Southampton 0-0- Newcastle: Winless run extends to ten games after stalemate at St. Mary’s

Some say a point on the road will always be a precious one, but it’s yet another game where we’ve failed to register our first win and another that we’ve failed to score in – with us failing to register a single shot on target today.

We’ve now played Cardiff, Palace, Leicester, Brighton and Southampton and haven’t scored in any of them. That is a massive worry, with our only three points coming from three goalless draws.

We defended well and I can’t fault our effort levels, but we’re now NEEDING to win a LOT of games in our final 28 to stay up – and we can’t do that without scoring.

Yedlin did well (along with the entire back line), Muto showed some signs of promise (although never looked like scoring) and Rondon showed glimpses of the powerful presence he can be when he came on, but the fact we were hanging on for a point at Southampton in the end is a worry. Especially when this is a side who’ve won ONE home game since November last year.

Mike Ashley was in the stands for his fifth successive game and it was a timely reminder to him that we’ll be needing money spend in January to give us that much needed quality and spark we’re currently lacking in attacking areas.

Two weeks ago we begun ‘winnable run’ of fixtures and so far we’ve lost to Brighton and drawn at Southampton. One point out of those two is a poor return and we must turn it around and get that all important first win of the season under out belts ASAP.

Here’s the run of games we look set to face between now and Christmas:

  • Watford (H)
  • Bournemouth (H)
  • Burnley (A)
  • West Ham (H)
  • Everton (A)
  • Wolves (H)
  • Huddersfield (A)
  • Fulham (H)

These eight games could decide our season.

(Fancy writing for us? Send any articles/ideas over to us at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

190 thoughts on “Southampton 0-0- Newcastle: Winless run extends to ten games after stalemate at St. Mary’s

  1. georgio:
    Who knows what Arma might have become if a manager started him and gave him confidence. And Rafa, these aren’t kids anymore, they’re older that Rashford, Foden, Sancho, Sessegnon etc. Lots of teams are giving their kids a chance, even City, Manu and Chelsea, Spurs.
    Rafa’s still waiting for Murphy to grow up FFS!

    Armstrong never got a chance under any manager. Maybe that tells you something…

    I refer to my comment to Sharpy. Why wouldn’t he put them in if they were good enough?

      (Quote)

  2. Who knows if they’re good enough if they aren’t given the chance to try and Rafa has a poor record on that one. Even Mourinho is trying kids lately and that goes against everything he’s done before.
    I’m not saying play sub standard players (as if we don’t have enough in the first team already) but if they’re showing promise try them for 10 or 15 minutes now and then. Even if they flop it’s not long enough to be denting their career and will hardly make a difference to this team’s season.

      (Quote)

  3. I think the fact that they constantly get beat by teams in lower divisions tells you they’re not good enough. It’s a bit like saying we don’t know whether we’d be good enough in the Champions League until we give it a go.

      (Quote)

  4. Sorensen has eight goals in four games during which Roberts got three and six assists. They lost the last game but had a lot of wins before that.
    You could be right Stuart but desperate times call for desperate measures and clearly there’s players in out team that are failing week after week and the subs are pathetic.

      (Quote)

  5. It still doesn’t make any sense that Rafa isn’t playing them if they had any chance of improving us. Unless of course he wants us to go down and is purposely not playing them.

      (Quote)

  6. Stu is right, Rafa’s reputation is on the line here. Although most folk will have sympathy with the restraints he has been put under there are plenty ready to jump all over him and to that end I’m sure he is doing everything possible to right the ship including looking at u23’s.
    In the end if he is being advised they aren’t ready and he thinks the same then that’s that , as they say.
    We all want the best for the club, hounding out the manager won’t help, who ever came in we are likely down anyway because we have no natural finisher to get us the goals that would keep us up.
    Our best chance is Rondon gets his fitness back asap.

      (Quote)

  7. We may as well have had no academy/U23s for the last 10 years for what they have produced. Who was the last player to step up to the first team – Dummett?

    I doubt Rafa is being stubborn here. He wanted Tammy Abraham who was 19 at the time. He wants money to upgrade the academy because he knows we are not attracting the best quality youngsters and that is probably why he is not even considering most of them.

    Even when they leave they mostly bounce around the lower leagues.

      (Quote)

  8. Rafa still has my full support but with some sections of our fans he seems to be able to do no wrong and then they turn around and say boycott the Wolves game against the express wishes of “in Rafa we Trust”. I hardly expect Rafa to know what some moron in Chicago is saying on a blog but he is saying that the match day protests are counter productive.

    Rafa must have the patience of a saint. He has put up with an owner who seems to do things out of spite and against his best interest. An owner who stays away for 18 months and then has his Friends Reunited party at pizza like everything is fine now.

      (Quote)

  9. You’re right, Eric. Rafa can see the issues with the academy and what we haven’t produced and that’s why he wants money to upgrade it. The players clearly aren’t ready yet or even good enough – otherwise he’d pick them and we’d be doing better in the league!

    The two that spring to mind where fans wanted them to play were Aaron’s and Armstrong. Aarons can’t get a game in Slovakia and Arsmtrong can’t get a game at Blackburn. Maybe Rafa knows a thing or two about players and their ability or readiness…

    Am I the only person who has to fill in their details everytime I comment? I click the button but it seems to be ignoring me…

      (Quote)

  10. What is very telling is that our Captain has signed a new 6 year contract and nobody has mentioned it! It shows how little it means and how much window dressing NUFC are actually doing.

      (Quote)

  11. So Shearer is saying Rafa is having to shop at Aldi’s. Is there even an Aldi’s in Ponteland? I drove by a Waitrose there when I was last back.

    I know Aldi’s is the common analogy for chain discount retailer but is there somewhere even closer to home in Ashley’s case we could use as an example of getting cheap stuff and getting what you pay for – Sports Direct.

      (Quote)

  12. I’m not trying to hound Rafa out, and I’m not against him – but I think he should be subject to the same criticism as any other NUFC.
    I know his reputation is on the line here, but let’s look at the facts here – the senior players he’s selecting aren’t winning him games – they are doing nothing to help his reputation.
    I know it was only one game, but Longstaff and Sterry looked every bit first team players against Forest – Longstaff looked as good as Hayden or Ki, Sterry looked as good as Manquillo. I’m not saying they should be thrown in the first team – but I’d rather see Longstaff on the bench ahead of Hayden, I’d rather see Sterry in ahead of Manquillo.
    People go on about our reserves baring no fruit – but Mbabu is playing Champions League football, yet he wasn’t good enough for NUFC. Armstrong may not have to impact of Rooney – but how many youngsters do?! – he can’t be any worse than Perez.
    Look at someone like Everton and the likes of Lookman and Calvert-Lewin and Davies – they aren’t pulling up trees, but they are good squad players. Young players will see they will get a chance at clubs like Everton and Southampton – and they will want to go there. But what young player will want to join our academy knowing they are unlikely to get a chance – which is essentially what Rafa has said.
    So yeah, Eric is right, what’s the point in having an academy? Not coz it’s not developing players but coz they aren’t gonna get the chance. Yet this is something that Rafa wants Ashley to spend money on before he’ll sign a new contract.

      (Quote)

  13. I don’t think I have ever been this conflicted about a manager. I think it is the contrarian in me, because when I see some of the players that Rafa has bought even if it was on a tight budget I just think he should not get the unquestioning support that he is given. But then I know that if he was given another 50 million in the summer then we wouldn’t be in this mess. I trust Rafa but not to the extent where it is unconditional love, like it is to some.

    Then there’s Ashley. He is just impossible to figure out. Does anybody really think a boycott will do anything? Then what should we do then Eric, lie back and take one for the team? I don’t know.

    I suppose I will never understand football owners. Freddy Shepperd sacked Bobby Robson on August 30, 2004. I think that was about 4 games into the season. We had finished 5th the previous year and 3rd the year before that reaching the UEFA cup semi-final only to come up against Didier Drogba. And 4th before that. What would we give for that team now – Shearer, Bellamy, Dyer? Even that overrated plank of wood Jenas was probably better than Diame in his current form.

    What have we done since August 30, 2004? Pardew got us a lucky 5th and that’s about it. Have we even had a cup run? Maybe we should change the saying “when have you seen a Mackem in Malan” to “when have you seen a Magpie in Milan”? The way it is going we should be saying “we will be seeing Magpies in Morcombe and Millwall next year”!

      (Quote)

  14. I don’t know if Stuart knows much about our under 23 team as I am slightly confused over his quote on our under 23 team being beaten by a championship team.
    Yes , our under 23 team lost to Middlesbrough under 23 but they are both in the same league – premier league 2 division 2.
    Several of our under 23 team also play in the under 21 team. The premier league under 21 teams are allowed to play in the English League Trophy along with first teams from the football league. We have won both of our games in that competition , beating Doncaster away 3-1 and Notts Co away 2-0.
    The likes of Sterry , the Longstaff brothers ,Roberts and Sorensen played in those games.
    I would hazard a guess that our first team would have struggled in those two games.
    Suggesting those players mentioned are not ready for the first team is a bit naive really.
    Unfortunately we have a manager who has as much ambition as our owner . The sooner they are both gone the better.

      (Quote)

  15. I know my last post was probably rambling and incoherent but I am so frustrated at the moment about NUFC. Even if Rafa gets 50 million in January who is he going to spend it on? Maybe they will uncover another Dubravka but where will we be in the table?

    After Man U on Jan 2nd we have 17 games left. I am not going to predict every single game between now and then, but my gut says 15 points. That’s based on the way we have been playing and our inability to score.

    We need mark Hughes to be even more Mark Hughesy than normal and for Warnock to continue to not be able to deal with the PL. I am assuming Huddersfield are dead men walking because they are even cr@pper than us and seem to be just happy to have been in the PL for a season.

      (Quote)

  16. Lascelles saying ‘I know it might not be what people want to hear, but the meeting and meal was very positive’ – hells bl00dy bells Ashley has done a right number on this lots hasn’t he?!.
    Rafa call for the fans to turn up and support – like we’d be the problem – and now Lascelles is wording it like we are a bunch of spiteful kids who won’t like that the meeting went positive. If Ashley did what he said we’d all be happy and there would be no need for the meeting!!.

      (Quote)

  17. Sharpy: I agree with Lascelles that we should stick behind the team on matchdays and that negativity can transfer to the pitch. But, just being a bit cynical here (me, never) he is in win/win situation. He gets a 7 figure pay raise but if we are relegated Mr. Nice Guy Ashley isn’t going to want to pay his wages in The Championship so Jamaal gets to join Chelsea or Everton and get an even bigger wedge.

      (Quote)

  18. Longest winless STARTS to any PL season and what happened next. As a reminder NUFC and Huddersfield have gone 10 games so far…

    Sunderland 10, relegated
    Man City 11, relegated
    Blackburn 11, survived
    Reading 11, relegated
    Everton 12, survived
    Derby 13, survived
    Norwich 13, relegated
    Swindon 15, relegated
    QPR 16, relegated

      (Quote)

  19. So, there is hope. We at least have 2 home games coming up. But everybody talking about this “EASY” run, consider this:

    Watford 7th on 19 points
    Bournemouth 6th on 20 points

    I would like people who were saying “it’s ONLY Watford” or “only Bournemouth” to think about that.

    I know I am repeating myself but some fans were saying we had got the hard part out of the way because we had played 5 of last year’s top 6 in the first 8 games. Well, they hadn’t looked at this year’s form.

      (Quote)

  20. Olly: Thanks for writing the article on the Magpie Group protests. On the content of their e-mail:

    1. NUFC is not a democracy, it is a dictatorship.

    2. When have these types of protests ever been successful? All they do is create a bad atmosphere. Even Hicks and Gillette were not forced out by protests at Liverpool, it was down to a technicality. The green and gold scarf wearers at Man U didn’t force out the Glazers. In fact, they are still there.

    3. You may say that John Hall took over at NUFC. WTF, another rich man taking over from rich men. Another dictator. Maybe a benevolent dictator but that depends on how you see his milking the club for dividends and selling out to Ashley. John Hall wants it all ways, savior, benefactor and Geordie. I would say he was as much a selfish opportunist who happened to catch lightning in a bottle but in the end his greed took over and he sold out. Sold out Shepperd, sold out the fans he professed to love. Sold out to Ashley.

      (Quote)

  21. 4. Ashley didn’t even sack Pardew. Showed you how effective those protests were. In fact, his lackeys then installed their own grateful lackey in Carver who almost got us relegated.

    5. I think the Magpie Group are being incredibly naïve. Football has always been run by rich men. It used to be local businessmen but now is Arab States trying to launder their image, Russian Oligarchs, American Hedge Funders and other sundry ne’re do well billionaire opportunists.

      (Quote)

  22. 6. What do the Magpie Group expect to achieve? Do they have a Bat Phone connection to a friendly billionaire? Who do they want to replace Ashley? Seriously, what is their plan? Unless Jeff Bezos steps up what do they intend after Ashley. What, he’s going to walk away. Give the club back to the people and let them run it? They haven’t been taking much notice of Ashley for the last 11 years!!!!

    They say it is a democracy but the only hope is to get another billionaire investor. Trade 1 dictator for another. And they don’t even know who…

    7. This “plan” sounds about as sensible as throwing tennis balls onto the pitch.

      (Quote)

  23. 8. The Magpie Group “plan” is not a plan because they have no solution. A plan should have a beginning and end. Even the Bolsheviks had a plan with a communist state run by the people. Didn’t work out that way and they got Stalin 🙂 Anarchists – blow everything up and start again; see what happens. The Magpie Group want Ashley out. That is their plan. FFS!!!

      (Quote)

  24. 9. So Eric. In your infinite wisdom what do you suggest? I honestly don’t know. It depends on if we stay up. I know the Magpie Group strategy will not work and probably backfire causing even less confidence in/from the players. A self-fulfilling prophecy of relegation and we will still not be rid of Ashley as he is too stubborn to sell at half price. He has got involved again which means he now thinks he can fix things. He is a very successful businessman so maybe he can if he puts his mind to it rather than being an absentee owner.

    10. Discontent breeds more discontent. If fans go to games they will still be unhappy as the trouble stirring escalates. They will get on the players’ backs more than they are now. I fully expect Eeyore sounds anytime the Spanish Donkey comes on. Ever decreasing circles until they all disappear up Steve Wraith’s backside.

      (Quote)

  25. I also find it condescending that Magpie Group say they will “RESPECT” the wishes of fans who do not boycott. I really don’t need a bunch of jumped-up pompous twits telling me what I should do and I certainly don’t need their bloody respect for making up my own mind.

    Your manager who you have a giant flag of is asking for your support (Wor Flags is part of Magpie Group). Why don’t YOU respect that and stop giving me respect platitudes.

    That was my best impression of Angry Frank, the Harry Enfield character! 🙂

      (Quote)

  26. Definitions from the Oxford English Dictionary:

    Platitude – a trite, banal or stale remark. Most often used by the Magpie Group.

    Condescension – an attitude of patronizing superiority most usually seen in traffic wardens, Deputy Head Masters, lower level civil servants and The Magpie Group.

      (Quote)

  27. Bournemouth have amazing pace , their speed will kill us. We can count out getting anything from that game and I do not expect anything from Watford either.
    Dire times, but not unexpected.

      (Quote)

  28. kimtoon:
    Bournemouth have amazing pace , their speed will kill us. We can count out gettinganything from that game and I do not expect anything from Watford either.
    Dire times, but not unexpected.

    Kim – it’s funny you mention those 2 teams. They are the same 2 teams that were used as an example of how far Ashley has took our club back in a conversation I had with a colleague last night.
    They are what you would class as ‘small clubs’. Yet in terms of the way they have been ran, and the interest and investment from their owners and boards has them in such a healthy position. Really in terms of their size (average attendance and financial turn over) we should be out spending them and s far bigger attraction to players than them. I know that’s a view that has got us Geordies a ‘deluded’ tag before – but it’s true. We should be able to afford bigger fees, bigger wages, better players.
    But their scouting and recruitment seems to be head and shoulders above ours!!. They buy and develop players we would never even consider.

      (Quote)

  29. Sharpy, yes mate, spot on really. It’s the lie of the century that we cannot afford to spend more than we have. As you point out, if clubs like Watford and Bournemouth can spend big then we surely should be matching or beating them.

    The ambition and will to is simply not there. He thinks he can hire a world class coach who will keep us up on a shoe string with his tactical nous . I swear Pep, Klopp and jose would struggle under those constraints . That Rafa got us to 10th was nothing short of miraculous and most people in football would agree about that.
    You can’t keep doing it though, last season there were many poor sides so we were on a level footing as it were. This season 3 of them have gone and the rest have significantly strengthend. of the three to come up Wolves are excellent , Fulham look dodgy at the back but can score so have a chance and Cardiff are starting to find their mojo.
    In short we have stood still and will pay the price and Ashley deserves to for his arrogance and stubbornness over Rafas contract issues.
    I honestly don’t care what division toon are in under his ownership, we are only making up the numbers being in the PL and advertising his tat empire.

      (Quote)

  30. Olly: that story about Ashley has a picture of a fan at SJP. I assume it is just a random shot of somebody and not the one who approached Ashley in the restaurant. If this is true, I would be pretty annoyed if I was the fan in the picture and had nothing to do with this situation. Maybe he would like to be associated with a rant against Ashley, but have you asked him about putting his picture in a story where everybody looks bad?

      (Quote)

  31. Eric Sykes:
    Olly: that story about Ashley has a picture of a fan at SJP. I assume it is just a random shot of somebody and not the one who approached Ashley in the restaurant. If this is true, I would be pretty annoyed if I was the fan in the picture and had nothing to do with this situation. Maybe he would like to be associated with a rant against Ashley, but have you asked him about putting his picture in a story where everybody looks bad?

    Fair point mate – I just thought the picture was apt.

      (Quote)

  32. I had to blow off some steam yesterday and I am sure nobody read what I said anyway. You just feel so powerless in this situation. I agree with Kimtoon that it doesn’t look good. Watford seem to be one of our bogey teams along with Man City and Spurs.

    Our only hope is that Rafa does have a tendency to go on winning runs otherwise without a win going into the international break things could get really ugly.

      (Quote)

  33. georgio:
    Anybody expecting a win tomorrow?

    Keeping my fingers crossed more in hope than expectation. Watford and Bournemouth have sort have had our number in the last few years. That, and the good start both have made had me worried about some fans expecting easy games and idiots like Waugh in The Chronic saying we would pull away from relegation. He has sharp changed his tune. But he is paid to offer a supposed “expert” opinion on NUFC but I have a suspicion he is really an intern.

      (Quote)

  34. The Magpie Group/True Faith are supposedly behind the team and especially Rafa. Then they go on a crusade against the express wishes of the man they have a giant flag of. I would really like Ashley gone and to have a team that I like to watch but this sanctimonious, “won’t you think of the children”, self-defeating claptrap is getting on my nerves.

    It has all of the trappings of religious zealots so maybe True Faith is the correct name for their organization.

      (Quote)

  35. I know I am probably in the minority but I am in no way defending Ashley or his PR lackey. I just don’t like to be preached to and it has reached that point now.

      (Quote)

  36. georgio:
    Anybody expecting a win tomorrow?

    Given Watford’s good start and our recent form I would be pleasantly surprised if we win. but I hope we do. Will Rafa change his approach to trying youngsters if we lose. I see Man City played a youngster last night against Fulham who scored both their goals.

      (Quote)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *