Another weekend, another win.
After a slow start, the Magpies are climbing the table and have first placed Huddersfield Town firmly in their sites. Saturday’s win certainly wasn’t pretty, far from it, but in highly cliched terms, it is these sort of wins that will separate the men from the boys at the end of the season.
As something a little different, I’d like to know who you believe to be Newcastle’s top performer so far this season. Please use our poll below and cast your vote.
[poll id=”97″]
FYI, would only let me enter 14 selections so please put your selection in the comments if it is not one of the options.
Andy The Magpie(Quote)
Rafa would take some beating!
Definitely been between Ritchie and Shelvey by a long way. I’d still like to see the team that beat QPR again Rafa. Funny how it’s been dismantled.
georgio(Quote)
COLBACK?!?!?!!!!
I went Ritchie. The guy has came into a new club what had the relegation cloud hanging over it. He had a canny fee attached to him & more the task of filling Townsends boots. But it’s fair to say he has been excellent & a bit of a leader on and off the pitch.
Atsu saying that Ritchie was offering him words of encouragement before the Rotherham game …. I wish he had spoke to the other players out there too!!!.
To be fair, a similar thing could be said for Gayle who also took the weighty number 9 shirt but has scored some really good goals IMO.
From the players already at the club, you would have to say Shelvey & Gouffran have been stand out.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Cheers Andy, you could make a case for Ritchie, Shelvey, Goofy and Gayle equally as they have all bought something to the table. Even the defence has had it’s good moments with Darlow in particular having an excellent display on Saturday in goal. In the end I have gone for Gayle as it’s a heavy shirt to wear and despite missing a few sitters he has scored some good goals so far and goals win games as they say.
Kimtoon(Quote)
got agree with KIM and agree its a very hard shirt to wear but Richie pushes him close
icedog(Quote)
was a shock Song suffering a stroke and now in a coma age is no barrier,hope he gets well soon
icedog(Quote)
Hayden for me. Then Gayle and Ritchie. Hayden just covers so much ground and is very effective. We have been missing a player like him in the middle for a long time.
Shamrock(Quote)
Murphy sent back to SJP with calf injury,misses Irish games 🙁
icedog(Quote)
Agree that Hayden looks great so far…in what little I’ve been able to see.
I’d be curious to see what a Hayden-Anita-Shelvey CM could do. It will allow for Yedlin’s pace to be in the lineup
MDS(Quote)
MDS: I would be happy to play Anita away and Yedlin at home at right back. I think Anita has been very good at right back and never better than average in midfield. After 5 years he has finally found his position but we have a player who offers a different skill set in Yedlin and I would like to see him have some playing time when his pace might worry an opposition who are expected to sit back.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Have we tried 3 centre backs and 2 wing backs this season? I think we have the squad to play it and it might be a way to get Yedlin and Atsu on the pitch and even MBemba as he likes to carry the ball out of defense.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
COLBACK?!?!?!?!!!
Sham – yeah Hayden has been real quality in that midfield and has helped Shelvey shine IMO. Hayden has covered that extra ground that Shelvey doesn’t.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Goofy, Richie, Gayle, Shelvey, Hayden, Lacselles, Anita
Gashley(Quote)
Eric-
I’d love to see us break out a 3-5-2 (or 5-3-2, however you want to call it) at some point. Yedlin and Lazaar seem tailor-made for that kind of thing and with Mbemba and Clark both able to fill in at fullback, you could have them on either side of Lascelles in the middle. Still plenty of aerial prowess in the back and it would give the opposition something to think about that they might not be familiar with.
Charlie Prince(Quote)
Yeah he definitely hasn’t shined in CM during his time at the Toon but think he’d do better at this level. He and Hayden would cover loads of ground together .
MDS(Quote)
I wouldn’t mind something like this either. Dummett could slit in at CB as well. I think we’d terrorize teams on the wing
MDS(Quote)
MDS-
That’s true – Dummett is even more of a hybrid defender than Clark is, so that could work as well. To be honest, I sort of figured Rafa might have had some 3-5-2 in mind when he brought in Yedlin and Lazaar, but I don’t think we’ve seen one minute of Lazaar, have we?
Charlie Prince(Quote)
For me, I don’t think we could replace Gayle’s goals. I know his overall play has sometimes been indifferent but the whole point is to collect points and go back up. So I vote Gayle.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
****, Sterling has pulled out which guarantees Rooney will start despite his horrible form and being dropped by his club. Haven’t all of the England Mangers said they would only pick players who start for their clubs? I thought there was a 5% chance he wouldn’t play.
Rooney really annoys me because a thicko scouser has taken on the mantle of spokesman for the team and to the Ref. It is not entirely his fault as he has been built up by the press into something he is not and his England record is that of a flat track bully. He has done nothing against the bigger teams and nothing in tournaments since his first one.
He is England’s top scorer but there should be an asterisk next to it saying “mainly scored against patsies”. Icedog would know better than me, but didn’t the qualifiers used to have fewer teams in them? Now with 6 per group it seems that England are set up against minnows and guaranteed to qualify (that’s probably the aim). If Mr. Roy can have a 100% qualifier winning record then it must be so.
Meanwhile, Rooney gets to break the England scoring record. It is like the school bully taking the lunch money off disabled kids. Rooney should have his own VIZ cartoon – Biffa Rooney takes lunch money off disabled kids and has all ex-England players suck hos **** live on Sky.
Did I mention I hate the international break. Sham had a good idea last time on how to avoid this nonsense but I would add that maybe there should be a pre-qualifier for the tiny teams to exclude some from the main qualifiers. Teams like Malta, or San Moreno. Or Iceland. Oh!
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Last England manager not to qualify for a major tournament? Steve McClaren.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It’s going to take a major effort and a brilliant manager to rebuild England for tournament play. Could Wenger do it? I think he would be a very good manager and would improve the play of the team. How high we could go I’m not sure as not enough English players are playing at the top levels.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Probable England team will be very similar to the bottlers who got beat by Iceland. I know there is not much choice but a changing of the guard could be signaled by dropping one player – ROONEY.
Hart
Rose Stones Smalling Walker
Walcott Henderson Dier Rashford
Alli Rooney
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I went for Shelvey… but a very hard choice actually. Could easily have gone for Gayle, Hayden or Ritchie… shows that they have all made a big contribution to the team…
I see the firing has begun. Roberto De Meteo gone, Guidolin gone … managers get no time these days. Money dominates above all else.
Dubai Toon(Quote)
is it not true mate that a top manager can make a big diffrence to ave players PL champions last year proved that,the Chile manager does wonders in top compo with ccc and 1st div players,get my drift 😉
icedog(Quote)
G2: the England group is like watching the North American qualifiers, absolutely fcking boring. Who have the US had to play? Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago. And it is still harder than England’s group.
Luckily, the South American section is competitive and produces some great games between bitter rivals.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I do know the point is to have the best teams in the tournaments but there must be a way to shorten the qualifiers/make them more interesting. And at the same time reduce the disruption of these bloody international breaks.
Rant over….
Eric Sykes(Quote)
ERIC you been on the hard stuff! Rooney and McClaren. in one night i spew just typing their names 😆 😆
icedog(Quote)
Ice: not at all. I have been eating Jelly Beans and watching Roma v Inter. I have had a bee in my bonnet about the way the press and ex-players treat Rooney for years now, I just don’t share that often as now everybody agrees with me.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
He played in the cup match against Wolves which I didn’t see. Reports said he’s got pace and looked good going forward.
MDS(Quote)
I do have the answer to how to make the qualifiers more interesting. You have a summer pre-qualifier for the smaller teams like San Moreno, Iceland, Malta and Scotland. You can base who is included on FIFA rankings so teams like Wales would not have to go. You can then reduce the Group sizes and have fewer international breaks. Very occasionally one of the bigger countries would not qualify , and it is not perfect, but that would be a small price to pay for not boring us all to death.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
i may be a bit worse than you ive never rated Rooney for the last ten years hes his own one man band,if fact imo if he played for any other team than M/U or Chelsea the gunners the press would have fried his *** before now
icedog(Quote)
Ice: he did great with Tevez and Ronaldo alongside and that made him seem a lot better than he was. I think I would have looked great with those 2 taking away all of the defenders.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Ice: I looked up England’s top scorers and it goes:
Rooney
Charlton
Lineker
Greaves
It is a travesty that Rooney is top of that list by beating up on patsies in expanded qualifiers and **** friendlies. If you look at his goal scoring in tournaments you see the real Wayne Rooney. Actually, you see the real England as well.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
COLBACK?!?!?!!!!
I tell you one think this article has highlighted (to me anyway) is that we have a good 5-6 players playing well – Gayle, Ritchie, Gouffran, Shelvey, Hayden …. but who in defence?.
Lascelles has done ok, Anita again other than the sending off has been ok, Yedlin ok, Dummett ok, Mbemba poor (by his usual standards), Clark I think looks solid. Sels has not been great IMO and Darlow has just come back in but looks ok.
I think that just highlights that Rafa isn’t settled on his back 5, and nobody is really standing out for him at the minute.
I think Lascelles and Clark could be the CB partnership. Anita could be the RB, Dummett at LB but keeper is still a headache for him.
Sharpy17(Quote)
It is like some mass hypnosis. Some Jim Jones at Jonestown thing. Players like Scholes and Carragher who are happy to criticize anybody and everybody all have a blind spot when it comes to Wayne. You could say they know a hell of a lot more than me and they do. I am saying they have an inexplicable blind spot because it is as clear as day how poor Rooney has been for at least the last 3 years.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sharpy: Anita, Lascelles, Clark, Dummett would arguably do better in the PL than Janmaat, Taylor, Coloccini, Hadaira. I will get off the subject of England as it is depressing.
I know Munich Mag says we have only like one player fit for the PL but we could cobble together a team to stay up with about 3 or 4 additions I think. To press on we would need more than that.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
very true mate
icedog(Quote)
not all stats give a true picture,looking at your list where was big Al one of the best players England have had in many years and yet not on the top five goalscores but how many assits did he have? against Rooney??
icedog(Quote)
No way Rooney is a better forward than them 3
Kimtoon(Quote)
Be glad when Shrek retires
Kimtoon(Quote)
we have another bloody break in November too. Constant upheaval to the league run is ridiculous imo. There must be an easier way of doing things.
Bad news on Murphy too.
Kimtoon(Quote)
Ice: Greaves had 44 in 57 and Lineker had 48 in 80. This was before everything was watered down. Big Al had 30 in 63 and I think he was in the era when it was changing to easier qualifying groups and more friendlies, but not as bad as it is today.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
You know what earlier strikers had though, the Home Internationals where they could beat up on Wales and N Ireland. Not so much Scotland, because they usually had good teams back then. Now there’s a question. Whatever happened up there, they used to have Hansen, Dalglish, Souness, Gemmill, McQueen and many, many more. Now Ritchie is about their best player and he is in the Championship.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Its a bit like the North East where there was Gazza, Shearer and Beardsley and now…
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Know where you are coming from about the top scorers. If Shearer hadnt retired to play better for us, no doubt he would have been in top 3. But when we go back to Charlton and Greaves, they played with a proper football, something you really had to kick or head, players today dont know how lucky they are
Simon(Quote)
Just reading through the England comments and I can honestly say that I haven’t had an interest in the national side since probably ’96.
I will watch the rugby union team, team GB in the olympics and team Europe in the Ryder Cup – but football on a national level does not interest me one bit to be honest.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Simon: I was just thinking about that the other day. I was remembering Charlton belt that heavy leather thing from the half way line and thinking he could probably score from his own 18 yard box nowadays.
When I was in school we had some of the old leather balls and some of those heavy plastic mitre things. They must have been at least 3 pounds heavier than now.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sharpy: you should watch some of the South American games. They are passionate and have some of the best players in the world against each other instead of one team running wild. I will be watching some of those this international break and ignoring the European qualifiers.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Yeah Eric, when you think of Milburn and others who played with a ball like that, doing it after a shift down the pit as well. Now we see the players who get a slight tap and roll round in agony, they have so much to learn
Simon(Quote)
Rooney arrogance in the last few months:
HE decided he was taking corners even though the manager had been practicing with Kane.
HE has said he is retiring after the next world cup, assuming he will be picked AND be captain.
HE told Mr. Roy he was now a midfielder and Mr. Roy meekly accepted it.
Fat Sam said Wayne plays where he wants.
He has some Indian Sign over everybody involved in British football from the press to Sky, to ex-players and commentators, from advertisers to referees. He mustn’t be as thick as he looks. Although that would probably be impossible.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Know exactly where you are coming from about Rooney, only thing I would say is, made more sense for him to take the corners rather than Kane, but yes, he ahs far too much say
Simon(Quote)
Simon: I have commented before on the corners and said Rooney was right but was also wrong to overrule his manager and just decide to do whatever he wanted. Mr. Roy has even said that Rooney didn’t consult him, he just did it.
The Astle family have set up a foundation in the name of their father Jeff who had brain damage from heading those heavy leather balls. I am not slating Rooney or the modern game here, just saying it was harder for Greaves or Charlton to get the same power but they still did.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Agree on both counts with you there, shouldnt overule the manager. And yes, the guys today can only use the tools in front of them. But again, hope they can get some cash as they were entertainers and doing some damage to themselves and really what they got paid back then wanst gret
Simon(Quote)
Ditto. I get more excited by Ireland in the footy to be honest. The shirt means something to them.
Shamrock(Quote)
Sham: i was trying to get a bit of debate started early as we know that by the end of this week the International Break will have sucked the life out of everybody and there will be about 3 comments a day on here 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I would have to get an Atlas out to even know where Slovenia is!
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It’s beyond me how any English man has no interest in their national team.
🙄
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Mourinho is prepared to drop him so how does that fit into your theory?
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Because Mourinho marches to his own drum and gave Wayne enough rope to hang himself. Probably Jose didn’t realise how bad Rooney really was until he had to pick him for his team and I am sure he was expected to give the club captain a chance before making up his mind. Do you really want to try to say there is not some weirdness about the Rooney love-in?
Ferguson was dropping Rooney in his final season at Man U but the pundits and the press have defended him to the hilt until very recently. If you ever read some of the comments on articles in the Guardian and other websites you will see that 99% of Man U supporters have turned on Rooney and cannot understand the continued favourtism from most quarters towards him. That has changed recently, about 3 years too late, but still some of his friends in the media and the ex-players defend him.
Every sideways pass, mis-hit and mis-control is now being greeted with laughs and groans at Old Trafford. Mourinho has even said he is not playing Rooney as he knows that the media will be on his back. This is typical Mourinho spin to defend what he wanted to do anyway. As I said, the press sucked his **** for so long that a lot of them don’t know what to do now that they are being weaned off of it. If he even has a mediocre game they praise him like he is Messi and Maradonna rolled into one, still.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Troysta: they always show the early games in the US and Man U are on just about every week. I am therefore able to watch most of their games and have seen Rooney’s decline. I also read the British papers and have seen this decline contrast with the press, punditry and ex-player assessments. As I said, I just don’t get it.
Are you starting the engine of a Wayne Rooney reality train now?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I wouldn’t be surprised if Rooney becomes a Tony Blair type figure where there are so many skeletons in the closet and people are just waiting for his downfall before all of the stories come out.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric, totally agree on the retirement thing re Rooney. I too thought it was extremely arrogant to come out with that. Obviously totally sure he’s off to Russia and that cannot be a good thing for any player as it just breeds complacency.
Kimtoon(Quote)
To suggest Rooney should have been dropped 3 yrs ago is laughable.
He’s not the player he was but he’s still worthy of a place in the man utd rotating squad.
I don’t know where you get this press and media thing from?
They love to crucify him at any opportunity.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
PS. I’m not staring any Rooney Reality Train but I will try and stop you rail roading rubbish. 😉
Troy Stavers(Quote)
The press have had a love affair with Rooney until very recently unless there was a hint of scandal which would override their fawning. I believe my own eyes and the statistics. It is also not a coincidence that Man Us play has picked up since he was dropped and England’s would do the same. I doubt playing Malta or Slovenia will tell us much though.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
In Mourinho’s first press conference at Man U he marked Rooney’s card. He said that even he (Jose) could hit a 40 yard pass with no pressure. He was not so subtly telling Wayne his days were numbered unless he produced and scored goals.
The problem for Man U is that Wayne makes 15 million a year and still sells shirts. Troy calls him a useful squad player, I suggest that he is a commercial figurehead but also a monetary drain with his wages that will get spot playing time from now on.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
COLBACK?!?!
😆
Andy The Magpie(Quote)
New thread by Geordietwo
https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2016/10/04/what-to-do-about-adam-armstrong/
Andy The Magpie(Quote)