Where do we go from here?

Down and out?
Down and out?
The defeat on Sunday was just absolutely not good enough for a number of reasons, however before I get into that I must say that any defeat doesn’t give people a right to act like a moron like a small minority chose to do after the game.

Having said that, I can understand why people were so annoyed. I was, and I still am, but I didn’t go around smashing my own neighbourhood up as a result.

My biggest problem is not the defeat. I can take defeat, even to Sunderland, but what I can’t take is the shocking level of performance displayed by the vast majority of those in black and white shirts. I’ve never seen a Newcastle United team so not up for a derby game and that is what has hurt me more than anything else, even the result.

Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say we were beaten by the better side. I still think we have a better team, a view echoed by pundits and press prior to the game, but if you don’t perform on the day and your opponents do then it makes things hard. Credit to Sunderland, as much as it pains me to say that.

Where do we go from here though? The Europa League has been and gone and now we’re back in the relegation mix properly, if we were indeed ever out of it. Questions need to be asked, serious questions, but they also need to wait until the end of the season. Right now we must concentrate on getting enough points on the board to avoid being relegated. That is all that matters.

From now until the end of the season I don’t care how we play. I don’t care whether it’s hoofball, longball or anything like that and neither should anyone else in the very short term. We aren’t in a position to be picky about the football being played. What we need are points on the board and pretty **** quickly,by whatever means it takes.

This season has been a disaster from start to finish and EVERYONE needs to take a portion of the blame for it. From poorly performing players to poor management, inside and outside the board room, to training techniques and maybe even our coaching set up. Let’s just limp over the line, write this one off, and then talk about things when we actually know which division we’ll be playing in next season.

As hard as it’s going to be, Sunday needs to be put behind us. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. Our opposition won’t so we need to be up for it from minute one until the final whistle. Let’s do this.

Howay the lads!

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.

346 thoughts on “Where do we go from here?

  1. Now – where’s the smiley for a trophy – want to hand it to Big D as he stands on the headless corpse of B&b while holding B&bs head in the air with one hand, a raised sword in the other, screaming at his victory.

    Meanwhile B&bs head starts talking…..

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  2. ://www.nufcblog.co.uk/https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/wp-includes/images/smilies/ihttps://www.nufcblog.co.uk/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_eek.gifcon_smile.gifwp-includes/images/smilies/icon_eek.gif

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  3. drippy willy @ 302

    yes.

    it’s not as good’a read as when stardust regularly used to murder you on these blogs back in the day.

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  4. Richie@297-I hope at least I was the oldest of the kinder kids, relentlessly slamming their heads into walls… 🙂

    Stuart-I don’t know, but B+B does like to involve himself in these essay wars!

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  5. @Sidekick
    Haha christ you can’t spin that you do it as a “good luck” thing, what were your motives for doing it the first and second time around then?
    There’s no justifying betting on your team to lose, just my opinion though.
    Yeah – £5 – was that the “good money” you put on :/

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  6. RICHIE hows you mate? still lying aboot like a loppy dog like,where are you hanging your hat on this pardew debate?

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  7. We’re badly in need of a new topic. We’ve worn poor old Alan Pardew out over the last few days. If he doesn’t get at least one more win this season it will be a very poor way to end it. Dragging ourselves over the line with 38 points would be extremely frustrating. I’m sure he knows it and is sweating it out with us. I wonder if Pardew, Ashley and Llambias have an end of the season meeting to discuss how things went? I wouldn’t want to be in Pardew’s shoes if we have 38 points or less.

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  8. Just a couple of final thoughts (for now anyway) about the management situation. Martin Jol had a 45% winning percentage with Spurs. Roberto Martinez has a 29% winning percentage with Wigan even though they have little money to spend, only 8 or 9% less than Pardew’s winning percentage with us. Would either of both of them do a better job for us than Pardew? I would have to say yes to both. I think Martinez would be brilliant for us but would he ever sign a contract with Ashley? The trust issue will always be there with Ashley after the previous debacles with managers. I think Roberto is more likely to go to a bigger club on the continent sadly. There are dozens of other candidates though and the door may be open this summer.

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  9. G2-it’s hard though, and its understandable. I won’t be getting involved in any more though, i’m tired of it all. Maybe we’ll have a good summer for once 😆

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  10. G2 aye mate has been beat with every stick we can find,thing is it doesnt make me feel any better 🙁

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  11. Just spent an hour clearing a backed up toilet ,yuk .I’m hopeing it’s the last heap of **** I see for a while! ,Toon you have been warned.

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  12. Have to agree Newkie and ice. I’m not feeling up to it anymore either. 😥 Still unless we get over the 40 point mark I’m going to feel even worse. Ashley will have to get Llambias working hard this summer. I hve been so disappointed with Gouffran lately after his early games with us but he still seems to be a hard worker. It’s hard to understand what’s really going on with the squad lately. Tiote just doesn’t look himself at all this season either and Jonas has been very poor a lot of the time. I think there are some very difficult decisions to be made by our management.

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  13. Just looking at the Prem player ratings. Willo is 16th but only has 18 appearances. Cabaye sits 31st and our next player is Santon at 107th! Shocking really. Then it’s Jonas at 132nd! What does this say about the rating system if Willo is rated by far our best player and one of the 16 best in the league? Andy Carroll is ranked 7th. Clearly something is missing with these types of measures.

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  14. G2-Yeah..not sure what it is with the new boys. As I said with Mbiwa language is a key issue for him at CB, but maybe Gouffran is struggling to understand others?…still, it’s no excuse for his “smash” passes which he has done a few times lately, maybe he should just play up front-or come on late on when we go 4-4-2. I would be tempted to drop tiote as well, for whatever reason he has been poor. Still I guess he’s not really alone. Jonas has given sloppy passes away all season and while he came back strong recently and actually started skinning people on the wing, I just don’t think he is fit for wing/full back duty.

    For the rest of the season, assuming every one of these poor muttons are rested up, I would have sissoko alongside Cabaye, Marveux behind Cisse with Benny and Gouffran staying out wide. Maybe gouffran can play better with Marveux pulling the strings near by-Sissoko has been one dimensional and has been found out constantly steaming forward, but it is too much to expect him to break through every time anyway. Take the pressure off by putting other bodies ahead of him, especially one who can spot an intelligent pass like Marveux. Haidara at left back.

    Seems the best choice to me, but doubt it will be adopted.

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  15. I would agree with you Newkie about players to field. What we might do in the summer is unclear to me because are we now an improved, deep squad with a lot of talent? Or are we a struggling side who need several more talented incoming or a bit of both? For me we need at least 3 players to come in and I’m not sure at all how many need to depart. If we parted with Gosling, Willo, Harper (retiring) for little return I wouldn’t be unhappy. More speculative would be to sell Tiote for what we could get, Santon for 8M or so, and Obertan for a package of crisps. Any thoughts from others about outgoing players?

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  16. I think most of the new guys who haven’t been injured look really poor considering how well they started. Sissoko just runs like a train and never does anything with it. I think Perch should be starting ahead of Tiote as the midfield destroyer. Cabaye needs a rest he has been a state the last few games. So for me Anita and Perch should start in the next game.

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  17. I think if we see little player movement in the summer other than replacement of outgoing (especially Colo) and a proper replacement for Ba, then it’s a sign the owner is saying to Pardew “this is your squad Pardew. Show me you can do something with this lot before I commit any more serious cash.” To be honest I wouldn’t be surprised by that kind of approach by Ashley next season.

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  18. @G2

    I would like to keep Santon i think he has been one of our better players this year.

    You forgot about Simpson who is out of contract as well. Apart from that and those you have mentioned i just see youngsters being released.

    @Newkie 323

    My thoughts exactly! Can you see that happening though i just see Jonas being dropped for a game or two.

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  19. G2-Aye…we need a striker and a CB. They need to be a top CB imo, presumably Willo and Colo will go and so far Staylor and Mbiwa have both been average this season. We need someone to replace colo and fight with them…we won’t buy one though. Simmo will be out going, I would keep santon to fight haidara/cover debuchy.

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  20. NEWKIE imo goofy is a poacher type striker with pace,dont like the way pardew is getting him to defend to often these last few games,then again pardews tactics have left me scraching my head

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  21. Santi-we can only hope. If I lived opposite Pards and went to him with my impressive dossiers each day there is no way we would be in this current predicament, and I would be well on my way to managing Porto.. 🙂

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  22. Whey, Puggie has declared Dave, the winner. Dave, as usual, has dodged the questions at the slightest excuse. 😛

    Pugnose, if Dave won’t answer the questions, perhaps you will, especially now that you’ve jumped into bed with him for bad. 😈 😳

    To undermine me, Dave has just said that I firmly believe Pardew will get us relegated. The only valid evidence which he can cite in support is two comments which I made in January, that is three months ago. These comments were made after the sale of Ba and before the big Ashley bail out. He knows that, following the bail out, I naturally modified my view, and consistently expressed it ever since.

    That view is well summed up in my following quote from 5 February 2013.

    “I don’t believe Pardew has the credentials and he has shown that. However, as the current incumbent, and a generally likeable, hard-working sort of bloke, I believe he deserves a chance unless it looks like he’s going to take us down. Before the recent cash splurge, that’s what it was looking like. Only an idiot of a manager could contrive to take that squad down. The fans will soon get sick of his under-achievement IMO. Give him time. I hope I am wrong and he can win the Europa Cup for us. I bought my ticket yesterday.”

    Of course, Dave knows all this. He follows the blog with such a keen eye that he two of his quotes were from even earlier than the one above. The other two he uses are from March: one doesn’t even mention relegation and the other actually verifies what I’m saying. That’s how desperate he is for evidence. 😯

    So, Puggie, I think you might have called that one a bit prematurely in your haste to get in the sack with our hunky sniper. Poor B&B drags his corpse off the floor, dusts off his chainmail vest, rips off the bed sheets from Puggie and Dave in the name of “England and St George! 😛

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  23. Yes that’s right Santii, it’s more than likely Simpson will leave. If Raylor does miss another season we will need another RB in the squad surely? I’m very unconvinced by Santon’s defensive abilities but I like the lad and he shows a lot of flair going forward. Considering the amount of player movement in January I suppose we could say Pardew hasn’t had enough time to really turn them all into a proper team? I’m not so sure about that though. We have looked uncertain and disconnected all season. I don’t mind seeing Perch as a DM sub but not in the back 4 please. If Perch is in Jonas would have to sit for me. Ben Arfa looks a little uncertain as well and surely we have to bring the attacking group of Cabaye, Sissoko, Marveaux, Cisse, and Gouffran, together with Ben Arfa onto the pitch from the start of every game if all are fit? To me I would sit Jonas and Tiote and play Sissoko deeper to start attacks through Marveaux, Cabaye and Ben Arfa. Cabaye looks much less comfortable sitting deeper since Sissoko came into the squad.

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  24. Ice-you might be right mate, but his finishing has been pretty shocking so far 😆 ! I think he might be worth a punt up front though. I haven’t noticed goofy defending any deeper than he was since he’s been here tbh, although I seem to remember him staying fairly high up (still in our half) vs Southampton so he could counter. Worked well that day, but our countering has been poor lately.

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  25. Spot on icedog. For me Gouffy looks more like a striker. He rarely crosses and he likes to cut in toward goal and shoot directly (he has a great shot on him, just has to get it on goal more often). We seem to be wasting his talent. He will track back but it definitely takes away from his game. Surely a lot of the creativity in attack in our squad is being wasted? Pardew had us playing well defensively last season but now we seem uncertain a lot of the time all over the pitch. Very frustrating. Off for a little while. Back later mates.

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  26. Newkie@314 totally uncalled for and well below the belt 👿 😉

    Ice…I haven’t read most of the comments ‘cos quite frankly I can’t be arsed but with Pards I didn’t want him(as most probably didn’t) as manager but I backed him and gave him a chance as I do with all our managers, his first season was ok, last season was better than alot expected but the footy wasn’t great alot of the time. I think a few of us(most) said that the style of football had to/should improve with the players we had, well it hasn’t it’s been worse…quite a bit worse. Now I’ve been prepared to give Pards the benefit of the doubt(not that that means **** all to Pards :lol:) as he was let down hugely in the summer,which a few of us criticised and a few on here actually stuck up for the board 😯 and we have had alot of injuries to major players, but that’s part of football and we should have been able to cope and certainly if we’d strengthened in the summer. Tactically some times he get’s it right sometimes wrong, I think someone said the other day that makes him an average manager(possibly B&B) and that for me sums Pards up, he’s an average manager managing an average football club…However I don’t want Newcastle United to be an average club, it shouldn’t be an average club, it doesn’t get average premier league crowds, it doesn’t have an average premier league worldwide following, it doesn’t have an average Premier league profile, It shouldbe a huge club, winning trophies regularly. Newcastle United has been a massive part of my life, even before going to my first match in the 1980/81 season(we were an average 2nd Div club then) and all I want is either to see us win something or play attractive football and preferably both, I really can’t see it under Pards I’m afraid, time to go at the end of the season imo. Who should replace him? **** knows, it’s not my job to find a new manager but many(if not most) managers abroad, bar the really big names at big clubs, work for less “wonga” than Pards or similar and work under tighter constraints, better managers are out there and I believe many would jump at the chance of managing NUFC.
    All that said, I still think he’ll be here next season and he’ll get my praise when/if he does well and criticism when he doesn’t, I don’t slag players or managers off just because I don’t like them as a few do 😉
    As an add on, I don’t think there’s a cat in hells chance we’ll go down…don’t ask for my logic, I don’t do logic :mrgreen:
    KTF, Howay the Lads.

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  27. Richie…we’ve had enough of long posts on here, kindly post this to B+B or join the angry essayists on another blog

    😆

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  28. RICHIE good comments mate enjoyed them,footy has changed one hell of a lot from when i was a kid on your point of attractive football,i remember standing in the the family encl with my dad and that was the only thing that went over my head was everybody was happy win or lose as long as it was a “good”game,would love the sir bobby or kk days back never won owt but boy were they good to watch,on pardew i think he should go at the season end,looking back at his record at other clubs his first seasons were good but quickly dropped away yes 5th last yr but were jammy in a lot of those games,i say if ashley wants to go down the road of imports he should bring in the same type of manager

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  29. Newkie 😆 I’ll never go on that other blog for obvious reasons 👿 …and I’m not angry, how could I be,25c, just cleaned the pool and my parents flying out Sunday 😎

    Ice cheers, aye when I started going all we wanted was 100% effort from the players and we were happy, just as well because that’s all we got, the footy was ****, King Kev raised the bar though and with it the expectations…and here we are, still expectant and still not getting what we want.
    You still in Malta?

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  30. RICHIE nay been back a week now but like you havent made many comments,pup has just bought another house out there in malta thats two he has now,i will have to short arm him for a sub next time i go lol,pool cleaning! sounds like a womens job to me hope you didnt do it ALL in one go

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  31. Ice…her shoulders knacked so I’m giving her a break 😉
    You must have paid Pup too much pocket money when he was a bairn.

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  32. Richietoon laird of Alicante…. turned pool boy…. we know who wears the kegs in your hoose …. 😆

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  33. Ice that sounds alot like the way the Cabaye transfer went. He told his teammates after their last game he was joining us and we got him in early during that summer. Sounds good if it is to us.

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