Well, after a week that promised much, we watched another dire performance from Steve Bruce’s team. We really must be the most unpleasant team to watch in the league, yet somehow we keep picking up points.
Another undeserved point earned through heart, sweat, some decent defending, luck, and of course Martin Dubravka against bottom of the table Norwich isn’t exactly cause for celebration, but we’re slowly eeking towards safety.
There was a fear of nervousness ahead of this game, and rightly so as it’s exactly the kind of game we usually struggle in. Against “inferior” opposition we can struggle to force the issue, we’re better without the ball and my word we were awful on it today.
Bruce made a couple of changes with Bentaleb given his Newcastle Premier League debut, while Yedlin came back with Hayden moving back into centre midfield. For the first 15 minutes, we looked as disjointed as Yedlin’s hair, and Dubravka made a great save from Sam Byram, then again when Pukki smashed a 25 yard piledriver.
Then we started to gain a bit of momentum, and Saint Maximin was brilliant to watch every time he got the ball, despite some cynical fouling from the visitors on our creator in chief.
We nearly took the lead on 20 minutes when Krul saved brilliantly from Joelinton’s header after a sweeping move started by Jamaal Lascelles, but Almiron really should have buried the rebound, but the Paraguayan isn’t really renowned for his heading prowess and he headed wide. However we were very much second best to the Premier League’s worst team who looked more composed, and seemed to have an open invitation to shoot from distance. However we held firm and managed to see it through to half time at 0-0.
The second half started exactly the same, and to be honest the Pukki of earlier in the season would probably have had another hat trick. Norwich were wasteful and we were lucky. Lazaro finally came on for the simply woeful Yedlin on 53 minutes and Sean Longstaff replaced Isaac Hayden who had a poor afternoon too. We started to push and threatened to finally get into the game, and everything good came through Saint Maximin. However despite him having the beating of the Norwich defence, we simply couldn’t get Almiron or Joelinton into the game.
Then, Bruce took Saint Maximin off for Danny Rose. The game just seemed to fade out and we didn’t even look like we wanted to win it to be honest. At the final whistle Norwich players looked gutted they hadn’t taken all 3 points.
Normally, being on 31 points at this stage of the season would probably be only a couple of wins away from safety and maybe a springboard for a push for Europe, but this season has been anything but normal. It’s so bizarre that there are even a lot of pundits speculating about a record high points total being needed this year.
We’re into the top half, but it was a very poor performance and we’re fortunate to come away with a point to be honest – and that’s worrying against the league’s bottom side.
A nervous 13 games await.
I am going to repost the idiot Ryder’s ratings from today:
Dubs 9
Yedlin 7
Clark 8
Lascelles 6
Fernandez 8
Ritchie 8
Hayden 5
Bentaleb 6
St Max 8
Almiron 7
Joe 6
Doesn’t seem to jive with Jamie’s report, or Wor Lee’s own words in the headline where he calls the NUFC performance WOEFUL.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Also, another repeat from the last thread:
Dubravka had the most shots saved in the PL – and that was before today.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Unfortunately I was at the game. They really were absolute rubbish and I regard the result as a point gained but undeserved. My markings Dubs8 Yedlin 2 Fernandez 8 Clark 4 Lascelles 4 Ritchie 5. Bentaleb 5 Hayden4 stmaxim 6 Almiron 5 Joelinton 7 Fernandez and Joelinton both worked hard but Joelinton gets no support. Messi wouldn’t score for us the way we play. Frequently we had nine at the back. Shocking.
Groucho(Quote)
Bruce, speaking to Match of the Day, said: “The most important thing is we haven’t played well again, but we haven’t been beaten.
“That’s not a bad trait to have in the Premier League.
It’s not a great one for getting fans excited or even back to the games either though Brucey.
Sharpy17(Quote)
He added: “We set ourselves up to be difficult to beat. If you look at the record we’ve got, we’ve done fantastically well.
“Now we have to get a little bit of quality in forward areas.
“We have to improve in the midfield too because the strikers need something to feed off.
“We gave the ball away so cheaply today, which is is disappointing.”
So we need more quality up front, and to improve in midfield. If only there was a transfer window soon to be able to get address that lack of quality up front ?.
Sharpy17(Quote)
On Friday we were trying hard to offload Atsu. Rightly so. Today we put him on the bench. Makes no sense to me. Don’t think Bruce knows what he is doing.
Groucho(Quote)
Ryder has a brain the size of a pea. You cannot say the performance was woeful and then give out the ratings he does. His match report also called the performance “DREADFUL”. Contradictory eh Lee?
If you assume that 6 is average, or a little bit better, then only Hayden fell short today with a 5.
We didn’t score. Norwich didn’t either but if your goalie is your best player…
Then the defenders couldn’t have been that great either but Ryder hands out 8s of course.
I should probably be more mad about another awful performance and Brucie’s spin on the game, but Ryder is just so clueless I cannot ignore the rubbish he writes.
The Chronic have another batch of interns and all of them are better than Wor Lee who has 30 years experience there.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Since we are so God-Almighty boring I am going to look elsewhere for entertainment.
Luckily I think Pep and Jose will oblige tomorrow. That should be fun. Even the body language and pre and post match interviews. Didn’t Jose once poke a Barca coach in the eye when Pep was manager?
Then there England and France rugby. I only ever watch a couple of games a year and this is one that is usually entertaining.
Then the Superbowl. I am not a massive fan of American Football either but this Mahomes kid is incredible. A lot of women over here watch it for the ads and the half time show. I have been in bars watching it and they only pay attention to the ads and forget the game. Lucky for them there are bloody millions of breaks in American Football which is one of the reasons I don’t watch much of it.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
So there are no strikers out there better than what we have, Bruce? Really? Joeslu and Manu Rivière would be better than what we currently have… 0-0 at home to bottom of the league Norwich, who battered us at their place too, lest we forget… ?????
Dubai Toon(Quote)
Eric – great minds think alike mate.
So I’m starting with The Andrew Marr Show, before flicking over to The Sunday Brunch – sees me through til 12.30 – break for lunch.
Back to Songs of Praise, before an afternoon nap (well you can’t go all day at the excitement level)
Back for Countryfile, then probably finish the day with Call the Midwives ??.
I don’t know why we bother with Saturday – Sunday is the day of the weekend like ?????
Sharpy17(Quote)
Jesus Christ that was painful to watch. We are getting g worse not better and I have no idea how we’re 10th and 7 points clear of the bottom 3.
Stuart79(Quote)
So according to the Mirror Ashley’s media puppy, no offer has been made by the saudi group and any interested party has to pay £250,000 just to look at the books !
Did he not say in that Samuels interview that he would pay for anyone to look at the books to prove he wasn’t taking money or doing anything unlawful ? I understand supporters groups who took him up on that offer are still awaiting a reply.
He has no intention to sell ever, this leak in the WSJ happened whilst he was over in Manhattan , just saying .
The bit about the Saudi’s still wanting Manure is about the only bit in that article i’m inclined to believe. Maybe Toon are being used as bait to get the Glaziers to bite, wouldn’t surprise me one bit.
kimtoon(Quote)
Chap near me at the match asked me why we were getting worse. I replied, “ Practice”.
Groucho(Quote)
A quick return to action on Tuesday. There can be no excuse for Bruce playing this defensive rubbish against a League 1 team especially as we have the winter break after. He should field a full strength team.
What’s the betting it goes to extra time and penalties to prolong our misery?
Allardyce was sacked for less than this turgid mess. Hughton was sacked because Ashley thought he couldn’t take the team forward.
If we get beat then perhaps the away fans might turn on Bruce. Can you imagine the drive back on a cold Tuesday night if we lose. I think you have to be a real die hard to attend this game.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Or deluded Eric
kimtoon(Quote)
I watched a bit of the Sunday Supplement on Sky this morning, mainly because they had a whole segment on NUFC and Craig Hope was excellent on it, but the other journalists on the panel couldn’t help but argue – here’s a short clip I found
https://mobile.twitter.com/sundaysupp/status/1223920916301828101
Sharpy17(Quote)
They also talked about Man Utd and how badly they are ran.
Let me make it clear I WANT RID OF ASHLEY. But the Glaziers and all their money prove that rich owners don’t necessarily mean we get better. We get more expensive players – but I watched Man Utd yesterday and have a few times this season – and they are dog ****.
Also spoke of their difficulties getting in a no.9 – not just a forward but a target man like we need.
They suggested that such forwards aren’t really round anymore – and there are no real stand out ones I can think of either – certainly the top clubs around the world don’t play with one.
Maybe we either need to change our approach completely – or if we are playing this way, go back to the likes of Mitrovic or Ivan Toney.
But I think the lone striker system is becoming a thing of the past I think.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Brucie says Joelinton and Almiron are close to burnout. No **** Sherlock. We had no cover for them. We knew Carroll was a sicknote and Dwight is now officially a sicknote as well, or maybe he was brought back too soon. Then we have Muto who has been a complete bust and never even played under the man who signed him. And then Atsu who we just tried to get rid of and is not a PL player.
I suppose there is Ritchie, but he has been injured as well. I don’t think he is a PL quality forward either. He has even said he is better as a wingback.
Then again, if you defend for 65% of the game in 2 banks of 4 asking Almiron to play as a 2nd wingback and leaving Joe to go it alone up front then of course there will be burnout.
I am trying not to be TOO critical of Brucie but it is difficult with the football we play and the fact that Dubravka is literally saving us every game.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I’m giving Brucie a D+ now because I am fed up with our football. I don’t care what the pundits say, he is not doing that good of a job if we are unwatchable and only where we are because of Dubravka. It is like when De Gea was player of the year at Man U for 4 years in a row. It was just papering over the cracks. If we are not on regular TV here now I can’t be arsed to go out of my way to watch us. Then I listen to Ando and get even more depressed.
So, what the hell are we doing! We play 3 centre backs and then have 2 holding midfielders unless Shelvey plays. We are then stuck 15 yards too deep, so no wonder we have no possession and invite the opposition onto us. Even Norwich and Brighton FFS.
We then isolate Joelinton. But more than that it means our flair players – St Max and Almiron – feel they have to do it all themselves. We could easily have lost the last 4 games and that includes Oxford.
Brucie has got very lucky if you ask me and he is lucky to have Dubravka to bail him out.
I absolutely hated Pardew for his arrogance but even he would have us play well once in a while. Bruce has had 1 half of good football in 25 PL games – at West Ham. The rest has been boring negative **** with the odd bit of skill from Miggy and St Max.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
With regards to this so called take over for once I would like a journalist to chase the facts as you lot who portrayed as journalists or employed as journalists are as bad as mike Ashley
You build up everybody about things you read you never ask direct and get paid for in my eyes f#ck all
You say this and another and if you have no facts I myself would personally ban you from having a web page and that goes for all journalists and web page writers as you are just as bad as everybody else including the national papers
So button it about a take over as Ashley has no intention of selling as it’s the only part of his business empire which is making him money
The more air play and paper space you lot and I mean journalists give him the more publicity he gets
For once start finding out some details about him and startling him a hard time
Davidp(Quote)
C hrist alive that VAR decision just took over a minute to give that pen
and saved !
and now another VAR check for second pen call
VAR says no
Mass player confrontation
now DEAN going round dishing out yellows to players involved in it 😆 😆
b loody farce
kimtoon(Quote)
Red card now
kimtoon(Quote)
lovely goal
kimtoon(Quote)
good game this
kimtoon(Quote)
Another fine goal
Spuds 2 .0 up
kimtoon(Quote)
STATS again today – City should have won that game hands down based on the match stats – Spurs stats looked like ours!!.
But they held on to win & the new boys goal was a blinder.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Davidp: you better get used to it because there is now a never ending search for clicks in the what-was print journalism and anything controversial sells ads. Even if is on the wash, rinse repeat cycle for 10 years like the Ashley sale.
I think this will become a bigger issue as there is currently an explosion in Podcasts, Blogs, Vlogs etc and the Clubs haven’t kept up with this. People are getting their news from facebook now, Amazon are showing PL games and their is a rise of private “influencers” getting paid when they reach a critical mass of followers.
The clubs are massively behind the times and their media departments need to get with it and reach out to these alternative sources of news and yes, gossip.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Look at The True Geordie. He now has 1.8 million followers on YouTube and what started as a rant now is more like traditional TV journalism. I bet Ryder and Co. would kill for that following but who wants to listen to Ryder drone on 🙂 I saw his interview with Shearer and it went on for about an hour and a half and was great. Big Al obviously wanted to talk to this guy. I am sure he doesn’t have a job anymore and gets paid based on his followers, via ads and links.
These so-called “influencers” (hate that word) have not been tapped by the clubs yet, but they will as people get more and more used to getting content from YouTube and Facebook.
A similar thing went on at Arsenal where a ranting bunch of angry fans on YouTube became influential on the club as a whole.
Then there are the twitter rants.
Davidp. You aint seen nothing yet. A c@ck like Piers Morgan has 3 million followers on twitter so the rise of the INFLUENCERS has begun and the clubs will eventually have to cater to it.
Even Uncle Ed is relying less on regurgitated Chronicle stories now. His son has taken over and belts out stories at all times of the day. I am guessing he has quit work and Blogging is what he does now.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
What really brought it home about how things had changed in the delivery of news and information was a recent trip to the Grand Canyon. I bought the usual Travel Guide, I think it was Lonely Planet and went to the Govt site. But then I went on pinterest to look for where to best take a few pictures. There were literally hundred of links. Some were a hobby, but others had given up theor regular jobs and were travelling around the world taking photos and and being paid through sales and ad links because they had developed a “following”.
I don’t think the clubs have quite realized that the delivery system for information is in a state of flux and the need to tap Blogs, Vlogs, YouTube, Facebook and the rest.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
David p: that was a long way of saying get used to it because you are going to see a lot more sensationalism and gossip. Not less. I think it is almost unregulated as well so people can say what they want from whatever dubious source they have.
The easiest example is the fakeover by BZG. The speculation and falsehoods took on a life of their own.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I agree with Olly that with Shelvey out for a month we need some ball playing ability at the back. Either Schar or Lejeune would do although they have been a bit mistake prone. That would only solve part of the problem though as Brucie is playing 2 defensive midfielders in front of the 3 centre backs. If Hayden is the defensive mid then whoever he plays with has to be given the mandate to go forward. Sean, Matty and Bentaleb all have the ability to link midfield and attack, or knock it wide to the wingbacks. But if they are always on the edge of our box it will usually be a hoof from a back 5.
Changing the system could be as easy as having one of our ball playing centre backs in there and telling one of the midfielders they are the attacking midfielder in a 2. It is all well and good that they get stuck in and put their foot in, but making that the major part of the job is making for awful football.
It is not Shelvey’s, Matty’s or Sean’s natural game to be the 2nd holding mid but that is what they are doing. It must be the coaching!!! Just tell them their main job is to link up play and support the forwards and leave the defense to 3 centre backs for FFS and Hayden.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It is also great at times to see Miggy tracking back 50 yards but he also has to be told that he doesn’t need to be an auxiliary right back ALL of the time. His main job is to attack, not defend. If he is making tackles on the edge of our box than he is obviously not available as an outlet further forward.
The whole structure of the bloody team is set up to invite opposition pressure.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
So the club are worried they might lose the Longstaff brothers… Really?!!! They valued one of them at £50m but pay him about £5k a week! The other they think he’s going to be even better but pay him £1k a week! Logic and Jabba’s NUFC is not in the same galaxy.
Stuart79(Quote)
Amazingly Bruce is talking about maybe not even dominating a game against Oxford. Have I fell off the world and landed in the Truman Show or what?!
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu – that Bruce is even talking about this as a concern is just further evidence of how badly our club is run.
To not be able to tie young players down to contracts is just a joke. Bruce is giving them the game time, so this must be down to contracts and bonuses.
The boys themselves are proving themselves and earning the contracts – and we’ve just got rid of Ki – so there’s around £60k freed up.
It’s pathetic.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Stu – I think Craig Hope summed it up perfectly – the more you watch this team, the less you understand football!!.
Sharpy17(Quote)
NEW THREAD
https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2020/02/04/oxford-a-pre-match-thoughts-team-news-predicted-line-ups/
Oxford preview
Olly Hawkins(Quote)