The result leaves us with just one win from our last seven games and surely now questions have to be asked about a number of things.
Firstly the manager needs to take a fair portion of the blame. The tactics have been woeful and our displays are disappointing so the reason for that needs to be found and addressed so things can improve. Speculation is mounting that the manager has pandered to Demba Ba wanting to play as a striker, but to be fair it’s a bloody good job he is as otherwise we’d have nobody scoring goals.
The players also need to take a portion of the blame. Whilst I have no doubt that some of them have limitations and are following tactical instructions by lumping the ball up field, it still doesn’t change the fact that most of them are struggling to pass to a man unmarked merely five yards away. Quite a few times yesterday we saw our own team giving each other “hospital balls” with Cheik Tiote, Mike Williamson and Davide Santon the most guilty.
Finally those upstairs in our boardroom need to understand that a lot of this has been born from their action, or lack of it, in the summer. Injuries and suspension are hitting us hard at the moment, with four of our “purple” players out of the starting side through injury or suspension yesterday. We just don’t have the squad to cope with that which is shocking considering our participation in the Europa League.
As a result of enforced absentees Sammy Ameobi was drafted in to play around Demba Ba up front with Shane Ferguson placed on the left filling in for Jonas Gutierrez. Cheik Tiote returned in midfield replacing the injured Yohan Cabaye whilst mike Williamson continued to fill in for the absent Fabricio Coloccini.
You would have thought that the home side would have been keen to put the disappointment of the previous week behind them, but the performance seemed to suggest otherwise. A lack of urgency and what looks to be a crisis of confidence appears to be affecting the players and all they could manage in the first period was a few potshots from Hatem Ben Arfa and a glanced header from Demba Ba.
Half-time: Newcastle 0-0 Swansea
The second half started much better however. On cam Shola Ameobi to pair up front with Demba Ba, off went Shane Ferguson in a move that saw the younger Ameobi moved out to the left wing. In fairness I don’t think it was anything the Northern Ireland international did wrong, it was just the fact that Demba Ba looked isolated up front and was, in truth, easily dealt with by the Swansea defence had made light work of having just one striker to mark.
A flurry of chances soon followed and although Swansea threatened on the break at that moment in time I thought to myself that if one team was going to take the lead then it would have been us.
That train of thought hit the buffers just before the hour mark though as Tim Krul spooned a clearance straight to Pablo Hernandez who surged forward and crossed for Miguel Michu to powerfully head home and gie the visitors the lead.
From then on I had that sinking feeling. Far from inspiring us the goal seemed to knock us for six and mistakes in our game started appearing. I’m talking simple mistakes, like the mix up between Steven Taylor and Tim Krul that gave away a needless corner and the short back pass that very nearly cost us from Mike Williamson.
Swansea wrapped the points up with three minutes remaining. A quick ball saw Danny Graham released although Tim Krul was equal to his attempt on goal and parried the ball away. Unfortunately Jonathan de Guzman was first too the rebound and smashed the ball past Krul giving his compatriot no chance.
Newcastle did manage to find the net in stoppage time after some good work from Hatem Ben Arfa on the left set up a shot for Sylain Marveaux which thumped off the bar before Demba Ba could stick his head on it and guide into the Gallowgate net, but it was too little too late and the goal was barely celebrated by anybody either on or off the field.
Full-time: Newcastle 1-2 Swansea
A disappointing result with another disappointing performance to go with it. I won;t go on too much. We all have our own opinions on what is going wrong but whatever it is it needs sorting sooner rather than later, and with a trip to Southampton next up in the league things are suddenly starting to look tougher than they should be.
Howay the lads!
Newcastle: Tim Krul; Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Steven Taylor, Davide Santon; Hatem Ben Arfa, Vurnon Anita, Cheik Tiote, Shane Ferguson; Sammy Ameobi, Demba Ba
Subs: Rob Elliot, James Tavernier, Mehdi Abeid, Gael Bigirimana, Sylvain Marveaux, Romain Amalfitano, Shola Ameobi
Swansea: Gerhard Tremmel; Angel Rangel, Ashley Williams, Garry Monk, Ben Davies; Leon Britton, Jonathan de Guzman, Pablo Hernandez; Michu, Itay Schechter, Nathan Dyer
Subs: David Cornell, Chico Flores, Dwight Tiendelli, Kenny Agustien, Danny Graham, Luke Moore, Danny Graham
Attendance: 49,403
Incorrect, he scored 2 v Chelsea…although the 2nd was quite forgettable 😯 😉
richietoon(Quote)
So what evidence is there to support both playing.
Ba got more and more frustrated as the season went on, and rightly so.
Oh and he still finished with more goals than Cisse.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Maybe because he played 19 more games 😉
richietoon(Quote)
oh aye, the fluke 😳
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
BB 😉 😆 ws just watching it the other day, still in awe 😯
richietoon(Quote)
BB@293 ,Totally agree we are closer to being in the **** than going on a winning streak and I have stated that more than once over the last couple of days .3 wins befor xmas is vitally important that puts us on 23and probably half way safe. I was reading the Mirrors review of saturdays game and the opening words of the journos review was – So just what has gone wrong at Newcastle. He cites injuries and loss of form and not playing the right system 🙄 ,clever guys these journos mind ,get paid a lot of money to tell us that like. 😉
KIMTOON(Quote)
Pardon my statistical mistakes, Richie.
My point being I wouldn’t play them both on the same park at the same time again.
Just my opinion tho
Whats yours ❓
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Just for fun, I got 8 😳 😳 …and nae idea which 8 either 😆
http://www.ultralase.com/vites/referee-theory-test
richietoon(Quote)
BB…You’re pardoned 😉 Dunno mate tbh, like CC says I don’t think they were “too” bad last season, Ba still had chances but didn’t convert them so was maybe just going thru a bit of a dry spell. What I would say is that 2 professional, quality footballers, should be able to work out how to play and link up together, they should be able to suss which one of them is going to make which run, pass, tackle and when so they aren’t going/doing the same thing. Plenty lads with a fraction of the skill they have manage to do it, why can’t they. “If” they both want to stay at the club they’ll need to work it out.
richietoon(Quote)
It simply begs belef that they cant work this out Richie.
Maybe they dont like each other 😯
Because to a lay man, they dont seem to communicate one jot.
.
btw that ref test is harder than expected. I only got 4 😳 😳
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Richie – they’re not the brightest. Neither make runs off the ball they just chase it. Neither have good control. It seems the whole team is lacking basic football intelligence. Swansea and West Ham don’t have better players than us.
georgio(Quote)
Georgio…True but I know Sunday league players who are thick as mince but know how to play footy together…pissed
BB…Aye not as easy as ya think 😕 ….Cole in Teddy couldn’t stand each other but played canny together….I think some bangin of heads is required 😈
richietoon(Quote)
Richie – send them to see Pardew!
georgio(Quote)
BB
I only got six, but I don’t most referees would get more. What those questions have to do with the judgement of refereeing decisions on basic football rules I don’t know.
JJ(Quote)
I got 4 out of 12 😳 😳 😳 😳 Not sure which was right either 😆
KIMTOON(Quote)
Georgio…Will do 😆
Kim…I got 8, obviously through skill and knowledge 😉 …..but when I tried again I got 6 so gave up 😕 😳
richietoon(Quote)
Richie ,The question about the linesmans flag towards the end of the test ( not the one where it shows signal for sub ) the later one ,actually shows two lino figures with the flags in offside farside and offside centre 😕 So got confused as to what to enter as you can only give one answer, is it me or was anyone else confused by that?
KIMTOON(Quote)
Kim… it was over a week ago when I did it, think I put offside anywhere 😕 ….don’t worry anyway, yara lass, you don’t need to get the offside ones 😉 …just kidding! 😳
richietoon(Quote)
Richie 😆 After I typed it two things struck me, firstly do we get the same questions every time and I’m a girl so nobody will expect me to know that anyway 😉 😀
KIMTOON(Quote)
oooh below the belt Richie.
you’ll go to hell for that one
😆
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Aye Kim, just looked through them again, I think the first one is the initial signal for offside, he then positions it to indicate where the offside was.
richietoon(Quote)
BB…I think any chance I had of avoiding hell disappeared along time ago, still, it could have been worse, I could have been born a mackem 😆
richietoon(Quote)
I thought Marveaux done canny on saturday. I hope he gets a chance on thursday. He seemed to be trying to create something at least. 😕
Needs more games under his belt too.
Gotta be a better option than sammeobi, surely.
But then again Pards has succumbed to the ameobi spell of confusion.
Yet another manager to fall to their evil ways.
👿
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
At the start of the season I would have said relegation was nigh on to impossible but our play for the most part has been pathetic. How dow so many players get so out of form? I’m thinking mainly of Cisse, Tiote (mostly injury and suspension problems I know), and Cabaye hasn’t been great and now out (his set pieces on average have been poor). I’m not including Simpson and Willo because I believe they are sub-standard players for a top 6 team, not out of form. Our best players have been Ben Arfa, Ba, Krul for the most part, and Colo. That isn’t enough and can’t make up for low standards elsewhere on the pitch. As well Pardew hasn’t set the world on fire with his tactics (or lack of), and others are too inexperienced. What a fast turnabout from a tremendous previous season not helped by having a useless MD in Llambias.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
What formation will Pardew use against Southampton away? Surely not 4-4-2 with Ba and Cisse? Surely we need Ben Arfa’s skill behind Ba in a 4-4-1-1 or go all out with Ba on the left, Cisse in the middle and Ben Arfa on the right. Put Tiote and Jonas in CM with Anita and the usual back 4. Please try something different Pardew and not too many youngsters (if any). Bring Shola or Obertan on in the second half if necessary, or Marveaux.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
G2….The “surely not” formation would be my guess 😥
richietoon(Quote)
Richietoon how can we continue to support him if he starts with that same formation in what has become a crucial game for us? The way we are playing December looks terrible. We could slip 2 or 3 more places by the end of December. How would it look to us if we are sitting in 15th place on January 1? Would people still be satisfied with Pardew? I would still be willing to give him time but only with changes to the formation and some decent incoming from Ashley/Llambias.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
G2…That’s it, when it ain’t broke don’t fix it, unfortunately it is broke and something needs doing now….I’m just a thick Geordie but how about trying a formation that worked well last season and the players seemed to enjoy(on the whole).
As I said last night, we are only 2 points better off than we were at the same stage of our relegation season, bearing in mind the turmoil that was going on at the time and the fact that during the relegation year in the next 6 games we went on an unbeaten run, now similar could happen again but I really can’t see it at the moment 😕
richietoon(Quote)
The pressure won’t ease if we lose 4 or 5 games in December. Pardew must show us he can manage in hard times as well as good times and so far I haven’t seen it. The fact he is resorting to pathetic excuses in post-game interviews isn’t helping him either. Why not just say “we were sh*te and I’m going to get after the players right away”?
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Aye, if it doesn’t start improving I can see the bedsheets coming out unfortunately 😯 🙁
richietoon(Quote)
RICHIE hope you saw my withdrawl y/day forgot it was mon
i see someone found your paynote 😀
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/world-of-sport/carlos-tevez-pay-slip-leaked-internet-103902149.html
icedog(Quote)
Ice…I did 😉 …and I wouldn’t get out of bed for that!
richietoon(Quote)
Richie I bet you would get outta bed for a all you can eat buffet 😆
Big Dave(Quote)
wow ❗ has the blog died or wot?
Time for a new article Toonsy old chap.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
So Simmo isn’t getting his £20k pr week contract renewed 😯
http://www.themag.co.uk/the-mag-wire/another-nufc-players-wages-revealed/?
Big Dave(Quote)
Cabaye’s wife has just tweeted that he will be out for THREE MONTHS! 😯
The Kid(Quote)
The Kid ,That’s bad news ,it also explains his recent form . We know he was out a while and he looks to have been playing injured too. That’s what happens when you are low on playing staff of first team ability ,players end up aggravating strains ,pulls and what have you. Bad luck for Cabs ,Pards and the team .
KIMTOON(Quote)
Three months? **** sake.
Kim-it doesn’t explain his form for me unless he’s been injured all season, he’s been one of our worst players (by his standards) this year, and for me hasn’t shown up apart from maybe three games…One of our worst at the start of the season, imo.
Newkie(Quote)
http://www.nufcfans.co.uk/newcastle-united-alan-pardew-premier-league/?
Good to see we all know exactly what the problem is… 😆
Newkie(Quote)
So… See you next round pl champions and cl winners 😯
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
3 months!! well at least we’ll see what pardew is made of, both on the field and through power he has in the board room .
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
We are more than covered in the midfield region.
Tiote, Anita, Jonas can all play in the defensive midfield role Cabaye has been assuming.
Hopefully what they do now is go out and actually buy an attacking midfielder so that Ben Arfa isn’t overly relied on as our only mode of creativity.
JJ(Quote)
I think Cabaye out for 3 months is God sent. He was an automatic selection and yet very very average at best. It will give Pardew a chance to play someone else there who will likely show we have been lacking in that area.
Michael12(Quote)