With a return of just seven points so far our points haul just hasn’t cut it and no matter how well we do play it’s points on the board that matter come the end of the season.
So opportunities to put points on the board and push up the table need to be taken and that simply has to start at Dean Court when we take on Bournemouth this weekend. They are in a similar state to us – a lot of goals conceded, playing football which perhaps deserves more and decimated by injuries – but is this already a must win game or at the very least a must not lose game?
In a previous article I asked you all to vote and discuss if we were playing better football and the consensus is that we are. I’m just interested in getting the views of you – the fans – as due to work and other things I’ve been tied up and unable to spend as much time as I’d like to on here.
Anyway I’m digressing. This time I want to gauge your opinion to see what people generally feel about our fortunes this season. Do you think our league position will improve and we’ll pull away from the drop zone? Or are we destined for another basement fight this term?
Cast your votes now and leave a comment below.
[poll id=”88″]
We are in the bottom 3 so yes we should be worried. But there are still alot of points to play for. Leicester were in a relegation battle last season and changed their fortunes – I know some will see that as overly optimistic but why couldn’t the same happen to us?. We’ve been in a relegation battle the last 2 seasons before now and survived and I see 3-4 teams worse than us this season.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Yes we are in trouble I’ve lost count each year how many teams have gone down playing nice pretty attacking football even going back to the likes of Blackpool in the PL who looked nice to watch,they went because they could not score enough goals (like us) and they could not defend for toffie (like us) there have been quite a few that have been nice on the eye its not good enough if we fail to add to team in Jan,defenders/striker I will really worry
icedog(Quote)
Clearly at the moment we are in a relegation battle but there are still a lot of games left and I am optomistic ( with all my fingers and toes crossed) we will climb up the table. Sharpy draws the comparison with Leicester but wasn’t Leicester in trouble nearer the end of the season?
Groucho(Quote)
Groucho – yes mate, they only started their turn around with something like 10 games left. Far less than what we have now. I could also draw a comparison with us and our start last year – which wasn’t that much better than this season, which was only really turned round thanks to a good run it the November. As bad as it looks, we are 3 wins off 9th spot. The problem at the moment is we can buy a win, but my point is that we are not adrift in the bottom 3 and there are plenty of points to go for yet.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I’m still hopeful things will turn around. I’ve lifted my self imposed ban and going the game on Saturday. 😀
Subz00(Quote)
I think it’s always a worry while there’s so few points on the board but do believe we have the quality to turn it around.
I’m actually quite happy we’re at least trying to play a bit. For seasons most have complained that we just hoof it long like under Pardew. So we look to try something different and now that is also wrong?
toonsy(Quote)
Are we playing better due to having slightly better footballers? Probably.
We’ll stay up because there are worse teams than us but its very disappointing after mikes ****-talk.
At least we’re seeing better football than Pardew served up. I’m looking forward to seeing Aaron’s winging it instead of playing wingback like he would of under Pardew. (Shhh, don’t tell Troy its better, he’s fizzing about it) 😛
Gashley(Quote)
cheese a loo
Tory Boy is still pedalling his ‘percy left us in 7th spot’ toilet water.
I’ll give him credit though for fessing up that fat **** pulled the wool over his eyes close season.
but some fans are just so gullible and easily led.
Ashley preys on these weak, lily livered types.
Anyway on to the subject matter, are we in a relegation fight ?
Too right we are.
But the truth will not out until after the Bournemouth defeat saturday lunch time.
The penny will finally drop should the inevitable happen.
You cant launch a serious attempt at survival in the EPL with a team that wont survive in the fizzy pop.
I hope I’m wrong, but I think we are in real bother, at least until January, when the fat git will be forced to blow an absolute fortune, in the vain hope of survival for another season.
I can’t see his defunct plan working anymore though.
Wah doomed.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
I believe we will beat Bournemouth and be out of the relegation zone by the end of this weekend. I also agree with GTE in that we will finish the season around 13th/14th. I like the way McClaren is getting us to play and feel he will take us into the top 10 next season if the defense is addressed this January/summer.
Shamrock(Quote)
We are closer to having a decent team than many others in the bottom half. Therefore, getting 2 or 3 new signings in January as Troy suggests should make us safe even if the likes of Scum, Villa, Norwich, Watford and Bournemouth also spend a similar amount.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
We are one or two key injuries away from certain relegation in my opinion. Risky game he’s playing with his asset.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Mitro looks a decent handful as a cere forward but he has nt got the feetwork of Carroll.
I would take an injury free Carroll over Mitro anytime. In fact, Mitros ground game is pretty average. Worrying.
I fear he won’t get enough goals if he’s only relying on his head for 90 per cent of his game.
Mark or Mock my words.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Eric
There’s many games to go before the window opens. We may be marooned by then.
Villa will get a boost from a new manager. Fat Sam will get some wins for the mackems.
McClaren is walking on a tightrope at the moment which is threadbare. No points in the next two games and the rope will snap.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
if we are still in the bottom 3 come crimbo there will have to be some big decisions made, and i have zero faith that these fk-ups who run the club will make the right ones.
hitman(Quote)
Hitman that makes two of us. The board couldn’t organise a **** up in a brewery let alone run a day to day football club. The fan’s forums are like listening to robots talking, I can’t answer that question I’m too thick! Yes we are going down and it serves Mike Ashley right.
Terry(Quote)
Next 3 matches this month are massive for our season:
Bournemouth, Leicester and Palace.
After that we are into December with Liverpool and Spurs.
Then the xmas period of Villa, Everton and West Brom.
That takes us up to the transfer window opening.
Can only see 9 points max from all that lot, barring some freaky results.
That would only put us on 16 points from half a season.
SHOCKING
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Beardsley Boot’s you shouldn’t have mentioned palace. You’re get Troy all upset. I can see Palace beating us. Pardew will be all smug that day like big Sam at Sunderland. Leicester have Vardy so he will get a goal or two against us. Bournemouth is a must but I can see us getting nowt.
Terry(Quote)
Only about 20% of clubs who have won 1 of their first 11 games have managed to avoid being relegated so we have a fair bit of history to reverse just to stay up! It’s inconceivable in my opinion that we will not be in any relegation battle after this start.
Sharpy – You mention Leicester but that sort of form has happened once in 20 years so don’t see it happening again anytime soon.
The other problem is we haven’t beaten any teams who we would envisage being in and around us apart from Norwich which doesn’t help.
Basically, yes we are in a relation battle but I doubt we will go down as I hope there are three worse teams than us, I just hope the likes of Villa, Sunderland, Bournemouth and Norwich don’t improve.
Stuart79(Quote)
Terry – if we really get nowt from Bournemouth, then we might as well give up and accept our fate.
No point then blowing another £50M in January, it just wont work.
Sadly, I dont see any point in a change of manager either.
Should be quite entertaining as the panic sets in at the board level though.
😉
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Stuart – the likes of Villa, Sunderland, Bournemouth and Norwich are all hoping we dont improve either.
3 from 5 to go down then ❓
I think that deffo means we are in a relegation fight then.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
We’re definitely in a fight. Can’t have a start like we’ve had an not be. There’s a reason why were down there and to expect a unbelievable turnaround is not reasonable. Although some new faces in January might help….
Stuart79(Quote)
Relegation fight, quite possibly, but I will wait and see how we do v Bournemouth. Clearly it’s worrying at present but I still have faith we can get some momentum going with a win this weekend.
kimtoon(Quote)
Villa are ****, Garde or no Garde. They may get an early bounce from him but it will not last.
Sunderland, awful simply awful, Sam’s biggest challenge ever imo.
Bournemouth, struggling with the loss of their better players.
We just need to step it up and show we are better than them because player for player I believe we are. We must improve our defence and get a MF playmaker like Cabaye was in January.
kimtoon(Quote)
It’s the old cliche : “The Table Doesn’t Lie.”
joe hawkins(Quote)
to be fair to stevie mac – he did say it’s gotta get worse before it get’s better 😐
i haven’t got a clue why that is like 😕 especially when you consider that we have now supposedly got a better manager better backroom staff practically no players sold with £53 million invested in new ones – we should be flying!!
if he doesn’t get a win this saturday – then i would give him the bullet immediately after the game.
roy cropper(Quote)
with that investment – i bet carver would have had us doing a lot better than this crew are..
roy cropper(Quote)
This question is a bit too broad. As we saw last season, pretty much all teams from 8th down are in a relegation battle until the last few weeks of the season. We will never not be in one these days.
That said, we are more in it than others and seem to working on the hope of nice play will eventually click and we will win. Seems a bit fanciful but considering we tried hoof for about 5 years to little success (the one bit of success under Pardew was a ground based 4-3-3) then we have to try this instead.
If we can’t even do one of them right, we will never have a hope of doing the dream area of “mix and match” to keep teams off guard.
funkyjesus(Quote)
I totally agree with Troy @11. We have a few injuries already and if we lost Mbemba and Mitrovic for example, then we are screwed. Mbemba has been our best defender and when Mitrovic was suspended we had no plan B.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Newcastle need point’s badly and they have to start against Bournemouth which won’t be easy. If we lose then I will be prepared for life in the championship next season. One win out of 11 is not going to keep us up. Sacking McClaren is pointless but our board of directors need a sensible head like Troy on the board 😎
Stem(Quote)
Are we able to recall Adam Armstrong in Jan?, if so I would and offer him on loan to QPR as part of a deal to bring Austin to us. I think any new manager going in there will want a little money to spend & it makes sense to cash in on Austin in Jan where they are now. I reckon Armaz could score goals there and the deal would benefit everyone. £7m plus Armaz on loan.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy he will have loads of options when his contract runs out. I don’t think he will come here being honest mate. He would choice London or Southampton over us. Armstrong needs another season out on loan after this one. Just to see how he develops in the championship. He needs game time. I would put in a 30 million pound bid in for Vardy and get a centre back in.
Terry(Quote)
Club’s must see Ashley coming and think, We can sell him the cheap over the hill players or the ones not good enough to get in the first team or the injury prone we don’t need.
Obertan, over the hill and ****.
De Jong, alway injured.
Gouffran cheap but nothing special.
Terry(Quote)
Well the Board have done their usual with the goalkeeper – if in doubt, do nowt. I am sure Elliot will start and Lee Ryder says Woodman is an “able debuty, so that is reassuring. I am sure the kid is a great prospect and as I have said before he could be OK in a total emergency – as the board have now thrown us into. If he has a bad game, Ryder will change his mind like he has on every other issue and say he needs seasoning.
You just know they didn’t have a contingency plan even though Elliot was coming back from 8 months out – how has that worked out with de Jong, Aarons, Marveaux, Dummett, Obertan and Taylor(s)? That shows you that you cannot be sure what will happen after a long term injury. Often they stress a different part of their body and have a different injury.
It makes you wonder if they really do have a plan if we are up **** creek in January? Remember, these are the same people who tried to hire Schteve with 3 games to go when Derby were still in with a chance of the playoffs. He could have taken the job but his credibility would have been shot. They should have known they were putting him in an impossible situation but they didn’t because Charnley is an inexperienced idiot.
They probably also could have got Remy Garde to replace Carver with about 5 or 6 games to go. We could all see the players and fans had lost confidence in Ugly John but they didn’t until it was almost too late.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Ryder said “able deputy”. If we were preparing him for that role maybe we might have picked a higher quality of football to loan him to than the 4th division. Oh, he’s young and inexperienced and needs seasoning and a year in the lowest league makes sense. Yes it does, what makes no sense is Ryder anointing him an able deputy.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
We are clearly in a relegation battle until we prove we are good enough for the Prem by getting enough points. So far we have taken 7 from 33 (21%). No excuses please. Those are the facts. A win at Bournemouth would be very welcome. Then we have a stretch of more difficult matches. This isn’t going to be easy with such a sad sack defense. Anyone who things we’re going to finish top 8 (like McLaren) is completely mad.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
ERIC Garde has said he turned down a offer from another PL team earlier but would not confirm or deny it was Newcastle mmmmmmmm
icedog(Quote)
How could anyone say we’re not in a relegation fight when we’re 18th with 7 points from 11 games?
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I see Haris Vuckic, according to Wikipedia, has only played twice for Wigan all season – the same division that Armstrong is destroying.
Can we end the experiment with this guy now? Maybe Real Madrid or AC Milan still want him?
funkyjesus(Quote)
Icedog: Garde turned down the offer and I bet it was us when we were trying to get a head coach only and giving them no control, and probably on the cheap. Now Charnley has seen the error of his ways or WANTS TO SPREAD THE BLAME and gave McClaren a seat on the board!
In many ways, they do not know what they are doing and change their minds all of the time. They may have lucked out with at least 3 decent players in the summer and hopefully fatman will bail them out further in January – we can only hope.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
G2: Lionel Speed thought top 6 but hasn’t been seen lately 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
ERIC@39 100% agreed
icedog(Quote)
I hope everybody knows I have nothing against Woodman. I am slating the board for bad planning (as usual), and putting the kid in this position in the first place. I hope he is not called upon, and if he is, has nothing to do or plays a blinder.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Yes, it’s been a while since we heard from wor Lionel Eric mate. And Toon Down South seems to have disappeared as well. 😀
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Let me see, the current 6th place club West Ham have 20 points to our 7. Yes I would say we’re frightening them with the threat of us overtaking them. 😆
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I am also calling out the idiot Ryder. He says Woodman is an “able deputy”. How would he know? How many of the 12 4th division games has he watched? Sure, he has watched the U21s but how many of them have graduated to the 1st team in recent years? The vast majority of the U21s are cut or sent to Gateshead or Port Vale.
Even the most promising ones like Vuckic, Ferguson and Sammy end up in the lower leagues. I can see Ryder wanting to cheer lead in a crisis but the man is an imbecile and gets money for old rope. I promise you he will change his mind if we run into trouble on Saturday and it will be as if he never said what he said. Remember he was all for Carver, and has totally forgotten that.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Also, Icedog if we had hired Garde that would have kept up Ashley’s 100% streak of not hiring currently employed (as Manager) Managers. He did anyway with McClaren. The list is:
Kinnear
Keegan
Shearer
Hughton
Pardew
Carver
(could have been Garde)
McClaren
Have you ever done those brain teasers/IQ tests where they ask you to spot a pattern? I think this is an easy pattern to spot.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
That is 8 fkin Managers we have looked at/hired who were not currently employed as Managers. Shearer and Hughton had no previous managerial experience. And then they hire the tea boy as MD.
It is a wonder we are doing as well as we are 🙂 I still don’t think we will be relegated however hard this lot try.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Jak Alnwick was as highly rated as Woodman when he had to step in and he got crushed by fans and then punted out the club as a thanks.
I have no faith Woodman is any different.
funkyjesus(Quote)
Now to be a complete cynic 🙂 The 2 most likely scenarios for Saturday:
1. Elliot fails a late fitness test.
2. Elliot passes a late fitness test and lets in an early goal and is substituted with a grade 3 thigh strain (they currently say it is grade 1).
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Lionel and TDS haven’t been seen since their preposterous comments were exposed as the ramblings of drug haddled brains.
Stuart79(Quote)
stu,TDS did the same last season,full of beans at the start and when he seen it going pear shaped did a runner.
poor santi hasnt been seen since.
hitman(Quote)
Terry I feel sorry for the delusional toon fan’s who think we are going to finish in the top 8. Or make a new signing out to be better than his not.
Terry(Quote)
I’m talking to myself now, what has Mike Ashley done to us.
Terry(Quote)
Wijnaldum and Mbemba look like good signing’s but I agree with Troy about Mitrovic. I still think Perez is are best attack minded player.
Terry(Quote)
@ 53…. A lot of crew on here were fuked in the head long before Ashley got here …and no doubt long after he leaves….
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Aussie 🙂
Terry(Quote)
Aussie do you think will win on saturday mate ?
Terry(Quote)
Win, mate! 😉
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Perez will be our next £30m player. That lad has the ball glued to his feet.
I’m flying down to Southampton this afternoon and fully intent to get wasted tonight and again tomorrow. Should make the game more palatable.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart – don’t forget you never enjoy anything 😆
georgio(Quote)
Aussie – you been hibernating?
georgio(Quote)
Oh I enjoy getting pissed! I just don’t enjoy watching NUFC fans being treated like morans.
Stuart79(Quote)
Gan on Stuart Man. I am wondering if I should get up and go to the Pub for a 6.45 am kickoff. They sell 4 dollar Carlsbergs so I will be wasted by 10 🙂
Got the fckn international boredom coming up so I might as well see who wants to watch the Toon in Chicago when it starts dark outside 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Georgio: it is spring/summer down under. He is looking after his Joeys.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Stu – it would beg the question why go to the game then wouldn’t it?
Sharpy17(Quote)
I like weekends away in different places and if NUFC happen to be playing then why not go to the game too?
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu – because in your own words you need alcohol to make it more palatable. The games on TV, so why not just watch it in the pub?. Your choice of course, but to complain about being treat like a moron then buying a ticket doesn’t make a great deal of sense.
Sharpy17(Quote)