milburn is to blame. A squad so thread bare James Perch, yes JAMES PERCH is slung on in midfield. A 19 year old kid thrown on for a lazy one good game in 10 head doer to play alongside someone who's scored 3 goals in a year. No proper cover at right back, or left back for that matter. It's a joke. He must know he's a disgrace, get your cheque book out you disgrace, because that is 4 points lost in the last mins of games in 6 days, we're only 7 points off relegation and as well as they've done, a run of say four defeats and we're right in a dog fight.

[Happy Face 29]

I only made out one song from Spurs..."one niw, aand you facked it ap"

 

It's not like I'm in the Gallowgate either. I'm in the Leazes corner. The 48 Wigan fans at Arsenal must have made more noise.

[Guest You FCB Get Out Of Our Club]

I only made out one song from Spurs..."one niw, aand you facked it ap"

 

It's not like I'm in the Gallowgate either. I'm in the Leazes corner. The 48 Wigan fans at Arsenal must have made more noise.

I didn't even hear that cos I left as soon as they scored, 14 flights of stairs punctuated by me going "FUCKIN HNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGNNNNNNNNUUUNNNNNNNNNNGGHHH", got the bottom and thought oh well.

[Guest You FCB Get Out Of Our Club]

Forgot to say, I thought Guthrie was very good, I thought he put a canny display in, needs to keep it up.

[spongebob toonpants 3997]

Couple of my thoughts:

 

1/ Am not a massive fan of ranger but I think having a go at his missed chance, as outlined by parky, etc, is unfair. Don't think there's many players who would have got to that position and been able to spot the available passes (whether there was actually an available pass on, i haven't seen it back again). And definitely noone who would have joined newcastle on a free and be happy as an impact player

 

2/ Lovenkrands really frustrates me. I am really impressed by his ability to get into these goalscoring positions again and again. Its not like he has the pace he had a few years ago, so it must be that he's really good at reading the game (despite the comments made by others about his position on the ranger chance) and gambling on things. Always seems to get one or two really good chances, even when there's not many. His finishing has gone like. However, again I wouldn't blame him for today's big miss. I thought he made a lovely run, and chose the right option of where to put the ball, it was just one that from that position, if the keeper does well you can't really score

 

3/ I am a shola-phile. I think he's a much better footballer than a lot of people give him credit for. He's infuriating of course, and is not adverse to the absolute ridiculous (note his 50 yard through ball/attempted lob/passback)), as well as the sublime. But come genius, come bambi-on-ice, there's always something to comment on with shola, and always something to laugh/marvel at. Anyway, I thought he had a reasonable game today. However, he's the one who I'd have a go at for not getting the second goal. This season he is at times unmarkable/unplayable on corners (which we seem brilliantly drilled on all season, attacking ones anyway), and his run and barton's delivery were sublime for that chance. Was sure the net would bulge, but it was a pretty horrendous header by any striker's standards, let alone sholagoal's.

What we (well, Pardew) need to be quick at is spotting once shola's done for the day (usually around 60-70 mins in) and getting him off, as he's not really a 90mins player. I thinks its probably more to do with injuries and fitness than motivation but once his legs have gone for the day, he should be hauled off

 

4/ Thought jonas was really good today. Come to expect the performances from colli and enrique and barton (slightly wayward passing today withstanding) but thought he put in a brilliant shift today and even got some reasonable crosses in. One moment early in the second half where he carried the ball across field and ended up on the right with a decent delivery i thought was really good, and something I'd like to see more of.

 

5/ I was pleased with the performance (as I have overwhelmingly been this season). I'm not overly critical on us dropping the points (again) as it does happen and I woudn't really blame the players on the pitch. The main problem is the bench options. When you're 1-0 against a team able to keep/move the ball like spurs, and desperately hanging on, you ideally need 2 players with legs. The striker to latch onto clearance/hassle and harry, and someone with the legs and composure from midfield to join when the opportunity arises (but still be defensive minded enough to stay back until the break is on) and offer the right option. Ranger (despite his limitations) did the former but there was no one for the latter. Don't think routledge would been that player. Lovenkrands would have been ideal a few years ago. Barfa hopefully will be capable. Nolan, Barton, Guthrie, Jonas at the end of a hard shift definitely aren't. Would be nice if we had a rangy central midfielder coming through the youth system/reserves who could come on for the last 10-15 mins if we're on holding on to do that. Was trying to think of examples, obviously there's top players like yaya, diaby, but a more realistic one would be someone like jenas in his early days.

 

I agree with triple Nev

[Happy Face 29]

Spurs brought on £20 million worth off the bench.

 

We brought £1.25m

 

Says it all really. Good team, Shite squad.

 

It's not just the last 2 games either. We've conceded more in the last 5 minutes than any other club.

 

[Happy Face 29]

How many points did we have the season we got relegated at this point? if i remember correctly we had done ok, however we lost our form, that lasted for the rest of the season, hence we got relegated

 

Yeah, we were also one of the worst teams in the league, whereas this time we're not.

 

aye but early Jan we weren't

 

For the record I don't think we will get relegated, but people need to remember that stuff can and will happen, as I said at the start of the season, when the dust settles, I'll take 17th, anything above that is a bonus

 

We got 11 points from the last 15 games in 08/09....we'd have to be even worse than then to go down from this position

[Barney 0]

I was thinking about the cost of some of our starting 11/squad recently.

 

Shola/Carroll/Taylor/Harper/Krul/Ferguson/Kadar = youth team

Lovenkrands/Ranger/Sol/Gosling = free

Routledge/Guthrie/Best/Williamson/Perch/Simpson = less than £2m each

 

Barton/Collo/Ricky/Smith/Arfa/Nolan/Tiote and Jonas are the only ones I can think of who signed for more than £2m.

 

That about right?

[shackbleep 0]

Back to the relegation point, I think people are coming at the argument from two different angles. Thinking we'll be relegated is somewhat different to thinking we're safe from it.

 

I don't think we will be relegated for various reasons but then the moment you're complacent enough to believe you're safe is the same moment you're just as likely to get dragged into it.

 

Every year following the Xmas period, almost without fail, one team seems to freefall from relative safety straight into the relegation mire. This year it's more likely than even given how tight the league is.

[Happy Face 29]

Xisco

[Barney 0]

Xisco

 

Most expensive player after Collo?

[Guest You FCB Get Out Of Our Club]

Spurs brought on £20 million worth off the bench.

 

We brought £1.25m

 

Says it all really. Good team, Shite squad.

 

It's not just the last 2 games either. We've conceded more in the last 5 minutes than any other club.

 

You and your graphs, you could easily be the new Peter Snow on election night when he retires.

 

Never gave my player marks:

 

Harper 8 - best game for a while

Simpson 6

Williamson 8

Coloccini 8

Enrique 7

Barton 7

Guthrie 8

Nolan 6

Jonas 7

Best 6

Shola 6

 

Perch - Perch

Ranger 7

Lovenkrands 6

[Guest alex]

Pardew was a bit out of order on motd IMO. Blaming the squad players saying they "couldn't handle it" ie protecting the lead when it was first teamers like Barton and Enrique who were naively bombing on in the move directly prior to their goal. It was also a combination of Simpson and Williamson who were too easily beaten by Lennon for it. Bad crack singling out players IMO, but worse when it's the wrong ones.

[Monroe Transfer 0]

Pardew was a bit out of order on motd IMO. Blaming the squad players saying they "couldn't handle it" ie protecting the lead when it was first teamers like Barton and Enrique who were naively bombing on in the move directly prior to their goal. It was also a combination of Simpson and Williamson who were too easily beaten by Lennon for it. Bad crack singling out players IMO, but worse when it's the wrong ones.

 

Yup.

 

 

I still can't get my head around what they were thinking. We seemed determined to get a second goal when we'd have been better off just defending the one goal we did have.

 

A night's sleep hasn't made me feel any less disappointed. 2 matches in a row is just not on and Pardew should be blaming all of them, and if he had any courage he'd try and put a bit of pressure on the large man to actually improve this severely lacking squad of ours.

[Jusoda Kid 1]

Christmas Tree is a big fat wobbly thinks-he's-clever middle aged cock smoker who thinks hes better than you all cos he lives in Boldon. Don't fucking bite so easily to his rancid patter. There's two things at play here - hes on the wind up, AND hes genuinely stupid. Either way you win by ignoring him. I'm drunk and can see this. Wake up.

 

Three things, he's a mackem as well

[ChezGiven 0]

I know there is some blatant hypocrisy going on with the 'what if' game but with the margin between success and failure so narrow at times, its fair to say that if the last two games had finished after 90 minutes, we'd be a point behind Sunderland with a game in hand and CT's prediction earlier this season should have at least 10 posters on here eating humble pie. Interestingly, The Fish, who had the longest disagreement with CT regarding his optimism has completely piped down.

 

Its a shame like because we didnt get those points and we could quite easily get sucked down the table with a poor run. However, that hasnt happened yet and one thing that does need to be said, is that given the narrowness of the margin of error/success, calling someone a stupid cunt for believing in the positives (that we had gone on to win our last 2 games) is now clearly the stupider of the 2 positions. Its a case of close but no cigar but it clearly wasnt that stupid a position to take. If it all goes massively tits up from here, i'll be very surprised as again the performance level was more than good enough again.

 

As for yesterday, we clearly benefitted from Bale's departure as he would have stretched Barton and Simpson more than they were. We also on another day would have scored the second goal and won the game. Spurs probably deserved a point but if they have to rely on midfielders to score they couldnt have complained about a loss. Thought Defoe and Crouch were poor.

[Guest alex]

I think the performances with the players we've had out of late, Carroll and Tiote in particular, should assure most people we'll be fine. Don't think we've got the squad to really kick on and push for 7th and a potential European spot. Possibly just as well anyway.

Edited January 23, 2011 by alex

[NJS 4386]

On the cold light of day I think the "bombing on" trying to get a second is understandable in light of last week - they probably just thought "if they do score it won't matter".

 

Of course the number of times/period they did it for would suggest orders from the bench could have been used.

[Monroe Transfer 0]

What should happen is this.

 

Carroll, Tiote come back. Gosling and, hopefully soon, Ben Arfa return from injury and quickly get back into things.

 

Having 3 of those 4 would make our squad immensely stronger, and Gosling has potential and a lot to prove.

 

Those 4 PLUS a couple of new signings (winger and striker) and we could do well this season. We really need Carroll's goals, Tiote's ball retention and Ben Arfa's ability to scare defenders. They're all top class international players in their early 20s. The club should be built around them.

[Happy Face 29]

What should happen is this.

 

Carroll, Tiote come back. Gosling and, hopefully soon, Ben Arfa return from injury and quickly get back into things.

 

Having 3 of those 4 would make our squad immensely stronger, and Gosling has potential and a lot to prove.

 

Those 4 PLUS a couple of new signings (winger and striker) and we could do well this season. We really need Carroll's goals, Tiote's ball retention and Ben Arfa's ability to scare defenders. They're all top class international players in their early 20s. The club should be built around them.

 

 

While I see what you're saying....having 3 of those 4 back wouldn't make our squad any stronger at all really. It would be a boost to the team but if Coloccini, Barton and Enrique were injured/banned then we'd really be struggling again. We all knew we'd get these injuries/bans and we all said the squad wasn't good enough to cope, if a few come back in then it's inevitable that a few others will take a knock as the season wears on. Dreamland to imagine we can go into the last 3 months of the season with no first teamers out. It's looking like Perch will be our best option from the bench for a while.