One of the questions that has been asked since the departure of Andy Carroll has been regarding how the sale of the £35 million man will affect the dressing room.
Carroll seemed to be a popular lad in the dressing room and all, well most, of the players stood by him when he was going through his off the pitch troubles. You only have to look at the reaction that Carroll got from the rest of the playing staff in the aftermath of the Carroll/Taylor incident to see evidence of this.
Kevin Nolan kind of touched upon this earlier when he stated that he had not only lost a team-mate, but he had also lost a lad that he was very close to. That can have a deep impact on morale and team spirit, which are two things that have been key in our season to date.
The players looked dejected last night and I didn’t see the usual fight and desire that I personally have become accustomed to over the last 18 or so months. I hope that is just a one-off blip, because if we lose that fight and desire we could be in for a very rough ride until May.
No matter how spirited or determined an individual is, there comes a point where enough is enough. I’m not saying the players are there yet, or that they will even get to stage, but it can’t be easy to deal with the knocks that this team has had to take.
As mentioned earlier, Carroll was a popular lad, but now he has gone. The same can be said about Chris Hughton, and he has also gone. Both of those are widely perceived to have done rather well, better than expected in fact, but both of them have gone the same way. It kind of makes you wonder what the point in doing well is doesn’t it?
The most important thing now is for the players to maintain that fight, desire and never-say-die attitude that has served them all so well so far. If they can keep that then survival will come, although it could and probably should have been so much more comfortable.
It’s back’s against the wall time for the lads now, and they need to show that they aren’t a one man team. Most of us know that they aren’t, but they need to prove it to themselves and to the rest of the world.
Losing Carroll was a massive blow, but that’s life. People move on in football and I’m sure that the team knows that. What they mustn’t do is start doubting their ability or take their eyes off the prize. They still have work to do.
I’m fairly confident that we will come through this, and I’m fairly confident that players like Kevin Nolan, even though he is in my naughty book at the moment, and Joey Barton will do their utmost to try and keep things together.
The departure of Carroll has caused unrest, which is understandable, but it’s also worth pointing out that it wasn’t just Carroll who got us to where we are now. Nolan has been important, as has Coloccini, Enrique, Barton, Ameobi, at times, and even Leon Best has had his part to play so far this season, in fact most of the team have. They can continue to do that, of that I am sure.
Howay the lads!
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.
We’re not and haven’t been a one man team, and I’d certainly agree that Barton, Enrique, Nolan and Tiote have been just as if not more important. We’ve also had blips before this where we looked just as dejected and even more so-Bolton, West Brom, Stevenage. The performance at arsenal with Tiote back in the line up is crucial. Personally I think we’ll do alright.
NewkieBrown(Quote)
Some good points as always Toonsy.
Do you think the reason that we had an 11 day break also contributed to the rather below par performance last night.
You could say we that because of the break the lads should have been nice and rested and raring to whilst Fulham had played 2 extra games in this period.
I personally believe Fulham had tha extra sharpness and confidence about them after their performance & win over spurs whilst we lacked that cutting edge you can only get whilst playing games.
I think these factors had a more telling contribution over last nights display by the lads rather than losing a mate, thats what i hope anyway
halftimebovril(Quote)
Roll on Saturday, get the Fulham game out the system. Onwards and upwards.
richietoon(Quote)
bovril
aye I would have thought that too, we haven’t played in nearly two weeks when Fulham had 3 games in a week or something, thought they might be knackered and for the taking, how wrong I was.
I watched their game against Spurs and obviously against us, and based on those games alone, Fulham should be higher up the table, hard working and technically sound team, got some decent players with good attitudes.
Think we just need a shake or something, playing a very good side like Arsenal can do that, but they will be smarting from when we beat them and will be after us. Could be a long afternoon for us I feel.
I Love Mike(Quote)
heres hoping dogleash puts a 10 mill bid in for nolan too keep the judas happy 😉
batty(Quote)
theres somthing aboot that liverpool badge that makes wor joey too see red 😆
batty(Quote)
dave ,the dog will be after you 😀
batty(Quote)
TC i see you have resigned as number 2 **** on workys 🙂 ,stu get too much for ya did he 😆
batty(Quote)
Well Lads whats the craic
Big Dave(Quote)
only me dave 😉
batty(Quote)
Batty your a c@nt 😆
Big Dave(Quote)
TC has jacked in on workys
batty(Quote)
fuk were you left holding the fort again me old bean, I hope Toonsy is looking after you 😉
I see TC has resigned 😛
Big Dave(Quote)
dave wait till i tell dog your backing fatty 😆
batty(Quote)
Batty > heres hoping dogleash puts a 10 mill bid in for nolan too keep the judas happy
😯 would you not be devastated 😀
Big Dave(Quote)
😯 fuk how am I backing fatty
Big Dave(Quote)
dave i dont know but i will think of a way 😆
batty(Quote)
I refer you to the statement I gave some minutes ago 😆 you a c@nt.
So TC is one of us now 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
nah keep kevin nolan,he’ll make a good cheerleader,he’s got a massive set of tits.
TROJAN 69(Quote)
what’s occurring, Dave still backing fat ash then? 😆
richietoon(Quote)
trojan 😆 but nolan has pissed me off with him opening his gob 😉
batty(Quote)
dave see even rich knows 😆
batty(Quote)
dave kna TC is still o **** 😉
batty(Quote)
Batty why dont you find yourself some other blog to go on, leave us decent people alone 👿
RobLee(Quote)
Richie I would back him into the back of a Tanga then give him a good old fashioned hiding 😆 Actually I think Owl Heed is worse he deserves a good old fashioned knee capping 😀
Big Dave(Quote)
haha rob lee you wont catch no decent people on here 😉
batty(Quote)
Rob are you trying to say Batty is a bad boy
Big Dave(Quote)
Newcastle was in uproar earlier today as Sol Cambpell, sick of all the abuse, punched a supporter.
Talk about the **** hitting the fan 😆
richietoon(Quote)
no need for that dave 🙂
batty(Quote)
Dave…Lambsarse, is an embarassment and I joke and I look forward to the day when fat ash shafts him as well 😈
richietoon(Quote)
cant beleive were paying him wages rich
batty(Quote)
i hope this rob lee isnt another stalker 😯 😯 😆
batty(Quote)
Aye get shot of him and split his wages between Colo and Jose 😀
richietoon(Quote)
rich have u noticed dave keeps disapearing ,wonder what hes up to
batty(Quote)
batty, I wouldn’t like to hazard a guess 😉 😆
richietoon(Quote)
Ye dont call me Toonsy 😆 im just trying to draw 🙁
Richie that c@nt Owlheed is the biggest problem with our club, and I hope MA shafts him big style
Big Dave(Quote)
Batty you havn’t seen young Neville on lately have ye ❓
Big Dave(Quote)
We looked ***** last night – tired, dejected etc – def need to get it out of our system
Bizarre how sky showed me being a miserable get while motd showed me singing and dancing
I kin hate Murdoch and his consumer driven ****
4411(Quote)
4411 you were a right miserable get 😆 I even said to Batty lastnight look at that miserable ***** 4411 making us look like a bunch of grumpy gets 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
right iam off too find another blog as told too by the long time blogger roblee,and no 1 stuck up for me ,friends who needs them ,sick of all the ***** gannin on anyway good bye
batty(Quote)
4411…..Did you see that pub landlady who’s taken them to court over the right to show Prem league games on a greek satt tv channel? 😀
richietoon(Quote)
Batty not like you to take any heed of what anyone says soft Lad 😆 wait till I tell Ice about that 😆
Big Dave(Quote)
do we have a link to 4411, we should put up a rogues gallery, 4411 at Fulham, Toonsy at Peterbro, me at Boro, Ice on last of the summer wine 😀
richietoon(Quote)
Richie im sure Sky will get round it someway 👿
Batty Roblee sounds like a decent guy 😉 he seems to know you well 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
batty, go on the spuds one but watch oot for “the g’vnor” 😆
richietoon(Quote)
Anyone had any issues with the mobile site over the last day or so? Hopefully not like 🙂
toonsy(Quote)
Roblee sounds like the sort of guy who would get on wi Ice’s stalker 😉
richietoon(Quote)
Toonsy….aye everytime I go to it, it’s moved 😉 😆
richietoon(Quote)
Aye Toonsy I had the same probs as Richie can never find the ***** it keeps moving 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
Rich – 🙄
toonsy(Quote)
And you Dave 🙄
toonsy(Quote)
Anyone see our run of games after Arsenal? We have to pick up points in those 😕
toonsy(Quote)
Toonsy I think we will pick a few up soon mate 😉
are you not supposed to be at work ❓
Big Dave(Quote)
we’ll get at least 10 from them, if we play as we can that is 🙂
richietoon(Quote)
Reet im outa here catch you’s tomoro 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
cya Dave
richietoon(Quote)
Rogues gallery you cheeky sod. I thought I cam across quote well. Pissed but well. Mark is the scruffy ****** standing next to me I think 😆
toonsy(Quote)
Work sucks. Official
toonsy(Quote)