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.

67 thoughts on “Brighton 1-0 Newcastle – Match highlights, interviews and analysis

  1. Man what a disappointing result. I posted yesterday that we needed to at least avoid defeat at all costs, cos perhaps for a replay we would have the Demba Boys back. Then with a full team, including Tiote, we could have really pushed on in the cup.

    It’s all irrelevant now though… 👿

    Never saw the game, but got back in late from a night on the toon, and when I saw the result nearly hoyed my computer out the window. Haven’t been so angry at a result in a long time.

      (Quote)

  2. Pardew was being extremely kind when he said Simpson couldnt make the tackle as he had been booked when he was nutmegged in the lead up to the goal, if we were going to concede from any position it was going to be from down our right hand side.
    I was baffled by our tactic of having Best wide on the left and Jonas running around like a headless chicken and why wait until the 88th minute to change it when it was clearly not working all game, awful performance, awful tactics and a disgraceful result in a game we should have won and its becoming almost like Japanese water torture watching Shola lumbering around the pitch, he wouldnt get a game in the Championship hes that poor.

      (Quote)

  3. Shola was not the problem, He did OK whwn he got the ball, and won all his ariel battles. The problem was we created no chances. We rarely played to Sholas head, and when he did win the ball nobody was near him.

    The problem lay with Jonas, Best, HBA, Cabaye & Guthrie. They had all the possession they could dream of, nobody pressed them all game and all they could do was play preety passes with all the invention of Arsenal on an off day. That and the fact they gave the ball away all too often, especially HBA.

    Tiote coming back is not going to add invention, Ba & Cisse are finishers not creators. So as the article the other day highlighted who is going to create the chances. Cabaye is good in the first phase, eg setting up the person to make the cross or the killer pass, but he is developing the reputation as a spiteful sod. HBA is OK for creating chances for himself, when he dosent give the ball away. Jonas & Obertan are good at dribbling and falling over. Guthrie & Best are good players, but going to change the game. So who are we going to rely on. Looks like it’s going to be Raylor. I’m not sure I wrote that, but he seems to be our only option. God help us.

    We need Barnetta or somebody. please.

      (Quote)

  4. Ahh life as a Toon fan, in my 40’s and have seen us win nowt and doubt I ever will, but like the lottery there’s always that glimmer of hope, however unlikely 😕

      (Quote)

  5. richie- snap.must have gone to a different game yesterday as the highlights show we were the better team and should of won. 😯

      (Quote)

  6. As for Simpson not being able to make the tackle, if Simpson or Pards don’t have the faith that he can time a tackle right(which is his job) then he shouldn’t be on the pitch. Is he saying that once a defender has been booked then defensively he is no longer of any use to the team?….bollox 👿

      (Quote)

  7. Toonitis…I fall for this every year, I should be old and wise enough to know better……stilll there’s always next year :mrgreen:

      (Quote)

  8. Premandup

    How Shola can not see that Shola is a problem is behind me.

    The reason why its impossible for our midfielders to create chances, is because of the lack of movement by the strikers in front of them.

    They could thread world class passes through the opposition defense all day. But it doesn’t help to have a lazy fck like Shola never making a run.

    The game against Fulham apitimized him for me…

    Best gets the ball off Shola, then beats two players, and plays the through ball, down the left, but fck face Shola is standing on his heels with his hands on his hips. He’s feels he’s done his job because he held the ball up…. Well whip dip de fckn’ doo Shola you twats. I could fcking hold the ball up… Put in some fcking effort!!!

    Theres a new guy in my social footy team. Never played before in his life. He comes to me and say’s he’s frustrated because people ignore him and don’t pass him the ball. I explained the reason why he never gets the ball, isn’t because people are ignoring him. But because he has to learn to make runs and actually look for the ball. Credit to him though, at least he looks enthusiastic on the field.

    The sooner Shola fcks off or retires, the sooner I never have to see that lazt excuse for a footballer in a Newcastle shirt again. Is they day this football club would have taken a HUGE leap in moving forward.

    What pisses me off most, is the lad can finish well, he has a decent touch. But my word if he the laziest slowest and most unsprited footballer I have ever witnessed. He actually drains the life out of me when I watch him play.

    I just cannot understand how people defend him.

    Yesterdays game was not his fault, all be it the game could have been 12 hours and he wouldn’t have scored. The problem was the whole team.
    But as a whole, the team looks far more energetic, has far more movement, and looks far more like scoring when he is not on the field…

    People want him back on the bench. I want him back on his sofa at home.

    Best gets a lot of stick, but he is MILES better than Shola, and he would look even better if he had a decent strike partner. Has any striker looked good next to Shola? Must be so frustrating, he’s always getting in the way, always offsides, makes no effort to get on the end of through balls and crosses. I would go insane!

    Can’t wait to get the Demba’s back. At their worst they are 10X better.

      (Quote)

  9. not me. soon as they show hereford i give up any hope.still got the mental scars from that, only toon out of 400 kids at school,did i suffer 🙁

      (Quote)

  10. As for the rest of them:

    Santon, Simpson, WIlliamson, Jonas, Ben Arfa all had poor games IMO, but I’m not going to attack them, because I’ve seen them play well enough enough times to know they are good, or have potential, or will make decent squad players.
    Simpson and Williamson are more than good enough to be squad players. For me, Obertan had about one bad game for every three good games. I think he should be starting if fit. Santon is very young still and like Enrique, if given time, he will come good. Jonas will play either on the right or be an exellent squad player when Marvauex is fit.
    Raylor is an excellent untily player. Perhaps should be starting at right back. Best is more than adequate as a third choice striker IMO.

      (Quote)

  11. See Cesspool have offered a straight swap – Carroll for Tevez 😯 Now Carroll for Strolla that would be more like it 😆

      (Quote)

  12. Premandup spot on making a toon comparison to Arsenal. You can have all the posession in the world, but if you cannot create anything with it at the end of the day it becomes irrelevant.

    Regarding Shola, the bloke is immobile, to expect anything else from him is ludicrous. He is filling in until the the Demba Boys return. Yesterday we lost a game which we should never have lost. Bad day all round.

      (Quote)

  13. Still livid from last night.

    A match report could read as Brighton broke upfield and lost the ball on the edge of the Newcastle box. The Newcastle defence played ten to twelve passes across their back four before crossing the half way line allowing the Brighton back eight to walk back to their defensive positions. Once across the half way line Newcastle lobbed a ball into the Brighton box but were unable to find their strikers who were rooted to the spot.
    Brighton broke upfield

      (Quote)

  14. Might be minority but i dint thought shola was the problem yesterday, It was Bests finishing that let us down we should have won at a canter, The side are a work in progress we are still in our 2nd season after promotion and we are still lacking strength in depth in practically every other position.

    1 positive to come from last night was theres now no cups to distract us so flat out in the league with the dembas and hopefully a new centre half while liverpool, arsenal and chelsea all have cups and/or europe to contend with…

      (Quote)

  15. Team for Wednesday although not a chance in hell of it happening.
    Kru;
    Tavernier
    New signing or Perch
    Collocine
    Santon
    Raylor
    Abeid
    Cabbaye
    Ferguson
    Cisse
    Ba

      (Quote)

  16. lets face it if we kept playing till now, we still mightn’t have scored, with the strikers we were playing with, yeah Best isn’t as bad as Strolla but still needs 20 odd chances to get one on target.
    The other players must feel the same and think whats the point?
    We badly need the 2 Demba’s back because its obvious that the rest of the team play with more belief when Dembas in the side.

      (Quote)

  17. Can’t help thinking that yesterday was perhaps a game for Obertan, with HBA as impact sub… 🙁

      (Quote)

  18. TLR I honestly think our defence is badly missing Colo ad Saylor as simmo and even Raylor looked far better when them 2 were in the side. Even with just Colo we are better but we still need another commanding CB alongside Colo.

      (Quote)

  19. When I see the highlights from the first half where Best heads Sholas hgead-back 10 metres over the bar it makes me whimper 😯

      (Quote)

  20. We had enough chances to win that game before it mattered, but we really should have had a penalty to at least get a draw. In a similar defensive block, Micah Richards slides in, the ball hits his foot then bounces up and hits his hand and Lpool get a pen. Yesterday that ball struck the lads hand with the ref in the perfect position to see it and gives nowt!!

    Premandup – I agree with JJ mate, Shola is ok when he has the ball but the trouble is he only ever wants it played to feet. It’s almost impossible to get in behind teams or break teams down if your strikers are playing with their backs to the goal for most of the game.
    Forwards like Ba, and I watched Carroll do it all day yesterday, they get the ball played into them, hold it up for the runners, plays it off and then turns and looks to get the ball back further up the pitch. Shola doesn’t, he gets the ball, lays it off then stands and watches to see what’s gonna happen next.
    Don’t get me wrong, I’m not blaming yesterday solely on Shola, far from it. Best had chances that he should have put away, and as Ritchetoon said, if a yellow card compromises Simpsons defensive performance then he shouldn’t be on the pitch.
    Our 3rd and 4th choice strikers simply aren’t good enough though. Stoke beat championship side Derby 2-0 yesterday. Stoke have defenders to choice from and have 4 strikers who score goals.
    If we ever want to win anything, or qualify for champions league football again we HAVE to clear out dead wood players and players who are just not good enough for the premier league and replace them with players who are.

      (Quote)

  21. well that game was ***** – 88 minutes of football played in middle of pitch – everyone was terrible, what a joke

      (Quote)

  22. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but the reality is, the team was picked and we lost.
    I’m willing to bet that many fans before the game looked at the formation and thought,”this could be interesting”
    Obviously many won’t admit that after the fact lol.

    We lost the game, we played well below par and we had no bite going forward, we all know that.
    The point is, it’s just another cup upset like all teams have and every year we all say, “this could be our year for a cup run” unfortunately it isn’t and now we concentrate on the one thing that we can 100% fully concentrate on and that is finishing in a very respectable place in the prem with the possibility of a Euro spot.

    Sometimes it can be like a blessing is disguise as in, had we negotiated Brighton and then the quarters and got to the semi’s, it could affect our league position. All theoretical of course but you get my meaning.

      (Quote)

  23. reading all the stories on demba ba being sold who would buy him?
    he signed for the toon on a free transfer so the insurance was affordable if he is sold for ten million plus signing on fee plus his wages being doubled would a insurance company cough up around 25 to 30 million tony pulis said his knee is a ticking time bomb so would a insurance company insure such a potential risk i for one hope not 😆

      (Quote)

  24. Lost 7 out of our last 13 games.

    Could be a classic case of good first 11, but squa running out of steam at the business end of the season.

    The natural progression should now be to look at increasing the size and quality of the squad for next season so we can look at a good cup run without having an impact on the league.

      (Quote)

  25. POOLIE, apart from Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal and maybe Tottenham (London), anywhere else would be a step down for Ba.

    The issue is, do those top clubs want to splash out a large fee on a player we stole for free?

    Cisse has came here because Ba has influenced him I think and maybe they have been talking about how they can help us win things, who knows.

      (Quote)

  26. STUART, a gfood cup run isn’t reliant on a massive squad, it’s reliant of your slice of luck throughout the tournament.

      (Quote)

  27. HITMAN, because the whole team was all over the place, no one seemed to know what the other was doing and it was a case of ad lib.

      (Quote)

  28. I thought Shola had a strong game yesterday. Held the ball up well and made intelligent runs.
    He is maturing with age. Shame about the rest of the team.

      (Quote)

  29. HITMAN, I agree, he should have changed the formation for the second half and In my opinion Obertan would have been a better bet in a 4/4/1/1 change resulting in this.

    …………………………………Krul…………………………….

    Raylor……….Willo…………Perch………….Santon

    Obertan………………..Guthrie…………Cabaye………..Ferguson

    …………………………………….Ben Arfa…………………………

    …………………………………..Best…………………………………….

    That’s what I would have done but then again, it’s easy when your sat at home watching and not having to deal with the team at hand.

    Pardew will have been well aware that we were lacklustre but I would imagine he believed we would get something from the game as I did and I honestly couldn’t see us losing.

    The penalty which was 100% stone waller would have at least brought Brighton to St James’ but it wasn’t meant to be due to a cheating ref.

    We certainly didn’t deserve to lose the game as bad as we were but we did and there’s nothing we can do now other than soldier on in the league.

      (Quote)

  30. Looks like Liverpool are trying to offload Carroll.

    They’ve tried to swap him for Tevez but Citeh have rejected the offer according to Talksport.

      (Quote)

  31. I thought Perch played well along side Williamson and is certainly as good as the target from Watford.

      (Quote)

  32. Perch played surprisingly well. Forwards were not in touch with each other. Jonas, Best and Ben Arfa were not in best positions, tactics were questionable and referee missed a two handed handball in the area.
    Frankly if we had got through you ‘d have feared Stevenage or Crawley in the next round.

      (Quote)

  33. Stuart79@29 I agree ,
    7 defeats in 13 now and imo totally down to lack of investment in the squad and trying to do everything on the cheap selling players and bringing them in is not building its tinkering and profit building .
    Shola best lovenkrands perch are not good enuf and obertan willo I’m not sure ! All the talk of europe and winning cups is just that TALK we have a good 8 or 9 players IF we keep them and add to them then something can happen if we sell to buy and don’t strenthen the squad then nothing will happen !
    The clock is tick tick ticking .

      (Quote)

  34. I’d forgive em if they were hanging but played the best they could, I’m sure we’ve all been there. Fact is they were just gash.

      (Quote)

  35. JJ #12

    Shola Ameobi summed up perfectly. He is a lazy, frustrating player who’s ability doesn’t warrant such a laid back approach. Players like Berbatov have the class and ability to justify such languid style of play, Shola isn’t half the player Berbatov is and needs to actually make an effort to justify getting game time.

    Ask yourself this, how many tap-in’s have you seen Shola score? I can’t remember any for the life of me. He doesn’t score tap-in’s as he doesn’t make runs and doesn’t ever anticipate play. He’s a waste of space and would rather be on the golf course.

    Three actions epitomised Shola yesterday:

    1. He started the game chasing the ball down, but packed that in after about 15minutes as he was clearly instructed to do so, but doesn’t see the point in it.

    2. The passage of play where he and Best exchanged passes, Best played a pass into a space where any decent striker would have ran into, but Shola hadn’t moved from his original spot(Almost identical to what he did at Fulham)

    3. At around the 70th minute Shola was holding up the ball and Best was just in front of him waiting to receive the pass. Shola played what I can only describe as one of the laziest lay-off’s I have ever seen. It barely moved and certainly didn’t reach Best. Instead of making the effort to further tap the ball towards best, he kind of fell backwards in a way to suggest he was knacked.

    The guy is useless and he needs to go. I put him in the same bracket as Titus Bramble. A player who has somehow been allowed to steal a career at NUFC for far too long. The sooner he goes the better.

    Best is not a clinical finisher, but he works hard and is a good quality foil for his strike partner. It must be so frustrating for him to be playing alongside Shola, it really must.

      (Quote)

  36. Also, how are people still saying things like “Perch played surprisingly well”? I can assure you, he has had more good games than bad for us. He is always reliable and gives 100%. More than worthy of a place on the bench.

      (Quote)

  37. I’ve gone off Saylor now after seeing the two timing rat with that blonde. I’m so frigging mad. I am.

    In a fit of rage I’ve ripped all his posters off my wall and even put the stuck together pages in magazines about him in the bin.

    I’m absolutely fuming. 😡

      (Quote)

  38. JJ – I think my favourite part of your Shola rant was the “my word…” line, very funny.

    Wolfie – usually I find myself agreeing with alot of your posts mate, but I don’t think I could ever see being knocked out the FA cup as a blessing in disguise like. I understand your point about extra games taking it’s toll but these lads are highly tuned atheletes, and if Pardew thought that he would or should be using the squad better. The reality is that the Carling cup and FA cup are the only chance of silverware. I know your not suggesting we forfeit the game to concentrate on the league, but if we don’t have the squad to cope with Brighton in the FA cup (no disrespect to Brighton) then do we really have the squad to cope with the demands of a Euro campaign? even if we bring 4-5 players in in the summer.
    I personally dont like the Euro tournament, I think there are too many games, not enough financial reward and little to no chance of winning it when CL teams join in half way through. It’s a stupid tournament in my view.

      (Quote)

  39. SHARPY, aye mate I know what you’re saying and I was basically just being hypothetical and using foresight as a reasoning.

    You got my gist though. 😀

      (Quote)

  40. Keith

    As I have just said, he has had more good games than bad for us, so unless you can actually justify why he is a squad player for a “poor midtable side” then I will just write that off as another throw-away comment with no substance.

    Anyway, I am bemused at your lack of respect for mid-table sides seeing as we only came up from the Championship a year and a half ago. Some of the arrogance from my fellow NUFC fans is astonishing to say the least.

      (Quote)

  41. Yeah, especially as we’re essentially a mid table team that’s largely overachieved this season 😆

      (Quote)

  42. NEWKIE. 😆 😆 😆 😆

    KEITH, Perch is no world class player obviously but he’s a very willing and confident back up.
    We can’t go out buying top quality players just for back up as it would destroy the dressing room with bickering and hissy fits about who should be playing.

    When we get to a stage of challenging for the title of winning silverware then we can rotate quality as and when we add but we are in no position to have top quality all through the squad just yet and that’s why the likes of Perch are crucial to backing the team up because they are happy to do so because they want to be a part of the set up.

    These players might not set your heart racing but they are are major part of the ongoing push that this club is making.

      (Quote)

  43. Poolietoon – I fully expect Ba to leave in the summer, particularly if his 2nd half of the season goes anything like his first half.
    I think it was The Kid that made the point last night, all of Bas’ comments show commitment through the Jan window but not beyond. We are out of the cup and heavily dependent on him to score our goals.
    Ba will end up at PSG next season as he will cost them very little and he is a boyhood fan, and stands to pocket a small fortune.

      (Quote)

  44. Keith@53…

    “a poor mid table side “….???

    Pretty belittling of the PL don’t you think ?

    Anyone can beat anyone in the PL, if you don’t have the application you are gonna lose the game, end of story.

    By the way, who do you class as “a poor mid table side ” ?

      (Quote)

  45. Newkie

    Exactly. We will suffer from our own success. Getting relegated lowered a lot of expectation, but the immediate promotion and over-achievement since then has gone some way to restoring a lot of arrogance in a lot of )NUFC fans

    I hate to say it, but I have a terrible feeling that if we finish any lower than 7th this season there will be a lot of angry/disappointed Toon fans dissatisfied with the campagin. Similarly, If we fail to match this year’s performance next season I could see fans making grumbles about wanting Pardew replaced.

    I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard booing at half-time against Swansea. Some of these fans need to get a clue. Utter madness.

      (Quote)

  46. He he you make me laugh I wonder how many prem and cup games we have won and lost with perch starting ! And we can’t have a good bench to avoid hissy fits !! Maybe we should sell some of our stars and the gulf between first team and squad won’t be as wide ! And ashley can make the club more self sufficient wow !
    One week we are going to win the cup get in europe and the next week its don’t get carried away howay wolfie !
    Tick tick tick !

      (Quote)

  47. I read somewhere that Ba’s release clause only triggered in the Summer. I also read somewhere that it was only triggered if we finished bottom half of the table.

      (Quote)

  48. The kid-Agreed. I think most of us had a laugh when we were up around the CL positions but some people actually expected us to to finish there as well. Anything higher than 12th is technically an improvement and we really should be finishing in the top 10 now but some people really need to get a grip.

    I think managing us is one of the hardest jobs in football, and the real test of Pardew’s mettle will be when the relentless calls for his sacking start coming from all over the place…and people wanting KKK brought back in or something 😆

      (Quote)

  49. @munach , I’m told we are over achieving ! So we must be a mid table side yeh !
    @the kid , we haven’t had any success !
    It saddens me that fans have bought in to the whole let’s be gratefull and thankfull for where we are **** that ashley and co have handed out like a horse that’s been whipped one to many times .
    I never will !
    Tick tick

      (Quote)

  50. Wolfie – Sorry but if you don’t have a good squad you aren’t going to do well in the FA cup. The only luck in the cup is the draw and we got that bit of luck with Brighton away, the fact that we don’t have any strikers that are any good was the reason we went out.

      (Quote)

  51. Why is Pardew now always changing his tactics to suit the opposition? Fulham he went like for like..Last night he seemed more worried about them than he was about us and we are PL team!! should have ripped them to bits im absolutely foaming! when will we ever win a trophy? have we upset a wicked witch in 1970 and been cursed neva to win silverwear again!
    😕 👿

      (Quote)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *