Newcastle United v Pies

[adios 717]

IMO.......

Gamez is a better left fullback than Anita. Agreed

Hayden should have started instead of Colback.  He isn't match fit.

Atsu should have started instead of Gouffran. This one's a coin-flip for me, Atsu's only looked good as an impact sub so far.

Mbemba is better than mistake making Lascells. This is hardly a black mark against Rafa?  Dropping your captain is still a pretty big deal, I think?

Diame is like a yo-yo. So who replaces him?

[PaddockLad 14795]

Pretty much, I (and others) have mentioned how streaky Huddersfield are and it seems their 2nd long stretch of constant good results is over they were at home to Burton and had 70% possession but still lost they're the epitome of all fart and nee shit tbh. Brighton basically cemented their place as well today bouncing back after a shaky patch with a win.

 

I know (certain) people are going to moan about this win but we've been winning like this all season, we've ground through a scrappy league with what is a fairly crap squad (with a few players who are well above this level).

Rafa can only pick the players he has available so it's pointless moaning about Colback and Diame playing Noelie, who was he meant to pick? Hayden who is just about recovered from a month out and Perez who has been just as inconsistent as Diame? I don't like Anita at all but Yedlin is injured and he played well today ffs, he was instrumental in the winning goal and he wasn't at fault for the one we conceded. It's pointless moaning and worrying about what a scrappy home win over Wigan means for next season, it'll be a different looking squad by then.

People have difficulty factoring in the fact that we're owned by Mike fuckin Ashley before they knee jerk all over the Internet. Regardless of our very decent season the current squad has been financed by an owner who's got us relegated twice in 7 seasons. He's the really fuckin useless one, tbh almost all other comment is rendered pretty fuckin pointless by this point.... "WERE SHITE MAN COLBACKS USELESS!!" is at this stage verging on some sort of weird virtue signalling.....you can pick out a poor player? Well good for you, genius...

 

We know the squad is mostly mediocre, we know Rafa is safety first,patient and at times attritional . I fuckin love him for it me like

[Howay 12495]

IMO......

Gamez is a better left fullback than Anita.

Hayden should have started instead of Colback.

Atsu should have started instead of Gouffran.

Mbemba is better than mistake making Lascells.

Diame is like a yo-yo.

How many times have you seen Gamez play? I've seen him once I think and saw nowt to say he was outstanding. Anita helped set up the winner today, I don't like Anita but today isn't a day you can moan about the bloke.

You'd play a bloke returning from a month out with a hamstring injury who had re-injured it after coming back too quickly last time? Fair enough but I'd have just sat him for another week and gave him a sub appearance (like Benitez did).

I'd agree on Gouffran but again it's not exactly cost us today and Rafa seems to like to hold Atsu's pace in reserve for late on.

Mbemba looked far from capable when he did play early on in the season, I'm not much of a fan of Lascelles but it seems Rafa has been trying to build him up it probably hasn't worked and we'll probably need a new CB in the summer but we're still top of the league.

Again like I said Diame and Perez are very much a 50/50 decision for me, both haven't performed well in that position so I'm not sure who you'd play over him.

We're top man Noelie, we're going up by the looks of it, Rafa has done a brilliant job with a squad of largely average players.

[Howay 12495]

People have difficulty factoring in the fact that we're owned by Mike fuckin Ashley before they knee jerk all over the Internet. Regardless of our very decent season the current squad has been financed by an owner who's got us relegated twice in 7 seasons. He's the really fuckin useless one, tbh almost all other comment is rendered pretty fuckin pointless by this point.... "WERE SHITE MAN COLBACKS USELESS!!" is at this stage verging on some sort of weird virtue signalling.....you can pick out a poor player? Well good for you, genius...

 

We know the squad is mostly mediocre, we know Rafa is safety first,patient and at times attritional . I fuckin love him for it me like

Good post, aye I think the fact its Rafa Benitez has led many to balloon expectations to ridiculous levels. I know I was full of piss and vinegar at the start of the season saying we'd walk the league but this is essentially what I meant by that, I wasn't expecting us to go out 3-0 and 4-0 winners every week like some fans seem to be expecting, you often end up playing to the level of opposition and despite most of their long held Premier League status most of our team are cloggers as you've pointed out. 

Strawb is spot on when he talks about how this is (largely) the same squad that was a disaster under McClaren and Pardew, except we actually lost a few of the creative players when in a position that our ability to draw talent in was hampered by being in this league. As you say the problem for seeing players like Colback playing every week isn't Rafa's fault, this is all he has, it's down to Ashley who has had the team avoiding investing when we really needed too. 

As you say it's pointless yelling about Colback and Anita starting (I've been guilty of this btw) when there's not really another option, in two weeks time when Hayden should really be back up to speed people can have a bit whinge if Raymond is still taking the field of course imo, even then though it's not like Hayden has really stood out as being miles better he just tends to not fuck up as much as Colback.

 

Spot on about Rafa, it's been fucking years we've wanted a manager that can properly manage these tight games and now we've got one people are pissing and moaning that we aren't all over the opposition . He's doing a brilliant job imo, it's funny how he gets flak from some quarters but those same people talk about Brighton and Huddersfield in such a positive manner. He's really been trying to drill and get the squad ready for next season this season, the fact that he has done that while comfortably guiding us to promotion is class, our manner of play will work when sides come at us more next season.

[The Fish 9103]

2-1 job done. 

 

Newcastle laboured to a win.

Brighton laboured to a win as well

Huddersfield lost at home to a relegation side.

 

So, what I'm taking away from today's result is; Gayle looks like he's getting back into the swing of things, Shelvey too, Ritchie is having a decent season, we could have done with some signings in January to address areas of weakness. We've extended our lead on the dreaded Play Off spots and we've maintained the gap between ourselves and 2nd.

 

Gamez might have been better at rightback than Anita (who had a decent game by the way), but he hasn't been thus far, so why would we rely on that? 

 

It seems that whatever the result, some people just enjoy a moan?

[adios 717]

It's worth remembering that the team that went down were no better than Villa and worse set up than Norwich.

 

Granted, Rafa had decent money (by Championship standards) to invest, but he's done a great job.

 

As @@Howay says, people seem to expect it to be 3/4-0 every week playing like Barcelona.

[Howay 12495]

It's worth remembering that the team that went down were no better than Villa and worse set up than Norwich.

 

Granted, Rafa had decent money (by Championship standards) to invest, but he's done a great job.

 

As @@Howay says, people seem to expect it to be 3/4-0 every week playing like Barcelona.

He did spend, as many constantly point out as evidence we should be breezing the league but as I once mentioned it's easy to forget the players we lost to get that money (which we didn't spend anywhere near all of) we all disliked Sissoko but I'm more meaning Wijnaldum, he looks very good at Liverpool under a proper manager and we have struggled massively for a player in that hole behind the striker, so aye we spent money but I think we'd look far more capable with him in the side than having a couple of the players we bought (not saying you're holding that over Rafa btw adios just always like to note this whenever the money thing is brought up).

It's also always worth mentioning that neither Norwich nor Aston Villa were reserved in their spending and they're both way off the pace.

 

Aye as you say it's a daft expectation, especially when you look at the point Strawb makes about the squad. Agree completely that Rafa is doing a mint job, the league is a grind and we've been very successful grinding out enough wins to be top, we've been dominant in the vast majority of the games and have even showed some flair at times but we're at the end of a long season now and it's just important to get points on the board, we're not suddenly going to be seeing stellar attacking moves and Cruyff turns from Dummett, Colback, Gouff, etc. Job done this weekend, another slip from Huddersfield gets us closer to what we need, the aim was only ever promotion it didn't matter if we looked brilliant doing it.

[Leon 13]

I wish they'd stop trying shots from outside the box or random angles in an attempt to win goal of the month and just pass to the players clearly in a better position.

[The Fish 9103]

Last time we went down we were a Premier League side because enough of our top flight players stayed to fix things (Colo, Taylor, Enrique, Jonas, Butt, Nolan), enough of our squad players were good enough at this level to be amongst the best in their position so we didn't need to replace them (Carroll, Ameobi, Lovenkrands, Taylor, Harper).

 

People seem to think we're as strong. We're fundamentally not. We're a Championship side on the whole, a good one and one likely to be back in the 17/18 Premier League. But we're so obviously weaker it's bonkers that people are expecting us to win comfortably every game. 

 

Last time it didn't matter if teams set up to defend for 90 minutes because the 2 Argentinian internationals could either cause rightbacks to have nightmares or put every Championship striker in his pocket. I mean, could you imagine the damage Benitez could have done with that squad?

 

But he's limited because of the personnel, I'm sure he'd love to have players of their caliber now, but no, instead of Danny Simpson and Jose Enrique at fullback, he's got Paul Dummett and Deandre Yedlin. He'd love to have Jonas Gutierrez, but he's got fucking Gouffran. Kevin Nolan? Nope, Diame and Perez will have to do. He's winning this league with a team he built in order to win the league. We've won more often, are further ahead of 2nd than we were then, and have key players coming back for the final push.

 

I just don't understand the pessimism.

[adios 717]

He did spend, as many constantly point out as evidence we should be breezing the league but as I once mentioned it's easy to forget the players we lost to get that money (which we didn't spend anywhere near all of) we all disliked Sissoko but I'm more meaning Wijnaldum, he looks very good at Liverpool under a proper manager and we have struggled massively for a player in that hole behind the striker, so aye we spent money but I think we'd look far more capable with him in the side than having a couple of the players we bought (not saying you're holding that over Rafa btw adios just always like to note this whenever the money thing is brought up).

It's also always worth mentioning that neither Norwich nor Aston Villa were reserved in their spending and they're both way off the pace.

 

Aye as you say it's a daft expectation, especially when you look at the point Strawb makes about the squad. Agree completely that Rafa is doing a mint job, the league is a grind and we've been very successful grinding out enough wins to be top, we've been dominant in the vast majority of the games and have even showed some flair at times but we're at the end of a long season now and it's just important to get points on the board, we're not suddenly going to be seeing stellar attacking moves and Cruyff turns from Dummett, Colback, Gouff, etc. Job done this weekend, another slip from Huddersfield gets us closer to what we need, the aim was only ever promotion it didn't matter if we looked brilliant doing it.

Aye, plenty of time for pissing and moaning next season.  With Nigel Pearson managing and Lee Charnley coaching.

[Howay 12495]

Aye, plenty of time for pissing and moaning next season.  With Nigel Pearson managing and Lee Charnley coaching.

Exactly. That is Charnleys natural progression tbf.

[adios 717]

Last time we went down we were a Premier League side because enough of our top flight players stayed to fix things (Colo, Taylor, Enrique, Jonas, Butt, Nolan), enough of our squad players were good enough at this level to be amongst the best in their position so we didn't need to replace them (Carroll, Ameobi, Lovenkrands, Taylor, Harper).

 

People seem to think we're as strong. We're fundamentally not. We're a Championship side on the whole, a good one and one likely to be back in the 17/18 Premier League. But we're so obviously weaker it's bonkers that people are expecting us to win comfortably every game. 

 

Last time it didn't matter if teams set up to defend for 90 minutes because the 2 Argentinian internationals could either cause rightbacks to have nightmares or put every Championship striker in his pocket. I mean, could you imagine the damage Benitez could have done with that squad?

 

But he's limited because of the personnel, I'm sure he'd love to have players of their caliber now, but no, instead of Danny Simpson and Jose Enrique at fullback, he's got Paul Dummett and Deandre Yedlin. He'd love to have Jonas Gutierrez, but he's got fucking Gouffran. Kevin Nolan? Nope, Diame and Perez will have to do. He's winning this league with a team he built in order to win the league. We've won more often, are further ahead of 2nd than we were then, and have key players coming back for the final push.

 

I just don't understand the pessimism.

Agree with 95% of that (would have Yedlin over Simpson).

 

I can understand the pessimism though.  It's bred into us at this point.  What if Wigan and Huddersfield won today?  What if Rafa is still selecting the triumvirate of evil next season?  What if Ashley fucks Rafa over in the summer?   All of these things are far too likely through black & white tinted shades.

[adios 717]

No one could account for neither Perez nor Diamé producing nothing this season.  Effectively leaving Rafa without a #10 for the whole season.  If either of them had performed to the expected level, it would have been a lot more comfortable/enjoyable to watch.

[Happy Face 29]

NUFC to Score

0 - adios

1 - Holden McGroin, Kevin Carr's Gloves, Dr Gloom, Happy Face

2 - The Fish, rogerbarton, acrossthepond, Kitman, tooner, barnabox, Graing, OTF, LooneyToony, ohhh_yeah

3 - wykikitoon, Rayvin, Andrew, strawb, Howay, David Kelly, scoobos, MiddleAgeCool, Ant, Park Life

4+ - TheGingerQuiff, StoneColdStephenIreland, Tom, Anorthernsoul, ewerk, Dougle

 

NUFC to Concede

0 - wykikitoon, Rayvin, rogerbarton, Kevin Carr's Gloves, Dr Gloom, Andrew, strawb, Howay, David Kelly, StoneColdStephenIreland, scoobos, tooner, Tom, Graing, Anorthernsoul, Happy Face, LooneyToony, ewerk

1 - The Fish, Holden McGroin, acrossthepond, Kitman, TheGingerQuiff, barnabox, MiddleAgeCool, Ant, OTF, Dougle, ohhh_yeah

2 - Park Life

3 - 

4+ - adios

[Howay 12495]

No one could account for neither Perez nor Diamé producing nothing this season.  Effectively leaving Rafa without a #10 for the whole season.  If either of them had performed to the expected level, it would have been a lot more comfortable/enjoyable to watch.

Aye, that along with Jonjo missing a quarter of the season through bans and injuries. Our best striker also missed a good chunk of games due to getting hurt during a time the fixtures piled up. As Fish pointed out the squad had more PL level players last time but we also were very fortunate with injuries and suspensions really, especially when you consider that Andy Carroll is made of paper mache he managed 39 games for us in the Championship.

[adios 717]

No one could account for neither Perez nor Diamé producing anything this season.  Effectively leaving Rafa without a #10 for the whole season.  If either of them had performed to the expected level, it would have been a lot more comfortable/enjoyable to watch.

Idiot.

[The Fish 9103]

Agree with 95% of that (would have Yedlin over Simpson).

 

I can understand the pessimism though.  It's bred into us at this point.  What if Wigan and Huddersfield won today?  What if Rafa is still selecting the triumvirate of evil next season?  What if Ashley fucks Rafa over in the summer?   All of these things are far too likely through black & white tinted shades.

 

I mean, they're possibilities, but not as likely as it's made out. Hayden is picked ahead of Colback when fit, Yedlin usually ahead of Anita, so I'd expect Rafa to either rely on the better player he's got or look to strengthen in the Summer. Ashley failing to provide the funds is a concern, but he opened his cheque book last summer, and the summer before, he even opened it in January (which he seems loath to do) when McClaren was taking us down, so I'm confident Benitez will be backed before next season. It might not be £90m, but enough to get to safety?

 

Newcastle are top of their league, with a top manager and likeable players, Sunderland are bottom of theirs and the fans are miserable, and of course Sissoko is an unmitigated disaster at Spurs. Football life is good, mate. Enjoy it

 

#Cans

[adios 717]

I am enjoying it, I'm just empathising with the bed-wetters.

 

It's hard to come through the absolute shitshow of the last decade or so without a tainted view of reality.

 

Not even getting into what @@Noelie (and others) have had to endure.

[adios 717]

Can't tell from this distance if those are cans of worms or cans of Pimms.

[Dr Gloom 19990]

3 points, but apparently another uninspiring performance if you go by the commentators.

Said I wouldn't be surprised if Anita, Gouffran, and Colback were in the starting lineup, and so they were. I should have added Diame as well.

Say what you will, but my confidence in Benitez is waning when he, in my opinion, does not put the best team out there.

 

Top of the league at the business end of the season.

 

No confidence in the manager.

[TheGingerQuiff 2412]

You could select better players than those being scapegoated every week and it could throw the team out of balance and make us lose more. Our fans are stupid

[ewerk 26727]

Top of the league at the business end of the season.

 

No confidence in the manager.

 

Deluded mag.

[LooneyToony 41]

You could select better players than those being scapegoated every week and it could throw the team out of balance and make us lose more. Our fans are stupid

Eh there's no need for that.  We are just fans.  Fans that care perhaps a little too much. If management cared as much as us maybe we wouldn't find ourselves in this mess every few years.

[ewerk 26727]

What mess are we in?

[Noelie 103]

Neebugger seems te knaa why I'm so pessimistic and critical so let me explain.............

Aye we're top of the league, aye most likely will get promotion in 1st or 2nd place, but........

We are labouring to win games, we are making hard work of it, we are hardly ever playing good football, there are too many nail-biting games, games we should win easily we don't, we seem to struggle the most against the poorest teams like today for instance.

As for Rafa, I have to question his use of players, he brought in players like Gamez, Lazar, Hanly, Yedlin, Atsu, etc etc but few of them have seen any considerable amount of playing time yet he must have thought they were of high value. Lazar is hardly ever even on the bench. He insists on playing Anita, Gouffran, Colback, Dummett, Diame, who most of us seem to think are sub-standard in what we expect from them.

I fully expect to get some flak for this, but take your best shots, I'm armoured, indestructible, and too old to be harmed by sticks and stones.