Newcastle 0-3 Brighton: Brutal reality check as terrible NUFC are totally outplayed

An alarming reality check on Tyneside today, as a woeful Newcastle lost 0-3 in a diabolical display against Brighton in our opening home game of the season at St James’ Park.

Two goals from Neil Maupay and a late third from Aaron Connolly did the damage, with us unable to cope with a Seagulls side who cut through us ease and were rarely tested at the other end. Callum Wilson put a free header over in our only big chance to get back into it, but with ZERO shots on target all afternoon we got what we deserved.

Steve Bruce named an unchanged eleven from last week’s dismantling of West Ham. Miguel Almiron remained on the bench despite his two assists in as many games and Ryan Fraser still wasn’t deemed sharp enough a Premier League start.

Brighton have proved to be a bogey team for us in recent times, with us failing to score in any of our previous three meetings with the Seagulls at St James’ Park and unable to beat them in our last six meetings since promotion.

It didn’t seem as if our fortunes were going to go change as we suffered a disastrous start to the game.

Two minutes in, Tariq Lamptey burst past Allan Saint-Maximin and the Frenchman needlessly brought down the marauding right wing-back just inside the penalty area. After a VAR check, Neal Maupay smashed the penalty down the middle. 1-0 Brighton.

Our misery was compounded soon after. Leandro Trossard was slipped in by Tariq Lamptey, again down the right hand side. The Belgian drilled the ball across the box and found Maupay – who took it first time and beat Darlow for the second time. The tough offside call went the way of the visitors and we were 2-0 down in seven minutes.

Shortly after the two goals, Saint-Maximin switched wings to get away from the electrifying Lamptey, who had absolutely terrorised him with his energy, pace and intensity. 30 minutes in, the Frenchman hobbled off and was replaced by Ryan Fraser.

Brighton had been brilliant, but it was a dismal showing from a Newcastle point of view, with us all at sea defensively and outnumbered, if not half asleep, in midfield. Wilson was trying his best up top and made some great runs in behind, but Carroll was never close enough to him and didn’t look mobile (or fit) enough to get into the box or catch up with play the odd time we looked to counter.

Changes were desperately needed and Steve Bruce responded, taking an ineffective Andy Carroll off for Miguel Almiron at the break. Saying that, it was all too little too late.

Almiron and Fraser did momentarily inject some much needed energy into the side and we slowly grew into the game. Our real first chance of the afternoon was created by the Paraguayan, who found Callum Wilson with a brilliant delivery – only for our new talisman to send free header over the bar. He really should have scored.

After that missed opportunity Brighton looked the side more likely to get the next goal as Aaron Connolly struck the post just before the 70 minute mark. Shortly after, Trossard also hit the woodwork with a good effort from just outside the box, not that we made it difficult for him to get a shot on Darlow’s goal with more stand-off defending.

In the 83rd minute, Brighton then the game completely to bed, not that a comeback ever felt likely before they made it three.

Maupay created space for his strike partner Aaron Connolly who had an age to compose himself, take two touches and curl an effort past Karl Darlow with ease. A truly diabolical piece of defending from us, with Fernandez failing to close down Maupay and Lascelles giving Connolly all the time in the world to curl an effort into the far corner.

In the final moments, the impressive Yves Bissouma – who well and truly got the better of Hayden and Shelvey – struck Jamal Lewis in the face with a dangerous high boot and saw red.

The final whistle was blown soon after and I for one, was glad to hear it. Boos would’ve rang around St James’ Park had there been fans inside, as that was absolutely awful in all areas. Outplayed and outmanoeuvred from top to bottom, with Potter outsmarting Bruce and the players looking second best from the outset.

We were almost unrecognisable to the side that beat West Ham last week and had been completely dominated by Brighton from the first minute until the last. Bruce’ set up put us in an awkward position from the outset, but there was a worrying lack of effort and energy on that pitch today, with the players allowing their frustrations get the better of them from Brighton’s early goal onwards.

An absolutely terrible display in so many areas. One to forget, yet a performance that also highlights how much we’ll have to improve ahead of a busy schedule and tough run of fixtures.

What a difference a week makes.

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108 thoughts on “Newcastle 0-3 Brighton: Brutal reality check as terrible NUFC are totally outplayed

  1. Forget about the 0-3 scoreline – its not having ONE shot on target AT HOME = HAPLESS

    And this numpty was on about How he liked Bruce = macem

    Only Bruce’s family and drinking Bud’s will go on about his time at Sunderland..

    ..but look at how we played last season, then Boro & Stoke – West Ham being the fluke – NUFC HAVE to get rid of Bruce NOW for the players to play as a team!!!

    Transfers – nowt to do with Bruce = in his own words ‘he’s consulted’ and again in his own words ‘I don’t believe in TACTICS’ (!!!???)

    P.S
    Carroll has spent too long in the treatment room and has forgotten that’s he’s employed as a STRIKER – he’s turned into a joke of a player

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  2. lets play Carrol up front for knock downs ect but dont lets have any wing,bloody sh–t,our m/f is very poor Shelvey would never be in there for me ok one or two passes but imo hes far too slow for the PL his crosses today were a mile away we need some pace and craft i there not someone that sits back and try to put 30yd passes in,talk was we bid 35mil for a m/f i can see why,not that we will anyone,we made them look like Barca

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  3. This performance echoed the last few in last season. In Graham Potter Brighton has a manager that shows some guile. As much as i don’t want to slag Bruce off, this performance leaves me wondering.

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  4. another thig about Shelvey is when hes trying to defend your heart is in your mouth as hes always open to a red card he cannot control himself at times

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  5. Icedog: I am not Shelvey’s biggest critic but he cant take a fckn corner. His skillset is supposed to be his passing/crossing/the deadly ball.

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  6. Give Shelvey time to think and he will screw it up. Take him off corner and free kick duty.

    Every free kick ends up in the stands.

    How can the manager not see it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Dont they have a fckn video room.

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  7. 5 things we learnt ( as the Chronic like to say):

    1. Steve Bruce plays injured players.

    2. Steve Bruce was out-coached.

    3. Steve Bruce has **** assistants. Why keep them? It is like sticking with Ugly John Carver.

    4. Steve Bruce is fast catching up with Ashley in the fat stakes.

    5. Steve Bruce at least took Carroll off and realised it wasnt working today.

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  8. Back to Shelvey. We now have so much evidence that he cannot take a corner. It is always the same, a flat, floaty effort that either goes straight to the keeper or is headed away easily. Does everybody remember when we would play exactly the same ball from a free kick in our half for Williamson to head down from the edge of the opposition half. It never worked and still we tried it every game. I think Ugly John was the coach then.

    That’s what I am saying about Bruce’s assistants. Do they not do drills in training and see that Shelvey cannot take a corner? Get some bend on the ball man. Are they worried about bruising Jonjo’s ego?

    It may seem like a small point after an all around pathetic display but it shows that we do not have very good assistants never mind a good manager. There will be a couple of games like this in every season but if we do not get the basics right, like corners, we are hand cuffing ourselves. We dont play West Ham every week!

    Luckily Son got his 4 goals out of the way before facing us 🙂 I am a bit worried about Kane vs Lascelles though.

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  9. Read a couple of blogs and comments in The Guardian. If the media spread this lie that NUFC fans have accepted and even like Bruce then they obviously are not reading the same stuff as me. They make stuff up. It was just a couple of days ago that the press were saying Bruce was liked by NUFC fans. Maybe they should read twitter. I know there are a bunch of morons on there but there is a general feeling and it is not pro-Bruce. How can the media spread these blatant lies? Bruce only has fans among pundits and press. I couldnt name a single person on here who thinks he is the right man for the job. When we were close to the takeover I saw a lot of comments asking which top 10 team would hire Bruce. The answer was none! And yet the media were falling over themselves to praise him and say that we were delusional. I gave him a chance but had seen enough by last Christmas. He has the squad to keep us up, I am not sure if HE is good enough to keep us up. We will need another dose of the luck we had last year.

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  10. Trying to avoid a knee **** but it’s impossible and very typical NUFC. We always come up with this kind of non performance like Leicester last year. All of the new guys were poor, Lewis especially. Why play Carroll against their giants? Stupid! ASM not fit again, stupid Bruce. Fraser not fit.
    Anybody rate Bruce?

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  11. The press and pundits try to tell us that we dont see what we saw with our own eyes. The people on this site watch every game. We saw how **** we were for the vast majority of games last year. We know that we have won 1 of the last 7 PL games. We saw the surrenders at City. We know Bruce is not a good coach and his underlings are just as bad if they can see that Shelvey cannot take a corner or free kick.

    We have not accepted Bruce. These idiots might want to read a blog one time or the comments in The Chronic to see the real feelings of fans. But they are too lazy to do that. They just blurt out the usual rubbish about us being too hard to please or delusional. Maybe we have it right Jermaine Jenas and Danny’s Mills and Murphy. Maybe Bruce and his assistants are just not that good and none of your cheerleading for them will change that.

    He has the tools now because our squad is mid-table. It will be his fault if we finish anywhere below 13th. It is like McClaren. He got the best squad relegated from the PL ever. It can happen.

    I was hopeful when I saw us making decent signings. That Brighton game has made me think twice. It is not knee **** it is what we saw last year. I admit we were chasing the game but we didnt seem to have a plan.

    Shelvey must never take a corner or direct free kick again, I dont care what it does to his ego.

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  12. You know that some pundits made the suggestion for Bruce as Manager of the Season last year. They then changed their mind and said maybe Wilder or Klopp were better. But it did cross their minds in the first place so it shows how clueless they are.

    They will harp on about them having played the game at the highest level so they will obviously know more than the average fan. Not if you are dumb as a rock Charlie Nicholas.

    I am still annoyed from yesterday and need to let off steam.

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  13. To answer Georgios question, no I don’t rate Bruce – but I think it’s too easy to blame him on this occasion.

    The players have to take responsibility for their own performance on Sunday.

    I think it’s easy to question the Carroll inclusion – but everyone accepted he had a good game against WHU, and linked up well with Wilson. Do you really change a winning team that performed well?!.

    Our problem wasn’t the team Bruce sent out there – it was the team he sent out there were 2nd to Brighton in EVERY aspect of the game.
    Our team knew formation, their role in it and what was expected of them – coz they executed it well against WH. They just didn’t against Brighton – they didn’t work hard, were sloppy and didn’t want it as much as Brighton.

    To a men they were awful, and the only one who could walk out of SJP with some credit was Almiron – who came on and worked as hard as any Brighton player.

    Collectively they need to get their act together and Bruce needs to have some balls this season, coz he’s now got a squad where he can drop those not giving their all.

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  14. I have settled down a bit now and agree with a lot of what Sharpy said. I will add a bit more. That’s the way Bruce teams play, his methods are outdated as we saw for the whole of last year.

    But when I was looking at predicted teams most people thought it would be unchanged from WHam. Including me and you only have to look back one thread to see Olly did too. The on ly change anybody really considered would be getting Miggy on but that would have meant probably dropping Hendrick and I think Bruce wanted a 3 man midfield because Brighton play a possession game.

    Carroll probably played his best game last week in his 2nd spell. I didnt see any calls to drop him and Bruce certainly wasnt dropping Wilson after campaigning for a new number 9. Carroll played as a number 10 again and that had worked the previous week.

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  15. Then there is Lamptay. The kid is 19 and nobody has seen much of him so you really cant blame Bruce there. People are saying St Max is not a defender. True, but he has tracked back in previous games and we had our fastest player to help him – Lewis. I thought the penalty was touch an go.

    Then there is the criticism of not taking St Max off. Players are often allowed to try to play through an injury and he didnt stay on for that long.

    The other criticism mainly levelled at Bruce is that he waits too long to make tactical subs. He took Carroll off at half time. That left us with one sub so it was always likely that we wouldnt use that until about 20 mins to go.

    We did play a terrible game but Bruce probably made the decisions that we would have made.

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  16. In hindsight we did set up wrong and everybody was pretty **** but we didnt really know that Wilson would be ineffective and their big lads would snuff out Carroll.

    It is not all doom and gloom. We dont know which Spurs will turn up and they will be knackered. Hell, you dont know which Spurs will turn up from half to half as you would see watching this weekend. Son isnt going to score 4 every week and Jose is already moaning about fixtures and alienating Dele Alli. Plus, their centre backs are almost as slow as ours.

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  17. Just struck me that the club that let De Bruyne and Salah leave after about a year have now sold Lamptey for 3 million. Not that it really matters as they just go out and buy someone else. Pulisic and Werner are great players and still young. Get a couple of central defenders and I can see Chelsea challenging for the title again. Have to see how it goes with Lampard though.

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  18. What is Bruce on about now saying empty stadiums mean fewer home wins. That has not been the case. It is also not just about fans when you figure out the home advantage. It is also about travel and staying in a hotel. It disrupts the preparation compared to sleeping in your own bed and driving to SJP. The fact that players are isolated when going away probably makes this worse but the stats still show approximately the same number of home wins.

    Sure there were a lot of away wins this weekend but that has not been the case since football’s return from lockdown. When we beat WHam he was king of the world. Now after being outplayed and outcoached by Brighton it is the schedule and no fans what done him in.

    Looks like Pardew left his copy of The Big Book of Excuses in his office when he left. Carver used it, McClaren certainly did and even Rafa did quite often.

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  19. Bruce is clutching at straws with empty stadium angle. If there was 50,000 plus at St James on sunday, that team would of known about it with the way they played, Bruce would of known it too.
    They would of been booed off and his tactics would of been questioned in a not very polite manner i would think.

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  20. Brighton players ran into space again when they passed the ball. Our players just stayed in their alloted spaces. No pass and move for us, just pass and watch. Been going on for a long time and hoofing it long to Andy. Poor coaching in evidence.

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  21. The hoofball has to stop. It is not just Shelvey but Darlow does it as well because he is not a confident keeper. Lascelles and Fernandez are not comfortable on the ball so they give it a hoof.

    Now people are criticising Bruce for playing 4-4-2. I had seen many calls for him to play this system using Miggy as a number 10. It worked against WHam with Andy as a number 10. bruce did realise the Brighton centre backs had Carroll in their poclet so he took him off at half time. That is very unlike Bruce so he did some in-game management for once.

    I am just as culpable of laying into a manager after a bad defeat but some of it is over the top. I am even seeing stuff that St Max is not interested anymore. After 36 bad minutes FFS!

    In some fans eyes we have gone from solid midtable to relegation certs in one week.

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  22. @NUFC360
    Newcastle have made the controversial decision to not pay for coronavirus testing for Carabao Cup opponents Morecambe this week. Several PL clubs have done the opposite, with Spurs learning of four positive tests in the Leyton Orient squad.”

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  23. kimtoon:
    @NUFC360
    Newcastle have made the controversial decision to not pay for coronavirus testing for Carabao Cup opponents Morecambe this week. Several PL clubs have done the opposite, with Spurs learning of four positive tests in the Leyton Orient squad.”

    Seems totally stupid to me. They should act like the Govt and do a U-turn on everything they ever say about CV-19 and lie that they ever said it. Same over here with Trump even though it is all caught on tape of his press conferences.

    There is still time to test the Morecombe players. What would the cost be – a couple of grand? Let’s say that without the tests Miggy or Wilson gets the virus. They would be laid up for 2 weeks in isolation and that would cost a minimum of 100k paid in wages for nowt. And that doesnt even account for the effect it could have on results. We have Burnley at home soon which is one of our more winnable games.

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  24. I seriously thought things would be better than this. How could they have screwed up so badly (not talking about Bruce)? The US and UK are run by morons.

    I have a trip booked to Oregon in 3 weeks. I originally planned it 5 months ago, now I am 60/40 on whether to go. If I postpone I will not be charged but will have to wait until spring. I have already been mostly cooped up for 6 months FFS and not sure if I can take another 6.

    I am OK when I get there as the car and hotels will be sanitized and the weather will be OK to still eat outside. It is the airport and the plane. OR has a very low rate of CV-19 but there are people from all over the country at the airport. Middle seat on the plane is not being used.

    I am not at high risk, but should I be looking for trouble by putting myself in this situation?

    The problem is that this looks like it will not end anytime soon and how long do I live in fear?

    The news doesnt help. The Govt instructions here and in the UK are what can best be described as mixed messages from Ministers and Scientists alike. They change their tune every day it seems. There is no strategy.

    I see you have another lockdown in Newcastle. I think more people will break it. Most pubs are open here in Chicago but I sit outside just to be safe(r).

    It is a bit of a dilemma but one that people like Kimtoon face everyday with Carers coming into their home. I have a choice though and she doesnt. I still think I will go but I am running in circles in my head about it because of precisely the fact I do have a choice when others like Drs, nurses and supermarket workers do not.

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  25. Eric, ourGovernment has scrapped plans to allow fans back into football grounds from October.
    This does not apply to some individuals , like Mike Ashley.
    Ashley has attended both of our opening games , probably because he can now go into a stadium without receiving a torrent of abuse .
    I hope that the stadiums ban will last all season so that Ashley can attend all of our games and watch the load of rubbish the rest of us have had to witness season after season.

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  26. Sidekick:
    Eric, ourGovernment has scrapped plans to allow fans back into football grounds from October.
    This does not apply to some individuals, like Mike Ashley.
    Ashley has attended both of our opening games , probably because he can now go into a stadium without receiving a torrent of abuse .
    I hope that the stadiums ban will last all season so that Ashley can attend all of our games and watch the load of rubbish the rest of us have had to witness season after season.

    very good point mate

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  27. Moyes and 2 players at West Ham have tested positive for Coronavirus. They are going ahead with the game tonight. I wonder what point it needs to get to to postpone a PL game? Saw Orient was postponed but that is not the PL and I am sure there is not the testing like in the PL.

    Pretty sure that with the technology now that Moyes can at the very least do a zoom teamtalk and half time talk and be watching the game from home.

    A few things I have noticed:

    * players are still gobbing/spitting on the pitch. You would think they would try to limit that.

    * the subs are social distancing in the stands but the players still hug after goals.

    * some of the staff and managers wear masks on the sidelines and some dont.

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  28. Testing positive would require different isolating than just returning from Spain and quarantining for 2 weeks. Moyes would have to be passed a virus-free right? I am trying to think back to how long it took Arteta to return. He is sort of the one that started the whole football lockdown being the most high profile person to get CV-19.

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  29. Bruce said that 90 to 100 NUFC staff and players get tested twice a week for COVID-19. There is no requirement for EFL players to be tested. You would think NUFC would want them tested to maintain the integrity of their own health checks. I mean, they are all within close proximity with no masks.

    I think it would be within their rights for a NUFC player to not play if their are no tests. Just like it is within their rights not to go to a pub or cinema. You could say it is their job, but from what I see here the employees at pubs and supermarkets wear masks.

    I think Moyes and Orient players testing positive might throw a spanner in the works of the Carabao/League Cup games. The least they can do is testing, whoever pays for it.

    I wonder if the Blackburn players were tested last week? Not sure what The Championship protocol is.

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  30. Sharpy17:
    Jesse Lingard has robbed a wage off Man Utd!!
    He’s on par with Murphy for me.

    You mean you dont have the Jlingz hoodie with his own logo on it for $60 a pop?

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  31. Eric Sykes: You mean you dont have the Jlingz hoodie with his own logo on it for $60 a pop?

    Mate they’ve sold out of my size ??‍♂️?

    No, and nor will I be adding it to my list to Santa either

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  32. Read an article in The Mag that said St Max looks disinterested because his Agent is angling for a better deal. I have seen a few others say it on Blogs.

    Is this the same St Max who tried to take on West Ham on many occasions and was hacked down every time. 8 times in all and still he tried to go past them. He also linked up very well with Lewis sending him down the line.

    It must have been the Brighton game then. Where he twisted his ankle and tried to play on but was subbed on the half hour. He had given away a penalty, we were 2 down and being outplayed. You might expect he might not be in the best of moods.

    I dont understand some fans. How you can conclude St Max is not putting in a shift when he was hacked off the pitch and soldiered on in the 1st game and then was injured in the 2nd, is beyond me. Him and Dubs were our best players by a mile last season but some people just have to find fault.

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  33. Sharpy17: Mate they’ve sold out of my size

    No, and nor will I be adding it to my list to Santa either

    Sharpy, I read he had lost 200k on that clothing line last year. Nowt to him, but still…

    Do you know James Rodriguez has 400 million followers on Instagram. More than Man U. There is a cult of personality for some players just not sure most people know who Jesse Lingard is. Not even sure if Man U fans know who he is now.

    Would be just like us to get him in on loan and have him start ahead of Miggy 🙂

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  34. This is a difficult lineup to predict. If Bruce starts Shelvey and Carroll I dont think they will start against Spurs. Longstaff as a number 10 and more playing time for Clark and Fraser to get match fit. 4-4-1-1 So:

    Gillespie

    Yedlin Krafth Clark Ritchie

    Barlaser Shelvey

    Fraser Joelinton

    Longstaff

    Carroll

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  35. If he doesnt play Barlaser then what was the point of keeping him and not loaning him out? I can also see Murphy starting instead of Fraser and Fraser coming on after 60 mins. Just a difficult starting 11 to predict.

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  36. It’s disgusting that we decided not to pay for Morecambe to be tested tonight like. If we have 2 or 3 players come down with COVID before Spurs.

    Greedy Ashley does it again ???

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  37. Eric, Re your trip. It seems to me the biggest threat is the plane rather than where your heading or the airports.
    The aircon on planes is pretty poor, hence why if someone with a cold is on board then it’s highly likely many on that plane will get it . Reckon you should invest in a really good face mask with inbuilt filtration for both flights. You should be fine then.

    My ex was supposed to be covering a few nights care for Lew as his carer is away on leave for two weeks and our Hazel is doing the other nights, it’s 3 hours a night helping me with him. Well my ex has gone to Berlin and left us and his son in the lurch ! Even if he returns next week , he’ll need to self isolate before he can come here. About as much use as a chocolate teapot, and totally selfish.

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  38. Football better be careful with CV-19 as the testing is haphazard. I have read a couple of articles and here is a summary:

    * Moyes and the 2 West Ham players said they had sore throats. That means they were not asymptomatic. Moyes has been told to self isolate for 10 days. That doesnt seem very long to me.

    * West Ham offered to pay for Hull tests at a cost of 5000 pounds and they turned them down. They didnt want to get into a situation they said.

    * Most of Orient’s players tested positive. Begs the question of what the EFL are going to do about the teams they have already played?

    * The EFL are now considering what to do going forward but the cost of testing is a barrier. The league could pay for it but do they have the money? If the govt offered to help there would be uproar given the state of testing for the general population.

    There is just no way that the EFL players have been following anything like the restrictive protocols of PL players. Since they are in close proximity to each other in training every day and not wearing masks their virus rate is likely to be more than the general population. And dont get me started with the gobbing on the field.

    I dont see this ending well for the EFL and I think the PL will have to think about whether they even want to play these teams. PL players should also make their own choice.

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  39. Kimtoon: I have a friend who is a flight attendant and he has been working as normal. He flies up to 3 internal US flights a day, 5 days a week. I met him on Saturday and asked about CV-19. He said he wears a mask, passengers wear masks and they have stopped drink and snack service. He said they take his temp before flights but that is it.

    Adding it up Matt must have flown over 150 flights over the past 3 months which would have included hotspots like TX and FL. They also overnight in some of these places. It is all so confusing because Chicago requires you to quarantine if you travel from TX and FL.

    And I dont think I can even fly to Newcastle. My mother live 3 miles from the airport on the flightpath and she says there are hardly any planes.

    Anecdotally, from what is happening with my flight attendant friend the airlines seem to be doing a good job. But then you see the British Govt requiring quarantine from countries with much lower cases, like Germany.

    As I said, it is all very confusing.

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  40. AND: Bruce is saying that a number of players can leave “if NUFC receive the right offer”. He is having these players train with the reserves so doesnt that mean you lose any bargaining power on offers. Other clubs know we dont want them so why not offer 1 pence?

    Yedlin, Atsu and Murphy must have some value to somebody?

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  41. So The Chronic do a survey of which team should start at Morecombe and they come up with a 4-4-2. Are these the same fans that gave Bruce dog’s abuse for playing 4-4-2 at the weekend and called him a dinosaur? I had mentioned earlier that this was the case, that fans had been asking for a 4-4-2 quite often. Bruce (and Rafa) had also been criticised for starting 1 upfront in a 4-2-3-1.

    Bruce also got abuse for starting Carroll even though he had his best game since returning against West Ham.

    I am not even defending Bruce as I think will be outcoached many times this season, but the fans cannot have it all ways.

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  42. I also have a real problem when I hear WHU are going to UP testing due to 3 testing positive – am I the only one that things something wrong with that when emergency service workers can’t even get a test or are being told to travel 70 miles to their nearest test site?!.

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  43. Why havent they cancelled the Carabao/League Cup this season? The lower league teams rely on gate money against the bigger clubs and with no fans they must be losing money on it.

    I know a lot of the NUFC support would like to win a trophy, any trophy, but causing expenses for clubs already in trouble makes no sense.

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  44. And whatever happened to the NUFC “fans” calling Carroll Judas after he left for Liverpool? I have read blogs for quite a while and I can tell you there were a lot of them and it went on for years.

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  45. That team should absolutely slaughter league 2 opposition. Looks like we are seeing Shelvey on Sunday. About a year ago I spent a few days on here discussing Shelvey (mainly with myself). It was mainly that he is too inconsistent and that you have the set up the team around him. I concluded that we really didnt have much else in central midfield. Now the old doubts are coming back and we STILL dont have much else in central midfield. One of the Longstaffs or Hendrick has to step up or it will continue to be a rollercoaster depending on how Shelvey plays.

    At the very least we have to push Shelvey further up field as we cannot have him playing quarterback. We have to move away from the other midfielder or centre back gets the ball and passes to Jonjo who launches one. When they come off they are spectacular but a lot of the time it is just gifting the ball back to the opposition.

    It may sound like a way to beat the high press but most of the time it doesnt work and Jonjo is left as a passenger because his lack of pace hurts us. I dont doubt his commitment as some do it is just if he is not on form then we look terrible.

    Plus the other teams know exactly what we will do/how we will play with Jonjo in the team.

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  46. If Shelvey was injured and we put in Atsu for Murphy then this is basically last season’s 1st team!!!

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  47. Just added up the cost of that team and it is 103 million quid.

    Remember Miggy was 20 mil, Joe 40, Ritchie 10, Murphy 10, and Yedlin, Clark, Krafth and Lascelles all 5 mil apiece.

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  48. 5-0 now. Hayden scores. Best player of first half is Jacob Murphy, however, this is a league 2 side …

    Yedlin, rubbish
    Longstaff, rubbish
    Krafth, rubbish

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  49. Glad Murphy is having a good game because it would be monumentally stupid to loan him out with a year on his contract. We need 4 wingers and only have St Max, Miggy and Fraser. Is Joe a winger, dont think so. Miggy can play all across the front so I am not sure if I would say he is a pure winger.

    Pickford supposedly dropped another clanger. I have been saying for 2 years he will cost England a game at the Euros. Southgate will probably stick with him but at least a few pundits and journos are waking up.

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  50. Gilly: I am watching Wraith and his mates describe the game on Youtube. Didnt know where to get it over here. Also, I cant take Ando on the radio.

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  51. I just hope that we are not going to make the same mistake with Murphy as we did with Armstrong and Toney. We sold them for a relative pittance to save wages. We should be selling players that we KNOW do not have a future like Atsu.

    Murphy deserves a chance as he was supposedly a massive favourite at Sheff Wed last year.

    People are always talking about getting some Championship players in but bring back one we already have. He never really got a chance under Rafa. And you know with Rafa that might not have been about ability it was about fitting into his system and the ability to listen to instructions.

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  52. Gilly Toon:
    I don’t understand why we have such a strong bench. We could’ve tried Sorensen, Tom Allen, etc

    Easy asked at 5-0 up mate, but if we were making hard work of it and had those players on the bench he’d have been accused of not taking the cup seriously ??‍♂️

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  53. Bit of a hiding to nothing tonight really – expect to win that one. But credit for the manner in which they won it and the late goal shows they didn’t just see it out at 4/5-0.

    Good shot of confidence for players like Joe & Murphy and Miggy for me is our number 1 key player imo. I know ASM gets lots of plaudits and understandably so, but the team plays with a different energy when he’s out there.

    Credit where it’s due, good win and nice tie against Newport now – who will put everyone behind the ball after seeing that.

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  54. Good win in the end. 7-0 but it could easily have been a banana skin. We’ve given up against league 2 opposition before… ?. I watched on the EFL site. Best players tonight were Murphy and Almiron… Joelinton did well too apart from missing a sitter…

    We played a strong team and it showed intent. Hopefully we can take confidence from that for Spurs

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  55. Looks like Bruce has finally seen sense and is keeping Murphy. I would have told him earlier but better late than never. He wont start against Spurs I dont think but is a good option off the bench if he is full of confidence.

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  56. Sharpy: I reckon what St Max is the other players to take some of the pressure off him. He is double teamed everytime he gets the ball, so give the opposition something to think about. We have that with Miggy, Wilson and Fraser so when we are full strength we should worry some teams.

    I reckon Bruce will want to play the players he has bought against Spurs which will not leave a space for Shelvey. Spurs can be got at because they really do not have a great defense and midfield. I have said it before that Dier is slow and Alderweldereid is not the player he was. Also Winks and Sissoko in midfield are a bit limited. The key is not letting them play to their strenths because giving Kane and Son freedom of the park will hurt us.

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  57. So assuming Bruce wants to play all of his signings, I see:

    Darlow

    Manquillo Lascelles Clark Lewis (or Ritchie if Lewis not fit)

    Hayden Hendrick

    Fraser Miggy St Max

    Wilson

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  58. As you can see I have gone off Shelvey again. Maybe I am making him a scapegoat for Brighton but we are one-dimensional and more importantly so predictable when he plays. I wouldnt sell him, but I wouldnt have him first choice either.

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  59. Murphy scored 9 goals for Sheff Wed last year. Not bad for a winger.

    He also played for England Under 18, 19, 20 and 21s.

    He definitely had pedigree before he got to us. As I said before, it all could have been Rafa. He demands you play the role he puts you in, that you play his system. He can stifle certain players. Look what he did to Mitro. You cannot tell me we would not be a better squad with Mitro instead of Carroll. He can also demoralise certain players.

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  60. See some comments in The Chronic etc saying this is meaningless. What about getting beat by Boro reserves in pre-season? Quick to moan then. How about some other recent results in cups:

    Stevenage
    Notts County Reserves (at home)
    We were lucky against Blackburn

    We needed this result to get over Brighton and at least restore a bit of confidence.

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  61. Eric Sykes:
    Sharpy: I reckon what St Max is the other players to take some of the pressure off him. He is double teamed everytime he gets the ball, so give the opposition something to think about. We have that with Miggy, Wilson and Fraser so when we are full strength we should worry some teams.

    I reckon Bruce will want to play the players he has bought against Spurs which will not leave a space for Shelvey. Spurs can be got at because they really do not have a great defense and midfield. I have said it before that Dier is slow and Alderweldereid is not the player he was. Also Winks and Sissoko in midfield are a bit limited. The key is not letting them play to their strenths because giving Kane and Son freedom of the park will hurt us.

    Eric – what I mean about Miggy is that his workrate sets the standard for everyone else. That’s not to say ASM doesn’t work coz does. But when he doesn’t have the ball he isn’t tearing round the pitch like Miggy. That encourages or shames the rest of the team into upping their game. You saw it in the 2nd half against Brighton. That wasn’t Bruceys team talk – it was the introduction of Almiron who was immediately our best player. Sadly it had no impact on the score line, but there was a bit more of a fight at least.

    I agree, strongest front line is Wilson with Fraser, Miggy & ASM buzzing around him.

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