What a huge moment this could be in our season.
After 10 bites at the cherry and zero wins before today, we have FINALLY got our first three points of the season, with Ayoze Perez’s second half header enough to beat an in-form Watford side – and take us out of the relegation zone.
We rode our luck in the first half – being VERY lucky to go in at the break level – but we really upped it in the second and battled until the end. It was a win borne of character and commitment, and the fans played their part too.
Perez will make the headlines, but Ki and Schar’s introduction in the second half turned the game on its head. The South Korean showed urgency, always looked forward and immediately got us on the front foot, with the Swiss centre-back coming on and bossing Isaac Success – also showing real confidence and quality as he brought the ball out from the back.
Rondon put in a big shift too and deserves huge credit. He doesn’t look 100% fit, but he did brilliantly to last the full 90 minutes (with us forced into three changes through injury). He bullied their defenders, won plenty in the air and battled from start to finish.
I said a few weeks ago that we had 10 crucial games to turn around our season. Three have now passed, but we’ve got that all important first win of the season.
Here’s the seven games we’re now face between now and Christmas:
- Bournemouth (H)
- Burnley (A)
- West Ham (H)
- Everton (A)
- Wolves (H)
- Huddersfield (A)
- Fulham (H)
Let’s hope we can now kick on and get a real run going between now and the new year.
For once this season, Match of the Day will be a good watch tonight!
We certainly rode our luck. I too was impressed with Ki’s performance. Muto too was doing well until he went off. Shelvey was having a poor game before going off. I thought he was very slow. Think we need two full backs. Yedlin was awful. I hope the win boosts our confidence because we need to do better than we played today. Watford could have been four up at halftime.
Groucho(Quote)
I am sure people mean well but a minute’s silence should be observed as such and clapping should only be done at the end of the minute.
Groucho(Quote)
Something puzzles me with Shelvey. He is one of the best passers of the ball in the PL but he is often wasteful from free kicks. How many goals or opportunities have we had from set pieces? I think the defenders got a couple from corners early on but even that has dried up. Now Ki takes a free kick and we get a goal. It was a really good free kick and would have been hard to play even if Perez didn’t get his head on it. What was striking is how unusual it is for NUFC to have such quality. Big Fat Sam built a career on scoring from free kicks.
I think Shelvey is our most talented player so this surprises me. I know it cannot be from not preparing for set pieces as Rafa would not allow it. Maybe we are just too predictable and other teams have worked us out? Corners quite often don’t get past the 1st man and other teams know if they double up on Lascelles they will probably be OK.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
The PL keep stats on this sort of stuff and a lot of goals are scored from corners which is not surprising since there are so many per game. But direct free kicks only yield one or two goals a season for most teams. They look spectacular when they come off but hardly ever do.
I suppose the crowd would get mad if we didn’t try but in a time when stats rule in football you would think some managers might try something different.
I think you can back this up from anecdotal evidence (and not just Shelvey) because how many direct free kicks strike the wall, sail over the bar or by the post without even troubling the keeper?
It has always puzzled me that the opposition take 5 players out of their team to put in the wall and you don’t use that numerical advantage that will obviously free up your players and instead take a very low percentage option of going direct for goal?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
BTW we were lower mid-table in scoring from setpieces last year. Surprisingly, arsenal were top.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
When was the last time you remember we scored direct from a free kick. I couldn’t think of one so looked up the stats and realized it is not just us, it is everyone, except Messi.
There was a stat at the WC when Ronaldo scored in Portugal’s opening game that it was his first in over 60 attempts. It always puzzled me why they kept on doing it.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I didn’t see the game but every report says we improved after the subs. Normally Rafa makes subs after like 75 minutes so maybe he should consider some tactical subs and not when we are chasing a game?
I have mentioned before that I think Lascelles is a good player but he needs a ball player beside him. He makes mistakes when he is rushed (he turns from John Terry to Mike Williamson). Obviously, the club think a lot of him giving him that bumper new contract but what if Schar and Fernandez are better together? What if Schar and Lascelles are better together and we have to drop Fernandez who has probably been our best player? Questions for Rafa.
Then there is Shelvey who I think is our best player. But he has to have an outlet and the tactics cannot also be just give it to quarterback Jonjo and let him ping it upfield. Or sit back and let Jonjo try to create something. Teams have had a year to look at this and suss it out. And I think they have. Rafa and him have sit sown and work out how to mix it up a bit. It may be as simple as changing Ki for Diame. The tactic of Diame breaking up play and laying it off to Shelvey may not work this year. PL managers are smart and can set up for it after seeing it for a year.
Maybe it will be solved if we have forwards that present a threat and score occasionally? It could be as simple as us offering a threat and not having to sit back, absorb pressure and Shelvey having somebody open to pass to. Maybe he should rein in the Hollywood passes?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric – did you know Mike Williamson is now star CB for Gateshead FC?.
Sharpy17(Quote)
No. I was never one to trash Willo theough. You just had to know what he could and could not do. He was OK when Colo was in his prime because he was the ball player and Mike could just lay it off to him. He could then concentrate on what he was good at: putting in some strong tackles and being an aerial presence. You could almost see the fear in Willo’s eyes if he didn’t have that short pass open and then it would be lump it upfield. Timmy the Hoof had the same issue.
I doubt either would get a PL game now as it has gone all play out from the back and high press. Imagine Willo against Pep’s City, he would have nightmares for weeks before.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Biggest thing I noticed today was this: Watford, yes Watford had a player on their bench who cost more than our record signing! That says everything about why we’re where we are….
The End!
Stuart79(Quote)
Finally on Shelvey and subs. Many of us have said when Jonjo plays well, NUFC play well. But that is a good and a bad thing because when he has an offday, or is carrying an injury, or when we have less than 30% possession, we play like ****.
We were desperate for another creative midfielder and still are. Not as a total replacement for Shelvey but a complement or when his style of play isn’t working.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
We still beat the cockney sparrows though mate ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Your joking?!?!?! I even blanks out c0ckney ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Saw Rafa’s comments about the injuries. Said Lascelles’ was his shoulder and it was done in training. I have seen enough explanations of injuries to know that he will probably not be fit next week, especially since Schar did a good job replacing him.
Remember Rafa has dropped Lascelles before even when he was captain. I think if he feels that Schar and fernandez are a better fit he will play them.
AND… I don’t know what has happened to our marking at corners.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Do you know that was our 1st goal from a set piece all season – corner or free kick. That’s some seriously bad coaching when the average goals from set pieces is more than 30%. I saw a stat from 2009 where it was 41%.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
So our eyes have not been deceiving us. Every single element of our game has been **** whether that has been lack of money, **** players or other Manager’s sussing Rafa and him not adapting – YET. I think he will, they must see the stats. I mean, they have the video labs and the OPTA stats and Rafa takes videos of games home with him.
They have staffs of MIT and Caltech trained professors doing stat analysis in baseball now. It started with Moneyball by Michael Lewis which I read when it came out. Now there are millions of $ spent by each team on it and they even have a name for it – cybermetrics. I am sure there was a book about it as it relates to football.
You can be sure that Fenway Group at Liverpool know it because they tried to hire Billy Bean who was the subject of Moneyball. When they couldn’t get him they hired Theo Epstein, a follower of Beans, who got them a World Series after 100 years. He is now at The Chicago Cubs and got their first World Series in 109 years. This is now how they all do the analysis so even NUFC must know about it?
Rafa must see these stats and make adjustments. Or maybe **** players are just **** players 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Totally surprised by the quality of Ki and Schar. The biggest surprise though is that normally when we make a sub it’s game over. Against Watford all three subs made an amazing difference and we looked a much better team.
Maybe we’ll see a strong bench next week of Shelvey, Muto and Lascelles!
georgio(Quote)
Schar, Fernandez and Ki all shone imo, and Muto looked busy until he went off. Seems Rafa not doing too badly in the discount store after all. If you add in Lejuene and Dubravka it’s a good return given the cash he’s been allocated.
Rondon looked effective defensively too which will please Rafa, once fully fit I expect him to get goals, he was unlucky yesterday not to.
We were awful first half but much improved in the second, it could be that the introduction of Schar and Ki in particular worked because not playing every game meant the fear factor wasn’t there. You could see the nerves in the players who play every week and the fresh faces seemed to ease that a little. Once we scored their confidence visibly rose and we were creating with far more intent and pace.
Lack of confidence seems to slow a team down, everything becomes ponderous and the simplest of things become hard and almost impossible to get right. Fear of error seems to paralyse , you see it every season in struggling teams. We have been getting to that point and I just hope that that very lucky and hard fought win will inspire and help them kick on.
Bournemouth will be a really tough test, they are lightening quick and we may need to be defensive again sadly.
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim, Rafa will get criticised whatever he does by some. Against Bournemouth we need to realise where we are. They, as you say are lightening quick and very good. We will have to be sensible and not start attacking at will. Shame but that’s the situation we find ourselves in.
Stuart79(Quote)
Exactly mate, they are streets ahead in ability and pace right now, we stood still in the summer and it was always gonna come back to bite us on the ****. The positive is as I said the other day our players are giving their all even if the quality isn’t top drawer. It’s also apparent that they are still playing for Rafa which is the most important thing right now. I had worried that there could be an element of managers off at the end of the season syndrome but so far it doesn’t seem like that.
kimtoon(Quote)
Eric I read with interest your comments about free kicks. Why do we have two men standing over the ball for a free kick. Is it to fool the opposition with a left footer and right footer – an inswinger or outswinger? Well it doesn’t seem to work. We would be better served by having an extra man in the box. Yesterday we had Ritchie and Ki over the ball. Give Ritchie his due he fortunately let Ki take it. It was a tremendous free kick with pace and at the right height. Perfect. Perez rightly gets credit for the header but the most credit should go to Ki, which Perez did acknowledge. I think Watford did concentrate on Yedlin yesterday. He does stand off. Another irritating habit he has is taking the ball to the half way line then turning round and passing it back to Lascelles. If Lascelles is fit next week I would give Schar a go at right back.
Groucho(Quote)
I thought defensively we were good yesterday, but a few times we created problems for ourselves with defenders lacking a bit of composure and looking to just clear the lines. I don’t want our defenders taking unnecessary risks with stupid passes, but yesterday they were heading it clear and it was just going straight to a Watford player to fire it back at us – especially in the first half.
I know Ritchie seemed to be carrying a bit of a knock in the first half as well – he was limping and looked to be the one coming off when Muto did. But Yedlin seemed pretty exposed yesterday – he seemed to have Pereya, Delafayou, Holobas and Success all at him at different stages of the game. I don’t think Yedlin had his best game – we all know his strength isn’t his defending, but he seemed quite isolated at times – maybe Watford targeted him a bit.
I’ve also criticised Perez and Kenedy in recent weeks – what I’ve never done is doubt their ability. The criticism has always been their consistency, and either being very good or poor. Yesterday I thought Kenedy turned up. I don’t think he was very good, but he played his part. I thought his decision making offensively was better – picking the pass rather than trying to dribble too much. But he also put the graft in defensively and made a great tackle near the end which would have been the equaliser had he not tracked back.
Perez took his goal really well and made a difference when he came on.
I know players can’t be brilliant week in week out, and I really don’t have unrealistic expectations on players or managers. I believe Kenedy and Perez are 2 of our better players, but that they don’t do it often enough – but I’m happy to give them credit for playing well and playing their big part in our win.
Sharpy17(Quote)
For all we done little business in the summer transfer window, I was really pleased with getting Ki on a free transfer. I said at the time that I thought he was an upgrade of Merino and better than Hayden.
I didn’t know a great deal about Schar, but have been impressed with him so far. I also liked Fernandez – I thought the money would have been better spent on a left back, but maybe there wasn’t one available at the time – and to be fair, Fernandez has been really solid coming in.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Defensively we’re the best done there. I don’t think we’ve lost a match by more than one goal have we? If only we had a striker capable of scoring we’d be a top 10 side easy.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart – your optimism knows no bounds
georgio(Quote)
shock result for me will hope for another next week,three injurys is not good Richie was carrying a injury as well for me,nice to see Kenedy play better great block in defence late on.
S/hamton getting thumped here,sack for manager in the morning always was a **** imo
icedog(Quote)
We will probably see the team that finished the game against Watford start against Bournemouth. There hasn’t been much information about injuries but the international break gives a 3 week recovery time, if needed.
There seem to be some grumblings about Shelvey. I still think he is our best player but has no outlet and teams now know that Diame breaks up the play and then gives the ball to Shelvey who is expected to do something with it. It may be as simple as him establishing a rapport with one of new signings. He had it with Gayle who was his outlet ball. Maybe Dwight didn’t score as many as was hoped but at least every attempted pass didn’t just come straight back to us. And if you know Diame is just going to pass to Jonjo then double up on Shelvey!
And for God’s sake mix it up on the direct free kicks. Has Shelvey ever scored one for us? It is still a puzzle to me that so many sail over the bar, but as I said above hardly any direct free kicks result in goals. This shouldn’t really come as a surprise as there aren’t many 25 yard screamer goals and they don’t have a 5 man wall to contend with.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Just saw on a news scroll that the Spice Girls are reuniting for a tour. I have no idea if anyone else has made this joke but – will they now be the Spice Grans?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
😆 😆 😆
icedog(Quote)
Ashley’s 11 years have brought 2 relegations and possibly another this year, but also 2 immediate promotions. He has been totally inconsistent in his ownership but has occasionally got involved and did what the fans wanted – sacked Fat Sam, hired Shearer, Keegan and Rafa. All popular moves. Of course, this is balanced by him surrounding himself with idiots like Wise, Jimenez, Lliambas and Kinnear. Then there were in-betweeners like Carr and Charnley who made mistakes but were not totally out for themselves like the aforementioned clown school.
But does he deserve a boycott? Anybody who has seen anything I say on here knows I do not agree with the SJP protests and a walkout is even more cutting off your nose to spite your face. True Faith reckon they can get 25,000 to join in. This would be against the express wishes of Rafa.
I bring this up because I keep seeing people say if Bournemouth, Leicester and Watford can spend why aren’t we? Why can’t we be more like them? BUT ISN’T THIS SOME SORT OF SUCCESS BIAS? Where we are only comparing ourselves to teams that have been successful in this strategy and ignoring the ones that spent big and failed?
The poster boys for this would be QPR, Portsmouth and Leeds. They nearly went out of business. There were good intentions on all sides and the fans went along with it but it still went T!ts up and they were cast into the wilderness. Then of course there are the dirty rotten scum down the road.
Should we just be looking at the successes of Bournemouth and Watford when discussing Fatman’s ownership or should we consider the ones I just mentioned along with Villa, Wigan, Blackburn and many others.
Even poster children for well run clubs are not doing that well at the moment – Southampton, Swans and Stoke.
Are we just looking at the few small clubs that we say we should be better than and ignoring the bigger clubs that have totally failed and have been zombies for years. Even Fulham and Wolves were like that for years before new ownership came in and try to buy success. They can’t all be top 6 and that seems pretty much a closed shop at the moment with maybe 1 place up for grabs each year.
I am not really defending Ashley, just asking if we are making true comparisons.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I definitely see us finishing above the 3 currently below us now, but also Saints and Burnley as well – there would need to be some real strengthening in Jan to get higher than that – but if not, that puts us 15th – which I would see as a real achievement again under the circumstances.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Seeing a bit of criticism of a few players. Here’s what I think:
Shelvey: can’t play in a 2 banks of 4 defensive system without a whippet that he can pass to. Diame’s form hasn’t helped.
Lascelles: is the strongman and needs a ballplayer next to him to bring out his best qualities. This is not unusual for centre backs where the 2 complement each other and similar players get in each others way.
Perez: is not the “main man” and has been asked to do a lot defensively. Not helped that he has been off form but is another who needs a quick partner to open up space. Will do better when either of Rondon or Muto are fit. Even if it is as a sub.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I thought Kenedy was a lot better yesterday too, especially his points saving tackle at the end. A few weeks ago that would’ve been a pen to Watford and win gone…
Dubai Toon(Quote)
I still think we will need a striker to keep us up. We just don’t score enough goals.
Stuart79(Quote)
I watched Palace against Chelsea and now think they will be in the relegation mix. They don’t have a striker either and Chelsea did to them what they did to us. Under Sarri, Chelsea are a very good team.
Then there is Southampton. Hughes actually tried to take it to City at times but they didn’t really trouble City that much and they paid with 6 goals conceded. The longer they keep Hughes, the better it is for us.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
And Burnley’s defence is falling apart. So we can add them to the mix. I had really thought it would come down to 5 teams but now I think 7:
Us
Huddersfield
Cardiff
Burnley
Fulham
Southampton
Palace
I really can’t see any of these teams taking many, if any, points from the top 6 so it will come down to a scramble amongst themselves. I even think they are all overmatched against Everton, Leicester and Bournemouth so those games will also be a mighty struggle.
Looking at it glass half full after a win, there are just so many terrible teams without a goalscorer that we could pull it off with some January investment. 35 points will probably be enough for safety.
3 unbeaten teams after 11 games. That has only happened once before. Funny thing is that it doesn’t include Man U who have enough in that squad to take any bottom half team apart if Mourinho could get his act together.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Getting back to Ashley being a parasite. We really have only been good for a 10 year period in the last 50 years. There must be a few on here that remember that the Leazes stood demolished for years because there was no money? When I went in the 70’s we were always midtable and lucky to get a couple of players in the summer. We never got anybody we had ever heard of.
Then of course, if we produced anybody good they were picked off by the big teams, and even Spurs. McDonald, Alan Kennedy, Beardsley, Waddle. And how many games did Gazza play for us?
A lot of the Magpie Group remember those times but I also think they forget and may be a bit delusional as to what our history actually is.
When was the last time we won the league?
We are supposedly a Cup side but last won the FA Cup in 1955. 63 YEARS AGO.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Olly: if I wrote a column in defense of Ashley would you have the balls to put it up? In the international break when everything is quiet?
Of course, I think he has made some crazy decisions and would say so, the last one being not giving Rafa the Mitro money. But it is all not as black and white at the Magpie Group paint it.
It is like they have been watching old Tarzan movies:
Rafa Good
Ashley Bad.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
old spice
kimtoon(Quote)
Ice, don’t know what happened to the quote there like, was in reply to your spice girls post 🙄
kimtoon(Quote)
And last relegation cannot be completely blamed on Ashley. He gave charge of the club to Carr and Charnley and we had the players to stay up especially after we added Andros and Jonjo in January. They made the fatal mistake of hiring Schteve and waiting too long to sack him. I even think Rafa should probably have kept us up given the squad he inherited. And when we were relegated the first time it was on the last day under Shearer.
Each time we gained immediate promotion as Champions. I even think Hughton’s team was a points record at the time.
Is Ashley the big bad wolf that he is always painted on every blog out there?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I know it is pure heresy not to see Ashley in black and white terms.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Is Ashley the big bad wolf that he is always painted on every blog out there?
Well, yes Eric .
kimtoon(Quote)
Eric – give your head a shake son.
There is hope when you consider the bad (consistently) form of Cardiff, Huddersfield, Fulham, Southampton, Palace and even Burnley. It’ll possibly be a very low points total to stay up. Win on Saturday and things will be looking up indeed.
georgio(Quote)
Have to agree like. Actions speak louder than words, and his actions haven’t been great like.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Right , I’m on here for a moan.
After 8 weeks home ill including a 9 day stint in hospital and passing it on to me resulting in acute bronchitis . My lad finally went back to day centre last Monday, only to then catch another awful cold which I now have 👿 just when we were both on the mend .
Why can’t the relatives of these fellow day care attendees just keep them home until symptom free ffs. Me and one or two others are the only mugs doing it.
Thank god the Toon won or I ‘d be on the edge proper.
kimtoon(Quote)
Was disappointed in Lascelles calling Ashley a ‘nice guy ‘ . Did he have that written into his new contract like.
Now go out there son and try to quell the protest and stop the rabble causing us problems.
Wouldn’t even talk to the press when they weren’t getting their bonuses, not such a nice guy then i’ll bet .
All the same talk of booing the lad is uncalled for as always gives his best , but hells bells like, not the smartest thing to utter given the depth of feeling towards fatty.
kimtoon(Quote)
oh sh*t loads of luck pity its all bad,got to change,please
icedog(Quote)
Kim – yeah some people are really inconsiderate, and stupid sometimes. My lad got scarlet fever a few months back coz a parent sent their child into school knowing they were carrying it – all because they put their job over staying at home and caring for their child. Some people are just ar$ehole$
Sharpy17(Quote)
Kim – I think Lascelles was caught off guard a little bit – what he should have said is ‘it’s non of your business – what was said in the meeting will remain in house’. I think it’s unfair for the press to ask the players about the owner anyway.
I think Lascelles was speaking as he found on that particular evening – though the likes of Shola has also said he was a decent bloke as well. Maybe he is ok to chat to, but an absolute $hithou$e to work for and with. I also think Lascelles had to be quite guarded knowing his new contract was drying in the background. Say anything out of line and that contract gets ripped up – mind you, Lascelles doesn’t strike me as that kind of person – and let’s be honest, if we did that he’d have no problem finding a new club.
Maybe his positive speech did convince them that he’s going to get behind us now – maybe he will. But I will remain ever doubtful until I see evidence of it.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy, scarlet fever is nasty mate I had it in my 30’s and it knocked me for six I can tell you. Can’t believe a child was sent in with that.
Just spoke with the lass who comes in 2 hours a night to help me with lewis and she works part time in a nursery. She said they sent home 10 kids today who were vomiting and 3 members of staff, it all started last week with just one child sent in while ill ! my lady was off with it 3 nights last week and 3 of her colleagues at work too and it’s still spreading.
She said the parents know full well they are unwell but want to have a break or go to work .
It’s infuriating and totally selfish .
kimtoon(Quote)
Ice , I have cancelled my 4 th lot of respite care in a row too cause he’s ill. I only get 3 nights every 6 weeks. This one was rearranged ( very rare as once lost that’s it normally ) so I’m really gutted as had made plans. 👿 Hopefully I can get my last break of the year in December in.
feeling sorry for myself today.
kimtoon(Quote)
georgio: starving Rafa of money when everyone else was throwing it around makes no sense but I was thinking to myself whether I could make a case for Ashley. Hiring clowns and incompetents is not in itself malicious but the buck does stop with him. I was just saying our history has not been so gloried that Ashley even stands out as that bad of an owner (Shepperd sacked Robson after 4 games when we had finished 5th the year before).
I was also thinking about stirring up some trouble during the international break when at least it might generate some traffic 🙂 And I am totally against this Wolves boycott and maybe a counterpoint should be made to the Magpie Group?
I still want him gone and think it is about 50/50 we will be relegated for a 3rd time in 11 years which is ridiculous for someone of his resources and what he has at stake at NUFC.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric, they need to concentrate on his shops imo, make any association with Toon a negative rather than a cash cow.
kimtoon(Quote)
Eric. You’ll be glad to hear of Rooney’s call up for England against the US
Groucho(Quote)
got to fit a new toilet seat but not sure my sinuses and head will let me bend over long enough to do it. 🙁
kimtoon(Quote)
Beckham was offered the same thing and turned it down. I don’t hate Wayne and thought he was a very good player until he hit about 28. He is having a resurgence in a low quality league and has found his level.
I am not sure what this says about the value of international friendlies, especially when there isn’t a major tournament next year. If I was Pep I would be having Raheem Sterling get a mystery injury about the time of the USA game!
All of his pundit pals will be out in force making this game a circus. But really, so what. It is pretty much a non-event anyway and maybe this will add a bit of interest. I am sure there will be a discussion both ways but Rooney has so many suck up pals and a PR machine behind him that I expect he will win out.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Lot’s moaning about it, but I don’t see the problem with it to be honest. It’s a friendly one off call up against the US where he now plays and the proceeds go to his children’s charity .
kimtoon(Quote)
Olly has an article up on overreaction on twitter to Lascelles’ comments. Biggest overreaction was from True Faith despite their writer’s flowery intro. They also have a ridiculous defense of the Wolves boycott on their website making comparisons to what happened in Communist Hungary in 1956 and then saying they weren’t equivalent or even a comparison (you can’t have it both ways lads, it is or it isn’t). I won’t bother putting a link to that one, you can check it out on their website:
http://www.true-faith.co.uk/no-one-gives-a-fck/
Eric Sykes(Quote)
In a few years there will be arguments made that Rooney is England’s greatest ever player because of his longevity and being top goal scorer. There isn’t much competition in the last 50 years apart from the two Bobbys. My beef was always about his media pals saying he was world class when he clearly was past it and Mr. Roy letting him run the team. I didn’t even come on this site back when Rooney was good, about 7 years ago!
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Olly hasn’t responded to my offer to write an article in defense of Mike Ashley. Maybe he didn’t see it? It might stir debate because all of the noise is on one side at the moment. Don’t get me wrong, I think Ashley has been a terrible owner and made many mistakes, but it is not as black and white as some are making out.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Keegan was right about never winning anything with Ashley in charge. But Fat Mike also didn’t quite realise the self serving clowns he was hiring. Him and Wise are suing Jiminez for a property deal gone bad and Wise’s best man is suing him for getting him into the same deal. Again, Keegan was right. Ashley didn’t know anything about football but put his trust in people he thought did and turned out to be chancers.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Could do with Mitro turning into the striker some think he is on here and score a goal.
Stuart79(Quote)
Watching Huddersfield v Fulham and it’s defo a Championship fixture this one.
Fulham may have spent big in the summer, but he hasn’t got these players organised at all here. It’s madness – he’s got a player in Mitrovic who already has 5 PL goals, yet the team is just not set up to play to his strengths at all – poor ****** hasn’t had a kick so far.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Stu – to be fair to him Fulham are playing absolutely sh1te and haven’t got the ball into him at all yet.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Fulham have made 2 crosses in 70mins compared to Huddersfield’s 18. When you have a Mitrovic waiting in the box, you get the ball wide and cross it in for him – not play it through the middle like.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Bit like it would be playing for us then, Sharpy…
Stuart79(Quote)
Fulham’s manager will be getting the sack soon. It will be a joke too but that’s football.
Stuart79(Quote)
Can’t say I’ve been impressed with Tom Cairney either – he’s done nowt.
I like Billing, Mooy and Pritchard for Huddersfield though.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Why would it be a joke Stu – they have conceded 29 goals in 11 games (which is a record I think) and are bottom of the league. The club spent £100m in the summer for him and his team is totally disorganised and so defensively vulnerable.
The other option is they continue to give him time – but then we done that with McClaren having given him money to spend and look how that turned out?!.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Was an interesting game really for us. Can’t really go on 1 game but it backs up what I have seen already and shows Fulham will be in the relegation mix and Huddersfield will too because they haven’t got a striker. I think that was 5 goals in 11 games.
I watched a few games this weekend. Southampton are Championship quality, even though it was City you could still tell. Palace haven’t got a striker and rely on Andros who has 1 goal and Zaha who tries to take on the whole team because they don’t have a striker. I thought their players were better than ours, but not any more. Probably on par.
Only saw the highlights of Burnley but their defense is now a mess. They’re in it as well as I have seen a couple of their other game and again this backed it up.
We have a chance, not because we are good, but because of the rest of the dross. I am sure Rafa was thinking that when he said we needed 3 teams to be worse than us although he shouldn’t have said it out loud.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
That’s why they supposedly bought Mitro. Because they played this expansive football with Cairney pulling the strings and them banging it in from the wings. It might be too early, a step too far for young Sassegnon who they were relying on. A lot to put on a 17 year old kid.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
We don’t get MNF over here but was Neville banging on about Pep cheating again? There’s been questions about that before and I mentioned it on here about 6 weeks ago. They push so high up the pitch with so many players that if they lose the ball and don’t immediately get it back they are left vulnerable. So they do a strategic foul so they can reorganize. All of Peps teams have done it but it doesn’t show up in the fouls per game stats because they have so much possession.
Not surprised it is the Neviller that is on his high horse about it though as they are making “The Greatest Football Club in the World” look ordinary.
Let’s see what the Manchester derby looks like this weekend.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Stuart and others often make the point that in order to stand still in the PL you have to progress, especially as regards the playing staff. So I did a quick analysis of what happened last year in exactly the same fixtures compared to this year. We have only played 1 promoted team, Cardiff who finish second in the Championship so I subbed Stoke who were 2nd bottom in the PL.
This Year: 6 points, 7 goals for, 14 goals against
Last Year: 12 points, 10 goals for, 22 against
It is interesting that we let in a lot more goals against these teams but got double the points.
It only took me 10 minutes so if anybody wants to check my numbers, they can.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
There’s an idea for an article for you Olly. You don’t want to end up like Uncle Ed and have a whole blog of rewritten Chronicle stories 🙂
I don’t know what it means but for those who say our points, position etc is down to strength of schedule it might be food for thought.
Eric Sykes(Quote)