It’s not often we’ve been able to say it this season, but that was thoroughly enjoyable and a brilliant performance from start to finish, with us ripping Bournemouth to shreds with some lovely football and devastating finishing!
Not only our best display of the season so far, but one that takes us beyond the 40-point mark and in with a chance of a top 10 finish.
Gayle, S Longstaff, Almiron and Lazaro grabbed the goals, Saint-Maximin weighed in with a hat-trick of assists – making him on the third player in NUFC history to do – Shelvey pulled the string, Bentaleb and Krafth impressed on rare starts and we were solid at the back, with Lascelles a dominant force throughout.
Bruce made SIX changes for this one. Out went Darlow, Schar, Rose, Hayden, Almiron and Carroll, along with the five-man defence that was tough to watch on Sunday, and in came Dubravka, Krafth, Bentaleb, Shelvey, Joelinton and Gayle, with Saint-Maximin starting to many’s surprise (he was said to be “extremely tired” on Monday) and Sean Longstaff playing in a slightly more advanced role.
The game started positively from our perspective, with us passing the ball about quite nicely and putting pressure on a struggling Bournemouth side from the off, and it took just 4 minutes for us to find a surprise early breakthrough.
Dwight Gayle was given the chance to redeem himself after skying a huge chance against Man City on Sunday, and he repaid Bruce’s faith almost immediately, slotting into the bottom corner emphatically when a loose ball fell his way just 4 minutes in! A calm finish, his second goal since the restart and a much needed boost for him in front of goal!
Big credit must also go to Sean Longstaff, whose pressing forced Lerma into an error and created the opening, and Saint-Maximin, who played a simple but effective ball into Gayle to put him in behind.
Twenty minutes on and it had been all NUFC. We weren’t battering the Bournemouth door down, but we were much the better side, playing some lovely front foot football and looking completely in control.
Sunday’s performance was turgid and far too defensive, but this was a joy to watch in comparison. On the subject of beautiful football, Allan Saint-Maximin then turned on the style and set up our second, dancing past Smith and cutting the ball back for Sean Longstaff, who finished superbly.
Sadly, Sean was forced off moments later after pulling up with a muscle injury, but he’d been outstanding in the first half, playing a key part in both goals and pressing brilliantly in a more advanced role just behind Gayle.
0-2 at half-time and arguably the most convincing half of Premier League football we’d seen under Steve Bruce.
Bournemouth looked shot to pieces and stunk of a side sliding into the second tier, but we’d been brilliant. Saint-Maximin was causing havoc and Joelinton looked much more confident out wide, with Gayle lively, Shelvey on song and Bentaleb putting in a slick performance in the first 45 ahead of our back four.
The second half began and we were all hoping for more of the same.
An early scare arrived just seconds into the restart, with King heading past a sprawling Dubravka, but he was rightly adjudged to be offside. Still, that was a warning sign that this was make or break for Bournemouth, who seemed all but down if they didn’t get a result here based on their ridiculously tough run in.
They’d clearly had a thorough telling off from Howe at half-time and looked more likely (not that they could get any worse), but it was 0-3 before they’d even got a chance to pull one back.
Almiron netted this time, via a brilliant burst and ice cool finish with his weak right foot, and it was that man Saint-Maximin who set it up with a clever pass in field to set him away. His third assist of the night and Almiron’s 7th of the season!
Brook then hit the bar for Bournemouth on the hour mark, with that followed by a double substitution from Bruce, which saw the stunning Saint-Maximin and dangerous Gayle come off for Carroll and Lazaro.
More changed arrived 72 minutes, with Yedlin replacing Manquillo at left-back and Hayden replacing a hobbling Joelinton, but a game that threatened to fizzle out came back to life just moments later. A perfectly weighted pass from Shelvey put Lazaro in behind, and the Austrian’s brilliant run infield was matched with an even better finish into the top corner.
0-4 Newcastle and this was unknown territory after a season full of hard fought points, yet it was almost FIVE seconds later when Lazaro smashed the crossbar with a vicious shot from range!
Bournemouth grabbed a late goal in the 94th minute through ex-Mag Dan Gosling to ruin our clean sheet, but it didn’t take the shine off what was a first class display.
We were a joy to watch from start to finish and fully deserved the convincing win.
Next up, a home game against a struggling West Ham side on Sunday!
For once, I didnt feel stressed during the game. We were in complete control.
Hope that my prediction before this of only 5 points until the end will not come true. I thought we would beat either Bmth or Wham and pick up a couple of draws.
Now can people just STFU about this mythical 40 point mark. It has not been a 40 points to survive for at least 5 years. It has been 37. Because the good teams like Liverpool and City have been so much better than everybody else and the **** teams keep on drawing against each other.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Great result St max was brilliant yet again.
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim – most improved player of the season for me. He was always tricky and ready to take defenders on, but earlier in the season it had little end result – now though, his decision making and final ball regularly results in a chance or goal.
He turns up constantly as well, and doesn’t hide in the big games.
People saying the first was a Bmth mistake – I think it was excellent closing down by Longstaff, a very good first time pass by ASM and a clinical finish by Gayle.
Really good team performance tonight.
Sharpy17(Quote)
In terms of our loanees.
I believe Danny Rose is available for around £5m – I would defo take him for such a small fee.
Bentalab is sub £10m I think – on tonight’s performance I think that’s a fair price and I’d take him too.
It’s Lazaro – apparently his fee would be around £25m. I’m not sure I’d pay as much as that – he came on and done ok tonight, but I’ve not seen enough to suggest he’s worth that much.
Ryan Fraser is available on free – I’d probably go with him ahead of Lazaro.
Also, Harry Wilson will end his loan with Bmth and I don’t see him having a future with Lpool – he may be available for around £15m.
I think if we can get those 3 players in and a proper CF in the summer, we’d have a pretty strong squad for next season.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy , his footwork leading up to the pass to Sean for the second was sublime mate, almost poetic, defo one for his youtube highlights lol.
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim – it’s his attitude that has really impressed me most. He left Nice coz Viera said he was a bit of a maverick – which was a little worrying. But on and off the pitch he seems to have really taken to Newcastle.
I’m not sure he’d fit a Rafa team coz he doesn’t track back too much, but when he can do what he does offensively, you don’t want him to really. I think that’s been the beauty with Rose as well. When he’s got ASM in front of him, he sits back and defends more – doesn’t get forward as much coz he knows he doesn’t have the cover (which is fine).
But when ASM and Ritchie switched against Villa – Rose got forward more coz he knew Ritchie would cover.
We have good partnerships forming on the pitch – including Lascelles and Fernandes.
But we are still lacking that 10-15 goals a season CF. We don’t have one in the squad and there’s nowt Bruce can do about that.
Performances have rarely been great this season, but the results Bruce has got with this group of players have been excellent imo.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I think BBC pundit and ex-Liverpool journeyman who nobody can remember David Thompson might want to rethink his assessment that we have the worst squad in the Premier League. He’s the one that said Norwich had a better squad.
Bournemouth are not renewing Jordan Ibe’s contract. I think they paid 18 million for him.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I am still mad at that David Thompson guy because he said we had a worse squad than Norwich. You can list about 9 of our players who would be first choice for a Norwich Manager. How can someone who played the game at an elite level be so stupid!?
Here you go. NUFC players who would start for Norwich (not including loanees):
Dubravka
Manquillo
Dummett
Lascelles
Schar
Fernandez
Lejeune
Shelvey
Hayden
St Max
Gayle
Miggy
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I think I have Covid-19. I have stayed at home since March 16 and have been really careful. BUT I had a friend over to my house on Monday who works for an airline as a flight attendant. He had been off work for 3 weeks so I thought it would be OK. We even social distanced in my apartment – sat at opposite ends of the couch and poured our own beers. He then told me he stays in Chicago at a big shared house with about 40 other airlines employees when he is not in the air. He described it as like a youth hostel with 6 beds, bunk-bed style to a room.
So, today I have a really sore throat. No other symptoms though but I am pretty sure I have CV-19. I am not the sort of person to worry about my health because I have no underlying health worries and am in my mid-50s. Not a high risk category.
This has showed me that even in a low risk State like Illinois you still have to be careful. My friend Matt has been flying all over the country and the airlines have not done any testing on their employees. Just shows you how haphazard the way companies and governments have treated this.
I didn’t know that my mate lived with 40 airline employees who change every day depending on who is flying. I think I may have stayed clear of him if I did. On the other hand, I dont feel that sick and only have the one symptom so perhaps it is even good that I have it so I can get it over with.
I will not be going out though to spread it to anybody else.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I haven’t been tested. It just seems that with a main symptom after meeting with my friend who has been very likely exposed to CV-19 on a daily basis that I might have it. I am the furthest person away from a hypochondriac that you will ever meet because I never get sick. I had a cold 2 years ago and my apendix removed 40 years ago. That’s about it as far as my health history goes.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Really enjoyed the game last night. Pass and move and not too much just lumping the ball forward. However I won’t go overboard because the performances against Aston Villa and Manchester City are still etched in my memory
Groucho(Quote)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8481021/Sky-Sportsto-send-emails-reporters-containing-list-prohibited-offensive-phrases.html
Let’s invent a new language now so we don’t offend somebody.
The phrase “nitty gritty” has now been banned by Sky. I will use it more now.
Stuart79(Quote)
Eric, I imagine a sore throat will be about the limit of your symptoms. In March I had fly like symptoms and I’m pretty sure I had it. But such is life… Good luck.
Stuart79(Quote)
Jesus Christ – literally! GMB now discussing if it’s racist to portray Jesus as white! Why are they discussing this?! Someone said in Africa Jesus is often depicted differently and non white. So what’s the point in this discussion?!
Do people want famous paintings to depict people who are now transparent so nobody gets offended? Should old films have holograms that are transparent so not to offend people?
Anyone see a pattern here….
Stuart79(Quote)
Eric – sounds like you were not too careful and you should really get a test.
Stu – hilarious predictive text there – Kim will be on shortly to either swat you or tell you to buzz off.
About the game last night – we were superb. Shame we gave a goal away at the end.
Lazaro is going to be a great player and we should sign him when we have the chance to do so.
Disappointed that we brought Carroll back to the club , even more disappointed that he is getting game time.
Sidekick(Quote)
Thanks for the well wishes stuart. I might be reading too much into a sore throat. But it has been on the news for like 120 days nonstop. So it will effect my head 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric, that’s a worry for you but it might just be that you were chatting a lot with your mate and because you’ve not done that for a while your throat is sore. That’s happened to me the day after a rare night out with friends . It would also be very quick to develop symptoms i would think.
If you get a fever or a cough then i would get a test mate for sure.
good luck.
kimtoon(Quote)
Kimtoon: if I get other symptoms I will get tested. The recommendations are just to socially isolate anyway unless you are in a high risk group so I will just go back to what I was doing for the last 3 months.
The bars are open in Chicago now, even inside. They ask that you keep your distance. The problem is that they did the same thing in CA and TX and it came back to bite them on the **** with many more new cases now and even the Orange Man-Baby’s cabinet wearing masks.
This bloody thing has confused me from the get-go with so many mixed messages from all levels of public officials and even Drs.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
That Daily Mail article posted by Stuart said that TV companies were thinking about sending commentators for racial sensitivity/awareness training. I must have watched thousands of football games and cannot recall a single instance of the commentator being racist. I am not black though so maybe I wasn’t listening hard enough.
There was a situation over here in the 70s when a commentator was sacked from his job for calling a black American Football player a “little monkey”. I have seen the clip many times and I am certain it was not racist, it was like what you would call a little kid. But he was sacked anyway.
It was Howard Cossell. Probably the most iconic commentator in the history of American Sports. He interviewed Mohammad Ali many times and they would laugh and joke around. He was the one that commentated on the Ali/Frasier fight and uttered the memorable lines “Down goes Frasier, Down goes Frasier”.
I dont think I have the same politics as Stuart but it seems that there might be people looking to find stuff now where there is not much there. Like sending commentators to racial awareness classes or telling me that nitty gritty is racist whereas I had been totally unaware that it had any racial meaning at all before they brought it up. I think it was better that way.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Seriously, does anybody on here have any prior knowledge that Nitty Gritty had any racial connotation? I certainly didn’t. Unless you work for a dictionary company I doubt you did either.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Good luck with Covid Eric
PremAndUp(Quote)
Stuart – I didn’t intend to get into the politics of the situation, it is a football blog after all.
It was your remark referencing the death of George Floyd and mentioning judo. Weird.
Terrific performance last night. Doesn’t get any better with even Bruce’s tactic of pressing their defenders impressing. And now we know we have a real world class player on the books. Hope the takeover means we keep him for a while longer.
There again what do I know – Krafth, Bentaleb and Lazaro were all excellent. I’d get rid of them all.
georgio(Quote)
Georgio – I felt the same mate.
Maybe we don’t give new players enough time to settle and show what they can do. Look at Manquillo – it’s was less than a season ago most would have said get rid – yet he’s proven to be our best right back – and last night was solid at left back too ?, pleased he’s signed up ??.
We could have Manq and Kraft as RBs and use Yedlin more at RW – I think he’s decent going forward but has always been weaker in defence.
I think Bentalab is around £8.5m if we buy him – peanuts really, and worth every penny based on last nights performance.
Lazaro is the tough one. He was decent last night, but has he shown enough – is that just the beginning and could he get a lot better??. His fee is over £20m I believe – is that too big a risk?! ??♂️.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy, i guess £20m will be peanuts if we are taken over. If we aren’t then likely all bets are off regarding Lazaro. He needs to feature more now until games finish to try and access his worth.
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim – Old habits die hard I guess. I don’t think I’ll ever be comfortable saying £20m is peanuts ?.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I much prefer the Lpool model though – yes they will spend big on GK and CB but Robertson cost very little and I’m sure Minamino was fairly cheap too.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy: Liverpool spent quite a lot of money. Firminho was about 30 million, Gini was 25 mil, Salah was 35 million. These were all a few years ago. Paid for by the sales of Suarez and Coutinho who brought in 200 million.
It’s a myth that Liverpool have not spent much. They just got a lot back because they had 2 superstar players that they sold to Barcalona.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Robertson is really the only starter that Liverpool bought who cost less than 20 million. They have academy players but they have spent. I will say this again, but our transfer record was 16 million until we bought Miggy 16 months ago and meanwhile Liverpool have bought about 15 players that cost more than 20 million.
They got lucky selling Ibe and Solanke to suckers.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
If Spurs dont win this game you can see a Jose meltdown coming from space.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It’s a funny old game. Sheffield Utd looked one of the worst teams we have played and are beating Spurs 3-0. And Spurs have Kane, Son and Alli back. I think Levy might want his money back from Jose who I think is on 16 million a year.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Should Bruce get some credit now? Not as much as the pundits give him because we have been awful most of the season. If we beat West Ham I am ready to say on balance he has done OK even though he almost drove me away from watching us.
There will be cries to keep Bruce when the takeover goes through, but it has never worked in the past. There was Ranieri at Chelsea, Hughes at City and Rodgers at Liverpool. He just hasn;t shown he has it in him to get us to the Champions League. He’s not annoying like Pards or Ugly John but I wouldn’t keep him on.
There’s been radio silence on Poch, Rafa and Allegri for about 2 weeks and even transfer speculation has died down a bit. TAKEOVER FATIGUE.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric – performance wise, very little. Last night was probably the only full 90 mins where we played well.
But results wise, I think yeah credit where it is due. To hit 42 points with 6 or 7 games still to play is a big achievement when you consider how the season started.
Sharpy17(Quote)
If Jordan Henderson gets player of the season ahead of KDB the world has gone truly mad!!!.
What a player KDB is and I’m becoming a big fan of Foden too.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy: We have some winnable games left. West Ham, Brighton, Watford, even Spurs. I thought we would get about 5 points and that included the 3 already picked up at Bournemouth. I will be very happy to be proved wrong.
I have never been a Bruce hater like you see with some on twitter. Just dont think he is right to take us to the next level.
Some really strange results going on with Sheffield and Liverpool. Liverpool didnt even play that badly and got beat 4 nil.
Liverpool can still get the record number of points in a PL season. It would be really funny if we denied them in the last game. The bar I go to to watch games have fans from most clubs (except Man U who have their own bars) and I have to say the red bindippers are the most annoying. Worse than Villa and West Ham even. Most aren’t even from Liverpool but seem to have picked up the Scouser sense of entitlement.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I reckon we will play our strongest team in a 4-2-3-1 against West Ham. This is our best chance of the remaining games to pick up 3 points. You never know what you will get with Spurs and Liverpool will be heavy favourites. These are the remaining home games.
But what is our strongest team? I probably disagree with Brucie here as I would have Lazaro and Gayle and he probably will fit Joelinton and Carroll in there. My team would be:
Dubravka
Manquillo Lascelles Fernandez Rose
Shelvey Hayden
Lazaro Almiron St Max
Gayle
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Will be a tough game on Sunday. WH looked a decent side against Chelsea.
I’m off on my hols finally today. Wonder if the takeover will be finalised when I get back…
Another bizarre act of nonsense came to my attention today. Lewis Hamilton’s racing team have decided to have ALL their cars black this season to promoted equality and diversity. How is it diverse and equal if they’re all the same colour. More virtue signalling.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart: that Chelsea result looks a bit of an outlier. Since Moyes took over WHam have lost 8, won 3 and drawn 2. I think they have the same problem as us in not having a goalscorer. They spent a fortune on Haller and he has almost been as bad as Joelinton. I think he is injured.
I am not predicting a certain win for us but Wham are inconsistent and Moyes only loosens the shackles when he is desperate. I think he will be cagey against us. I would like to keep West Ham in trouble by getting at least a draw. They have Villa on the final day. I really want that to be a relegation decider as I think Norwich and B’mth are doomed.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric – I hope I’m wrong, but I see us getting beat by WHU.
They are the only team in the relegation battle showing any kind of fight, and the win against Chelsea will encourage them.
I expect they will fight harder than us, coz after beating Bmth so comprehensively, we will now think we are mint – and I don’t remember the last time we put back to back performances like that in.
Like I say, I hope I’m wrong but I don’t imagine I’ll be tucking into a slice of humble pie anytime soon.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I know it’s impossible to say who we sign in the transfer window – especially if the takeover happens.
But who do we get rid of, and roughly how much would that bring in?.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy: I am much more confident now that we have our forwards starting to score from open play. I include the wingers as forwards. Remember until the home game against Norwich we were getting a lot of our goals from defenders at set pieces. Luke Edwards said he had a conversation with Brucie and that’s when he decided to change tactics.
Lazaro looks like he has something about him when not played as a wing back. Even Ritchie has decided to try a few more shots.
I totally understand your fear that we can never seem to put together back to back good performances but neither can West Ham. You say Wham have more to play for, but the flip side of that is when teams are in a relegation fight they can sometimes become paralysed.
I think I am going for a 2-1 NUFC win.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
https://youtu.be/aUGmeOe1zkU
Pretty much sums it all up for me like.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Big Fat Sam now weighing in on NUFC takeover basically repeating the Keys sobstory that Bein Sports staff were laid off because of Saudi piracy. Jesus, I wish this would just get done. Allardyce can rant all he wants after that and I wont care.
I love these sanctimonious tw@ts getting holier than though with their moralizing after they themselves were fired for their own indiscretions.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric – apparently Longstaff is missing and Lascelles and Joelinton are doubts for WH. That being the case I’d go 4-3-3 again
Dubravka
Kraft – Schar – Fernandes – Rose
Shelvey – Bentalab – Hayden
Lazaro – Carroll – Ritchie
Give Manquillo a rest but bench him as he can cover both full backs.
We might need a young un up to cover CB, unless Dummett is fit enough for the bench.
Matty can be midfield cover from the bench.
I’d consider Yedlin right wing cover and Muto and Gayle for up from.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Eric, how you feeling today ?
kimtoon(Quote)
I see the news today reports the mayor of Leicester breached the lockdown rules to meet up with his missus as well ?.
All animals are equal … b0ll0cks!!
Sharpy17(Quote)
Aye and Boris’s Dad has gone to his Villa in Greece via Bulgaria to avoid the rules on travel,
apparently it needed cleaning and setting up for rental 😉 I can really see Stanley in his marigolds getting stuck in …..not.
kimtoon(Quote)
Anyway back to footy. There are reports ASM has a release clause, who lets this slip out, he hasn’t got an agent so who is stirring the pot?
kimtoon(Quote)
Was paranoid from watching too much news. No symptoms now. Chicago has now said anybody travelling here from the 15 most affected states must quarantine for 14 days. Also EU has banned Americans. It is a bizarre situation as the bars are now open.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sharpy: Dummett cannot play as they took him out of the squad due to injury. Bruce took ASM off after 60 mins against Bournemouth so I think he will play against Wham and be rested at City. I wouldn’t risk any of the players with knocks as we have cover.
I still think we should take the game to West Ham and play a 4-2-3-1 and bring in Benetaleb as a sub. Also, time to look at Lazaro closely to see if he is worth buying.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric, I reckon you was chatting too long and your throat was sore next day mate. Glad you are ok anyway.
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim – I think you’re being unfair. Stan the man has been furloughed for months now, and it’s likely this will be his only source of income when he gets made redundant – I think his pal Dom might have come up with that for him though.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Kim – apparently he’s only on £36k a week as well (only ?). I’d be giving him a new contract for £50-60k and if there has to be a release clause that would be £50-60m
Sharpy17(Quote)
Eric – I think we should take the game to every opponent mate, but we rarely do. All too often when we’ve had a decent performance or decent win we switch off the following game. I hope I’m wrong, but I see WHU coming to fight for 3 points – hopefully we don’t give them.
I agree. Use the remaining games to look at Lazaro, Bentalab and Rose – I’d sign Bentalab and Rose but would like to see more of Lazaro.
Haven’t Inter just signed a player from BD?, maybe they are expecting the money to come in from Lazaro.
Sharpy17(Quote)
THERE IS STILL A PROBLEM WITH THIS SITE!!!
Sharpy17(Quote)
Eric talk too much??? … never!!! ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
😆
kimtoon(Quote)
Henry Mauriss denies rumours that his
@NUFC
bid is being secretly backed by Qatar.
Sources close to PSG and beIN Sport chief Nasser Al-Khelaifi told
@SunSport
he spoke to Mauriss about making an offer “to derail the Saudi takeover”.
NUFC 360
@NUFC360
Mauriss said: “I’ve never heard of Nasser, let alone met with him or spoken with him. I have no agreement of any kind with anyone or any firm in Qatar.”
But correspondence has been seen by the Sun that shows El Khelaifi has a vested interest in the deal.
#nufctakover #NUFC
kimtoon(Quote)
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/12027956/newcastle-henry-mauriss-bid-qatar-saudi-takeover-exclusive/
Suppose it could be why hairy hands new for sure about the bid 😉
kimtoon(Quote)
knew *
kimtoon(Quote)
The thing that could really scupper our takeover would be if the PL lawyers and forensic accountants find a financial link between the Saudi regime/PIF and the actual pirate channel. Did they fund it in spite against Qatar? Hope not!
georgio(Quote)
NEW THREAD
https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2020/07/04/west-ham-h-pre-match-thoughts-team-news-predicted-line-ups-2/
West Ham preview
Olly Hawkins(Quote)