Even after relegation I had an urge to look forward to what awaited us in the Championship, but right now I can’t even bear thinking about next term.
Many things need to change, whether it be in terms of managerial personnel, playing staff, or the way they work together and the form they collectively create. Whatever ‘it’ is ‘it’ needs to change or else we’re just going to waste next season as well. Bowing out with a whimper after recent home troubles against Champions League qualifying Arsenal hasn’t helped matters much either.
Don’t get me wrong, there isn’t exactly much shame in that these days and Arsenal away from home aren’t the softies they used to be. There is a reason why they have the best away defensive record in the league, but the truth is that particular record was rarely under threat aside from a few half-chances sporadically placed throughout the match.
I don’t even think we played that badly and even thought that Laurent Koscielny’s 52nd minute winner was a tad fortunate on a number of levels, but it was our lack of intent that annoyed me the most. Granted we had literally nothing to play for as any relegation concerns had been allayed by ourselves last weekend, but after two home defeats on the spin I’d have liked us to avoid a third one, as obvious as that seems.
Alas it wasn’t to be and now we’ll undoubtedly be confronted with a summer rife with rumours of one form or another. What fun that will be.
I’m trying to think of positives from this season and I’m struggling. At a push we finished above Sunderland and the second coming of Jesus, or Paulo Di Canio as he is perhaps more commonly known, but that is a minor consolation considering that same team beat us 3-0 on our own pitch just a few weeks ago. The Chelsea game perhaps? Reaching the Europa League Quarter Final?
I’m sorry that this isn’t much a match review, but there wasn’t an awful lot to write about really so I’ve gone on a rant about our season instead. For that I do apologise and I hope I don’t end up doing the same next season!
Howay the lads!
Newcastle: Steve Harper; Mathieu Debuchy, Fabricio Coloccini, Steven Taylor, Mapou Yanga-M’Biwa; Yohan Cabaye, Cheik Tiote; Jonas Gutierrez, Hatem Ben Arfa, Yoan Gouffran; Papiss Cisse
Subs: Jak Alnwick, Danny Simpson, James Perch, Vurnon Anita, Gabriel Obertan, Sylvain Marveaux, Adam Campbell
Arsenal: Wojciech Szczesny, Bacary Sagna, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, Kieran Gibbs, Tomas Rosicky, Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott, Santi Cazorla, Lukas Podolski
Subs: Lukasz Fabianski, Thomas Vermaelen, Monreal, Gervinho, Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Olivier Giroud
Attendance: 52,354
Troy,
Pardew will relegate us next season 😉
TonyGreenSupreme(Quote)
@ Troy
Question mate: If you had the choice to get rid of the so called ‘problem’ at NUFC, and could only choose one, who would you “ditch”?
Pardew OR Ashley?? ❓
A few seem to differ on who is the actual problem.
BIGPAPA(Quote)
Troy,
You have been sacked as the reality train driver due to a hostile takeover by the Expectation Express. At this time all service is suspended until further notice 😉
TonyGreenSupreme(Quote)
@BigPapa
That’s too hard to answer without an essay fella.
Too many circumstances. But ultimately, everything must come down to Ashley.
If he gets things right he will take the plaudits and he must take the criticism in equal measure if we fail.
Sorry I can’t answer but there are too many permutations.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Newkie @ 295 – I’ll do my best. 😉 We’d probably appreciate that side of Shola’s game more if the set pieces were more productive. 🙄
Munich @ 297 – sorry, the “if you want” remark was meant to suggest that you were nearing a line, not that you’d crossed it. 😳
Prem @ 300- you’re forgetting that the injuries are all due to Pardew’s poor management. 🙄
Wellington(Quote)
Mark @ 266 Spot on, fella. I must be living in a parallel universe and only popping in here from time to time. Mental! 😛
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
Troy @ 304 – my hunch on the essay is that it contains a long section on “if not Ashley, then who?”
Wellington(Quote)
Wellie, of course how stupid of me.
Premandup(Quote)
@ Troy
Tough one its stumped you 😉
BIGPAPA(Quote)
@TGS
We’ll see where the trains stop next season. The reality train started off slowly last time fella but I ran out of tickets by the end.
Toot! Toot! 😆
Troy Stavers(Quote)
@Welly
How could it not include that. 😉
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Wellington – Have I misunderstood you? Or were you quoting someone else?
“Cabaye is a deep-lying playmaker who plays in the midfield band or even further back, rather than an advanced one between the lines.”
Then in another post:
“Cabaye simply isn’t a defensive player.”
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
I have been thinking about the season and why the players looked out of sorts and under the fitness levels of last season . I am begining too think it was the the Europa league and playing on a thursday , flying back the same evening or next day leaves only the saturday too train and that could not be at full pelt because of the recovery times of the Thursday game and the risk of injury before the Sunday game . If it was because of Pardew’s training methods then surly the players would never have hit the energy and fitness levels they did the season before . I am not trying to make excuses for Pardew but injuries did not help either , one thing that can’t be masked over is his tactics and questionable substitions , well we can only hope he has learned from it and more importantly Ashley has too and our Purples are all here come the big kick off and at least 4 new purples added . Lets face it their is a fair few dead wood players to be got rid of , so their should be money freed up from the wage bill . Harper and Simpson are the first 2 off the wage bill so both their wages added together would maybe pay for a good striker .
Axel(Quote)
Axel, you’ll be accused of being Llambias in disguise with that sort of talk. 😉
Wellington(Quote)
JJ – you inspired me, article done and in the box waiting for Toonsys review!
Stardust(Quote)
Dave @ 234 – You’ve imploded before and you’ll implode again, and called names too.
“I asked him to calm down with the foul and abusive stuff and I don’t need your aproval .” You don’t need my approval for anything on here. I would never suggest it. You can go on how you want. Equally I’m free to urge you to stop being an old nanny.
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
Axel-no question that was a part of it, but you will be accused of trotting out the party line. Personally I think we were in a bad position with players returning from the Euros and then us starting the Europa league start before the season itself even kicked off. Whether first team players were used or not, Pardew was not with them, Carver wouldn’t have been with them, the players would be left to their own devices in such circumstances…
I don’t think our staff had any idea how it would affect the training regime. Ideally, if we’re in Europe again, we will kick off our pre season sooner or play more matches and get the intensity up.
Newkie(Quote)
Stardust – nice work, mate. (Better to get that in now, because I will probably disagree with what you wrote. 😉 )
Wellington(Quote)
Woo hoo hoo hoooo! 😆 😆
I can’t wait for Stardusts article. 😆 😆
This will go down in the blog annals to discuss over in the bar! 😆
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Shola, a real aerial threat! 😛 I love this blog. You might just kid Strumpo with that one. 😛
You’ve overdosed on the Guardian, mate. I think you’ve confused yourself with over-analysis. I bet you could make a fully functioning mobile phone out of no more than two grains of sand and a lemon. 😛
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
Stardy you made a couple of ok points in your article but I accidently deleted it 😯 by mistake off course 😉
So maybe you can send it in again
Big Dave(Quote)
“Sorry I can’t answer but there are too many permutations.” Yeah but, no but, yeah but, no but … 😛
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
On the subject of real aerial threats, Colo and Taylor must be embarrassed to run up for corners such is their ineptitude.
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
Liverpool apparently want 16 million for Carroll, and Monaco are prepared to pay it. Not sure what AC thinks of this, though.
Wellington(Quote)
We need two quality centre forwards in the summer; three if Cisse goes. I’d take Lukaku and Benteke.
Pardew complains about injuries but if we had lost Cisse like Sunderland lost Fletcher, we would have gone down. He shouldn’t complain.
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
Axel i put a few stats up a while ago basically saying that we gained more points after European games than we did when there was a whole week to prepare for a single game. Now i don’t know if that is still the case now we have played a few more games whilst not in Europe. It was about the time we just got knocked out i put them up.
Now to me that says its nothing to do with the Thursday game.. But that doesn’t count injuries of course.
Santii(Quote)
Welly ,I can’t see him going to Monaco can you.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Got to love some of the hypocritical comments on here today like… 😳 😳
Santii(Quote)
@B&B
I bloody wish we could get either of them two “Lukaku and Benteke” I would say both are more complete players than Carroll but would probably cost twice as much. Lukaku on loan would be great.
Santii(Quote)
Santii – You could see in the second half yesterday that the midweek travels to Darras Hall had sapped the lads’ energies. But it’s okay because we’ll be working to put that right next week, 100%. Well maybe not next week.:razz:
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
Kim, I couldn’t see him leaving Newcastle, either.
Wellington(Quote)
B&B@325 no chance of getting either of those 2 m8 ,after our lowly finish we will need too scour the lower leagues and Europe too get a couple of decent strikers . I would like Shane Long from WBA but i reckon even he will be out of our range . Le Fondre from Reading looked a decent player ,he is English has premiership expierence and would fit into our budget i think .
Axel(Quote)
LOL B&B
I think Cabaye had to walk to tescos in the rain last Tuesday thats why he was brought off early he wasn’t 100% after that horrific walk 😀
Santii(Quote)
B+B-You’d take Lukaku and Benteke? As if any team in the prem wouldn’t 😆 😆
Aye, 50 mil for both should seal it.
Newkie(Quote)
B&B@325. I’m sure I read somewhere that Swansea were hoping to sign Lukaku. The lad has just turned 20 and has 17 goals to his name. He’s a beast of a centre forward, I’d love to have him at the toon.
Munich Mag(Quote)
Santii,
These stats sound interesting. Did we play the same teams in both the post-Europa set of games and the full-week set?
Wellington(Quote)
Axel i think we will continue to do are shopping abroad in the lower wages leagues and as long as we can pay higher wages we can continue to get the same caliber of player we have been getting recently.
Santii(Quote)
Wellington that’s not really the point now is it. It shows that we aren’t as affected by playing two games a week as some on here seem to think we are.
Of course im not including the injuries we received during those games.
Santii(Quote)
MM @ 335 were they not looking to continue his loan ❓
Big Dave(Quote)
MM
I don’t know why Chelsea wouldn’t want him surely they have learned a lesson with Sturridge. They are bonkers if they let him go he is their best striker 😀
Santii(Quote)
Anyone seen this Beckhams final game its pretty sad until about 2 minutes in then it is just tacky as hell 😆 😆 😳
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_YQnVlSPEE
Santii(Quote)
is Colo staying
“”It was disappointing to lose, of course, but they were fighting for the Champions League while we didn’t play for anything, just trying to get three points for the fans,” he said.
“But I think Sunday was a very good game because maybe we showed that we can fight against the big teams. We have to prepare for next season and play like we did on Sunday: to be compact and aggressive.
“I think next season, if the team play like that, we can be higher in the table.””
mark(Quote)
Santii,
I’m just looking at it myself, and the post-Europa games were against:
Aston Villa, Chelsea, Fulham, Manchester United, Norwich, Southampton (twice), Sunderland WBA, West Ham, and Wigan
Those with the full week lead-up were
Arsenal, Aston Villa, Everton, Liverpool (twice), Manchester City, Norwich, QPR, Reading, Sunderland, Swansea (twice), Tottenham (twice), WBA, West Ham
Do you really think that there’s no significant difference in class between these two groups?
Wellington(Quote)
Welly.
Pardews as flexible as the angel of the North.
I never see him change his style to suit the opposition.
Its a back four with wingbacks covering the leftback/rightback positions 3 defensive midfielders and Cisse to feel off hoofballs. & whats flexible about using the same players every time with the predictable subs coming on @the same time every game. how comes that’s flexible 😛
mark(Quote)
Of course there is but the better teams are also playing in 2/3/4 comps at a time and i know they have much bigger better squads but again thats not the point im trying to make its shows that the short preparation isn’t really the problem. It more Pardews preparation is the main problem.
Santii(Quote)
Santii,
It was interesting listening to Laudrup talking about players being tired. He said there was no such thing. it was all about mentally preparing them for the next game that counts, tiredness shouldnt come into it..
mark(Quote)
@Mark
Aye i seen that on MOTD it was funny/slightly embarrassing how he kinda laughed it off.
Santii(Quote)
Mark @344,
Spot on mate 😉
TonyGreenSupreme(Quote)
Well it looks like Scumberland will be buying a hell of a lot of players this summer . Di cannio has come out and said all their pathetic players need too go ,so an entire new squad their then . Wonder if he feels the same about their fans 😆 stadium of ***** would be completly empty then . 👿
Axel(Quote)
Vossen would be a cheaper option than his old team mate Benteke.
2011/12 Benteke , Genk ,19 goals in 37 games
2011/12 Vossen , Genk , 27 goals in 48 games
2012/13 Benteke , A Villa , 19 goals in 34 games
2012/13 Vossen , Genk ,19 goals in 38 games
Very similar goals to game ratio . Could be a good buy.
sidekick(Quote)
Carrying on the qualitative stuff, here are the “upsets”, where we really ought to have done better. A “*” marks a post- Europa League match, while a “&” marks one shortly following a Domestic match:
1-1 Aston Villa (*)
0-1 West Ham (*)
Wigan 2-1 (*)
0-3 Sunderland (*)
Reading 2-2 (&)
1-2 Swansea
1-2 Reading
So we’re looking at 4 dropped points on the clear weeks – Reading should have been beaten (from 17 games, that’s about .235 dropped per game) , 2 dropped on the post-domestic matches (over 8 games is .25 per game) 7 dropped on the post-EL matches – there’s a missing win in those lost games, too (over 13 games, which would mean .538 dropped per game) .
Note that the rate of dropped points in the clear weeks and domestic pile-up games is similar. Note also that had we played at the “clear week” rate for the post-EL games, we’d have picked up another four points, probably good enough for 10th.
10th would have been a bit of a let-down, but hardly wrist-slashing territory. 😉
Wellington(Quote)
Prior to this game, the current side already had the unwanted distinction of being the leakiest ever to represent United in the Premier League. Conceding a further goal meant that 68 had hit our net, worse than the 65 conceded in the 2007/08 season.
And failure to win left this side boasting Newcastle’s second-lowest points total in the 19 seasons of PL participation, the 41 point haul inferior only to the miserly 34 of the 2008/09 relegation season.
Just a little quote from NUFC.com to wake us up to how truly pathetic our season was under Pardew (as if we needed it). The man has already started on about how he loves being our manager but will anything change next season under him? I hope so if Ashley has no ambition.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
@Newkie 334 😆
Who said toon fans were delusional?!
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
@Sidekick
Im surprised we haven’t been linked with him before he is exactly the type of player we go for these days. I think he is about 24/5 as well so he is in his prime and would have a good resale value.
Santii(Quote)
Geordietwo i think its our worst GD as well since the PL started.
Santii(Quote)
@GeordieTwo
I believe last year we collected our highest ever number of clean sheets.
We also finished in one of our highest ever league positions.
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
A combination of Benteke and Lukaku would be fantastic for us but might as well wish for the moon with Ashley in charge. How much money will Ashley be willing to spend this summer? He will think we have a fine squad based on the spending in January. I’m sure he will stick to the same method of replacing anyone who leaves (eventually) so we’ll get a Ba replacement finally and someone in for Colo if he goes but that’s probably it. Not nearly enough. The whole squad needs a good cleanout as well starting with Shola, Gosling, Willo, Obertan, and Jonas. That would mean 5 more replacements. Is it going to happen under Llambias with Ashley at the top? No.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
“Mediocre, listless and unconvincing, yet again. If the manager truly believes that only minor tweaks are required to fashion this side into something worth watching, then he’s in need of urgent psychiatric help.”
Another quote from NUFC.com which also reflects how I feel about Pardew and this season under him. We can talk about the previous season ST but do you honestly believe we will ever achieve that again under Pardew? I just can’t imagine it. He’s not willing to change his approach and we no longer have Ba. Cisse has been found to be a poacher only which doesn’t work at all the way we are set up under Pardew. Difficult days ahead for us I’m afraid.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Mark, if it’s just your say-so, then I guess my only reply is to say that you aren’t watching the games with very much care for tactics. I find this a credible reply because you don’t make any reference to tactics beyond the lineup. (There’s the predictable complaint of “hoofball”, but as we don’t play hoofball that hardly makes the analysis more complete.)
What do you think about the team’s shape? Width? Depth of the defensive line? Depth of pressing? Positioning of the fullbacks? Do you even notice that Jonas isn’t always deployed on the same flank? 😕
Wellington(Quote)
Solano you are starting to sound like a Liverpool fan buddy. 😆
G2 bit unfair on Ashley there what other owner would spend a lot (i would say 50+ million for both) of money on two players that are very similar in their play style.
Have you not learned anything from this year Jonas will never be sold under Pardew he is his favorite player. I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts the majority of next seasons games. 😀 😆
Santii(Quote)
Can people please stop mentioning Lukaku and Benteke. You’re embarrassing yourselves boys.
Also I’m going to place myself firmly in the keeping Williamson and Shola for another season camp. We are all hoping Ashley buys a new striker, to expect him to buy two is just dreaming. Shola to stay as third choice – with AC in loan in the Championship, year after AC takes Shola’s place.
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
Aye Santii I believe it was our worst goal difference in the Prem as well. So much for spending 4 of every 5 practice days on defense. Laughable really. How can this be allowed to continue? We can’t even take a corner at the top level of football for ****s sake!
GeordieTwo(Quote)
ST-Madness innit 😯
And agree with whoever said it, Lukaku is their best striker, Chelsea would be fools to loan him out let alone sell the guy! Benteke will stay for another season and then we’ll see if he’s in with the one season wonder strikers or what. He only looks like getting better though.
Newkie(Quote)
I was kidding about Benteke and Lukaku Santii mate. Nobody would buy both of them. I think Benteke would be the lad to go after but we have no ambition and he would probably end up wasted under Pardew. We would probably try to us him as a DM. It’s the attack by defending philosophy of Alan Pardew. Famous around the league it is.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
@GeordieTwo
He has changed the system a number of times before. I think for a good half of the season we’ve just been stuck with fear from the manager and the players. Every point makes a difference and Pardew attempted to play it safe with Jonas. Next year is the fairest time to judge him.
The number of people that were angry at the board and said we would seriously struggle at the start of the season, only for that to happen and now absolve the board of any blame is just mad.
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
Santii @ 345 – sorry, missed that. If you’re saying that Pardew’s intensive preparation methods don’t work with the added pressure of the Europa League, I agree with you. The results point strongly towards the extra travel time having an impact on the team’s performance.
Wellington(Quote)
I realize we’re probably stuck with Pardew and if so we’re going to have another very poor season coming up. Ashley hasn’t got a clue what to do about this and has nobody to properly advise him even if he would listen. He’s happy with the Prem TV money and staying up. The rest is bollocks to him. Win something? Why bother when there’s so much dosh available now just hanging around between 12th and 17th?
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Solano @ 365 – that’s not right either. The comments here are really strange. I’m not saying that Pardew is a mastermind – in fact, if somebody wanted to start complaining about his constant tinkering and changing, that would make sense to me. But saying that he’s just stuck to the old pattern because he’s had a (fairly) consistent line-up doesn’t even scratch the surface.
Wellington(Quote)
G”@362 with you on that,but what makes it worse in my eyes pardew sets out to defend at all costs,cannot even get that right
icedog(Quote)
Solanostrumpet Shola does not have the legs too carry him through another season even if its just 15 minute cameo’s . As for willo too be honest i dont think he is much worse than saylor for me they can both go but that just wont happen .
Axel(Quote)
Big Dave,
I am not dealing very well with the thought of Pardew staying 😉 😆 😆
TonyGreenSupreme(Quote)
Agree with you there ST @365. And those are good points @366 Welly but if we can’t handle Europa competition and we can’t progress at all in domestic cups (won by Swansea and Wigan this year if you can believe it) what are we actually competing for? Most seasons of mediocre football ever played anywhere? I’m sure Ashley would love it if it filled his pockets and the supporters kept filling the ground (he would laugh himself silly).
GeordieTwo(Quote)
said it many times jabba will be quite happy just to stay in the PL
icedog(Quote)
TGS there is nowt else we can do we just have to accept it and anything different could be a bonus.
Ice @ 373 I believe your right and that is why he would rather keep a very average manager that he knows and trust rather than get a top manager that will want to have a say
Big Dave(Quote)
G2 @ 372 – this season, a good cup run would have been a disaster for us – I wouldn’t trade places with Wigan! Let’s not lose track of the fact that the club has only recently been relegated and is heavily in debt (if at favourable terms).
I think there’s good reason to expect a revival next season. Personally, I’m hoping for 8th place – if we qualify for the Europa League again so soon, it’s could provoke something silly. The season afterwards is when we should start looking for silverware.
Wellington(Quote)