Official Match Thread: Stoke 1-1 Newcastle United

[Fop 1]

Thing is, while I don't rate Martins, his not playing created the old problem of us having no pace upfront meaning Stoke's defence played a high line and this meant our midfield didn't have a lot of time on the ball or options. We had to try and play football though ffs because a big hoof was akin to passing the ball to the opposition. It was only when Jonas and Carroll came on that we did this. I thought Duff combined well with Jonas after that. And when we actually gave their defence something to think about they didn't look anywhere near as comfortable.

 

We don't have the players to play hoofball and we don't have the squad to play football.

[Asprilla 96]

Harper was pretty poor - looks low on confidence - thought defensively we were ok but the usual lapses cost us - carroll was outstanding at both ends of the pitch - guti caused problems and ryan taylor is awful - edgar was committed and deserves a place ahead of collocinni - nolan has the turning circle of a fully laden coal barge

[Big Onion 0]

Several reports on N-O that Martins has deleted all his Newcastle supporting 'friends' on Facebook

 

He's a little shit and he's got previous, but it's a tricky one for Shearer given the paucity of options he has. Shearer's praise for Owen has put the precious little fucker's nose out of joint is my guess. It's something we could do without just now like.

[NJS 3986]

If we do stop up and Shearer stays it would drastically change the summer imo - I think Owen would stay and Martins would be off.

 

(Of course both would leave if relegated).

[Big Onion 0]

Aye I reckon it could go that way as well. Then all we'd need is a replacement for Martins and about £30mil worth of midfielders to provide our strikers with the odd chance

[Acid 0]

Several reports on N-O that Martins has deleted all his Newcastle supporting 'friends' on Facebook

 

He's a little shit and he's got previous, but it's a tricky one for Shearer given the paucity of options he has. Shearer's praise for Owen has put the precious little fucker's nose out of joint is my guess. It's something we could do without just now like.

 

I wouldn't even look into anything that is said over that place however, yesterday I got the impression Martins wasn't injured and that there was some sort of disagreement beforehand. Overall, on the performance yesterday it was the most stressfull watch all season, the shit that was served up was unreal. Nolan couldn't pass, whilst Taylor had about 10 minutes to cross a ball and still fucked it up!

 

Looking at the fixtures next week: Sunderland v Hull, Boro v Fulham, Stoke v Blackburn and Portsmouth v Bolton; I remain unconfident, however looking at previous results against Spurs away it seems to be where we always get a freak result, and hopefully with some players coming back from injury (Enrique, Lovenpants and possibly Barton?) we could get all three.

 

Thumbs up to Carroll, was really good to see a local lad show real passion and fight, whilst the others dont give a flying fuck! Don't even mention Ameobi, hopefully Carroll's goal is the final nail in the coffin for that lousy excuse of a footballer!

[Big Onion 0]

Several reports on N-O that Martins has deleted all his Newcastle supporting 'friends' on Facebook

 

He's a little shit and he's got previous, but it's a tricky one for Shearer given the paucity of options he has. Shearer's praise for Owen has put the precious little fucker's nose out of joint is my guess. It's something we could do without just now like.

 

I wouldn't even look into anything that is said over that place however, yesterday I got the impression Martins wasn't injured and that there was some sort of disagreement beforehand. Overall, on the performance yesterday it was the most stressfull watch all season, the shit that was served up was unreal. Nolan couldn't pass, whilst Taylor had about 10 minutes to cross a ball and still fucked it up!

 

Looking at the fixtures next week: Sunderland v Hull, Boro v Fulham, Stoke v Blackburn and Portsmouth v Bolton; I remain unconfident, however looking at previous results against Spurs away it seems to be where we always get a freak result, and hopefully with some players coming back from injury (Enrique, Lovenpants and possibly Barton?) we could get all three.

 

Thumbs up to Carroll, was really good to see a local lad show real passion and fight, whilst the others dont give a flying fuck! Don't even mention Ameobi, hopefully Carroll's goal is the final nail in the coffin for that lousy excuse of a footballer!

 

No fear of me taking most of what's said on N-O too seriously

 

I just stuck it in for a bit of colour while having a go at the errant Mr Martins.

 

I've been convinced all season Carroll is a better option than Ameobi and hopefully now he'll always be picked ahead of Shola and gets a run - likely I'd say given the Martins carry-on. We definitely need the improving Enrique back as Shearer/Dowie won't be going three at the back against the spuds I doubt.

[Douggy B 0]

I watched your game in the pub after ours. You could clearly see Shearer turn to Dowie and say "who was that".

 

Dowie replied "Shola"

 

Someones getting a rocket next training.

[MattM4 0]

He's a little shit and he's got previous, but it's a tricky one for Shearer given the paucity of options he has. Shearer's praise for Owen has put the precious little fucker's nose out of joint is my guess. It's something we could do without just now like.

That was maybe the only thing I was disappointed with from Shearer's press conference. The fact he didn't mention Oba at all.

 

As frustrating as he might be, we need him out there and confident. He's one of the few players we still have who has some top class about him.

[Guest alex]

He's a little shit and he's got previous, but it's a tricky one for Shearer given the paucity of options he has. Shearer's praise for Owen has put the precious little fucker's nose out of joint is my guess. It's something we could do without just now like.

That was maybe the only thing I was disappointed with from Shearer's press conference. The fact he didn't mention Oba at all.

 

As frustrating as he might be, we need him out there and confident. He's one of the few players we still have who has some top class about him.

He's not remotely 'top class' imo although I agree we need to try and get the best out of him in order to stay up.

[thenorthumbrian 0]

Carroll is young, hungry and has scored 3 goals in 2 matches - albeit 2 of them in the reserves.

He has out down the marker for other players up front.

[Tooj 17]

The key with Carroll yesterday is he obviously made a big difference going forward, but he also done a lot of good work defending set pieces and corners for us. Much like our own manager used to do so.

[Happy Face 29]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/e...rem/7978854.stm

 

Shola worked his socks off, what game are you watching Alan?

 

Obafemi strained his groin on a Friday night?

 

[Papa Lazaru 0]

I honestly can't believe Shearer started Shola, i though he of all people would know what a waste of space he is, and he'd seen what Carroll had done it the reserves. It defies logic, i think Shola must have a big file of photos and secrets on all managers he blackmails them with to get in the team.

 

Not only did he give Stoke the goal by not being arsed to mark Feye, he spent the whole game ambling about miscontrolling it and pissing away possesion. Carrol came on and not only did he actually give a shit and try hard, he defended superbly and scored a cracking goal that not many strikers would get IMO. If Shola ever starts ahead of Carroll again i'll explode!

 

As for the rest of them, Taylor is awful, Nolan serves no purpose whatsoever, two great signings by the look of it! Butt isn't good enough creatively but by god at least he tries and takes responsibility, in fact beacuse of that he's trying to do thins he can't, like those 2 late runs into the box and trying to thread the odd pass through, but you can't knock his attitude.

 

The subs should have been made at halftime as we were shit first half and no surprise we came out and were even worse for 10-15 mins because nothing had changed. Once Jonas and Carroll came on we loooked like we could win, until then we were lucky not to be about 3-0 down!

 

I'd have taken a draw though to be fair and as people have said Shearer did try something different at the back to cope with Stoke (even if it was 3-5-2!) which showed some real thought had gone into it and until Martins fucked him about he was clearly trying something different in attack as well.

Edited April 12, 2009 by Papa Lazaru

[Happy Face 29]

I reckon it goes back to the man management Shearer spoke about in his press conference. He hadn't scored in months but was told he'd start because he'd proven he could score.

 

Saying to Ameobi "Without having even watched you play, irrespective of how you've trained for me, I'm going to start a lad who's made 5 appearances before you, because I have that little confidence in your ability despite your vastly greater experience than the kid" isn't what he'd be looking to do imo.

 

With confidence he CAN score.....his record is still a goal every 3 starts...which is about the same as Martins'.

 

Whether Shearer's faith will stretch to next week is another matter.

[Papa Lazaru 0]

I reckon it goes back to the man management Shearer spoke about in his press conference. He hadn't scored in months but was told he'd start because he'd proven he could score.

 

Saying to Ameobi "Without having even watched you play, irrespective of how you've trained for me, I'm going to start a lad who's made 5 appearances before you, because I have that little confidence in your ability despite your vastly greater experience than the kid" isn't what he'd be looking to do imo.

 

With confidence he CAN score.....his record is still a goal every 3 starts...which is about the same as Martins'.

 

Whether Shearer's faith will stretch to next week is another matter.

 

Shearer spent part of his playing career here with Shola and has watched most of our games this season so he has watched him play and if Shola (or anybody else) can't take another player being picked then tough shit, grow up and accept it. Colo and Guti were both dropped by Shearer and as he said himself they were model pros about it and took it well.

 

How Shola trains is also irrelivent, everyone knows he stars in training and is then a waste of space come match day, so its no use choosing him on training well.

 

What Shearer needed to do and now probably will, (behind closed doors, not to the media) is say Carroll has looked better than you, worked harder when given a chance and deserves a shot, watch what he does and look to match it and show me that you deserve that place back from him. That would be man management as well, firing Shola up instead of continually letting him think his lazy, piss poor performances are good enough by picking him time and again.

 

Also take out his euro goals, i bet he's far from 1 in 3 domestically which is where we need it, we won't be in europe for some time!

Edited April 12, 2009 by Papa Lazaru

[Happy Face 29]

I reckon it goes back to the man management Shearer spoke about in his press conference. He hadn't scored in months but was told he'd start because he'd proven he could score.

 

Saying to Ameobi "Without having even watched you play, irrespective of how you've trained for me, I'm going to start a lad who's made 5 appearances before you, because I have that little confidence in your ability despite your vastly greater experience than the kid" isn't what he'd be looking to do imo.

 

With confidence he CAN score.....his record is still a goal every 3 starts...which is about the same as Martins'.

 

Whether Shearer's faith will stretch to next week is another matter.

 

Shearer spent part of his playing career here with Shola and has watched most of our games this season so he has watched him play and if Shola (or anybody else) can't take another player being picked then tough shit, grow up and accept it. Colo and Guti were both dropped by Shearer and as he said himself they were model pros about it and took it well.

 

How Shola trains is also irrelivent, everyone knows he stars in training and is then a waste of space come match day, so its no use choosing him on training well.

 

What Shearer needed to do and now probably will, (behind closed doors, not to the media) is say Carroll has looked better than you, worked harder when given a chance and deserves a shot, watch what he does and look to match it and show me that you deserve that place back from him. That would be man management as well, firing Shola up instead of continually letting him think his lazy, piss poor performances are good enough by picking him time and again.

 

Also take out his euro goals, i bet he's far from 1 in 3 domestically which is where we need it, we won't be in europe for some time!

 

I had left out his euro goals. In the league he's on 32 from 109 starts. It's closer to one every two starts in Europe where he has 12 from 26.

 

http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=22171

 

The bold bit is a bit harsh given that it's the first time Shearer has even picked him. Even Keegan, who people have already said had no time for Ameobi, played him in his first couple of games back leaving Carroll on the bench, or out of the squad.

[Papa Lazaru 0]

I reckon it goes back to the man management Shearer spoke about in his press conference. He hadn't scored in months but was told he'd start because he'd proven he could score.

 

Saying to Ameobi "Without having even watched you play, irrespective of how you've trained for me, I'm going to start a lad who's made 5 appearances before you, because I have that little confidence in your ability despite your vastly greater experience than the kid" isn't what he'd be looking to do imo.

 

With confidence he CAN score.....his record is still a goal every 3 starts...which is about the same as Martins'.

 

Whether Shearer's faith will stretch to next week is another matter.

 

Shearer spent part of his playing career here with Shola and has watched most of our games this season so he has watched him play and if Shola (or anybody else) can't take another player being picked then tough shit, grow up and accept it. Colo and Guti were both dropped by Shearer and as he said himself they were model pros about it and took it well.

 

How Shola trains is also irrelivent, everyone knows he stars in training and is then a waste of space come match day, so its no use choosing him on training well.

 

What Shearer needed to do and now probably will, (behind closed doors, not to the media) is say Carroll has looked better than you, worked harder when given a chance and deserves a shot, watch what he does and look to match it and show me that you deserve that place back from him. That would be man management as well, firing Shola up instead of continually letting him think his lazy, piss poor performances are good enough by picking him time and again.

 

Also take out his euro goals, i bet he's far from 1 in 3 domestically which is where we need it, we won't be in europe for some time!

 

I had left out his euro goals. In the league he's on 32 from 109 starts. It's closer to one every two starts in Europe where he has 12 from 26.

 

http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=22171

 

The bold bit is a bit harsh given that it's the first time Shearer has even picked him. Even Keegan, who people have already said had no time for Ameobi, played him in his first couple of games back leaving Carroll on the bench, or out of the squad.

 

I'll grant you i'm surprised he's nearly 1 in 3 domestically so fair play to you there, i always knew he'd done well in europe, though i bet his current form isn't 1 in 3!

 

I'll be honest, i used to defend him quite a while after most people had long since been sick of him, but i don't think it is harsh in truth anymore. It isn't just his playing style that makes him seem lazy, he really doesn't give it everything and in another sense he's incredibly lazy, in that he never learns, he doesn't improve his concentration, doesn't learn to use his strength instead of conceding stupid and obvious fouls on defenders and he's clearly never worked sufficiently on striking a ball properly.

 

As for Keegan, he would have been right not to throw Carroll in, that was a way back in his developement, he hadn't shown enough then to warrant going in ahead of Shola, but he has to be picked ahead of him now, anyone can see that. Keegan did use his usual man management skills of coming in talking Shola up, boosting his confidence, gave him a chance, took one look and said, are you kidding me! And tried to sell him as soon as possible!

 

Shearer has a second chance if you like, he picked him, and for that was rewarded with a shocking display, no effort and a goal given away, but Carroll came on and showed everything Shola didn't so Big Al has more than enough justification to drop Shola for Carroll.

Edited April 12, 2009 by Papa Lazaru

[Happy Face 29]

I reckon it goes back to the man management Shearer spoke about in his press conference. He hadn't scored in months but was told he'd start because he'd proven he could score.

 

Saying to Ameobi "Without having even watched you play, irrespective of how you've trained for me, I'm going to start a lad who's made 5 appearances before you, because I have that little confidence in your ability despite your vastly greater experience than the kid" isn't what he'd be looking to do imo.

 

With confidence he CAN score.....his record is still a goal every 3 starts...which is about the same as Martins'.

 

Whether Shearer's faith will stretch to next week is another matter.

 

Shearer spent part of his playing career here with Shola and has watched most of our games this season so he has watched him play and if Shola (or anybody else) can't take another player being picked then tough shit, grow up and accept it. Colo and Guti were both dropped by Shearer and as he said himself they were model pros about it and took it well.

 

How Shola trains is also irrelivent, everyone knows he stars in training and is then a waste of space come match day, so its no use choosing him on training well.

 

What Shearer needed to do and now probably will, (behind closed doors, not to the media) is say Carroll has looked better than you, worked harder when given a chance and deserves a shot, watch what he does and look to match it and show me that you deserve that place back from him. That would be man management as well, firing Shola up instead of continually letting him think his lazy, piss poor performances are good enough by picking him time and again.

 

Also take out his euro goals, i bet he's far from 1 in 3 domestically which is where we need it, we won't be in europe for some time!

 

I had left out his euro goals. In the league he's on 32 from 109 starts. It's closer to one every two starts in Europe where he has 12 from 26.

 

http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=22171

 

The bold bit is a bit harsh given that it's the first time Shearer has even picked him. Even Keegan, who people have already said had no time for Ameobi, played him in his first couple of games back leaving Carroll on the bench, or out of the squad.

 

I'll grant you i'm surprised he's nearly 1 in 3 domestically so fair play to you there, i always knew he'd done well in europe, though i bet his current form isn't 1 in 3!

 

I'll be honest, i used to defend him quite a while after most people had long since been sick of him, but i don't think it is harsh in truth anymore. It isn't just his playing style that makes him seem lazy, he really doesn't give it everything and in another sense he's incredibly lazy, in that he never learns, he doesn't improve his concentration, doesn't learn to use his strength instead of conceding stupid and obvious fouls on defenders and he's clearly never worked sufficiently on striking a ball properly.

 

As for Keegan, he would have been right not to throw Carroll in, that was a way back in his developement, he hadn't shown enough then to warrant going in ahead of Shola, but he has to be picked ahead of him now, anyone can see that. Keegan did use his usual man management skills of coming in talking Shola up, boosting his confidence, gave him a chance, took one look and said, are you kidding me! And tried to sell him as soon as possible!

 

Shearer has a second chance if you like, he picked him, and for that was rewarded with a shocking display, no effort and a goal given away, but Carroll came on and showed everything Shola didn't so Big Al has more than enough justification to drop Shola for Carroll.

 

Totally agree.

 

Carroll's got 3 years on that Macheda kid. He's even got a few months on an old pro like Walcott, so if he's still not ready to make the step up, he never will be.

[Big Onion 0]

That 'one-in-three' in the league is a bit generous if you ask me. He's got 32 in 109 league starts (which is one in three and a half), plus he's made a staggering eighty appearances off the bench. Martins has 27 in 72 starts plus 10 sub' run-outs, which is considerably better.

 

I'd also take into account the fact that Carroll is much better in the air than Shola, important to us at both ends just now. We never win anything when a goal-kick/clearance is sent towards Ameobi, as most of the time he doesn't win the ball and on the rare occasions he does he has no control over where it goes. We'll pick up our share of second balls when Carroll plays, and these things count. I also think Ameobi's attitude has deteriorated - he looks lazy these days, and yesterday's failure to follow Faye more than once is an example of this, as was his pathetic sulk on the halfway line a few months back, and his 'I'm too big to be doing this' performance when KK put him in a reserve game last season (think it was v Man City - I was there and he was a disgrace). I think he's been absolutely shit for ages now and I'd be happy if he never played for us again.

[Papa Lazaru 0]

Totally agree.

 

Carroll's got 3 years on that Macheda kid. He's even got a few months on an old pro like Walcott, so if he's still not ready to make the step up, he never will be.

 

It would be about time wouldn't it, that we produced somebody that was any good! Me and my mates were talking about it last night actually, how far back you have to go since Newcastle produced a young player through the ranks that was premiership class. You end up as far back as the likes of Lee Clark and Steve Watson!

 

Even by random luck surely somebody would have come through since then, but it just never seems to happen!

 

And i agree that Carroll is that an age where he is definitely ready, he's had some time playing for a lower league team, he's done well in the reserves and shown a bit in the first team so there's no better time for him to really take the next step up and try and establish himself if he's given a fair chance.

[Douggy B 0]

Thats a terrible return, any striker worth his salt gets 0.3 gpg including sub appearances.

 

Hes crap, absolute shit.

 

To put it in perspective, hes worse than Carlton Cole:

 

http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=30686

[Happy Face 29]

That 'one-in-three' in the league is a bit generous if you ask me. He's got 32 in 109 league starts (which is one in three and a half), plus he's made a staggering eighty appearances off the bench. Martins has 27 in 72 starts plus 10 sub' run-outs, which is considerably better.

 

I'd also take into account the fact that Carroll is much better in the air than Shola, important to us at both ends just now. We never win anything when a goal-kick/clearance is sent towards Ameobi, as most of the time he doesn't win the ball and on the rare occasions he does he has no control over where it goes. We'll pick up our share of second balls when Carroll plays, and these things count. I also think Ameobi's attitude has deteriorated - he looks lazy these days, and yesterday's failure to follow Faye more than once is an example of this, as was his pathetic sulk on the halfway line a few months back, and his 'I'm too big to be doing this' performance when KK put him in a reserve game last season (think it was v Man City - I was there and he was a disgrace). I think he's been absolutely shit for ages now and I'd be happy if he never played for us again.

 

 

I'm not saying Ameobi currently deserves to start ahead of Carroll. Just that it's only right that Shearer's gone in and told everyone it's a clean slate, he's ignoring recent (relegation placing) form and giving players a chance to prove themselves all over again based on what they've produced in the past.

 

I was at that Man City reserves game too. I don't think Ameobi was dragged off to preserve his fitness either, he didn't even look up to it at that level.

[Happy Face 29]

Thats a terrible return, any striker worth his salt gets 0.3 gpg including sub appearances.

 

Hes crap, absolute shit.

 

To put it in perspective, hes worse than Carlton Cole:

 

http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=30686

 

 

Carlton Cole who's 7th placed West Ham's top scorer and joint top assists provider this season?

 

[Douggy B 0]

Thats a terrible return, any striker worth his salt gets 0.3 gpg including sub appearances.

 

Hes crap, absolute shit.

 

To put it in perspective, hes worse than Carlton Cole:

 

http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=30686

 

 

Carlton Cole who's 7th placed West Ham's top scorer and joint top assists provider this season?

 

 

And serial pisshead and underchiever every other season?

 

Defoe: 0.36

Keane: 0.35

Pav: 0.38

Bent: 0.38

 

Owen: 0.49

 

Ameobi is poo.