With all games played this weekend already it is up to United ad West Ham to bring this latest round of Premier League fixtures to a close.
With the Magpies still looking for a first league win of the campaign and the Hammers looking for a first home win of the campaign it looks set to be an interesting game played out between two managers who have some competitive history between them at international level.
It was that match in the rain at Wembley where Slaven Bilic’s Croatia side pit an end to Steve McClaren’s tenure as England manager and earned him the now famous ‘wally with the brolly’ tag. While there may be a personal score to settle on that front undoubtedly the focus from McClaren will be gaining three league points for the first time as boss of Newcastle United.
West Ham
Former Magpie Andy Carroll could be in line to feature for the Hammers against the club where it all began for him. He’s never reached the heights he managed at St James’ Park in those formative years of his career and injuries have played a huge part in that buy on his day he is still a massive threat aerially which is not great for a defence which has a bigger fear of crosses than Count Dracula.
In other news Enner Valences is still out although three new signing – Victor Moses, Michail Antonio and Nikica Jelavic – are available for West Ham
Newcastle
Aleksandar Mitrovic will watch this game from the stands as he starts his three match suspension following his straight red card against Arsenal. Paul Dummett has suffered a setback as he attempts to recover from a hamstring injury while both Emmanuel Riviere and Sylvain Marveaux are some way off a return tof irst-team action desoite stepping up training recently. Otherwise McClaren has the majority of the squad he’s had available for the opening few weeks of the season to choose from after welcoming back his players from international duty and confirming that none of them picked up any knocks.
Previously…
The most recent meeting between the two sides was that memorable final day victory over West Ham which secured our Premier League status although away from home we suffered a 1-0 reverse in a fixture that tends to lean towards whoever the home side may be on the day. The betting odds for the match would also tend to point to a home win.
Overall there have been 122 games played between the two sides, with Newcastle being victorious on 48 occasions and West Ham on 39 occasions with 35 draws bringing up the total of 122.
Stats and facts
The draw against Manchester United ended a run of seven straight defeats on the road for Newcastle.
However United have lost only two of their previous nine visits to the Boleyn Ground.
Newcastle’s indiscipline has been picked up on but the reality is that neither team are exactly saintly. Newcastle have picked up nine red cards since the start of last season while West Ham have picked up six from their ten competitive matches so far this season.
Final thought
A lot has been made of our lack of possession in the league but rather conveniently the fact we’ve played over 45 minutes against Swansea (a possession team) with ten men and over 70 minutes against Arsenal (perhaps the ultimate possession team) has been glossed over. An away match against Manchester United has also been discounted as has the draw with Southampton who aren’t too shabby either.
Broadly speaking, 11 v 11 and the game against Swansea aside, I don’t think we’ve looked too bad. However looking ok is all well and good but eventually points need to be registered on the board and the longer we go on without a win the harder those points will be to come by. The aim has to be three points on our final trip to the Boleyn Ground with a point being acceptable.
Howay the lads!
Date: Monday, 14th September, 2015
Time: 20:00
Venue: The Boleyn Ground
Has Cisse played his last game for Newcastle. Hauled off at half time when we’re two down isn’t a compliment for your centre forward
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
We’re doomed!!! Doomed I tell ye!!!! This is worse than the Black Death!!! This is worse than an evening with Maggie and Dennis Thatcher!!!!
GeordieTwo(Quote)
TLR he didn’t come out to watch the2nd half I don’t think,must have took the pip
icedog(Quote)
The first half was something from the John Carver coaching manual. Utter pants. Huffed and puffed second half but it was more effort than skill.
Where do we go from here. Tear up the paper so far and start again. A better blend of players is quickly needed. Wijnaldum is a mystery. Shows massive ability in patches then disappears into nowhere.
Colocini was useless but he wasn’t alone.
I thought we needed 12 or 14 players in the summer because last season it was obvious we only had five quality players
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
At this rate the derby is going to be the battle for 19th place. 👿
DJG(Quote)
Toby – I would agree with pretty much all of that, though I don’t think Colo played that bad. Worst player for me today was a toss up between Haidara & Sissoko – but that said, only Janmaat & Mbemba played well IMO
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy agree about Janmaat & Mbemba. Colo has to be taken out the side. Dummett or Lascelles. Aarons for Sissoko
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
Stuart
I agree. I emphasised that @651
Troy Stavers(Quote)
maybe our defeat at West Ham wasn’t so bad after all ? 😆
Munich Mag(Quote)
McClaren wasn’t many people’s choice on here so I don’t think it is fair to say people are turning on him if he wasn’t wanted in the first place. We were bad in the first half and you have to question the logic of extending Coloccini’s contract and not getting another experienced centre back. His performance was epitomnized towards the end of the game where he showed the right back the inside IN THE FKIN BOX, got caught flat footed and their player had an open shot on goal.
There is enough blame to go around. It cannot be denied that Pardew had us playing some awful football, went on terrible runs, was an odious human being and was the one that QUIT NUFC. If all Troysta can do is bring him up again and again to try to score some imaginary points, than I don;t know how that is contributing to any discussion of the present and the near future.
Troy is always like a dog with a bone when it comes to debates on here. HE IS MORE LIKE A DOG WITH A ***** WHEN IT COMES TO PARDEW.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Pfft. What a joke of a club we are. Not even looked at highlights, formation, line up etc. The result at home against a newly appointed team speaks for itself.
Shamrock(Quote)
Although I couldn’t pick out MoM for Newcastle I am reluctant to blame the players. I blaime the tactics. Cisse didn’t achieve any thing first half and should have scored – so should Sissoko. Having said that we still were playing with only one man up. No wonder we don’t score many goals. Watford on the other hand usually had four men up in attack. I don’t think their players were more skilful than ours but they were quicker and prepared to run off the ball. In fact again for the the last few seasons most other teams have been better than us at winning the second ball and running off the ball. Thefirst goal against us today would not have been scored had Haidara not messed around and lost the ball. Having said that where was Janmaat’s marking of the eventual scorer. Colback is a good honest player but IMO the class in going forward is missing. Ipersonally would have preferred Anita but Colback like Sissoko seems to be undroppable. McClaren has to show he can set up a team to play offensively from the off.
Groucho(Quote)
looks like the genius that is graham carr has struck again,thurvain does not look upto the riggers of the prem.
wasnt payet at marseille at the same time cheaper aswel,he must of missed him playing.
hitman(Quote)
Oh dear psycho?
All I do is defend my point when Pards was manager. You said the same things now as you did then.
Can you never see that he was a safe pair of hands?
He’s a decent premier league manager. He’s proved it.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Hitman
You have to understand the huge restrictions Carr is under.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
what restrictions is that.
hitman(Quote)
Troy@649, I agree, I bet Ashley wished he hadn’t sacked Pardew….
Munich Mag(Quote)
aye i miss the relegation battles under percy and the long runs with out a win.
what have the fans done in chasing this great manager away.
hitman(Quote)
Pardew walked away, he’s history, can we please move on.
kimtoon(Quote)
So crooks says on BBC that SM is heading for the sack before xmas
icedog(Quote)
@ice..xmas? Thats ages away 😀
Gashley(Quote)
Ime sick to death of hearing Pardew this and Pardew is that,he’s not our manager whatever you think of him,move on things are bad enough without harking on about him
icedog(Quote)
Our passing was terrible today, kept giving the ball away. Why do we constantly back off and let teams play around us.
I don’t think Thauvin is too bad, its early days. What I don’t get is why we opted for another winger instead of buying a defender or striker??
SM said one of the best signing was retaining Colo…I think he’s spent too much time watching 2nd rate footballers. He was the worst player on the pitch.
It was nice to see west ham defenders barking instructions at each other, ours are mute
Gashley(Quote)
http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2015/09/19/newcastle-united-fans-react-on-twitter-to-diego-costa-antics-rel/
Exactly
kimtoon(Quote)
Ice, agree @697, you’d think he was the second coming or something.
kimtoon(Quote)
I for one am not gonna blame McClaren. Is it McClaren’s fault that Cisse ‘the goal hanger’ is doing nothing, did he tell Mitrovic to go out and get himself sent off? He has been given a squad with players that he has either inherited or has been given, with no/ very little say in the matter. Pardew took over a team that was doing okay, McClaren has taken over a team that was rock bottom under Carver. The players need to turn up and play for professional pride on Wednesday night. Janmaat has the right attitude today after a poor start. Other players need to follow suit. McClaren has protected the players so far but I think he will need to make some difficult decisions on dropping one or two for the good of the squad. He hooked Cisse at half time today so he is not afraid to.
DJG(Quote)
percy would have this squad challenging for a CL place,id put money on it.
hitman(Quote)
Have the Parsnip lovers not considered that he could see this coming? He jumped into the lifeboat and buggered off!
DJG(Quote)
16:53
Chris Waugh
Obertan kicking off there & refused to stay on pitch to clap when McClaren asked him to. Surely must be repercussions for that.
not good enough if true
kimtoon(Quote)
NUFC Index @NUFC_Index
Florian Thauvin lost possession 33 times against Watford today, (easily) more than any other player involved! #nufc
Worrying
kimtoon(Quote)
I am going to say this again – we didn’t choose McClaren and in fact quite a few fans were disappointed that he ended up manager but most are behind him and STILL giving him a chance. It is too early to write him off.
But, when he was appointed the obvious points were made. That he had turned us down in January. That Charnley’s appointment process seemed to be all or nothing with Steve McClaren and paying lip service to other candidates. That supposedly he tuned us down again towards the end of the season and too the job after he was sacked.
I have made very little comment on McClaren because I didn’t know what to expect. What I do know is that if we sack him without giving him a chance we are back to square one. Are there any good managers available at the moment and do you expect the paper-pusher to be able to find and attract them? It is not like we will have Klopp and Ancelotti lining up.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
And another thing, what do ALL the pundits have against NUFC? They are all so quick to criticise and twist the knife. It is like there is some schadenfreude there, but why, what did NUFC ever do that was so bad to them?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
ffs it’s nothing to do with percy going or staying, its everything to do with the **** poor decisions of the so so called ‘board’
A bigger bunch of jokers and clueless tossers would be hard to find.
Same old same old
Reap what you sow
My prediction of bottom 3 by xmas is looking bang on
Those who predicted top 8 or even higher must be feeling rather stupid now.
Our club is rotten from top to bottom and stinks so badly.
The ‘quality’ of football is quite frankly beyond belief
All things considered, relegation is imperative to rid the club of the leech of Ashley and Shyte Distress.
We didn’t deserve to dodge the bullet last season. It’s even worse now.
What a SHAMBLES
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Gash – I’m not sure what Colo done wrong today to be fair.
Sissoko really disappointed me today – if that lad sees himself as a CL player then I’ve defo still got a chance!!.
Issues for me in the first half was Thauvin is all left foot, so playing on the right, he was either trying to cut inside (which didn’t work) or waiting for the Janmaat overlap (predictable). On Thauvin, I’ve never seen anyone work so hard just to run!!.
Second half, Cisse off – got to be the end of him I think!. But Sissoko on the right flank just seemed to hold the ball for the Janmaat overlap – then stood and watched. The goal was the only time I saw him saw any great urgency.
Subs – De Jong did okay when he came on, no better than that. Aarons on at left back – Wow?! – and what was the delay for?. Obertan gets 3mins?!.
On Obertan, did anyone see his kick off at the end?.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Eric you are right there. I think less than 5% voted for Mc on our blog,but we got behind him because we had no choice and we still held hope. Truth is though, we FAILED yet again in the transfer market. We did not sort defense out and did not clear the dead wood – so the rot that set in last term is still there. Shocking. If we can’t turn Watford over at home then there is no hope.
Shamrock(Quote)
Eric – I’m certain now that McClaren was yet another Carr selection.
It’s about time that useless old knacker got the boot once and for all.
Beggars belief that he is Ashleys ‘oracle’ on all things football.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Eric. Our board are not in it for the football or the fans. they are happy to tread water to keep the profits coming in whilst showing absolutely no ambition. We play negative football and always lose. We expect massive mo ey for our players but demand good players at reduced rates. Our players are mercenaries. NUFC represents everything that is wrong with modern football.. Apart from that I can’t think of a single reason why pundits would detest our club….
Shamrock(Quote)
what ever problems were there with the players last season are starting to come through now,players would of been hoping to move on in the summer and it didnt happen.
mcclaren has been delt a bad hand,hes trying to make a royal flush with a busted flush.
i really can see us being relegated this season.
hitman(Quote)
Sharpy: did you watch the full game? Did you see Colo give the right back the inside and an open shot at goal towards the end of the game. Watford were almost able to walk the ball past him at times he is so slow now.
I actually thought Sissoko was OK today given his usual low standards 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sham@712, you are spot on there
kimtoon(Quote)
Shamrock @712: Liverpool and Arsenal are the same though. However, they have their ex-player suck-ups on every TV channel making excuses for them. Remember the current owners of ‘Pool and **** are oligarchs, robber barons and hedge funds and their players are as mercenary as ours.
The other difference is that they have had some recent success though. The **** fans are pissed off that they have 200 mil in the bank but are stagnating.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
BB: I can’t see how relegation will help anything. Ashley isn’t leaving.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
The worst player on the pitch was Haidara. Need Dummett back as LB.
Cholo A. Sall(Quote)
so sheff wed(h) / chelsea(h) / man city(a) / norwich(h) coming up.
Thats followed by the mackems away.
Oh deary me.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Eric – I was there. Saw it all first hand mate and yes their right back skied a shot at the end, but he passed 3 players before he got to Colo. He & Mbemba play well together IMO.
Trust me mate, Sissoko was really poor.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Kim @ 705 I usually don’t put much store by stats. If you don’t do anything you make fewer mistakes. Thauvin did get involved a lot and therefore was possibly going to lose possesion a lot. I thought he was better than Sissoko and I prefer to go by my impressions rather than stats. However, I may be wrong. For one I don’t blame Cisse for his poor showing in the first half but I suspect I may be in the minority. Would love to see how he performs with two up.
Groucho(Quote)
Eric – relegation may or may not help, but right now it is looking almost like a cast iron certainty.
But for sure, they can’t blame the fans again this season.
Oh and btw I dont think this squad would last long in the championship either.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Don’t worry though Lads and Lasses we have the late game against Chelsea next week that will be seen live in the UK and all over the world. It is on the regular network here and starts at 11.30 am. The whole of America will be able to witness our latest humiliation 🙂
FYI: most of the games here are played early, 6.30 and 9 am and on a cable channel that only about 25% get. On the network, everyone with a TV can watch us live – it just about triples the audience.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/struggling-newcastle-eye-transfer-france-6478665 🙄
kimtoon(Quote)
We played like absolute ***** in the first half but still could have got something from the game if Cisse and Sissoko hadn’t snatched at their chances. Now Steve has a massive selection headache:
– Colo and Haidara had ‘mares but one is undroppable and the other has Colback as back up, who if shifted to left back would be replaced by a player who was just dropped.
– Willo is back on the bench.
– Cisse was started even though he had an attitude and then justifiably replaced at half time, which I am sure will improve his attitude.
– Apart from Perez (half a season) our whole attack has minimal attacking experience. We don’t even know if de Jong is fully fit and Thauvin would probably benefit from slower introduction to the pace of the PL.
– He will be putting all of his eggs in the ill-disciplined Mitrovic basket.
The easy excuse is that we have a new manager and new first team players. Do you know Watford bought 15 new players in the summer AND replaced their manager, and haven’t been in the PL since 2007?
Luckily we only have Chelsea next who will certainly not have had rockets shoved up their collective arses by Mourinho after their relatively bad start.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I don’t know why Colo and Sissoko are getting the stick they’re getting. Haidara, Thauvin and Cisse were the worst performers as far as I’m concerned.
Thauvin had a decent 15 minutes and Haidara made a couple of good tackles and some decent runs. I’m hard pressed to remember anything Cisse did – apart from nothing.
There are two main issue for me. One is bad decision making in the final third. Much of that has to do with creativity (to see a pass and to find space, leading to hit and hope low crosses or taking easy options like punting a ball into a crowded box populated mainly by big bad defenders). We can only hope that Mitrovic is part of the answer there and (well, here’s one for the boo boys) Riviere might be useful – he has good movement if nothing else.
The second problem is that against ball playing sides we aren’t good enough to match them and against physical sides (like Watford) we haven’t got the muscle to compete. I think this latter reason is why we tend to give too much time on the ball to the opposition.
The only time we looked a bit threatening v Watford was when Sissoko and Janmaat were combining down the right (and Wijnaldum joined in a few times). The runs into the box during that period were something different to the totally ineffective high ball into the box or the rushed low cross to static forwards lost in a sea of comparative hulks, and it resulted in a goal (and almost did against West Ham as well).
Janmaat appears to be the only one able to do this. Why isn’t Wijnaldum doing it? I thought that’s what he did and that’s how he seemed to be playing v Southampton. There were maybe 3 times that the ball was cut back by Sissoko for such a run but there was nobody there.
I think de Jong needs a few games to get up to speed. He looks like he has a reasonable touch but (like Marveaux) it’s far from cutting edge. He needs to start v Sheff Wed (so does Marveaux and Tiote if fit) I used to like Marveaux. He can control a ball and find a pass, pity he’s so bloody lazy. However, I haven’t seen him play for ages – has anybody?).
So, to add my final two cents to the Football Manager silliness kitty, play Dummett at left back, to give a team of:
Krul, Janmaat, Mbemba, Coloccini, Dummett, Tiote, Colback, Sissoko, Wijnaldum, de Jong/Riviere, Mitrovic.
Perez, Aarons, Haidara (all 3 are too green), Thauvin (no muscle), Riviere/de Jong, Anita on the bench. I’d like to swap Marveaux for Haidara, but not before seeing him play again.
brisvegas(Quote)
Eric, is that your “5 Things We Learned From The Watford Game”? 😉
brisvegas(Quote)
I think we should have had 2 penalties as well.
brisvegas(Quote)
BrisV: it is extremely difficult to be positive when we must have the worst record in all leagues during 2015 (I haven’t looked it up but I am confident that is true). I thought Sissoko did OK but Colo was beaten a few times and out of position a lot. For once we defended corners and free kicks OK but that still didn’t help much.
There is no doubt we need a target man because whatever the current and previous coaches’ grand plans we often resort to a hoof and it comes straight back into our half. Same again today. We cannot deal with the high press and play from the back (yet?), and Timmy’s first instinct is to knock it long.
Hopefully the new players and the ones returning from injury will all come good together.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Good catch BrisV. Should I write for The Chronicle?
There’s always moments in a game that change momentum and as usual we didn’t get any breaks. I also thought the Ref let them be very physical.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Ive reached the point when Im no longer that bothered what the score is win lose draw,dosnt **** me ,same as relegation.
8 year of the fat **** owning the club will do that.
hitman(Quote)
We do have senior players, it’s just that they have all been pardewed.
Premandup(Quote)
Wow! I hit a few nerves last night. The guilt. 😯 The shame 😯 The embarrassment 😯
I’m feeling for you fella’s 😛
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Troysta: you have a very high opinion of yourself if you think there was a big reaction to anything that you said. Believe it or not, but people have their own opinions and come to conclusions that are independent of what you say. The reaction is to what has been happening at NUFC for many years and a slow start that was expected but nevertheless is painful when it came to pass.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sometimes I feel Troysta would rather score imaginary points about him being correct about the Pardew than have us win and succeed. I know this is not true because he is a loyal and lifelong fan. It just comes across that way sometimes.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Psychs
I did warn you all that getting rid of Pardew who was a safe pair of hands, would result in another manager coming in, of second rate and within 12 to 18mths you would all be calling for his head.
It looks like my prediction was wrong. You might be calling for his head earlier than I said.
I love reminding you all as you all loved reminding me how **** Pardew was when I was defending him.
😉
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Troysta man, you are still stuck on Pardew…:) 🙂 🙂 After all this time. I can guarantee you it is unrequited love. Pards fell in love with the mirror many years ago and has no time for you.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
we missed out big time is so many ways.
Not getting a playmaker who can control the midfield, no experienced striker, No experienced centerhalf.
Keeping the likes of Sissoko, Colo, we should of cashed in and strengthened.
So many players going cheap or on free’s we could of had but we didnt feel it was necessary 😕
Ashleys grand promises look **** poor atm. He’ll not spend in Jan, more likely to prepare for life in the Championship. Hopefully without SM, he’s already failed twice to get out…
Gashley(Quote)
Again, Steve was not my choice and I didn’t trust the man/men (Carr and Charnley) who chose him, and I don’t trust their boss, or the way they went about it, or the interview process that really wasn’t, or that McClaren turned us down until he was out of a job. I am trying to give the guy a chance though. And again, if I decide to criticise him, it will not be turning on him because I never wanted him to start with.
I mean, our last 4 hires have been, Hughton who got it by default. Pardew rescued from the scrapheap and Casino. Carver by default and ‘coz Steve didn’t want it and thought Derby would get promoted and Steve because he was sacked.
I think I am a realist about our managers.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
To get away slightly from NUFC, it is Spurs and Palace soon. If Pards manages another win The Troysta will be getting his Pochettino out and waving it around on here, for sure.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
some things which haven’t changed at all from last season…..
Troy always catches the same tiddler on his line, despite it having a massive flashing red light on the end:-)
ditto the wind up was always more fun than the football at the end of the day…
Munich Mag(Quote)
do tiote is faking injury and causing problems in the dressing room
hitman(Quote)
so
hitman(Quote)
eric, but you can’t ignore the fact that pardew at palace has had a better start than mclaren at the toon, despite the fact that on paper mcLaren has a much better resume than the bloke who was rescued from the casino ? or are you in total denial ?
Munich Mag(Quote)
hitman, thought there was something going on somewhere. it stands to reason that the french speakers may get the heads together if they have a bit of a blob on…. now we have 3 senior international pros who may be causing unrest, sissoko, cisse and tiote…. plus collo who has wanted away for years. how can the newcomers, and young foreign newcomers too, be expexted to carry so much responsibility ? plus we have 3 dutchmen who can’t even get into an absolutely minging dutch team. oh for some journeymen honest hard working players who put the team before the individual and get on with the job…
Munich Mag(Quote)
the journo on sunday supplements says they keep sending tiote for checks and there coming back that theres nowt wrong with him.
get kev nolan back till the end of the season he will sort it. 😆
hitman(Quote)
Getting Nolan back as captain could revive our season.
Terry(Quote)
What the game yesterday told me, was that Mclaren is spit balling with his starting line ups in the vain hope of finding a combination that clicks. I won’t use a word like “team”, because the mish- mash we have witnessed to date is a bunch of individuals that play football together. . There are major issues atm if you ask me.. There really seems to be a “just go out and do your best” vibe when we roll out on game day.. good luck Steve, you have inherited a basket case of a team…
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
i’d agree with that Aussie. No cohesion of a team, no talking or giving instructions…. 😕
“The main disappointment was how we reacted to the second goal going in. We picked things up after the substitutions but for about 20 minutes following the second goal there was no response, no urgency and that’s something we’ll be looking to put right.
“It’s normal to lose games but it’s the way you lose that matters and the way we lost on Monday wasn’t acceptable.
“It is how you respond to that which is important and we’ll look for a good response against Watford.”
aye Steve, the players seemed to take what you said on board.. 🙄
Gashley(Quote)
In the absence of a target man (every other club has one or two) we’re so bloody slow getting into attacking positions. We can’t go through the middle and all attempts at getting down the wings fail. Again and again. There’s no answer to that until January.
Colo’s past it. I’d start Dummett instead. Haidara has gone backwards since we bought him. Play Colback there instead.
The big worry was that apart from Mitro that was our best team.
georgio(Quote)