Saturday sees Newcastle face Aston Villa in a crucial Premiership survival contest at the very ground which saw the Magpies related from the top flight in 2010.
Many will be expecting a relatively straight forward victory for Newcastle considering their recent form and the fact that Villa have been so poor this season. Rafa Benitez though, is far too experienced to assume that three invaluable points will be gift-wrapped and offered up for Newcastle to gleefully accept and take back to Tyneside.
Villa’s predicament means that they simply have nothing to lose. Already relegated with the crowd fully focussed on venting frustration at their ownership, the players have the freedom to perform without expectation. In fact, they are expected to lose. It is a bizarre situation that Newcastle will have to handle with defiant determination and controlled professionalism. Benitez is just the man for that kind of proposition and he has let his side know exactly what he expects of them.
Benitez will be prepared for the task at hand, make no mistake. Janmaat is available again at right back but is no longer a certain starter following the form of Anita who could well keep his place in the side. He may well field an unchanged side, which Rafa rarely did at Liverpool and Chelsea but he seems to see the value of consistency when results have gone so well in a relegation fight. The time for rotation and experimentation is not exactly now. Rafa must go with what he trusts. That is one of the reasons why it wasn’t exactly a shock to see Obertan and Marveaux leave the party early. With absolutely no chance of involvement in the final two fixtures, the French flops were given the opportunity to seek employment elsewhere.
If Newcastle are to survive, a victory is essential. The noises coming out of the squad are so much more positive than earlier in the season. The players seem to be united at last and there is a sense of togetherness that has been so dearly lacking for a number of seasons. The fans are up for it too with a considerable upturn in performances allowing fans to dream of a survival which seemed so unlikely five games ago.
Wins for Chelsea and Man United would certainly help ease the nerves too, but first and foremost, Newcastle must do the business at Villa.
In Rafa we trust!
Munich Mag very optimistic, very optimistic. Everton and Watford got nothing to play for, I bet they couldn’t care less about beating Sunderland. Why bother.
Terry(Quote)
The first half performances have been the same throughout the season.
DIABOLICAL
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Lloris fumbles it again! I think we have three very good goalkeepers to be honest. Only after we had to rely on Alnwick! Why does this regime have to wait for disaster before putting things right? No forward planning whatsoever.
DJG(Quote)
Totally agree. Mbemba was injured I know but him and Lascelles are a breath of fresh air. Coloccini has been so slow for the last three seasons, it’s like he’s running in treacle. He gets a one year extension (reward for failure). He’s made captain, does the bloke even speak English? Darlow and Lascelles get two wins and three draws. Three clean sheets in that lot. Why weren’t they given a chance at the start? We paid £7million for them.
DJG(Quote)
Taylor & Coloccini are like watching one of those end of season charity games, where the players are 45 and have beer bellies; they are that slow.
DJG(Quote)
It takes Steven Taylor so long to turn around the ball is in the back of the net before he falls on his ****.
DJG(Quote)
Everton Re a very, very unpredictable team. They have excellent players who can win games like Lakaku and Barkley. It would certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons if they beat Sunderland on Wednesday. That would put a lot of pressure on them on the last game of the season which is away. Personally see a draw which takes us to the last game and they would just need to not lose.
Could be a twist in this yet. However unlikely.
Stuart79(Quote)
Spurs struggling I see. Could be three without a win. Let’s just get to 37 points and see what’s what then.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu, no twist mate, we are down, time to accept it in all it’s shiteness . Actually I want it over and done with on Wednesday then the press can stfu at last. Over hyping fat Sam like he’s some kind of genius, ffs, if he’s that great why they fighting relegation? He ain’t fit to tie Rafas laces.
Kimtoon(Quote)
I would accept it’s unlikely we will stay up, Kim but an Everton win would be a interesting final day. But as they say, it’s the hope that kills ya in the end…
Stuart79(Quote)
Only divine power up there or someone start to conjure a jinx spell on defoe/Borini to get injured or red carded ensuring everton and Watford win over Sunderland.
That’s the only way to save Newcastle season in PL~ 🙄
AngelOfDeath(Quote)
Only bright future is holding on to Adam Armstrong and HOPE he does well for us if we do get relegated.
AngelOfDeath(Quote)
Armstrong did it. 20 goals this afternoon. He will only get better. A glimmer of hope?
DJG(Quote)
Hope he does well for us if we get relegated. He can be the andy carroll we used to have in championship.
AngelOfDeath(Quote)
He’ll be in our squad next year I imagine.
Stuart79(Quote)
Wonder if Sunderland draw their two games we can beat Spurs by 8? 🙂
Stuart79(Quote)
The biggest problem we are going to have is we will have to go through all this again for the next 5 years. We go down, we get back up, we spend no money, we sell our best players and just struggle to stay up. There is also the real possibility of us becoming a yo-yo club. If we go down, and if we come straight back up, can you imagine how far behind the other teams we will be? They will really strengthen their squads this summer with the big money coming in and we could well be so far behind even the likes of Stoke, Palace, Sunderland, West Ham and WBA! We genuinely can’t afford to come back up and do what we did last time and not spend any money. We will go straight back down.
If we are relegated I genuinely believe if will be the beginning of the end of the Ashley regime. Might take a year, might take a month but if we’re struggling to get back up he’ll cut his losses and sell up. He won’t have any choice. Attendances will be down too. I reckon we could be looking at 30k next year if in the Fizzy.
Stuart79(Quote)
Well Spuds will give us a fight after losing today so no easy ride there.
Kimtoon(Quote)
You’re right, Kim but they’ve not won in 3, have a couple of their best players missing and won’t be too high on confidence. Won’t be an easy game for them either. Let’s just hope there’s something on it…
Stuart79(Quote)
I see Norwich’s Chairman offered to resign due to their league position. Ours will probably get promoted some how.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu, him and Carr & co want shooting for gross mismanagement and get me started on Jabba.
Kimtoon(Quote)
If Sunderland don’t beat Everton they could well regret it!
Stuart79(Quote)
don’t get me started 🙄
Kimtoon(Quote)
Stu, I just don’t see Everton winning much as I want them too, they have been so poor of late
Kimtoon(Quote)
Scum will scrap for every ball Wednesday, they want it done and dusted so they can relax on last day. Everton won’t know whats hit them.
Kimtoon(Quote)
I agree, Kim. But ta pretty hard to get two wins on the trot in the PL if you’re in the relegation scrap. It’s also very often a case of after the Lord Mayors show a lot of times. Personally think they might draw but then that makes the last day interesting because absolutely anything can happen on the last day. Personally I can see Watford beating them. Whether it will mean anything though I have no idea.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu, it’s possible they could lose both games but unlikely at this stage, would certainly make things interesting though. As has been said I would hate that to happen and us to draw and go down on goal difference. We’d need them to ship 9 goals over two games and us the score and not concede v Spuds. Never gonna happen.
Kimtoon(Quote)
I just watched highlights and we should have won that game. I am still amazed that we have played Cisse. As soon as he goes off we look a much better team and it has been like like all year, no matter who was the manager. I do not want to make him scapegoat though because we all know what he is – a very instinctive player with a bad first touch who will often break up a move. The more he was played the more obvious it was what a mistake it was not getting a goalscorer in the previous 2 transfer windows.
Rafa was able to get us organized and fix the defense for the most part in a very short period of time. That has been his history but without anybody to put the ball in the net maybe we were always doomed. Why the hell we just didn’t overpay for a goalscorer in Italy I do not know. Their teams are all a bit strapped for cash so we could have got someone like Kevin Gamiero.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Why didn’t the Ref stop the game for a few minutes to burst those balloons?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
What do we do now though? Rafa is likely to leave and we are facing a big clearout if only to reduce the wage bill. Who will take that on, given we will also have a new MD and DoF? My guess is it will be Pearson, but is he qualified to overhaul the structure like Rafa would be? The academy and U21s need fixing, as well as the transfer policy. That is too big of a job for 1 person and who does Ashley know in football now that he stepped back from the club? We have seen his efforts before and we ending up with Wise, Kinnear and Llambias.
Unless Rafa can be persuaded to stay we are in big trouble. Pearson might work but that would be a gamble as he would not command the same respect and would most likely have unqualified and dumb overlords selected by Ashley and similar to Carr, Charnley, Liambias, Mort i.e. people you have never heard of until they get gifted powerful positions at NUFC.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric – We’ve needed a goal scorer for the past 2/3 years but we wouldn’t pay the money or buy someone older and provenz. Looking silly now… Just hope they’ve learnt regardless of what happens.
Stuart79(Quote)
Sorry, Gameiro plays in Spain but the point is the same. That we should have addressed that need and the Defoe transfer shows that the pure numbers of the transfer fee and wages are not always the whole story.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Stuart: it is just so sad that none of this is hindsight either. You can go back 6 months, a year, 2 years on here and everybody has been saying the same thing about needing an experienced centre back who is not slow as molasses and needing a proven goal scorer. How the hell did our “executives” not see it or do anything about it? Even some of the kids and crazies (yeah I know, pot and kettle 🙂 ) could see it.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Shitty weekend all round, but hey at least Lew was improving health wise, until tonight when he threw up again 🙁 back to square one and back to the GP tomorrow, never known anything like this illness, never ending like the Toons poor form 🙄
Kimtoon(Quote)
Anyone really expecting Rafa to stay if we stay up?
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart: the only attractive PL job is Everton and would he go there? The Spanish National team job will be available but a lot of their really good players got old together. After all their recent success he would be blamed for not getting to the semi-finals at least and that would be hard with teams like Germany, Belgium and France in Europe and Argentina, Brazil and Uraguay in S. America.
If you look at Barcelona and Real Madrid most of their superstars are not Spanish.
Maybe a return to Valencia? Athetico if Simeone gets poached by PSG or Man U although his style of football may not suit the fans there.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I fancy a Steve Bruce kind of manager.
Although I won’t give up on staying up until we’re down. Still fancy it to go to the last game and then literally anything can happen. See what happens Wednesday I suppose.
Stuart79(Quote)
My fear is Ashley dithering on his season review. The only way I can see Rafa staying is if Carr is immediately fired and Rafa given complete control. It would probably be a mistake to fire Charnley as he knows the finances and could help Rafa out there. Demote him instead.
If Hull don’t get promoted Bruce would probably be fired. Would we really risk another failed Championship manager after McClaren? That seems like madness to me. It would be funny if Derby win the playoffs at the expense of Hull.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric, Nothing would surprise me with these clowns. The only thing that would surprise me is if we re hired McClaren. Anything is perfectly plausible in the world of NUFC and the Ashley regime.
If we do go down and Rafa leaves which is probable, who would we get? I mean there aren’t many good choices out there are there? Would Dyche give up PL with Burnley? Probably Paul Lambert would be in the frame I’m sure.
Stuart79(Quote)
While there’s a chance, there’s hope. Never say never, and all that sort of thing. I’m not confident we’ll stay up, though.
As for Benitez staying, again there’s hope, but I’m a little more confident of this. He’s the sort of guy who loves his football and he might relish the chance to revitalise Newcastle and write his name into the history books of our club. Just about everybody knows that Newcastle have the capacity to be great, just not the administration. If he’s given full reign, he might well be tempted, at least to give it a go for a season to see how it pans out.
I reckon about 10 players will leave (Krull, Janmaat, Colo, Sissoko, Gini, Cisse, Tiote, almost certainly – and I’m not that sure I’d miss any of them) if we get relegated, and the fees from that, along with 30-odd million in parachute payments, would give him an excellent Championship-winning ‘war chest’ (presuming he’s allowed to spend it).
Keeping Lascelles, Mbemba, Shelvey, Colback, Mitrovic would give a good spine for the Championship, with Armstrong, Perez, Townsend, even de Jong (who might stay to resurrect his career) and, dare I say it, Saylor (or his Aussie glass-made twin, Good), and Aarons and Dummet, Hey, I’d be ok about giving Riviere a run in the Championship, it may well suit him and bring back a bit of confidence.
But I digress …
If Rafa stays, I’d be pretty confident that we’d bounce back straight away. But the number of times in my life when Newcastle bigwigs have done the right thing can be counted on half a hand. Again, it’s all hope, little confidence.
Brisvegas(Quote)
IF we go down, you know where we can find some battle hardened Championship players? The promoted clubs. There has been a recent tendency to dump a lot of the players that got you there and spend the new PL riches . I think Watford bought basically a whole new team when they were promoted.
The main thing is to find out quickly if Rafa is staying or going or appointing a new Manager ASAP. We won’t be doing much buying or selling if all of the main managerial positions at the club are in limbo.
You have the Euros to complicate things even further.
I bet we haven’t even considered pre-season plans yet. That seems to be the way our lot operate.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
If there aren’t many good choices out there maybe we should start thinking outside the box (or, in this case, thinking inside it)
http://www.heartsfc.co.uk/news/4443
CHRIS G(Quote)
Chris G – Surely we should have started all that this season with our own youth/u21 players, considering Cathro is already here and it’s his thing.
If so, and I don’t know, then surely it isn’t working as both u21 and u18 teams have been even more putrid than the senior team.
Haven’t heard much about Cathro since Rafa took over, but hopefully he is going to replace Beardsley and bring his new stuff to our academy of shyte.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Not sure he is ready to run the senior squad just yet either.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Hopefully Armstrong comes back to play for us if we go down, we need a prolific scorer as that’s partly what’s killed us this season, that and a rotten defence. Arma should do ok in the fizzy as it’s only 1 step up from where he currently is and he will be high on confidence after this seasons brilliant goal haul. If we can hang on to Lascelles and Mbemba and keep Anita plus one to replace the surely departing Janmaat and sort out the lb spot then that’s a start. For me we need a couple of good strong MF players too. Tiote will be gone and likely Townie, Gini and Sissoko too, so we’ll need some creativity and strength bought in. Where does Shelvey go from here? he isn’t playing but we know Rafa likes him from the Liverpool days. He needs to play consistently well instead of once every 4 games or so. And what of young Aarons, will he get picked up by a PL club? he hasn’t even been playing. Biggest question of all is Rafa, does he stay or go, can’t see him staying unless he gets total control over ins and outs and our lot are too dumb to learn any lessons on how to run a PL football club. Likely two relegations under Jabba, not good enough ,not good enough by a country mile. Look at Villa and you can see a carbon copy of the Toon, both with owners who are totally detached from the fan base with a squad more interested in their wages than the shirt, save a couple of them. This club has lost it’s identity and with the likes of Wonga on board, it’s soul too, little wonder we are in such a mess. I look forward to the day we have a new owner and sponsor so I can start buying the shirt again and start having belief . At least Lerner is asking a realistic price for Villa, no such luck with Jabba. 👿
Kimtoon(Quote)
I don’t see Cathro as being the answer to our prayers if we drop, pains me to say it but maybe someone like Pearson would be the man to do it. Ideally Rafa would take on the Challenge but Jabba probably would want to do it as cheaply as possible cause he’s so good at learning lessons 🙄 Pearson will probably go to Villa anyway. Moyes is still free ? but he could end up back in the premiership with the talk of managers leaving at certain clubs.
Kimtoon(Quote)
How bloody depressing is this situation.
Kimtoon(Quote)
How many press outlets and pundits are dragging up the ‘ small club ‘ comment Rafa made about Everton in his Pool days. Anyone would think they want us to drop.
Kimtoon(Quote)
Lets not forget that getting two wins on the bounce is pretty difficult in the PL – especially at the bottom of the league. Pressure is on Sunderland now. If they don’t beat Everton how will that effect them going into the last game knowing they could have finished us off?
How valuable will that point be at Villa?
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu, they won’t lose, unlike us they won’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I am actually really angry with our players, they looked awful on Saturday, you would never guess how important that match was from their play. I also think Rafa had us far too defensive first half, a team like Villa who have shipped goals for fun should of been got at from the get go imo. Massive chance blown. I just knew they would pack their defence and they did, one up front was always gonna struggle. Our finishing was rank awful, we should and could of nicked it on the day, for want of a Defoe like forward we would be in clover now, Scum are nothing without him. Do you know his goals have gotten them 19 points this season.
Kimtoon(Quote)
Absolutely, Kim. We could have signed him but decided he was too old and wouldn’t make us any money when it came to sell him. They didn’t calculate that his goals would have made us at least £100m!
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu, it’s infuriating mate, I wanted him at the Toon and was so disappointed he went to Scum and I knew he’d help keep them up. This profit before need thing has killed this club and even now I’ll warrant they haven’t sussed that yet, they are that greedy and dumb.
Kimtoon(Quote)
I guess the clubs next moves over the next 2/3 weeks will tell us in which direction we’re going. That will tell us what Ashley wants and what Ashley has learnt.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart – I love your optimism fella, 😛
You’re right of course, anything can still happen, and I so hope you are calling this one right.
But it’s very hard to be positive when staring down the barrel.
Keep believing mate.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
everything hinges on wednesday now.
Martinez was furious with his team at Leicester and wants a reaction against Sunderland
Sunderlands last match is away to Watford. Not an easy match at all, particularly if they get beat on wednesday.
Howay the Toffees 😯 😛
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Aye lets hope the toffees provide Scum a sticky moment 😉
Kimtoon(Quote)
BB – Everton do have one of the best away records in the PL, do have some very talented players and Sunderland are all of a sudden under pressure as favourites to win and stay up. If they get beat then they could be all over the place for the final day. A draw and it’s easier for them becuase they only need to draw against Watford but I honestly believe if Everton win then Sunderland won’t beat Watford. Whether we beat Spurs is another thing of course…
Everything hinges on this Wednesday. As obvious as that sounds, it’s because as I say a defeat for Sunderland could be fatal.
I was shocked when I looked at the league table yesterday and saw us on 34 points. The villa game felt like a defeat but we forget we got a point and that could be pretty important. Who knows…
Stuart79(Quote)
If / when Rafa leaves then Pearson seems the logical choice to me.
Been here before, won the Championship before, consolidated Leicester in Premiership and started their crazy form that led to the title win.
I think he doesn’t get enough credit for his work there. Let’s be honest, he only got the sack because his son is a racist.
That and no one here would have the bottle to half **** it with him as he’d put the nut in them.
funkyjesus(Quote)
The shame of it is that over the last 5 games we’ve produced good form. Replicate that form over a season and we’d have sixty odd points. It took Rafa 4 games to get to grips but since then it’s top 6 form.
A real pity they dithered so long.
Georgio(Quote)
Can get 9/1 on Newcastle to stay up!
Stuart79(Quote)
Georgio – Just another reason why Charnley should be sacked.
I will be very interested to see who Ashley holds repsonsible for this mess.
Stuart79(Quote)
We’ll never find out Stuart. No doubt there’l be stuff about SM failing. An easy target eh?
Georgio(Quote)
Norwich’s CEO has resigned and it’s been accepted now so there’s your cue, Lee…
Stuart79(Quote)
Georgio I agree, it was sheer folly to stick with Steve past January and even bigger folly to give him so much cash to spend. Carr needs stringing up for Thauvin alone. The guy had a hard on for him despite him being voted worst player in France in a poll. Our obsession with signing mediocre MF players when we are screaming out for defensive experience and quality up front beggers belief. How could they ever expect clean sheets when we are with the same defenders that we had back in 2009/10 is beyond me . Thank goodness Lascelles and Mbemba are showing promise, even so it’s a hell of a gamble we took there. And what of Saviet and Dumdums, they have all but disappeared ? something really fishy going on with our transfer and loan strategy if you ask me. How can you spend £80m and f it up so royally is beyond me.
Kimtoon(Quote)
Well it won’t be himself you can be sure of that much
Kimtoon(Quote)
Kim, he’s already started to distance himself from the whole **** up by telling us the football board make all the decisions. But he accepted the blame lay at his door last season so I assume he will accept it again as he was the person who employed the half bakes. Someone must pay the price though and remember the last time he wasn’t happy with the way things went. He appointed Kinnear as DOF!
Stuart79(Quote)
Kim – that’s just the half of it. Why we hung onto Cisse and Tiote, Taylor, Colo et al is beyond me and most fans. Then to place our future on 2 20 yearolds coming good . . . beyond belief!
Georgio(Quote)
Well I didn’t watch the match as I was out enjoying my birthday – the result ruined it abit, but not as much as watching 😆 us fail would have done 😆
At least now thsoe that thought we were safe can join the rest of us in preparing for the championship, I was pretty confident Sunderland would get the wins needed to beat us regardless, but failing to beat Villa is still pathetic.
Newkie(Quote)
Could be a couple more twists in this battle yet, Newkie.
Stuart79(Quote)
Snap mate. I spent my birthday on the motorway and doing a 5k obstacle course. Just as well by the sounds of how drab the game was!
Shamrock(Quote)
Stu – I just don’t see it. Every year we’ve been in trouble, even the year we actually went down, I always believed we’d stay up.
This year has always felt different, a lot was due to how terrible Schteve is, but I’ve had a sinking feeling all year and haven’t been able to shake that this year would be different. I thought scum would get a draw rather than a win against Chelsea, we now have to rely on their overconfidence. I’d rather that than them be under pressure and against the odds anyway, because they have saved themselves plenty of times in far worse situations recently.
I hate Martinez though so fully expect his pushover Everton side to crumble, but if someone can snap defoes leg in the first few minutes we have hope.
Newkie(Quote)
Sham 😆
I was paintballing and managed to get shot in the knackers. Even that was preferable to watching us at some points this season, and saturday sounded like one of those afternoons.
Newkie(Quote)
Ouch! Happy belated birthday Newks and Sham, glad you never got it spoilt by watching the Toon as believe me it was beyond hopeless and stale as last weeks bread.
Kimtoon(Quote)
Too down to really want to discuss anything NUFC related at the moment…so disappointing that we left it so late to turn up against Villa. Sure, we had the better of the game, and we had enough chances to have won the game on an average day. But why leave things to chance? While Sunderland were showing real fighting spirit to come back from a goal down to win against a team exponentially better than Villa, we choked and couldn’t score.
90% we’re going down. And we’ll lose Rafa and many of our best players this summer. Then, we get a solid manager, no guarantee we’ll get promoted and it will be another 10 years before a top manager will touch us again…
Wonderful…
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
TDS – I am not too sure we need to worry about losing our best players. Relegated teams usually have very few good players in fairness. There are far too many players here who don’t want to be here and that’s the transfer policy in all it’s glory.
My biggest concern would be how far behind every other club we will be even if we went straight back up. Would we have to go through the whole selling our best playuers, not spending any money and general austerity again like we had to for the last 5 years? Do clubs get the TV money before the season starts or after? So if TV money was paid after the season starts where would our money come from to improve the squad and stay up?
I just think relegation would send us through the same death spiral as befofre which clearly hasn’t worked.
Stuart79(Quote)