To say it was a game of two halves would be an understatement. The first was as dire as it could get and it looked to be another long afternoon of football ahead.
Then after a rocket from Alan Pardew at half time, the lads came out and showed what can happen when you believe in yourselves and give it your all. Here is what was said.
Pardew said: “There were a few strong words.
“It’s not nice as a manager to go in and bark out orders but sometimes it’s necessary just to shake people up because we needed shaking up.
“We needed to offer a threat. We’re Newcastle United. We’re not a small club. We’re a big club and we were playing like a small club.
“We were giving too much possession to Tottenham, too much space. We never made a challenge. And we were fortunate to come in a 1-0.
“So I reminded them about the fundamentals of a Premier League game and we come out with a much stronger attitude.”
After that epic speech, it only took about seven seconds for the reaction Pardew and us fans were all looking for! When from the second half kick off, a beautiful through ball from Colback was met at full tilt by a rampaging Sammy Ameobi and he lashed it into the back of the net with his left foot. After my initial reaction of WOW! My next thought was ‘that is the kind of thing that normally happens too us not for us’.
From there we really started to press Spurs hard and to me they looked defeated and tired. If you have been a Toon fan long enough, you get to know that look when things start to get tough and no one on the park wants to know about it. And when Perez nodded the ball home for our second and his first ever goal, I must say it was the happiest I had been for some time when watching a game that Newcastle was playing in. I was really pleased for both Sammy and Ayoze, it will do their confidence a world of good. From there until the 95th minute there was the usual edge of the seat stuff and desperate defending. Sissoko had probably his best game for us and the defence did work well as unit. But at the end of the day, the credit must go to the goal scorers. Not because they were the stand outs but because both goals were very well taken by two young players that are looking to make their mark and they will be all the better for it.
We are not out of the woods yet but some more fighting displays like that, a bit of luck and some moments of magic, we might just make something of this season!
Bring on Liverpool!
I finally got to see the highlights. Sissoko’s goal was pure class. He is playing exceptionally well.
MDS(Quote)
Love those strange tactics. And not bad for a club that tries not to win a cup.
brisvegas(Quote)
What tonight showed is that we have options. Dummett at centre back, Haidara, Aarons and Armstrong. We played a good Man City team that were expensively put together and we did well. Credit to Pardew again. As MDS said, Sissoko is showing he might be the player we thought he could be.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Bris, nowt strange about last night mate, he knew we had Pool on Saturday so rested a few and put faith in the likes of Arma, Aarons and put Oba back in which meant we finally carried a threat. If only he mixed it up more often, there are too many assured of a start and it shows at times.
Hope that Troy has his slice of humble pie too, **** squad my ****.
kIMTOON(Quote)
Oh and Raylor, cool as a cucumber, we have really missed the lad, made a huge difference last night .
kIMTOON(Quote)
Hey a song for Rolando Aarons, to the tune of Fernando by ABBA
Can you see the goal Rolando?
or change some words in this bit to
There was something in the air that night
The stars were bright, Rolando
They were shining there for you and me
For Toon you see, Rolando
Though we never thought that we could lose
There’s no regret
If you had to do the same again
you would, my friend ,Rolando.
kIMTOON(Quote)
^^ Kim, lol
OHurley(Quote)
Credit to the players last night. Pardew got his tactics spot on. Troy will be very proud I should imagine
stem(Quote)
Stem – proud or shocked. You see Troy wrote this squad of players off as relegation fodder. I don’t suppose he will admit he was wrong though, I’d imagine some bollocks about this being evidence of just how great Pardew is as a manager, getting a performance like that out of a bunch of numpties. He could prove me wrong like, but then where would the controversy come from if we all agreed 🙄 😆
Being really picky about last night, I thought Colo had another shaky game. He did ok, but seems to have lost all of his composure.
Dummett played really well, and I’m wondering if he’s a better CB than LB?!. He’s certainly proving to be a very useful defender.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Superb from start to finish, Could easily have been 4 or 5 but for ludicrous reffereeing
Lets carry this into Liverpool and get up that table
CC(Quote)
Sharpy-if you just went off the best 90 mins of our centre backs this season then I think Dummett’s last night would make him our no.1 😆
He doesn’t shirk a challenge, he’s brave, quickest compared to the rest (not hard) and he’s pretty solid in the air. He’s strong too, it took a rugby tackle to get him down in their box, and he almost scored anyway. He could defo play there again. I didn’t think Colo was as bad as he was at Spuds, I just don’t think he’s captain material and I think the responsibility/pressure affects his game badly. It made Tiote even better, but I don’t think Colo can cope when the pressure is on.
Shame that rumours of Tiote going are doing the rounds, and that our other Vice captain will be missing half the season at least 😕
Newkie(Quote)
Sharpy17 I reckon his shocked mate and doesn’t want to admit his wrong about the players being ****. His probably thinking of a good excuse or Pardew’s just the greatest manager ever lived.
Great result last night and the had a strong team.
stem(Quote)
Troy Stavers
October 29, 2014 at 22:20
Sharpy
Don’t worry. You’re not the only one who should be holding their hands up saying they got it wrong.
Not many can say they’ve got it right about Pardew. 😉
What about the players, Troy? you said this was the worst team we’ve had for years, (thanks to Ashley) with no strength in depth of the sqaud, and would probably get us relegated.
Now go to the nearest mirror and repeat these words back to yourself,
” I’m not so perfect after all ”
😆
Mr October(Quote)
O Hurley – where you been for what – years?
I’m almost speechless at the last two performances. And at a loss to explain it all. However, two things really stand out. 433 is definitely the way forward with this set of players. It’s the “big” players missing that’s making us stronger. No Cisse, Willo or Tiote and we’re far better without them.
The young ones are ready. Abeid offers much more than Gouffran or Anita and the front three? So many options – Sammy, Aarons, Armstrong, Ayoze, Cabella, Obertan (did I say that?). Keep it up Pardew. Play the kids and go for it. We can’t get worse than the old guard and the first 7 games!
georgio(Quote)
Icing on the cake has got to be Sissoko. 2 fantastic performances. Everyone’s been saying he’s nowhere near as good as Yaya and there he is – much better than Yaya. Amazed!
georgio(Quote)
I’m not sure that we need to be at a loss to understand it, Georgio – we’re not as good as the last two performances suggest, nor anywhere near as bad as the start of the season said. Partly, winning breeds confidence and makes it easier for flair players to shiw flair,partly, I reckon, it just takes some time for such a lot of starting XI changes to bed in together. Many managers have said that Newcastle is only ever three matches away from a crisis, and I’m sure there’ll be more howls for Pardew’s head before the season is out, so I’m just hoping that the current little run can become a bigger run, atleast up until after we’ve beaten the mackems!
GTE(Quote)
GTE – keeping the feet on the ground I see. You’re probably right but it’s hard not to have spirits lifted after the last 2 games.
georgio(Quote)
I don’t think anybody should be ashamed for asking for Pardew to be sacked. The run of form and performances we had in 2014 until recently would have had any other manager fired. Pardew is a very streaky manager and goes on good runs and then on a death spiral. Let’s hope this is one of his good runs, but believe me he will get cocky again and make us all hate him. Please just keep the ball on the ground and we should be OK – I mean, play to our strengths.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I see Pards said they think Dummetts future is at CB. I agree. Maybe he’s the one to take over for Collo next year which would free up Hadeira and Santon on the left.
You know it’s a big win when O’Hurleyakes an appearance. How goes it mate?
MDS(Quote)
GTE you are right to be cautious but what has me excited is that the last three halves we’ve been fun to watch for the first time in awhile and, for the first time in a VERY long time, we have some fantastic youth.
MDS(Quote)
Dummett was absolutely fantastic.
Cholo A. Sall(Quote)
KIM good pick like the song,think. I will have to stay in Malta that’s three in a row
icedog(Quote)
Ice , That win has cheered me up no end mate. It’s been a bad week, Dad was rushed into hospital on Monday with Pneumonia and I had a tooth out on Tuesday so hopefully week will steadily improve. Feel like a cake cut into slices at the mo as I’m here there and everywhere. Mums in the mornings, hospital afternoon and lewis to look after in the evening. Had 3 lots of GP’s and two lots of paramedics out late last week and over the weekend all missed what was obvious to me and the carers. It was rapid response guys who finally agreed he wasn’t right, they thought he’d had another stroke. Anyway off up the hospital now catch up later, keep up with enjoying that sunshine.
kIMTOON(Quote)
Ice does the Pup have one of those box things to let you see the matches while you’re there?
MDS(Quote)
I’m enjoying this winning streak at the moment and will say well done to Pardew and the players last night. It was a very good defensive display and they even created chances and scored twice. I like watching City struggle with Obertan’s pace. It was a very good game the best I’ve seen in a long time. I just know it won’t be long before Pardew goes on a terrible run so will enjoy it while it lasts.
Terry(Quote)
Ice – stay exactly where you are for a long long time!
georgio(Quote)
Newkie – Colo wasn’t terrible last night, but I noticed there was a couple of occasions when he totally lacked composure. He went running out to close a ball down – which isn’t a bad thing but it should have been a midfielder – and as a result it left space where he should have been. The other one was when Jovetic was on the edge of the box and played the ball across the box to Navas to have a shot. Colo went racing across to Jovetic and ended up on the floor. Lucky Navas shot wide, but really Colo should have been in the middle closing down Navas. Little things I know, and seems harsh when we kept a clean sheet, but teams who look at our videos won’t need to look too hard to find our weaknesses.
It’s weird coz he used to be rock solid and positionally excellent – but this season he certainly hasn’t at all.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Coloccini as DM is still an option for me. Even I think he played well on last 3 games. Wont be surprised if Raylor plays against Liverpool, as RM in 4411 or as 3rd CM with Colback and Sissoko, it will probably be him or Abeid for that spot. Hope to see both play more often
Cholo A. Sall(Quote)
Cholo – I think we should go get Virgil from Celtic in Jan and then let Colo leave at the end of the season.
All the reports have us linked with Gignac in Jan as well. Add those two to the current squad and we are laughing mate.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy – not sure about those two mate. Virgil likes his 50 yard passes but has a lot of mistakes in him. He looks the part but still not sure. Gignac (I know he’s scored a few lately) I don’t like at all, he reminds me of Guivarch.
See Pardew’s on about Cisse and Tiote returning for Liverpool. Not one for learning lessons our Alan.
georgio(Quote)
I think Radu from Lazio could be a shout; They enquired about him in the window. He will only have a year left on his contract this summer
Left footed so a natural replacement for Colo at left CB
CC(Quote)
KIM,your luck is **** at the moment mate,surely things must go only one way now that’s up,good luck your in my thoughts
icedog(Quote)
MDS,yes mate pup has a box so I miss nowt I fought and fought be still had Togo to the bar after the game,I just hope pardew sticks with pace and flair players,and starts games trying to win games instead of starting not to lose if you get my drift
icedog(Quote)
*Sharpy17- Id keep Saylor, Coloccini in D, and use Curtis Good when he returns from injury, recall Streete in january and keep both as backups, dont need at defender. We can sell Willo and wait for Lascelles loan ending. Upfront, dont want Gignac either, I want to see what can Chucky bring to us first. And we have Ayoze, Cissé, Riviere; Armstrong Sammy and Siem de Jong all possible options
Cholo A. Sall(Quote)
Dummett showed he can do a decent job as CB too
Cholo A. Sall(Quote)
Sharpy17- And I would sell Anita, Gouffran and if possible Willo coming january, Raylor Abeid and Bigi can do the job as CM backups, and we got better options than Gouffran on flanks with Sammy Aarons Cabella Obertan an
Cholo A. Sall(Quote)
SHARPY I tend to agree with GEORGIO those two don’t really float my boat
mate
icedog(Quote)
Georgio/Ice – I’d take Virgil from Celtic and let Willo and Colo go. I know he’s not the finished article but him and Lascelles would be a cracking partnership I reckon.
I could leave Gignac to be honest – I’d prefer Danny Ings personally – I think it would mean more to him and we’d get 100% every week. Gignac has talent, but I’ve read he likes to put weight on in the summer breaks – we’ve just got rid of one of those.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Gignac is someone who feels like he’s been around forever, he’s not going to get any better imo and right now I don’t think he’d cut the mustard. He’s the kind of player we used to buy pre/early Ashley, I can’t see us going for him now.
Newkie(Quote)
The win against Man City far outweighed the win at Spurs.
Against Man City we had a structure, aggression, coolness and consistency. Absolute brilliant throughout the team.
And man oh man what about Abeid and Raylor ? Can only see the 6 million euro man Anita falling even further down the pecking order after yesterday…
Munich Mag(Quote)
Sharples@338… “but I’ve read he likes to put weight on in the summer breaks”…you’re not on about one of our bloggers there are you ? 😆 😆 😉
Munich Mag(Quote)
Ice agreed. It’s time to unleash the flair players
MDS(Quote)
Munich – I wouldn’t know what you mean mate, but me old mar always said ‘people in glass house…’ 😆
Cholo – I’d let Anita, Gouffran and Willo go too – Santon as well if the money was right. But realistically speaking, who would take the first 3?!.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I felt the big difference yesterday was that we attacked with more speed and conviction. We have quick players in the side who worry defenders. More of that please 🙂
Munich Mag(Quote)
excellent result from an attack-minded team. 2nd half v Spurs and full game v City we showed we can attack..
Pleased for Taylor and Abeid. we need to drop Anita in favor of Abeid.
I’d play both v L’pool if Tiote is out.
Excellent performances from Dummett, Rolando, Obertan, Sissoko and Sammy when they came on. Whole team looked good.
Some on here said our team was **** 😯 😛
mark(Quote)
Sharpy17- Let Willo go on the cheap, loan Goof somewhere in Ligue 1 and sell Anita for £2m lol. Id keep Santon for the season thought.
Cholo A. Sall(Quote)
Mark@345, maybe you don’t think we had been **** until the last few weeks ? 😯 😛
Munich Mag(Quote)
Pardew must be in line for manager of the month for October surely ?
Away wins at Spurs and Man City, and a home win against Leicester. Who can better that ? …apart from Koeman perhaps 🙁
Munich Mag(Quote)
Munich – are you Troy in disguise?! 😆 😆
Sharpy17(Quote)
Where’s Troy ? It would be interesting to see what he thinks about yesterday. Stuart79 also ?
Terry(Quote)
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4GYZ7iT4XXk
icedog(Quote)
Sharpster, I wrote that comment about Pardwho as MOM tongue in cheek, then I thought…what the hell…why not ? ! 😆 😆
Ok then, I’ll go back in my wash basket … 😎
Munich Mag(Quote)
Tut tut. 😯
Despite what some of you say, suggesting I should also eat humble pie, poppycock. 🙂
My views haven’t changed one iota about the quality of the squad.
I still believe we are relegation fodder and will be fighting a relegation battle until January and hopefully Ashley will invest in a striker.
What I have identified is, since Riviere, Cabella and De Jong have been withdrawn for differing reasons, we’ve improved.
Don’t think for one second that we are going to rise up the league. We’ve had a few good results but against faltering sides and a weakened one last night. We just wanted it more.
There lies my point though. Wanted it more. Pardew continuously keeps turning his teams into hungry sides. That’s his biggest asset. Despite the biggest criticism thrown at him as being a **** man manager, he’s far from it.
I said the squad is **** and it is. I can’t believe anyone has changed their mind. I did say if Pards kept us up then he’s excelled. Well, that’s exactly what he’s doing. 😉
Off to bed chuckling at the Clueless Crew. 😀
Troy Stavers(Quote)
So I’m confused.
Did the plan of playing the kids backfire on Percy, and then he takes all the credit.? “I know what I’m doing” etc
Was Percy’s hand forced due to injuries?
Is he a tactical genius ?
Or has he actually learnt a few things from the first 9 league matches and has changed things accordingly ?
His approach to the Liverpool match on Saturday will be very interesting.
Hopefully we can keep this good run going a bit longer.
The whole team were magnificent last night, no thanks to the referee
Good to see us attacking with intent for a change.
Well done to everyone, including Percy.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
I no longer think Obertan is the quickest player at the club. Aarons is. The end.
DJG(Quote)
Troy: should I send you some straws to clutch? That “weakened” City side cost over 200 million to assemble. Toure, Silva and Aguero are considered world class. I even think that new player, Mangala, cost 30 milllion. Hell, I think Milner cost like 26 million.
I have to admit I was shocked and delighted we beat that side.
I haven’t seen enough of the new players for whatever reason (injury, not played) to be able to judge them yet although there are signs. Plus, if Sissoko can keep up his form we could be OK as long as Pardew doesn’t over think it.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I still think it was stupid that we loaned out three perfectly good premiership players, regardless of how the new bunch do. And that was due to Pardew falling out with them.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
What I don’t understand is how anyone can have judged our squad before a ball was kicked. I highly doubt anyone had any extensive knowledge of Perez, Riviere, Aarons or Facundo. In addition, I think most would have only caught the odd game from De Jong, Janmaat and Cabella. Maybe those saying that this is unequivocally a bad squad, and Pardew has them punching above their weight, got their information from Youtube like Dennis Wise did?
As I said, I don’t know how good or bad our squad is yet.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Hey lads, sorry bout disappearing. I think I’ll have a lot more time. Those of you who remember me (and I’m praying you still do like) will remember the “paper route” lol. Well, hours are now closer to British time since half the clients I support are based in the UK. Means I’m up all night and what better way to spend it than talkin’ about my beloved Newcastle United?! Been absent from here, but I’ve been keeping up with everything every day.
Anywho, cheers mates!
OHurley(Quote)
Been forever since I’ve had the chance to really get on an see what’s what. Lost my job last October, but the new one is better. Only difference is that I am no longer around a computer all day to check in and say hi or offer my two cents. Also, forgot the address for the site…lol. Glad to see this blog is still going strong. Good day yesterday, win for Newcastle and the SF Giants. Happier for Newcastle though.
I hope to get on more often, but may be the occasional appearance. Hope you all are doing well…
NorCal Toonfan(Quote)
NorCal, good to see ya man! Glad to hear you’re doing well too.
HWTL
OHurley(Quote)
Norcal & Ohurley. Two names from the past. Good to see you’re still around boys..welcome back !
HWTL !!
Eric Sykes, HBA got loaned out probably because of the Pardew spat and contract extension palaver, and Mbwia because Pardew doesn’t rate him…at least not yet. Either way, and this is probably part of the issue, Ashley has got a canny monthly salary off his hands for the rest of the season, those two alone are probably big earners. Good business decision, questionable sporting decision.
Munich Mag(Quote)
A tactical change was forced upon Pards???
I would suggest the new players were forced upon him at the start of the season and had to play them to test them out.
He’s realised some of them aren’t up to the job yet.
Let’s make this clear, as some seem confused by the recent turn of form. Young lads usually impress short term and that form diminishes the longer they play in the season. We have nothing to fall back on when they fade.
The squad is not good enough in quality and therefore we will be in a relegation battle.
Well done to Pards though for excelling. He’s really shown up the Clueless Crew once again. They are all stuttering. 🙂
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Just picking up on the City playing a weakened team, and not even to trash Troy. City had Navas, Aguero and Nasri on their bench – millions and millions of talent and we beat them with a makeshift team. If I want to give Pardew credit, this would have to rank with the wins away at Man U and Chelsea as his greatest achievement for us. Now, why can’t he be like this every match instead of often capitulating and losing by 3 or 4? This is what is so frustrating about Pardew, there seems to be a decent manager in there somewhere but we don’t often see it, at least in 2014.
Back to City, it seems that every player on the field and bench cost 20 million or more. They don’t have a weakened team. They supposedly have this great academy now but all we see are very expensive imports. They also had Hart, Zabaleta and Mangala on the bench. How the hell did we beat that lot?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I know West Ham beat City as well but they were at home, had their best team out and have momentum.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Nowt like covering your ****,Troy.
If the team win, it’s because of Pardew.If they get beat, it’s because their not good enough.
You can now argue the toss from one week to the next, whatever the result may be, without being wrong.
Nice one 😉
Mr October(Quote)
Troy – I’ve always felt that your posts were designed to try and stir a reaction on here and I agree with Mr O – your last post allows you to do that depending on how things are going. I’d have more time for your posts if you had the balls to admit you wrong about the strength of the squad – but to be honest I didn’t expect it. If you genuinely believe the squad is relegation fodder, it shows to me how little you know and leaves your posts as simply trying to provoke.
As for Pardew ‘excelling’, I would say that he has simply returned to doing his job to an acceptable standard.
Sammy and Obertan have performed really well in recent weeks – and they were in the squad last season as well. Perhaps if Pardew had shown the same faith in them in January and had the vision to change his playing style then, then maybe things could have been very different.
Pardew himself admitted that they were ready to sell Obertan in the summer, yet a few weeks later and Oba is turning fullbacks inside out.
Yeah, well done to Pardew for changing things round, but look what we had to go through to get there.
Sharpy17(Quote)
My team verus Liverpool would be:
——————- Krul ——————
Jan – Saylor – Dummy – Haidara
— Sissoko – Abied – Colback —
Obertan ——————– Aarons
—————– Perez —————-
That’s based on Tiote and Cisse being out injured.
I really fancy our chances this weekend to be honest coz I reckon Liverpool had an eye on their CL clash with Real Madrid midweek.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy – My team would be pretty close to that but i would have Colo in for Taylor and I am not decided on whether Armstrong or Perez up front.
However I expect Gouffran to play instead of Aarons, Riviere up front, Taylor to replace to Dummet and he move to left back with Anita coming in for Abeid.
Stuart79(Quote)
Troy must be feeling like a right *** after seeing the ability that some of these supposed poor players actually possess when utilized correctly by the manager.
JJ(Quote)
Also Sharpy – I dont necessarily think Troy is wrong about the strength of our squad. I don’t think it is very strong at all and one game against City doesn’t really prove it is. We have some promising young players but thats all at the moment who performed brilliantly against City but theres been games where they’ve been dreadful too so I think we need to reserve judgment just yet for a another year.
Stuart79(Quote)
Sharpy
Don’t hold your breath waiting for Troy admitting he’s wrong.That’s something that won’t happen.It’s a sign of weakness in his mind.
That could be a genetic condition, inherited from the wrestling side of his family 😀
Mr October(Quote)
Stu – if it were Colo for Saylor and Armaz for Perez then I could live with that. I wouldn’t be as accepting of Anita and Gouffran back in the side, because they simply aren’t performing well at the moment.
Stu – just to clarify, you also have this group of players down as relegation fodder?.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Like your team Sharpy but not sure on Dummett as replacement for Colo. Stuart may well be right though and AP will revert to type. Hope he doesn’t!
Interesting now trying to pick the best front 3. Does Sammy get left out? Should Ayoze start again? 45 mins for them all?
I also thought Abeid had a great game v City. His positioning and tracking were terrific. He’s strong, good tackler and will push forward given the chance. Should be in for me.
georgio(Quote)
Sharpy – No, I can’t recall ever saying they would be relegated, in fact I think I may have said at the start of the season we would finish maybe 15/16th.
Fancy a couple of signing in January could push us up to 10-12th but I won’t hold my breath, as I fancy Ashley is arriving in his pants at thought of selling Aarons and Armstrong.
Stuart79(Quote)