A Martin Skrtel own goal from a deflected Gini Wijnaldum shot opened the scoring with our Dutch number five sealing the three points in stoppage time with a cool finish from a Moussa Sissoko through ball.
Much was made of Liverpool’s impressive form prior to the match and it’s fair to say that optimism was in short supply following two dismal results for United but you have to give credit where it’s due. Part of Liverpool’s upturn in form can be attributed to the increased work rate that Jurgen Klopp has instilled within his group and Steve McClaren said prior to the game that we’d have to beat that to win. True to his word we did cover more ground and ended up winning the game.
What was pleasing from our perspective was the increased sense of commitment from our players who actually looked like it mattered. And of course the crowd responded to each tackle in turn.
This win does not turn our season around but it has built some bridges and does show that we do have players able to get us out of this. We just have to do what we did today in a more regular basis.
Next Sunday we’re away at Tottenham where we can expect another tough day where we’re not going to be favourites again. But if we approach the game as we did today we can walk away with credit, even if we don’t get a result.
Newcastle: Rob Elliot, Paul Dummett, Chancel Mbemba, Fabricio Coloccini, Daryl Janmaat, Georginio Wijnaldum, Vurnon Anita, Jack Colback, Moussa Sissoko, Siem de Jong, Papiss Cisse
Subs: Karl Darlow, Jamie Sterry, Kevin Mbabu, Yoan Gouffran, Florian Thauvin, Ayoze Perez, Aleksandar Mitrovic
Liverpool: Simon Mignolet, Nathaniel Clyne, Martin Skrtel, Dejan Lovren, Alberto Moreno, Lucas, Joe Allen, James Milner, Jordan Ibe, Firmino, Christian Benteke
Subs: Adam Bogdan, Kolo Toure, Jordan Henderson, Daniel Sturridge, Adam Lallana, Divock Origi, Cnnor Randall
Attendance: 51,273
STUART
Just because Thauvin cost £13m, that doesn’t mean that Townsend is worth more! That’s really simplistic thinking. Thauvin is younger and was signed as the next big thing in the PL. He could either flop or be a superstar. Townsend has already pretty much failed at a top 6 club.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
ERIC
We beat a bunch of poor teams in the Euros though mate.
And we’ve given a lot of caps to players from Southampton, Spurs, Swansea and Leicester recently, so I don’t know where you’re going with that.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
Georgio: I haven’t watched enough of Townsend to really judge him, therefore I am advocating the loan option. Remember both Obertan and Aarons are injured. As I have said, there are many more pressing needs so I would not under any circumstances buy him in January though.
Also, we have one decent game against Liverpool and suddenly everything changes does it???? The three games before that we could have dropped any of the midfield and attackers and Townsend would probably have been a better option. Townsend couldn’t have made us any worse against Palace for example.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
TDS: the point is Townend was not playing for Spurs and that only Man U and Liverpool bench warmers get games for England.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Georgio – I don’t think anybody on here as said Townsend is worth £15m but the reality is that with the money in the game now from TV ect prices are going up. If we pay £13m for Thauvin who just happens to have been **** poor for the last 18 months in France, Spurs wouldn’t sell Townsend to us for any less. Especially when Townsend in my opinion is a much better player than Thuavin is currently.
Hahahaha! Thuavin the next best thing!!! He was voted in the worst team of the year in France, man! Honestly, do you make these things up?
Look at the prices that players are being bought for now. The prices are sky high because of the money in the game. It’s natural economics I’m afraid.
Stuart79(Quote)
This is the key question: Is Townsend better than Thuavin? What Spurs and any buying club think will determine his price. Personally I think he is. He’s achieved more, he has more international caps, he’s scored more international goals, he’s played at a far higher standard than Thuavin and he’s got English experience.
Can anybody tell me why they think Thuavin is the better player?
Stuart79(Quote)
ERIC
Fair enough. Well, players without European experience wouldn’t be top of my list to pay for England either to be fair.
A player like Lallana was a star for Saints but is only playing every so often for Liverpool. I don’t think that means he should be dropped for England.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
Article from nearly 2 years ago I grant you: http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/jan/19/next-10-big-things-europes-top-youngsters
Nice list to be on when you see the other players.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
All of them players have got moves to big clubs and are performing well too. Only Thuavin has had a stinker for the last two years, however according to our transfer committee his price has gone up nearly double!
Stuart79(Quote)
I think Thauvin is rubbish. I think Townsend is a step up and better than what we currently have on the wing. He averages about 1 goal in 4 over the last 3 seasons before this one. Not great but not bad and that’s at PL level. Don’t think he’s worth more than 10 mil but depends on what the club can afford etc.
Shamrock(Quote)
Monk sacked. I am not sure if Swansea really have a better squad than us. Gomis was never a star in France and Ayew started well but perhaps is having problems adjusting to the PL.
This will probably remove one of our future options if things don’t pick up for McClaren – Moyes?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
The Thauvin thing comes back to Carr who has been after him for 3 or 4 years I believe. He was supposed to be the next best thing for France but has flopped and was voted worst player in France last season in a fans poll. He hasn’t had much game time to fully access his ability but at the moment I would argue he looks to be finding the PL hard going. Still it could be he needs more games which would be easy to rectify if we were well off points wise. Trouble is, right now we need experience and grafters and Townsend may well fit the bill better. I would not be paying £15m for him though, rather spend it on defence or an quality striker who doesn’t rely on service.
kimtoon(Quote)
Eric, Swans have already sounded out Moyes who is said to be interested, so if Steve nose dives again and gets hooked we may well of missed the bus with Moyes.
kimtoon(Quote)
Great win against Liverpool who were surprisingly very poor on the day.
I’m not convinced one iota that we’ve turned the corner. McLaren fights another day.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Troy, I agree, we basically worked harder and out ran them on the day, but the level of skill from us wasn’t all that. I also think there was an element of we only have to turn up from Pool as well due to us having been so ***** of late.
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim
There’s nothing more obvious than the lack of skill and quality within the squad and coaching staff. We did put more effort in but I think we were taken aback by the lack of effort in the Liverpool side on the day. Great win but my outlook for the season hasn’t changed.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
SHAMROCK
5 goals in 62 PL games. Not really 1 goal in 4 mate.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
Troy: what is your outlook for the season? Relegation battle or relegation? It might all depend on if we buy in January?
Anyway, Spurs have 8 draws in 15 games so that is not a lost cause although with us it might be. What is our points tally in away games in 2015? I bet it is not even double figures.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I think my prediction was about 15th, can’t really remember but it was certainly nowhere near the happy clappers who were thinking 6th. Yes Lionel Speed, that means you 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Yeah, total away points in 2015 = 8
Eric Sykes(Quote)
TDS I tend to look at goals and assists when looking at a wingers contribution to goals. All in all he is on about 1 in 4 in all competitions over the last few seasons and that includes from the bench etc.
Shamrock(Quote)
In fact TDS although he averages 1 in 4 in terms of games – he has featured from the bench a lot. I’m not sure if he is injury prone or not but it might just be the competition at Spurs. When you add up his minutes played over the last 3 years in all competitions then he actually provides a goal or assist every 2.5 games. That’s not bad. Question is, has he not Ayer because of injuries or was the competition at Spurs just too hot? If it’s the latter, then we should definitely sign him up.
Shamrock(Quote)
24 goals or assists in about 58 full games.
Shamrock(Quote)
Nowhere near as good a record as Thuavin… 😯 🙄
Stuart79(Quote)
Thauvin did well against Northampton Town football club. It just goes to show you why Carr paid 13 million on him.
Terry(Quote)
He might get one past a league one side one day ? Slow progress.
Terry(Quote)
I’m amazed there’s been such an argument about Townsend personally. The lad is better than the wingers we currently have – that makes him a good signing end of.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Alestars with a 6 point gap at the top. Still tight below them, though.
1 Alestars 37
2 Newbriscastle Roar 31
3 Balotellitubbies 30
4 Born Winner FC 30
5 Dubai Toon United 30
6 Natalie Sawyer Fan 27
7 Nik Nak Utd 27
8 Macas Pony and Trap 26
Shteves Shcitty and Inter Yasista (11th and 12th) have made significant headway of late, but hitman’s army are in danger of becoming a laughing stock – 11 losses in a row. Even Villa are better than that … just. Aussie Mags have been a laughing stock for the past 2 seasons, so no change there.
17 Aussie Mags 12
18 hitmans army 12
19 Axel’s cloggs 12
20 CC FC 7
Brisvegas(Quote)
Surprise surprise.
Aussie is fighting relegation 😆
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Kim @ 162 He was actually voted the most over-rated player, not the worst player.
I think Wayne Rooney is the most over-rated player in England, but he is far from the worst. I’d have him in the Newcastle team.
Brisvegas(Quote)
Just watching the training on Periscope and I have to say it all seems a little bit basic to me…
Stuart79(Quote)
I know it is early, and I know it is only a newspaper, but here are The Guardian power rankings for The Euros:
France
Spain
Germany
Belgium
Italy
England
They agree with me that it will be another quarter final exit. Or you could go with others on here and put a bet on for England to win. What, England are waiting longer to win anything than NUFC you say.
It would be great to win something and there is some young talent in the England ranks. However, I don’t think Roy is a manager who will overachieve and the young England players need to push on if they are to compare with the Spanish and Germans especially. France are top because they are at home.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
How about Naismith? He can play a bit and wouldn’t be too expensive:
http://www.football365.com/news/naismith-to-leave-everton-in-january
Eric Sykes(Quote)
SHAMROCK
Fair enough. Though you also need to consider the opposition then. I imagine he’s been played in easier games or brought in from the bench when the opposition is tired. He’s bound to have a better record in terms of minutes to results then.
I’m not totally against signing him, just a little reluctant to be reduced to signing Spurs rejects unless there’s a very good reason. And I don’t want him on a pure loan deal unless we simply need to to stay up.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
BRISVEGAS
Thanks for the update! I (Shteves Shcitty) had a terrible start but I seem to be climbing every league I’m in! Hopefully I’ll be up in the top 10 soon!
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
TDS: would you take Naismith? People have been crying out for us to sign PL experienced players. Or would he stunt the progression of Perez and Armstrong?
I am of the opinion that we do everything to stay up and let the chips fall where they may for individual players.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
What we need to do is to be getting more out of these players!
We clearly have issues in defence, Haidara didn’t do well at the beginning and Dummett is solid but nothing special. Mbemba is raw and Colo just doesn’t seem to play well consistently enough. Janmaat is ok but he’s an attacking full back. That’s great when we have a good defence otherwise…but we don’t!
Is that impacting the rest of our play? With the likes of Sissoko, Gini, Thauvin, Cisse, Perez, SDJ and Mitrovic, we should be carving out and scoring more chances.
I’d like to see McClaren get more out of Tiote for sure. Him and Anita should be very good as a defensive shield.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
ERIC
Sign? Yes. Loan? No.
Armstrong is out on loan and doing well too. I completely disagree with people wanting to recall him. I want him to have a cracking season and learn about first team football, not sit on our bench and not play. Give him a full season and then have a proper look at him this summer.
I’d be ok if we sign Townsend, just not loan only and not for £15m. He’d be good for competition at least and maybe he can find his mojo again.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
Do Spurs have a lot of pace in their side? That’s what we struggle with, just look at the Palace and Leicester games. Dummett isn’t slow but when faced with real pace cannot cover for Coloccini who simply falls apart.
I think that is the key to Colo’s performances. He does well when the other team have a methodical build up. Hell, he has even done well at corners this year.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Our centre midfielders are completely useless and that has a major impact on us at both ends of the pitch.
If we want to get more out of players we have then we should appoint a proven top quality coach who has a track record of improving players.
Stuart79(Quote)
ERIC
Agree re Colo. Expecting a player with his abilities and of his age to run around a lot is not realistic. I hoped that combining him with Mbemba would be good but the defence hasn’t clicked properly yet. Haidara has pace but he didn’t play too well early on in the season anyway.
Colo does need pace around him.
Saying that, I’d be happy if we signed another centre back in the next 2 windows. But it would need to be someone with experience in the PL for me.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
Too many weak links all through our spine. Knew it in the summer and didn’t address it.
Stuart79(Quote)
Swansea interested in Avram Grant 😯 😆
CC(Quote)
Always going to be weak links. But it was unrealistic to think we’d sign any more players than we did last summer. Centre back, box to box midfielder, winger and striker for nearly £50m. If we’re going to rebuild, it needs to be done over several windows and the signings need to be right. So far 2 of the 4 major signings have done relatively little…
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
TDS: we need a CB in the January window to make sure we are not relegated. We cannot rely on Steven Taylor. Just when he is coming into form he gets injured again. What was the last one, a herniated eyelash? He is as bad as Marcelino who was out with a broken finger for a month – which finger? Yes the one next to the index finger.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
ERIC
I think Taylor would sweat blood for the club though. He’s just very unlucky that he’s rarely fit enough to contribute. So yes, clearly we need another centre back if he’s not going to be fit. It is a question though, whether we sign someone young or from outside the PL to backup Colo and Mbemba and compete with Lascelles or whether we sign someone to replace Colo and bump him down to the bench…
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
So Rob Lee wants us to sign Charlie Austin, Andros Townsend & Matt Philips in Jan.
Well I’d be happy with those 3, but I would want to see a CB come in as well personally – a top CB to shift Colo out the way.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Let’s be very clear here. If Colo isn’t doing the business he needs to be dropped! Regardless of whether he’s been just given a new contract or whether he’s captain. That goes for every player too!
Stuart79(Quote)
Sharpy – Reckon we need a centre mid and a centre half as priority. If we lose Cisse then we need to replace him. But our centre mid is **** poor and it’s costing us.
Stuart79(Quote)
Also, buy Sam Byram off Leeds & loan him back – that might enable us to secure him over other interested PL sides.
Sharpy17(Quote)
SHARPY
The problem with NUFC legends saying what they want is that their opinions carry great weight with the fans but if these guys were so clued up on who to sign, then they would be successful managers, scouts, DoFs etc. Their views should carry as much weight as any other ex player.
2 of those 3 players got relegated last season and the other one can’t get into the Spurs team…
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
Agree that Colo needs to be dropped if not doing the business. But we need someone better to replace him. We really need someone experienced in that back 4. At the moment, the only fit and experienced defender at the club is Colo…
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
Stu – if we get Townsend and Philips in I’d move Gini & Sissoko into a central position. I certainly see Gini being more effective there coz he’s nee left winger IMO. Sissoko has done alright at times out wide – but I still don’t think that’s his natural position.
With that as an option, I think CB is most pressing if we get those 3 players that Lee has mention.
Sharpy17(Quote)
TDS – fortunately I am not so easily led by toon legends, but I do see all 3 of those players as good additions.
Sharpy17(Quote)
What does it matter that they got relegated? Austin scored more goals than any of our strikers and was up there with most strikers in the league. He did his job
Stuart79(Quote)
SHARPY
Unfortunately many fans are. Especially some of the more vocal ones.
Definitely I see those 3 as good additions. But there are clearly questions regarding how much they would cost to sign, how much they would demand to be paid and how would they fit into the squad in terms of keeping everyone happy based on their expectations.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
STUART
If Austin was that good then someone would have stumped up £15m to sign him last summer.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
NUFC “legends” all say the same thing, that we need a centre half, centre mid and centre forward. No **** Sherlocks. This has been said on every blog for 2 years or more. A blind man with a mole as a guide animal has seen and said that. I suppose they have to write something.
Cisse and Tiote have had their bags packed, although they are giving it a go. MBemba may have been MBiwa’s replacement but we all knew that we needed another CB for the reasons mentioned many times – Colo (old and slow), Taylor (sicknote), Lascelles (untried, and mistake prone).
Eric Sykes(Quote)
http://mobile.newsnow.co.uk/A/806529642?-11058:809
I’m pleased to read that our club are more than doing their bit to help out after such a catastrophic event. We have to help out and look after the smaller clubs in our local area.
Sharpy17(Quote)
TDS – to be honest mate I don’t worry about those things anymore. Having seen the likes of Marv & Saylor picking up big wages for contributing very little – I see those 3 players contributing a lot more. Pay the going rate for decent players with PL experience who are ready to go straight into the team – worth their weight over another young foreigner who needs most of a season to get settled.
Sharpy17(Quote)
If we were the draw/club we once were we could just go to Palace and get Scott Dann or Stoke and get Shawcross. We still could if Fatman would show some ambition and buy the players just mentioned on January 2nd and then tap up Dann or Shawcross, even though their teams are higher in the league.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
ERIC
Agree with both of your posts. Truth is that we are no more of a draw than the likes of Palace and Stoke at the moment. We don’t have much more money than them, we aren’t in Europe and we’re actually in more turmoil…
We are more known globally so there is more potential. But that means nothing.
We DEFINITELY need a centre back now. Striker is dependent on whether Mitrovic can come good. Cisse and Perez are good to have as backups. Another midfielder? I’d love to see Thauvin come good allowing Sissoko or Gini to move into the centre. It’s ridiculous that £25m of talent in Thauvin and Mitrovic are barely playing! I really hope that this was predicted and they’re just taking time to adapt…
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
SHARPY
I really don’t want to be a bucket for failed PL players like Sunderland are though…they sign the likes of Adam Johnson, O’Shea, Wes Brown and Jack Rodwell…players that bigger clubs have rejected. I really don’t want us to go down that route, it just doesn’t pay off.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
TDS: Fatman does have the money. His wealth has increased fourfold since he bought us and Tat Direct just announced a 25% increase in profit. How he cannot translate his obvious business talent to success at NUFC I don’t know. I know that Tat Direct uses the discounting model but Chelsea and Citeh have shown the way for a billionaire to run a football club. They have both seen their revenue/turnover increase massively. Citeh were on a par with us when they were bought and now have 3 times the turnover. Hell, they just sold 13% of the club to the Chinese for about the same as Fatty paid for 100% of NUFC. When you look at today’s finances in the PL the Fatman actually got a bargain at NUFC (if we stay up). Not to splash 50-70 mil in the January window would be lunacy.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
ERIC
I don’t think it’s right or fair to expect every new owner to use the football club as his executive plaything and spend 100s of millions on it. I don’t really like the way Citeh and Chelski have grown anyway, it’s fake. In fact in many ways it’s reduced my interest in the Premier League.
You’re loony if you really think £50-70m is what we will spend in January!
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
Also, the model for building a successful club used to be to have a big ground and sell season tickets and some merchandise. Now it is TV first, merchandise second and tickets last. The growth is in selling TV and shirts in Asia and North America and we are missing out on that. We could compete with Spurs – they have the draw of London but Levy would need outside investors but he sees it as his baby. Similarly, FSG doesn’t want to sink their own money into Liverpool, they are a hedge fund and are in it for the money and for the owners to **** off a bit. Citeh are probably as big as Liverpool worldwide now and I never thought I would see that.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
TDS: I didn’t say we would spend, said we should 🙂 Chelsea are self-sustaining now and Citeh will be soon.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
ERIC
Agree again!
Citeh have done a great job promoting their club commercially, but they have sunk 100s of millions into the club to ensure they establish themselves as one of the top 4. The return was clearly there if they could make it, and they have. Historically Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal are streets ahead of other clubs, yet Chelski and Citeh are right up there, usually displacing Liverpool from the CL.
So what is in it for a huge investor? Compete with Spurs and Liverpool for a Europa League place? How hard would it be for us to ever displace Man Utd, Citeh, Chelski or Arsenal? Bloody hard. It’s not like it used to be…
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
ERIC
Self sustaining because of regular CL football. As I just wrote, crossing your post.
I don’t think we should at all. I’d love it if we did, but it depends on what the fat man actually wants to achieve. He’s running it as a business though, he’s not going to make big losses for no good reason.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
The difference with Ashley is that his business is directly related to football and you would think the better NUFC do the more money would be in it for Sports Direct. He obviously doesn’t see it that way and he is much smarter than me.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Just wait as well. It will be LORD MIKE ASHLEY soon. If can be Lords Sugar, Lloyd Webber and Archer then why not Ashley.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Lots of Lord scumbags out there…
And yeah, I’d agree with you. You’d think NUFC riding high would be good for Sports Direct, but he’ll have smart as hell marketing people doing the analysis there and presumably they don’t think it’s worth the investment.
So we’re sat here watching bang average football with virtually no hope of breaking into the top 4.
The Premier League has become very rich and powerful, but has lost a lot. Gotta say I’m getting less and less interested in it every season…
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
A quick 25 mil to Tory Central Office and they will be crawling up his ****. I think it is only because he cannot be seen as too above his customers that he hasn’t done it already.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I can’t think of one player ever that has been signed for £15m with only one year left on their contract! It wasn’t anything about his talent.
On another shocking note; The club are currently offering half season tickets for £25 to under 18’s! So basically they don’t believe they will get any supporters back with good football or results. Wonder if this is pre-emptive of the fall off in ticket sales when nobody comes in during the January window…
Stuart79(Quote)
Oh and just before I get shouted down. Charnley himself has said that January doesn’t offer value for the club so it’s not a window they wan to deal in.
Stuart79(Quote)