On the surface of it some may feel that the compliments are warranted. I mean here we are, four games in, having only conceded one goal in the league. Can you really ask for more?
There is such a thing as being blinded by statistics. Many people will quickly point out to me that we have the join best defensive record in the Premier League. I will of course counter that by suggesting that an awful lot of luck has come into the equation, and that it’s that luck which has played more of a part than our supposedly rock solid defence.
Not that I’m complaining of course. To a certain extent you need a bit of luck on the football pitch, and God knows how many times we’ve had luck go against us in the past. In fact I remember at one time last season where we every shot against us seemed to end up being deflected past Tim Krul in goal.
I guess it all boils down how you define a decent defensive display. A clean sheet can cover up a whole host of issues, and to me that is what is happening right now. Even our players, namely Steven Taylor and Danny Simpson, are in the press lauding our defensive solidarity which some may say they are quite within their rights to do.
Not me.
Whilst keeping these clean sheets should be praised, it should also be recognised that we’ve been lucky, very lucky, at times. It’s not as if we’ve snuffed out the opposition attacks and limited their chances to perhaps one or two in each game.
In quite a lot of games we’ve had our backs against the wall. Against Arsenal we probably just about deserved a clean sheet, but against Sunderland we were lucky not concede from a succession of chances for the home side. Fulham was much the same and obviously we all know what happened at QPR the other night. Against any one of those teams it could have been so different.
To me a solid defensive display means that we restrict the chances created against us. The reality is that we just haven’t done that. We’ve made a decent fist of last ditch tackles and clearances off the line, but if we were really solid defensively then we wouldn’t have had to be doing those last ditch tackles and clearances so often.
In conclusion, and please don’t think that I’m looking to pick fault with things, I’m really happy that we’ve made the start we have, and that we’ve somehow ended up with a very very good defensive record to show for it. I just don’t think that our defence is playing as well as it’s being made out to be.
Does anyone else agree? Or am I just being a grumpy old Hector?
Grumpy old Toonsy, I’d say! 🙂
1 goal in 4 games and you’re picking holes? Shame on you!
Seriously though, I do believe we’ve been very lucky and very committed at the back. Tiote messing up isn’t helping, but Cabaye helping out at the back sure is.
hydeous(Quote)
We could’ve conceeded more – but we didn’t!
We could’ve lost all our games – but we didn’t!
whether we were lucky or not, 5 players stood in the way of conceeding goals and prevented the other teams from scoring. something must’ve gone right somewhere along the line!
Just wondering – What does it take for a Toon fan to be positive about what we have done this season??
I for 1 am very happy to be in the position we are in.
Shanghaitoon(Quote)
Harsh in some cases, Sunderlands succession of chances were actually shots from outside the box and they rarely got in behind us, Arsenal were well dealt with.
Taylor and Coloccini arent the problem, Simpson was decent the other day and Krul has been immense, We saw where QPRs attacks were coming from virtually all were aimed at our “left back”
Also not helped that all but one of our matches this season has been us in a 4-4-2 vs a fluent 4-5-1, Which hardly helps us keep possession and take the pressure of the back four, Our usual out ball last season was our left wing but Jonas is hampered by Raylors unrivalled shitness.
When HBA and Santon are fit and firing we will be far better but id still take points like monday as we couldnt have picked a worse time to play QPR…
CC(Quote)
Grumpy? You’re joking one of the seven dwarves should have been called Toonsey!
Geordie85(Quote)
There’s an old saying the harder you work the luckier you get I think our defence especially Steve Taylor & Collocini have been outstanding. We’ll see how lucky we are when we play one of the top sides. I think against QPR the mistake was playing 4-4-2 with Obertan & Jonas staying wide and not tucking in when we lost the ball thereby exposing Cabaye & Tiote to the 3 QPR midfielders and Ryan Taylor was shown up by SWP.
Geordiedoonsooth(Quote)
Should be titled dont be fooled by Tiote, he hasnt turned up this season. His lack of form has put more pressure on Def which to be fair they have coped (just)
– Ryan Taylor has been put in impossible position and was any easy target for SWP on monday.
Happy where we are
Happier once davide starts playing and happier still if we were a midfield 5 as per previous article.
geordiescamp(Quote)
I don’t understand this post.
It’s the forwards and then the midfield that have failed us.
It starts with the forwards closing down and harrying their defence to win back the ball or force a loose pass.
The midfield then do the same. Breaking up play and protecting the back four.
The defence have been outstanding.
They aren’t the ones responsible for restricting the chances created against us.
geoff777(Quote)
Shanghaitoon,
Its because the fans can see this team/squad is abysmal and its only a matter of time until we go on a huge run of defeats.
Wee kept all the **** Ameobi, Perch, R Taylor, Guthrie, A Smith, Lovenkrands and sold the best players (Carroll, Barton, Nolan, Enrique), this strategy is bount to lead to failure.
PS Obertan looks worse then Routledge a headless chicken if ever there was one.
tony(Quote)
edit – bound
tony(Quote)
@toonsy
Totally agree. It looks like the dreamers are out in force.
Farcical defending at times. Krul has been outstanding but I’ve witnessed some of the easiest chances missed by the opposition as well.
Long may it last but be realistic and objective.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Yes I do agree we have been very lucky so far.
Yet we have Pardew saying in press conferences how well our back four are playing. I just dont see it.
Our biggest weakness seem to be the aerial ball into the box, especially around the pen spot. Time and again we fail to deal with it. To me there is a serious lack of understanding between Colo and STaylor and things might well unravel on saturday against villa.
We have been lucky that QPR and the filth didn’t have the quality strikers to finish us off after good build up work. Oh and Arsenal were in disarray during the t/f window.
A.Villa tho have Agbon the ***** up front and Petrov in m/f with N’Zog to supply from the wings. Neither full back seems capable of stopping the crosses from coming in, so we really need our CB pairing to get their act together, and work as a unit, not two individuals.
You’ll notice that when the defence push up the field, STaylor is always the last man, and blows the offside, time and again. This leaves Colo in no mans land.
I just cant see us keeping a clean sheet this weekend, but so long as we play a 5 man midfield with Best up front, I do think we will also score against them.
Just my opinion 😆
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Bit of both, but we have deserved the luck we have got and it is about time we had some good luck at SJP!
Also Shanghaitoon @1 where abouts in Shanghai are you?
pearceet(Quote)
sorry @2
pearceet(Quote)
You are bang on the money Toonsy!
The amount of times opposing players have got in behind our defence only for the cross to be poor, or the striker missing the ball by a hair must be in the region of 20 times this year already.
Danny Simpson is a muppet…he has no idea how to defend and the amount of times he stands still watching the ball whislt a striker comes in from the left to beat him to the ball is scary…you watch the highlights of our game against Fulham…he was useless.
Ferguson never lets a good player go unless he’s fallen out with them…and Simpson is no different.
…anyway…back to point of my blog…we’re letting the opposing players in behind us far too much…that’s because R Taylor is out of position and gets pulled out of position all the time, and because Simpson just doesn’t get it so colo and S Taylor are exposed all the time.
We will get royally stuffed by someone any time soon and don’t be surprised if it’s against villa this week
Mark Roberts(Quote)
Agree with ya Toonsy and to add to that we heap even more pressure on our selves when we dont hold on to the ball well as we didnt vs qpr.
AlanPardewProject(Quote)
@Tony
It was always a gamble bringing in so many foreign players at once.
Tiote isn’t playing at his best, but improved in the second half against QPR when he got in some important tackles.
They all need time and patience from the fans.
Obertan’s been with us a month, he looks fast and with more games will cause defences some real problems.
Marveaux looks quality, Gosling, Vuckic and Sammy young talented players for the future.
Cabaye is adapting well and could be a massive player for us over the next 5 years!
I think it’s looking good.
HWTL
geoff777(Quote)
ffs people.
Is it not possible to be happy with the results but a tad critical of the performance like???
Christ on a bike !
If yous all think we are top 4 material because we have only let in 1 goal, then I give up.
CC – you and I dont watch the same games..
I dont think its fair to be so critical of RTaylor when he clearly isn’t a LB and hasn’t a clue what to do in that position. Blame Pardew, blame the board, but not the player, who is only doing his best ffs.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
RTaylor has been caught wanting more than a few times give him a pat on the back and put him on the bench, we need Santon in for villa if he’s ready. Collo and STaylor have been v good Simpson is still iffy, and Krul has been awesome when called upon. Sums up our defence in my opinion.
Jostoon(Quote)
It’s not so much luck as poor finishing by the opposition and that’s their problem not ours. Either way I’m not arsed how we pick up the points at the moment 😉
richietoon(Quote)
JOSTOON
Ryan deserves a pat on the back and a place in the team either at right back or on the far right of a five man midfield.
If in midfield may mean he only plays some away games or against the better premier teams at home but IMO he’s better than Simpson and it’d be good management to frighten Simpson into some better performances and making simpson realise he’s not an automatic choice.
Taylors a massive threat from set peices as well…shame we can’t bring players on just for free kicks like american football!
Mark Roberts(Quote)
Are we are becoming the new Arsenal? Not the defence, I mean the whingeing fans! Ok, its not all perfect, but someone said above, the harder we work, the luckier we get. HWTfuckinLads!
Jesmond Dean(Quote)
Richie – it will be our problem when we come upon a team with better finishers tho.
Yes we are picking up points, which is good, but lets not bury our heads in the sand and asume everything is fine and dandy, because it clearly isn’t.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Beardsleys Boots – “Neither full back seems capable of stopping the crosses from coming in, so we really need our CB pairing to get their act together, and work as a unit, not two individuals.
You’ll notice that when the defence push up the field, STaylor is always the last man, and blows the offside, time and again. This leaves Colo in no mans land”
Bang on fella. I’d rather have a solid calm back line than the variety served up when Taylor plays.
I will assert from your comment that you’ve played the game fella – unlike Troy whose first and only competitive 11 aside game was when he was 34! (On that basis not sure why anyone listens too him)
Nice to see posters with an understanding of the game 😆
Stardust(Quote)
Mark……sorry but have to disagree with him being a “massive” threat from set pieces. The 2 goals this season were great, but since he came here his set pieces have generally been poor to average at best……in my opinion of course 😉
richietoon(Quote)
polly want a cracker @10 😉
batty(Quote)
richietoon
That’s only because your last memory is that free kick from 50 yards in the fifth minute against QPR! and ha ha…yep…that was *****!
but seriously…he can certainly do some damage with his free kicks
Mark Roberts(Quote)
BB… I was pointing out in those games it was more to do with poor finishing than luck and that is the teams we have played problems not ours. I’m not commenting on games to come but games that have gone. I sai when the window was open we needed 2 lb’s a cb and a rb, we still need at least a left back and a centre back, no burying of the head there 😉
richietoon(Quote)
Mark…thats my memory of the majority of the set pieces he’s taken in 50 games 😉
richietoon(Quote)
Stardust – unlike your good self tho, I dont have a pre ordained hatred of STaylor, and can see some of the good work he actually does do, at times, lol and give credit where its due.
I just think the two CB’s need to sort things out better.
And while I’m on, I dont like to see both CB’s going forwards for set pieces.
WHY?
We get caught on the break time and again from this play with the long ball over the top.
ok we get away with it alot, but it scares the **** out of me when it happens.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
richietoon…
LOL touche’!
Mark Roberts(Quote)
BB – I agree with both CB’s going forward for set pieces. It’s what ALL teams do as it represents a threat on goal. Generally it’s the RB and LB that are left behind to watch the counter.
toonsy(Quote)
QPR , Mackems, Fulham, Arsenal should have scored (or scored more). They didn’t. This is the case with most football matches. Otherwise we would get plenty of 5-4s. and not the usual 1-0s we regularly see.
Only the top 5-6 have good enough strikers to take their chances regularly and more often than the rest of the dross in the Premier League. This is why you have to pay astronomical amounts to get a potential or proven goal scorer if you don’t get them young or through the academy.
I include our current strikeforce in the “dross” but hope BA & HBA come good.
What makes the difference between 7th & 16th is a bit of resilience, performances against similar sides, luck with injuries and the odd player or two that can make a difference.
Reckon we have resilience and are pretty well set up by Pardew even if a bit negative with both Cabaye & Tiote protecting the back 4. That also contributes to a bit more solidity than last season but makes us less potent too (even discarding the lack of Carroll since February)
We have a couple of potentially good players who may make the difference and the bench this year will be of a much better quality at least for midfield. If we can limit the injuries, no reason we can’t finish around 8th when you see the rest of the rubbish in the division.
An example of our real competition are Villa, who will probably be top 8 if they can keep Bent fit. He would have buried at least one of the QPR chances.
We’ll see on Saturday and a probable 4-5-1 if we will be as resolute defensively against one of the better “poor ” Premier League sides but so far we have to be happy with the points even if not the performances.
Defensively CBs have done well and even Simmo who I have regularly slated put in a show against QPR.
STB(Quote)
Agree that we’ve been very lucky not to have conceded more this term.
That said you have to applaud Tim Krul for his performances so far, he’s one of the main reasons why it’s only been the one goal.
Another thing that most people seem to forget is that our defence has really upped their concentration levels since last season. We could have easily conceded late goals against Arsenal, Sunderland and Fulham but didn’t. Last season we dropped a heckuva lot of points in the final 5 mins.
Thad(Quote)
@17
Ryan Taylor has always maintained he is a right back, How hard is it for a right back to adapt to playing left back, Aaron hughes was a centre back yet played comfortably at full back for us for years.
The only shots krul saved in the derby were Sessenon from outside the box and if justice had been done they wouldnt have got a toe hold in that match to create owt, The centre backs and keeper have been solid enough considering the ammount of pressure the midfield and forwards have heaped on them by not keeping the ball and Arsenal were no more in disarray than we were…
CC(Quote)
To be fair, RTaylor had a golden opportunity towards the end of the match against QPR, just outside the D, but I knew before he took it where it would end up. In the wall.
More of his free kicks are hopeless than good I’m afraid. If that’s his speciality, then he needs to work harder at it and practice more, because beckham he aint.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
pardew..has played 442 all season and it hasnt worked…he has got 2 play 5 man midfield..and give mareaux and gosling a go..your 2 strikers are your first line of defence…and are strikers cant play football or score…apart from best who looks good…nobody plays 442 anymore…unless u got rooney and chico…or city forwards…
asim(Quote)
I know there is this air of we must give raylor a chance but lets not forget that he is average and i feel that santon should at least be given the opportunity now rather than later so he can adapt to live in the premier quickly.
Stardust – the one thing about saylor which i cannot stand is he is a cheat.
Liam Southern Toon(Quote)
Liam….all footballers are cheats, it’s just that most of them are intelligent enough to try and make it a little less blatant than some 😉
richietoon(Quote)
richie,
I am right on your tail in the Predictor Game! WATCH OOT……………
TonyGreenSupreme(Quote)
TGS……eat my dust this weekend 😉
richietoon(Quote)
Agree about the forwards and midfield not keeping posession well enough, which inturn heaps additional pressure on the defence. But it also doesn’t help when the defence get in a panic and keep hoofing the ball back over our midfield to them.
The QPR game showed 1 thing, when we needed a senior pro with a level head, to get a grip of things, like a nolan or barton, we were found wanting.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Your dead right Toonsy.
Arsenal were toothless, and a shadow of their normal selves.
Sunderland played us off the park until Taylor scored. However they too were toothless and have been from preseason to the present.
Scunny were unlucky not to beat us.
QPR should have beat us.
We were dreadful against Fulham in the first half.
Krul, Coloccini and Steven Taylor have been our best players but we have ridden our luck far too much so far.
Maybe we can go the entire season getting points by watching our opponents dominate us for long periods and squander chance after chance. Maybe.
I tend to think our luck will end sooner rather than later.
Pootle(Quote)
FFS every team in the leauge should of let more goals in .
batty(Quote)
Some luck involved, that point can’t be argued but one thing that hasn’t been mentioned is inferred pressure. Our guys have been playing as a unit and normally close players down quickly. So when a player does find space they snatch at thier shots as they are expecting to get shut down… Call that luck if you want but to me it is down to working hard and as a team..
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
TGS – not doing so well in the fantasy footy tho 😕
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Well i guess yesterdays milan defense has inspired this article. Anyway the problem is our midfield right now which was supposed to be one of the best in the league. Tiote loosing the ball too often and not dictating play, all he does is spins in the center like dancing on his prom. Cabaye is invisible, obertan is a player who likes fast paced movement which none of our strikers are providing, and he also lacks the ability to hold the ball. And jonas does not have a footballing brain. That is why we cant link up well in the midfield or in the front, and our defenders have to constantly face threat. The fact that they have to be alert throughout the match is probably keeping them a bit too high on adrenaline and hence the last ditch tackles and goal line clearances are successful.
Just wondering what will be the scoreline if we play barcelona 😉 ooof.
Loon Toon(Quote)
Ive paid the price in fantasy footy for putting toon players in!
Liam Southern Toon(Quote)
for a mid table prem team we have had a great start,so ive no complaints
hitman(Quote)
stardust if s taylor scored 20 goals and did 40 goal mouth clearances you would still call him ***** you frickin halfwit haha
batty(Quote)
hitman agree m8
batty(Quote)
” and Arsenal were no more in disarray than we were…’
Hmm, their result against Man U would seem to suggest otherwise.
Pootle(Quote)
Batty –
😆
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
“Well i guess yesterdays milan defense has inspired this article.”
Nah. Was working when that was on.
What has inspired it is the effusive praise OUR OWN players seem to be giving each other. I don’t like that one bit as it smacks of complacency. For years I’ve maintained that Newcastle are the battered wives of the Premier League, even with the Uber team including Mega Kevin Nolan where team spirit spewed forth from every orifice 🙄
My point is that Newcastle, for years, have been either far too cocky or far too nervous. One leads to the other. I see signs of that when I hear our own players lauding a defence which has played decent at times, but has also failed to stop waves of chances cutting through it.
toonsy(Quote)
Vermaelan, Gibbs, Song, Gervinho and Sagna played against us and all were unavailable against manure when players like traore, jenkinson and cocqulan played instead…
CC(Quote)
@PEARCEET
Bit of both, but we have deserved the luck we have got and it is about time we had some good luck at SJP!
Also Shanghaitoon @1 where abouts in Shanghai are you?
I Live in the French concession Area. My local is the British bulldog on Wulumuqi Rd. I’m a regular so they show almost all the Toon games in there for me. (Only missed 2 I think last season) You in Shanghai? Pop in to the Bulldog on a Friday or Sat and ask for Roy, they all know me! LOL
Shanghaitoon(Quote)
Rain or shine we will always grumble if we won the league it would still be ashleys fault we let in too many goals.
WE all love a moan keeps us going!
Liam Southern Toon(Quote)
Liam but atleast you can say you shwed loyalty to our own players mate.
Batty whats the Polly want a cracker about ?
Stardy yet again is blinded by hatred for one of our own, but still gets ( favours ) and loves the Fatman even after all the **** he has put us through. But then thats Taylors fault for turning him down one night
Big Dave(Quote)
” for a mid table prem team we have had a great start,so ive no complaints”
The problem is unless we see a dramatic, and i mean dramatic, improvement in performance from the midfield and forwards we aren’t going to be a mid table team. If our luck runs out and we continue to play like this we are going to drop like a stone.
Pootle(Quote)
Big dave – i think its called ‘blind faith’
I agree i do think stardy has a ‘personal’ reason for not liking taylor? 🙂
Liam Southern Toon(Quote)
I thought the back 4 was all about the last line of defence.. last ditch tackles and clearances off the line are part of their job.
If we are to restrict the chances and not have this burden on our back 4, then the defence must come from further up the pitch.. starting with the forwards closing the ball down quicker.. Tiote and Cabaye bossing the game from midfield.
The defence is a team game when you ain’t got the ball.. not just back 4.
lee(Quote)
So many possitive post on here… great to see..
We have gone from being regarded as relegation risks last year to being nailed on to a mid table team this year… Who knows at this rate how high we might be flying in a few years…
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
dave what do parrots do ???keep repeating them selfs ,wake up m8 🙂
batty(Quote)
Aussie 😆
toonsy(Quote)
BB – true I have a great dislike of him, I see Taylor as being dangerous as he seems to have a following of fans who love the “geordie” tag, who can’t see beyond a badge of localism.
Taylor can do good things but imo they should usually have been prevented from getting there in the first place.
If fans were honest they’d accept we are all over the place at the back, but they aren’t – they see him making last ditch this and that, ignore his position and start to question even Colo when he is in the team.
We are a far more cohesive unit with Williamson in the team – I can hear the barrage of Taylor fans now arriving pitch forks in hand. Williamson is far more composed and steadying force on the whole team imo.
Batts – 😆
Stardust(Quote)
Toonsy you make some good points but do you not think our MF should help out more ? As the only one I seen helping was Jonas who helped that much that he didn’t get the chance to do his own job.
I for one would have felt bad to see Raylor dropped from the QPR game after helping us win 2 of the previous 3 games.
But after QPR I dont think he can complain, because apart from the fact that he is not a LB he is also causing us to lose our LW.
Big Dave(Quote)
wow ! didn’t know we had lost the last 4 visits to villa park.
We need to change that stat this weekend 😆
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Dave – I actually think the problem isn’t the midfield. I mean at QPR they were outnumbered. Pardew even said that whilst many people also noticed that. The problem in that our attack never gave us an outlet. If a ball gets pumped long after a bit of pressure it’s usually a clue to the forwards to hold it up and ease the pressure. That didn’t happen on Monday and the ball just cam straight back as a result leading to more pressure etc etc.
toonsy(Quote)
It’s all Shola’s fault then…… *******!!!!! 🙂
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
krul propper fcked up against QPR but sir steven taylor saved the day 🙂
batty(Quote)
we only can get better..gosling needs 2 play…he was the only midfield player 2 get good pre season…so i cant understand way he isnt playing….plus he his great on the ball..which we seemed 2 be missing from central..with tiote nt being fit…anyway we are knocking us and we have 8pts manage if have had nothing…this blogg would have 2 shut down…lol
asim(Quote)
Batty I noticed Colo gave the ball away a few times and I even said during the game that it was funny that no one mentioned him giving it away, but when its someone else they are quick to jump on their backs.
I just wonder if Stardy knows that Colo is married to a Lass as he seems to have a crush on him, and reminds me of someone that fell for hooters and has undying love and are blinded by it.
Toonsy I get your point but for most of the game the MF wern’t really involved in the game.
Big Dave(Quote)
Dave – True, they weren’t, but like I said there was some mitigating factors.
1 – They rarely got a chance to get involved due to our defenders being under pressure. Said defenders then did what most would do and just cleared it only for the attackers to fail to make the ball stick which meant that the ball just came straight back.
2 – The way QPR attacked. They largely ignored the middle and most of their most dangerous moments came from them playing the ball out wide. It’s not like QPR were just cutting through Tiote and Cabaye – they just simply bypassed them and focussed on getting at Raylor.
The midfield took a lot of flak, but I don’t see how much they can influence a game when a) the ball is being pinged over them and b) the ball is being bypassed around them.
toonsy(Quote)
its all saylors fault,hang him from the tyne bridge
hitman(Quote)
well Toonsy I think we were a lot better when we went to 5 in MF, and I was glad to hear Pards admit that he waited to long, so atleast he knows and is not afraid to admit it which is refreshing.
Big Dave(Quote)
here is a factor that hasn’t been considered… The last time we played under lights was against Scunthorpe and we know how well we (didn’t) play there…….
Maybe some of our players are scared of the dark 🙂
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)