Another frustrating night for Newcastle United, with several wasted second half chances punished by extra time strikes from Emile Smith-Rowe and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
After a uninspiring first half that saw us sit too deep, offer nothing on the counter and commit so few bodies forward, we were much better in the second 45 and should’ve scored through TWO big chances for Andy Carroll.
Those misses proved costly, with us running out of steam and gifting Arsenal that all important breakthrough via a rare Ciaran Clark error (he’d been brilliant prior to his mistake) as Arsenal bagged two in added time to go through.
There were a few positives to take – Dubravka was good on his return, Carroll much better aside from his misses and our defence solid until the final 15 minutes – but that’s a disappointing way to be dumped out of the FA Cup, one win in seven, another season without a trophy and just one goal in EIGHT hours of football for NUFC.
It’s also worth noting that tonight’s defeat means it’s now NINE years since we beat a Premier League side in this competition!
Bruce made a host of changes from the side that lost to Leicester last time out, with Dubravka, Krafth, Lascelles, Dummett, Hayden and Carroll coming in for Darlow, Yedlin, Schar, Fernandez, Matty Longstaff and Callum Wilson – with the latter and Jonjo Shelvey withdrawn from the matchday squad this morning as a ‘precaution’.
5-2-2-1: Dubravka – Krafth, Hayden, Lascelles, Clark, Dummett – S Longstaff, Hendrick – Almiron, Joelinton – Carroll.
We started OK, having (wait for this!) a whopping 55% of possession across the opening 25 minutes. Nothing special – especially when it didn’t result in a single shot – but a rare feat for Steve Bruce this season to have more of the ball.
In that period Arsenal forced Dubravka into three saves. The first two were simple gathers from shots outside the box, but his first meaningful stop came after Aubameyang got in behind and smashed a shot straight at the big Slovakian.
This was the start of Arsenal controlling the game, with the final 20 minutes of the half consisting of a few cynical fouls, some good defensive headers from Carroll and one brilliant covering challenge by Hayden:
After seeing a decent amount of the ball early on, we saw less and less of it as the first 45 went on and were camped in our own half at times as Arsenal took control.
The lack of pace in our side (other than Almiron) was alarming, with us failing to cause any problems on the break, slow in possession and struggling to get bodies into the box the rare occasion we got the ball into decent crossing positions.
Half-time and it was 0-0. A poor game and a frustrating watch – but a game that we could still win IF we upped it.
The second half saw Lascelles make way (let’s hope it’s fatigue and not an injury!) and Ritchie come on, meaning we reverted to a back four, with Dummett slotting in at left-back and Ritchie moving out wide.
Our first effort of the night then arrived via a tame Andy Carroll header. It was never troubling Leno, but it was good to FINALLY see us get a half decent ball into the box – even if our decision to initially go short from the free kick was baffling at best!
We were now pushing higher up the pitch, getting men into the box and enjoying a promising period of good pressure. After a clever chest down and powerful shot from Carroll gave Leno his first save to make (see above), the big man had a golden chance to make it 0-1…but missed from SIX yards after latching onto a miscued shot from Hendrick.
He had to score…
A few chances arrived soon after at the other end as Aubameyang got in down our left and dinked wide, with Dubravka then coming up trumps just a few minutes later – tipping a goal-bound header from Willock around the post.
Despite that, this felt like a game that was there for the taking at this point, with the holders looking flat and short on ideas as we brought on Murphy for Krafth to give us that extra bit of pace down our right-hand side.
We looked solid at the back and were frustrating them, but, after a decent spell of pressure that saw us play higher up the pitch, it was odd to see us sit 10 yards deeper soon after Murphy came on.
The game was threatening to fizzle out and go to penalties, but a ray of hope arrived with 10 minutes to play as we saw outstanding 18-year-old and U-23 star Elliot Anderson make his senior debut – and he very nearly won us the game within the 90!
After a good run and clever cut-back from Murphy – who was picked out well from Sean Longstaff – local lad Elliot Anderson had a shot blocked and the ball then fell to Carroll. Another big chance for the striker and an opportunity to win it at the death, but his effort was smothered by Leno and the game went to extra time.
Arsenal’s Emile Smith-Rowe was initially shown a straight red soon after for a lunging tackle on Longstaff, however Chris Kavanagh soon downgraded that to a yellow after being sent to the monitor by VAR. A fair call, but it came back to haunt us.
After having the red overturned, you just knew it would be Smith-Rowe to give Arsenal and extra-time lead, with him finally beating Dubravka from the angle after Clark dithered on the ball in a bad area. A crushing blow and a tough one to take for the Irishman, who had been one of our best players prior to his costly error.
A few minutes later and the tie was well and truly put to bed, with Tierney getting in behind – not for the first time – and setting up Aubameyang to tap in.
A disappointing defeat and another cup exit.
That’s what you get for failing to take your chances!
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I didnt see the match but have an observation based on Olly’s player ratings. Matt Ritchie couldnt clear the first man at corners AGAIN!!! It is tempting to blame the coaches but Ritchie is 31, how many corners must he have taken in training over the years? It must be getting into the hundreds of thousands. Same with Shelvey and his stupid floaters that just beg the centre halfs or keeper to attack them. I think he forgets that the keeper can use his hands and get above our players that way.
I think there is enough blame to go around though because our coaches should have identified the weaknesses in corner taking and set up by now. Longstaff wasnt any better either.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Some Facts:
Sheffield United have 2 points from 17 games which means they have not won all season. And yet, they are favourites to beat us. Their goal difference is minus 21.
I think we have won like 4 of the last 20 PL games. That is a 20% win percentage. Every Manager in history gets sacked with that sort of record. Even Bruce averages about 30% historically.
When Derby went down with the lowest ever points total of 11 they got 4 from NUFC that season. Will we be so generous with Sheffield?
My prediction is a draw at Sheffield and then another loss at Arsenal. That will be 2 points from the last 15. Maybe I am cherry picking but that is relegation form.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
There is a silver lining to yesterday – Big Fat Sam lost to Blackpool.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Thought we looked ok, didn’t get battered so small mercies . Carroll played well, Dubs too, yet we really could and should of won it late on. Ah well out in the 3rd round yet again. Nothing to win accept staying up now, that’s our trophy don’t you know.
The result on tuesday more important in the grand scheme of things really, will not be happy if they beat us.
kimtoon(Quote)
Newcastle make it very difficult to talk footy on a footy blog – coz it’s the same week in week out.
Decent defensively, awful in midfield, not quite enough up front.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I’m really disappointed with Longstaff. He’s become really ineffective I think. His workrate in terms of running & ground cover is high enough, but im not entirely sure what he does. I don’t see him making key passes or breaking down counter attacks with intercepting tackles – he’s sort of pointless really.
Unfortunately for us, Jeff Hendrick is the same – I really don’t understand why we brought him in.
Sharpy17(Quote)
NUFC say St Max did not break quarantine rules. He went to a supermarket and I think that is allowed, right. The whole country is pretty much in quarantine so he is not much different even though he returned from France.
I am not at all surprised there was a selfie. There seems to be an obsession. God it must get boring for the players constantly having to do this but they cant refuse or walk away or pretend they didnt hear because it will be on the back page of The Chronic the next day. They are trapped. If they get even slightly annoyed you can bet it would be elevated to the back page of The Sun.
It is a difficult situation I think. You can say they are paid so much money not just to play football but to be ambassadors for the club. Is that true? They are guilted into selfies. Not everybody is an extrovert in football.
If a player refuses a selfie you know what would happen. Refuses selfie – kid is devastated and dad sends picture to The Chronic – player apologises – player visits local hospital and has pictures taken with sick kids. And maybe even invites original “selfie kid” to meet and take a selfie.
I do not really know what I am saying about selfie culture except I am not sure if I could take it if every time I went out I would get interrupted from what I am doing 10s of times a day.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sharpy: I think Sean Longstaff should go out on loan. He is not kid anymore but needs to prove himself and that should not be in our first team. Hendrick probably still has value to someone so maybe we can sell him. Same with Shelvey.
What does that leave us with? Matty and Hayden.
We need a CM desperately and everybody has said it on here for ages. How come this is only really a discussion in The Chronic in the last couple of weeks?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Trying to think of what team to play on Tuesday. I cannot even be sure of the formation never mind the players. I will try for a wish list/”wish not” list.
Darlow will be back but I think him and Dubrovnik are about the same now. I heard about Mills. Was he doing it as some sort of pathetic joke?
Murphy should play.
Dummett should play as long as he has no fatigue from the Cup.
Pick 2 of the usual 3 centre halves or play them all. Lascelles should be nowhere near the team for another couple of weeks.
Should be Matty and Hayden in midfield but will probably be Shelvey.
Please drop Joelinton from the squad entirely.
Carroll cannot play on 3 days rest.
As long as it wasnt Covid we should play Fraser, Wilson and Miggy upfront.
I would like to see Gayle but the idiots might be trying to sell him when they really should be giving him a 2 year extension.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Lascelles looked way off the pace. Covid hangover?
If we can bring back Fernandez, Schar, Wilson and Fraser we’ll be OK on tuesday.
Mind you Fraser’s only managed 4 appearances in a year!!! Pathetic.
georgio(Quote)
West Ham cut their losses on Haller. He cost even more than Joelinton at 45 million but they realised he wasnt suited to the PL. I think they got about half their money back which in this market is pretty good going. What could we get for Joelinton? I havent looked at Transfermkt but I only believe about half of their valuations anyway.
Joelinton is obviously not suited to the PL. Is he even suited to the Bundesliga as he was sent to Austria. I reckon we would be doing well to get 10 million for him now. He is worse than Donkeylu was in the PL and has the burden of high wages and a long contract. He is definitely the worst signing in NUFC PL history (Shevchenko and Kepa may be worst PL overall). Worse than Marcelino, worse than Nacho, worse than Amdy Faye, worse than Xisco. Why?
Because Bruce seems to be under orders to play him no matter what his form. That is on top of the fee and the wages. I am now officially sick of people saying not to pile on because the fee wasnt his fault. I dont care anymore. He should never kick a ball for NUFC again.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I would also compare Joelinton to Benteke. He cost Palace 30 million so Mr Roy seems to think he has an obligation to still try to play him. Every time he does though, he misses a sitter and costs the team. He also does nothing else except occupy space the same way Joelinton does. At least it is sometimes in the box though. They persist with him only because of the fee. We persist with Joelinton because of his fee and maybe as the rumour has it that it is in his contract that he plays or the Fat Man insists.
I would say that Benteke is costing Palace more than 30 mil by playing. They are like us and have got a bit lucky with points compared to performances. Benteke should have his contract cancelled. Pity we cannot do the same with Joe, but I fear there will be no buyers either, even at 10 mil or 1 mil.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
And is this even fair anymore? Villa sent kids to Liverpool. Derby kids get beat by Class of ’92 FC because of Covid. We obviously have a weakened team, although some might say it is hard to tell.
The PL changed the rules to what they should have been all along. But they still cannot stop contact on the pitch between different bubbles and contact in training with the bubble which causes super-spreader events as soon as Covid enters. As we have seen at NUFC, Sunderland, Villa, Man City and others. And this is only what makes the news. There were 40 games called off over Christmas and we really never saw who they were because they are not in our news universe and we dont really care about Fleetham or Morcombe.
Am I flogging a dead horse? If it wasnt for the money football would have been stopped this weekend. We will see how long the PL can deny reality.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Us and Villa are out of the FA Cup leaving an open date on Jan 23rd.
WE CAN HAVE THE COVID CUP.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric – I’d cut our losses with Longstaff. Sell him mate, sell Shelvey as well & get a real defensive midfielder in and a creative midfielder in if we can – in the summer I’m talking here, we’ll get nowt done in Jan.
My preference for LB would be Jetro, but again they may wait to get him free in the summer.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Got Chorley and Salford mixed up earlier. But same thing. Derby had to play kids because of Covid.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
This has been the strangest week since I have lived in America (30 years). Last week Trump called on Georgia to falsify the vote to give him the election. His acolytes say democrats are trying to steal an election when it is clearly what he is up to. It is like some inverted, topsy-turvy universe.
Then the “law and order” President incites a riot where there is an armed insurrection where some of his supporters want to hang the Vice President. They have the whole congress hiding under desks and fleeing for their lives. Then they kill a Police Officer. I dont know if you all know this but they killed him by hitting him with a fire extinguisher.
And these idiots do not even try to hide their faces. They take selfies and videos. And this is in a place where there are probably more CCTV cameras than any comparable space in the world.
I could say a lot more, but this has been mental.
Impeach. Even more, he should go to jail. He might pardon himself but the States can still send him to jail for fraud. He truly is the worst President in the history of the United States.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It has been on TV a bit over here how the Police Officer died, but not much. I have seen it twice and I have watched a lot of news over the last few days. At first they said he was possibly hit by a “missile” meaning a rock or some other object. It turns out the mob murdered him with a fire extinguisher and still they want to go again next week with another riot and then probably again at the inauguration.
This has been a failure by the police and FBI. It was all over social media. But, they are rounding up these fools and murderers now and will be ready next time. I just cannot see how these Trumpers can be so stupid to go again and be sent to jail for many years.
It has got to the point of being a cult. They are fencing off the capitol and need to fence off every state house because DC has weapons laws whilst a lot of states like Oregon and Michigan let these morons carry machine guns openly.
If you dont live here I dont think you see much of this.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Crawley town beat Leeds 3-0 ??. They played well too. Great game. Leeds well beaten. Let’s see how Marine FC do against the mighty Spurs.
Gilly Toon(Quote)
Eric – not at all mate, the World is watching. I think globally it’s the only break from Covid any of us are getting.
You’re right though, little to nothing reported of that poor cop that was killed – not even his name that I’ve seen ??♂️.
There was also footage of a black cop being chased up a stair case by the mob shouting ‘you can’t take us all down – we’re here to take back our Country’.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Eric, it’s been massive news here mate, awful what happened to the cop, he was on life support they said but family had to switch it off as no hope for him.
Trump has blood on his hands imo.
Alot of his followers on twitter are denouncing him now because he blames them and said they should and will be punished.
A few saying they been stabbed in the back .
kimtoon(Quote)
The MURDER of this cop is an allegory of how this cult of Trump has gotten so out of control, fueled by an Orange Monster. And he is a monster and a cult leader. He says he is the “law and order” President and sends his minions to attack the citadel of American Democracy and his own Party and own Vice President. The gallows outside the capitol building were for Mike Pence FFS. Then he does not call for backup and lets the Legislature fend for themselves as a mob try to kill them – for 3 hours. If they got in earlier they would have killed Pelosi and probably Schumer. I am sure of that.
This has been a massively lucky escape because the people leading this riot are morons. There could have been so many deaths and this is obviously a wake up call. But it is not being heeded by Trump or a lot of Republicans. It really is insane that a lot of these elected representatives still back Trump.
This mob thought they were involved in a revolution. I have no idea what their purpose was, what were they fighting for. To have Donald Trump as a dictator? He doesnt care about them. All he cares about is himself.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Kim – he definitely is responsible & should be punished.
It’s a disgrace that he won’t got to the inauguration, but that’s the measure of the man really isn’t it?!.
I still think it’s wrong to ban him from Twitter & that though.
Sharpy17(Quote)
This is far from over because there is the impeachment but even more it is the second wave that is coming. They will not succeed. They cannot enter DC with guns and there are 6,000 National Guard mobilized now (the National Guard have had a very chequered past violently putting down civil rights protests, but this time they are on the right side of history).
My biggest fear, as I have said, is the State Houses where these vigilantes can openly carry assault rifles. Imagine that in Newcastle!!! Morons with machine guns at the Civic Centre or marching up Northumberland Street to kidnap the Mayor. This is a violent insurrection. There is no doubt about that.
I am all for civil liberties and free speech but this is the opposite of that. This is Nazi Germany with these people but instead of brown shirts they have MAGA hats. They wrap themselves in the flag but replaced Old Glory (the stars and stripes) at the Capital Building with a Trump flag. If that doesnt tell you these people are fascists I do not know what will.
Trump is an Orange Hitler. His family are Goebbels. They are a danger to the world. His cult followers are a danger to the United States of America. He needs to be put in jail. I have said on a number of occasions on here that I wished he had died of Covid saying that the world would be better off, just like it would if Hitler died in 1933. I still believe that.
Over to you Stewie.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
What Sharpy? You think Bin Laden should have been allowed on twitter if he was still alive?
The free speech argument only goes so far.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
If he could get 4G or broadband in those caves mate, yeah I do.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Trump is also going to the border wall this week. The stupidest white elephant of his Presidency. I am not sure if he knows how long the border is? But what he has done is put up a 20 foot high, fittingly orange, metal screen. All you have to do is get a ladder to go over it or buy a spade at Walmart to go under it. There are miles wide gaps as well. I promise you it will be know as “Trumps Folly” in years to come.
The man is an idiot. And I think it has cost like 30 billion dollars to stroke his ego and tell his moron followers that he delivers on his insane plans. He said Mexico would pay for it and they have not paid a single cent.
It is not like Hadrian’s Wall where they had forts and it was 10-20 foot thick. It is just there. Waiting for someone with a ladder to climb over it. He even admitted it himself when asked how it would keep illegal aliens out – he said “I suppose they could have a ladder and scale it”.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sorry for all of this.
Trump and his morons have riled me up so much this week.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
You know the Trump supporters think there is some sort of conspiracy with 5G that is out to get them, right. The QAnon idiots that Trump retweets think there is a devil worshiping pedophile group of democrats and hollywood types that are trying to take over the world.
These are the people that Trump cozies up to and calls good people. Never mind the white supremacists and and Nazis who wanted to kidnap the democratically elected Governor of Michigan and have a kangaroo court trial to execute her. They had even had a plot to storm the state house, kill police and blow up bridges to stop the rest of the Police from following them. I GUESS THEY HAD NEVER HEARD OF HELECOPTERS!!! These people are morons. They plotted this from the basement of a vacuum cleaner repair shop.
Guy Fawkes was better organised and he didnt have a cell phone.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric – put it this way, do you think you have a greater insight into the person Donald Trump is because of his tweets?
Or, what if he hired some slippery little sod to do all of his PR work for him while he stayed quiet out the back – still the same person, but being portrayed in a far better light by someone else.
His media person – Kayleigh whatever she is called. If you only had her to listen to, it would be a much different picture painted don’t you think?!.
I’m not saying I like or agree with everything everyone says on social media, but at least I can get a better understanding of the person they are – especially if they are so self absorbed as Trump.
Sharpy17(Quote)
??
I can’t really take this comment seriously. I mean, comparing Donald Trump to a man who was responsible for the death of tens of millions of people. ?
I could be argued Barack Obama’s presidency resulted in more people dying than Trumps has.
You’re angry, Eric and that’s fine but making nonsensical comparisons certainly won’t make Donald Trump disappear and I imagine would only make him more popular with the tens of millions that voted for him.
Stuart79(Quote)
If 80m people think this, Eric, the US is ******.
Stuart79(Quote)
I didnt make that up Stuart. That is at the heart of the QAnon conspiracy – that there are liberal devil worshipers who are pedophiles and traffic in children. Some of this stuff is mental over here and just gets worse. You just have to watch what happened at the Capitol at the behest of Trump, Don Jr and Giuliani to know I am right. Rudy Dumbfck was even throwing around Game of Throwns references asking for Trial by Combat. He has really lost his mind if he ever had one.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
If you want more proof that Trump is a petulant child, he is now not speaking to the Vice President. You know, the guy that will be President if Trump has, say, had a heart attack. My guess is that this will continue as Pence has said he will attend the inauguration. Also, the PGA has taken away their golf tournament from Trump in 2022. Yes, that bastion of white entitlement is now against The Orange Man-Baby.
There are also most world leaders now showing their disgust and disdain for this man. I think they held it in to an extent before but the latest outrages have emboldened some of them. If it wasnt so serious it would be a joke when Erdogan of Turkey is giving the United States lectures on democracy.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Charlie Bennett is partially blaming Bruce for Joelinton. I cannot agree this time. I really believe that Bruce was told that Joelinton was our new centre forward (he got the number 9 shirt) and went about what the higher ups and head of recruitment told him. This was to convert him into a hold up player, which he had never been before. Bruce made plenty of statements saying they were trying to work on this in training. He persisted too long and the lad’s confidence was shot.
That is not the main problem though. The problem is that Joelinton is ****. He has the worst 1st touch of any forward in the Premier League (maybe equal with Benteke) and also the worst positioning and worst shot (mostly scuffed). Has he ever had a header on target that was not straight at the goalie? I can probably count on 1 hand ALL of the headers he has because he never gets in the positions to get them. Even at corners. I mean, if he is not trying to head the ball at a corner, what’s the point? It means we overcommit our centre backs and leave ourselves open for a quick break. How many times have we seen that this season. Leeds and Man U knew exactly what to do. Is this entirely Joe’s fault. No. But he is part of the problem.
We have tried him as a number 10 and as a winger and he has been **** there as well. Some very fleeting glimpses that he is actually a footballer but these are few and far between. If he is really a winger why doesnt he take the odd corner? Well, because he would scuff it even though the ball is not moving.
He came with a reputation of having some pace. Has anybody seen that?
He falls over more often than Ayoze Perez on ice.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Honesty, Eric, you need to calm down mate. Trump isn’t the devil incarnate. Gets some perspective. He’s acted abominably and yes he’s a man child but he isn’t responsible for thousands or millions of deaths like others you have mentioned previously.
It’s interesting that all I see in the media is how Trump caused the Capitol Building episode but please – let’s not lose sight of the fact that the people who actually did it should be taking responsibility for this pathetic charade too.
Biden has a hell of a job on his hands. I’d start by pardoning Trump, not impeachment. That would show the country he’s the bigger man and is serious about building bridges and bringing the country together. Otherwise, well, a kind of civil war isn’t impossible to imagine.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart: the Republicans want it both ways. They emboldened and empowered Trump and now for the sake of unity they want to let him off scot free for his stupid actions. He has stoked the fires of insurrection for at least the past year. He put it into the heads of the Michigan “militia” (really vigilantes) to “take back” Michigan resulting in an armed attack on the State House and a plot to kill the Governor. The man is dangerous and his enablers are scared to push back. I dont think I am overstating this, although my comparison to Hitler is for your benefit 🙂 BTW Arnold Schwartzenegger just made the same comparison.
I actually think the insurrection was beneficial because there were so few deaths and injuries and it shows the total lack of preparedness of law enforcement and the failures in the chain of command to mobilize forces when the Govt, whatever branch, is under attack. I hope it is not the same in Britain and think there are lessons to be learned there as well from this sad day in American history.
There will be other protests/riots but I think this will make the authorities better prepared. It could have happened at the inauguration if this had not happened first. I still fear that there will be lone wolf snipers out there because these people are gun fanatics.
I dont think I am overblowing this at all. Many in congress could have been killed. They were yelling “hang Mike Pence” FFS. The rioter with his feet up in Nancy Pelosi’s office said he was willing to die for this cause. A cause that is a lie promulgated by Donald Trump.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
2.4m vaccines carried out to date. That’s impressive considering last Wednesday it was something like 1.4m.
Stuart79(Quote)
Steve Bruce reckons we will have to be at our best to beat a team that has only 2 points. How negative can we get…?
My prediction is that we will set up to defend, give the opposition the majority of the ball and generally attack one player at a time as usual.
My gut feeling is we will get beat but hope for a point.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart: I am thinking a point as well as long as we have Wilson, Fraser and Miggy fit. Carroll will be spent after Arsenal so I dont even think we will see him from the bench. If not Miggy then Gayle. He has to play at some point if we are not selling him. I actually think him and Wilson would be a major threat.
We all know what we need and that is a central midfielder. Get something from Sheffield and I think Arsenal becomes a free hit. We have to be working on that. Sean Longstaff should not be in the first team again unless there is an injury crisis. I am sure Bruce will play Shelvey but we have to see which Jonjo turns up. We have the **** Shelvey at least 3 in 5 games and the good Jonjo about 1 in 5. You can usually tell which it is within about half an hourn and Bruce should be ready to hook him. For who though – there’s the rub as old fashioned types would say.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
And listen to this Stuart. There have only been 6.6 million vaccinations administered in the whole of the United States. That is in a country of 330 million people. What’s that, over 5 times the population of Britain. They are really fcking up over here but what do you expect with Trump ignoring it.
I still think there is a good chance of a season pause despite these new PL protocols. A quarter of PL teams have had major outbreaks and NUFC has been the worst with at least 19 players and staff infected and at least 2 in a major way – Lascelles and St Max. One of the coaching Steves has been missing as well and this is about 6 weeks after the first cases. Remember, per the club, there were cases 2 weeks before the Palace game.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric, I’m not sure Trump gets involved in the minutiae of how the roll out of the vaccine is implemented. I imagine there are logistic and health experts including the military in charge.
Stuart79(Quote)
However stupid this sounds I think Bruce is going to play for a draw and try to nick a win. This is against a team with 2 points from 17 games. Let’s do the maths – that is 2 points from 51. I am having flashbacks to Derby when they got 4 of their 11 total points for the season from us.
I think it will be 3 centre halfs again and I have no doubt Shelvey will play. Please do not play Joelinton! The hardest bit to predict is the wing backs because Lewis has been ****, is Manquillo even fit and can Dummett play 2 games in 4 days after such a long layoff. Here is my guess with a bit of wishful thinking thrown in:
Darlow
Murphy Fernandez Schar Clark Dummett
Shelvey Hayden
Fraser Wilson Miggy
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It is the funding and the rollout. Trump has ignored this so is not providing any guidance or money. It is not getting involved by default, by being absent. He also appointed a bunch of idiots who are in charge of the PR and logistics and fired entirely competent people. I promise you this is on Trump – he suggested injecting bleach as a cure FFS.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I dont think I will be right on the team BTW. I will probably go with Olly’s picks.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It is indeed Stu. hopefully they can ramp it up even more, sooner all the vulnerable get jabbed the better. Care homes are saying they haven’t been getting their residents done yet though. I think/hope that improves this week , think they may of concentrated on care homes and people in and around London first due to it having such alarming infection rates and over run hospitals.
We have had lots of covid patients sent to the BRI because we have free beds, how long for god only knows as our rate was starting to climb 2 weeks ago.
kimtoon(Quote)
Lews carer Tina and our Hazel have been moved into group 2 now as they help look after Lew. Doesn’t apply to me though even though i’m his main carer and Lew remains in group 6 .
Still think the group thing is wrong. The first group i agree with and group 2 but i would be putting people under 30 in group 3 as they are the age group mixing the most and many key workers and teachers in that age group. I really believe these are the age groups spreading it, that’s not a blame game i might add, more an observation that these age groups socialize and tend to shop more and so on.
When we saw pictures just before xmas and on boxing day at the sales at shopping centers, that was the predominant age group queuing up. It’s also the age group most likely to go to bars,pubs and use parents for child care.
kimtoon(Quote)
Bristol city council covid figures just released, not as bad as i feared
• Bristol’s infection rate = 478 new cases per 100,000 people, which is below the level of England (651 new cases per 100,000). Bristol’s infection rate reported on 7 January was 375.
• Bristol community tests = 9,567
• New confirmed cases in Bristol = 2,216
• South West R number = 1.1 – 1.5
kimtoon(Quote)
Is it getting through to people yet that so many people are taking the p1ss and aren’t taking the law or guidelines seriously…? Been like this since the last lockdown. Finally the elephant in the room is getting spoke about.
Stuart79(Quote)
NEW THREAD
https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2021/01/11/sheffield-united-a-predicted-line-ups-pre-match-thoughts-team-news/
Olly Hawkins(Quote)