Newcastle’s eagerly anticipated return to the Premier League was met with a slightly sobering defeat to Spurs, however there were some positives to take – three being the promising performances of Christian Atsu, Isaac Hayden and Mikel Merino.
Christian Atsu
The Ghanaian divided opinion in the Championship last season, leaving many to wonder whether he would be capable of making the Premier League step.
He has looked full of confidence throughout pre-season and has took that form into the new season if his display on Sunday was anything to go by.
Given our defensive set up, he often had little support but carried the ball well, took on his man on several occasions and was without doubt our most threatening outlet all afternoon. He also looked in very fit and kept running right until the end as we looked to cope with just 10 men.
Isaac Hayden
It was Hayden’s Premier League debut and given the imposing midfield duo of Dier and Dembele that he was up against, I thought he coped very well and helped unsettle their attacks.
He got stuck in, retrieved possession on several occasions and looked fairly assured, giving little time for the majestic Moussa Dembele to make things happen.
A promising display from the former Arsenal man, especially given Jonjo Shelvey did very little to help him out.
Mikel Merino
The Spaniard only came on for the final 15 minutes but certainly added something to the side despite his brief cameo.
He looked well balanced, moved the ball quickly and pulled off some slick passes – making more successful passes in 15 minutes than Shelvey managed in his 60 minutes prior to his dismissal.
It’s hard to juddge him properly – at this point Spurs were 2-0 up and crusiing – but he certainly gave us something and his quality on the ball was there for all to see.
There’s a total solar eclipse in the US tomorrow and I can’t get bloody Bonny Tyler song “Total eclipse of my Heart” out of my head.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Praet looked good at Anderlect, but hasn’t really cut it in Italy. Another one with potential but absolutely no experience.
Carroll has experience, but he’s as big a sicknote as Aarons – and his wages will be huge.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Ice, aye mate, shame, was really good when he was with us.
kimtoon(Quote)
A place called Qormi a Maltees village ( cheaper there lol),also owns a house in Hamrun which he rents out about 10 min from beach,Maltees people like the English,advice never go late July or August it’s to dam hot,where you were do cheap winter hols late Sept/oct/ Nov lovely temperatures 25/27c
Icedog(Quote)
A place called Qormi a Maltees village ( cheaper there lol),also owns a house in Hamrun which he rents out about 10 min from beach,Maltees people like the English,advice never go late July or August it’s to dam hot,where you were do cheap winter hols late Sept/oct/ Nov lovely temperatures 25/27c,if you get a Maltees friend there friends for life
Icedog(Quote)
Need some players out otherwise nobody will be coming in. Lazaar, Hanley, Krul Gamez and Colback to name but a few.
Stuart79(Quote)
Toon have been offered Whilshire on loan,but Rafa has injury concerns about him
Icedog(Quote)
Too right, he isn’t called Jack Wheelchair for nothing.
kimtoon(Quote)
Ice – yeah we’ve learned our lesson I think mate. It was hot when we were out in Mexico earlier this year, but this was a different kinda hot, that never let up – even on the evenings. That said, it’s my favourite European holiday, and I liked it more than Cuba. Up there with my favourite places for sure.
Sharpy17(Quote)
But if he could stay fit, he’s head and shoulders better than what we have. That Praet is a similar type of player but Whilshire has the PL experience over him. I wouldn’t be against a loan I think coz he can be the creative player we lack when fit. It still doesn’t answer the question of who’s gonna put the ball in the back of the net like.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Manquillo worried me a bit today. I’ve listened to a lot of mackems telling me how **** he is, and wrote it off as sore grapes. He’s done decent in preseason and looked ok against Spurs, so I’ll give him today as a bad day at the office – but he better buck up coz I liked Anita at RB and Manquillo didn’t look close today.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Well I really don’t think he is a good player,did nowt at B/mouth if fact he was dropped for Gosling,why didn’t they go for him on loan again?
Icedog(Quote)
Sharpy, Manquillo can’t hold a candle to little Vern imo. Should not of sold him .
kimtoon(Quote)
Don’t want a team of 2nd raters , cast offs and sick notes, sort it out mr Ashley, give Rafa the tools for the job ffs.
kimtoon(Quote)
KIM love your wheelchair jack quote
Icedog(Quote)
Can’t take the credit Ice, seen some one else say it and it made me smile. Stuck in my head now.
kimtoon(Quote)
I’d take Wiltshire on loan. He said head and shoulders better than anything we currently have. Even if he only plays 20 games.
Stuart79(Quote)
Don’t get me wrong, he’d be far from my first choice – but so far our biggest spend has been £12m on Murphy – we aren’t spending money, so if it’s down to circa £5m buys and loan deals – Whilshire (when fit) would be better quality than most.
Ideally we need to spend money. But that isn’t happening and its criminal that we are in a position where we are being offered other teams sick notes – in Whilshire and Carroll (if the latter is true).
Sharpy17(Quote)
We can’t expect to get quality if we’re not going to pay decent money. You can’t drink Champagne on beer money.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu – if that’s the analogy, we aren’t even doing that mate. We are the 14yr old kid sneaking round at a party drinking the dregs from the cans left on the table.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Is Manquillo Yedlin’s backup? Didn’t both come from the Mackems?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
And now Jerry Lewis is dead 🙁
Sunday afternoons watching him and Dean Martin in their movies was a treat , he would have me in hysterics .RIP , my youth is slipping away. 🙁
kimtoon(Quote)
He was 91 Kimtoon.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
**** day
kimtoon(Quote)
Eric, So what, still sad .
kimtoon(Quote)
Just saying he had a good run. He was actually an incredible man. He did a 24 hour telethon over here for 60 years in aid of muscular dystrophy. He would be up all night and out on his feet at the end. His final appearance was in 2010 when he was 84.
He raised $2.4 BILLION for that charity. YES, that’s 2.4 BILLION and it was all heartfelt and none of this self promotion stuff that some others do charity work for. Yes, I mean you Mr. Savile etc.
Again 2.4 BILLION DOLLARS.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I know mate, incredible man, so funny but very smart behind the foolery .
kimtoon(Quote)
Kimtoon: you might want to look the telethon up, as there will be tributes to him I think that will reference it. It all started with him getting all of his Hollywood friends on to do skits and request donations. Of course Deano was on the first one.
I watched bits of a few. I’d go to bed on the Friday night and he’d be on the set. Then I’d turn the TV on at 2pm on Saturday afternoon and he’d still be on there. I can bet you he has left most of his estate to charity.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
yeah I reckon he will have too Eric. I know all about the telethon as saw a thing about it years ago like. I did like the movies though, used to get the sunday matinee on tv, was a treat .
kimtoon(Quote)
Are we led astray by players wages a some teams,Swansea and Burnley want wear side jack but won’t pay what he’s getting at toon,said to be 70,000 awk ffs,it’s getting worse with him
Icedog(Quote)
We have a decent defence when all fit. Midfield is poor. No runner from the centre, weak and inexperienced. Forward line is similar. Why play Hoofer’s to Gayle. Rafa keeps getting this wrong.
Should of kept Anita… Fatty has totally messed our season by not spending. It’s going to be a very long season if we don’t purchase new players
where’s the new write up for today’s game. Very slack on this site now. I was surprised ppl were still commenting
Gashley(Quote)
Well I have not read the comments apart from Stu saying Huddersfield scored. Just finished watching 1st half. Observations:
– We are not dynamic enough. Boring direct play that they see coming all day long.
– Ritchie has been a big disappointment for me this season so far. Needless fouls in both games so far and his crossing has been shocking. Its like the step up in quality has made him feel inadequate, so he is resorting to rushing and thuggery. He has skill but needs to focus a bit and relax.
– Hayden and Merino look steady enough with flashes of quality, but Hayden needs to be a bit mire forceful.
– Gayle looks lost on his own up front.
– Lascelles is a good Captain. Good communication with Ref.
-If we look this flat and drab against Huddersfield, then this will be a long, painful season.
– We need quality to be signed in goal, at full back, in the middle and up front. No pressure Ashley but this does not look like a PL squad that can stay up.
shamrock(Quote)
Also our boys dont work hard enough to track back when they lose the ball.
shamrock(Quote)
How does Ritchie get a yellow for a studs up challenge but Tommy Smith does not? Is it too much to expect consistency from a Ref?
shamrock(Quote)
Good goal Mooy. just good play but maybe a bit o a tactical mistake to not have him man marked.
shamrock(Quote)
Wow this is boring.
shamrock(Quote)
Mooy is everywhere. Can we swap him for Shelvey?
shamrock(Quote)
Ref has it in for us..joselu did not deserve a yellow for that challenge on the keeper.
shamrock(Quote)
Oh dear Perez. Big miss from 7 yards.
shamrock(Quote)
Joselu doing a good job up front but we dont have enough attacking flair. Need to play 2 forwards or get better midfielders in. Perez poor in particular and so was Gayle.
shamrock(Quote)
I’m calling it. Manquillo is ****.
Clarke is good.
shamrock(Quote)
I’m also questioning some of Rafa’s signings. Gamez, Lazaar, Selz and Manquillo all poor buys.
shamrock(Quote)
7 minutes to go. Flat. Lacking zip, urgency and skill.
shamrock(Quote)
Diame is ****. Im calling that too.
shamrock(Quote)
Mbemba is a good player.
shamrock(Quote)
That Mounie yellow was harsh. Maybe Ref does not have it in for us.
shamrock(Quote)
This Ref is dishing cards out for fook all.
shamrock(Quote)
Sorry Sharpy, totally disagree mate. They were up for the fight and we weren’t. Their team on paper is no better than ours, they just fought harder.
They only had one real chance and they took it. We pretty much chased them around all afternoon.
Raffa has to take some stick for this, his tactics and team selection were poor.
Aussie(Quote)
I am a bit worried about Rafa. Are his tactics up to scratch for modern football? Are his signings up to scratch? Just an early observation. Long way to go but Wagner owned him today. Persisting on Gayle up front on his own does not seem like a good tactic.
shamrock(Quote)
Ritchie -Hit.
Yedlin – Hit.
Atsu – Jury still out for me.
Clarke – Hit.
Gamez – Miss.
Manquillo – Miss.
Merino – Jury out.
Selz – Miss.
Hanley – Miss.
Lazaar – Miss.
Daryl Murphy – Hit.
Diame – Miss.
Gayle – Hit (he will struggle in this formation in PL though)
Hayden – Hit.
Joselu – Jury out. Probable hit.
Murphy – Probable hit.
Lejune – Hit.
6 out of 17 definite misses.
7 definite hits.
4 jury still out.
Is that a good hit rate? No idea. Just asking the question.
Is a 1 striker system good enough for us to survive thus season? Do we have enough goals elsewhere?
Is sitting deep, not pressing and not using the width of the pitch a good thing in todays game?
Can we plug the big gaps in quality in the squad, in the next week?
Are we going to get relegated again? (Chances are high if a few things dont change?)
shamrock(Quote)
We need a big target man from the start.. most teams favour this unless you have a spare Augero laying about. Perez can’t hold a ball up for **** and we constantly turn the ball over cheaply. The amount of easy possession we gave up was disturbing.
Joselu certainly helped but he was on too late to have a true impact.
Aussie(Quote)
Should of started Mitro, Gayle struggled massively . Would love us to go 442 or 352 even, reckon it could make a massive difference. They had the midfield yesterday but it took a long range shot and a good one at that to beat us. We will have easier games than them but we will get well turned over by the big boys if things don’t change soon.
kimtoon(Quote)
To be fair we were holding our own last week against Spurs until Shelvey’s brain fart, two games in could be early to start to panic but we defo need some quality in.
kimtoon(Quote)
Aussie – agreed mate, I said Ashley can’t be blamed for the performance. But why did Huddersfield have more fight? – for me it is entirely possible that their group of players & manager are fighting because they see their owners wanting to give them the best chance of competing in this league – they have broke their transfer record 4 times already. I know money wise that doesn’t mean much, but to manager, players and fans it does. It lifts people.
For me what Ashley is doing defo has a knock on effect. But I agree, and I’ve said before 4-2-3-1 simply doesn’t work. We were poor yesterday.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Anyway, where’s these bloody articles at like?!?!?!?!!
Sharpy17(Quote)
We do look organised though Sharpy, just low on quality. Missing key players yesterday didn’t help either. Rafa was red in the face on the line shouting at Manquillo at one point and constantly barking orders at the players in the first half in particular.
We haven’t been stuffed yet either, under previous managers that side would of collapsed v Spurs and yesterday . WH, Brighton, Palace, Swansea, Leicester, Chelsea, Arsenal have all conceded more than us, it’s just they have a better attack force in the case of most of them teams. I really think a creative mid and forward will make a hell of a difference to us and yesterday for the first time I could see why Rafa wants another Keeper as Elliots distribution was very poor. Wasn’t happy with the long hoofs up to the lone forward either.
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim – what annoys me is our forward players just seem to stand and wait for the ball into feet – they are so easy to mark. There’s only really Atsu at the moment ready to run in behind. Personally I’d drop Perez and play Murphy.
I like the look of this Praet lad we are looking at, but not sure he’s got the experience to hit the ground running. Personally I’d take Whilshire on loan. Yeah he’ll miss games, but he’s better than Perez and Diame when he’s available.
But forwards wise, who knows now?!
Sharpy17(Quote)
Agree sharpy, we look really slow, almost, dare I say lazy, up front. Not sure what’s up with Gayle at the moment but he offered very little yesterday, Joselu looked more alive to the ball when he came on that’s for sure. Perez seems to either have a blinder or falls totally flat in games, I’m just worried heads will start to really drop if we lose to west ham . Not sure about this Praet Sharpy, I would prefer someone with PL experience if possible. Think Wilshire is a waste of time too, never fit, we have enough in the treatment room.
kimtoon(Quote)
http://www.sunderlandecho.com/sport/football/newcastle-united/joey-barton-lays-into-newcastle-boss-rafa-benitez-over-attitude-and-tactics-1-871
Read this from Joey Barton. I know he is a cliwn but he makes a lot of good points here.
3227
shamrock(Quote)
http://www.sunderlandecho.com/sport/football/newcastle-united/joey-barton-lays-into-newcastle-boss-rafa-benitez-over-attitude-and-tactics-1-8713227
Sorry here is the link again. I am really worried about this negative football with 1 up . we should be going for the lower PL sides, not setting up to draw or steal a 1-0 Nil.
shamrock(Quote)
We’re still a championship squad and look like heading back there. It’s so so obvious we needed a playmaker and striker and we’ve bought neither. Instead we’ve stocked up and have 4 wingers. Why do we need 4 wingers? I don’t get it. Play 3 at the back and we don’t need any.
Yesterday was like last season without the good fortune of a penalty and two goalie howlers.
Perez and Gayle are so poor at holding the ball. Ritchie easily marked out. It seems that all we can do is get a winger to flash in a cross and hope someone gets on it. Joselu looks very ordinary. Diame’s ****. That team as it is won’t win a game.
georgio(Quote)
Forgot to add in – Elliott is poor.
georgio(Quote)
Kim – I don’t know how true it is but I could well believe that Gayle is huffed he didn’t get a new contract after last summer, and is getting paid 20k less a week than Mitrovic.
I can see it from his point of view, but also I can see that the club (or Rafa) doesn’t want Mitrovic and for arguments sake, if he could have sold Mitrovic and brought in Perez – he would become no.1 on 60k and Gayle would be back up and 40k would be fair in that respect.
I think a fit, in form Gayle is good for round 12 goals a season in the PL.
But 4-2-3-1 does not help the lad IMO.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sham, Joey makes some fair points there .
With the media/pundits, fans and Rafa all moaning about the squad maybe moral is low now, it looked like they had given up once Huddersfield scored and that is worrying as there’s plenty of games to play yet. I agree I would like 2 up top really, but that’s me , I’m old fashioned and like 442.
Who the hell we can get in for up top , lord only knows , it’s so late in the window now and I just don’t see one coming in and Rafa said 2 days ago that he’s done with strikers now ! He seems more set on a GK and MF .
kimtoon(Quote)
Sharpy, Gayle is gonna have to get on with it, I sympathise with his situation but he signed on to those wages, maybe he’d get a rise end of this season if he proves himself a PL striker ?
kimtoon(Quote)
Sham – I think the point Barton makes about the chew between Ashley & Rafa having a knock on effect on the players was the point I was trying to make with Aussie earlier. I hadn’t seen this article or heard what Barton said, but I tend to agree with him (which is rare).
I don’t care how good Rafa is, if as a leader you are deflated and feeling pissed off, it’s hard to motivate others. Something has to give, and history suggests it won’t be Ashley.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Kim – I don’t disagree, but if he’s got an agent or advisor in his ear telling him he’s worth a better contract, then they get into the lads head.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Aye, you’re not wrong there mate, cause of lots of problems are agents. Gayle hasn’t proved anything yet. He was great in the Fizzy, that’s a very different set up though. PL defenders are quicker and wiser and I don’t think Dwight holds up the ball that well tbh, he certainly doesn’t bring others into shooting positions the way that Mitro does.
kimtoon(Quote)
http://www.themag.co.uk/2017/08/ruud-gullit-newcastle-fans-deserve-better-sees-big-problems-rafas-body-language-newcastle-united/
kimtoon(Quote)
Was thinking about players we haven’t been linked to after Rafa was saying we would be surprised at who we after. Anyway have we been linked to Jota at Brentford yet? Spanish attacking midfielder , highly rated too.
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim – yeah I’ve seen his name mentioned. We were supposed to be in a 2 way battle with WH I think for around £8m.
Kim I got excited when Rafa said that, coz the only players we haven’t been linked with are Mbappe, Ronaldo and Messi – so good times ahead I feel.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy, **** thought I was ahead of the game there like 🙄
Messi, he’s alright but can he do it in the PL mate 😉
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim – I would take Jota like and thought there may have been some truth in that one – Spaniard, but left field. But then we are supposedly out scouting this Praet – are we pissing about too much?. Is it a case that we can’t sign players til some shipped out and we are lining the targets up?. Are there other possible (more preferable) options that we are waiting to see about first?.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Swansea buying Clucas for £16m. I’ll say it again, keep up or get relegated – again!
Why is it that Jabba always has us spending TV money from the previous year instead of the current year? We’re always one year behind everyone else.
Back to the zombie club. What’s the point?
Personally I will have more respect for Rafa if he did leave. He’s achieved too much in the game to be just another employee that Jabba treats like ****.
Nothing will ever change unless the fans stop going. It hasn’t mattered whatever Jabba has done, fans continue to go and spend their money. Jabba knows that. When Rafa goes we need direct action to rid this club of the horror that is Jabba the Hut!
Stuart79(Quote)
Rafa’s not doing himself any favours. At the start of the window most fans would have agreed that we needed a CB (got one), a DM, playmaker and striker. Here we are at the end of the window and we’ve signed 2 wingers and a full back, a cheap cast off striker and we’re constantly chasing goalkeepers. We still need a DM, playmaker and striker! I know we’re hard up but the £23m we spent on 2 wingers and a full back could have bought a half decent playmaker.
We are so bereft of creativity and cleverness it’s hard to believe. If it hasn’t come down the wing then it doesn’t happen. Pissed off and no sign of it getting better. Rafa saying we just need to train harder is not helping me.
georgio(Quote)