Quite simply we were outplayed at Wigan and deserved to lose heavily. I have no complaints, certainly with regard to Wigan anyway. Hats off to them.
However what I can complain about is the sheer lack of anything from our players. They’ve looked unbeatable in recent weeks, but today was a whole different story. It looked as though they’d all been out on the drink last night and had forgot who each other was. There was absolutely nothing today to give them credit for.
Do I feel bad about being so harsh on the players who have got us to Europe? Not one bit. They were awful and deserve the bulk of the flack for this defeat. People will cry tactics in an attempt to sound knowledgeable, but the fact is that the best tactics in the world would have been undone by the incompetence of our own players to today.
Two goals from Victor Moses gave Wigan an early lead before further strikes from Shaun Maloney and Franco Di Santo left the home side 4-0 up at half-time. It was game over then although I will give the players at least some credit for trying in the second half, even though that is the minimum I expect!
So what now? Chelsea away where I would hope we put on a better show than we did today. We’ve had a stunning season and this result shouldn’t detract from that, but if plaudits are going to be dished out and received by players and manager then they should also be prepared for criticism when it is deserved. And today it is deserved!
It’s more than likely going to be the end of our Champions League dream, even though I never thought we’d make it anyway. Still stranger things have happened and there is still a lot of football to be played so you never know.
Based on today though I wouldn’t get any hopes up!
Wigan: Ali Al Habsi, Antolin Alcaraz, Emmerson Boyce, Gary Caldwell, Maynor Figueroa, Shaun Maloney, James McCarthy, James McArthur, Victor Moses, Jean Beausejour, Franco Di Santo
Subs: Mike Pollitt, Albert Crusat, Jordi Gomez, Connor Sammon, David Jones, Hugo Rodallega, Mohamed Diame
Newcastle: Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Davide Santon, Cheik Tiote, Jonas Gutierrez, Yohan Cabaye, Hatem Ben Arfa, Papiss Cisse, Demba Ba
Subs: Rob Elliot, James Perch, Shane Ferguson, Ryan Taylor, Dan Gosling, Shola Ameobi, Leon Best
Troy I agree lad we were ***** but the ” real fans ” don’t see that 😆
Big Dave(Quote)
@Darren
People like you get right on my tits! But I’m sure I get on yours.
My tits are probably bigger than yours so that probably makes me the winner!
Now shad ap and jog on!
Troy Stavers(Quote)
@Big Dave
Darren is entitled to his opinion and fair do’s but i hate to hear that **** attitude.
I’m sure theres plenty in his camp likewise ours.
It personally grates on me though!
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Darren Smith @ 73
Don’t know about a “reality check” but mate – we are going to finish at least sixth (or as the media school kids who pervade the telly and radio these days would say, sick-th) – so I’m happy whatever happens, we just didn’t think we’d do this. The lads can’t win every game – everybody has off days.
If we thump Chelski – you’ll all be happy again 😀
UTD111(Quote)
Troy yeah it grates me too the same way that even when a player is **** and we win you can’t seem to mention it or you get the usual old **** ” stop complaining sure we won ”
But Darren for me takes the award because he had to tell us he was a true fan 😯 so we should all fall into line behind him 😆 😆
thats me outta here catch you’s tomorrow. oh and Troy your lass said your in the wheelie bin tonight 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
Watched the match again on MOTD. Really painful. Still, how anyone can blame it on one or two players is beyond me.
Anyway onwards and upwards….lets thrash Chelsea
Newkie(Quote)
you have to accept its not our day when Franco Di Santo of all people fires in a screamer from 25 yards…
The lads were definitely rattled and totally out of their depths, all because of this CL talk
Its been a good season and there are 3 games where we may yet not score a point, but if they show better effort ill be happy.
Pardew and the lads deserve nothing but praise
Prashanth(Quote)
too many square pegs for me,total lack of effort from everyone, get demba ba back in the middle and lets play off him. as for players in their natural positions,take a good look at yourself and ask if you could of done more
bazza(Quote)
Bazza-Surely demba was our only out of place player? And even he has played on the left in a 4-3-3 at both West Ham and Hoffenheim I believe….well until we changed formation for that odd twenty minutes.
Newkie(Quote)
bollocks
Rodzilla(Quote)
Pith flapth
Thandy Thaw(Quote)
Some news of Curtis Good in the papers today:
Melbourne Heart defender Curtis Good is poised to land a contract with English Premier League club Newcastle United. The Magpies are expected to launch a bid for Good after the young defender impressed in a 10-day trial.
Newcastle has told the A-League club via email that the teenager had performed well, Melbourne’s Herald-Sun reported. Good, 19, was outstanding in his debut A-League season where he made 25 appearances and Heart’s resolve to keep him will be tested when the Magpies make a bid. Good’s trial was extended and he spent the last few days training with the senior side, under the guidance of manager Alan Pardew.
Newcastle’s offer is likely to be a senior contract. “Newcastle formally wrote to us and they were extremely positive about Curtis’s time there and him as a person and that reflects well on the club and the A-League,” Didulica reportedly said.
brisvegas(Quote)
did demba play? i didnt notice (sense the tone). after the percy arms’ (walbottle) telly broke 10 minutes in i had to walk up to blucher social ‘clerrrb’ to watch the rest. got there to see us 2-0 down. ****.
it is not the fault of the players, pardew or mike ashley that we’ve lost…. it was mine!
ive seen every minute of every match this season and this we get tonked in the one that i miss some of? my superstitious side tells me its obviously my fault.
however my unsuperstitious side tells me its the players fault – a bit of pardews tactics bit 90% of it was the players.
if im going to single anyone out it has to be tiote – he had a shocker! i think it was the 3rd goal that he let di santo take a touch before he shot. eh? tiote never does that – he’s normally in to them straight away!
the 2nd goal was a bit unlucky, colo saved the cross but the ball bounced to one of their players.
i think we played 10 in midfield…. when we were attacking we had noone in the box and when we were defending we had noone back.
daves right – we dont have enough still without saylor. i called this first with my ‘is colo a leader of men’ article. as usual dave just copies my opinion 😉
darren – give y’sel a shake!
enough complaining… hopefully the players learn from this. 😉
Nobby(Quote)
*we dont have enough steel (**** predictive text)
Nobby(Quote)
‘lack of effort’ – bullcrap
I’d also say that blaming our formation is a red herring too. I’ve no problem with Pardew switching between 433 and 532 – he had to try to do something to change the pattern of the game. A pattern which was deeply concerning for NUFC
the problem was mental, the one thing Pardew got right yesterday was in his post-match interview – the players showed a lack of ‘intensity’. While individual players must take responsibility for this, mental preparation is ultimately part of the managers remit
It seems the previous week’s succession of over-the-top fawning praise-laden articles in the national media made all concerned a touch complacent – players, manager, maybe fans too
At least in the 2nd half, we looked like we’d remembered what it takes to compete in the Prem – Benny in particular looking sharp – and hopefully we can take this forward to Weds nite
M(Quote)
Bad day at the office, it happens and when it happens at NUFC it is Baaaaad. I was hoping for a win yesterday as we all were but I said a couple of weeks ago this game worried me more than the others we have left. Poor performance, terrible result, dust themselves down and come out fighting, get a result at Chelski….happy days
richietoon(Quote)
Well you can take from my earlier comment what you want, people want to see argumentative and cocky then that is what they’ll see.
All I was really meaning is that we lose one game and its all doom and gloom, we still did great this season and I can safely say that was the first ‘bad’ performance I’ve seen all season, the players should be cut a little slack IMO. As for the true fan part, that wasn’t a dig at anyone, some parts of my comment like the ‘can’t lose something you never had’ may have made me sound like I’m not a fan, all I was doing was making sure you guys knew I was. But hey, jump down the throat of someone who has a different opinion to you’s, and actually wants to voice it! Maybe I’ll just agree with you all next time, sounds like it could be easier.
Darren Smith(Quote)
We strutted onto the park with a certain arrogance, and expected Wigan to give us the respect a top 4 team deserves.
They certainly gave us what we deserved. A lesson on commitment, aggression, determination, grit, hard work, but most of all desire.
They were like a pack of dogs at times, snapping at our heels. We didn’t expect that and showed no respect to them.
They spanked our arses and hopefully gave us the the reality check to finish off the season strongly.
Agree with Richie, that was our hardest match of the run in and its out of the way now.
I think we will perform alot better in the final 3.
HTL
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
NO Darren, that wasn’t the 1st bad performance.
Spuds and Fulham were also bad performances.
We played pretty bad against QPR away, just they weren’t good enough to score against us.
There have been others too.
But we have also played very well sometimes.
No one has ever said on this blog its all doom and gloom. But we are only analysing and discussing the performance after the match. Like we always do. win, lose or draw.
We always give credit when its due, and hi-lite failings also.
Its generally well balanced on here.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Darren ….I wouldn’t take owt personal on here, I think peoples point is that it’s a football blog, if the players perform bad, they’ll get criticised on here, when they play well they’ll get the praise you can’t have one without the other. I doubt you’ll find anyone who isn’t happy with the way the season’s gone but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a moan(within reason) if somethings wrong. I bet at halftime Pards didn’t say never mind lads you were great before this game, I suspect he tore them a new one 😉
Oh and welcome to the blog, don’t think I’ve seen you on here before. 😀
richietoon(Quote)
we welcome REAL fans also 😆
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
That is fair enough, I am not dissing the site at all as you guys do a great job…I am merely offering a voice of support for the players as they have given us such an incredible season and I feel like they deserve a bit more patience…but having said that, as mentioned you can’t just blog on the good stuff. I was disappointed watching the game too, I just felt a huge negativity in the post along with comments and feel like we should remember that we are in fact punching way above our weight considering the pre-season expectations. I know we should be beating teams like Wigan and the lads were outplayed, but you guys are talking as though we are proper top four contenders season in season out which we’re not, not yet anyway. Either way, just another opinion like you all have them too. Keep up the good work. 🙂
Darren Smith(Quote)
lol, I am new to the blog in terms of commenting but I have always read your posts. I’m never going to live that ‘real fan’ part down, am I?! Not meant the way it came across. 😉
Darren Smith(Quote)
No worries fella, your opinions are actually welcome.
Just give more of them and we will see where you are coming from.
Were you at the match yesterday like ❓
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
P.S. Don’t get me wrong, I know it sounds like I’m happy losing 4-0, of course I’m not…but despite the loss and performance I am still really happy with the lads for what they’ve done this season. It is a real shame to throw away a game in that fashion when we have the opponents coming up that we do and if we were mid-table or lower I’d be fuming, but just still in shock at how close we are to that 4th spot.
Darren Smith(Quote)
@Beardsleys Boots, no I wasn’t there, I actually watched the game online from the comfort of my Toon Army room as I call it. 🙂
Darren Smith(Quote)
Darren…It’s an emotional game so fans tend to go to extremes when watching it, play well and we’re the best team ever, play badly and the world is about to end. Being a top 4 team(at the moment) and going to a team fighting relegation and getting humped was unexpected, just as many of the games we have won have been unexpected, it’s the unpredictability that makes football so great. If you take the “over the top” emotional reaction out of it you’d lose a bit of why I love it so much……that said sometimes the over reaction gets on my tits too
richietoon(Quote)
well we have a ‘game on’ thread where we discuss the match as it is taking place. You are welcome to join in on that too if you want.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
@RichieToon, Yeah that is true, passion is what makes football so great…and most of you voiced your opinion just after the game, while I had time to think and analyse the bigger picture so to speak, my comments may not have been so ‘fluffy’ and positive if I’d commented 5 hours earlier. 🙂
@Beardsleys Boots, I’ll have to drop by the forum while we play Chelsea, then you’ll get to hear my true unsensored thoughts. 🙂
Darren Smith(Quote)
Good lad. you know it makes sense 😉
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Darren…I don’t think I overreacted in any of my comments, it was those other idiots 😉 😆
richietoon(Quote)
you must mean me Richie 😆
Its just because I know I could do a much better job than Pardew 😯 😆
errr….. or maybe Not 😉
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
BB….if the cap fits 😆
richietoon(Quote)