A tale of two halves but a very familiar FA Cup story for us Newcastle fans, with us allowing Rochdale to force a replay after failing to turn up in the second 45.
Early dominance, 74% possession, some good football and a brilliant Miguel Almiron goal had us in cruise control early on, but our second half display was non existent and shambolic at times.
Rochdale took full advantage and have not only forced a replay at St James’ Park but will be wondering how they didn’t win it late on.
Bruce was forced into several changes with a dozen senior players ruled out. We saw Krafth and Hayden either side of Fernandez in a three-man defence, Atsu and Yedlin in wide areas as attacking wing-backs, a midfield duo of Sean and Matty Longstaff and Miguel Almiron in the no.10 role just behind Joelinton and Muto, with U-23 trio Thomas Allan, Lewis Cass and Elias Sorensen on the bench.
We started very positively and controlled the game from the outset. We’ve been guilty of not taking the cup seriously in recent years, but the most heartening thing about our first 45 was the committed, focused and professional performance we put in
OK, it’s Rochdale – a struggling League One side we should look MUCH better than – but we moved the ball quickly and precisely, were first to every loose ball and created chances. The one negative was our inability to finish some of the chances Atsu and Yedlin created (who ran riot in wide areas), with Joelinton and Muto guilty of missing a few they should’ve put away.
One player who was not wasteful in front of goal was Miguel Almiron, however.
After some brilliant work from Atsu, his touch and powerful finish was the highlight of a dominant first half:
Again, it’s Rochdale, but Atsu was outstanding. So good in fact that the home side decided to take off their right-back just 28 minutes in, with him beating Magloire for fun and regularly delivering good balls into the box when he did.
Joelinton was..well, very Joelinton – and little did we know he was going to get MUCH worse in the second half. A few nice bursts forward with the ball, but he snatched at too many of his chances. He enjoyed one nice turn, touch and hit which was well saved:
We lacked that killer touch to finish off smart moves in the first half, but it felt like we were well on our way to a rare comfortable win in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. How wrong was I.
The turning point was not only Aaron Wilbraham’s introduction – a physical player who we struggled to deal with – but mainly the loss of Miguel Almiron; a player who gave us that energy, creativity and spark between midfield and attack.
Muto – who was buzzing about alongside Joelinton up top – was forced off through injury. He struggled in parts, but his movement and running in behind pushed Rochdale back, making Bruce’s decision to bring on Ki in his place a baffling and costly mistake. We were then overcrowded in midfield but light on options in attack. It not only invited Rochdale onto us but seemed like a safe move to protect what we had – and it backfired.
Dubravka made a few smart saves to keep us ahead, but it wasn’t long before Rochdale drew level, with a 40-year-old Aaron Wilbraham showing a £40m Joelinton how to finish with 10 minutes remaining:
The goal came on the back of a loose Joelinton pass which pretty much sums up his afternoon. His lack of confidence, his age (23) and the pressure on him (number 9 shirt and £40m price tag) makes me want to defend him, but he needs to stop throwing his arms up in the air and start showing much more desire in and around the box. And that doesn’t even factor in the basic hold up play and finishing he’s failing to execute.
I hate when new signings are written off, but he’s making it difficult now.
Bruce’s subs didn’t help (they were forced yet contributed to our downfall), but the way our heads drops, the mistakes, the lack of intensity and defensive fragility against an ageing League One striker. It was unacceptable given how dominant we were in the first 45. We never recovered and were lucky to get a replay in the end.
At half-time this looked like it could be a positive day and confidence building win for Steve Bruce and this out of form Newcastle side, but missed chances, poor subs and a second half collapse has cost us.
Onto Wolves next weekend and the upcoming replay at St James’ Park before our home game with Chelsea on January 18th!
I never like to be disparaging towards anyone, never mind a Newcastle player, but I can’t hold my tongue any longer. I’m sorry, but Joelinton is not a striker at any professional level. He hasn’t got a shot, can’t head the ball, doesn’t get into goalscoring positions, gets beaten for pace and strength and can’t hold the ball up. We’ve waited a long time to spend decent money on a top quality striker, but spend £40m on a dud! We need another striker, or we’ll be the team that plummets and gets relegated. Rochdale are poor, defensively, but Joelinton was woeful, again!
David(Quote)
Joelinton, got to be the WORST forward in Newcastle’s history, how bad is he? wasn’t even at there level, who is getting paid to find these none league players for 40mil, he is not even good enough to get in to the under 21 team, just hopeless, just walks around giving the ball back to the other team:.
tom(Quote)
So, what do we have?
Bruce on one of his death spirals. I always want to give our Managers a chance but he has form. Just like Pards, Carver and McClaren did.
Another injury crisis on par with the one Ugly John faced when he got the job. I thought Rafa had fixed this part of the club. It must have something to do with Brucie’s training and selections.
Glorified accountant running the club.
A Director of Football who scouted for the U21s when not a single player made it to be a first team regular. He was appointed in 2017 to the senior team under Rafa who made all the decisions anyway. Were the Longstaff’s his? They live in North Shields so do they even count? And were they overhyped. Sean was or is still injured.
A 40 million flop. There has to be more to this story.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Is Joelinton Mike Ashley’s second Debenhams? When they went bust I think Sports Direct lost about 400 million which considering the relative size of SD and NUFC would make that equivalent to a Joelinton.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Yeah, I think I will call him Joe-Debenhams at least until he scores a bloody goal. So that might be the rest of the season then Eric!
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I was against the boycott for 2 reasons – it wouldn’t force Ashley to sell and they were protesting outside the ground before games creating a bad atmosphere. I was never against their intentions of getting Ashley out, just thought he would only go on his terms.
Now I am OK with the 10,000 stayaways. Imagine the atmosphere if they were actually attending. There cannot be any I-told-you-so’s because we all knew. We knew Bruce was a bottom 5 PL/Top 5 Championship Manager but we had to have some hope.
There is no doubt in my mind that the next 4 games (inc Rochdale) will turn toxic for Bruce and for Joe-Debenhams if he plays and misses any chances. It would be a lot more toxic with the missing 10,000 though which would have probably guaranteed relegation.
I have always been in the Ashley out camp, I just never thought a boycott or protests would do it. Another Joe-Debenhams might get him to get someone in to run the club who knows what they are doing. Get Charnley back to the accounting desk and away from everything football. And get Nickson out of the club. He did nowt at the U21s and seems to be making some big mistakes now. St Max is injured and Willems is a loan. The rest are busts so far.
Rafa is the one that is said to have wanted Almiron so even that is not a tick in the positive column for Nickson.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
If a player is playing badly the ultimate responsibility lies with the manager, not the player, for either picking them or not substituting them. Or is it Charnley/Ashley making certain selections.
Groucho(Quote)
Didn’t see the match but I think we have to cut Fernandez and Hayden some slack because they must be knackered with all the games they have played. Olly agrees with Ryder on Joe-Debenhams rating of 2. I will allow it this once, but don’t make a habit of agreeing with Wor Lee.
Now the Chronic have a new “five things we learned” guy. Chris “the Intern” Waugh was bad but this Cairan Kelly just states the obvious like – the 2nd half was worse than the first half, and 4 other obvious things. May as well have a 5 year old (or Ryder, same thing in terms of journalistic skills) do it.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
After the NUFC ShItshow that has been the Christmas period and after reading The Chronic, I have yet again come to the conclusion that the 2 deserve each other.
Cairan Kelly learned 5 things, and here they are:
A poor display as FA Cup struggles continue.
What happened at half time?
A tale of 2 halfs
A tale of 2 strikers
Miguel Almiron scores but suffers new injury
That’s it. That’s what Keiran “learned”. How about:
JoeLinton is now a bone fide bust. Who is responsible?
Bruce was outcoached in the 2nd half by a league 1 Manager. Does he deserve the sack just for that?
Sean Longstaff has regressed, why?
I CAN”T BE BOTHERED TO DO 5. Just pointing out what a pathetic attempt at journalism Cairan Kelly has done. His mentor must be Ryder. The Chronic never ask any searching questions. I suppose they are afraid of being banned but then their sports editor, Mark Douglas, comes out and defends their record of putting everybody at NUFC’s feet to the fire when we all know it is not true. The only one who says anything is a guest writer – Malcolm McDonald. John “Gibbo” Gibson tries to make out that he does but is too obsessed with his Geordie colloquialisms and talking about back in the day to make any sense.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Unless we bring in a couple of players who are capable of creating and scoring goals we will go down. It’s not feasible to not have any goals in attack and expect to stay up.
Stuart79(Quote)
Brucey says we’ve already had a couple of knock backs in bids for strikers. The question is can we afford not to pay the rates?
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart: are you ready to sack Bruce? I said wait until summer. Nobody wanted him but we still had to give him a chance. The stats that were quoted for him were sometimes out of context but he is showing how Schteve-like he is now. Actually, I said he is a more likable Pardew yesterday but both fit as he has that look about him when things go wrong. Pards, Carver, and Schteve all had it – like, don’t look at me, what am I supposed to do?
You can say the injuries are down to fatigue but then look at Liverpool who have played a lot more games than us. The 8 Champions League. I think 3 more League Cup. The Super Cup, the World Club Cup. Plus they actually played real teams in the pre-season friendlies.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
If I was Brucey I would go to Jabba’s office on Monday and tell him to put his hand in his pocket and lend the club £40m to go with the £20m we already have. In other other words, bring forward the summer transfers and pay him back in the summer. For the summer transfers we can raise money by player sales.
Stuart79(Quote)
Eric, the problem is who would take the job? Is there anybody with a better cv in football who would actually take it? Probably not so we would sack him and replace him with who? A possible option would be Howe as he looks like he’s a bit vunerable now and he might fancy getting out about now but I’d still be of the opinion that anybody worth their salt would turn us down.
Stuart79(Quote)
I am trying to not get too knee **** especially about Bruce and Joelinton because I also know what is coming by the end of January. Did we even have any alternatives to Bruce when we signed him? They say they sounded out a few but didn’t get anywhere. That was probably Viera, Gerrard and Arteta. There is no guarantee with star ex-players either. Look at Theiry Henry and Gary Neville.
Would we really have taken a run at Nigel Pearson instead of Bruce. He would have got the same flak and who knows if Watford is just a new Manager bounce anyway.
Our options were take a punt on a young hardly tested Manager, but they turned us down, or get PL experience and Bruce had that. He even kept **** teams up. BUT, BUT, BUT he also got teams relegated. So this is where we are. Probably where we expected and by the time January is done we will have a point per game – ABOUT BRUCE’S LONG TERM PL AVERAGE. Most years that would keep us up.
Some Foreign manager I had never heard of but had a good reputation like Wagner of Hasselhutl?
I didn’t see the game so cant really comment on JoeDebenhams but he needs to do what Ayoze did and buckle down and score a few goals or at least get some assists. He also needs a rest and that might help take him out of the line of fire for the boo-birds. It’s that price tag that is weighing so heavily and causes the expectations. Plus we have no-one else to score. Carroll hasn’t scored in more than 18 months.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I have criticised Joelinton from the start of the season. I really can’t say any more about how poor he is. His performances are there for everyone to see.
Steve Bruce must be aware that his ‘dream’ job is turning into a nightmare , mainly due to his reluctance to drop Joelinton.
I still have a suspicion that Bruce has to play the £40m flop because I really believe that Bruce would have realised months ago how far out of his depth Joelinton is.
I would have had him playing in the under 23 team from September.
sidekick(Quote)
Just to add to your happy new year Eric , have you noticed that the Mackems are now knocking on the door of the top 6 in division 3?
sidekick(Quote)
I have been like this all season. Going from one extreme to another. Sometimes I think Bruce is OK and other times I am certain he will take us down. I am certain he will eventually take us down. Of the new signings the only one I even saw was Almiron and I know he is a good player and will come good. So on Krafth and Joelinton all I know is what I see now. Same with St Max but he has at least shown some speed and craft. Then there is Willems. He has looked good but he fell out of favour because someone tried to convert him to a midfielder. We probably wouldn’t have even got him if that hadn’t happened.
But it has been the same since day one and as Stuart and others have said many times – who is going to score the goals !!!
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sidekick: Pretty tight mid-table of league 1. I don’t want the Mackems relegated and my guess is they have about a 1 in 5 chance of promotion. I am glad you read my Mackem stuff because it was mainly about how they were delusional and turned a blind eye to what the Chancer Stewart Donald was doing. Giving them all the smarm and man of the people stuff whilst trying to make a quick buck.
If they don’t get promoted, the Yanks get the club for 10 mil. That is still chronic mismanagement by the Chancer and even his Eton boy best Pal Charlie deserted him or was kicked out.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sidekick: just checked the odds and Sunderland are 9th most fancied by the bookies at 7/2 if you fancy a flutter.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
How about another stat attack: Norwich were relegated in 1995 after being 7th at Xmas.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
As I said previously, I really feel for Bruce but he hasn’t got a chance while the set up is like it is and even if he could do things and buy who he wants then I doubt he’d do a great job but blowing 2/3 of your budget on a striker who can’t score would test even Kloop or Guardiola
Stuart79(Quote)
The game on Saturday will be Wolves’ 37th of the season.
It will be our 24th.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
So let’s get some perspective here while Bruce bemoans the hectic holiday schedule. Wolves came up the year after us and even though they have that Portuguese Agent connection I doubt they have the depth of squad of say Liverpool or Man City. And yet they have played 36 games to our 23. Do they have half the squad injured?
We both have 25 man squads and can add anybody under 21 like Matty Longstaff. We even had so many players that we were forced to leave out well paid players like Colback and Saivet. And it seemed in pre-season that Bruce might even give Colback a number, he certainly hinted that he might. He was also said to be happy with the 25 plus Matty that he chose?
What happened? How so many injuries? Why the fatigue when Liverpool’s front three play almost every game?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Although I think Joelinton has been a bust so far I went ahead and looked at his stats. He only played one season in Germany and that was last year. He played 27 Bundesliga games for Julian Nagelsmann and scored 7 goals. Nagelsmann is tipped for great things and is no fool. There has to be something there with Joelinton, the problem is the price tag and probably confidence. It is unusual for a Brazilian to lack confidence.
I think he has to be taken out of the firing line for a game to get his head straight and they have to decide on a position for him. If he doesn’t improve by season’s end Nickson should be sacked (along with Bruce). The only way I would keep Bruce is if we finish solid mid-table and we score a few goals.
Yesterday was a damning indictment of Bruce where he was outcoached by a league 1 manager and where his subs set us up to be protect a 1 nil lead after being dominant. As I have said too many times it is about to get worse before it possibly gets better in February and Bruce will come under a lot of pressure.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
The whole Joelinton fee/issue smells like last weeks fish, something not quite right there if you ask me.
kimtoon(Quote)
And yes the injuries are back, what did Rafa’s coaches do that the present lot aren’t ?
kimtoon(Quote)
I’m not gonna get too down on Steve Bruce but he must see that we are desperate for a good striker who actually knows how to convert chances.
kimtoon(Quote)
So Nickson was the U21 scout until 2017 and who do we have coming through? Nobody, except the Longstaffs who fell into his lap. St Max better be bloody good and Willems was a Dutch international at 19 so there was quality there. I will give him those 2 but it is criminal that we didn’t get a proper striker. He thought we could convert a winger into a number nine on the fly under a new Manager.
I will use a Brendan Rodger analogy. That is like trying to do maintenance on an airplane whilst it is flying.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
And they tried to sell Gayle in the last week of the last window with no replacement lined up and Andy Carroll weeks if not months away from starting.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
And we only had 3 midfielders. Shelvey, Hayden and Sean Longstaff. Who was to say how long Sean would take to recover from his injury, and it is proving longer than anyone thought. Matty is 19 and hand’s started a game. They were running down Ki’s contract.
Who is making these decisions? We are paying for it now. Even though we have been very lucky and played **** football you could say that Bruce has been punching above his weight. A very tall order indeed.
See, I keep going back and forth. I don’t know whether to blame Bruce or be sorry for him.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric, the whole playing squad is a disaster waiting to happen. We have a hell of a lot of players out of contract At the end of this season or next and can you see anybody at the club capable of reshaping it to be competitive and by competitive I mean staying in the PL. I would wager that in every major position at the club they are the lowest paid in the PL respectively. Coach ✅ MD ✅ De facto DoF ✅
If you pay peanuts you get monkeys. Never a truer word…
Stuart79(Quote)
Recently Joelinton played on the right and put in a reasonable performance although not brilliant. But what does Bruce do? He moves him back to centre forward. Perhaps everyone knows, except Bruce, that Joelinton is not a centre forward, never has been and never will be. I truly feel sorry for him because of the agro he is getting as a result of Bruce’s mismanagement.
Groucho(Quote)
I’m not sure what he is! If we’d have spent £10m on him we would still be within our rights to ask why we spent that much on him.
Stuart79(Quote)
Funny how there is absolutely no talk when the Chronic or even Sky bring up possible additions in the transfer window. It is like we don’t believe them any more and think 99% is BS and we will get a loanee or 2 in on deadline day.
But this year we are so short of bodies you would hope they buck the trend and get a loan done early. I am not holding my breath and am not believing the links. Only when I see a tweet of a player from a fan at the airport will I take any notice.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
OK I will list the links so far. Piatek from Inter. I think that is a 1% possibility. Inter would want a loan fee as well as his wages paid. Tosun, who also interests Palace and Villa so he will be gone by deadline day. Giroud. Probably wants to stay in/near London and would cost too much.
We’ll see, but I still think it will be deadline day as they have probably written off the remaining January fixtures.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric – Giroud would be a good call on loan providing he’s not too old and past it. He hasn’t got a look in at Chelsea. Why not? But as a loan what do we lose.?
Stuart79(Quote)
Wages and would take up a squad place. Think we want someone younger and more mobile. I would still prefer Gale.
Groucho(Quote)
Giroud would be deadline day though Stuart as Chelsea will be working on another striker for a couple of weeks and there is no guarantee they will get one. Meanwhile we are sweating and going nowhere as our results go further into the toilet. If it did happen on deadline day that would be OK by me. It is the wait and the frustration that would build up that would hurt and create so much unrest and bad feeling among the crowd/fans toward Management as we go further into the January death spiral and look like we are doing nothing about it – even though we are Waiting for Godot, I mean Giroud.
Can you imagine blogs/twitter/Chronic reader comments if we haven’t got a striker in in 3 weeks time with days in the window to go. It will be in meltdown.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Groucho: Giroud would be a loan. He would be a better Andy Carroll because Giroud scores and Carroll doesn’t. They can redo the squad in January and drop any player they want. If we got Giroud I think Gayle would be sold as we have pace in the team even without him. We could also drop Ki from the squad to create a space. We could also drop Elliot from the squad and have the young kid as 3rd keeper. There are ways we could create space.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Or we could sell Darlow. He is out of contract in June.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Stat attack for you, Eric. 50% of all our goals have been scored by defenders. Is there anybody at the club (exc Bruce) that thinks that’s a problem? I’d say they haven’t got a clue.
Stuart79(Quote)
Agreed but I hope you are not suggesting Bruce has a clue. Yesterday he substituted a forward with a midfielder and we all know what happened next.
Groucho(Quote)
The Mail are saying Man U are offering 45million plus Jlingz for James Maddison. The obvios retort is, so that’s just the 45 million then. But no. They say they value Lingard at 40 million. On what planet is Jlingz worth 40 mil? Maybe Planet Steve Nickson !!!
And there are so many Man U players who have been found out when they leave. From Darren Gibson to Tom Cleverly to Nicky ****. I am not counting the ones that fell out with Fergie like Stam and Van Nistlerooy because they remained good players. No, the bang average players like JLingz who were capped coz they played for Man U.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
The Chronic are really running out of ideas. Lee Ryder does his usual match report. Then yesterday Cairan Kelly does another match report under the guise of transfer rumours, with 3 lines on that and 50 lines of a match report. Then today young Cairan writes another bloody match report (yesterday’s rehashed) with a title of Charnley knowing what we need. 2 lines on that, the rest a match report.
So there is no news or no news that the Chronic no-hopers can find so they give us the same bloody match report 3 times. Actually 4, because their 5 things we learned section is also now a match report. Even little Chrissy Waugh would not stoop to regurgitating Ryder when he did it before moving to The Athletic.
I didn’t think the Chronic could get any worse, but it did.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
You could say don’t read them Eric. No, they are doing the click bait by making the title about something else and then giving us another rehashed match report. They have no news and no ideas so they create a title and then repeat the same stuff. Next time Mark Douglas defends his click bait I might write in.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I didn’t waste much time on the 4 match reports. Ryder isn’t worth reading and as soon as I realized Cairan Kelly was just doing yet another match report I just skimmed them. It really is just clickbait though when the title has nothing to do with the vast bulk of the article.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
With you all the way on that Eric. Have been caught out many times by their headlines. Don’t bother with Chronicle on the internet anymore. Other people will surely catch on and they will lose out eventually.
Groucho(Quote)
It’s just dawned on me what type of fucking club we’re currently supporting. I’d rank us as a similar size club to Everton. They had an owner who genuinely wanted to either sell the club or get investment in to better the club. He did that and they invested £450m (mostly badly but they spent it) on players and are sorting a new stadium out. They then sacked their manager and appointed Carlo Ancelotti – multiple trophy winner and world class manager. Now compare with us. We have a owner isn’t arsed about the club, the area or the people, clearly doesn’t want to sell and doesn’t give a ****. Doesn’t invest in the club or the team and only wants the club to spend what it generates without even the thought of speculating to accumulate. We can’t even build a new training ground let alone a new stadium. And finally when our manager leaves we appoint Steve Bruce.
I think we are the absolute complete and utter opposite of Everton.
Stuart79(Quote)
Given the size of the potential fan support we are probably the worst run club in the Premiership.
Groucho(Quote)
Klopp has put out an U21 team. I remember a club being fined for putting out a 2nd team in the FA cup a few years ago. Can’t quite remember who it was but Wolves or Bolton are on my mind.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Stu – I have used Everton as a comparison before mate – or specifically Kenwright and Ashley as owners.
Of course Kenwright has got things wrong along the way – but it hasn’t been for the want of trying. He has always tried to get the best manager available in and then backed them in the transfer windows – it hasn’t always worked out – but then not everyone who buys a raffle ticket wins a prize.
We have an owner who doesn’t bother buying a ticket. He hangs round at the end to see if he can buy the unclaimed prizes at a discounted price.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Ashley has fans protesting and for the first time in my time supporting NUFC – attendances regularly down by 7-8 thousand.
He is never going to do it, but the only way to start trying to repair things with the fans is to invest in the windows.
If he doesn’t, and we start falling down the table (as looks like being the case) then he may well find that more fans vote with their feet and stay away.
Burying his head and thinking we will be fine coz we only need 4/5 wins may be fine short term, but it will have lasting damaging. The fans have shown this season that it’s not stay away a few games then we’ll filter back – they have stayed away – and more will if he doesn’t put his money where his mouth is.
Sharpy17(Quote)
The Chronic only ever pass on players of interest that they see from other journalists. They throw the names against the wall and see what might stick. They are **** scared about offending the NUFC hierarchy and being banned. When that BZG takeover was going on Mark Douglas even said he was hearing things but could not pass it on because it had not been verified. BS. He was scared of being banned. What is the fking point of a reporter getting information if he doesn’t print it. The Chronic are cowards, as well as clickbaiters and bad writers.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric Bryan Robson whilst manager of Middlesbrough.
Groucho(Quote)
If I was Sports Editor at The Chronic (Mark Douglas) I would put one of my so-called journalists on the Joelinton transfer and see if there is more to it than meets the eye. But that would be real journalism which they do not do. No, it is 5 things we learned or Gibbo’s Geordie colloquialism corner. Cowards.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Cheers Groucho. I don’t think Klopp will care if he gets a fine. He got special dispensation to field a weak League Cup team. Not this time.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sharpy Are the season ticket renewals due soon . It will be interesting to see how many cancel their season tickets. I suspect maybe quite a lot. Can’t cover those with free giveaways.
Groucho(Quote)
Liverpool 1 up. Can they fine Klopp if Liverpool win.
Reading Guardian comments and Spurs fans are about as angry as our lot. It has only been a couple of months with Jose as well. They need a whole new defense. They are either **** or got old together, including Lloris.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Groucho – If Ashley doesn’t do the right thing I think we could see the attendance fall to closer to 40k by the end of the season.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy: not a good day to be putting Everton up as the poster child for a well-run club 🙂 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I’d say that’s a dead cert. there were gaps all over the stadium against Leicester and that’s with 10,000 free season tickets given away.
If Rochdale are hoping for a pay day from the replay they’ll be gutted. There’ll be circa 10,000 there. If they reduce the prices to £10 they might get 15,000
Stuart79(Quote)
I see there is talk of us loaning Piatek from AC Milan with a £30m option to buy. I’ve seen him a few times both in Italy and for Poland. I like him and think he’d be a good player to get.
I wouldn’t be against loaning Giroud as well. I think he’s a quality forward but at 31 wouldn’t be buying him.
But I think Ashley has to spend too – Bowen would be my choice.
It’s a position that needs strengthening and he would be a statement signing imo.
Bowen and Piatek in would be 2 good signings.
I don’t expect either.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Eric – a poor performance by the players doesn’t change the fact the club is still well run mate.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Just yanking your chain Sharpy.
Giroud is 33 but a loan to the end of the season would suit us and him. He needs to play to get in the France squad.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Well it is not just us who had a bad weekend. Everton, obviously. But also Brighton and Villa. Spurs, Man U AND Wolves. Nobody wanted a replay.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Well done Klopp. He played a 15 year old as well. We had Allan and Sorensen on the bench on Saturday and Bruce didn’t have the guts to use one of them. Mind you Rafa was not much better in that direction. Players for the U23 must think they have no chance of first team football.
Groucho(Quote)
Eric – that’s what I’m thinking with Giroud. It’s his last chance at a squad place in an international tournament, and he’s not close to a game at Chelsea.
If we could get rid of Gayle and Muto, then I’d defo get both Piatek and Giroud – but Piatek with an option to buy would be my preferred choice.
But I think if Ashley wants to build bridges, loan deals aren’t enough – he needs to spend, and on a decent player too.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy: A loan for Geroud would be perfect. There is no way that Carroll will stay fit and we can play him more sparingly and not rely on Koelinton as a number 9. I would even extend Giroud’s deal if he does well. He was never had pace so could easily play until he is 35. It is either us or MLS.
Maybe Beckham will want him in Miami but it gets unbearably hot there in summer. I have been in late spring and almost passed out with the heat. Could have been the dehydration from the beer as well but I am sticking with my heat story.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Desperately need a midfielder as well. We have to see if Longstaff the taller wasn’t just a flash in the pan.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It has happened many times before where someone was hyped and turned out not to be that good. Recently, Dier at Spurs. He was the next big thing and Man U were quoted 50 million. Winks is being hyped now and Wilshere before him.
The biggest is Declan Rice who has a price tag of 80 million. The most over-hyped and over-rated player in the history of football.
What I am saying is that in the current PL environment where money seems to be no object a few decent games, 9 in the case of Longstaff, makes you a hot commodity.
I still hope Sean turns it around and it is that he is still not right after the injury and not that it wasn’t Man U and thoughts of 100k a week. Maybe a swap deal for JLingz. Given their current form I do not know who would come off worse 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It would be funny seeing the teenagers on Northumberland St with their 60 quid Jlingz hoodies practicing their little handshakes. He’s what they call an INFLUENCER ya knaa. I seriously considered getting Jlingz hoody to wear to the pub as a joke. It will be a collectors item because I cant see him selling more than 3. One to me, one to his girlfriend and one to Pogba.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I think I have been 100% correct about the players I have ranted about. And a couple of years before the media (or sometimes their own Managers) see it.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
If they are going to keep the PL Christmas and New Year schedule as is they should scrap replays for the FA Cup. Scrap extra time as well and go straight to penalties. Some will scream it denies the minnows a chance of a payday at a big club. Well distribute the League billions a bit more fairly then. It is about the luck of the draw anyway so that should be it.
You could double the amount League 1 and 2 clubs get from The League and the PL clubs would hardly feel it. It would be like a fly landing on an elephant’s **** for Man City or Man U.
And who decided on the two legged league cup semi-final is an idiot. Let that just be the luck of the draw as well.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Just realized that our owner is a discount Sportswear Magnate. If we do a swap for Jlingz it would be win/win because Fatty could put all of Jlingz’s unsold tat in his 95% off tat bins. Synergy.
Eric Sykes(Quote)