The victory shouldn’t mask what was really an awful performance and also shouldn’t detract from the fact that West Brom did enough to deserve at least a share of the points on offer.
Mind you, I’m not overly fussed about what the opposition deserve or didn’t deserve. At the end of the day we got the three points thanks to a huge slice of fortune, which we haven’t really had this season. However I can still be critical even after victory and there are lots of areas that need improvement after this match. Once again we were poor in most areas of the pitch and something needs to change if we are to go on a run good results and push ourselves up the league.
Newcastle were the first to garner an effort on goal. Shola Ameobi found space on the inside left and fired in a cross for Demba Ba who headed narrowly over. It was a peach of a cross and Ba should have done a bit better with his chance.
Davide Santon was next to go close when he controlled the ball from a cleared corner and struck a low curling effort towards goal from fully 30-yards on to see Ben Foster on hand to palm away his drive for another corner.
However it was far from all Newcastle and West Brom managed to create their own chances. Graham Dorrans broke free from a Newcastle corner and started off a counter-attack. He fed the ball to Romelu Lukaku who forced a fine save from Tim Krul to deny the Belgian international.
Shola Ameobi fired high and wide on 32 minutes after some good work from Hatem Ben Arfa, but just three minutes he had a hand in the opening goal, flicking the ball on from a Tim Krul kick for Demba Ba who volleyed home past Ben Foster. Gareth McAuley probably should have done better but Ba was ideally placed to score his seventh goal in nine league starts.
The Baggies had the final chance of the half though, with Romelu Lukaku once again forcing a fine stop from Tim Krul. Barely deserved, he hosts went in at half-time with a slender advantage, and with signs that West Brom still posed a threat.
Half-time: Newcastle 1-0 West Brom
After a slow start to the second period those signs of life from West Brom came to the fore and they found themselves level. Zoltna Gera found space on the left and crossed for Lukaku who ghosted in between Davide Santon and Fabricio Coloccini to nod the visitors deservedly level.
The visitors continued to press and frustrate Newcastle and could have gone ahead through any one of three chances that fell the way of Markus Rosenborg although the Swede was unable to make the most of them.
Newcastle tried to carve out a winning goal but with so many players putting in lacklustre displays they were unable to find that killer pass or stumble upon that bit of luck that would see them grab a winner.
That was until it all seemed to late of course. With pretty much the final seconds of four minutes of added time being played Sammy Ameobi tried a speculative effort from 25-yards. I have no idea if it was on target or not but to me it didn’t look like it was going to be, until the ball ricocheted off Papiss Cisse into the Gallowgate net leaving Ben Foster with no chance of making the save.
That goal ended a goal drought for Cisse, who had failed to score a Premier League goal since the victory away at Stamford Bridge last season. Perhaps that was the bit of luck that he, and indeed Newcastle, needed?
Full-time: Newcastle 2-1 West Brom
Don’t let the win fool you. Most people won’t of course, but all I’m saying is that we got off lightly today. Yes sometimes you need a bit of luck and today we got that, but it’s the performance that was the most alarming thing about today.
Nothing seemed to work and nobody seemed to play with any urgency. That’s not to take anything away from West Brom who stifled us for the most part, but we really need to improve if we are going to kick on this season.
Howay the lads!
Newcastle: Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Davide Santon, Hatem Ben Arfa, Yohan Cabaye, James Perch, Jonas Gutierrez, Demba Ba, Shola Ameobi
Subs: Steve Harper, Steven Taylor, Shane Ferguson, Vurnon Anita, Gabriel Obertan, Sammy Ameobi, Papiss Cisse.
West Brom: Ben Foster, Gabriel Tamas, Gareth McAuley, Jonas Olsson, Liam Ridgewell, Youssouf Mulumbu, James Morrison, Peter Odemwingie, Zoltan Gera, Graham Dorrans, Romelu Lukaku.
Subs: Luke Daniels, Gonzalo Jara Reyes, Goran Popov, Yassine El Ghanassy, Markus Rosenberg, Shane Long, Marc-Antoine Fortune
Attendance: 49,731
Dare I say it, but are we perhaps paying for investing so much in, ahem, gallic flair? Barfa (who started well) Cabs and Obertan really didn’t seem arsed for large portions. Perch and Jonas were poor but I don’t expect as much from them. Defence were below par-bar Santon, although I felt he stayed forwards a bit too much at times as we need his pace against counter attacking sides like wba. Cis, Shola and Ba were alright, ran around, made chances, scored goals etc.
Newkie(Quote)
I disagree about the performance. We weren’t fantastic, but were good in spells and mediocre at other times. West Brom were just very good with their tactics. The attempted to do to us what we did to them at their place last year. To be fair, it worked, but their finishing just let them down.
I just want to say, Davide Santon is looking every bit the player Mourinho praised when he was back at Inter Milan. What an asset he is becoming. Gives us so much going forward and is running down blind alleys less and less each game.
The Kid(Quote)
We didn’t deserve it but it was just nice to break our duck against the Baggies at home, I think they have had a result in the last 4 games at SJP. Sammy is still a bit raw in the Prem obviously but at least he tried things and had some ideas. Obertan seemed to just help push their backline back with his threat of pace on the counter, which can help change the game sometimes even if the player isn’t directly involved in much. I just worry that the first team don’t seem to have many ideas, it’s the same long ball to Ameobi and Ba, I think we need some of these fringe players to come in and challenge the group a bit. The most important thing was the 3 points helped us keep pace with the 4-5 teams that are just above us.
DJG(Quote)
I agree with “the kid” here. While we were far from our best, we weren’t terrible (although it went to pieces a bit in the last 20 minutes with possession being surrendered cheaply). WBA got their tactics right and gave us a good game. They were organised at the back and held us out well. As fans we need to stop being so critical when we scrape victories against sides we feel we should be beating comfortably, if we don’t we’re in for a long season. The Mark of a good side is nicking games late on or when you don’t play well. How many times did man united nick games late on that they didn’t deserve to in their treble winning season. Not a vintage performance, but nowhere near as bad as some are making out
Chris(Quote)
dont beat about the bush, were were cr@p… Cabaye is non existant, Ba and Shola couldn’t keep hold of a handbag never mind a ball, Collocini spent the game chasing lukaku and then Long, never got near them…
while we play with this kicking it long to ba and shola we will never create anything, our midfield is being by passed all the time… we are lop sided with Jonas not playing as a winger in a supposedly 4-4-2…
…….Simpson……Williamson…….Collocini…….Santon
………………….cabaye…….Perch…….Jonas……………….
Ben Arfa……………………………………………………………….
…………………………..Shola……Ba……………………………..
santon has the whole of the left side to look after, Cabaye,Perch, Jonas just run into people, Benny looks ok when he gets the ball, but its on the half way line all the time… we’ve been like this all season while we try and keep our strikers happy… if benny’s marked it gets pumped up to Shola and Ba and they lose it straight away and back it comes, if they have a right winger he has the freedom of the city over that side… only a matter of time before the crosses hit someone…
I know people wont like me saying this, but, the Ba situation needs sorting now not january, sit him down, say sign a new deal of you’re going and put him on the bench if he doesn’t… put a proper formation in there to suit the players we have, 1 up top, benny playing off him and get some passing to feet, Cisse is no Andy Carrol, put the ball on his feet in the box and he might start scoring again. Cabaye must have neck ache watching the ball go over him all day, no wonder he cant be bothered to run any more.. god that was a frustrating afternoon….we have good players but they aren’t allowed to play… we are playing 4-4-2 with no wingers and no big centre forward. (and dont say Shola and Obertan !!!)… we looked good last year with 3 solid midfielders holding and 3 front men given licence to play… lets get back to it and stop trying to keep Ba happy… he’s a good player and his finishes this year have kept it respectable but its painful watching it sometimes… and I’m not on the Pardew out bandwagon, I’m pleased he’s here for the long term…but why with the same team as last season are we not playing the same formation as last season… I dont care if Ba doesn’t like it… tell him you’re on the left son, like it or lump it….
looks like we a lumping it at the moment…
kev(Quote)
Aussies article asked what can we expect from our next 3 games (scum, WBA, Lfool), and I said 4-5 points. Well that’s 4 so far so a point or more against the bindippers will do just nicely.
We struggled today, but to be fair, WBA are a very well organised team under Clarkey, and actually remind me a bit of us last season – with all of their top players playing well at the same time.
There are afew of our players who really haven’t played well yet this season, some who I wouldn’t miss if they didn’t play for us again and others who have been outstanding so far this season.
Pardew has always maintained that the league is most important to him. A home game against WBA would be seen as good game to get 3 points – and whilst we did, I felt his team selection made it alot more difficult than it could or should have been – IMO
Sharpy17(Quote)
Kev@5 Some good points there ,I defo agree about the Ba situation as well.
KIMTOON(Quote)
KEV, the thing is though, Pardew has shown in the last few games he isn’t scared to drop Cisse (and he can drop Shola) so why are we still playing this way? I think he just wants to play this way, he could easily start Ba and then Benny and Obertan/Sammy as wing forward but he won’t. It’s not a case of Jonas playing as a holding midfielder out of choice, he just can’t play as a winger anymore and is naturally drifting inside. He has lost most of his pace and just runs into players, trying to win free kicks all the time. I think we should play…
—————–Krul——————–
Santon–Taylor–Collo—Ferguson
————–Bigirimana————–
———–Cabaye—Jonas———-
Benny——–Ba/Cisse——Sammy
DJG(Quote)
Tiote was a huge miss.
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
We were good first half, **** in the second.
A draw would have been fair but **** happens, and worse will happen to us over the course of the season.
Obertan did nothing to cement a starting place in the team after his good performances in the Euro League. Shola proved he is nowt but an impact sub, fair enough he was involved in our first goal but the amount of times we broke in the first half and he ****** up was infuriating to say the least.
I agree on one of Kevs points above, about playing that fucking long ball. Sick to death of seeing this style of play, what the hell is the point in having 2 creative midfielders of the calibre of Ben Arfa and Cabaye then hoof the ball over the top of them? We played our best football last season when it was played along the floor.
One other thing I have noticed and not a criticism of the team, but the ref not doing a good enough job of protecting Ba when he is attempting to receive a long ball up to him. Defenders all season have been able to basically bear hug the bloke making it impossible to make a play for the ball, every game so far this has happened.
EvilFranky(Quote)
just frustrated…. if I had my way…
…. Anita………taylor………Collocini…….Santon….
………………. Cabaye…..Tiote…….Jonas….
……………………….. HBA……..ferguson……………….
…………………………….. (a striker)……………………….
and not bothered if its Ba or Cisse, I like both of them, In the above Anita and Santon are quick enough to get forward to support and provide the width, and we would be forced to give the ball to HBA or ferguson around the box, to run with it and play it through to the striker to finish, cabaye and Jonas can support when we attack with Tiote sitting…sounds easy and I know its not, but as Mr Clough said, the grass is there for a reason….
kev(Quote)
Obertan very poor. Simpson his usual clueless self. Perch couldn’t pass water nevere mind the ball. Benny wasn’t at the races. Shola wide right don’t know what was meant to happen there. He did deliver the best cross of the afternoon
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
Not sure what game you were watching but in the first half we played some decent football with Ben arfa particularly effective causing WB all manner of problems down their left at times opening up the centre when putting three players on him at times.The second half was woefull don’t know why?toomuch tinkering possibly! Ben arfa switching jonas Rb etc. Would rather see Taylor on for Williamson who at times seriously lacks composure on the ball and looks vulnerable. winning £150 from ladbrokes crazy bet ( ba to score first 2-1 or 2-0 (14-1!))eased the pain thanks to Sammy/Cisse combo HYTL.
Badgertoon(Quote)
Agree with badger, HBA was great especially in the first half. I don’t know why a special mention for Perch as he was fine all game…but still got a yellow card for his efforts, which might keep the Tiote witch hunt quiet for a while.
EvilFranky(Quote)
match choice tonight on Sky it is then, its ok HBA getting the ball on the half way line, skipping past a couple of players then losing it, how many times did HBA put the ball to Shola or Ba in a dangerous area… that would be none then. love HBA to bits, but I want to see him get the ball on the edge of the box, if he skips past one or two there its a goal, or a pass for a goal. think perch does a good job in middle too, but the Krul, Williamson, Colocini floating the ball up top is doing my head in…
kev(Quote)
Just caught up with all the match and post match comments.
Agree with most if not all.
The long hopeful punts up field are soo frustrating. But when we do try and bring it out of defence we could hardly get past the halfway line before giving over posession. The short passes were dreadful, and the midfield looked devoid of ideas.
we are ok if we can slow the game down and play at a slow pace, but as soon as the opposing side get stuck into us, we dont like it. 2nd best all over the park.
But at the end of the day the 3 points is all that counts. We have played much much better and lost. So I’ll take the win today and move on.
Toon Toon
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Yeah agree with Badger, HBA was good in the first half I felt, not sure whether he tired or what but at the end he just seemed to lack that bit of pace or skill to take it past people, he kept losing it and putting us under pressure, it was nervy at 1-1 anyway so maybe it got to him.
I do think the constant switching of formations may be hindering us a bit though
Newkie(Quote)
Like last year, we initially picked up our points by sticking with 4-4-2 and just grinding them out. Then we made the switch to 4-3-3 and never really looked back, we started it every week and generally stuck with it.
The problem is of course, if you lose then there are calls from all over the place telling people to change to this formation or that formation, if you win people generally keep shtum.
I do think one of the commentators got it spot on today when he said we as fans were spoiled last year. We got used to playing the best footie in the league and duly expected it in this one too. Bit of a curse, I’ll be honest I just want us to be winning for the moment, as I said before we’re not a club in the position to demand beautiful football.
Newkie(Quote)
Newcastle forward Sammy Ameobi tweets: “Not a great team performance but the three points is what matters. Papiss can have the goal, it was a shank lol! Just happy with the win!”
.
Newcastle manager Alan Pardew: “You’ve got to feel for West Brom today because they have played well. I thought first half we just shaded it and second half we lost our way. But our work rate was great and in the end we got a break. To be honest we haven’t had too many breaks this season.”
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Just read these comments from Pardew.
“We’ve had a tough week and we looked tired physically and emotionally today.” and “We’ve got to look at how we approach Sunday games after the Thursdays, because we are struggling”.
Well it was 9 changes on thursday from last Sunday, and one 1 change today from last Sunday so don’t know why they are tired…..dont bullshit, just say we played cr@p…
kev(Quote)
I thought Sammeobi showed he can be a handy impact sub. When most of our players were just fannying around his direct approach caused some problems, and too few of our players can take decent long shots ( I know his was going wide, but what the hell!) Cabs and Jonas and perch obviously are no real threat, it makes us predictable. Only Ba and Benny can hit them, and Santon showed today his shooting has improved-although I definitely prefer him on the left than the right.
Newkie(Quote)
Agree with all the comments about long ball. Would also like to see us getting more players in the box at times. Often our build up is so slow that the opposition are able to get back in numbers. I don’t want the long ball though just faster movement forward. A number of times today we made very short passes sideways in our own half, often to people well marked until we lost possession. We helped West Brom by giving them the ball. They didn’t have to win it.
Groucho(Quote)
Passing skills need working on when under pressure. That is why long ball is being resorted to. Without Cabaye and Tiote firing on all cylinders we don’t have effective passing. Jonas, Arfa, Simpson and Santon are good ball carriers but not great passers of the ball. Neither is Obertan nor Sammy.
Two options:
width = 442. But then you need true wingers or effective wing backs. Ferguson in with Jonas as DM.
long ball = need target man who plays with back to goal for flick ons. Not sure Cisse and Ba do this well. Natural goal scorers but selfish.
Still, it is nice to win ugly though I feel sorry for WBrom. They played some good football today.
griff(Quote)
KEV, I agree, why should Benny, Ba, Cabaye, Collo, etc. look tired? Santon didn’t look tired, Perch and Cisse didn’t and they all played on Thursday.
DJG(Quote)
It’s not like we traveled to the other side of Europe and just got back, the players have only been as far as Wearside out of the last 3 games.
DJG(Quote)
pardew needs to get the formation right for the bin dippers 433 is amust play long ball and we will get punished wba were very unlucky today we played well first half besides the scum game we have not played well first half all season second half was dismal
chris(Quote)
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/newcastle-boss-alan-pardew-can-1403265
Sorry if someone has already addressed this today, I’m still catching up off a nightshift.
Really don’t get why Pardew would get funds to replace Ba?! …. Just keep Ba!!
We need to keep hold of what we already have at the mo and build on it. Also see Wenger wants Benny to replace Walcott.
We need funds alright, but not replacement Ba, to replace the likes of Obertan, Simpson, Willo and players of a similar standard
Sharpy17(Quote)
well we have no midweek match this week, so AP cant use any excuses for a poor performance next week.
Ba injured, so looking to Cisse to up his game. Should be a good one and we are due another win over the racists.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Sharpy, Ba seems like a nice guy but the talk is he looking for a large pay packet. Creates a precedent and management want to get rid. It would be a shame to lose him I agree but I understand if we aren’t willing to afford him.
griff(Quote)
griff @29, colo is supose to be on better wages than the toon wage cap ! give BA same as colo if we want to keep him,, to get someone to replace ba, will cost bigger transfer fee and wages 🙁 anyway, back up yo sweaty sock land in the morning again for three weeks 🙁 😥 😥 😥
toonsoldier9(Quote)
griff @29, colo is supose to be on better wages than the toon wage cap ! give BA same as colo if we want to keep him,, to get someone to replace ba, will cost bigger transfer fee and wages 🙁 anyway, back up yo sweaty sock land in the morning again for three weeks 🙁 😥 😥 😥
toonsoldier9(Quote)
Thought Cisse looked sharper today. More like his old self.
Groucho(Quote)
TS9, therein lies the problem. Difficult policing a wage cap when there is someone above it. The best the management can say is that it is a legacy issue. Adding another player would make a mockery of it.
griff(Quote)
!st I’m glad we got the 3pts but it sounds like we didn’t really deserve them, eveen listening to the radio they were saying the same, I am surprised to see Pards had dropped Cisse as im sure that won’t do him much good.
TOONSOLDIER9 @ 30 you can say that again 😉 ❓ oh it’s ok you did 😆
Big Dave(Quote)
Griff – sorry mate, bath time for the boy.
I tend to agree with both of toonsoldiers comments 😀
Colo is on higher wages than the cap!, he supports an orphanage back in Argie!.
Ba is getting our goals and will look at Colo and think, good on ya, but I want my bit too.
He showed loyalty in the Summer when he could have easily left if it was just about money to him. Luckily for us he didn’t, but like I said earlier today. This isn’t about us being held to ransom, it’s about us having better players than the teams around us.
When you look at the fees for some of the strikers around now, we will be truely fortunate to find a striker who can be as influential on the team as Ba has been.
Clubs arent going to worry about Bas knee anymore, not when he’s been fit and playing regularly for us – so this isn’t IF a team comes in for Ba, it’s WHEN a team comes in for him.
Had we not signed Colo on a new contract last season it would have been a huge **** up, and if we choose to let Ba go in Jan rather than sign him on a new deal – that would definately be a huge **** up too.
Sharpy17(Quote)
The striking difference between the two teams was that the WBA players almost always had an outlet, a team mate to receive the ball. They had us chasing shadows as they played triangles around us. When in possession the NUFC players look like they don’t know one another half the time.
So a team without a single player who could beat one of ours one on one ran rings around us. And because we don’t support the ball carrier the only option for the ballplayers such as HBA, Santon, Sammy, and even Jonas is to try to take them on. This gets predictable and they were double or even tripling up on HBA today, hence the number of times he lost the ball. We cannot rely on dribbling past the opposition as our plan A, we have to get behind defences with movement and passing far more.
Most players put in decent individual performances today but the teamwork was non-existent.
Positives included Santon and Sammy and we looked much more likely to get to the byline with Santon on the right and HBA left.
Jasper(Quote)
Sharpy, I agree that Colo and Ba are great players. I also think that Ba at least should be able to get what he wants elsewhere. Colo may or may not as for some reason defenders are paid less typically. Just not sure that they fit in the current business model as you will have quite a few other players looking at them and thinking why am I being paid less than half their wages?
I hope Ba and the club come to a compromise. But also I think it a problem that Ba and Cisse rarely score in the same game. Synergism is so important in football. Now that they committed to Cisse something has got to give and I suspect it will be Ba leaving.
griff(Quote)
Griff I think Ba will be away and the fact that Pards has to basically guarantee him a place in the middle doesn’t hold well for me , cause a player should never be able to dictate where he play’s there is no I in team 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
Dave-Cisse was dropped and then came on against tired legs and got his league goal and we got the win. All things concerned I think that aspect of the management worked well.
Our players don’t look tired, but they do lack rhythm and understanding. I think the constant changes to our lineup have broken up our play and understanding. One of the commentators said we’d used 24 different players this season when in the whole of last season we only used 23 (I think those numbers are right)
Newkie(Quote)
Also yes, Ba should be paid as much as Colo for me. It’s natural for forwards to be paid more than other areas of the park too, so I really can’t see why he shouldn’t be matched, but there we go.
Newkie(Quote)
If they give Ba a huge increase what about Cisse AND Shloa ,I mean where does it end. Colo is captain and as such will pick up more and it wouldn’t surprise me if part of Colo’s good deal was down to the loyalty he gave us after relegation, just a thought like. If there is a wage cap in place and it’s helping to keep the club solvent it must stay in place .On the other hand if the club are just being tightfisted that’s an entirely different matter. 😉
KIMTOON(Quote)
Griff – the reality is that goals win games, whether Ba and Cisse are scoring in the same game doesnt really matter for me. If we are winning games or picking up points that’s all that matters.
We got Ba on a free, so have spent very little in comparison to the reward.
To willingly accept that a leading goalscorer will leave the club for peanuts in Jan because they won’t increase his wage when – with Smith gone and Xisco to follow freeing up £120k pw is just nuts!
If £50m doesnt buy Chelsea a goalscorer and £35m does buy Liverpool one – what makes us think that ‘having funds available’ to replace Ba will replace the goalscorer.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I still want rid of Ba. Goals, or no goals, you can’t have players dictating where they play on the pitch. Shola out on the right? Come off it!
The Kid(Quote)
Very good points all around concerning Ba. Unfortunately, he can call the shots when we’re currently a midtable club with the league’s leading goal scorer.
And I didn’t see the game today, but from what everyone has said, Pardew just needs to realize that 100% workrate from players isn’t all this game is about. A 442 with 2 inverted wingers, strikers that prefer the ball at their feet, and a CM that can dictate play among the best in the world, but it’s hoofed over him, just will not be effective against one of the most fluid sides in the league!
Play the **** system with players that will make it work! So a 442 with Ferguson out left would help things out immensely!
Or play 433 because the players we have can destroy sides in that system. As someone else said, Ben Arfa keeps receiving the ball at the half-line, beats 3 players and maybe pulls off a back pass. If he can regularly do that around the box, GOALS!
AndrewT(Quote)
Shola is loyal as they come, he just wants to play for us and hence is a model pro. For me, Ba right now is a better player than Cisse, hence why he’d get more in my book…As for Colo’s loyalty-is it loyalty, or is it that nobody would actually take him off us on his wages after relegation? Don’t get me wrong, I love Colo, but “loyalty” is a very vague term in football. Shola is the only one with it!
Newkie(Quote)
The Kid – surely that has nowt to do with Ba!
He can say where he’d prefer to play but ultimately the decision is Pardews … isn’t it?
But also, if he’s scoring, doesnt he have a point?!
Would the same be said if he asked Shearer to play the left channel and he said he wanted to play through the middle instead – that is assuming that’s what Ba is saying coz I’ve never heard him say it publicly.
Sharpy17(Quote)
The Kid-Is he dictating it though? Pardew promised him he would play through the middle 90% of the time. If he didn’t mean it he shouldn’t have said it. I assumed he said it because he envisioned a diamond with Tiote sitting and Arfa behind the strikers, or 4-2-1-1-3 with Arfa behind the strikers (Let’s remember, that’s where Pards wanted Benny initially when he talked about him last year and the like)
So now he’s promised it, it puts us in a dangerous position with Ba. I still think Ba should play where he’s told, but up until now I think he’s rightly played centrally, what with Cissie misfiring until now.
Newkie(Quote)
And watching Manure, my word do they have Clattenburg in their pocket as well 😆
Newkie(Quote)
Very happy.
3 points off 5th, despite not hitting any real form this season. Everton have had there best start for years so pretty impressed there’s nothing in it.
After Liverpool we have 6 games that we must make the most of.
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
I see Enrique has shaved his head, trying to fit in with the other skinheads and racists and liverpool now is he? 😕
Newkie(Quote)
If you watch Ba during the 90mins, he naturally drifts to the left channel anyway. If you look at his positioning for most of his goals so far this season and even his head from Sholas cross today, he tends to operate down that side. So I really don’t buy into him dictating to Pardew like.
Newkie – I agree, loyalty in football does not exist nowadays. But players will stay where they are happy and getting paid what they feel they are worth (unless their name is Enrique, Nolan or Barton). I believe Ba enjoys his football and life in Newcastle, but as a top goalscorer he expects the highest wage!
If we increased his wage by £40k pw its around £2m a year. Give him a 3yr deal and that’s £6m – would we replace him with a CF who only cost £6m? – I doubt it like.
If that causes Cabaye to say ‘I want more’ we say **** off – coz he’s not on a contract that allows him to leave for peanuts – plus he’d cost alot less to replace – IMO.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy-At your first point-Exactly. He also naturally comes back into the midfield to get a feel for the ball and spark attacks. People are pointing to him like he’s some classic schoolyard “goal hanger” who refuses to move out of the box, when the fact is he does plenty of running…that’s why imo him and Cisse up top can work together, they just need the right team behind them.
Also re the wages, exactly…If he’s on 50k now, just pay him 30k more or so. 80 Is brilliant value from a lad we picked up for free and whose goals carried us at the start of both these seasons. I’m quite happy to let him go if we get a player of similar quality.
What would that cost? Well, proper value, probably about 20-25mil. Will we spend that? Will we **** 😕
Unless Carr finds an absolute gem…which he hasn’t so far, if we had we’d have snapped one up because selling strikers is where the money is made, Ashley knows that much…
Newkie(Quote)
And let’s face it, Liverpool are a massive rival of ours now-its them we’re competing with. If they get a front line of Suarez and Ba, with talent like Sterling coming through, can we honestly expect to match them? Kiss goodbye to europe and in turn attracting better players… 😕
Newkie(Quote)
Newkie – but that’s my point mate. The player may look an absolute gem in another team, but bring him here and for whatever reason he may not be the same player.
When you have a player who is playing well and scoring – you keep him!!!
Look at other clubs. Man Utd for example. Rooney threw his toys and reportedly put a transfer request in – what did Fergie do? – sell him? – no, he gave him a new contract – why? because Rooney leaving would weaken Man Utd.
What about Arsenal – RVP wanted more money – Arsenal said no and let him go. Yes they replaced him with Podolski and Giroud but are they better off? – I don’t think so. But Man Utd are!!
It’s how business work man, the best salesmen get the most comission, and the company with the best salesmen make the most money and most customers.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Newkie – watched MOTD2 and Chelsea have reported Clattenburg for inappropriate comments – one supposedly of a racist nature toward Mikel 😯
They reckon he would have been well miked up as well so probably picked up on if true.
If it is true though he’ll be in pretty hot water I’d have thought. Will be interesting to see his punishment.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Watching MOTD Colo looks a completely different player to last week, he really was below par. He is often the player that makes us tick, so it’s no wonder the other defenders got nervous and hoofed it and as a result our midfield couldn’t get much of a grip.
Newkie(Quote)
Sharpy-Aye exactly. It will be hard to replace Ba’s quality. That said, if the club want to buy a slightly pacier striker who is more comfortable on the wing of a front three and therefore helps out our team more-at the price and quality of say 20mil, I will have no complaints 😉 Anything less and Ba should be kept..
Yeah I was watching SSN when the clattenburg thing came in, I can’t believe a ref would be so, well, inappropriate/racist but anything is possible. I would expect the F.A to wipe him out if it’s true and depending on the “severity”, anything less is pure hypocrisy. Surely our F.A aren’t capable of that… 🙄 😆
Newkie(Quote)
For me Cabaye is just so way way overrated. The man is useless.
Our mid let our defence get tested too many times and it was just a matter of time that we were going to concede.
Ba, always scoring no complaints with him he is single handedly dragging us along. HBA the only one with forward invention. We need Jonas back running at defences and more forward inclined Jonas would add attacking threat or at least cause enough panic in opponent’s defences for something to happen for us.
Pardew seemingly always the last to know what to expect from our opposition on match day. Illogical selections, formations and decisions.
With this said, it is not going to be easy this season. importantly we are not letting those around us get too far.
My concern is these games particularly at home are our bread and butter, the sunny days and we have to make do while the sun shines. If we do not do our damage there then there are no game for us to do damage.
Forget token wins like vs the big boys just focus on everyone else because there is more of everyone else than there are big boys.
Michael12(Quote)
compared to the rest of the season so far, the 1st half was decent
2nd was more of what we’re becoming accustomed to unfortunately
Not looking forward to next week at all…
M(Quote)
Happy with the win, not so much the performance 😕 Benny needs to start passing the ball more. Opp players are starting to work him out and he is losing possession more often than not. He needs to keep his mazy dribbling up his sleeve a little more. It has to be more of a surprise move, not his main one. Players are boxing him in knowing that he will try and take them on. Benny has been playing well and I love watching him play, so it is hard to be too critical.. Shola was fecking useless. I am sorry for all the romantics out there but the guy is average at best. Sure he is a team man and playing for his home town club but one good header aside, he was inept.
If Cisse was on form, there is no way he would be getting a game..
I shouldn’t really single out a couple of players because nearly the whole team was flat. Santon was the only one that really played well and he looks to be one that we may struggle to hold onto in a few years time….
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
@Michael12
There are no easy games in the PL mate 😉 …. Opp teams are looking at us exactly the same way were are looking at them. We are team they can beat if they play well and vice versa. We only need to be off our game by 10% and we will get beaten by any team in this league… Sure we should have a better chance of beating West Ham than Man City but it is a game of football and anything can happen..
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
luck or not we should consider that after wba scored we really pushing for the winner and the players deserve some credit for that. they could easily sit back and play halfheartedly for a point
ron(Quote)
Aussie-to be fair, Benny terrorised them in the first half out on the left, particularly the bit where he beat 3 men and delivered a terrific ball in but Shola scuffed the shot. But he did slump in the second half, probably a combination of the change of formation (he was freer in the 4-3-3) and tiring/lack of application. And to be fair, our goal came from Sammy picking up the ball after he was fouled after beating two players.
It’s part and parcel of his game-for the magic to happen we have to realise that he can lose possession with him on the ball. He was poor for the most part of the second half though, and was worse than he’s been so far this season. My main concern is Jonas, no longer able to beat anybody in the wing, he’s even struggling to drive from the midfield. We need someone with some tekkers and pace to drive from the centre considering how many DMs we field, but several times today he tried to counter and just ran into the first man 😕
Still, hopefully just one of those days….like the rest of our days have been this season 😆
Newkie(Quote)
Still, despite all of it I really don’t get why Pards used that lame excuse about being tired…Players have been tired since pre season apparently, it’s bollocks, esp talking about the Europa league, they were mere cameos for Colo and Cabs.
If he’d said-we weren’t able to prepare as much (that makes sense, last year we had a week for each side, now its a few days) but we know how west brom play, they’ve not changed so much and it’s all very meh…
Newkie(Quote)
Newkie, don’t get me wrong mate, I love what Benny brings to our team. I just think he needs to mix up his game a little bit so he is not so predictable.
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Don’t buy the tired thing either…… bullshit excuse…
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Yeah Aussie, I just think its a team thing more than anything. Even at the end we weren’t piling forward Sammy was in support, but our DMs should have closed the gap a bit more so we could pass and move, rather than give and hope..
Newkie(Quote)
We seemed to make things happen last season… this season we are waiting for things to happen….. 😕
We are still hard to beat which is good but 90 minutes of good football wouldn’t go astray
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Dincha see the Bordeux game, probably the only good 90 mins we’ll get 😆
Such a shame Tiote got that red, I really feel we would have found our feet and smashed them 3-0 or so and got some rhythm together. We seemed to regress in this match back to stumbling around and worryingly got worse as the match went on. Still, 3 points against Liverpool isn’t too much to ask is it? 😛
Newkie(Quote)
missed the bordeux game Newkie 😉 i’d take a draw against Liverpool
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Michael12….Cabaye may be overrated, but useless? ffs…mind you did say 7 minutes into yesterday’s game that it was another home game we wouldn’t win so what do you know? 🙄
Aussie…agree the tired excuse is bollox, I’d still think it was bollox if the same 11 had started on Thursday as yesterday though 😉 …poor little mites, when I was a lad we used to play for 8 hours non stop and that was after an 18 hour shift doon the pit, the other hour in the day was spent doing maths lessons 😆
richietoon(Quote)
Rich 😯 you certainly had a lot of hours in the day back when you were younger. I’m glad they eventually rounded it down to a 24 hr day 😆
Yep, feel sorry for our minimum wage footballers, running around on manicured grass surfaces, playing a game they love in front of screaming fans… it must be terrible for them 😉
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
You should have seen the hours back in Ice’s day 😯 😆
I’d give my left leg to be a proffesional footballer 😆
richietoon(Quote)
*professional 😳
richietoon(Quote)
Rich 😆 Poor Ice, those sun dials were a son of a ***** on overcast days. It can’t have been easy living in the age before clocks and watches
😆
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)