Admittedly three of those games were against the likes of the two Manchester clubs and Chelsea, plus those results failed to reflect the course of each game. I’m still convinced that the the Chelsea game deserved less than the 3-0 result it yielded.
Anyway, it is the last game of the four that has been the source of panic and concern amongst some Newcastle fans. I’ve even read a few comments (on here and on other sites) suggesting that the wheels are falling off what was previously a fairly steady wagon. Is that the case though? Or is this just a temporary blip?
The first thing to do is to look at what can be learned from these games. The vast majority have been bemoaning a thin squad since the start of the season, particularly in defence, so it’s comes as no surprise that we struggled when our first three, or only three by the looks of it, central defenders suffered injury setbacks.
The good thing about that is that it can rectified. Fabricio Coloccini is likely to return for the match against Swansea at the weekend plus we’ll have Mike Williamson fit to feature depending on how he does in the reserves in midweek although admittedly, as Alan Pardew says, that may be a “long shot”. Whilst he’s not ideal in the eyes of some, he is certainly more ideal than playing a full-back in the middle of defence.
We may also have Cheik Tiote back in the ranks, which will be a welcome boost as our midfield options look to be running a bit thin on the ground after the sending off of Dan Gosling at the weekend. When you take this, plus the potential boost to our defence, into account then we could line up against Swansea as a very different proposition to what we were against Norwich.
So is it a blip or have the wheels fallen off? I think that depends on the result against Swansea at the weekend. A win and we can start to look up again. It won’t change our thin squad or our vulnerability to injuries, but it will ease some of the anxiety that is flying about at the moment.
Lose, or even draw considering we’re at home, and things start to look darker ahead of a packed festive fixture list. The mood will get darker and there will be little festive cheer amongst fans in terms of the football team.
However I’m confident that this is just a blip and that we are good enough to nail a top seven spot. I’ve seen enough, even in defeat, to know that we’ll turn a corner soon enough, and what better way to do that than at home in front of our own fans? The work rate is there, we still look dangerous going forward and we have a striker in form. Bring it on I say.
Howay the lads!
Dont we have back2back games against Manc Usa & Cessepool at the end/start of the year fella…. lets hope we can get summit out of them 😕
Toon69(Quote)
Forgot to say, at least we’ll get those 2 games out the way before our boys **** off to the ACoN mid Jan, saves us having to face them with a weakened side again,,,,, lol
Toon69(Quote)
If Coloccini and Tiote do make it and it looks like they will then we can expect a team of;
Krul
Simpson Perch Coloccini Santon
Obertan Cabaye Tiote Jonas
Ben Arfa/Best/Shola
Ba
That’s only one player off our best team, now if we can’t cope without one player, granted an important one, then we don’t deserve to finish 7th.
Saying that though I think we will win but if we don’t score in the first 20 minutes Swansea will frustrate us by keeping the ball for fun, I just hope the crowd stay with the team because it could be a one niller!
dan4toon(Quote)
lee ryder has just says on twatter that simmo has snubed new contract offer..
hitman(Quote)
Hitman, just seen that. You can see it now, Simpson leaving in the summer for about £3 million and we get Clyne in on a free 😉
dan4toon(Quote)
simpson can go…wouldnt have got much for him at the start of the season…we could easily get 3-5 mil..
asim(Quote)
Dan is Cabaye not suspended? Thought I read he picked up his 5th booking of the season on sat!
Johno Toon(Quote)
no he never got booked…
asim(Quote)
Why would Clyne come here? Sounds like a VERY highly rated up and coming youngster…how come it would be for free?
EvilFranky(Quote)
Johno, don’t think he did, just Gosling and Shola were booked I think.
Franky, he runs out of the contract at the end of this season.
dan4toon(Quote)
Dan – Ah, well that makes sense 😀
EvilFranky(Quote)
Asim and Dan , Thank god for that!
Johno Toon(Quote)
The sense get with Simpson is he thinks he’s better than he is. I’m a fan of his, I think he’s a steady player that won’t let you down but I think if we are to move on a level we either need Santon RB and sign a left-back or sign someone like Clyne and keep Santon LB.
dan4toon(Quote)
Johno, unlikely I know but… if he can get through the next 4 without getting booked the slate will be wiped.
dan4toon(Quote)
Personally I’d prefer to keep Simpson but as backup rather than first team. Then play Santon at right back and buy Pieters in January/Summer. Get shot of Raylor and use Simpson to cover the FB positions. If Pieters is injured Santon can move across to left back and let Simpson cover right back. If both Pieters and Santon become injured…we are fooked 😆
EvilFranky(Quote)
simmo can **** off… we’ll get a decent rb in on a free! 😉
Nobby(Quote)
We flew past Armstrong’s factory
And up by the Robin Adair
But gannin ower the Railway Bridge
The bus wheel flew off there
The lasses lost their crinolenes
And veils that hide their faces
I got two black eyes and a broken nose
In gannin to Blaydon Races
@JamieVincente(Quote)
What I dont understand is this new striker will get paid a lot more joining us, but Simmo has declined a new deal. I dont see how this works?
If simmo wants to leave then let him go we need players who play for the club and shirt not just the money. Lets be honest i’m sure we would all like to be a penny behind simmo each month!
tooneye(Quote)
I think a lot is being made of the last 4 games. In terms of team performance I feel we’ve done well in every game. We have conceded goals to errors, players being off the field through injury or reds and players being exploited who are playing due to injury or suspensions, out of position.
Man city- 2 Raylor errors, 1 goal scored while Saylor was off the pitch. We had some good chances to score.
Man United – massive fluke of a goal. Amazing team performance with 10 men.
Chelsea – Gutierrez out, Raylor left horrifically exposed by Lover, exploited by Sturridge. Pardews only mistake was not changing this by maybe putting Santon in front of him or at LB. We still battered away at them, could easily have been 1-1. They scored 2 goals when we had Colo subbed and Saylor and Guthrie injured, effectively 9 men, no CBs or leaders on field.
Norwich – no CBs playing against 2 huge arially powerful guys. We all knew it could happen, went down to 10 and still looked dangerous. I really don’t know what else we could have done. I would have maybe swapped Ober for HBA but this would not have stopped us shipping goals.
If we have Colo and Willo fit I’m confident we’re back to normal. Tiote back is a bonus. I’m confident Abeid could step up he has looked great from what I’ve seen. Pardew obviously thinks so too saying he’s pencilled in during the ACN. The above problems are the results of our squad weakness getting exposed. This can be rectified and even improved by players coming back from injury and new players signing.
Hopefully we get peiters in plus another CB. I was gutted and angry when we didn’t push that one through in the summer. Having another strong option at both LB and CB would have made such a difference. I think having 2 strong FBs will help us immensely, it’s our weak link. It will unshackle us a bit going forward and we need crosses from the FBs too as both our wingers are weak in that area. Santon will help here no end. It’s time to bed him in now while we have some “easier” games.
I’m still optimistic. Pardew has us playing so well, we’ve just got found out in squad depth and weak players shown up that will hopefully get replaced.
EP(Quote)
Good post EP 🙂
dan4toon(Quote)
Simmos a decent player although not nearly as good as he thinks he is, ultimately he thinks his value is more than the board think it is so will go elsewhere
stevep(Quote)
Simpson is a good player , but easily replaced. So wouldnt be concerned when he leaves
I would imagine that he is on faily low money ( compared to other footballers that is ) Im sure he signed on championship money and prob feels he had contibuted to our rise out of it and keeping us up last season and the success of this season ( so far ) and should be rewarded for it.
Johno Toon(Quote)
Decent ressie line up. KO at 1:30pm
Rob Elliot; Jeff Henderson, Mike Williamson (c), Tamas Kadar, Shane Ferguson; Michael Richardson, Mehdi Abeid, Bradden Inman, Yven Moyo; Haris Vuckic; Dan Taylor
On Simpson. Meh, decent enough but easily replaceable. Can see Santon at RB, a LB/CB signed in January, and Simpson shown the door with Raylor becoming the backup RB.
Never known a player believe his own hype as much as Simpson 😕
toonsy(Quote)
Toonsy, looks a well balanced team as well. Good for the likes of Elliot, Williamson, Ferguson and Vuckic and build up their fitness.
Hopefully Taylor keeps on scoring too!
dan4toon(Quote)
And Just as I said that, Taylor goes and heads us 1-0 up 😆
dan4toon(Quote)
Ressies 1-0 up. Dan Taylor on the scoresheet
toonsy(Quote)
I don’t think we’re seeing anything we didn’t expect; it just looks worse compared to what went before, which was just so much better than anyone expected.
We will struggle right through December and January due to the traditional injury crisis and then the ACN. If we are still top half in Feb, that’s a result, and we can then kick back on up the table through to the end of the season.
What we mustn’t do is start to get impatient and petulent when things go wrong over the next six weeks. We are NOT a top-4 club yet – at least not for a whole season. We’ve had the good; we should be prepared to ride out some bad stuff for a bit.
Whumpie(Quote)
Dan, Toonsy – don’t you mean Daylor? 😉
Toon Chicken(Quote)
Yes we have too many Taylor’s at the moment. We should sell one, starting with Ryan 😉 😆
toonsy(Quote)
don’t think sammie ammie is upto it yet. i.m.o. too.
mickey(Quote)
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