Is Our Attack Good Enough?

We’ve returned to the Championship after a hectic off-season which saw us bring in 12 new players and sell, release, or loan out 20! That’s a huge amount of activity but absolutely essential after our second relegation in 8 seasons. Our current manager Rafa Benitez has a proven, winning track record and has already done many positive things to improve the club. But does that include the forwards? Our attack consists mainly of four players: Aleksandar Mitrovic, Dwight Gayle, Ayoze Perez and Daryl Murphy. Let’s look at each one individually as to how they’ve done so far (at the 9 match mark).

Mitrovic: 1 goal, 1 assist in 130 minutes league playing time. Now this doesn’t tell the whole story, especially about his disciplinary problems but it does suggest given his limited playing time that he can be a scorer in this league. Granted he needs more playing time and it’s essential he maintains a proper attitude on the pitch.

Gayle: 7 goals, 0 assists in 694 minutes of playing time. Dwight started the season well but has also gone through periods of inconsistency. He can put the ball in the net but is he capable of doing so consistently over a long season? It remains an open question. A decent if overpriced signing for me.

Perez: 1 goal, 1 assist in 473 minutes. This is the shocker. He has directly contributed to 2 of our 17 goals and has played a large number of minutes to get that meager result. Clearly something is amiss here. He appears tentative and weak on the ball. Not what we expected at all from a young player who showed some promise, although sporadic in the Premiership.

Murphy: so far no league appearances. Why hasn’t he been used in the league yet given the weak play of the forwards recently?

I have a real problem accepting that this group of forwards is going to lead us to the Championship title at the end of the season. We are extremely inconsistent up front and probably overspent to get Gayle. The club failed to strengthen sufficiently at this position last summer and we are now seeing the result with inconsistent finishing from all three forwards who have played so far in the league. I’m hopeful that Daryl Murphy will add power and finish to the lineup but surely forward will be a target area for the January transfer window. Let’s hope we’re in contention to win the title by then but recently it seems less likely.

About GeordieTwo

Long suffering Newcastle United supporter living in Canada. Retired a few years back. Living in beautiful British Columbia. Suffered through this dismal season and had lost hope until Rafa came along. Now looking forward to a quick return to the Prem!

80 thoughts on “Is Our Attack Good Enough?

  1. Thanks Geordie.

    FAO everyone else, this was written prior to last night’s win but the stats have been updated to reflect the goals and appearances by Gayle & Mitro

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  2. Geordie – nice article mate, and a perfectly valid question IMO.

    It’s a difficult one and not as easy as yes they are good or no they are rubbish – I think there is more to consider than that.

    Personally I’ve never liked this 4-2-3-1 formation. It doesn’t play to the strengthens of forwards IMO and it takes a certain type of forward to thrive in such a formation – certainly not suited to the likes of Gayle or Perez and IMO Mitrovic is not mobile enough for it.

    I haven’t seen Murphy but his scoring record for Ipswich is decent – our forwards are competent goal scorers IMO, but are we playing to their strengths?

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  3. Cheers G2, nice to see you on the writers bike again. Perez seems lightweight for this league. Could quite happily swap him out and bring Arma back.

    Gayle I have no issue with. Would like to see what our new striker can do!

    Sharpy, we did both say we will win the league comfortable at the start of the season. I stand by what I said, which was that our form would fluctuate until mid October and we would tread water around the top 6 before clicking and running away with it. So far, we are bang in target. Time will tell…

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  4. Good read G2, Cheers. I agree with you , still a few question marks about the front line. All the same, they managed to get it together in the end last night. Luckily Goofy is having a resurgence under Rafa and Gayle has shown he is capable at this level but he does miss a fair few it has to be said. A tad more composure will see him bag a hat full over the season. I would quite like to see Murphy get a start.

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  5. Sham – so you believe that come Barnsley (3 games time) we will have clicked and will be some well oiled machine?.

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  6. There or there about Sharpy. We are not looking too bad as it stands. Few more games and we will be up and running.

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  7. Shamrock:
    There or there about Sharpy. We are not looking too bad as it stands. Few more games and we will be up and running.

    Sham – I think you see more than I do mate. Our last 3 games have been very wobbly, yet in 3 games we will be firing on all cylinders?! – we needed added time for a draw last night.

    I struggle with faith when it comes to NUFC now – I didn’t believe JC could loose as many games & I hoped Mc would eventually turn things round. I know Rafa is different, different players, different league. But the standard of football I’m watching isn’t different.
    I’ll be over the moon if you are right & will gladly munch on humble pie, but I’d believe it more if I were seeing it mate.

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  8. We have most of the best sides in the league out of the way now (4 of the other 5 sides in the top 6). Plus Villa away, who have a lot of quality still. All that and we are 3rd with the best goal difference in the league going into a kinder set of games. There’s never any guarantees and none of us know what’s around the corner, but I’m hopeful we are set up to push on.

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  9. Shamrock:
    We have most of the best sides in the league out of the way now (4 of the other 5 sides in the top 6). Plus Villa away, who have a lot of quality still. All that and we are 3rd with the best goal difference in the league going into a kinder set of games. There’s never any guarantees and none of us know what’s around the corner, but I’m hopeful we are set up to push on.

    Sham – I hope you know me well enough (on here) to know that if that’s not the case I won’t be calling you out on it. But I just don’t have the same confidence.
    The goal difference is largely down to 1 game (QPR) – the 3 thereafter was a loss, a draw (which we scrapped in the end) and an added time victory (which would have been defeat in 90mins) – goals for 5 goals against 6 in those 3 games so the goal difference thing is QPR mate.
    We may have got through a sticky set of games, but I don’t think we have driven fear into the ‘kinder’ teams.

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  10. Huddersfield have only scored 13 in 10 games yet sit atop the table, that’s staggering. They are winning 1.0 or 2.1, so hardly goal machines and they have let in 2 less than us. You would think they would of been comprehensively walloped by now wouldn’t you.

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  11. Sharpy, I don’t think we can look at it as it took extra time to win because players have to play with concentration for 90 plus minutes. You could just as easily say that Norwich capitulated in the last 5 minutes as we scraped a win in extra time. Fact is we beat a very physical side who are flying and well blended and settled unlike us. I do agree that us winning the league is jumping the gun as like you I still see major work needed but I honestly think we were worthy winners last night. We should of been 3.1 up in the first half if chances had been taken. That is our biggest sin at the moment, wasting gifts to go ahead. I also think it took great spirit to keep going to not only get back in it at 1.3 but to go on and win it.

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  12. What’s all this 90 plus overtime stuff? It’s stoppage time. We had one games worth of minutes to secure a win – and we did what was required. We can go in about if, buts and maybes all we want – but it’s results that matter.

    Sharpy, you know I respect your character and your opinion mate. You and I won’t be points scoring off each other no matter what the outcome.

    ……because it will just me point scoring off you when I’m proved right haha ??

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  13. G2 – nice one mate. For me it’s the key ingredient we’re missing. We just don’t have a top class finisher and are missing far too many chances. In the last two games we should have been three or four up at halftime we created so many chances. Gayle’s been the main culprit (hard to swallow when he’s scored a match winning hatrick) and Diame looks like he’ll never score. We’ll just have to plough on til January and hope we can find a goalscorer somewhere for less than £40m. We won’t be the only ones looking.

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  14. I know it’s a small sample size but pretty sure we’ve scored 8 league goals in Mitro’s limited time on the pitch. Might be coincidence but his presence seems to provide a lot of room for our other attackers

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  15. The 90 mins plus stuff is with regards to me wanting to see us comprehensive beating teams – that doesn’t mean 4 or 5 nowt – but if we need added time just to get an equaliser then that isn’t comprehensive.
    The end result isn’t the be all and end all for me, it’s how we achieve it.

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  16. G2 well done bud,we all know you have to pay top whack for a 20 goal season striker,i think 90% of teams in any lge wish for such a striker even top teams struggle to find one,how much would it cost for a modern day big Al the mind boggles with the cash in the game today

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  17. Kimtoon:
    Sharpy, I don’t think we can look at it as it took extra time to win because players have to play with concentration for 90 plus minutes. You could just as easily say that Norwich capitulated in the last 5 minutes as we scraped a win in extra time. Fact is we beat a very physical side who are flying and well blended and settled unlike us. I do agree that us winning the league is jumping the gun as like you I still see major work needed but I honestly think we were worthy winners last night. We should of been 3.1 up in the first half if chances had been taken. That is our biggest sin at the moment, wasting gifts to go ahead. I also think it took great spirit to keep going to not only get back in it at 1.3but to go on and win it.

    Kim – I think that’s what’s doing my head in with us – not taking our chances.

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  18. Watching us waste clear goalscoring opportunities, and losing or nearly losing points in the process is extremely frustrating. But in terms of future outlook, I’d rather see us creating loads of chances that aren’t converted than to be be creating fewer chances and converting at a higher rate. Yes, we may have been somewhat lucky to score twice in stoppage time, but they needed a stupid penalty and a deflected goal to take the lead. And yes, those goals count the same as any other, but Norwich won’t be able to count on getting those types of goals on a consistent basis.

    For me, the saying “form is temporary, class is permanent” could also apply to chances created and chances taken. Obviously, chances taken are more important in any individual game, but chances created seem to be more consistent and reliable, and I believe that eventually our players will start putting them in at a higher rate. I’d also bet that some the advanced stats out there would show that chances created are a better predictor of future success. I know for a fact that advanced stats show goal difference to be a better predictor than current record. And even if you give us a 3-0 scoreline against QPR, we’d still be tied for the league lead in goal difference.

    If missed chances continue over the course of the season, then it’ll cost us. But I’d rather count in Gayle, Ritchie, Mitrovic, Diame, etc. to start putting them in here and there than I would on penalties and deflected shots like Norwich had last night. I’m not saying we’re clearly a better team than Norwich, or that there aren’t concerns from last night – just that on the day, we played better and have more to be positive about.

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  19. Good post Prince. Agree with rhat.

    You can’t use the argument ‘if you take away the QPR result’, because the QPR result happened. I’ve not seen anybody else thump another side 6-0 in the championship yet. Yes I’d love to see us whack every team every week, but that’s not how football works as a general rule. I do agree we need to be more consistent and I believe we will be given time. New squad, new league etc etc.

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  20. Sharpy-

    I agree about the QPR result. Especially because we really did thump them. No matter what, based on our performance and their performance in that game, we deserved to win by AT LEAST three or four goals. I don’t remember anyone saying the scoreline flattered us – we completely dominated that game.

    And on the flip side, several of our games could have been different going the other way. We were denied a clear penalty against Fulham and had several other clear chances. If you replayed only the goalscoring chances for each team from the Fulham game, you’d get a mix of wins, draws, and losses. If you did the same with the QPR game, we’d win every time, probably by no fewer than 2 or 3 goals.

    I know that’s a weird, convoluted hypothetical I’m throwing out there, but the basic premise is that the number of clear wins or losses vs. the number of 50/50 games matters. By my count, we’ve had 4 clear wins (Reading, Brighton, Derby, QPR), 5 50/50 games (Fulham, Huddersfield, Bristol, Villa, Norwich), and only 1 clear loss (Wolves). A 1-0 win counts the same as 3-0 win in the table, but it’s not equally predictive of future performance.

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  21. Sham, I said the other day, it’s a strange league, We couldn’t beat Fulham yet Bristol City who WE beat thrashed them by 4 goals. Fact is anyone can and will beat anyone in this league, I think it’s far less forgiving than even the PL is. Let’s face it who tipped Huddersfield to be on such a run.

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  22. Charlie Prince:
    Sharpy-

    I agree about the QPR result. Especially because we really did thump them. No matter what, based on our performance and their performance in that game, we deserved to win by AT LEAST three or four goals. I don’t remember anyone saying the scoreline flattered us – we completely dominated that game.

    And on the flip side, several of our games could have been different going the other way. We were denied a clear penalty against Fulham and had several other clear chances. If you replayed only the goalscoring chances for each team from the Fulham game, you’d get a mix of wins, draws, and losses. If you did the same with the QPR game, we’d win every time, probably by no fewer than 2 or 3 goals.

    I know that’s a weird, convoluted hypothetical I’m throwing out there, but the basic premise is that the number of clear wins or losses vs. the number of 50/50 games matters. By my count, we’ve had 4 clear wins (Reading, Brighton, Derby, QPR), 5 50/50 games (Fulham, Huddersfield, Bristol, Villa, Norwich), and only 1 clear loss (Wolves). A 1-0 win counts the same as 3-0 win in the table, but it’s not equally predictive of future performance.

    good points Charlie

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  23. I’m not dismissing the QPR game at all – we were sublime. If I remember correctly it was something like 30 chances in that game – we more than deserved the score line.
    But it was one game – followed up by a defeat, draw and last minute win. Having destroyed QPR we then concede 6 and score 5. I don’t expect 6-0 week in week out – that WOULD be deluded.

    With the players we’ve brought in & the manager we have, I expect us to be doing better.

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  24. I’m not talking about results. I’m talking about performance.
    I understand that we won’t win every game or convert every chance – I get that by the way.
    But I think we are capable of performing better – if not, then probably best we don’t get promoted to be honest.

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  25. Sharpy-

    I completely agree that we haven’t been consistent and that we need to be better. As I think our first 10 games have proven (especially one like last night), promotion via the playoffs would be a **** shoot.

    However, even given all of the issues we’ve seen (wasting chances, not showing up against Wolves), I don’t think you can say we’ve overachieved or that our points don’t accurately reflect our performances, and we’re only a point off 2nd.

    In my opinion, we’ve only been outclassed on one occasion – against Wolves – and as Sharpy mentioned, we’ve already played 4 of the other 5 teams in the top 6. Maybe I’m overly optimistic, but I believe we’ll get the kinks worked out sooner rather than later, and that our depth will be a major asset as the season wears on.

    On the flip side, I don’t think Huddersfield will keep up their current pace. As Kim mentioned, they get a lot of 1-0 and 2-1 wins, which aren’t sustainable long-term. I think they’re a good side and that they’ll be in the playoff places by season’s end, but I’d be surprised if they finish top 2.

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  26. Sharpy thing’s could be alot worse mate. I know are defense isn’t perfect and should be doing better imo. The chances we are creating is very good. I do believe when we get an easier run we will be unstoppable.

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  27. Charlie – I’m not sure I’ve ever said we’ve over achieved mind.
    We are where we are because we’ve picked the points up along the way – I’m not disputing our points tally.

    I’m simply saying I’m not really enjoying our football – particularly over the last 3 games.
    We had a pish start with the first 2 games, then seem to get back on track. We peaked with QPR then crashed against Wolves and have been all too convincing against Villa & Norwich. We got a ‘get out of jail’ last night and I don’t want that to distract from the fact it hasn’t been good enough this month.
    I can get overly excited or be happy with getting to 3rd with a stutter. We could & should be doing better IMO.

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  28. Sharpy, I understand totally where you are coming from by the way mate. In so far as performances go we have been very unpredictable I agree. After QPR I had a sneaky feeling we’d lose to Wolves because that’s typical Toon, I also knew we’d beat them in the cup after. We do give the impression that we’re making hard work of it at times and a lot of our players still seem to feel the pressure at SJP which I find odd given that 52,000 geordies have their backs. Some players thrive in that pressure cooker others shrink, twill always be .

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  29. Stem:
    Sharpy thing’s could be alot worse mate.I know are defense isn’t perfect and should be doing better imo.The chances we are creating is very good.I do believe when we get an easier run we will be unstoppable.

    Stem – great, so we’ll look good against poorer team – but what happens when we get back to the PL? when do we get an easy run of games in that league?
    We need to be able to beat the better team in the Championship.

    By the way, I’m not asking for anything Houghton couldnt achieve or that Burnley achieved last season.

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  30. Sharpy-

    I apologize if I’m putting words in your mouth, as that certainly wasn’t my intention. And like I said, I 100% agree that we need to be better and more consistent. I think we’re in a decent position and overall I’m optimistic about our chances for promotion, but we can’t leave it to chance, aka the playoffs.

    I think my posts are probably more in response to some of the “sky is falling” mood that seemed to be in effect after the Villa match, and not really to do with anything specific that you’d said. I just get annoyed with the “if we lose against Norwich, we can forget about automatic promotion” comments this early in the season, which I’d seen some of over the last week.

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  31. Kimtoon:
    Maybe we just need 2 up front instead of the 1 ???

    Kim – I’d give my right arm to see us go 4-4-2. Loved watching Leicester playing with and sticking with that formation last season. Our best years under KK was played 4-4-2.
    Leicester just showed last season that it’s not a formation where your midfield will get overrun by a 4-2-3-1.

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  32. Also, I happened across this website with a lot of statistical analysis of the Championship. This article covers expected goals for/against, and how that predicts the rest of the season. This was posted before yesterday’s match, so I would think we’re level or slightly ahead of Norwich at this point. Still extremely early in the season, but I’ll be interested to see what this chart looks like halfway through the season.

    https://experimental361.com/2016/09/25/e-ratings-update-championship-25-sep-2016/

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  33. Charlie Prince:
    Sharpy-

    I apologize if I’m putting words in your mouth, as that certainly wasn’t my intention. And like I said, I 100% agree that we need to be better and more consistent. I think we’re in a decent position and overall I’m optimistic about our chances for promotion, but we can’t leave it to chance, aka the playoffs.

    I think my posts are probably more in response to some of the “sky is falling” mood that seemed to be in effect after the Villa match, and not really to do with anything specific that you’d said. I just get annoyed with the “if we lose against Norwich, we can forget about automatic promotion” comments this early in the season, which I’d seen some of over the last week.

    Charlie – you didn’t mate, I just want to make sure people don’t misread what I’m saying, or scan over posts and get the wrong end of the stick.

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  34. Who would be our best midfield pair in a 4-4-2? It would have to be some combination of Hayden, Diame and Shelvey, right? Maybe switch it up based on whether we need Hayden’s defensive ability, Shelvey’s passing range or Diame’s physicality?

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  35. Charlie Prince:
    Who would be our best midfield pair in a 4-4-2? It would have to be some combination of Hayden, Diame and Shelvey, right? Maybe switch it up based on whether we need Hayden’s defensive ability, Shelvey’s passing range or Diame’s physicality?

    Charlie – Shelvey can certainly pass the ball mate, but not sure his work rate would be enough in a 2 man CM. He can get away with not grafting as hard when there’s another 2 midfielders in there – but can you imagine him working as hard as Drinkwater or Kante? – I can’t like. I reckon it would probably be Diame & Hayden – but there again, would we be removing a huge threat by taking Shelvey out the team?!.

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  36. Good to see quite a few on here today. I’m still puzzling over our inconsistent play as well. Diame has been poor for a few of our matches, Perez has been poor, others up and down from match to match. Rafa will be working on this no doubt. It was a bit of a miracle yesterday but we can’t count on too many of those. We have to play better over the entire 90 minutes or we’ll continue to battle in the top 6 as far as I can tell.

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  37. Sharpy17: Stem – great, so we’ll look good against poorer team – but what happens when we get back to the PL? when do we get an easy run of games in that league?
    We need to be able to beat the better team in the Championship.

    By the way, I’m not asking for anything Houghton couldnt achieve or that Burnley achieved last season.

    We have beaten the better teams in the championship though mate. Huddersfield aside, we have beaten the rest of the top 6 put in front of us – Norwich, Brighton and Bristol City.

    When we get promoted I expect us to make a few transfers again. Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it. Nobody is saying the PL will be easy or expects it to be. It will take time to recover from the mess that has been the last few years of pish poor management, recruitment and PR. We could have gone into free fall once we got relegated, but we haven’t. It’s onwards and upwards, one step at a time.

    Hayden and Shelvey in the middle for me. Diame for impact late on.

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  38. I felt we needed 20 points from our first 10 matches and we got 19. We need definite improvement in several areas going forward but with a young team like we have and Rafa at the helm I would think we’ll get better as the season progresses. Would love to see Murphy get some time in a league match though. Possibly his time will come against Rotherham?

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  39. Sharpy-

    I agree that Shelvey doesn’t fit the Leicester 4-4-2 model at all, but as you mention he’s been a threat and involved in an awful lot of our goals, particularly catching the opposition out with long, accurate passes.

    I just worry that a successful 4-4-2 requires a player like Kante, which we definitely don’t have. Leicester themselves are struggling quite a bit this year without Kante.

    All that being said, if Rafa can find a way to make it work, I’m all for it, because I think Mitrovic and Gayle could be dangerous together.

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  40. Hayden covers a lot of ground when he plays if you look at his heat map. He is also very productive defensively, winning headers, tackles, take ons – and he can contribute moving forward. I think his energy and physicality would allow Shelvey to do his thing. Definitely would like to see a 442 or similar given a go.

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  41. We’ve scored more goals than anybody else in the league. We create enough but we do miss a lot of chances but I expect we will create enough chances in games for us to score enough to win the games.

    I’m a bit more concerned about our defence. We went from a solid looking unit to Key Stone Cops in the last couple of games.

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  42. Shamrock:
    Hayden covers a lot of ground when he plays if you look at his heat map. He is also very productive defensively, winning headers, tackles, take ons – and he can contribute moving forward. I think his energy and physicality would allow Shelvey to do his thing. Definitelywould like to see a 442 or similar given a go.

    I like Hayden a lot. Don’t understand why Colback or Tiote are being used personally.

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  43. I don’t feel like looking it up, but it seemed like Hayden was getting more playing time in the early part of the season, and that it coincided with a string of clean sheets. Especially against stronger teams like Norwich, you’d think his presence would provide some stability and allow Shelvey and others a bit more freedom to attack.

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  44. Charlie – Rafa has also minced about with the back 4 in the last 3 games as well though mate – but 5 actually coz Darlow replaced Sels last night didn’t he.
    I know Anita is suspended so he had to bring Yedlin in. But Clark has replaced Mbemba – who has been on the bench so I assume isn’t injured.

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  45. Does anyone know what position we were in 2009/2010 after 10 games?

    Would be good to do a comparison – trying to find a site that lets you see the table after a specified number of games but to no avail.

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  46. Andy, I keep a sheet every year of our games where I enter who scored and the result and month by month standings but I had a clear out just two weeks ago and chucked them as I’m hoping to move 🙄 typical

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  47. Andy I know we were too of the league and clear of Preston in 3rd by 5 or 6 points. Our 10th game we drew at home to.QPR and one fan said this:

    ”steve thompson, harrogate uk, about 7 years ago
    2 points dropped..no game plan for the 3rd time this season Blackpool,Perterbrough and now QPR who came for a point and got it. They knew the limitations of Newcastle and played on them..Newcastle it appears make no plans to make sure they beat these teams.THEY MAY HAVE PLENTY OF MONEY AND BE FULL OF LOAN PLAYERS BUT QPR will be an also ran team in the Championship this season,and the sooner someone with experience takes over as manger the better. Hughton has been good under the circumstances affecting the club off the field but his inexperience regarding subsitutions and tactical play could blow up in his and Newcastles faces.”

    You can never please everyone. Many said before this season started that the Championship is tougher than it was back then, so you can’t expect a mirror image of our form back then. We had a far more solid core and more experience. I believe we will win the league, but always said we won’t match the points record Hoots set.

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  48. Kim, looking at that link you posted, it looks like we lost away to Blackpool in the first ten games. Still, 7 wins and 2 draws is an amazing run of results from 10 games. But it’s only a 4-point difference from our current record.

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  49. There was some good teams in that league yet we ran away with it. Messer’s Barton, Nolan and Carroll making the difference.

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  50. Charlie Prince:
    Kim, looking at that link you posted, it looks like we lost away to Blackpool in the first ten games. Still, 7 wins and 2 draws is an amazing run of results from 10 games. But it’s only a 4-point difference from our current record.

    Yep, you are right mate 😳

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  51. Sharpy17:
    I’m not dismissing the QPR game at all – we were sublime.If I remember correctly it was something like 30 chances in that game – we more than deserved the score line.
    But it was one game – followed up by a defeat, draw and last minute win.Having destroyed QPR we then concede 6 and score 5.I don’t expect 6-0 week in week out – that WOULD be deluded.

    With the players we’ve brought in & the manager we have, I expect us to be doing better.

    Totally agree Sharpy17. I don’t expect us to win 6-0, however it is flattering and good for the goal difference. If we were winning 2-0 or 3-1 in say the 60th minute regularly (say in two thirds of our games) and then going on to control possession and see the game out, then I would feel more confident. We seem to be capable of snatching defeat/draw from the jaws of victory in some of the games, when the opposition made a poor start, we allowed them to grow into the game and gave them confidence. Yes the result is what matters but I agree with you that the performance is how you get there. Yesterday night was a once in 10 or even 20 year result. We won’t get lucky like that again IMO. 🙂

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  52. We have scored more goals than anyone else in the league so far. We have the best goal difference in the league so far. Is our attack good enough? Opinion on here says no.

    Logic.

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  53. 😆 Good point funkyjesus mate! We’re a difficult lot to please at the best of times. We have scored a lot but many argue the 6-0 win has skewed the stats too much for us. We have played fairly poorly in several matches but overall I’m pleased with where we are so far.

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  54. GeordieTwo:
    Good point funkyjesus mate! We’re a difficult lot to please at the best of times. We have scored a lot but many argue the 6-0 win has skewed the stats too much for us. We have played fairly poorly in several matches but overall I’m pleased with where we are so far.

    It can’t skew fact though. If you were talking performance quality then having that tells a mis-truth yes but this is a statistical discussion of the effectiveness of our attack. Numbers.

    Our attack is the most lethal in the division in every possible way measured. The fact this is even a discussion at this point in the season with how the situation is, is purely looking for a reason to complain.

    I have a real discussion topic for the blog – why Dwight Gayle is debated as “is he good enough?” generally while Ayoze Perez is still held as a great prospect despite Gayle almost being involved in more goals this season than Perez is his entire time at the club.

    Leon Best had the same issue. I have a horrid feeling at one of the reasons for it but I hope it is purely the “foreign = better” mentality.

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  55. Perez has gone well off the boil, he cannot begin to compare to Gayle at this stage. Goofy has had a real good start too, that little chat with Rafa must of been something else.

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  56. Have people questioned if Gayle is good enough? – I know some have suggested his fee was a bit high, but haven’t seen anyone say he’s not good enough.

    Just watched the highlights back and Gayles 2nd is quality!!. The pass from Shelvey, the control and finish from Gayle is top class.

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  57. Kimtoon:
    Perez has gone well off the boil, he cannot begin to compare to Gayle at this stage. Goofy has had a real good start too, that little chat with Rafa must of been something else.

    Kim – I think Goof is a good balance to Ritchie on the flanks, but I don’t know that we have cracked that middle position no.10 role yet.
    Diame doesn’t seem to be that player, Perez would be more natural to it but isn’t firing on all cylinders.
    Would moving Gayle back there and putting Mitrovic or Murphy up top be the answer?!.

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  58. I’d keep Gayle up front. His runs off the last man are going to be lost if he drops deep. Tough one really.

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  59. Sham, Agree, defo Gayle has to be up front, but I would love to see him have a partner alongside, I think he’d get a hatful in that formation. He’s doing ok feeding off scraps but could convert so many more chances in the right set up imo.

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  60. Kimtoon:
    Reckon Arma may of prospered in that number 10 role sharpy ??

    Kim – have you seen some of his games this season?. That lad must be wondering what he has to do for Rafa to give him a shot .

    I agree with you and Sham though. Gayles 2nd goal against Norwich shows why he has to be on the shoulder of a defender.

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  61. Groucho:
    Where are you Eric?Rooney keeps captaincy of England. Southgate has chickened out already.

    I read in the paper that Rooney rang Southgate up about the captaincy . You can imagine the conversation.

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  62. Another bloody break after this sats game, can’t stand all the stop start bollocks, it just ruins any momentum.

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  63. Kimtoon:
    Another bloody break after this sats game, can’t stand all the stop start bollocks, it just ruins any momentum.

    me to mate its a pain,ok for you the joy of house sales and moves 😆 😆 😆

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  64. This season with Newcastle saves Gayle’s career. Pardew would have ruined him. A season in the Championship scoring goals for fun and then back up to the Prem. Of course by then we’ll need another top striker and who knows who things will turn out with Perez and Mitro but without Gayle we would be lost. Hats off to him!

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  65. G2 I can just imagine Troy crossing his fingers, hoping and preying Pardew get’s the England. Every time England beat a small country and win, he will remind us how wonderful he is.

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