***Official Mike Ashley Euro express thread***

[OTF 7485]

We had good posession in the midfield, but I felt the space between the midfield and the strikers were too large. We were lulled into thinking we were "unlucky with our chances" due to Ba converting some half-chances into nearly`s , aside from that I think we looked a bit headless up front.

 

Jonas and Santon would have benefited from having an attack minded player inside them, this would have helped to link up our midfield to our forwards. Didn't help that our two centre mids had poor games in comparison to their ability.

[Guest alex]

Played 16 Points 27

 

A performance that would have had us picking up 3 points any other day, just not our day.

We're doing well but we were doing a lot better before you turned up with this thread tbh.

[LeazesMag 0]

bump

[Guest alex]

[Baggio 0]

New Year’s Day last week also marked the half-way point of the 2011/12 Premier League season and Newcastle’s players New Year’s resolutions were put up on theOfficial Newcastle United site. Many of them were about family, some of them were unobtainable (Gabriel Obertan scoring his first goal for Newcastle for instance!) but a couple might just happen. Fabricio Coloccini is hoping for a top six finish, while Tim Krul is aiming for 60 points, which would pretty much seal the captain’s resolution, but can these dreams become a reality?

 

On 1st January 2012, Newcastle United were sitting on 30 points in the Premier League table, placing them nicely in 7th position. One week, three points and a fantastic performance against Manchester United later and the optimism is back at St James’ Park after something of a difficult December. Newcastle’s effort against Man United was top class and if Alan Pardew’s men can play like that more often than not for the rest of the season, then the Magpies will only be looking up the Premier League table.

 

As it stands in the Premier League, you’d have to think that the top three, Man City, United and Tottenham are away and clear, with Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool fighting for the fourth Champions League spot. But should Newcastle be ruled out of that scenario? The Magpies are only four points off Chelsea in fourth after all, and the Christmas fixtures showed that nothing can be taken for granted in the Premier League.

Newcastle are currently four points above Stoke in eighth, who are another four points above Norwich in ninth. Although the next few weeks will be tough with Demba Ba and Cheik Tiote going to play in the African Cup of Nations, hopefully Pardew will be able to bring a couple of players in and mount a serious challenge for the top 6.

 

Tim Krul is after 60 points, which based on last year’s table would give Newcastle a sixth-place finish, which is just what captain Fabricio Coloccini wants. Youngster Haris Vuckic is a bit more reserved and wishes for a top ten finish, which, given Newcastle’s start to the season, anything less would be a big disappointment, and maybe a shot at the Europa League. Add a decent FA Cup run to that and it would be a great season for Newcastle, but can they make the top 6, or maybe even higher?

 

http://thisisfutbol.com/2012/01/blogs/is-this-a-realistic-goal-for-newcastle?

[Baggio 0]

Played 20 Points 33

 

So tough games coming up without Ba and Tiote but I think we should be okay, we've got QPR who I'd fancy us to beat however you have to wonder about the new manager factor with them looking like appointing Hughes in the next 48 hours.

 

Another interesting fixture this weekend is Liverpool at home to Stoke with them being either side of us, if we can pick up the 3 points then a Liverpool win increases our hold on 7th but a draw or Stoke victory pushes us up into 6th.

[LeazesMag 0]

what is "OK" ?

[Baggio 0]

what is "OK" ?

 

As in we can still pick up points without them.

[LeazesMag 0]

qualifying for europe demands a lot more than "OK" Baggy.

 

Not that we have any chance mind.

 

Thought occurred to me, what if we won the FA Cup under this owner ? You only need to win 6 games, and one is gone with 5 to go.

 

Who would get the credit ? Mike Ashley, the old owners, or Kevin Keegan ? In my view, we owe Keegan everything. Without him, we would have spent the last 20 years treading on the toes of Sheffield Wednesday. Time will tell.

[Happy Face 29]

It wasn't just a December blip at all.

 

We took 8 points from 9 games in November & December. That's almost half of the season so far. Only Bolton and QPR had worse records over that 8 week period.

 

The Man U result was great fun, and the performance one of our best, but I'm not reading anything into that for our long term chances. That was the bright spot on our current downward trend, rather than the previous 2 months being a blip on our ongoing charge into Europe.

[LeazesMag 0]

It wasn't just a December blip at all.

 

We took 8 points from 9 games in November & December. That's almost half of the season so far. Only Bolton and QPR had worse records over that 8 week period.

 

The Man U result was great fun, and the performance one of our best, but I'm not reading anything into that for our long term chances. That was the bright spot on our current downward trend, rather than the previous 2 months being a blip on our ongoing charge into Europe.

 

exactly

[Baggio 0]

Apart from needing either Man City or Liverpool to win the Carling cup to keep 7th spot open for European football, we also need 2 of the clubs in the top 7 (including ourselves) to make it to the final of the FA cup.

 

With Man City going out and one of Man Utd or Liverpool going out in the next round it could make it tough, other than that the draw isn't too bad.

 

 

Arsenal v Aston Villa

Blackpool v Sheff Wed

Brighton/Wrexham v Newcastle

Dag & Red/Millwall v Southampton

Derby v Stoke

Everton v Fulham

Hull v Crawley Town

Liverpool v Man Utd

Macclesfield/Bolton v Swansea

Milton Keynes Dons/QPR v Chelsea

Nottm Forest/Leicester v Swindon

Sheff Utd v Birmingham/Wolves

Stevenage v Notts County

Sunderland v Boro

Watford v Spurs

West Brom v Norwich

[manc-mag 1]

 

just clocked that.

[LeazesMag 0]

a couple of teams will catch NUFC before now and the end of the season. Not sure who, Stoke maybe, but we haven't got a cat in hells chance of qualifying for europe through the league position, especially when another player is sold and the money is pocketed.

 

Will Alan Pardew be tempted to join another club, that backs their manager, soon ?

[LeazesMag 0]

 

just clocked that.

 

I feel sorry for you.

[Guest alex]

a couple of teams will catch NUFC before now and the end of the season. Not sure who, Stoke maybe, but we haven't got a cat in hells chance of qualifying for europe through the league position, especially when another player is sold and the money is pocketed.

 

Will Alan Pardew be tempted to join another club, that backs their manager, soon ?

Howay man. We've had a poor run and 7th isn't exactly nailed on (nor does it guarantee Europe at this stage) but to say we haven't got a cat in hell's chance on one hand then to struggle to name more than one team below us who might finish above us hardly makes sense. Btw, isn't Stoke Baggio's local team?

[Baggio 0]

It wasn't just a December blip at all.

 

We took 8 points from 9 games in November & December. That's almost half of the season so far. Only Bolton and QPR had worse records over that 8 week period.

 

The Man U result was great fun, and the performance one of our best, but I'm not reading anything into that for our long term chances. That was the bright spot on our current downward trend, rather than the previous 2 months being a blip on our ongoing charge into Europe.

 

I didn't even see it as much of a blip to be honest as we knew going in to November we were in for a tough run of fixtures, you can include the away game at Stoke in that too if you like as I didn't expect to pick up 3 points there.

 

The blip seems to be losing away to Norwich, at home to West Brom and a draw with Swansea, the Swansea game we were dominant in and deserved to win and I didn't think we deserved to lose to West Brom either even though we were a little open in search of a winner but it happens, if we had picked up maximum points against them we would be sat in 4th on 40 points.

 

Other than those 3 we had Chelsea and Everton at home and Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool and Bolton away so as I said not an easy run.

[Christmas Tree 4821]

It wasn't just a December blip at all.

 

We took 8 points from 9 games in November & December. That's almost half of the season so far. Only Bolton and QPR had worse records over that 8 week period.

 

The Man U result was great fun, and the performance one of our best, but I'm not reading anything into that for our long term chances. That was the bright spot on our current downward trend, rather than the previous 2 months being a blip on our ongoing charge into Europe.

 

I think thats a tad pessimistic. I think its clear that the introduction Santon has made a massive difference to the overall balance of the team and our attacking options. As long as we stick with Ben Arfa or Rtaylor on the wing then I think that balance is kept.

 

Didnt November December also tie in with Tiote coming back (rusty) and S Taylor getting injured?

 

I think without getting too carried away we are looking much stronger than we were during Nov / Dec.

 

Hopefully Guthrie will pick up where he left off and we should be okay.

[LeazesMag 0]

a couple of teams will catch NUFC before now and the end of the season. Not sure who, Stoke maybe, but we haven't got a cat in hells chance of qualifying for europe through the league position, especially when another player is sold and the money is pocketed.

 

Will Alan Pardew be tempted to join another club, that backs their manager, soon ?

Howay man. We've had a poor run and 7th isn't exactly nailed on (nor does it guarantee Europe at this stage) but to say we haven't got a cat in hell's chance on one hand then to struggle to name more than one team below us who might finish above us hardly makes sense. Btw, isn't Stoke Baggio's local team?

 

we haven't. Looking at our squad - and the transfer policy, lets face it most of us are wondering who will be next to leave and see the money disappear - and since August it's been obvious it isn't good enough to attain a high enough league position over 38 games to qualify for europe.

 

Some may have been fooled by a decent start, against generally the poorer teams, and a more athletic midfield [which I predicted would probably happen when Nolan was sold] but not everyone is so gullible.

 

The judgement may be harsh, but I'm sticking by it, as well as my long term view - as usual.

[Baggio 0]

a couple of teams will catch NUFC before now and the end of the season. Not sure who, Stoke maybe, but we haven't got a cat in hells chance of qualifying for europe through the league position, especially when another player is sold and the money is pocketed.

 

Will Alan Pardew be tempted to join another club, that backs their manager, soon ?

Howay man. We've had a poor run and 7th isn't exactly nailed on (nor does it guarantee Europe at this stage) but to say we haven't got a cat in hell's chance on one hand then to struggle to name more than one team below us who might finish above us hardly makes sense. Btw, isn't Stoke Baggio's local team?

 

Our biggest worry should be 7th not getting European football rather than a couple of teams catching us.

[Baggio 0]

a couple of teams will catch NUFC before now and the end of the season. Not sure who, Stoke maybe, but we haven't got a cat in hells chance of qualifying for europe through the league position, especially when another player is sold and the money is pocketed.

 

Will Alan Pardew be tempted to join another club, that backs their manager, soon ?

Howay man. We've had a poor run and 7th isn't exactly nailed on (nor does it guarantee Europe at this stage) but to say we haven't got a cat in hell's chance on one hand then to struggle to name more than one team below us who might finish above us hardly makes sense. Btw, isn't Stoke Baggio's local team?

 

we haven't. Looking at our squad - and the transfer policy, lets face it most of us are wondering who will be next to leave and see the money disappear - and since August it's been obvious it isn't good enough to attain a high enough league position over 38 games to qualify for europe.

 

Some may have been fooled by a decent start, against generally the poorer teams, and a more athletic midfield [which I predicted would probably happen when Nolan was sold] but not everyone is so gullible.

 

The judgement may be harsh, but I'm sticking by it, as well as my long term view - as usual.

 

So which of the clubs below us at the moment do you think has a better squad than we do? Or a better starting 11.

[Guest alex]

We're more than half way through the season and we're 4 points off a Champions League spot so I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say European qualification is within our grasp. All moot once we win the FA Cup anyway like.

[manc-mag 1]

It wasn't just a December blip at all.

 

We took 8 points from 9 games in November & December. That's almost half of the season so far. Only Bolton and QPR had worse records over that 8 week period.

 

The Man U result was great fun, and the performance one of our best, but I'm not reading anything into that for our long term chances. That was the bright spot on our current downward trend, rather than the previous 2 months being a blip on our ongoing charge into Europe.

 

I didn't even see it as much of a blip to be honest as we knew going in to November we were in for a tough run of fixtures, you can include the away game at Stoke in that too if you like as I didn't expect to pick up 3 points there.

 

The blip seems to be losing away to Norwich, at home to West Brom and a draw with Swansea, the Swansea game we were dominant in and deserved to win and I didn't think we deserved to lose to West Brom either even though we were a little open in search of a winner but it happens, if we had picked up maximum points against them we would be sat in 4th on 40 points.

 

Other than those 3 we had Chelsea and Everton at home and Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool and Bolton away so as I said not an easy run.

 

Would go along with that interpretation for the most part tbf. Everyone said we'd start to lose games going into that period; as it happens we lost players too, with the consequence being that we dropped points in the other fixtures we'd come to regard as likely wins.

[ewerk 31195]

I'm willing to go out on a limb and predict that we will not lose any major players during the January transfer window.

[LeazesMag 0]

It wasn't just a December blip at all.

 

We took 8 points from 9 games in November & December. That's almost half of the season so far. Only Bolton and QPR had worse records over that 8 week period.

 

The Man U result was great fun, and the performance one of our best, but I'm not reading anything into that for our long term chances. That was the bright spot on our current downward trend, rather than the previous 2 months being a blip on our ongoing charge into Europe.

 

I think thats a tad pessimistic. I think its clear that the introduction Santon has made a massive difference to the overall balance of the team and our attacking options. As long as we stick with Ben Arfa or Rtaylor on the wing then I think that balance is kept.

 

Didnt November December also tie in with Tiote coming back (rusty) and S Taylor getting injured?

 

I think without getting too carried away we are looking much stronger than we were during Nov / Dec.

 

Hopefully Guthrie will pick up where he left off and we should be okay.

 

Ben Arfa has got to play on the right instead of Obertan, but the squad is now being seen as too small and not good enough.

 

This is what happens when you sell your best players and don't build a team with the intention to improve as you go, and adopt a sell and replace with cheaper approach.