Burnley 1-0 Newcastle: Toothless Toon miss big guns badly in terrible game at Turf Moor

Well how typically Newcastle United. Two steps forward and one step back. And sadly not even a half decent performance, nor a whimper of quality to go with it.

This was always going to be a really poor game of football, I mean come on, Sean Dyche vs Steve Bruce. Yet despite injuries being against us, but form actually being on our side, that was atrocious. An absolute crash down to earth after 7 points from the previous 9, and nothing to even write home about.

I don’t want to be too critical given Bruce and the boys have done brilliantly of late, but zero shots on target against a side who’ve shipped 11 goals in their last 3 isn’t good enough – whether your key players are missing or not.

On the subject of key men, we missed Shelvey’s quality, Almiron’s energy and Saint-Maximin’s spark, with those that replaced them doing little to impress.

Sean Longstaff looked sluggish off the ball and sloppy on it, and in truth looks an absolute shadow of the player who had us speculating about how Manchester United could sling their hook for £50m. Atsu was anonymous for most and wasteful for the rest. That moment in the first half when he decided not to shoot and turn back on himself…. well you tell me?

Joelinton actually looked much better playing off the left, and nearly had a wonderful assist that would have been all down to his hard work but sadly Dwight Gayle missed a sitter deep into the game:

Now, this will be an unpopular opinion, but Andy Carroll needs to react a lot better to not getting decisions or everything his own way. We all know how destructive he can be when things are going well but when they aren’t, his standard throwing of the arms up in the air is petulant and painful to watch.

Better teams than us lose at Burnley but we’re capable, and deserving of so much more than that performance.

Time to dust ourselves off and get ready for Palace.

HTL.

(Fancy writing for us? Get in touch at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)

77 thoughts on “Burnley 1-0 Newcastle: Toothless Toon miss big guns badly in terrible game at Turf Moor

  1. Not getting into politics again, but that seems like it was a Jeremy Corbyn of a performance. Had considered going to the bar to watch it but I am glad I didn’t given the reports and comments.

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  2. You know when people used to make fun of girls for not understanding the offside rule… I am not sure if I understand it anymore. There’s something now about phases of play and interfering with play and being in the goalies line of sight. I just watched Bournemouth score and one of their players was clearly offside but was deemed not to be involved in the play.

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  3. There’s a ton of empty seats at St Mary’s. Are they making a statement to Sports Direct as well?

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  4. I said it on the last article and I’ll say it again. If we don’t venture into the transfer market in January to improve our forwards, then I see us getting dragged into a relegation battle – it’s frightening to watch!!.

    Does he need a new striking coach, coz all of our forwards seem unable to finish!!.

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  5. Wish we had bought a striker instead of Joelinton.
    If Kim is right and Gayle is being sold in the January window I hope we can spend the money on a speedy CF who can score.
    Sharpy – instead of getting a new striking coach we should sit our forwards in a room to watch videos of Suarez all day.

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  6. Olly gave Sean Longstaff a rating of 3. We really have to ask if he is completely over his injury or was he overhyped in the first place? From what I have seen this season he is not playing very well and Shelvey or the Toothy Longstaff should start ahead of him. A couple of matches in the reserves might help but that wont happen unless Jonjo is fully fit.

    I still think we are short in centre mid as neither Longstaff has played enough PL games to prove themselves.

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  7. Eric the other question you could ask is – if Man Utd come sniffing again and are ready to pay £40-50m as suggested in the summer – do we sell to raise funds to fix the front line. If Gayle is sold for £15m, that would be a canny pot to spend on replacing them both.

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  8. I think we sometimes underestimate how an injury can affect a player like Longstaff the Taller and how long it might take them to recover. We have many examples at our club. Shearer never regained the pace he once had. Andy Carroll never had a lot of pace to begin with but is as slow as a cart horse plodging through treacle now. And there is Michael Owen.

    I also think Lejeune lost a step after his 1st surgery. Who knows what he will be like when he comes back this time.

    At other clubs there is Jack Wilshere.

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  9. Actually, hopefully Man U will buy Declan Rice for 80 million – the most overrated player in the history of football.

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  10. That was the most unpleasant game i’ve ever watched. And we were dreadful. I’ll have forgotten it by lunch time!

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  11. Eric Sykes:
    Sharpy: I doubt Man U will be back for Longstaff until he gets back to his previous form.

    Eric – I don’t know like – and he still hasn’t signed a new contract yet has he?. If they offered £35m plus for him I’d take that. If we got a £15m plus offer for Gayle I’d take that too.

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  12. We were absolutely appalling against a poor Burnley team.
    We really missed Almiron and St maximin.
    Lots of games coming up over Xmas and New Year so it is a really bad time to have players missing. Almiron might get back after missing a couple of them but I doubt that we will see St Maximin before February.
    We really do need to be ready to strengthen the squad early in the January window.

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  13. Interesting that little Chrissy Waugh got his hands on the Joelinton scouting report and said he was signed as a wide left forward. It doesn’t make a lot of sense when we already had Almiron to play there and brought in St Max who also plays there. Smacks of buying players because you like them and not to fit the team.

    Unlike Olly, I am not really that bothered about us having too many options out wide and trying to fit them in. St Max seems injury prone and Joelinton is our player now, for good or bad, so play the lad in the position that suits him.

    There are plenty of players who have scored from outwide. Henry back in the day and Sterling and Salah now.

    Bruce was saying they were trying to teach Joelinton in training how to play with his back to goal. Probably out of necessity as Gayle and Carroll were injured and we sit so deep we needed an outlet in Brucie’s opinion. We have seen though that he is not Rondon so play him where he can benefit the team.

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  14. I also think Almiron has figured out how to play on the right. The only problem has been him snatching at his chances but he has also been a bit unlucky. I doubt he will ever be prolific in the PL but should probably get 5 or 6. I think he was getting about 10 at Atlanta but they have much worse defenders and goalies.

    It does leave us with a problem though with all of our forwards not being out and out goalscorers. I still think Gayle COULD bag a few but his record in the PL has been about 6 a season. Carroll has lost of any pace he had so I don’t see him bagging many.

    So, we’ve got forwards who could all get about 5 or 6 a season and that is a problem. A problem of Nicksen’s making. We should have bought St Max OR Joelinton but not both. It is done now though and getting Andy Carroll was never going to fix it.

    I doubt the Fat Man will let them spunk another 40 million in January so Brucie has to find a way around it that is not lump it up to Big Andy. Maybe he should watch a few Liverpool or Man City games as they don’t play with the big man up front system.

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  15. Whatever Nicksen’s scouting report said I think it was always NUFCs intention to convert Joelinton to a centre forward. They gave him the number 9 shirt and were prepared to sell Gayle. And they were only taking a flier on Carroll thinking he would be an option and a bit part player.

    They should do the lad and the team a favour and play him in his natural position. Maybe work on the hold up play next pre-season? The problem that I see is that at 40 million he is pretty much undroppable for any extended period. I don’t think that would go down well with a certain Fat shopkeeper in Oxfordshire.

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  16. Olly also named Sean Longstaff as one of the biggest disappointments this year. I don’t think he has fully recovered from his knee injury. I could be wrong but he did not have surgery. We have seen this before in our recent club history. Gayle, Shelvey and Ritchie. They eventually send them to a specialist, usually in Barcelona.

    Jonjo said he played through his injury but was not right. I don’t think Longstaff is right either. Or Man U could have turned his head but he wont get an offer from them playing like he is (as I have said before).

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  17. I think Longstaff’s injury was a torn cruciate ligament. I am almost certain he did not have surgery. I know they have Drs at NUFC but I think he might have rushed back. Maybe it is in his head as well? He just doesn’t look the same player and I would play his brother ahead of him if Jonjo is not fit.

    I had a herniated disc in my back and it is still not totally right 15 years later. These things do not always fix themselves, especially if you are putting pressure on the injury as Longstaff is now.

    Whenever I see a player injured and The Chronic report an estimated time he will be out I just double it. I am right about 80% of the time and the other 20% they get reinjured 🙂

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  18. Palace have been absolutely **** in the 1st half. They have even more injuries than us. If we can’t beat this rabble on the weekend then we will have an unhappy Christmas. Brighton are doing what they did to us and playing in pretty patterns but not much on the end of it.

    Sunderland are now 12th in League 1.

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  19. Think about that – 12th in the 3rd Division. The stick they handed out to us when we got relegated!!!!

    I am pretty surprised that NUFC are not laughing a lot louder at the state of the Mackems because the unwashed are so quick to get on our case if anything goes wrong.

    I have actually never been to Sunderland except to a pantomime when I was a kid. I have also only ever met 3 Mackems in my life. The last one was the Manager of a hotel in Seahouses who stiffed me out of 100 quid. He said he would give me a refund on an extra night and then didn’t.

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  20. We’re currently blagging the whole thing. There can’t be any other teams who’s attack is so toothless that isn’t in the bottom three. We’ve been lucky no doubt. We need a striker. Simple as that.

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  21. I watched the Palace v Brighton game last night and Maupay bagged another – I was wanting him with the Perez money. He got 7 so far this season and was around £15m from Brentford.

    I hope you go and get Bowen from Hull – he will help. But it’s a proper CF we need.

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  22. So it looks like Everton are getting Ancelotti and Arsenal are getting Arteta … gotta be a bit miffed off if you’re a gooner there like ?

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  23. georgio:
    Finding a proper CF/striker in January is nigh on impossible. Who would want to sell in Jan?

    Georgio – I know mate. Our best option may be a loan deal til the summer. With the Euro Championship in the summer, there may be players worrying about a lack of game time with their clubs and worried about missing out for their Countries – someone like Giroud at Chelsea immediately springs to mind.

    A player like that would be motivated – albeit for selfish reason, but nevertheless motivated and would hopefully see us through til the summer.

    Then, when Fulham don’t get promoted, we can go bring Mitrovic back.

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  24. Sharpy: we have a history of bring in loan strikers or free agents in Jan and not playing them. They either arrive injured or are useless.

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  25. Palace look to be our easiest game of the festive season. Do we risk Shelvey and Almiron because it is our best chance of points or do we save them because we may win anyway. Probably on the bench if either train.

    After such a lackluster performance at Burnley it might not be the best idea to play an unchanged team. I think bruce will stick with the 3 centre halfs but faces a couple more issues:

    Can Andy Carrol really play 90 minutes in consecutive games? And, does Sean Longstaff deserve to keep his place after being sent off and being our worst player against Burnley? I would put in Matty and show Sean he has to fight for his place. I would also play Gayle because I do not trust Andy’s fitness.

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  26. Eric Sykes:
    We got Doumba, Slimani and Kuqi in January and they hardly played. We did buy Cisse though.

    Eric – we also loaned Remy, Dubravka and Kennedy in January (the latter was decent in that half season)

    I would prefer to buy of course, but it’s whats available really.

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  27. Sharpy: was thinking of the recent dud strikers. Kenedy was the only success.

    There’s probably some contract situation they are looking at as I doubt Ashley will want to pay full whack after Joelinton. I haven’t given up on Joe though because I want to see him in his accustomed position and the fact that some players take a while to settle -Son, Firmino etc. Of course some never do – Shevchenko, Slimani, Nigel De Jong.

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  28. Hope this doesn’t come back to bite me but I watched the whole Palace game and they were effectively playing with 10 men. Benteke offers nothing except a few stray elbows.

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  29. I don’t really want to get into a big racism in football debate but those monkey pictures at Serie A headquarters are mental. I just cannot believe why they have not taken them down yet (they will). They were stupid enough to commission them in the first place but then to continue the error.

    Donate them to a museum or better still burn them as they are **** anyway. I have seen better at a GCSE art exhibit.

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  30. Maybe the “artist” looked at what Banksy’s are going for and thought “I’ll have some of that”.

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  31. Eric – had I not seen that ‘artwork’ I’m not sure I would have believed it. I mean, how could they so stupid???.
    Our league may have the odd few idiots shouting out insults – but that took it to a new level!!.

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  32. I’ve just been watching SSN about this artwork and the artist has apologised and said the aim was to depict that we all evolved from apes. Okay, I get that – but surely the use of monkeys as a racist insult to black people would have been more obvious than the artists message.
    Knowing this, I don’t blame the artist but the clown who put them up wants firing

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  33. What a strange place we are in now as a world. Why are apes/monkeys still so synonymous with racism? Haven’t we moved on from this nonsense? People see offence in almost anything these days, link almost everything to something offensive. For me, that says more about the offended.

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  34. Stuart: I was talking about the total lack of awareness of the Italian FA that these paintings might cause offense. I know there is political correctness gone mad in a lot of the world, but not in this case.

    And there is a problem in Italy with the Ultras with far fight views so I think it is definitely an issue there and everyone concerned with this fiasco should have known better.

    It even made the news feed on Microsoft here in The States.

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  35. Anyway, Shelvey gave an interview and he seems hopeful of playing on Saturday. He wanted to play against Burnley but the medics held him back.

    It is a calf strain. Glad it had no link to that thigh problem that went on for months.

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  36. Stuart79:
    What a strange place we are in now as a world. Why are apes/monkeys still so synonymous with racism? Haven’t we moved on from this nonsense? People see offence in almost anything these days, link almost everything to something offensive. For me, that says more about the offended.

    Stu – I don’t understand what you mean by this?

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  37. Sharpy17: Stu – I don’t understand what you mean by this?

    I mean, why are we still living in a world where monkeys/apes are still linked to people who are black. When I see a monkey or ape I don’t immediately link them to black people. I actually still look on in amazement at how similar to us they are.

    I would rather live in a world where we can actually mention evolution and where we came from in any circumstance without it becoming a racial issue. I think they said the point they were trying to make was that everyone is the same – we all came from the same place. We all evolved from apes – that’s a fact. I am sad that the fact racists compare black people to apes means that things like this are actually not seen in context. By the way, it was clumsy, no doubt, but I get what they meant – or at least what I hope they meant.

    Actually I am not bothered at all that I evolved from an ape. Although it has to be said some people in thew world don’t seem to have evolved as much as others – mentally that is!

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  38. I reckon Shelvey will be OK but we will not risk Almiron and save him for Man U or Everton. This is the 2nd hamstring injury he has had at NUFC so we should be careful. We would also be mad to start Carroll in 2 consecutive games so I would play Gayle. And even though Atsu was anonymous at Burnley he has had some decent games this season. My team would be:

    Dubravka

    Manquillo Schar Fernandez Dummett Willems

    Hayden Shelvey

    Atsu Gayle Joelinton

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  39. Stuart79: I mean, why are we still living in a world where monkeys/apes are still linked to people who are black. When I see a monkey or ape I don’t immediately link them to black people. I actually still look on in amazement at how similar to us they are.

    I would rather live in a world where we can actually mention evolution and where we came from in any circumstance without it becoming a racial issue. I think they said the point they were trying to make was that everyone is the same – we all came from the same place. We all evolved from apes – that’s a fact. I am sad that the fact racists compare black people to apes means that things like this are actually not seen in context. By the way, it was clumsy, no doubt, but I get what they meant – or at least what I hope they meant.

    Actually I am not bothered at all that I evolved from an ape. Although it has to be said some people in thew world don’t seem to have evolved as much as others – mentally that is!

    Stu – thanks mate. I wholeheartedly agree with you, and now the artists message has been explained I have no issue with it – it’s brave and may even have been deliberate to claim the ape/monkey back from the racists. The problem being the campaign wasn’t explained or marketed very well – and as a result, as soon as people saw it they took the default position of ‘its racist’ – me included – and I accept that was probably wrong – it was wrong.

    But you are right. We live in a time where racism not only exists, but takes centre stage – and whilst it does, society has to remain very careful with its words and actions – and it has to be seen to be trying to address the problem – but that tends to be in the form of judgement over questioning or understanding.

    It is sad that we find ourselves in such a position. I raise my son to think there are only 2 types of people – nice people and not so nice people. They come in various forms – get to know the nice ones, avoid the not so nice ones ??‍♂️

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  40. My only problem would be Atsu tracking back on Zaha. You really have to double up on Wilf. Bournemouth had 3 men on him whenever he got near the box. Of course, you can afford to do that if Benteke is the main striker 🙂

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  41. I think you are wrong Sharpy. Whatever the artist said and whatever point he was trying to make, it was still rank stupidity to put those pictures up in a press conference about racism. It is about perception as much as anything else. They are trying to clamp down on the monkey chants, throwing bananas and the like. Having monkeys as a backdrop, whatever the context, can only be a bad thing. This is the world we live in, especially with the Italian Ultras and some of them do still see black folks as inferior and akin to Monkeys. Even if they play for their team.

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  42. I am going back and forth on Atsu. Just not sure if he has the defensive capabilities to deal with Zaha. The stats show that when Zaha is out, Palace don’t win. Brucie should be working on a plan to play our game, get on the front foot as he likes to say, and also neutralize Zaha.

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  43. Eric Sykes:
    I think you are wrong Sharpy. Whatever the artist said and whatever point he was trying to make, it was still rank stupidity to put those pictures up in a press conference about racism. It is about perception as much as anything else. They are trying to clamp down on the monkey chants, throwing bananas and the like. Having monkeys as a backdrop, whatever the context, can only be a bad thing. This is the world we live in, especially with the Italian Ultras and some of them do still see black folks as inferior and akin to Monkeys. Even if they play for their team.

    Eric – Maybe it’s time to try and change perceptions then. By making things taboo, we aren’t addressing the problem.
    If you say ‘you can’t say that’, you know that becomes the very thing that they say. But as Stu rightly points out (and hopefully what the artist was trying to say) there is a hugely naive irony with the ape abuse. Nothing is fixed overnight, but it’s right to consider and try whatever means have an impact.

    The reaction in Italy now just encourages the ultras to keep on with the monkey chants don’t you think?.

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  44. Eric – I think the biggest mistake was that it was not properly explain before being unveiled.

    But I think it’s a real shame that the backlash has been so great. It overshadows the fact that the Italian FA are trying to tackle racism. It’s a real problem in Italy, and it’s good that they are trying to address it – but this backlash may leave them thinking – sod it, we’re damned if we don’t and now damned if we do.

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  45. It’s optics Sharpy. People see the pictures and that’s what they remember. They don;t remember the artist’s explanation either before or after the fact. They SEE the Italian FA taking about racism with 3 giant monkeys as the backdrop.

    I did see that they are looking at facial recognition on the match crowd footage and also audio surveillance.

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  46. Eric Sykes:
    It’s optics Sharpy. People see the pictures and that’s what they remember. They don;t remember the artist’s explanation either before or after the fact. They SEE the Italian FA taking about racism with 3 giant monkeys as the backdrop.

    I did see that they are looking at facial recognition on the match crowd footage and also audio surveillance.

    Eric – exactly, and visual aids can have a greater impact if marketed correctly – they got that bit badly wrong.

    I think all Stewards and staff around the grounds should have body warm cameras too.

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  47. Eric – regards the game, I can understand why you go back and forth with Atsu. He’s not a natural right sided player either – but I’m not sure who else – Muto perhaps? or Kraft at RB and Manq in front of him – Atsu it is then.

    I wouldn’t play Carroll. I feel like a lot was made about his elbowing and Palace would play on that I reckon. He’d be on the bench as an impact sub again, but I think he struggles with full games.

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  48. Sharpy: I would start Gayle instead of Carroll as Andy has to be eased into it and we had no shots on target with him against Burnley anyway. I know Gayle missed our best chance but he was only on for 19 minutes and at least he got to that ball. The rest of our forwards are “box-shy”, meaning they don’t get into the box nearly enough. Gayle is not match fit either but what is the alternative?

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  49. I wouldn’t sell Gayle in January either unless we have a ready made replacement lined up and need the money from Dwight to pay for it. Look at how our options are restricted now with a couple of injuries. And our forwards have only scored 1 goal anyway so Dwight really couldn’t do much worse. I know his record in the PL is not that great , but it is better than the rest who are not out and out strikers anyway.

    Carroll has not scored since April 2018.

    Joelinton needs some confidence which hopefully he will get playing in a familiar position and then later we might give him a game or 2 down the middle if we have enough points on the board.

    We have to beat Palace.

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  50. I spent an hour reading The Chronic’s Mackem coverage. God their fans are thick. The Chron were saying that the fans have gone from thanking Donald for saving their club to now questioning his motives and ability to run the club. Jesus, he was the only one willing to give Ellis Short the parachute payments and now that he is in trouble he has done a deal with Yank Hedgefunders to keep the club afloat for a year when if they don’t get promotion, the club is essentially theirs for 10 million quid. He did a fans forum on Dec 3rd and gave them some flim-flam that this was actually good for the club. He is not only a chancer but a con-man and they are finally beginning to see it.

    They are 12th in the 3rd division, their lowest position ever. They hate the manager and have sent McGeady to the dog house and he will never play for them again.

    So, lads and lasses. However bad Ashley is, it could be a lot worse. C’mon. We have spent 80 million this year and the Mackems look like the whole club will be sold for 10 million.

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  51. After I wrote what I did about Gayle I saw a summary of a Chronic podcast they did today. Little Chrissy Waugh of The Athletic was their guest. They said if someone comes in for him to sell because it is best for everybody. No it isn’t. They also said that Gayle cannot fit into Bruce’s system. Like the current system is working for our strikers!!! We need options up front and if we are not going to buy a striker then at least keep what we have. Gayle has worked well with Shelvey in the past, admittedly in The Championship.

    They also said he will be frustrated by his lack of gametime. He has been injured you fcking idiots.

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  52. Oh, and in the podcast they also said that Ryder had an exclusive with Charnley who said we were not buying ANYBODY in January (I must have missed it). So how then does it make sense to sell a striker who has just come back to fitness, who Bruce says he likes and tried to buy, and when none of the other forwards are scoring you morons.

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  53. I agree Eric – I’d play Gayle. No other ****** is scoring and he will grab a few goals. How we got to this position I just don’t know, a PL club with no strikers and less back up. Too strange to figure out when they knew Joelinton wasn’t a striker.

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  54. And if anybody thinks Carroll has proved his fitness they should look at his record at West Ham. It was not just his bad ankle injury, he had numerous other strains, pulls, sprains and niggles. He would come back for 3 games and then be out for 2 months. Gayle is the only out and out striker we have.

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  55. Look at Carroll’s West Ham Wikipedia entry. He has injured just about all of his lower body from the groin down. He really cannot play 2 consecutive games of 90 minutes. It is asking for trouble.

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  56. It is actually quite funny (and sad) reading Big Andy’s Wiki entry for WHam. It is more like reading a medical dictionary than a footballer’s achievements.

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  57. I like Gayle and would like to see how he would play with Joelinton. Joel gets a lot of knock downs but there is usually nobody there to take them. I know Gayle missed a sitter against Burnley but he got into the right place. He was also likely to be rusty because of so little game time.

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  58. We should probably get a loan of a striker from Man City, Chelsea or Liverpool. They would probably want assurances of playing time but that wouldn’t be a problem with the injury records of Carroll, Gayle and now St Max.

    Sharpy reminded me the other day that Kenedy did quite well on his January loan with us. It was the next year he turned to ****.

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  59. It is obvious that the boycott had a big effect simply because NUFC have 10,000 season tickets to give away. That means at least 10,000 gave up their tickets because there would have been a few new season ticket buyers. The irony is that the long time fans gave up their tickets just when Ashley seemed to be sticking to his word and allowing the Manager/DoF to spend what NUFC earn.

    I actually think he was doing that under Rafa as well but they had to build up the finances after the year in the Championship and the money was used for that rather than players.

    I am not saying that Ashley has changed his spots. I still think he is a duplicitous b@stard and I am sure he told Rafa he would have more funds than he actually released.

    I do not think he is bothered about taking money out of NUFC at this time so I think Charnley and chums will be allowed to spend what we earn in order to keep us in the PL and safeguard Fatty’s investment. After 2 relegations I think he understands the importance of staying in the PL, especially when you look at the state of some formerly decent clubs like Sunderland, Bolton and Cov.

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  60. That said, I do not think there will be money in January and Charnley even said as much. They have spent any surplus on Joelinton and St Max and there wont be any new money until the summer. If we get anything off Palace that will cement this stance as we will be entering the new year in decent shape no matter what the Man U and Everton results. They both have better squads than us but are so inconsistent you never know.

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  61. Bruce was being very cryptic in his press conference about fitness and who he would play. Reading between the lines and looking at training I think one of Shelvey, Gayle and Almiron will start. Most likely Almiron. Shelvey was only in the gym so unless he trains today I doubt he will start. Need Longstaff to step up if that is the case. He also talked about Gayle needing to take his chance WHEN he gets it which probably means not tomorrow.

    Maybe I am reading too much into these few words but I just hope he saves Carroll for Man U. It would be interesting to see him against Slabhead.

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  62. It seems the players are happy with Brucie. We are defending well except for a couple of games and we were down to 10 men against Leicester so there is a bit of an excuse there. Now we need to get the forwards firing and to break out from such a defensive mindset.

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  63. I am trying to be positive. Been reading some of the comments on Eds and The Mag and you come away wanting to shoot yourself (or them). It is just so relentlessly negative that you would think they are all Mackems.

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  64. Really looking forward to Spurs/Chelsea. It will be surreal if the Spurs fans start singing that Jose Mourinho song. And anything but that **** “when the Spurs go marching in”.

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  65. Eric Sykes:
    It seems the players are happy with Brucie. We are defending well except for a couple of games and we were down to 10 men against Leicester so there is a bit of an excuse there. Now we need to get the forwards firing and to break out from such a defensive mindset.

    Eric – the trouble is that our forwards have been so poor so far, that it’s an easy target for those who did not/do not want Bruce in charge.
    If these people had an ounce of fairness or honesty about them, it’s impossible to deny that where we find ourselves is impressive under the circumstances.

    You hope that things can only get better with our forwards finding a bit of form – and it might only take 1 game where everything they hit goes in. But right now, I’d settle for a one off the shin, a toe poker or off the ar$e, if it got them off the mark.

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