On a day where Ashley made his first appearance at St James’ Park in sixteen months, perhaps the only positive we can take is that he saw first hand what a mess he’s created.
Whether he takes action is a different matter, but today confirmed what we probably all knew; it’s going to be another long, hard season.
Our severe lack of quality or ideas in attack was there for all to see once again, with Leicester barely having to get out of second gear to come away with a comfortable three points.
We had just one shot on goal and, quite incredibly, that one effort was Jonjo Shelvey’s from his own half. That perhaps sums up how much we’re struggling to create chances at the moment.
The vast majority of St James’ Park got involved when ‘stand up if you hate Ashley’ belted out from the Gallowgate. It was another clear message to the NUFC owner – on a day where Peter Kenyon has been linked with a takeover bid – however the problems ON the pitch should be our biggest concern right now.
After Man Utd away next weekend we have a run of VERY generous fixtures, but with confidence looking low and goals lacking, it’s hard to see where the wins will come from right now.
Today was another tough watch, with me struggling to come away with a single positive, but we must stay behind Benitez and the boys in the hope that things will take a turn for the better soon.
Was a bit strange because it was held in Paris and he did it all in English.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Stuart: sometimes there is not a direct correlation between spending and quality, like with Man U or Sunderland but as far as relegation goes this year it looks to be that relegation will be decided primarily by money spent.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
KIM surely that has has to change for you too,hes hoping mate 😕 😕
icedog(Quote)
Stuart: I think it is a 5 horse race to the bottom and have said so recently. In order:
NUFC
Brighton
Southampton
Huddersfield
Cardiff
I think Fulham are probably better than 15th but if they are in trouble January 1 I think their owner will bail them out with some signings. He’s the one that is buying Wembley to try to put an NFL franchise there so I think he has a commitment to sport in London and having a PL club is part of that.
I doubt the other teams will splash much cash and it remains to be seen whether we will. I still maintain that Ashley will give Rafa a modest budget. I wonder if they will be sat together at the meal?
I find it very strange that Ashley comes to the game and doesn’t at least have a glass of wine with Rafa. I remember Lord Ferg inviting opposition Mangers to his office for a drink after games. Jose took him a Duero when he was Manager of Chelsea.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
http://www.true-faith.co.uk/why-did-mike-ashley-buy-newcastle-united/
good read and yes it’s exactly why he doesn’t want to sell .
kimtoon(Quote)
Michael Martin @tfMichael1892 · 11h11 hours ago
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There has been no bid for #NUFC from Kenyon. He has no money. There have been no talks about a takeover. Thete is no condortium. Granted that might change but that’s the position in the here and now.Sorry but we’re all being had off for clicks #NUFC PLS RT
Oh, and I thought it was true 🙄
kimtoon(Quote)
Rumour has it we are interested in an Italian centre back. Wow not another centre back. Is the aim to have a team of eleven centre backs?
Groucho(Quote)
On relegation again. There is usually a team that gets sucked into it that you don’t expect but I don’t see that happening this year. The usual suspects are:
1. A promoted team. That seems to be Cardiff.
2. A team that doesn’t spend. Like Blackpool, remember. That seems to be the five I mentioned above.
3. A team that was in trouble or promoted (or both) the previous year.
4. A team with a **** Manager (Southampton).
It seems to me that it is done and dusted that relegation will be between these 5 teams even after just 7 games. It is not just the results, it is the quality of football.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
5. Lack of a goalscorer. That might save Southampton because they have Ings and Austin IF THEY CAN STAY FIT. There is no way that Glenn Murray will keep it going for a full season at Brighton.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I don’t see Brighton dropping Eric, but I can see Cardiff, Hudders and either us or Saints. Actually if Palace lose Zaha for any length of time they could be on a sticky wicket too.
Also be interesting to see how West Ham go once wheelchair is back in the team.
There is faint hope as there is always a team that starts well who badly drop off and a bad starter who find form, lets hope we are the latter.
kimtoon(Quote)
I think West Ham will be OK, more’s the pity. I watched them against Man U and Noble played the best game I have ever seen him play (I never rated him). The Emperor Wilshere has no clothes so I doubt we will see him much again. He is too slow for a number 10 now and cannot tackle so cannot be a defensive mid. The modern PL game has passed him by. Much like it did Rooney when he lost the pace he had.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
fecking hate west ham
kimtoon(Quote)
I am not totally buying the conspiracy that Rondon was injured or carrying a knock when we got him. He looked OK in a game for us and scored 2 against Panama. We won’t see him at Man U but hopefully another 2 weeks recovery will sort it. We desperately need him, or at the very lest for Rafa to give up on Joselu. Change the system, play a false nine, do anything, just drop Joselu.
Man U are the only bigger circus than us so that might take some pressure off. I still expect a defeat but the media glare will be on them especially if they don’t beat Valencia tomorrow.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I know Rafa has had a lot of success with 4-2-3-1 but our personnel doesn’t seem suited to that. We don’t have any pace OR holdup in the 1. We need a backup plan for the players we have. We cannot shoehorn them into the 4-2-3-1 in every circumstance against every team.
I hope Rafa will experiment a bit in the International break. Maybe a 4-4-2 with Ayoze and Muto up front. Fine, start with a 4-2-3-1 but when it is obvious that we are running out of ideas/have no idea, then have a backup plan.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Maybe it’s time for Rafa to get desperate and try something different. It’s not very likely but why not try Kenedy in the centre just off Muto or Perez. Bring Roberts in on the left. Try anything but get rid of Joselu. Give Sean Longstaff a run out. Diame has been poor.
Straw clutching from me.
georgio(Quote)
Georgio: Maybe play the 3 centre backs and forget the defensive mid since Diame seems out of form? Have Ki or Longstaff there. We know when Diame is shyte he is shyte and when he is good he is good. We are in one of his shyte phases, maybe it has something to do with sunspots or the tides?
Anyway, looks like Dummett and Fernandez are not bad injuries so we could play 3 centre backs.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
We could also go full on Big Fat Sam. Push for set plays and score from set plays. God knows we are doing nowt from open play.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Who do you see scoring from set plays then? Half the team can’t jump.
georgio(Quote)
Centre backs.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Yep, Lascelles got on the end of a couple last season, he must be due one by now.
kimtoon(Quote)
The way a formation change would help is if we went 5-5-5. The players aren’t good enough. It’s the same at Cardiff.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart with the squad we have even 5-5-5 wouldn’t help. I doubt if anyone would even notice as Rafa would set up 9-4-2.
georgio(Quote)
Well everyone is asking him to play two up front. Although I think when we did that we didn’t win a game or score more goals. We could play 4 up front but just think who the four would be. They’d still need 5 chances to score one goal.
Stuart79(Quote)
I think people are asking to play 2 up front because it is better than none up front which is what we have when we we have Joselu there. It is ostensibly 1 up front but really none up front.
We all know Perez as a lone striker wouldn’t work and probably the same goes for Muto. Hence the call for 2 up front. It may even be a case of ABJ – Anyone But Joselu.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
So Jabba will only sell to someone who has the money to invest in the club and take the club forward. He’s basically saying he won’t sell to anybody who wants to run the club like he does. Very strange.
Stuart79(Quote)
Cause he’s really taking the club forward isn’t he.
***** 👿
kimtoon(Quote)
I wonder if there is a touch of managers last season syndrome with our players ?
There doesn’t seem the togetherness or team spirit of last season. If they are sure that Rafa is on his way come may, what with the lack of investment it must be demoralising somewhat.
We’ve already seen that Hayden and Ritchie were reportedly off pre season only to stay and Gayle seems happy enough to go to the baggies.
kimtoon(Quote)
SimpleMan @TheArrogantPrik · 20h20 hours ago
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Replying to @NUFC360
Kinnear just arrived and asked if they have any Yohan Kebabs on the menu #AshleyDinnerDate
😆
kimtoon(Quote)
https://twitter.com/hashtag/ashleydinnerdate?src=hash
some good ones on here
kimtoon(Quote)
Zaha going for the famous pineapple haircut today.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Looking at the Palace and Bournemouth lineups and they aren’t that great. If we can get some confidence we can take points from these teams.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I don’t see it like that, Eric. I see many players on both sides that would get in our team. Or at the very least squad.
Townsend, Benteke, Zaha, Sahko, Mihlalovic and Ayew would probably get in our first team from Palace. As for Bournemouth: Cook, King, Wilson and Brooke.
Although I don’t disagree we could get points from them. We can take points from anybody on any given day. It’s just that it’s unlikley we will get enough of them.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart I agree the sooner we get Pardew back the better. He always kept the club up and is out of work. He maybe a blessing in disguise
Earnest(Quote)
That’s not what I was saying. There are players in every team in the PL that I would take and they would make us better, but I was thinking that these 2 teams are not that far ahead of us. Mind you, they are ahead of us in terms of talent which says a lot. I would still take a fully fit NUFC defense ahead of either but Shelvey is probably the only other player that would get in either team.
It ended up being a pretty good game and Brooke tonight and Madisson on Saturday show there are good players in The Championship if you know where to look.
Have you watched Benteke in the last 2 years. He has missed more sitters than any player I have ever seen.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Well at least one ex-player/pundit is on our side. Ian Wright has had a go at Ashley. He is sort of a figure of fun to some but we had him on the World Cup coverage and he was a nice balance to Alexi Lalas who wanted to say something controversial every game (I didn’t mind that but he was trashed for it by some). Anyway, Wrighty made some good comments but mainly was having a good time. Again, it is a nice change from the Souness and Keane types who only want to find fault.
So, by my count of the national pundits and journalists, that is 297 defending Ashley and 4 in NUFCs favour – Shearer, Wright, Shreeves and Luke Edwards.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
as i thought Kenyon unable to raise funds to bid for toon
icedog(Quote)
* I meant Stelling not Shreeves.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Ice: you would have to be mad to contemplate spending 300 million on the Toon with the real prospect of relegation cutting your investment in half within 6 months. You may as well wait 3 months and see where we are and also see if Ashley invests to keep us up. I just cannot see anything happening until the summer, if ever. I don’t care how many pizzas the Fatman buys.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
What’s Ashley doing in the Toon then? Attending games, taking the squad out for a meal, talking to Rafa. He doesn’t do PR and doesn’t care about anything other than money. All very odd.
georgio(Quote)
Eric, firstly, do you ever sleep?
I agree on your point about a sale. With every defeat and every game that goes by we’re closer to the Championship. That means it’s kess likely that anybody will buy us for the price Jabba wants. Just ain’t happening. Unless results improve and come January were not in the bottom three and a new owner can influence the team with purchases there’ll be no sale. If no sale before Jan then there’s no sale and we probably hit the fizzy again and then the vicious circle starts again. He thinks we will go up straight away and he puts more money in to cover his ***** ups, the debt to him goes up and then in turn the sale price goes up.
What a thoroughly depressing thought.
Stuart79(Quote)
Did we ever believe it was true ?
kimtoon(Quote)
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/where-money-gone-read-ian-15224717
kimtoon(Quote)
Stuart: the odds for NUFC relegation are now 7/4 at Paddy Power.
On sleeping. I had an easy breakup with my girlfriend a few months ago but now have no-one to answer to and it has screwed up my sleeping pattern. It is not worry or anything like that, I am just napping early evening and then not sleeping through. Plus have had friends in the last few weeks who are very late night. Will be back to normal soon and not be on at 3am and 6am. Only me, Donald Trump and the binmen over here are up at those hours.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I have listened to a few podcasts and a lot of journalists are writing us off. I don’t blame them if they have watched any of our games, but is 7 games too soon? There are a lot of teams who will struggle to get an individual scorer past 10-12 goals so it is not only our problem.
Quite a few individuals will get into double figures through penalties as well which wont happen for us as we don’t get any.
BTW all of the broadsheets now do podcasts so that is where I am getting the information about a lot of the journalists writing us off. Usually the reports are by one journo but the podcast have 3 or 4 and none of them have us turning it around.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
On goalscorers. I think stats should include how many goals are from penalties. Last year Rooney’s Pals were saying he had a good 1st half of the season with 10 goals. They forgot to say 5 were from penalties. Now I am hearing Kane is doing so much better than Salah because he has 5 goals to 3. Two of Sir Harry’s were penalties, Milner takes the Liverpool penalties.
I know there is a knack to penalties but there is also something to be said for the likes of Aguero and Salah whose goal stats are penalty free.
You don’t need to tell me that Shearer and especially Lampard’s stats benefitted greatly from penalties.
It is not even a pet peeve it is just something I think some pundits DELIBERATELY miss when they want to make THEIR point.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
What’s sleep ? 😆
kimtoon(Quote)
Exactly, Kim. I’m up at 4am every days whilst I’m in the States. ?
Eric, most do a podcast now but some are so far removed from reality when it comes to NUFC they’re not worth listening to. I noticed Tony Cascerino in the Times telling everyone that Rafa should take some blame for our start. I mean, really? Why didn’t he say the same about Warnock at Cardiff or Wagner at Huddersfield? They all spent more than Rafa yet they get away Scot free…
Stuart79(Quote)
cause it’s let’s stick the boot into Rafa and the Toon month mate.
kimtoon(Quote)
So Rafa saying he’s happy with his attacking options and won’t look to strengthen that position in January ?. He reckons it’s injuries and Muto taking time to settle that’s the problem … oh I beg to differ.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Although… I am not sure what Rafa is on about today if the reporting is correct. Did he really say we were OK up front? We have 2 goals from our forwards and there is no guarantee that Rondon will be fit or that Muto will adapt. Kagawa never adapted to English Football and Mihkitaryan (sp) is still struggling. Obviously some others did like Ballack, but there is no guarantee.
And if it is not the forwards then is it the wingers? Rafa signed all of them – Atsu, Kenedy, Murphy, Ritchie.
This is all very strange if true. We see that they are all injured or out of form so even Rafa cannot tell me otherwise and that we do not need another forward. I am still behind him 100%. But he is not infallible.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Just posted the same thing. What do you think his motives are? He is seeing the same thing as us so cannot possibly be satisfied.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Reckon he’d be pretty universally slagged off if he’d said the players we have aren’t good enough and need replaced in January. He probably also knows he’s getting no money in January too so he needs the players he has on his side.
Stuart79(Quote)
I agree to an extent, but he has also said we need to have 3 teams worse than us which I know is stating the obvious but is also an admission he is not happy with the squad.
We can all parse every word he says and every manager says and it gets like a dog chasing its tale but I would have liked him to say that we need reinforcements in January and obviously we need to score more goals. He could then add that that could come about organically as Muto gets used to the PL and Rondon regains fitness.
I know I have had hours to think of that answer and Rafa had to answer there and then but I hope he is not happy with our strikers and, as you say Stuart, is being diplomatic. Hopefully not realistic as I think the bookies odds of 7/4 to go down are correct if we don’t add players. He needs money in January and I think Fatty will give him some.
BTW Cardiff and Huddersfield are odds on to go down and we are 3rd favourite. That pretty much equates to what I have seen on the pitch. I have seen a couple each Cardiff and Huddersfield games.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Pretty much agree with what Mick Quin says blow because I have said it before myself. I would only add that I think there is more to the Mitro/Rafa story than them just having incompatible personalities. Quinn usually speaks his mind and says things that others in The Chronic will not – well, they will not until the tide has turned on their previous views and they realise they have to jump on the ship or else be ridiculed. My only problem with Quinn was when the Chronic had as his tag line “NUFC Legend Mick Quinn” and that was their fault rather than his.
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/mick-quinn-gives-verdict-every-15227213
Eric Sykes(Quote)
* jump ship
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Stu – He doesn’t have to slag anyone off to acknowledge a lack of quality – which would be universally accepted based on the money spent – which is a total of £16m on THREE forwards. He could have even came out with ‘we look to improve all positions, but it will depend on who’s available and what budget I have to spend’. To say it’s a position he’s not looking to strengthen takes the pressure off the forwards imo – none of them are what you could call prolific and none are in any real form either.
In fairness, they aren’t helped with the **** poor form of Kenedy or Perez either – but he keeps selecting Perez, so he must be pretty happy with him.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Is Rafa getting off easy? I trashed Pardew with Stats when he was Manager. Here are a few on Rafa.
Possession can sometimes be misleading but this year we have averaged 35%.
Since we got promoted we have lost 11 home games, equal worst with Huddersfield.
We are already 3 points adrift after only 7 games.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
And this football is challenging Ugly John’s for the worst in memory? Carver at least had the excuse that they were not his players and he often had about 12 out injured. These are almost all Rafa’s players and apart from Lejeune we haven’t had a long term injury.
I am not going to turn on Rafa but I was so scathing of Cardew that I thought I would bring a small amount of balance.
I haven’t looked at other stats such as goals scored or time spent in the opponent’s half but I bet they rival Cardew.
And I do know that Rafa has had his hands tied behind his back in the transfer market but so were Arrogant Alan’s and Ugly John’s. Pardew was a yes man and Carver just glad to have the job but they didn’t get to spend either.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Of course, the one constant is Ashley.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric, Pards had far better players than Rafa has, especially up front.
kimtoon(Quote)
You can’t drink champagne on beer money. McClaren and Pardew all got backed more than Rafa and that is staggering yet he still has better PL record than them at NUFC.
To be honest, I just want to ask people who they think could do a better job that Rafa? If he left tomorrow who would be better and who would the club appoint which is more pertinent.
It’s literally like blaming Lewis Hamilton for not doing better in the Formula One when he is driving a Ford Escort. Complaining that he didn’t change gear fast enough or he hit the breaks too much on a corner.
Stuart79(Quote)
Ba, Cisse, Remy, HBA, Carroll and even Ameobi FFS!!!! Rafa would have us in the top 8 with them and probably higher.
Stuart79(Quote)
Ba – Free
Cisse – 9 mil
Remy – loan
HBA -5 mil
Carroll – academy
Ameobi – academy
Cabaye – 3 mil
Sisssoko – 1.5 mil
Ashley has never really backed any manager except Rafa in The Championship and Schteve when Charnley and Carr were calling the shots and Ashley had stepped back.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
We would have been relegated last year with Pards orCarver as manager. Iam just pointing out that these are Rafa’s players whether they were 1st or 4th choice.
There is no doubt that if Rafa was given “every penny the club earns” we wouldn’t be in this mess. That would have probably been another 60 million including sales in the last window. Even if we still only had 5 or 6 points because of the schedule I am sure the atmosphere would be better and there would be an expectation that we would stay up. Now all there is is hope.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
The NUFC circus will be going to the even bigger circus on Saturday for the feature game. I watched Man U against Valencia and if the Spaniards could hit a cows ars* with a banjo they would have won at a canter. They seemed to have a shoot on sight policy and most ended up in the stands. Man U were terrible again though. Mourinho set them up to defend in 2 banks of 4 in the first half. Maybe on Saturday it will be the first game ever played entirely on the half way line as neither team wants to enter the other teams territory?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric, I’m hoping Jose is still in charge come Saturday, we’ve never won there and this is likely our best chance ever given the form they are in. God knows we need the points, lost 4.1 there last season but beat them at home 1.0 so who knows .
kimtoon(Quote)
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/mike-ashley-newcastle-united-dubai-15229880
what a nest of vipers they all are.
kimtoon(Quote)
https://twitter.com/NUFC/status/1047132762501722113
kimtoon(Quote)
Won 1-0 there just a few seasons back. Cabaye goal. First time in decades mind.
georgio(Quote)
I think Sky will be happy they are showing MUFC/NUFC more for the pre and post match intrigue than the football. Half the team, Scholes and Ferdinand have turned on Jose. A bad loss for us would mean an inquest by the pundits on Rafa and his tactics and probably another defense of Ashley.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Guardian cartoon depicting Mourinho as bratty “emo” teenager:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2018/oct/02/david-squires-on-another-week-of-fun-and-games-at-manchester-united
Eric Sykes(Quote)
kimtoon(Quote)
Mike Ashley @MoneyMikeAshley
Follow Follow @MoneyMikeAshley
More
Fan unrest. 19th Sept 2009. Barry Moat “plotting takeover bid”.
Fan unrest. 1st October 2017 – Amanda Staverly in crowd “plotting takeover bid”.
Fan unrest. 29th September Peter Kenyon “plotting takeover bid”.
Always works.
Wonder who to use next
Rinse and repeat
kimtoon(Quote)
Just for the hell of it and to show the circus we are entering on Saturday, here is The Daily HateMail football website. The first 10 stories are about Jose, Pogba, ex-players and Man U. Good to see some comeuppance for their plastic fans and this sort of thing never ends well.
Hopeful that we can add to the madness.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/index.html
Eric Sykes(Quote)
So Jabba is in court again now. Suing Tony Jimenez for some golf deal that didn’t happen. Jimenez says Jabba didn’t turn up to meet a potential buyer in Dubai and they went on to buy Man City… This guy is a Mackem I tell you!
Stuart79(Quote)