Newcastle 1-3 Tottenham: Improved display spoilt by awful defending as injuries mount up

Jose Mourinho’s St James’ Park hoodoo is finally over, with the Spurs boss finally winning a game of football on Tyneside – albeit via some awful defending from those in black and white.

We played well at times and had enough chances to get something out of the game, but more avoidable errors and goals from Son and Kane (x2) saw Tottenham ease to victory in the end, highlighting our limitations at both ends of the field.

To make matters worse, Saint-Maximin limped off after the full time whistle and it has since been confirmed that Schar has dislocated his shoulder, leaving our patched up side with a few new concerns heading into the final week of the 2019/20 season.

Bruce made three changes from Saturday’s second half collapse at Watford, bringing in Krafth, Yedlin and Bentaleb for Lascelles (injured), Rose (ineligible) and Manquillo – who appears to have been dropped following his moment of madness last weekend.

The formation played was anyone’s guess, with Yedlin playing as a right-winger at one stage and Almiron drifting out wide just when we thought he was playing in a three-man midfield with Saint-Maximin and Gayle up top. Some suggested it was a return of five at the back, but Yedlin was playing too high and Krafth too wide to suggest the latter was at centre-back and the former at wing-back!

Onto the action itself, we started the better side. It seemed like a free for all at times, with so many players roaming from one position to the other, but it was working a treat early on. We had 62% of the ball on the 15-minute mark and could’ve been one or two up.

Almiron saw a well hit shot blocked, only to blaze over a clever Ritchie cut-back from the resultant corner, and Shelvey headed over soon affter from a brilliant cross from Ritchie once again.Spurs were giving us too much space in behind their midfield and we were exposing that well, with ASM getting in behind and Shelvey thriving from the space he was being given to create.

At the first drinks break we’d been easily the better side, seeing a reaction to Saturday’s second half collapse, however the scoreline remained all square despite us having the lions share of possession and a few good chances.

Moments after the restart and Spurs took the lead. Against the run of play, but yet another avoidable goal to concede, with Son sliding past Dubravka soon after Schar’s heavy touch see us lose possession on the edge of our box.

Spurs had looked there for the taking and second best to begin with, but the bright start we’d made had been thrown away. This goal appeared to knock the stuffing out of us for the next 15 minutes and give a previosuly poor Spurs a boost, with us suddenly struggling to get on the ball or create the openings we were early on, however we did come to life in the final few minutes of the half.

First we saw a Saint-Maximin shot flash wide and Gayle then flick a brilliant header from a Shelvey cross past a motionless Lloris and off the post! Another great ball from Jonjo and some more great movement from Gayle, but it was another nearly moment.

Plenty positives to take and an enjoyable watch, but it was yet another error that cost us. Moving on though, it did feel like it was a matter of time before we’d score against this beatable Spurs side if we kept at it.

Spurs had most of the ball from the restart, however it wasn’t long until we got ourselves back into the game. Lazaro replaced a poor Yedlin and immediately made an impact, with his driving run causing chaos in the Spurs defence and resulting in a half chance for Ritchie. He had a lot to do, but whacked a left-footed strike across goal and into the top corner past Lloris.

1-1 and finally the goal our performance had deserved.

It now felt like we could kick on and score another past a Spurs side who’d only won 3 of their last 17 away games for a reason, yet once again we shout ourselves in the foot defensively and allowed them to take the lead, this time via a Bergwijn cross that was headed home by Kane.

The ball in wasn’t pressurised and Krafth lost his man at the back post, which was partly a bad bit of defending but partly what you get when you put a right-back in the middle up against one of the Premier League’s best strikers.

We then huffed and puffed and tried to get back into it, with ASM continuing to cause problems, but we never looked the same threat after Joelinton replaced Gayle up top.

Yes we’d tired and had benefited from Lazaro coming on in Yedlin’s place, but Bruce’s decision to take off a lively Gayle didn’t make sense.

Then, with a few minutes remaining, Spurs caught us on the counter and wrapped it up with a third. Krafth was turned inside and out by Lamela and Kane then reacted quicker than Fernandez to head home the rebound at the back post.

A better performance, yet another bad day for Newcastle United where poor defending cost us dearly – no matter how much more likely we looked in attack.

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Next up, Brighton on Monday followed by our final home games of the season against the Champions next weekend.

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About Olly Hawkins

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

70 thoughts on “Newcastle 1-3 Tottenham: Improved display spoilt by awful defending as injuries mount up

  1. It’s only taken a season to finally see something worth watching – it’s been terrible – but the lack of quality is frightening..

    …Schar must have signed a contract elsewhere (!?) As he was at fault for the first 2 = on the second, why didn’t he try to stop the cross!

    Then Bentaleb and Yedlin, what can one say apart from WHY aren’t the youth team players being played as Bentaleb has been awful since arriving (!?)

    Then we have Joelington, are you sure the notes the Charmless signed off said he’d had a Brazilian!

    …..

    Big problem for the new owner’s if they keep Bruce = ALL he’ll want to do is buy Jones and Lingard from ManU and Stones from City…

    ..then after 7 games Bruce will be kicked out and we’ll be left with these numpty’s on 5 year contracts

    So really need a guy that can manage

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  2. Could have been worse considering we played with 9 men all game. Yedlin and Schar missing in the 1st half and then when Yedlin went off we had to bring on Joe, didn’t we to make sure it was still 9 men even when Lazaro was doing well.

    And yet we still did OK. St Max didnt have anybody to pass to but he went for the spectacular a bit too often. Even with that ****/makeshift defense, if we had Kane we probably would have won 5-1. Miggy and St Max and Shelvey would have someone to pass to.

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  3. Some good news – it is now apparent that Bentaleb is not a PL player and he should be on the bench but only because we are so short of midfielders. Matty should start as it will be more important to see more of him and maybe give him more incentive to sign a new contract. Hope Lejeune is fit enough to cobble together a team for Brighton which is not until Monday.

    Should we even persist with Joelinton for Brighton? His confidence seems to be shot, so should we take him out of the firing line and let him reset next season.

    Yedlin should be dumped. We should have some youngsters on the bench at least. Time to give them a game at Brighton. Starting 11:

    Dubravka

    Krafth Lejeune Fernandez Rose

    Matty Shelvey

    Lazaro Miggy Ritchie

    Gayle

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  4. If Maquillo was rested (not injured) for Spurs I would bring him in for Krafth, but if Lejeune is not fit we may need Javier as a centre back.

    How come Liverpool players are all still fit and playing and ours are dropping like flies? They have played a lot more games than us.

    I think we could scrape a draw at Brighton as neither team has a lot to play for. That would bring it to my prediction of 5 points for the remaining games after Sheffield. Remember that Bruce and many reporters had fanciful notions of 50 points and a top 10 finish? Deep down we all knew that we couldnt keep that form up even when we hammered Bournemouth. This team does not have the talent or organisation to go on a consistent run. We are a 13th or 14th team. We are where we should be in the PL.

    Bruce Out.

    What was he on about is his press conference saying he was DELIGHTED with the way we played. As a former defender he should know it is not all about triangles and St Max mazy runs it is also about not conceding 3 soft goals. And bringing on Joelinton as a centre forward again FFS with 30 mins to go. That is almost as criminal as taking Dwight off when we are only a goal down.

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  5. Why was Gayle taken off? His movement and work rate were good. He came nearer to scoring than any other NUFC player. And do we not have any centre halves in the reserves because recently ( not just last night) Schar has been awful. Krafth is no centre half. Matty Longstaff on for the last five minutes. What was the point of that? Well no matter how badly some players were the Bruce out did them. As for Kane MOM. Why? He was anonymous most of the game and credit for his goals should go to our defence. I don’t think I could face another season with Bruce in charge.

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  6. I should have made an exception for Ritchie’s well taken goal. Still taking off Gayle was not justified.

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  7. Say what you will about Rafa but he always had our defense well drilled, we are all at sea at present and we don’t have the goals in us to compensate for it.
    Dread to think who Bruce wants to sign.
    He says he is happy to see us just behind Southampton, didn’t Pards also say our players were not as clever as saints players? And we have the ” I’m not one for excuses but ” line coming out now too.
    Funny i see shades of pards in Bruce the longer he’s manager.

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  8. There’s some really poor players in that squad. It’ll take a long time and a lot of money to replace them. Krafth, Yedlin, Joelinton, Bentaleb, Rose, Lazaro all need to go. Schar’s gone already.

    Even then we played quite well last night, if we’d taken more of our chances we could have won.

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  9. I don’t want to pile on Joelinton, but seriously, he had half an hour yesterday and what did he do? Let the ball bounce off him twice and straight to a Spurs player. But again, Brucie played him out of position after saying he was better in his “natural” position as a winger he had him as the focal point through the middle again.

    I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt but after a whole season where he has started most games I can count on one hand the good things he has done. Whether that be shots, goals, dribbles, headers. A few games he laid the ball off well but he couldn’t even do that yesterday. Biggest busts in NUFC PL history:

    1. Joelinton
    2. Albert Luque
    3. Michael Owen?
    4. Jean Alain Boumsong
    5. Tied: Riviiere/Xisco

    Steve Wraith has a Youtube channel. Supermac is on a few times a week. You should hear him about Joelinton. One of the other guests called Joe a donkey yesterday and Supermac said that was being cruel to donkeys.

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  10. Is Joelinton better than Joselu. From what we have seen so far, I would say Donkeylu is better. At least he could consistently lay the ball off and got into forward positions. They were about equal in scuffing shots but I think Joselu’s goals per minute is far superior.

    There have been instances when it has taken a player a season to settle. But these are few and far between and none have looked as bad as Joelinton.

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  11. He’s rubbish! Should never have been bought and never played again. We’re better with 10 men.

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  12. We are currently in 13th and have a good chance of staying there because the only team that can overtake us is Palace and they have a nightmare run-in.

    Yes, you can call me Mystic Eric from now on if this happens. I predicted 13th before the season started based upon the totally scientific method of alphabetical order.

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  13. Nobody has said this so I will. Mourinho set Spurs up for the counter because they were knackered after the Arsenal game 3 days before. That was the game of their season. Not just the London Derby, but their season was essentially over if they lost. I watched it and it was end to end stuff. It must have been mentally as well as physically tiring. That is why we were able to attack them as much as we did, along with the wizardry of St Max. And we still lost through inept defending and poor selection of defenders. I dont know what led Bruce to believe that Krafth could play centre back. He had already said he was a full back and not a wing back, so play him at full back FFS. And Yedlin. He should never pull on a B&W shirt again.

    I know Bruce had few choices and there were individual errors but Spurs were there for the taking.

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  14. When I was watching the game I was wondering – what position is Yedlin playing? If he is a wingback, then shouldn’t he be getting back and defending? He would lose the ball upfield and jog back. One time he was over in their right corner, lost the ball and then went on a Sunday afternoon stroll to get back into position.

    I know I have slated Brucie here, but Yedlin let him down. He should have been taken off at half time. Yedlin is supposed to be a fullback who gets forward and that is not how he played. If we wanted a winger who gets back we should have played Lazaro.

    Yedlin was a disgrace.

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  15. Eric, Yedlin has always been slow to get back and has horrible positioning defensively, i have never been impressed with him.

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  16. Kimtoon: I know you have always said Yedlin is a liability. Whether the takeover happens or not we are finding out some things. Yedlin has to leave. Fernandez is a backup. Schar has given up. Bentaleb is not good enough. Rose not worth the wages at his age. Darlow is not even backup standard. Sean Longstaff needs to prove himself again if he wants an improved contract. Gayle is worth keeping as a backup. Krafth deserves another look as a pure fullback but has no versatility. Manquillo is not left back cover, he is a right back. Andy Carroll should not have got a contract extension. Muto and Atsu have to go.

    Of course, if we get taken over then we can improve on ALL OF THESE PLAYERS IMMEDIATELY.

    And then there is Joelinton. Oh, Joelinton! What do you do with him? You cant loan a 40 million player to The Championship and you cant sell him, because there would be no takers. And you cant play him because he is a liability. A month ago when he played on the wing I thought there was something there. I was wrong. This would have to be the biggest turnaround in the history of football for him to justify the (supposed) fee.

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  17. Eric, i think joe is a tad better out wide but even so we have bought an almighty dud from what i’ve seen.
    Feel a bit sorry for him tbh, it’s not his fault jabba paid £40m for him and he does try but it’s not enough.
    Maybe we can loan him out and pick up half his wages ?
    In truth his confidence is shot and at this point i’m not surprised.

    Transfer market values him at £18m as of april 2020

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  18. If Bruce and co are here next season and he persist with joe up front then we are relegated for sure.

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  19. kimtoon:
    Main Menu

    Maybe back to Germany and, as you say, pay half his wages. He just doesnt really look like scoring most games in the PL.

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  20. Perez scored for Leicester. That’s 8 for the season which is about par for him. Remember last year he had 8 and then got the hattrick in the last game at Fulham. Even on 8 would be our top scorer 🙂

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  21. Kimtoon: I clicked on the reply and it was supposed to put your full post but “main menu” is all that came up. Watching Everton Villa now and how the hell Everton are not in the relegation battle I have no idea.

    For once the Ref didnt give a foul for Grealish’s main move which is running into the opponent’s leg on purpose and falling over.

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  22. Villa 1 up. That puts a cat amongst the pigeons. Thank god we are not in this relegation fight because I have no faith that Bruce would have the balls to deal with it.

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  23. BTW: Ancelotti had words with Pickford earlier in the week telling him he had to buck his ideas up. Carlo doesn’t suffer fools lightly and Jordon is certainly a fool.

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  24. Ryder has done a season review for Brucie and as usual it is full of holes. He gives him a 6 out of 10 but says it will be 7/10 if he beats Rafa’s points total. Not gonna happen Lee. He also says that some NUFC fans have been berating the “NE Press Pack” for defending Bruce. Maybe a little bit, because they have failed to sufficiently point out the role played by luck and Dubravka in our results and also the terrible quality of the football. The press will write their reports and mention these things and then a couple of weeks later all that is forgotten and only the result is in their memory as we watched one dire game after another. But that was Wor Lee being paranoid. I think the NE Press Pack got an easy ride from the fans because they were not really reflecting what we were seeing on the pitch. Who got the brunt of it, from me anyway, were the ex-player pundits who were cheerleading for Brucie. They have kept quiet a bit recently but you can bet your bottom dollar that they will be piping up again for Bruce to stay once the season ends because he “deserves it”. Even if we lose the last 5 games they will be in their Pals’ corner, just they might wait a week until the dust settles on another Brucie death spiral of which he has had many in his undistinguished career.

    He has proved to be what he has always been. A journeyman, unfit to lead NUFC. We all know that he is bottom 5 PL and Top 5 Championship quality and that eventually he would take us down. Before the takeover I said he would keep us up this year but we would be relegated next year. I believe if the takeover does not happen we are doomed.

    Ryder also said there will be 4 or 5 quality additions if Ashley stays. Where’s the money coming from? We have no-one to sell for any decent fees in this market. The man who furloughed staff is going to dip into his pocket whilst his retail empire implodes? The club generated free cash of about 50 million in the past couple of years. Not this year with CV-19. We will be lucky to break even. Where’s the money coming from Lee?

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  25. And WTF about these 10 MPs crawling out from under their rocks and trying to block the NUFC takeover because of human rights abuses? Why not do their job and ask the Govt about trade deals and arms deals. Wouldn’t that be more under their purview instead of trying to interfere in football where the PL have their own process and protocol for who can own a team.

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  26. Just had a look at the letter from MPs to the PL. Looks like John Nicholson is the ringleader and probably got a few of his Pals to sign a letter that he penned. Was in The Telegraph and passed on in The Chronic. Looks like a nothing piece of news as the Govt have already answered his questions and said it was a PL issue.

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  27. Plus, they have already had Richard Masters in front of a committee to discuss this. Are they going to flog this subject to death much like the Saudis used to do to criminals in public (flogging is banned now, I think). Insensitive joke, I know. But shouldn’t there be like a double jeopardy for these MPs? Their question has been asked and answered by the PL by Masters and by Govt Ministers.

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  28. just cannot suss “why” it has not been passed,whats the hold up,it just gives the press time to make up all storeys,just as well our local reporter is **** we dont need to read his so called reports,pity there isnt a takeover of him he wants to ride out of town.
    dont come on much because of keep filling in the **** at the bottom,but i still read up what Eric is up to lol

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  29. Ice: Keep an eye on Grealish. The lad has all the skills, he can shoot, he can cross, he can dribble. But he is a cheat. He has perfected the move where he runs across an opponents leg to get a foul in a dangerous area. He is the anti-Messi who it would take a bazooka to send down. Grealish did it in yesterday’s match and the Ref didn’t give it and Grealish has a baby-like tantrum. He knows exactly what he is doing.

    I am glad Olly lets me rant. That’s why I dont write articles because I can say what I want and Olly might have to edit me if I wrote for the site. He probably wouldnt publish me anyway 🙂

    Olly and his fellow writers do a great job in my opinion, Some news and some opinion and not just regurgitating The Chronicle like somewhere else I could name. I would like to see the return of the view from other teams’ fans but that’s my only content gripe.

    Just get the bloody auto name and address fill-in fixed!!!!

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  30. Eric, it’s 8 MP’s and two peers and pretty sure a fair few of them have links to Qatar from what i have seen.
    No surprises.

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  31. How has it taken the press and government for that matter so long to cotton on to the fact that people have been certified as dying from covid when it’s far from clear if they did. One example was someone who tested positive for covid and died three weeks after it had gone of a heart attack. How many of these will there be? Thousands I wouldn’t be surprised at.

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  32. Ryder giving bruce a 7/10 is no surprise, it’s looking mre and more like we are stuck with Bruce and Jabba so he’ll want to be in steve’s good book.

    Takeover, what takeover.

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  33. Stuart79:
    How has it taken the press and government for that matter so long to cotton on to the fact that people have been certified as dying from covid when it’s far from clear if they did. One example was someone who tested positive for covid and died three weeks after it had gone of a heart attack. How many of these will there be? Thousands I wouldn’t be surprised at.

    Stuart: there will undoubtedly be SOME overcounting of deaths by CV-19, but if half the people in a Nursing Home suddenly die in a month you can assume that underlying health conditions were not the ONLY cause.

    FL is testing 30% positive now and their ICUs (Intensive Care Units) are full with Covid-19 patients. The very small number that would have died anyway does not mean this is a coverup or a hoax.

    You know my view. That there are 3 million deaths annually in the US and as yet CV-19 is a small fraction of this so you have to try to find some way to dispel panic and reduce infections. Unfortunately there is an Orange Man Baby over here whose only policy is to ignore and blame. He has never taken the lead on this and now we are dealing with the consequences with more new cases than at the height in April and set to go higher.

    Now he says the schools should “ignore science” and just go back. It is a total Fcking mess here and could be so much better. He will go down as the worst president ever. He takes credit for an economy that was already doing fine before he was elected and he juiced by giving tax cuts to his billionaire buddies (the bad consequence of which are now known because there is less money to deal with a crisis #TrickleDownIsALie).

    A bit of overcounting of deaths directly attributable to CV-19 is nothing compared to the incompetence of the right wing fools over here who all just went along with Agent Orange.

    I follow the UK situation but not as closely as here because I want to know if I can go out or not. I dont have much faith in Boris though.

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  34. Stuart: it is just appalling that the country with the most money, scientific and medical resources in the world have messed this up so badly because of lack of leadership. You cannot escape the consequences either. There is the old economic adage that when America catches a cold Britain catches pneumonia. The consequences are already being felt here but we will recover once the Narcissistic Orangutan is booted out. The country is mainly services and tech now which can get going pretty quickly. But thousands will die needlessly from poverty because of this fool and his sycophants handling of the situation.

    The USA has 5% of the worlds population and 25% of CV-19 cases and it is getting worse.

    Luckily, Chicago seems to have this under control because of the actions of the Mayor and the Governor. In total disagreement with Trump I might add who ridiculed them at every turn. We will probably have to go back a step though as the virus is reintroduced from other states who followed Trump’s lead, or NON-LEAD because his whole “policy” has been IGNORE AND BLAME (as I said earlier).

    See you in Chicago next time you are here Stewie. God knows when that will be as isnt there a travel ban 🙂 Utd Airlines laying off 25,000 employees. American Airlines laying off 36,000 employees.

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  35. To move onto a lighter subject:

    Every time I see Richard Keys he looks like he has no lips and no teeth.

    Same on this site today.

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  36. Brucie is turning into Pardew. I think Kimtoon mentioned that his sentences start with “I don’t want to make any excuses, but…”. We all know what comes out after the but. Now he is saying our poor form was because of the teams we played – 3 of the top teams in the country if you include Liverpool. So, why was he saying we would be top 10 with more than 50 points? It is good to be optimistic but then if things dont go your way, suck it up and dont turn into Pardew. We actually played OK against a very leggy Spurs team and that loss was due to errors which were probably in part due to the schedule. He actually does have some valid excuses but he should also have been aware of the schedule and not big-upped himself. Pride comes before the fall.

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  37. Eric, yep i said the other day he’s turning into Pards with the excuses and the square pegs in round holes.
    To persist with St .Max and our other better players who clearly look knackered when once safe we could of played some youngsters seems daft to me.
    I know he wants to beat Rafas total points but at what cost .
    None of that matters. 17th, 16th, 15th, 14th,13th,12th, who cares,we are safe and unless we had a realistic chance of Europe why risk them. It’s just a bit more cash for placing that we know won’t go on quality players under Jabba anyway.

    Only thing that matters now is the takeover and the PL simply have to make the call NOW, before they ruin our next season.
    Fans need to know what they are going to be supporting, the same dross and skin of the teeth survival or a new beginning filled with hope and ambition.
    The rest is just noise now, fans deserve the truth and they deserve it now.

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  38. Because we have only one fit CB some are saying that Kelland Watts might get a game against Brighton. Have to admit I know nothing about the kid except he is 6-3. Lucky that! A big lad who can hopefully look after himself and not be bullied. KELLAND!! What were his parents thinking? What does that sound like? Sounds like a recipe to be name-called and bullied on the playground to me.

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  39. Kimtoon: I disagree with you a bit about playing our better players, what we shouldnt have done is OVERPLAY them. With us having nothing to win or lose, then we should at least expect a bit of entertainment. From the likes of St Max, Amiron and Shelvey. In truth, we did get it. Much more than in the first half of the season anyway. Brucie should just have been a bit smarter about it realising the games would come thick and fast and should have rotated more.

    There is no excuse for not playing Lazaro and Matty especially. We want to see what we would be gaining or losing. Remember, even with the few minutes against Spurs, Matty has only featured in 6 PL games. They should both start against Brighton but now that is out of necessity rather than choice.

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  40. I do think we have learnt something since lockdown – that we only have 5 good players. Dubravka, Shelvey, Hayden, Amiron and St Max. We can perhaps add Sean Longstaff and Lejeune if they can get back to their form before injury and Dummett and Lascelles are borderline. That’s about it.

    Some are serviceable like Gayle, Ritchie and Manquillo. But most of the rest should be sold for whatever we can get. That would mean about 8 new players which aint gonna happen, but I can dream.

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  41. Luckily the transfer window is open until October but I am not sure if that will help in offloading unwanted players. There are going to be so many fringe players available and the fees will plummet. With no gate or hospitality money that will cost a club like NUFC 30 million. That’s the wages of all of the fringe players.

    I can see a team like Brighton not even filling out their 25 man squad, or have the under 21s take up at least 5 places. Losing a quarter of your income must mean some cutbacks and squad players will be where a lot of teams start. The transfer market will be flooded with average players and unfortunately we have a lot of those that we need to unload.

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  42. kimtoon: Quote)

    Kim. The FA or was it the Premier League aware of the need to play a lot of games in a short time frame increased the number of subs from three to five. Bruce has not managed this very well at all. I think he is frightened to make bold decisions and takes the easy route of naming his best players and keeping them on the field as long as possible Hence stupid decisions like bringing on Matty Longstaff with just five minutes to go. Schar has been so poor that Watts could have been tried earlier. As for St Maxim all the world except Bruce could see he was knackered. All this points to Bruce not being a capable manager and the sooner he goes the better.

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  43. Groucho: Kim. The FA or was it the Premier League aware of the need to play a lot of games in a short time frame increased the number of subs from three to five.Bruce has not managed this very well at all. I think he is frightened to make bold decisions and takes the easy route of naming his best players and keeping them on the field as long as possibleHence stupid decisions like bringing on Matty Longstaff with just five minutes to go. Schar has been so poor that Watts could have been tried earlier. As for St Maxim all the world except Bruce could see he was knackered. All this points to Bruce not being a capable manager and the sooner he goes the better.

    Exactly mate, once we were safe he could of given less playing time to st max and co who were clearly not firing on all cylinders. As you say the 5 subs thing hasn’t been utilised at all well by him.
    Agree 5 mins for Matty was stupid and i said that to Lews carer who was watching the game with me at the time. Ridiculous management that imo, and why is he not playing the youngsters now we are safe and even give a bit of time to Muto too, i don’t understand that.
    And now he’s making Manquillo look ***** and he is not *****, and Schar has gone from a tidy player under Rafa to a mistake waiting to happen under Bruce .
    We at least had a disciplined defense under Rafa.

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  44. He is treating St Max the way Pards treated Benny, expecting them to win matches single handed for them.
    Only difference is, Bruce starts St Max and Pards would chuck Benny on when he thought we’d lose and expect a one man miracle .
    Too much reliance on one player which has become our mantra under this odious owner.
    Now we have a pile of soft tissue injuries to deal with because we don’t have the depth of talent that is needed to survive the PL and a lot of games close together like this.

    It’s not like we didn’t know this was an issue coming, you only had to look at the bundesliga which started before us to see that lots of injuries would crop up after restart.

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  45. Olly saying we might take lazaro on a season long loan with new owners. I would do that in a heartbeat. He has shown more in about 300 minutes than Joelinton has shown in the whole season. Start him in the last 2 games Brucie. Actually, you dont have a choice do you as you have knacked half the squad!

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  46. Olly, don’t know if you are about mate but have the blog owners indicated if the tech guys are sorting the site out at all ?

    I’m having trouble all the time with the site now, when i refresh it shows no new comments but if i open a new tab there are new comments so not sure whats going on like. Also still having to fill in my details all the time.
    It would be a shame to see even more posters dropping off from posting when we could be on the verge of a takeover.

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  47. Hey Olly: do you ever read the website Football365? They do a recap of the football every weekend with a “winners and losers” section. You should do one for NUFC at seasons end. They usually do a paragraph or 2 explaining why.

    You can include the obvious winners like St Max and Dubs, but some are not so obvious like Ashley who is going to get 300 million in the midst of a pandemic. Or Bruce, who somehow got us to 42 points when playing sh!tter football than Ugly John for much of the season.

    Losers are of course led by Joe, but who else? Charnley, because he will be out on his **** in a couple of weeks?

    You get the idea. I think it would be a good feature and would spur some debate. Much needed as it has been slow on here, due partly to posts not appearing and names disappearing and having to be re-typed.

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  48. Or you could do it like a season end awards with different categories like:

    Most Improved Player

    Best Signing

    Best Goal

    Worst Miss

    Etc…

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  49. Well, the Mackems have been Donald Ducked yet again. He has resigned as Chairman leaving the board to get on with it. This was after a fan meeting where he was supposed to prove his worth and regain the faith and ended up agreeing he should go. Still trying to sell the club for 37 million. Good luck with that. Remember he only put up 6 million of his own money and used PL parachute payments to pay off Ellis Short.

    As usual the Chronicle are making noises that this is not a big deal and even saying The Mackems are in good shape because CV-19 will let them get good players on the cheap. Pull the other one!

    The Chronic have not questioned anything these Chancers have done and let Sunderland go to the dogs telling their readers everything was fine and dandy. It wasn’t until The Mail did an expose of the Chancers’ double dealings that The Chronic even said a word.

    I said on here Donald was a Chancer and maybe even a crook from day one. It was obvious. You didnt have to read between the lines, but The Chronic ignored the facts.

    The Sunderland journos at The Chronic are worse than even the NUFC journos.

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  50. kimtoon:
    Olly, don’t know if you are about mate but have the blog owners indicated if the tech guys are sorting the site out at all ?

    I’m having trouble all the time with the site now, when i refresh it shows no new comments but if i open a new tab there are new comments so not sure whats going on like. Also still having to fill in my details all the time.
    It would be a shame to see even more posters dropping off from posting when we could be on the verge of a takeover.

    As far as I’m aware emails have been sent and we’re waiting on a resolution, but I’ll chase it up again! 🙂

    Sorry it’s taking so long to get sorted. You’d think it’d be a simple fix!

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  51. Eric Sykes:
    Hey Olly: do you ever read the website Football365? They do a recap of the football every weekend with a “winners and losers” section. You should do one for NUFC at seasons end. They usually do a paragraph or 2 explaining why.

    You can include the obvious winners like St Max and Dubs, but some are not so obvious like Ashley who is going to get 300 million in the midst of a pandemic. Or Bruce, who somehow got us to 42 points when playing sh!tter football than Ugly John for much of the season.

    Losers are of course led by Joe, but who else? Charnley, because he will be out on his **** in a couple of weeks?

    You get the idea. I think it would be a good feature and would spur some debate. Much needed as it has been slow on here, due partly to posts not appearing and names disappearing and having to be re-typed.

    I don’t read that site mate, but that’s a good idea!

    I was thinking of doing an ‘end of season’ wards piece as you say. Adding in some ‘winners and losers’ would be good too.

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  52. Eric Sykes:
    Ice: Keep an eye on Grealish. The lad has all the skills, he can shoot, he can cross, he can dribble. But he is a cheat. He has perfected the move where he runs across an opponents leg to get a foul in a dangerous area. He is the anti-Messi who it would take a bazooka to send down. Grealish did it in yesterday’s match and the Ref didn’t give it and Grealish has a baby-like tantrum. He knows exactly what he is doing.

    I am glad Olly lets me rant. That’s why I dont write articles because I can say what I want and Olly might have to edit me if I wrote for the site. He probably wouldnt publish me anyway ?

    Olly and his fellow writers do a great job in my opinion, Some news and some opinion and not just regurgitating The Chronicle like somewhere else I could name. I would like to see the return of the view from other teams’ fans but that’s my only content gripe.

    Just get the bloody auto name and address fill-in fixed!!!!

    I’m glad you mentioned that actually mate as I’m planning to bring the ‘opposition opinion’ feature back for the new season.

    On the subject of that, WeAreBrighton.com actually got in touch with me earlier this week to ask a few questions ahead of Monday’s game. You can read my responses below if interested 🙂

    http://www.wearebrighton.com/matchday/the-newcastle-view-with-nufcblog-co-uk/

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  53. Read your answers on the Brighton Blog Olly and cant argue with any of it. Wish you had made a mention of the idiot pundits (mostly ex-players) who say Bruce deserves a shot next year and completely ignore that we will probably finish 14th with 5 straight losses. The opportunity to have a dig at the old Pals brigade and their big upping British dinosaurs would have been too much for me to resist. I think they are in a bubble with their circuit of the radio talk shows and the innumerable TV round table and co-commentary gigs. Same with the golf outings and after dinner talks. It is a self reinforcing little clique with them all spouting the same opinions. Keane and Souness are possible exceptions but I bet they are even behind Bruce.

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  54. What I would like from the Brighton game is, a win of course, but I dont think we will get it. Failing that I want to see one bit of skill from Joelinton, hopefully ending in a goal, that shows there is something there. Evidence of his ability has been sorely lacking even when he has been played in his correct position. He just doesnt look like a 40 million pound player. I know he had to settle but so did St Max and Miggy. Just give us a glimpse of what we paid for and a reason not to give up on you!

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  55. Have to say the constant Rafa v Bruce thing is beyond boring now with the media and pundits but it’s not good to see some of our fan base abusing Jeff Stelling because of it. This a guy that went on a rant about how good the NE is after that idiot Moose said that s hitty stuff about us. He loves the NE and actually likes Rafa too.

    Not everyone is against us .

    Truth is this blinking protracted takeover is fraying everyones nerves, mine included and making a lot of us over sensitive.
    I have been guilty in recent months of going off on one about just about anything and everything and i think it’s a combination of covid and takeover stress tbh.
    I have decided to just wait and see what transpires now, it’s out of my control and i refuse to let it stress me out, i think a lot of the twitter fans need to take the same approach .

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  56. Eric, I don’t expect anything from the last two games, we are down to the bare bones and we are safe (mission accomplished )in so far as Jabba is concerned .
    I’m more concerned where we go from seasons end, football has changed for everyone, there is no guarantee fans will get back into stadiums even in the autumn if covid kicks off again. Football as it is now is ****, the crowd sound makes little difference to the overall experience which in my eyes feels sterile and forced.
    People have lost loved ones and football feels secondary to me right now. When the games were off i got back into my art and found it calmed me down as this takeover **** and covid stuff was really starting to effect me.

    If the takeover fails i may just take a step back from football completely, the prospect of more stagnation, and we are stagnating, is just too much for me . I have always found some enjoyment even in our s hittiest spells, yet this time it feels different somehow. It’s a massive opportunity
    to be rid of him and find some ambition again, without it we will definitely drop again and I’m not sure it’s a path i want to go down again.

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  57. I thought Ashley was bad, but the Mackems have a borderline crook and definitely a liar. He had a meeting with fan groups and subsequently resigned as Chairman. He told them bare-faced lies about the money he has put into the club which has actually been 5 million up front and 2.6 million later on because it was contractually owed to Ellis Short. He then stated that the 20 million in PL parachute payments paid to Ellis Short was money he put in. Similarly a loan of 9 million from a hedge fund that is guaranteed by assets. He does this to justify his asking price of 37 million saying he will only break even. B0llocks, he has put up 7.6 million. Anything over that is profit. If he thinks he is getting 37 million for a shell of a club with **** players he better think again, especially with no gate money.

    This was always a way for Stuart Donald to make a quick buck with an immediate return to The Championship and Sunderland paying off Ellis Short with their own money. It was a good bet with his initial investment of only 5 million and probably a valuation of about 50 million if they got back to the Championship straight away. If this Covid-19 drags on another 6 months with no fans, I reckon Sunderland could be sold for less than 20 million or if there are no buyers will go into administration leaving another chancer to try to pick up the pieces.

    Just saying it could be worse than waiting for the PL to approve our takeover. Fatty is a scheming Tw@t but at least he is not Stuart Donald. Leeds went into administration so the Mackems better not think it could not happen to them.

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  58. The problem with selling the Mackems, apart from no gate money, is that they have a squad that is justifiably 8th in the 3rd Division. However much the fans wish they were automatic promotion leaders it just is not the case. Any new owner would have to totally revamp the team, probably with 10 new players. And is their Manager good enough? They just sacked their recruitment department as well.

    Who is going to buy a club with no revenue and **** overpaid players who are rightly in 8th place in the 3rd Division where TV money is 400k a year and where the prospects for a lot of clubs in that Division is administration in the next 6 months?

    Sorry to rant about the Mackems but a blind man with a guide mole could have seen this coming. I did 2 years ago, and I dont even follow them closely. It is just that CV-19 has made this (like everything else) so much worse.

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  59. Relegation odds:

    Bournemouth 1/6
    Villa 2/7
    Watford 6/5

    Watford have the points on the board but have City at home and **** away.

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  60. How doesnt Lewis Hamilton get the recognition he deserves? He is probably Britain’s greatest ever sportsman and will surpass Schumacher for most F1 wins of all time. Wiggins gets knighted for 1 T de F win (warrented, considering who else is a Sir – every Banker in history etc). They seem to knight comedians for doing history or travel shows – Baldrick, Palen. Lenny Henry. I know he did comic relief, but still. And I haven;t even mentioned Baroness Brady.

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  61. If you can knight Capt Tom when there is not an Honours list you can do the same for Hamilton. It would make a statement about Black Lives Matter which he has been outspoken about and would allow him to have an even higher profile to speak out.

    Some might say it is a bit rich for a multi-millionaire socialite to make BLM statements. I think it is the opposite. You need successful role models to speak out.

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  62. Eric Sykes:
    If you can knight Capt Tom when there is not an Honours list you can do the same for Hamilton. It would make a statement about Black Lives Matter which he has been outspoken about and would allow him to have an even higher profile to speak out.

    Some might say it is a bit rich for a multi-millionaire socialite to make BLM statements. I think it is the opposite. You need successful role models to speak out.

    Agree Eric, but he may have turned one down, plenty have.

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  63. kimtoon: Agree Eric, but he may have turned one down, plenty have.

    Doubt if he has been offered. He has an MBE and have you seen him with his brother and his Dad? They would be so proud. No way Lewis has turned a knighthood down. I dont care if he lives in Monaco and Miami. They all do.

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