City slickers! Newcastle 1-3 Manchester City

City too hot to handle
City too hot to handle
A much improved performance from Newcastle United wasn’t enough to avoid defeat against the reigning Premier League champions as a Yaya Toure inspired Manchester City left St James’ Park with all three points after an entertaining encounter between the two sides.

It was a strange game to call. As a United fan I feel that we did enough on the day to get something out of the game. We pushed Mancini’s millionaires all the way and gave a good account of ourselves in front of the watching world. On the other hand I would guess City fans may feel that the game shouldn’t have been as close as it was after some profligate finishing from some fantastic first-half chances that really should have seen the home side dead and buried without any way back in to the match.

The home side started brightly and created the first chance of the match in just the second minute as Papiss Cisse prodded a right-wing cross towards goal goal forcing Joe Hart into a smart save low to his right. Mike Williamson then created another for Demba Ba who very nearly got on the end of his guided header only to be once again denied by Hart.

It’s said that if you want to take points against the top teams then you need to score when you’re on top. We didn’t and in the 10th minute we paid the price as Yaya Toure threaded a superb pass around Cheik Tiote and in behind Davide Santon for Samir Nasri who rather unselfishly squared the ball to Sergio Aguero leaving the Argentinian with the simplest task of passing the ball into an unguarded Gallowgate net.

Any early ascendency assumed by the hosts soon evaporated as City turned on the style in an attempt to extend the lead. Samir Nasri was chief tormentor as he put Santon to the sword and he very nearly extended the lead when he struck the post only for the rebound to fall to Sergio Aguero who saw Mike Williamson stick a leg out to clear his shot off the line. Carlos Tevez went close with a shot from outside the area which took a deflection wide of goal as City continued to threaten.

Newcastle couldn’t really get hold of the game and the best they could really muster was a long range effort from Papiss Cisse which flew harmlessly over Joe Hart’s crossbar.

At 1-0 at half-time you’re never out of a game, but the sucker punch came just six minutes before half-time after United had survived many a scare. David Silva drifted a corner in for Javi Garcia who guided his header towards the far post. Davide Santon looked to be on hand to clear the ball of the line, but he spooned his clearance and saw the ball ricochet into the back of the net off his standing leg. Many people will criticise Santon but it was just bad luck. The ball could just as easily have rolled off the outside of his leg and wide of the goal and I’d be tempted to look at those who were supposed to be marking Garcia, the main offender being Fabricio Coloccini who allowed Garcia to get ahead of him virtually unopposed.

Half-time: Newcastle 0-2 Manchester City

I got the sense it might be game over for United at 2-0 but they soon proved me wrong as they came out in the second half all guns blazing. Undoubtedly City sat back a bit, but we still caused problems and had the majority of the play as we tried to engineer a way back into the game.

Six minutes after the interval the hosts got the reward their play deserved as City tried to clear a corner which Fabricio Coloccini chased down only to return the ball into the box first time for Demba Ba who had the simple task of nodding the ball past Joe Hart who was caught off his line. 1-2 and game on!

Papiss Cisse could have brought us back on level terms just minutes later but he missed the target when he should have done better before Cheik Tiote and Vurnon Anita tried their luck and Ba shaved a post.

However with time running out City managed to exert some pressure which proved to kill the game off. United were unable to clear the ball and City danced around outside the area. Eventually the ball fell to Yaya Toure inside the penalty and he slotted the ball home through a series of despairing dives from United defenders and through the legs of Tim Krul. With just 12 minutes to play at that point it was game over.

United still didn’t give in and showed some of the fighting spirit witnessed last season with Shola Ameobi heading towards goal for Joe Hart to save comfortably, but whilst we pushed forward we were leaving ourselves exposed at the back and fortunately Sergio Aguero was unable to capitalise on our lack of defensive numbers.

Full-time: Newcastle 1-3 Manchester City

There is no shame in losing to Manchester City and we gave a good account of ourselves, but a good performance is little reward when it’s points we are so desperately in need of.

The attention will turn towards a relegation six-pointer with QPR next Saturday which won’t be an easy game. We upped our game today and need to do the same next weekend if we are to get three points from a team that have just broken their winless streak for the season.

Howay the lads!

Newcastle: Tim Krul; Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Davide Santon; James Perch, Cheik Tiote, Vurnon Anita, Papiss Cisse, Demba Ba, Jonas Gutierrez

Subs: Rob Elliot, James Tavernier, Shane Ferguson, Gael Bigirimana, Sylvain Marveaux, Sammy Ameobi, Shola Ameobi

Manchester City: Joe Hart, Pablo Zabaleta, Matija Nastasic, Kolo Toure, Gael Clichy, David Silva, Javi Garcia, Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri, Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez

Subs: Costel Pantilimon, Aleksander Kolarov, Joleon Lescott, Scott Sinclair, Karim Rekik, Abdul Razak, Edin Dzeko

Attendance: 49,579

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

65 thoughts on “City slickers! Newcastle 1-3 Manchester City

  1. At times, especially in the first half, City were almost unplayable, their passing and interaction sublime. If they ever start to play consistently well, as they did at the beginning and then during the final knockings of last season, ManU will be far from shoe ins for the title despite their 6 point lead.

    As you say Toonsy, no disgrace in losing to a team who can lift their game to this level. The QPR game comes just as the hoops appear to have responded to Appy Arry’s magic wand, more of the same stuff on show in the City match is needed from NUFC or the bottom three will be beckoning. Too good to go dawn? – It hink so but I’ve been around long enough to have seen a lot of teams thus described take the fall.

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  2. As I said, I was at work and missed the game yesterday afternoon, but watched MOTD last night. It’s obviously well edited but from the highlights it looked as though we had some decent spells and had a couple of other scoring opportunities, and Bas goal was kinda from a corner 😕
    The difference again seemed to be Yaya and there attacking forwards like Nasri and Aguero.
    There first was just a good pass from Yaya and our defence switching off. Second, well I’m not sure what Santon was swinging for on the line but it wasn’t the ball!. Third, really poor defending!. It was obviously the ball was going to Zab down the line and Simo was pointing that out, but he didn’t chase it down when it went like.
    Big Al also pointed out how non existent the Ba and Cisse partnership was in the first half. They were miles apart and completely isolated most of the time.
    Toonsys right, there’s no shame in defeat to City, and we played well at times. But there’s still along way to go before I’d be truly confident of being able to comfortably beat teams that will likely be in the relegation battle.

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  3. PAPERTALK: The Mirror have us signing Debuchy, Douglas and Sissoko in Jan.
    Add Remy to that list and I’d be one happy Mag 😀
    Papers also saying that Ba demands are putting other clubs off him, with other cheaper, fitter options available. Ive said it before and believe it, Bas greed will be his downfall and ultimately keep him at Newcastle.

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  4. Good review Toonsy and I would agree on most of what you say .In particular Santon shouldn’t really be blamed for not clearing off the line ,it was just bad luck could of gone anywhere and he had Aguero pressurising him at the time if memory serves. Anyway I feel he’s been one of our more consistant players full of running and effort and he’s had no help from Jonas to speak of which is upsetting as Jonas was always one of my favs ,but he’s well off the boil now. Willo didn’t do too bad but collectivly the defence was shocking again with Colo often all at sea ,most out of character 😯 .Toures Pass was a beauty takeing out both Colo and Santon in one fell swoop and in truth it was a beatifully crafted move for that first goal.Such a shame as up untill then we’d given a pretty good account against the Champs, still that’s life as they say ,onwards and upwards hopefully . Next up QPR in newly confident winning mode ,great just what we need , We MUST win that game or our season is in freefall and it would make for a far happier Christmas all round. 😉

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  5. Sharpy @4 Debuchy, Douglas ,Sissoko 😯 Think the press guys been on the wacky backy at the xmas party 😉 They obviously don’t know our owner or MD that well 🙄 . They should be shot for printing fairy tales imo 👿 .

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  6. Kim – the goal line clearance thing does make me laugh a bit like. I mean Simpson doesn’t get credit for his, but if Santon misses one he shouldn’t be blamed?!. Surely it’s his job to clear that, otherwise why have him there. Which was a question I asked last night to be honest. Why have Santons height on the post when we had Simo and Anita on the field?, who were they marking?. If it was at an arkward height for him I’d accept that, but that was a standard goal line clearance which should have been dealt with – inexcusable for me like.

    Kim – as for the paper talk. It’s not inconceivable, but I’d agree highly unlikely. Have to wonder if they are just recycling the Debuchy and Douglas link. I do think that if Ashley wants to secure EPL survival he’s gonna have to invest in more than 1 or 2 players though, they have to see that like and Pardew has to ram that down their fat throats at every meeting!.

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  7. You say much improved, Toonsy, but I say our defending was as bad as ever! It doesn’t matter how well we play if we just can’t defend.

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  8. (THIS IS A GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING. THIS POSTER IS LIABLE TO DISAGREE WITH YOUR POINT OF VIEW. ONLY ENGAGE IF YOU AREN’T SENSITIVE AND DON’T TAKE HISSY FITS)

    Our defending is definitely poor and I’ve not seen any improvement.

    However, we looked dangerous at times going forward and the main thing is we created chances.

    I thought Fergie’s crosses were poor again but playing 4-3-3 has shown its our best formation with the players we have.

    I thought the Citeh fans were poor.

    The best laugh of the match was the singing corner in level 7 taking the **** out of a fat lass wearing pink who was provoking our fans.

    Fatty give us a song Fatty fatty give us a song!
    &
    Who’s the first lass in the pink? Who’s the fat lass in the pink.

    It’s awful really but she was sticking her fingers up and shouting abuse at us before the toon fans ridiculed her.

    😛 😛 😛

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  9. Sharpy ,if you read my post you’ll know I have always backed Simmo in the past ,but I always find many people don’t rate him just cause he don’t get forward a la Debuchy like. 😉 Still think it’s harsh to judge Santon like ,it’s just one of those things ,**** happens ,in truth the entire defence was shocking again yesterday. Sharpy I can’t see us getting 3 players in for one minute mate I really can’t.

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  10. We played some of our best football yesterday but I’m going to talk about man city for a second.
    With the skill they have in store I was surprised (especially in the first half) of the dirty cheating tactics they came with. Last season they beat us with beautiful football, this season they beat us with embarrassing cheating ways.
    Yaya Toure is a machine of a man and must of spent a total of 15 minutes rolling around in the floor after the tiny vurnon tackled him successfully on many occasion.

    The worst thing for me though was (and I’m still seething about it today) was Carlos Tevez’s disgusting display. I saw him elbow (blatantly and unquestionably) coloccini in the face to then go down himself holding his face! What a pathetic little girl.
    How anyone could be proud if their team yesterday after that unsportsmanship performance is beyond me.
    Tevez’s act was so blatant I was sure I’d see it on MOTD but… Nothing.
    ****.

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  11. We desperately need a left winger and I think we should do what we can to sign Remy. However, failing that, Anthony Pilkington would be the next best thing. He’s an awesome left wing striker/midfielder. Has pace, dribbling ability, a goal threat and most importantly, a great delivery into the box.

    At the end of this season he will only have one year left on his contract and we could probably get him for circa £5,000,000.

    Would be a great signing.

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  12. Kim – I wasn’t singling you out, it’s more this attitude that some people just won’t have our better players critisised. I happened to call Colo to question pre kick off yesterday which was jumped on coz he’s the best CB we’ve had in ages. A point that I never questioned, but seemingly because of this, it shouldn’t be said that he’s been poor so far this season – that apparantly is because of Willo (again, not saying you said this btw). But same seemingly goes for Santon coz he’s been one of our better players this season. The fact is the ball actually hits his standing leg before going in!. He’s on the post to clear that and he’s mistimed his clearance or took his eye off the ball – making it his mistake.
    I agree that our defence over the whole game was poor again and desperately needs improving. I also agree that Jonas doesn’t give Santon the level of defensive cover he gave last season.
    But if we are going to hold the likes of Willo and Tiote to account for their mistakes, then the same must be done for all players regardless.
    Santon is much improved and is having a good season, but if he’s on the line he has to shift it, especially if the ball is close enough to hit his standing leg.
    Re the signings – I agree. I’m not even deluded enough to dream anymore 🙁 hopeful but very doubtful.

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  13. Troy

    Fergie has been poor every time I have seen him lately. He has altered his game from being an explosive and direct winger, to a left midfielder that just waits for the ball and crosses into the box from wherever he receives it. I’m not sure if he has been ill advisedly told to do so, but I know when it started – it was after he put a couple of good deliveries into the box and set up a couple of goals. Pardew needs to tell him to return to how was before, when he’d take players on and destroy them with his pace.

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  14. @4, The Mirror. Really? By the way – All this Ba not being fit bollox – how many games has he missed for us ober the past 2 years? What is his goals per game ratio? He’s a good signing for anybody at £7.5m. If I were Llambastad I’d pull my finger out and get him signed up. Without his goals we are screwed.

    Strike partnership was non existent yeaterday as Ba was dropping back looking for the ball feom our non existent midfield. Selfish ****** trying go get involved in the game, how dare he. Meanwhile Cisse sat up front alone doing naff all, then missing pretty good chances. Why would that change if Ba left?

    Tiote got stuck in yeaterday and had a good game. Not heard many knockers mention that.

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  15. If no other team comes in for Ba due to his greedy wage demands and also his agents fee. will dekka the turd withdraw the offer NUFC have put to him already and offer him less?
    Its the sort of shallow underhand dodgy dealings we have come to expect from our MD. Wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.

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  16. Also, Coloccini was pathetic yesterday. He cost us the first goal and played a part in us conceding the third. Really not impressed with him this season.

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  17. In saying that I hear ‘arry waxface at qpr is sniffing around.
    He knows a good striker when he sees one, and money is no object down there. 👿

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  18. BB@18 aye mate they have been known to do it,we are all hoping for new faces in jan but what worrys me is the fans will expect them to hit the ground running and that is not going to happen in the PL but ime sure it would help lift the players 😉

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  19. Ba is the best striker we have had since Shearer. We need him esp for the rest of this season. I dunno what his wage demands are but hopefully we can come to an agreement with him. A loss to City isnt the end of the world but we do need to start picking up pints and fast. Qpr is a massive game. We need to sort out the defense and quick.

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  20. The Kid, we need more athleticism on the left hand side, thats for sure. I thought City targeted Jonas more than Santon yesterday, and for 30 minutes in the first half our left side were chasing shadows and reeling on the ropes.

    I think Jonas needs a spell on the bench to recover confidence and sharpness, and a natural left footer such as Marveaux or Ferguson should be deployed on the left hand side.

    At the same time there is nothing more certain than Jonas starting on the left side of midfield against QPR. A mistake, because the balance of the side becomes disturbed.

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  21. I missed MotD last night. Did they show Cisse’s howling miss ❓
    I think its a tad harsh to say Colo was “pathetic yesterday”. Yes he made some mistakes, but so did virtually everyone.

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  22. KID we all know arry loves to spend money and will pay silly wages to get what he wants just ask spurs and p/mouth :mrgreen:

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  23. I’ve always worried about the lack of goals in our team. The midfield contribute very little, and when Ba is not firing, or being sniffed out by good defenders, then we struggle. Coupled with the fact that our defenders have been poor this season, and Collo seems to be a bit off colour at the moment, then that makes things even more difficult.

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  24. Icedog…. QPR signing Ba may keep them up. Look what Ba’s goals achieved for us last season.

    Give him what he wants I say, strikers are a special case… his goals alone will keep us in the big league, and money in Cashley’s wallet…

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  25. Munich Mag

    I agree about Jonas. He constantly drifts inwards and doesn’t offer Santon anywhere the cover people think he does.

    I would love Pilkington at our club though. I’ve watched him a lot this season and he holds the ball so well for a pacey winger. really impressed with him and like I said, he only has one year left on his deal after this season.

    BB

    Pathetic by his own standards. He is normally 8 or 9/10 every game regardless of how the rest of the team are playing, but yesterday he was more like 5/10.

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  26. An extra £30k per week on top of what our board would ideally like to pay out ( bearing in mind they would pay him peanuts if they could), which guarantees goals and probably keeps us up this term – or lose him for next to nowt, have nobody banging ’em in ang get relegated. Tough choice? Think not. If you want quality, you pay for it. It’s not greed, it’s a player wanting a fair wage to reflect his contribution and ability.

    He was 6th top scorer in Prem last season and is curreny 3rd this term. If we want a goalscorer of that level then we pay him accordingly. People like Adebayor, Rooney and even Suarez are all below him but earn far more. This whole argument is bloody ridiculous.

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  27. MM aye mate jonas needs resting i think he has been comfort eating the weight hes put on and his legs seem to have gone,its no wonder colo is off colour it must be a nightmare playing in that defence must have the weight of the whole back four on his shoulders

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  28. I fear that having spent £9M + on signing Cisse, Pardew has been told from the board that he has to play him and make it work.
    Lambastad wont want to admit he signed a lemon.
    I think Ba’s Black and White days are numbered.
    I just hope that we replace him with someone else who can form a partnership with Cisse.

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  29. Shamrock – does that mean you don’t believe what the Mirror is reporting mate? 😀
    Regarding Ba, I’m not making it up mate, he does have a dodgy knee! 😐 . I agree it hasn’t stopped him playing and scoring regularly for us. But, if its going to cost a team £30m (in total) to sign him and he’s wanting £90k plus p/w, then he will have to pass a pretty complex medical I would have thought. If Stoke pulled out of taking him on a free contract because of his knee, I can’t see a club overlooking it if they are to pay £30m.

    Boots – I’d hope we would say to Ba, this is our best offer and it’s valid until the 1st Jan – if you don’t sign it by then it’s pulled and won’t be offered again. If he goes in Jan he goes, if he stays its on the contract he already has.

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  30. Sharpy – Can I point out to you that Stoke signed Owen and Woodgate on a free. I would not trust a word their medical team have to say. The stats since Ba signed speak dor themselves. This is a tough, physic league yet he has done 3 years on the bounce without a sniff of a problem.

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  31. Or just play Cisse in his normal position and let him score the goals.

    Anita was superb yesterday.

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  32. Sign Ba up and get rid of that clause, the increase in wages will be offset when Xisco leaves anyway so 5 months of an extra 30-40k are hardly going to cripple us. Unless the club is privy to some close future problem in regards to his knees, I really don’t see why we don’t do it. He’ll still keep scoring and at some point I imagine an arab or chinese club might fancy him, if he’s all about the money then he’ll **** off to them and we can get some decent money for him..

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  33. SHARPY@34 said the same myself and i do think its causing un-rest in the dressing room,and there has been a lot of talk that ba/cissie dont get on for not to be some truth in the storey imo,i know it should not matter on the pitch but at times ime sure it does

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  34. Evil, what is Cisse’s best position? I thought it was up front – where he has been pretty much all season…

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  35. Cisse has only been out wide a couple of times this season. In certain matche, as against Wigan, both Ba and Cisse have rotated, though with Ba primarily leading the line.

    This is so we can play the vaunted 4-3-3. Then people want Cisse to be up alongside Ba, that essentially makes it back to 4-4-2. I don’t think Cisse is great on the wing, Ba is better but also average, but for me the whole problem is Jonas. He’s no threat at all, and every club in the league knows it. Now Wolves are relegated, he’s not going to score against any of them. Get him out, put Benny on in his place. That isn’t anything extreme, it’s just common sense, come on Pards.

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  36. At the centre of a 3 pronged attack…as he was last season.

    Without long balls constantly wellied up to him.

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  37. Shamrock – don’t shoot the messenger mate 😉
    I don’t think it just based off Stokes medical findings, I thought it was a well known fact throughout football?!. Listen I agree with you mate, if that’s him with a dodgy knee, I wouldn’t mind a couple meself!!.
    What I would say is that I bet Stoke weren’t/aren’t paying Woodgate and Owen what Ba would have been wanting. Also, Woody only lasted 1 season with them and I bet Owen doesn’t see a 2nd season there either.

    Re Ba – I say offer him the same contract as Colo, no more no less!!. It’s an improvement on his current contract and he’s getting to play every game for us – up front – and he’s scoring!. If he leaves he may not get that. If he signs great, if he doesn’t then let’s see if anyone is prepared to pay £30m for him!.
    I don’t agree with paying him more than the £80k p/w, it doesn’t sit right with me, and what’s to say he decides he wants more next season?!.
    Strikers come and go and we always worry about how we will replace the goals – as we did when Big Al retired, but we always do.

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  38. Evil – I agree about Anita. He had a good game, apart from his indecision at freekicks and corners. Probably the NUFC man of the match.
    His confidence is improving and he looks the business now.
    Dont see how cabaye gets back in the team. Let alone any new signings we make in Jan (pffftt ❗ )

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  39. BB – Anita has shone ever since we have reverted back to more of a 4-3-3 formation…it’s no surprise that he is now playing well given that he came from an Ajax 3 man midfield (or that is what I’m lead to believe).

    I always thought he would be a defensive mid…but on his performances so far he definitely is not. And considering how poor Cabaye had been (except maybe the Sunderland & Liverpool games) until he was injured, I think you could be right.

    His work rate is fantastic and he has really started to grasp the pace of the PL, he’s upped his game for sure.

    Predict he will be a fan favorite in no time.

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  40. As a City supporter, you certainly put pressure on us early in the 2nd half but, it was all from simply “lumping” the ball into the box and trying to get on the end of it for knock downs etc, hardly fluent football.

    Don’t quite follow Pardews tactics up front, your strikers must need introducing to one another every day in training as, they don’t get together too often on the pitch!

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  41. Well Pardew did say on Monday we were going to give city a game. He said: there is no reason why we cannot win that game

    Wonder what he said after? To be fair it was a game we would have chalked off anyway. Not one we would expect to win so no negative marks for Pardew.

    We played with passion, spirit, soul but no direction or plan either. No forward movement from mid leaves isolated strikers working with scraps. People blame Ba because it is easy to blame him as he might leave. He appears uncommitted to NUFC and so becomes an easy target to blame.

    11 of our 19 goals scored by him alone and you cannot see his value to this campaign. Like letting him go will suddenly start Cisse scoring. Cisse is ****. A poacher with nothing else in his locker. On days he does not score and there will be days, do not think he will score in every game, we will carry him effectively playing with 10 men.

    Cannot blame Ba for wavering because under a direction-less manager who ran on the fuel of Hughton’s long term plan now finds himself exposed as the man without a plan.

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  42. Franky – to be honest, when we signed Anita I saw that as Pardew committing to the 4-3-3 formation and getting players in to strengthen the squad for that formation, as like you say, that’s where Anita played for Ajax.
    So I was abit strange and disappointing seeing him lost in the 4-4-2 formation. I hope we stick with 4-3-3 coz other than the defence we look better with it. Wouldn’t mind seeing a midfield 3 of Cabaye/Sissoko/Anita like. Think that would give us 3 midfielders who can tackle and pass the ball.
    I actually see Anita as a future captain if he keeps going the way he is.

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  43. WATCH MOTD HIGHLIGHTS AND IT SAYS IT ALL!!!!

    HOOF BALL!!! CONSTANTLY!!

    #PARDEWSHEADSGONE #PARDEWOUT #STOPBLEATINPARDS

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  44. IM HONEST ENOUGH TO SAY I WANT A NEW MANAGER!

    I SAID AT THE START OF SEASON ONE THING I WORRY ABOUT IS A TREND SET BY PARDEWS TEAM THAT THEY ARE ONE SEASON WONDERS.

    THEY ARE.

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  45. PLAYING JONAS EVERY WEEK, NO MARV, CISSE ON WING?

    if we have lost 6out of 7 why has he not switched Ba back on to the wing and tried cisse up front?

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  46. But ashley wont sack Pardew as any other manager would need £.

    Pardew was spineless in summer accepting no money then signing an 8 year contract

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  47. My understanding is that Ba wants at least a 4 year deal on £90k a week. That, coupled with the transfer fee and agent’s fee is where the £30m comes from. For me the only clubs who will take that chance are the ones with the money. That would rule out the citeh’s and Chelsea’s who probably can buy better but not QPR or the Chinese, Russian and Turkish clubs. Knowing our luck, if we gave him the improved deal he would get injured the day after he signed it.

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  48. The Kid? Really? **** sake. So we rushed him back then? Well played Pards, well played.

    Without him for QPR we’ll be reliant on hoofball and Ba bagging a scrappy chance, and somehow keeping a clean sheet for what, the second time this season?

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  49. Boots – 😆 😆 Maybe Shamrock is right coz it was the Sunday Mirror who had us signing Sissoko, along with Debuchy and Douglas.
    Won’t believe anything until its happened.

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  50. Man City were superb but I agree with Nobby that their performance was spoiled by dubious tactics like rolling around as if they had been poleaxed when they had been barely touched. Did anyone notice that the ref was reluctant to hand yellow cards to city players but was quick to award yellows to Newcastle players when they weren’t warranted. The crowd were very much aware of this. Colo’s fault at the moment, being captain, he is trying to do to much and really he shouldn’t go forward as much, but it is a fault that is admirable in many ways. It shows his commitment. The Kid said Cisse was naff. I didn’t think so. He showed good ball control and linked well with Anita. I would like to see Abeid or Amalfitano get 15 minutes rather than Shola, just to see how they play with first teamers round them. Pardew does seem reluctant to try something new. After all Anita didn’t look ready for the first team in his first game.

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  51. Groucho

    I don’t remember saying Cisse looked poor. In fact, I’m pretty sure I didn’t say that. I actually thought he played fairly well yesterday, both in and outside of the box. The only negative was he lacked composure in the final 3rd, which is undoubtedly because of his recent form.

    Man City were good, but I’ve seen them play much better as a team. Yesterday Silva & Yaya were on form and when they’re on form, City generally win.

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  52. Not sure I can agree with Groucho 60 or Nobby 12

    Tevez got an elbow in the jaw, Silva was taken out, necessarily. Nasri had his nads smashed and no foul given, it put him out of the game. Other than that yelows all went either for deliberate pro fouls or or topping up like K Toure. It’s easy to see all decisions going one way ehrn they usually don’t. Every time I get home convinced the ref was bent I watch the game on TV and usually find he wasn’t!!

    Alph

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  53. Cisse was not involved. He latched onto a couple of chances and duly wasted them. I want strikers that score, not put a couple if touches together but create/convert nowt. Maybe he is slightly improved lately but he’s nowhere as good as Ba, who should be our main focus.

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  54. Anyway my point was not that Cisse was aweful, but our midfield could not retain the ball – meaning Ba had to keep coming deep to get involved. Unfortunately that left Cisse exposed and ineffective and the two could not form a meaningful partnership… All thanks to Pardew’s hoofball.

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