Christmas Tree 4438 Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 Shearers Column EMBARRASSING, gutless, clueless but most of all very, very worrying. Newcastle fans can throw in their own adjectives if there are better ones to describe what they witnessed at St James’ Park late on Saturday afternoon. A 6-0 trouncing by Liverpool — the club’s worst home defeat since 1925. You can be excused a bad day at the office. But, for the second home game running, this lot have not even turned up for work. I saw the warning signs on Saturday after only two minutes. In that time I witnessed Philippe Coutinho twice receive the ball and have time and space to pick his pass. Nobody was within 20 yards of the Brazilian. Not a tackle, not an attempt to close him down — nothing. This was supposed to be a Newcastle team determined to wipe away the memory of the 3-0 Sunderland defeat by putting in a spirited display. Instead, we got this. It is not as if these last two home games have been against one of this season’s top sides. Sunderland have been awful for most of the campaign — hence the change of manager. Liverpool have hardly been hauling up trees by the forest-load either. But, yesterday, they came to town without their best player Luis Suarez and still destroyed Newcastle. The Toon Army can just be thankful there are only three games left. If it was twice that many Alan Pardew’s team could well be bang in trouble. A five-point gap should give them enough breathing space — with Wigan and Aston Villa facing each other in their final game of the season. If we do need points, then right now I cannot see us picking up anything away to West Ham or in the final home game against Arsenal. So we would just have to hope that QPR are so dispirited, they don’t turn up for the Toon’s trip to Loftus Road. What a situation for Newcastle to find themselves in after last season’s high. Back then, I thought we massively over-achieved in what was a very good season for the club, promising much for the future. Now we have massively under-achieved. It has brought calls from many fans for a change of manager. I would not join that clamour. I think Pardew has enough credit in the bank from last season to be afforded another chance. But he is under massive pressure and if this trend continues two months into the next season, there will be even more calls for his head. So what’s gone wrong so soon after the club were fighting to land a place in the Champions League? As I have mentioned before in this column, I do believe the board blundered by failing to strengthen in the summer. Particularly as they had a sapping Europa League campaign to contend with as well this season. They attempted to right that wrong in the January window. Initially, those new players performed well on the adrenalin of their moves. Now they look like rabbits in headlights. They look like they have suddenly realised what the Premier League is all about and found it tough — too tough in some cases. It’s easy to play when things are going well. Tougher when you have to dig deep. Newcastle fans can accept defeat — but they cannot accept a team that does not try, or lacks spirit. Look at the difference between the Sunderland players’ attitude and Newcastle’s in the recent derby clash. Undoubtedly, the arrival of Paolo Di Canio had that change-of-manager effect as can often happen. But this is one of the biggest derbies in football — and you should not lack motivation for such an occasion on any count. Pardew pointed to the fact that his players had played in the Europa League the previous Thursday in Lisbon as a contributing factor to their demise. I don’t buy that. You lift yourselves for games like this no matter what. Teams have been playing Wednesday-Saturday or Thursday-Sunday for years now. But they lost and after drawing at West Brom, the visit of Liverpool gave everyone a chance to put things straight in front of the home fans — it couldn’t have gone worse. The defensive performance was quite simply the worst I have seen from any side — not just this season but for a good number of years — all over the show. It must have felt like a training match for Liverpool as it was just so easy to score. ‘Have faith and stick with us’ will be the cry from the manager. That loyalty he calls upon is being severely tested right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Carr's Gloves 3708 Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 It's funny having people on ignore when they are posting more than anyone else it makes it look like they are arguing with themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney 0 Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 Yes. Awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoobos 297 Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 nice post CT - agree with shearer 100% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McFaul 35 Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 Before a ball was kicked I was the only one who said we'd be fighting a relegation battle. You could see it clear as day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 10430 Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 Before a ball was kicked I was the only one who said we'd be fighting a relegation battle. You could see it clear as day. I thought you said 12th? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christmas Tree 4438 Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 I thought you said 12th? Pictures to prove it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Dynamite 6822 Posted April 29, 2013 Author Share Posted April 29, 2013 fucking hell Stevie, I've never known anyone so obsessed with predicting things right, even when you're wrong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Dynamite 6822 Posted April 29, 2013 Author Share Posted April 29, 2013 6 out of 7 are completely wrong btw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howmanheyman 31592 Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 Before a ball was kicked I was the only one who said we'd be fighting a relegation battle. You could see it clear as day. On the morning of the derby in an uncanny and almost eerily way, (looking back with hindsight), I caught a bit of the Kaiser Chiefs singing 'I predict a riot'. When I saw the aftermath at the Central Station and remembered hearing this song on the radio I got all goosepimply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoobos 297 Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 I vote we lock this thread and nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 10430 Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 A-Ffirmative Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aeris 0 Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 (edited) To me this is the worst performance by a team in PL ever this season. Second place is us against Sunderland. Third place is us against Arsenal. It wasn't because Liverpool were playing good, for christ sake, Henderson been shite all season and he scored 2, Borini scored, we were just utter completely shit as a team. Our new signings are all utter shit atm. Edited May 1, 2013 by Aeris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Dynamite 6822 Posted May 1, 2013 Author Share Posted May 1, 2013 Ever? Or this season? We played very well against Arsenal until the last 20munutes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom 14000 Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Chelsea 8-0 Aston Villa gets my vote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigWalrus 0 Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 I don't think the Sunderland game is up there - we were knackered and leggy, but we've won games playing far worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoobos 297 Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 To say Liverpool were no good is tosh. Yes we were awful , but Liverpool played very well in the first half - they might well put that down as their best team performance all year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holden McGroin 6229 Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 We made it easy for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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