Newcastle suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of Stoke City this afternoon as they went down 4-0 at The Britannia Stadium.
Whilst 4-0 was probably a harsh scoreline it shouldn’t detract from the fact that Stoke thoroughly deserved to win the match as they overpowered an injury hit Newcastle team that featured too many people having an off day. The fact that we actively helped them with three of their four goals just about sums up this performance.
Being honest, I never really expected us to get anything from the match anyway. Stoke are a tough proposition at home and they proved it again with another committed, all-action display in front of their vociferous home crowd.
The day started off pretty well to be honest. I boarded the 11:04 train armed with my four cans of Newcastle Brown Ale and promptly cracked one open. Marktoon had one as well as we settled down for the train journey only to find ourselves being subjected to the inner workings of the mind of a Stoke fan who chose the seat in front of us to rather loudly explain almost everything about Stoke City to his mate. I fell asleep soon afterwards…
The train pulled into Stoke train station and off we went, only to be directed by the Police to the Student Union where we could have a few drinks and wait to be escorted to the ground so as to avoid any potential problems. This was not a problem as an SU bar meant SU bar prices. Happy days.
After a couple more pints, and after having interrupted an interview by unwittingly walking straight through the middle of it, the time came for us to board the bus and make our way to the ground. To be honest I was concerned about wearing my club colours whilst making my way to the ground from the train station. I’m a lover these days and not a hater so I just wanted to get to the ground without getting into some sort of trouble. Mission accomplished thanks to these special red buses.
The atmosphere inside the concourse was already jumping when we arrived at the ground, but with kick-off approaching it was time to neck another quick beer and head to my seat, which turned out to be smack-bang behind the goal and only three rows away from the front, which was ideal to see the lads finishing their warm up.
Of course the good news with regard to team selection was that Jose Enrique and Joey Barton were fit enough to return to the starting line up whilst the other fitness doubt, Jonas Gutierrez, was fit enough to take a place on the bench.
Newcastle started off fairly well and Shola Ameobi forced a save from Asmir Begovic whilst Marc Wilson went close for the home side when he headed wide. Aside from that though both sides found chances hard to carve out in what was a fairly even affair. The balance of power shifted on 23 minutes however as Jose Enrique withdrew through injury to be replaced by young Shane Ferguson. Just five minutes after that Stoke took the lead, courtesy of the flank that Jose Enrique had now departed.
Shane Ferguson, who was without the luxury of having Jonas Gutierrez to help him out in defence, found himself outnumbered at left-back. Stoke passed the ball around him and Jermaine Pennant fired a cross into the box which Jonathan Walters headed into the net. Sol Campbell simply shouldn’t have allowed Walters to coast in ahead of him and in my opinion that is what cost us the goal.
Newcastle regrouped and started turning the screw in the search for an equaliser, although despite all of the away sides huffing and puffing they were unable to blow down Stoke’s steady house and the score remained 1-0 at the half-time interval.
I had hoped that any cobwebs would have been blown away at half-time and that Newcastle would come out and play the way that I know they can in the second half. That hope was extinguished within sixty seconds of the restart as a brain fart from Steve Harper and another miscalculation from Sol Campbell ended up with Jermaine Pennant tapping the ball into what was a virtually unguarded net.
I turned to Mark and said that it was game over then, but just to make sure of it Stoke added a third just three minutes when Danny Higgingbotham lashed a free-kick into the back of the net from 20 yards. At the time it just looked like Harper was beaten by the power of the shot, but upon closer inspection (TV replay) i would appear that Harper was beaten by the fact that the wall collapsed and offered him no protection.
From then on the game was dead as a contest. Newcastle had a lot of the ball, but it was only in territory where Stoke wanted us to have the ball. Shane Ferguson was unlucky not to have opened his scoring account after skinning three Stoke defenders only for Begovic to deny the lad a goal, and the Stoke stopper was on hand again to deny Joey Barton a goal from a free-kick.
It was a poor performance, and it hurt to watch it if I’m being honest. It didn’t stop at three though and further salt was added to the wounds in stoppage time when Ricardo Fuller volleyed past Steve Harper from 18 yards to make it 4-0.
You can blame injuries or tactics or team selection or anything you want to blame for the result, but what you can’t legislate for is for the majority of the players failing to do the basics right. There were individual errors strewn across the park today and it kind of says a lot when your best player is a lad who has hardly featured for the first team and is being played out of position!
Newcastle are making a meal of this survival malarkey, but they will have to pull something out of the bag pretty soon if they are to avoid being sucked deeper into a relegation battle. I think we’ll still survive, but it’s getting a lot closer than I would like it to be. Hopefully that can be addressed when we face Wolves in two weeks time.
Howay the lads!
Stoke: Asmir Begovic, Marc Wilson, Ryan Shawcross, Robert Huth, Danny Higginbotham, Jermaine Pennant, Rory Delap, Glen Whelan, Matty Etherington, Kenwyne Jones, Jonathan Walters.
Subs: Thomas Sorensen, Danny Collins, Ricardo Fuller, Danny Pugh, Salif Diao, Dean Whitehead, Andy Wilkinson.
Newcastle: Steve Harper, Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Sol Campbell, Fabricio Coloccini, Jose Enrique. Joey Barton, Cheik Tiote, Kevin Nolan. Shola Ameobi, Peter Lovenkrands.
Subs: Tim Krul, Steven Taylor, Danny Guthrie, Shane Ferguson, Jonas Gutierrez, Shefki Kuqi, Nile Ranger.
Referee: Lee Mason.
Attendance: 27,505.
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.
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Toonsy you summed it up well
On the 3rd goal if Nolan had balls and took the hit instead of standing with his hands behind his back and then turning his back on the ball to get out of the way it wouldn’t have went in.
I know it sounds harsh but he should be prepared to take it for the team, and should have stood his ground.
Big Dave(Quote)
I was also expecting defeat but its the manner in which we lost which what upset me.
AndrewNUFC(Quote)
funkyjesus
Posted March 15, 2011 at 7:15 PM
Why would it be embarrassing for Stoke to get the double?
Thank you and goodnight. 😉
DJG(Quote)
DJG 😆 get that out off your system bonny Lad 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
I still don’t find it embarrassing for Stoke to get the double. You have to remember we are a newly promoted side that is barely different to the one that got us relegated in the first place.
Stoke are a team that got promoted, got safety, then progressed, have progressed again and I fully expect to chase europe next season.
Stoke will take Everton’s spot in the table I believe. They really aren’t some lowly team we should beat by default. Would you have accepted Blackpool fans thinking they should beat the likes of Stoke by default this season? No, so why should we?
We need realism now, we can’t afford to go back to the lunatic days we had before where we think we’re on the level of Man Utd.
funkyjesus(Quote)
Big Dave.
Im so friggin upset. What the F@@@@!!!!!!!!!! was Harper doing. if Krul had done that, twice!! people would say put Krul in!!. FACT. As it is I think their both ****. I hope Forster comes back and he is no. 1 start of next season, thought Harper would be but bloody hell forget it after that he totally took the p### Krul cannot kick it. Pardew Wake up bonny lad tonight was embbarrassing. I went off at 3-0 and got the txt saying it was 4-0. Feel sorry for ya toonsy and co.
Sol Campbell you are finished please don’t show in NUFC colours again, soft SOFT F”King goal to give away, where was Taylor? What a oile of *****. Frigging hope ya’s wake up for Wolves or we’re going down. Ya fekkin tossers. Paid twice as much as Stoke shitty I bet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DJG(Quote)
Another thing to remember is that Stoke are totally debt-free, I think they may run a profit if anything. This means they have been able to back Pulis well in the transfer market and can do so increasingly as the seasons go by as he is getting them higher up the table each year.
Stoke may well become a top 6 team for a while to come if they keep this smart business and successful team together.
funkyjesus(Quote)
Watching the MOTD highlights-Sol Campbell at fault, in varying degrees, for three of the goals? He’s just not good enough, as bad as stevie taylor’s positioning or deflections might be, Campbell has probably had one decent game in all his appearances for us. We need to stop playing three centre backs in this 3-5-2 formation…stick to 4-4-2, was working for us before wasn’t it? Anyway, wolves and birmingham at home? We should beat them and stay up. 6 points should be all we need…
NewkieBrown(Quote)
squeeky *** time!
Moreno(Quote)
Moreno
I think they proved to you that they are a pile of s#ite. You give them too much credit for doin nothing, honestly they are taking the p### out of you and toonsy im just sitting here laughing but you and toonsy will fall for it next week and the week after.
We will learn eventually man. They are taking the p### out of all of us atm. well not me.
DJG(Quote)
well I am glad you’ve got it sussed mate.
I give credit where credit’s due and I am definitely a glass half full kind of person. I can’t take any positives out of today though.
Selection wise, shouldn’t have played Sol or Lovenkrands and shouldn’t be trying untested formations this late on in the season. Stick to what you know and you’re good at.
Moreno(Quote)
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11678_6824044,00.html
Looks like Ireland and Besty are going to be in bother…
Moreno(Quote)
Well maybe I was being a bit upset there but I think I deserve to be after that. What was that. They would probably say it happens?
They are paid more than me and you could imagine to earn every week. If I earned that and I played football or cricket or whatever I would GIVE MY LIFE to the cause that week I don’t think they did and I don’t think they care less tbh. just my opinion like.
DJG(Quote)
Toonsy where ya friggin hiding? ❓
DJG(Quote)
There both injured though, not like they had a game the next day or on the bench, personally I dont see the problem.
AndrewNUFC(Quote)
Pile of to$$ eh?! I’m not adverse to trying new formations and I think the big 3 CB’s was obviously to combat their throw in tactic. Sol is finished, frankly has been for a while. Why are injuries an issue when only best was missing, and Jose had to go off? Our 1st 11 was pretty much out there, bennys been out months and who knows if Ireland will play for us. I think they wanted it more, but mistakes from the usual suspects have cost us. For me Forster has to come back to us in the summer. I would hate to see him used as a makeweight for hooper. I’ve said for a while harps time has come and krul now needs loan time away. Forster to be no1 next season.
raffo(Quote)
Also, does it matter if injured players have a night out? Not sure it does. If harper and sol had been on the broon Friday night then yeah I’d be pi$$ed!
Wolves game is massive now, absolutely massive. Hope irelands fit to play instead of tiote
raffo(Quote)
If this is a wake up call and a new dawn than thats the only good that can come of it IMO.
DJG(Quote)
Moreno @ 11 Totally agree mate. Couldn’t believe Pardew arsed about with the formation again and played all sorts of players out of position on top of that. Loven and Sol shouldn’t play for us again, it is like playing with 9 men instead of 11. Should stick with 442 .The biggest dif between us and Stoke was that all their players were 100% and they weren’t carrying the ‘dead wood’ that we were. I thought Walters and Higginbotham were outstanding in particular. I was pleased with Fergusons performance he should def be starting for us. Think Best and Ranger need to be starting for us if they are both fit.
Jill(Quote)
All the teams below us are starting to win aswell. Our soft ba##ards are gonna get us into trouble here. 😐
DJG(Quote)
Pardew is responsible for the formation and selection of non performing players, we had plenty of the ball but have no threat up front, this has been the case for some time now and its very worrying.
If Ameobi and Lovenkrands are our first pick up front then we are in big trouble, pathetic.
Every other club in the league has options up front except from us, and Sol Campbell, whats that all about?
bobby(Quote)
I think Best is actually an important player for us now!
DJG(Quote)
…with too many injuries & really poor form I think we’re going down lads…
Witters(Quote)
Extremely dissapointed by yesterdays results , didnt bother watching mod or anything so cant tak about performance but i assume we were **** , agree with moreno 3-5-2 was a silly idea , kinda like when shearer went for it agaisnt spurs at white hart lane the season we went down, wolves game just got a whole load bigger!
Johno Toon(Quote)
We are 11th, All the sides below us bar possibly Wolves have equally hard if not harder fixtures than us.
If we cannot pick up 4-6 points from Wolves, Brum and West Brom at home and away matches at Blackpool and Villa then we deserve to be relegated…
CC(Quote)
I agree with CC. It was horrible watching that yesterday BUT it’s still in our own hands. We just need to make sure that it stays that way and we can capitalise on it.
The wing-backs were actually working until Jose went off. If anything the mistake made was when Fergie came on he should have taken Campbell off as well and put Jonas on and gone 4-4-2. By not doing that it gave Stoke 2v1 on Fergie and that is where their first goal from.
toonsy(Quote)
I don’t think it was 3-5-2 yesterday more 5-3-2 which a lot of people advocated for. We just didn’t account for the abject performance of the players.
The squad is still mostly the squad that got relegated and clearly are not good enough for a mid table premier league position. A massive change in personnel and investment in the squad in the summer is required if we are lucky enough to stay up.
two years ago we entered the last eight games needing two wins to stay up we only managed one and went down. we need two wins this season is everybody confident we can get them
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
ditto as CC……I’d love villa to go down like 😈
Whey one season ticket sold last neet, one to go..jay let’s be ‘avin ya 😀
My village was the “in” venue for naked pool last night 🙄 😯
richietoon(Quote)
Were you trendsetting again Rich?
Did I make it on MOTD in the end? I haven’t seen it 😆
toonsy(Quote)
Toby….yep but also don’t think we’ll need 2 wins……mind I am an optomist to the point it makes you sick tho 😉
richietoon(Quote)
Toonsy…..nope not me and looking at them it must have been alot colder in the bar than I thought 😆
richietoon(Quote)
Rich – 😆
toonsy(Quote)
…….and didnt bother wi motd, the game was ugly enough without putting your mug on tho 😉 😆
richietoon(Quote)
I’d have thought seeing my face would have brightened the match up for people?
toonsy(Quote)
Toonsy – with you comment on sol shudve gone off when fergie came on, is that because Jose is far too good and was masking sol’s inadequacies in terms of his defending, or fergies lack of ability in the wing back position?
raffo(Quote)
Raffo – More of the fact that Jose can carry off a wing back role but expecting a young lad to do the same is a bit OTT and kind of sums up a lot of our fans.
Ferguson would have had help as Jonas would have come on and helped him out as he does with Jose which means that he wouldn’t been doubled up on by Stoke.
I only said Campbell because he was the “odd” one that wouldn’t be in the team normally.
toonsy(Quote)
No desire to go out and win the game. Too many players (make that everyone bar Fergie) under performed.
After the first goal, which was a well worked one to be fair, we started playing well and I thought we were unlucky to go in down at half time.
We come out after half time and went missing, and it continued for the following 45 minutes.
The fundamental problem was the team selection. Sol should not have started. Lovenkrands has done NOTHING to justify a place in the team this season, other than a goal in the first couple of minutes at Birmingham. Jose was obviously not ready to come back and him going off really upset the balance.
As bright as Fergie was, Pulis ain’t daft, he was going to target the left hand side and swamp him, Tiote can’t be everywhere at once, Barton spent too much time on the right whilst Simpson seemed to drift infield on occasions and Nolan wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
Kadar would have been a great option for todays game by the way. Bring him on at left back, fergie on LW. Simmo at right back with Joey RM and Nolan and Tiote in the middle.
That would have give us the formation we are used to, having played it in pretty much every game this season, with 2 lads down the left who know each other well having played together a hell of a lot.
I agree the wing back option seemed to be working OK, that’s mainly due to Jose playing like a wingback even when he is full back anyway, but when Jose came off, things should have changed.
Moreno(Quote)
Toonsy@34…you’d have thought wrong then 😉
richietoon(Quote)
This is going to be a long bloody 2 weeks until the next match 🙁
richietoon(Quote)
Rich – Continue the optimism lad. It’s the only way forward 😉
And reading back it really really winds DJG up 😆
toonsy(Quote)
aye, DJG was on one last night like, didn’t bite though!
seen the stat I posted about Pards Toonsy 😯
Moreno(Quote)
so wolves havent lost in 4 games ,winning 2 drawing 2 ,we best make sure we end there run 😉
batty(Quote)
aye DJG gets a tad upset after a defeat 😆
richietoon(Quote)
3-0 UP AN THE GEORDIES WERE STILL BOUNCING AND OUTSANG US,FROM 60 MINS TO WHERE FULLER SCORED.. OUR ATMOSPHERE WAS FUCKING ****….3-0 UP AN WE WERE QUIET AN THAT IS A FACT…BRING BK THE CHAMPIONSHIP AN **** THE GLORYHUNTERS OFF….FAIR PLAY CASTLE…..<<<< thats from a stoke fan
batty(Quote)
Moreno – Aye, but the stat is a bit misleading to be fair. Hughton had a Championship winning to boost his stats and Pardew has only had 15 or so games in the Premier League so I think it’s a bit unfair to use them.
End of the day I think Pardew is getting the blame for a shitload of injuries. I see .organ has it down due to him over working the players, like he is asking them to build the pyramids in their spare time or summit….. but at the end of the day you can only polish a turd so much, and what we have playing for us with all the injuries is a bunch of turds really 🙂
toonsy(Quote)
Batty – Exactly 🙂
toonsy(Quote)
Batty – We did ask where their famous atmosphere was a few times 😉
New thread up btw 🙂
toonsy(Quote)
It wasn’t the comparison against hoots I was getting at, mostly the fact he is statistically one of our worst managers we have ever had.
Moreno(Quote)
After 15 games……
And people moan when they say that we have no patience….
toonsy(Quote)
Aye but a bit harsh to judge when he’s not been in charge for only a few games and stats can decieve, how many of the other managers were managing a newly promoted team, did they have the same injuries the same amount of key players suspended did they lose their main goal threat from a transfer?
richietoon(Quote)
Rich – The avatar stealer 😯
toonsy(Quote)
just came across it on google, thats the prob when ya use personal photos 😯
richietoon(Quote)
Ah well, at least it shows Google is working as it should do on the site 😆
toonsy(Quote)
just googled toon images, Ron J was there too 😆
richietoon(Quote)
True, yet it’s a results based business. If I am in sales and I get one sale in ten weeks after time with the product, is my boss going to be happy?
It’s a results based business, I really don’t care about any other factors involved other than picking up points. Pards may talk a good game but he hasn’t shown me he is capable of leading the club yet.
Moreno(Quote)
true but sales, you are more or less going to be affected by what you do and not by other factors beyond your control.
Your right it is a results based business and thats what he will ultimately be judged on but that still wouldn’t alter the fact that judging him using stats from previous managers can’t give an accurate picture about how well(or not) he is doing the job as the circumstances,quality of players, quality of opposition players are all diiferent so it would be impossible to use them for an accurate comparison………but as for the here and now I agree, all is not well 😉
richietoon(Quote)
*you’re right* *different* 😳
richietoon(Quote)
Don’t you think he dictates the circumstances though? Bringing back players before they are read….poor managerial decision. Quality of players? Has he not been in charge during a transfer window and brought in and injured player who hasn’t even played? Sent out our only cover for Jose on loan, hence us playing him before he is fit. Poor managerial decisions. Name a good decision he has made, except playing Fergie, giving Nile a kick up the **** and giving Best a chance (not that he had much choice)
I agree judging him against previous managers isn’t really fair, but you make your own bed after 15 games and a transfer window if you ask me.
Moreno(Quote)
I am not screaming blue murder because we lost, I expected to against Stoke. I am only expressing a real concern that this guy is all talk. We are all making excuses for him and why? I don’t get it.
A win against Wolves and we are back on track but a loss, with other results going against us…..
Moreno(Quote)
Who knows but I reckon Ashley has alot more to do with circumstances during the transfer window than Pardew
As for fitness, if a player says he’s fit and the medical staff say the same then the manager isn’t bringing them back too early is he?
I don’t need to name any good decisions as I didn’t say if he was a good manager or not, I jut commented on the use of stats to judge…which you agreed with me in your last sentence 😉
richietoon(Quote)
I don’t know whether he’s the answer or not Moreno, just that I think he deserves more time and I’d prefer to judge him next season, just as I’d prefer to have judged CH at the end of this one if fatboy hadn’t done the dirty on him 🙁
richietoon(Quote)
I ain’t calling for his head, hope he gets time and turns it around.
I am just not at all impressed with him so far
Expecting Brian Connelly to shove his hand up his **** and start shouting “It’s a puppet!” 😉
Moreno(Quote)
😆 tbh I think anyone who works under Ashley will have to accept being a puppet…but then aren’t most managers to varying degrees? 😀
richietoon(Quote)
maybe I should have said muppet 😀
when his actions and results start backing up the pish that is coming out his mouth I might change me mind. 2 weeks is a long time to be angry at him so I will just leave it for the time being
Moreno(Quote)
The jury’s still out for me on him but I don’t mind him talking but some of it is best left unsaid.
I honestly think we’ll be ok but that’ll be more down to the players than the manager imo.
richietoon(Quote)