Newcastle were plunged deeper into the relegation mire on Saturday afternoon and are now sinking fast after the worst possible outcome played out at Carrow Road following Norwich’s injury time winner. And sadly Newcastle can have no one but themselves to blame after coupling sorry set piece defending and mindless indiscipline to see another so called ‘must win’ game end in defeat.
Players giving away these ridiculous free-kicks in dangerous areas is costing Newcastle crucial points. Unfortunately these particular points could prove to be the final nail in Newcastle’s Premier League coffin.
Newcastle certainly had a fair chunk of ill fortune on the day too with a clear handball in the lead up to the winning goal and Rafa was unhappy about the amount of stoppage time in the first half when Norwich scored the opener. But the days of blaming others has gone, Newcastle are in this mess because they are a poor side who concede far too many goals. Rafa is running out of games to turn this around with now only seven games remaining.
There are still positives to take from the game, even if there are no points. Newcastle responded well to going behind and again Rafa showed good in-game tactical flexibility. Mitrovic has hit some goal scoring form…finally and Papiss Cisse has added a threat to the side too, forcing a fine save from Ruddy to deny him what would have been the winner.
But the sad truth is that Newcastle can’t seem to perform for the whole 90 plus minutes of a game and certainly lack confidence and a match winning mentality. Where there is still hope that with 21 points left to play for, Newcastle can gain enough to catch two teams above them. The worrying thing though is that for sections of the games against Sunderland and Norwich, we were second best and only able to claim one lonely point.
Don’t give up yet though…Mitrovic hasn’t.
Cheers, SRF, good points and all true.
It’s gonna require a herculean effort on the players parts to haul us out the mess we’re in. But as I said before there are 21 points up for grabs and if Leicester could rally a desperately poor side last year then we should be able to as well. It just requires guts and stamina and full concentration for 90 plus minutes for the next 7 games, anything less is unacceptable and the least they can do.
kimtoon(Quote)
We are asking the same players who have disgraced the kit all season to play like champions. This is not going to happen. I don’t normally accept defeat but we don’t have the time or the quality to turn this around. Appointing Rafa was a great move but 6 weeks too late and I don’t think he will stay if or when we go down. If we do go down, let’s use this as an opportunity to clear out all the mercenaries we have in the team and replace them with lads who will work for the shirt, the club and the fans.
John Graveling(Quote)
We go down from here.
It’s imperative we keep a core of the good young players and hopefully a season in the Championship will improve them like it did with Jonas, Enrique and Colo.
I’d sell Sissoko, Tiote, Janmaat, Krul and Thauvin for a start.
Stuart79(Quote)
theres only a few players that will remain at the end of the season.
Walking past St James’ this afternoon I couldnt believe this muckle stadium will be hosting some teams with 8k fans next year.
Mike Ashley and Co should be utterly ashamed but we all know they won’t be..
Gashley(Quote)
Gashley: I think quite a few players will stay. Some because they are cheap, some because nobody else will have them on current wages and some because they will be up for the fight and are young enough to sacrifice a year:
But we need to sell to raise money to fill the gap between premier league and Championship income and some players are out of contract.
Cheap (relatively):
Elliot
Darlow
Lascelles
Aarons
MBabu
Colback
Dummett
Armstrong
Perez
Saivet
Can’t sell at current wages:
de Jong
Anita
Colo
Thauvin
Up for the fight:
Mitro
Townsend
Mbemba
Shelvey
For Sale / Out of Contract
Janmaat
Sissoko
Wijnaldum
Cisse
Tiote
Krul
Obertan
Taylor
Gouffran
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Actually Gashley: I think that is how it will pan out whether we are relegated or not with the possible exception of Wijnaldum not being allowed to leave if we stay up.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Shamrock has basically said the same thing as I did but I thought I would break it down into categories. That is a pretty strong squad but guess what we need – fullbacks, a centre back and a goalscorer 🙂 So absolutely no bloody change since last post season 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
ERIC if we go down 50% of the chance of getting back up depends on who we get as manager it has to be right therein lies the problem the clowns haven’t got it right in eight years,who at the club can we trust to get things right?one things for sure jabba cannot do things on the cheap again
Icedog(Quote)
Hold on lads. Is it possible we can beat Southampton? I know we’re not really incredibly good away from home but still. We need an early goal and then to keep pressing. I think it can be done with Rafa learning more and more about the squad and who to count on.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11661/10232531/too-good-to-go-down-the-pick-of-the-relegation-threatened-stars
kimtoon(Quote)
G2 – maybe it will come down to what Saints have got to play for. do they think they will get into the top 5 for euro places? possible, if unlikely. so that just leaves league position. they are currently 7th, which is good (oh how we would love to be up there 🙁 ) but they have stoke liverpool and chelsea hot on their tails. And as we all know, league position this season is everything, so I don’t see us getting the result we need. Sorry fella. But I do admire your optimism. 😛
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
lol we struggle to beat the bottom 8 teams home and away apart from Norwich @ home yet we can go to S’ton who and win 😯
Thats the spirit
Toon Toon!
Gashley(Quote)
of course a win would set up an exciting final 6 cup finals and keep us all on the edge of our seats a little bit longer.
But we all know how cruel football can be, so it could come down to a home win against spurs to survive. oh the agony of it all.
lol
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Won’t be easy that’s for sure and we do struggle v the Saints for some reason. Just have to hope they play out their skins knowing what’s at stake.
kimtoon(Quote)
Just thinking about the Man City game as well, they have De Bruyne back now so that makes them stronger, Norwich played them at the right time . 🙄 and got a winner v us thanks to a handball in the build up, me thinks the stars are lining up in their favour .
kimtoon(Quote)
I think with such low expectations comes a positive; we can literally only be pleasantly surprised by anything that happens. We’ve accepted our fate, we’ve accepted we’re ***** and will get beat more often than not, so anything else is a bonus that will just put a spring in our step. If, as expected we lose games of football – well who’s shocked? Nobody so it won’t impact me the same from now on. For this season anyway…
Stuart79(Quote)
Palace v Norwich. Which result do we want?
Stuart79(Quote)
I see the ref on Saturday is the same ref who sent Colo off in the Derby… He owes us one!
Stuart79(Quote)
Doesn’t work like that Stu – he sent Colo off because he’s a **** ref. Let’s hope he can **** on S’ton. We’re long overdue a smidgen of good luck.
Georgio(Quote)
Will Coloccini come straight back into the team if fit? Can he really be that fit after 6 weeks out? Rafa has said he wants experience but you also have to choose players to combat the opposition. Southampton have the pace of Mane and Tadic and the height of Pelle. I am not sure if Colo would be the correct choice.
However, would Rafa bring in Lascelles after both Taylor and MBemba played **** against Norwich?
It is a bit of a conundrum. As is left back where Anita was caught out of position but is Sissoko the one to fill in? Some difficult choices and I do not think we should play Dummett because one more twang of his hamstring and he will be gone for the season.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Rafa said he wants to go with experience but I think Colo is too big of a risk. I think it might be the following with Wijnaldum getting one last chance but the quick hook at half time if he is not performing.
Darlow
Janmaat Lascelles MBemba Sissoko
Wijnaldum Anita Shelvey Townsend
De Jong Mitrovic
Also, I disagree with Rafa to an extent. It is all well and good saying we need experience but you also have to look at form. Some of our experienced players are out of form. I am looking at you Gini, Taylor, Sissoko and Colo.
Taylor and Colo are no longer good enough if they ever were so all the experience in the world counts for nowt really.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
As I have said before, Steven Gerrard could not even cut it in Major League Soccer so even the best have a shelf life. Colo never had much pace but losing the little he had makes him a liability in a lot of matches.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Also, in Gerrards last season at Liverpool he was not an automatic choice even though he was Captain. Same with Terry at Chelsea. Colo should not walk straight back into the team as he was a joke against Chelsea. I hope Rafa has the video.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
What do we want in the Palace/Norwich game then?
Stuart79(Quote)
I wouldn’t pick Colo. Long always rips him a new one every time they play each other!
Stuart79(Quote)
Isn’t Long injured?
Georgio(Quote)
Back apparently, the same as Rodriquez and Austin… 🙄
Stuart79(Quote)
I suppose we need Palace to win really
kimtoon(Quote)
Colo will be better than Taylor. I’d have preferred if Lascelles had stayed with Mbemba to be honest, Taylor in and we get slaughtered defensively by an awful Norwich squad (Although I rate their manager). But then we are so bad it’s embarassing.
Play Sissoko left back as well, he’s actually better than on the wing because he gets so much space there and he can actually defend as well as most of our defenders (not saying much), he can do the simple things of using his pace to get into agood position and we don’t need to rely on him too much as a creative outlet which we do when he’s on the wing.
We’ll still get battered by Saints though, we always do.
Newkie(Quote)
I’d rather Norwich win personally. Given Palace’s woeful form surely they will continue to spiral, and surely we can at least beat them?
Norwich are safe for me, it’s out of us, scum and Palace now.
Newkie(Quote)
Saints have a lot of options up front but they can’t play them all. We’re going to need a bit of luck which we haven’t had all year (or for about 50 years, for that matter).
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Just looked at the S’ton website and they have all their strikers fit – Rodriquez, Mane, Tadic, Austin, Pelle, Long. On the other hand, the Mackems did manage a draw there the other week and I think S’ton levelled in injury time.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Carr, who has effectively been the club’s head of recruitment for the last seven years, is understood to have offered his resignation earlier this season, but it was rejected.
Although his record in the transfer market is mixed, Telegraph Sport understands the club have not managed to sign any of his first choice recommendations in the last 12 months.
Wonder who his first choices have been? Does this exonerate him of blame?
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart: I think Lacazette would be one. Maybe Matip. And Abadwayang (or whatever his name is) said he turned NUFC down.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Dele Alli?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I am now convinced that Th Chronicle must monitor this BLOG. I wrote a couple of weeks ago how John Gibson was using a picture from the 70s with his 70s haircut in his articles and that his videos look nothing like that anymore. In today’s article they have updated Gibson’s picture to the booze addled and tobacco stained zombie lookalike that he really is.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
That was harsh. He just got old. And he is the only journalist that they let speak their mind. Occasionally ex-players do.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Stuart you can forgive Carr if you like but I think his second rate signing’s are **** poor putting it mildly. I dread to think how much money he has waisted on players. He had one fluke with Cabaye and all the fan’s started thinking he was a good.
Terry(Quote)
Stuart his first choice midfielder would have cost the club 50 million and then he wouldn’t get a goal or an assist all season. Thauvin but worse.
Terry(Quote)
We could finish with 40 points and look back and wonder what all the fuss was about… 🙂
Stuart79(Quote)
The question is whether Carr’s first choice players were actually realistic for a team that has been battling relegation for 3 years. It is fine to say that Carr suggested the 4 players above but they went to teams like Dortmund, Liverpool and Spurs. And Lacazette was the French League top scorer when we went after him.
I could put at the top of my list Isco, Arturo Vidal and Robert Lewandowski. These are not the absolute superstars but we still have no chance of getting them.
If Carr was targeting unrealistic players given NUFC’s position and choice of Manager (Carver and McClaren) then in no way should he be exonerated for the players we ended up with. Some of whom I think will turn out to be good, although it doesn’t look like it will be for NUFC.
Of course, the other thing that Carr did was not select for need but for the players he liked and the whole lot of them were negligent in not creating a balanced team. A fantastic striker could have papered over the cracks but there are no guarantees in the PL. Look at Bony’s loss of form. He is lowest in % of chances converted and Gomis is in the bottom 5 at the moment. Both Carr targets (although I would have taken Bony on loan in January).
Eric Sykes(Quote)
3-0 defeat at the weekend..
Munich Mag(Quote)
Stuart: we could finish with 40 points and still the fuss would have been justified.
We need 5 wins. Or 4 wins and 3 draws to get to 40.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
One good decision in what has otherwise been a shambles for the last 3 seasons. Hire Rafa with 10 games left and pray. That’s Charnley’s method. Any other club would have sacked Charnley after last season. We limp along but with no real leadership and vision except if we can hold on to Rafa. Will relegation result in positive change? We will only know if it happens. If it doesn’t happen and we hang on to Rafa it could be brilliant. But it all comes down to the last 7 games and whether or not we can raise our game.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Gary Caldwell is Manager of Wigan and they are top of League 1. I wonder how long it will take Troysta to tout him for Manager of NUFC?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
G2, It’ll take one hell of a change in mindset for our squad to hit that type of form.
kimtoon(Quote)
Come to think of it, why wasn’t Troy touting Gary Caldwell instead of Lee Clark?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
And what about the players that we didn’t get that Carr recommended and turned out to be ****. Ricky Van Wolfswinkel, Betafami Gomis etc. I am sure there are many more and his record would probably be similar to the one’s he signed – some good, some bad, most about average.
It is easy to cherry pick a few that got away that Carr may have recommended. But as I said earlier we didn’t have much of a chance of getting the ones that are always mentioned because there were bigger and more successful teams in for them. So you may as well dismiss them as pie in the sky and they should not be part of Carr’s record or of Fat Mike’s assessment of it.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I and several others asked on here what would happen with McLaren if we got off to a bad start? Would anything be done about it? Well we got our answer. The usual hiding and cowardice from the executive. They could have changed things and made sure the club didn’t have to go through this again but they couldn’t deal with the truth.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
One thing is for certain. There is nowhere for Ashley to hide anymore. He made the choices of executive staff. He backed them when it was clear they were incompetent. He will lose money on the club and I’m very happy with that. If he ran SD like he runs Newcastle United he would be a pauper by now.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Seems to be a better manager than he was as a player,in saying that it is the lower lgs got to learn somewhere maybe he could show Clark how it’s done :lol:,somebody needs too
Icedog(Quote)
I completely agree Kimtoon. I don’t think the odds favour us for a turnaround of form but I continue to live in hope. Howay Rafa!!!
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Brian Ruiz. There was another Carr special that we even tried to hijack from Fulham at the 11th hour. He didn’t do very well in the PL although he was good at Twente under – you guessed it, Steve McClaren.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Luuk de Jong and Douglas were 2 others that Carr wanted from McClaren’s Twente. If I was Ashley I would be asking Carr what he was paid for? Did he just look at MCClaren’s team and wait for calls from Mondial and run massive restaurant tabs in France, Holland and Belgium? Actually, I am sure the Mondial Agents paid the bills as they knew they were on for a fat commission whenever Graham Carr was in town.
He even bided his time and got the Manager of Steve McClaren’s Twente.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Graham Carr is a ****.
funkyjesus(Quote)
Nah, in summary I would say: Carr is about average but we have had below average Managers with no spine and no power. I think the argument that we missed out on Carr’s first choices is erroneous because most would have not come to us anyway and chose more prosperous and better run teams in European competition with well regarded managers and a top class playing staff already. In addition we were lucky NOT to get some of Carr’s top picks such as Brian Ruiz. Finally, if it wasn’t for Carr we wouldn’t have had Carver and we wouldn’t have had McClaren. They were his biggest failures.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I don’t know what condition Dummett is in. But given that Janmaat is not very defensive and we have not really got a LB, what about three at the back with wingbacks and Shelvey not having to then play as a third CB?
—Mbemba-Lascelles-Dummett—
Janmaat—-Shelvey———–Saviet
—————–Sissoko——————-
–Townsend–Mitrovic–Perez——-
DJG(Quote)
Could be worth a try DJG although I could see Rafa going with Colo coz Dummett is not ready yet.
If Chelsea or Man City do not buy Hummels they are out of their minds.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
NUFC.com say Colo is still out and Dummett is very doubtful. I trust them more than Ryder and The Chron. Our defensive options will again be very limited.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
DJG: that might scuttle your wingback scenario because I wouldn’t trust Taylor to know where he should be in a 3 centre back formation.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
not my team but the team available for tomorrow.
3-1 defeat
Janmaat- Mbemba-Lascelles-— Mbabu
Townsend—-Shelvey—Anita—Sissoko
Mitrovic–Cisse—
Gashley(Quote)
its hard to blame anybody but Ashley for the mess we’re in. hes responsible for hiring the idiots who hire the fools.
SM could only work with players who are supplied by Carr who is given instructions to shop at BarginBuys for French players who are either *****, have no heart or are valued too high.
Like Pardew, if SM was able to sigh a defender or striker we wouldnt be in this mess again.
The whole Ashley system has been a joke from the start. It would be easier to name the good things Mike has done since taking over…. Kevin Keegan, Rafa..thats about it 😳
Gashley(Quote)
KK was shafted and Rafa will likely walk so we can’t even give him credit for that.
kimtoon(Quote)
tru Kim. lol I was scraping the barrel i know. We can’t plan ahead with Mike in charge.
Gashley(Quote)
Gashley, when you break it down, there is actually not much good at all mate. There’s not even financial stability since we are in debt to him for over £100m as well. 🙁 If he were to sell up he’d want the value of the club plus his debt cleared, it’s like a stone round our necks.
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim don’t forget the t.v screen at saint james park. Ashley paid for that as well.
Terry(Quote)
So Rafa has made his first signing,a 16yr old Spanish playmaker has been impressive in trials
Icedog(Quote)
Well, Ryder finally says what everybody else has seen for at least 3 years. Well done Lee, you managed to sell your integrity for the past 3 years and toed the company line whilst Kowtowing to all our failed managers. He still defends McClaren, so I am not sure if the worm has truly turned. Strike that, he is jumping on a bandwagon again because he knows there will be a big shakeup in the summer. That’s a real journalist there, months/years after the mood changed and it was obvious McClaren was a failure, he tells us about it:
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/newcastles-premier-league-obituary-half-11153603
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I want to get back to Carr’s list. He knew that NUFC had certain valuations of players and tried to get them on the cheap so he knew that putting certain players on his list was mostly futile because they wouldn’t come and we wouldn’t pay up. It is therefore a complete fallacy to say we were shopping his second and third choices. Especially over the last 2 years, it was him and Charnley making the rules as the fat man stepped back.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Our appeal was PL money and a shop window. But a player like Aubameyang (sp?) had a choice of Dortmund or us, so even if he was top of Carr’s list, did we really have a shot at him? Plus we would have low-balled his French team anyway and tried to hold out hoping nobody else would come in. So Carr’s list and our tactics were all a ****-shoot anyway and he knew the deal.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric – Re Carr. He told the club they should sign Lazacette two summers ago and we could have signed him for €16m but the club wouldn’t pay the money. When they finally realised they needed a player like him they had to bid nearer €25m but that was rejected. He would have made a hell of a big difference to us this season I reckon. How many more of them are there that we don’t know about?
Stuart79(Quote)
You know what could be appealing to Rafa even if we go down? He has the chance to run everything at NUFC, to shape the club in his own image. What other club would give a noted control freak the chance to do that?
The owner is hands off but has basically said you can spend whatever the club makes and that will be a lot if we could get promotion 1st time. We have player assets to sell so he could immediately reshape the team. Carr will be gone and I bet Rafa could choose whether to keep Charnley or not in a diminished role as accountant and contract negotiator. He already has his own staff and has been given free rein over the Academies and Reserves.
This is a club where Rafa can write his own ticket. He can basically be Chairman of the Board and Manager if he wants after the latest disaster.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Also Eric, how do we know Carr was told we had a particular budget (like others have been previously) but when he’s give them the list of players they’ve not done the deals?
I often think being a scout under this regime would be the second hardest job behind being the manager.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart: the truth about Carr’s list probably lies somewhere between what you say and what I stated. I tend to get a bit hyperbolic when we are doing this badly and may exaggerate even my own views 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Stuart: I do think there was quite a bit of us saying we were going after the prom queen when we knew we would have to settle for the plump lass with glasses.
Eric Sykes(Quote)