Newcastle 1-1 Fulham: Abysmal NUFC get away with it as Wilson saves Bruce’s bacon…again

A pathetic performance at St James’ Park, with a Callum Wilson penalty saving Bruce’s bacon on a dismal Saturday night that saw us look second best throughout – even with a man advantage!

Failing to beat a newly promoted side and relegation rival at home seems like a bad result – especially when they were down to 10 men for the final half hour – however it feels like we got away with one here by avoiding what would’ve been a disastrous defeat, it was THAT bad.

That said, we could’ve really done with all three ahead of upcoming games Man City, Liverpool and Leicester – not that we ever looked likely to win it in a pitifully passive performance from start to finish.

The result takes us to 12th, on 18 points for Christmas and eight clear of the drop zone as things stand.

Steve Bruce made FIVE changes from the side that lost 5-2 at Leeds. In came Yedlin, Dummett (!), Shelvey, Ritchie and Almiron, with Lewis, Murphy, Hayden, Hendrick and Fraser dropping to the bench:

We’ve yet to have over 50% possession in any of our previous 13 games so far this season, so it was no surprise so see the visitors enjoy most of the ball over opening 10 minutes.

That said, we were second best in the opening stages, not only allowing them 70% of the ball but a few very decent chances. Thankfully, efforts from Cairney and Lookman didn’t trouble Darlow, but our inability to stop the cross and poor marking in the middle was an early cause for concern as Fulham started confidently.

We had one or two half chance, but with that was an evident lack of quality in the final third, with any attempts to hurt a fragile Fulham defence quickly falling flat as Ritchie sliced wide, Wilson headed straight at Areola and then saw his attempt to slip in Joelinton intercepted before the Brazilian then headed over a decent ball in from Yedlin.

It was Fulham who then had the biggest chance of the match in the 26th minute mark. The explosive Anguissa cut through our midfield like a knife through butter and the ball fell to Decordova-Reid – who only had Darlow to beat but was quickly closed down by our stand-in stopper and star man between the sticks.

Half an hour in it was uninspiring to say the least. If it wasn’t the lack of possession it was the lack of pressing or the total lack of quality on the rare occasion we did get the ball into the final third. Not only that, we looked a soft touch at the back, with our midfield easily bypassed and wide areas failing to contain the likes of Lookman and Decordova-Reid. The latter really should’ve scored by this point, slicing wide after sneaking in behind a ball-watching Dummett.

Aside from a decent strike from Almiron that was well held by Areola, it was desperately bad and a painful watch…and we soon got what we sadly deserved.

A Fulham corner was floated in, Adarabioyo got up highest and his header ricocheted in off Ritchie’s face for a laughable own goal. A bad goal to concede, but you couldn’t say it hadn’t been coming…

Half time. 1-0 to Fulham and a frankly pathetic 45 minutes of football from a black and white perspective.

The teams returned ahead of the restart and there was no Fernandez, meaning Hayden was forced to fill in alongside Clark. Hardly ideal given our lack of fit centre-backs, although we were in safe hands based on Hayden’s MOTM display against the Baggies this time last week.

15 minutes into the second half, a surprise Sky Sports stat indicated we’d had 70% of the ball since the break. That was a step in the right direction, however we’d not converted that into any meaningful shot on goal, with Shelvey’s tame free kick sailing over and Joelinton failing to get an effort away after a good run got him through.

Thankfully, that quickly changed in a flash via a passage of play that turned this one-sided affair completely on its head.

Almiron slipped in Wilson, who not only beat his man for pace but was adjudged to have been hauled down in the box by Andersen. A penalty to Newcastle, but a double-boost soon after when Graham Scott showed the Danish centre-back a straight red after VAR instructed him to take a closer look via the pitch-side monitor.

Needless to say, Wilson then stepped up and rolled the ball straight down the middle and past Areola. 1-1 and a major twist in a game we looked destined to lose just a few minutes prior.

In all honesty, it looked to me like the contact came OUTSIDE the box, making the double punishment even tougher to take for Fulham. Mind you, it was a lucky break we needed and maybe deserved after VAR’s abysmal error at Elland Road!

With half an hour remaining and the visitors now down to 10-men, we’d never have a better chance to push for a massive three points over a potential relegation rival.

No surprises who Steve Bruce turned to next, with Joelinton making way for Dwight Gayle – the man who made all the difference the last time we were pushing for a late winner at 1-1!

Ryan Fraser then entered the fray as we approached the final 10 minutes, seeing Ritchie move to left-back as Dummett made way.

Frustratingly, we weren’t making full use of the extra man, struggling to keep Fulham on the back foot, string more than a few meaningful passes together or force Areola into any saves.

We had most of our big guns on, but we looked leggy and lacking in ideas as the fourth official signalled there’d be FIVE minutes of added time.

Nothing was forthcoming and it was instead us who ‘hung on’ for a point in stoppage time – which was one more than I was expecting until the penalty and subsequent red card changed everything!

A painful end to passive, dull and just painstakingly poor performance…yet again. I dread to think where we’d be without luck and Callum Wilson.

Next up, a trip to Manchester City on Boxing Day!

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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.

92 thoughts on “Newcastle 1-1 Fulham: Abysmal NUFC get away with it as Wilson saves Bruce’s bacon…again

  1. I think the only thing worse than Man City on Boxing Day would be forgetting the batteries for the bairns’ toys and all the shops being closed on Xmas Day.

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  2. Or Liverpool, judging by the game today 🙂

    When do we play Liverpool? After City. Oh ****.

    And then Leicester, you say. Our bogey team.

    Good we have the 18 points, deserved or not, because we will need a Xmas/New Year miracle.

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  3. I think apart from Mitro and Cairney I would have been hard pressed to name any Fulham player and still they out played us.

    Loftus-Cheek on the bench. So that is still 9 I cannot name!

    I thought we would do a lot better because they are not a high press team which Bruce seems to have trouble with. The way we have played against Leeds and Fulham I think Bruce has trouble tying his own shoelaces.

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  4. Should be comedy gold after Man City-Liverpool-Leicester to hear the excuses.

    The classic of we held our own against Leeds until the last 12 minutes will be hard to beat!

    You can do it Brucie, if you play your cards right.

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  5. The game was awful. Other than the debatable pen, I can’t remember us really testing their keeper at all.

    It was a poor game, and one we really should have dominated & won convincingly – but not with Bruce. We can count ourselves as quite fortunate really.

    Eric – yeah, we have a good months worth of fixtures that I see us doing well to get any more than 3 points from now – who knows where that will leave us on the back end of those fixtures.

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  6. So, the UK Christmas has been chopped from 5 days to just 1 – with only 6 days to go.

    Good old Boris U-turn again & a national lockdown last month that has had zero impact at all by the looks of it.

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  7. Sharpy: does Boris know what the hell he is doing? I didnt follow the election as close as you lot but it seems the “landslide” was because of weak opposition. Like beating up the skinny, spotty kid with glasses in school (although I would never do that, I’d leave it to Stewie). You have Brexit and now this.

    I know Trump doesnt care over here but I thought Boris might actually give a **** since he was in intensive care. It must just be incompetence, although this Covid seems very unpredictable. But changing your mind 100 times just smacks of being a bit thick. C’mon, London in tier 2! THE WHOLE OF LONDON? Oxford Street with no restrictions (seemingly).

    I worked for 2 years about 300 yards from Oxford Circus. It was mayhem every day there.

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  8. Some good games today. Cant be any worse than ours !!!!

    Spurs / Leicester

    Man U / Leeds – dont they hate each other? Red Rose / White Rose thing. Pity there arent fans, or are there? I have lost track.

    Brum Derby. I should really want Villa to win as it would aid our relegation battle but c’mon West Brom and give Grealish 2 yellows for diving and have him sent off. Even though he is a fantastic player who doesnt need to cheat.

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  9. saying here that Boris has cancelled Xmas. Only 1 day to get together now. Is that really the answer? I mean, it does limit the possibility of spread but if you go tier 4 and then say OK you can see your granny but only for 1 day, that doesnt seem to make much sense?

    It doesnt seem to work like that. If you are infected you should stay clear of your granny, full stop.

    And you can let all of those Arsenal Fan TV guys into the ground who yell and spatter at each other. Not any more 🙂

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  10. getting to be an old man….

    I dont know a single song by One Direction or Justin Bieber. Are they still a thing now? Ariana Grande? No, not a singe song! I think I am lucky. I thought Kajagoogo were shyte when I was growing up so why would I listen to shyte now?

    Listening to Pink Floyd, Snoop, the Beatles. A bit retro. But better than Tik Tok.

    BTW, Mick Jagger has the worst version of an American accent I have ever heard. I have said this before – because it is true.

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  11. Olly’s ratings werent that far off mine apart from Joelinton who he gave 4 points more than he deserved… 4 points more than zero!!!!!

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  12. I am done with Joelinton.

    If he ever starts for us again that will prove how shyte a Manager Bruce is.

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  13. Eric Sykes:
    Sharpy: does Boris know what the hell he is doing? I didnt follow the election as close as you lot but it seems the “landslide” was because of weak opposition. Like beating up the skinny, spotty kid with glasses in school (although I would never do that, I’d leave it to Stewie). You have Brexit and now this.

    I know Trump doesnt care over here but I thought Boris might actually give a **** since he was in intensive care. It must just be incompetence, although this Covid seems very unpredictable. But changing your mind 100 times just smacks of being a bit thick. C’mon, London in tier 2! THE WHOLE OF LONDON? Oxford Street with no restrictions (seemingly).

    I worked for 2 years about 300 yards from Oxford Circus. It was mayhem every day there.

    Eric – I don’t think it’s a case of not caring, he’s just so far out his depth it’s dangerous.
    He’s more bothered about public addressings and (what he and his puppets think are) humorous digs at Labour or whoever else disagrees with them.
    He’s spent the best part of December claiming Kier Starmer wanted to cancel our Christmas – as if he was our saviour by granting us a 5 day window. Don’t get me wrong – I am no great fan of Kier either coz he hasn’t done a good enough job call Boris out – he’s been weak actually.
    But now Boris has had to admit he’s been wrong – again, and had to change his plan again – having been quite adamant he wasn’t going to.

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  14. georgio:
    Bruce has had 50games and still hasn’t twigged Joe is useless. Lethargic again last night. Poor.

    Georgio – he was poor yesterday mate. But Longstaff, Almiron and Ritchie were equally as poor – they just ran a bit more.

    Bruce came out again after the game and bemoaned the lack of consistency from the players. That HAS to come from the coaching doesnt it?!.
    The players may not have liked it, but Rafa used to drill them in training over and over again to get that consistency.

    I don’t think I’m being unfair to Bruce because HE said it.

    A lack of consistency suggests a lack of discipline. Players not doing their jobs – that’s plain for all to see. So what is Bruce doing to address that?!.
    Why is he not taking the set piece takers to task about their inability to put a ball in for example?!.

    Is it that the players are rebelling because they don’t like this 30% possession football?.
    The one thing I won’t have is that the players aren’t good enough – that’s rubbish coz it’s largely the same group of players that Rafa had.
    Rafas defence was solid. Longstaff & Hayden bossed the midfield – so they can do it when it’s drilled into them.
    Is Bruce more bothered about being everyone’s mate than their boss?.
    Is it that everyone knows their only aim is to stay in the PL, so there is no pressure to do better?. Bruce won’t be sacked and Ashley will be paying minimal bonuses I reckon so where’s the incentive?.

    It’s just 11 players going through the motions every week with nobody seeming to give a ****.

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  15. I know I mentioned Rafa a bit in my last post. I’m not saying it coz I was one of those who loved Rafa and was gutted to see him leave – or was dead against Bruce coz he’s not Rafa (as some pundits accuse NUFC fans of being). I didn’t enjoy watching NUFC under Rafa – I found it quite negative, especially against the bigger team. I know it’s something being said about Jose now – but the big difference is he has Kane & Son and far greater quality on the counter attack.
    Whilst I didn’t enjoy the football, that doesn’t mean to say I can appreciate a well organised, well drilled and disciplined team.

    My reason for not wanting Bruce wasn’t coz he wasn’t Rafa, it was coz he’s Steve Bruce. Nothing to do with ex Sunderland, more to do with this notion that coz he’s a Geordie he’ll do a good job or show more passion – utter nonsense!!.

    His record as a manager woeful. It’s not about old manager, old ideas – look at Roy at Palace. It’s about a footballing brain – and Bruce is average at best.

    He’s got his dream job – not coz he’s a Geordie managing NUFC, but because he’s a poor manager working in the safest job in English football (without a takeover).

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  16. That game yesterday was just so bad.. in my opinion we were gifted that penalty and red. I don’t know what the ref and var saw but never a pen. I’ll take it in place of the one we were not given vs Leeds though. This team are unbelievably bad. Bottom of the league team, down to 10 men at home, and we still couldn’t beat them. Longstaff was awful as were several others, they ran like they were in treacle… expecting the ball to just come to them instead of moving to get it. When they did move it was like a snail on pot!

    We have some canny under 23s if our first team can’t hack it then bring on these supposed second string! They certainly could not have done worse.

    We will get pasted by Brentford. We are just so sh.it it’s unbelievable. Cabbage head Bruce calls himself a Geordie and a fan… how the fu.ck can he watch that back and think it’s ok? ???

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  17. As for consistency, I think we are very consistent these days. Consistently bad, consistently slow, consistently passing back, consistently missing our own team with passes and a consistent lack of passion or caring for the shirt they wear.

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  18. Gilly Toon:
    As for consistency, I think we are very consistent these days. Consistently bad, consistently slow, consistently passing back, consistently missing our own team with passes and a consistent lack of passion or caring for the shirt they wear.

    Gilly – bang on mate ??.

    Bruce has a nerve talking about consistency anyway – he changes the team every bloody week!!.

    Olly might have a stat checker or something, but I’d be interested to see where we sit in a table of teams that change their starting 11 game by game.

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  19. Gilly: I dont think it was a pen either. You can make an argument it was a free kick and a yellow though. That’s a judgement call by the Ref and they were right to review it, but the foul was outside the box.

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  20. The only 2 players we know of who had Covid were Hayden and Fernandez. Can Bruce use that as an excuse if he wont name the other players. There are 4 others out so that just about covers who we guessed had it. Is lack of training an excuse for that display? They were training at home so it cannot be fitness. It cant be coaching either as we know The Steves dont coach otherwise we would not hit the first man on every corner and Shelvey wouldnt blast every free kick into the stands.

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  21. I dont know what to make of this Man U team except to say they do seem to play better without Pogba. Two or three dinks and pirouettes a game and the odd spectacular goal (less often now than ever) do not make up for not being able to tackle and prancing around. Now he doesnt take penalties his stats are way down. The journos used to defend him based on goals scored but if you get 10 penalties you are very likely to score a few goals just like Fernandez now.

    As usual with me it is not really about Pogba’s performances, it is the journos gushing over him. They keep saying “world cup winner” Paul Pogba. Sissoko outplayed him and Stephane Guivarc’h has a WC winners medal.

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  22. How hard can it be to coach corner taking? I would just stick in a video of Ward Prowse and say – that’s how you do it lads! Or send Sean Longstaff home with a video of his own corners with a sticker attached saying DO NOT HIT THE 1st MAN. Or Shelvey, with his own video with the sticker NO MORE FLOATERS.

    And it had to come – a set piece goal against Leeds.

    Man U are a better team than us (they should be) but are showing that you can get at Leeds and what a sh!tshow we produced against them.

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  23. OK, I have a question. If you go by one name do you have to be good? They usually are, but then there is… Joelinton.

    And McTomanay is playing like the Sean Longstaff we thought we had, I bet Man U are happy they didnt spunk 25 mil on Longstaff the taller now.

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  24. man U and Leeds are the 2 strangest teams in the league – you never know what you are going to get with them.

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  25. Eric Sykes:
    Even when they are getting beat 6-2 Leeds are better to watch than us.

    That’s a point I made to some friends just now. They never give up. No way would they win the game at 6-2 down with ten mins left, but they just kept attacking. If the toon played more like Leeds but got beat I’d still be happier than I am these days. Of course we would like to win games, but Jesus our style of non football is just painful to take.

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  26. Wow. Allardyce is one arrogant fcker. He will break his arm patting himself on the back if he keeps Albion up.

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  27. I am guessing there are no Xmas parties this year.

    I have just been thinking about a couple of disasters I have been to. Went to a very fancy restaurant in the Chicago suburbs and my boss ended up offending the limo driver and refused to pay. The limo driver called the cops and my ex-wife had to borrow the bosses car to drive the 4 employees home. It was pretty funny. We were in my bosses house and the cop was saying, like – you are paying this Limo driver or you are going to jail. I think my ex-boss was like 50 at the time. He never mentioned it at work the next day 🙂

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  28. You know what, lots of teams these days seem to have a Traore that plays really well. We have one of those too, in our under 23s, we need to wheel him out, get him in the first team and we can start doing really well! ??

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  29. Olly mate, I know I ranted about Covid but it was necessary. We knew the details would come out in the end. It was obvious. By those who were not training and not playing. Why the secrecy and lies? NUFC/KGB are a joke sometimes. And why even put Bruce through it? Just say who has/had it. This hiding behind privacy concerns is a joke. No other PL club does that.

    I still think they made up the story that St Max was injured and it was really Covid. We will see!

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  30. Grealish is a brilliant player and is not cheating quite as much. Man U should buy him and sell Pogba.

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  31. Grealish has that bit of Gazza about him which might help in the European Championship and WC. Him and Henderson would work.

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  32. Gilly Toon: That’s a point I made to some friends just now. They never give up. No way would they win the game at 6-2 down with ten mins left, but they just kept attacking. If the toon played more like Leeds but got beat I’d still be happier than I am these days. Of course we would like to win games, but Jesus our style of non football is just painful to take.

    Gilly – yeah mate, I think that’s what most toon fans would want. It why I don’t get the pundits digging us out when they all rave about Leeds too.

    Ask any pundit if they think Leeds will win something and I bet most say no. But ask if they enjoy watching Leeds anyway and I bet they all say they are one of their preferred teams to watch … so then why do they find it so difficult to understand what NUFC fans crave.

    We don’t demand winning football, just entertaining football and Leeds are the poster boys of that just now. As are Saints and I hate to say it but I enjoy watching Villa as well ??‍♂️

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  33. It was rubbish yesterday, yet again we looked out of our depth. Don’t care what anyone says , we play anti football and have done for ages.

    Anyone been out to look at ******* and ****** getting cosy ? some great pics on Dara O’briain’s twitter . Praying for clear night tomorrow for the main event.
    Get outside just after sunset and take a look up to the crescent moon and below it to the right you should see the two planets together. They are only visible until around 18.30 when they will drop below the horizon.

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  34. I am not even into Formula 1, I just always wondered why Lewis didnt get the recognition. I dont think it was a black thing? Lenny Henry got a knighthood FFS.

    They seemed to be giving out honours with boxes of cornflakes at some point. Barbara Windsor? How about Sir Little Jimmy Krankie or Lord Rod Hull?

    Not that the bankers and ICI Chairmen deserved it – but Stewie might argue about that 🙂

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  35. I dont watch much formula 1 apart from the 1st 3 laps. You sort of know the result most of the time after that. Lewis wins, end of.

    The commentators have gone Murray Walker plus 200% though. The one guy’s voice goes so high speed he sounds like Murray on cocaine. Just cannot get to any level more than he is without busting a blood vessel ( is the Bad Manners singer still alive?).

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  36. I am not going to link it here because it doesnt deserve it but Ryder’s latest piece is to deride fans on social media and say The Chronic have been telling it like it is and been highly critical of NUFC going back to their ban in 2013. Total b0llocks, their ban was NUFC being petty. Ryder pretends to be taking a swipe at Bruce and NUFC but it is really about his disdain for the regular fan. Of course there are trolls on twitter, but I dont really blame them watching the shyte we have to put up with and being locked in the house.

    But anyway, Fulham were not even that good!!!!!! And were comfortable even at 10 men. It was like watching 2 toddlers have a fight.

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  37. Xmas/New year predictions:

    Boris will say something stupid.

    Lewis Hamilton will get a knighthood.

    Man City 6 NUFC 0 Aguero hattrick.

    NUFC 1 Liverpool 4

    NUFC 1 Leicester 3

    So, what’s that? NUFC 2 opposition 13. That sounds about right. 30% possession.

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  38. Kimtoon: I have booked a trip to Maine in April. The main scenic highway is route 1. There are towns called Newcastle and Bristol (and Bath). I have to stop and take pictures. I will do an instagram account so you can see.

    I also still havent cancelled a trip to Florida on Jan 18. Giving it a couple more weeks to decide. It will all be outside and it is only the airport I am worried about.

    The problem with Chicago is that it gets so cold that you need to just get away for a few days. Everybody is freaking out about covid (as they should). I keep going back and forth on if I should go. The good news is that it wont be crowded and I am not really in a high risk covid group – no health or weight problems.

    It is one of those things with covid on TV all of the time and all of these deaths.

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  39. Kimtoon: the pics wont have me in them in case you are worried 🙂 I am guessing they are hokey little New England towns. I am excited to see them. Take a picture of the road signs going in!

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  40. It just keeps getting worse. An emergency meeting with Boris. An EU ban for travel from the UK. Total lockdown. Tier 4.

    Boris just does not have a clue. What do you think Stewie? I would still trade Boris for Trump though. The Orange Man Baby is fcn crazy and not just stupid!

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  41. Eric, look forward to your pics on your travels mate.
    Have you been watching the planets ? Not a good forecast for tonight, typical, still gonna try to see it in the flesh as it were.
    Maybe i need to drive up to the downs , better still the suspension bridge, get a top view from there.

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  42. Eric, My ex and his partner ( she’s German) had paid out over £300 for private covid test in order to fly out to Berlin last night, only for the Germans to cancel all flights last night ! His partner is devastated as she was desperate to be with her mum as she lost her dad last year and didn’t want her mum on her own at Christmas.
    Apparently this new strain is 75% more infectious .

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  43. so the rest of the world are basically shutting down the whole of England. That doesnt reflect well on Boris, Brexit and Stewie Thatcher.

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  44. It is quite funny to me that the people who left England/UK for a new life in Maine named all of the places for where they just left.

    Newcastle, Bath, Bristol, Camden, Woolwich, Belfast.

    I will be driving through all of these places.

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  45. Eric Sykes:
    so the rest of the world are basically shutting down the whole of England. That doesnt reflect well on Boris, Brexit and Stewie Thatcher.

    Quite the opposite, Eric. The UK and our world class epidemiologist have been able to find this new strain and report it to WHO. It would be bizarre and negligent if other countries were happy to allow UK citizens to travel freely given a new strain was found. We should have banned all travel to and from China back in January. It was muted, but it was racist apparently. ?‍♂️

    Although I find France’s freight ban rather odd. It makes no sense and is political. The EU are trying to pressure us into agreeing a deal where they get to control us. They’ve panicked as we haven’t caved and now this is their next step. Very nice friends to have… NOT.

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  46. If I was PM I would be ban ALL air travel in and out of the UK until at least 31st January. That will give us a chance to get this whole thing under control and get more and more people vaccinated.

    Time to look after our own and do it by all means possible.

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  47. I also think the French will start to allow freight to travel from the UK quite fast as it’s obvious that it has a negative impact on them too. Hopefully it will also have focused minds…

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  48. Bruce has lost the dressing room over his way of playing club captain has fell out with him so has Maxi in fact he so fed up he has gone back to France,he cannot get back now even if he wanted to
    Bruce needs to go quick sharp

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  49. Stuart79:
    If I was PM I would be ban ALL air travel in and out of the UK until at least 31st January. That will give us a chance to get this whole thing under control and get more and more people vaccinated.

    Time to look after our own and do it by all means possible.

    to bloody right mate,poor PM they call him when he stops people moving about others blame him when he does stop it he cannot win,the people to blame is the public just not taking any notice and doing their own thing and spreading it,lot of plonkers out there mate

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  50. The elephant in the room, Ice. The public! Track and trace is only as good as its participants. Socially distancing, mask wearing and hand washing advice is only as good as the people who are suppose to do it.

    Of course, the media won’t mention it, the opposition MP’s won’t mention it and it’s not possible for the gvt to mention it.

    It’s embarrassing.

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  51. icedog:
    Bruce has lost the dressing room over his way of playing club captain has fell out with him so has Maxi in fact he so fed up he has gone back to France,he cannot get back now even if he wanted to
    Bruce needs to go quick sharp

    Ice – did you see Bruce’s post match interview after the WBA win?.

    We won the game but I’ve never seen a manager look as stressed as he did – puffing his cheeks out, rubbing his forehead and just looked stressed to bits.

    If he’s lost Lascelles & ASM then I think he’s lost the squad coz they are 2 huge players in that squad.

    ASM came with a reputation. Super talented player without question – but if he was the complete player Nice wouldn’t have sold him for as little as £25m – that’s a ‘move him on’ fee. The lad could be as affective as Grealish in games & has been at times – and what kind of fees have been suggested for him??.

    But reputation or not, the lad is a footballer & his argument will be you brought me in to win games & ive proven I can – but not with 30% possession.

    I can understand an ASM falling out. Lascelles is a real strange one though. To fall out with your Capt – who has always struck me as a loyal, honest player. Hes had his training ground bust ups with team mates & despite not being our best player, I do feel like he understands the club & respects the shirt.

    If Bruce has lost those 2, that explains why the team look like they have been going through the motion in the last 2 games.

    He now has a run of games that really pile the pressure on & who knows how this turns out.

    NUFC are 16/1 against Man City ?

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  52. yes mate ime sorry to say i did see it,and your dead right,thought the same,where do we go from here thats my worry?

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  53. icedog:
    yes mate ime sorry to say i did see it,and your dead right,thought the same,where do we go from here thats my worry?

    Ice – I obviously didn’t know about ASM & Lascelles at the time & actually thought he might be suffering with COVID himself.

    We have to hope the club are monitoring it closely coz the last thing we need is another McClaren scenario where they act too late. As much as he’s an idiot, I don’t think Ashley would allow that to happen again (as in act too late).

    You look at the fixtures coming up and I don’t see too many points between now and March for a team that aren’t together & playing well.
    If we are to avoid a relegation battle I think we need at least 10 points out of those games – but off the back of the last 2 performances we’ll be lucky to get half that.

    He’s obviously got the window in Jan, but I only see loan moves at best – and Phil Jones isn’t saving him.

    It’s worrying times mate.

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  54. Stuart: you just defend Boris whatever he does because he is your party. He is not crazy like Trump is but he doesnt seem to have any plan. In his defense, nobody else seems to have a plan either. It is like leaving the world to be managed by Steve Bruce.

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  55. Oh, sorry. Steve Bruce does have a plan, just not a good one – give Fulham 70% possession in the 1st half.

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  56. I would not be surprised if some senior players have confronted Bruce on his negative tactics.
    If Bruce is going to continue with this style of football I can see players like St Max , Almiron and Lascelles looking to leave the club asap.
    A shirt change is now due and a few of the black and white stripes at the front of the shirt should be replaced with a broad yellow stripe . This would reflect the cowardly approach Bruce brings to football games.

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  57. So Bruce has quickly came out and dismissed these fall out claims & said they are both COVID sufferers – that’s entirely possible too.

    But this whole thing could have been avoided if the club had just been honest about which players were ill, rather than all the cloak & dagger rubbish in the first place!!.

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  58. Sharpy: I have been saying for 3 weeks at least that the covid secrecy was pointless and it would all come out in the end.

    It never made any sense. They lied about St Max being injured before the Palace game. Just stupid, and pointless!!!!!

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