A tough one to take on a few fronts, with Newcastle being held 1-1 by Wolves at St James’ Park tonight.
Jamaal Lascelles gave us the lead seven minutes into the second half , however Martin Dubravka couldn’t get a strong enough hand to keep out a Ruben Neves header he should have done better with.
Newcastle started absolutely fantastically and were in control of the match until Saint-Maximin’s forced substitution, with the big worry coming out of this one being the fact both he and Miguel Almiron hobbled off.
The only consolation from this result is that we can’t drop into the relegation spot if Fulham beat Crystal Palace but this is a hard result to take as Newcastle pick up their 5th draw of the season.
We were handed a tremendous opportunity to swap places with Brighton in the firing line after the south-coast side lost 1-0 away to West Brom. Though the result meant that another relegation zone team had gained points on us, it kept Brighton just one point above us and presented us with the opportunity to leapfrog them.
Despite their unusually low position in the league, Wolves were on an unbeaten run of four matches in the lead up to this match meaning that the difficulty of the match wasn’t as simple as a lower half clash.
Team news brought only one change with Martin Dubravka reclaiming his number one spot from Karl Darlow. Hope from the fanbase was that Dubravka would be able to marshal his defence more and hopefully shore up some of the wobbly performances.
Joelinton recovered from his back injury that forced him off in the match against Manchester United and Jonjo Shelvey was readying himself for a match full of running.
As for Wolves, they stuck with the same team that beat Leeds 1-0 in their previous match.
The game started in a lively fashion and Miguel Almiron had a fantastic opportunity to score from a tight angle in the 11th minute – only to see his side footed effort clip the post!
A big chance missed, but we’d started with the required energy to dominate the game with a massive 74% possession at one point.
Both Krafth and Joelinton unleased powerful shots at the goalkeeper but unfortunately hitting him straight on.
Saint-Maximin had the ball in the net after a fantastic combination with Willock but was unfortunately offside. Perhaps Willock should have scored before Saint-Maximin had his opportunity.
Wolves grew into the game before the break, with Traore beating Krafth with ease and drawing both Hayden and Clark into cynical fouls that saw both got into the book. Neto also fired wide from a Traore cut-back, proving that the visitors looked capable of causing us real trouble if either of their wide men were given freedom to run at our back line.
The first half was generally a good one but the lack of a goal after so much domination was worrying. Almiron and Saint-Maximin definitely seemed up for the match but the lack of Callum Wilson’s goalmouth potency was really clear.
The question raised after the half-time whistle was whether we could keep up the same intensity and convert our attacking intent?
The second half started with Ryan Fraser replacing Miguel Almiron after our star Paraguayan took a knock. Hopefully this was a precautionary switch.
LASCELLES!!! Fantastic work from Saint-Maximin and then a great cross from Ryan Fraser for our captain to guide the ball into the corner of the net with a fantastic header!
This was exactly what was needed after a good first half without a goal and this was the sort of forward momentum Newcastle should be attempting in every half of every match.
Saint-Maximin went down with what looked like a groin injury with 30 minutes left. Jacob Murphy replaced him and, like with Almiron, fans were left hoping that this was precaution more than a big injury. A big blow for the match as Saint-Maximin was one of the most dangerous players on the pitch.
Emil Krafth also started to struggle with a knock and was replaced by Matt Ritchie on the 70th minute. With Krafth injured, Newcastle now have no fit natural right-backs.
There seems to be a shift in player positions when substitutions could have simply been like for like. I’m not sure that this is a positive sign and we conceded soon after.
After Neto crossed in from the right, a Ruben Neves header was tipped into the side netting by Dubravka at the end of a Wolves counter-attack. A bad goal to concede and bitter blow.
Somehow, we don’t score as Joelinton strikes from inside the box after fantastic work by Jacob Murphy, but it hits Saiss and goes over the bar. That should have been 2-1 and I’m not quite sure how we didn’t score. Extremely unlucky, but another ‘missed’ opportunity.
A super save then arrived from Dubravka in extra time, with him somehow tipping a point-blank header onto the bar. He should’ve saved their goal, but he made up for it with that one!
Full time and Newcastle are forced to feel lucky with the point despite being the better team for a majority of the match. This is a gut punch of a result.
I predicted a draw before the match but with the way we played and the injuries picked up, this result feels like a loss.
https://twitter.com/cookie_1892/status/1365784522655207424
Anyone able to lip read
kimtoon(Quote)
Lascelles saying there was some confusion over instructions after the subs !
says it all really.
kimtoon(Quote)
Bruce blaming Ritchie for not explaining the changes fast enough for their goal. Oh dear. It also looked like he told Greame Jones to “F off” but in what context I don’t know. He choose Dubravka so he need to take responsibility for that.
He will blame the injuries and when we go down he will blame the fact that ASM, Wilson and Almiron are injured. But the fact is they haven’t been injured when we won only 2 from 16 games.
Stuart79(Quote)
Sean Longstaff on the bench. I thought Bruce had a fall out with him and that Matty would be more likely? Have to hope the injuries are not too bad.
I dont understand the Matty situation. Bruce praised him when he first came in and then gave him a squad number when he was expected to go on loan. Then they fought really hard to give him a new contract. I know you can only play so many players but they seem to be messing the kid around.
Joelinton should have scored but 9 times out of 10 that goes in. It was a miracle clearance. At least he didnt scuff the shot. But that cross in the 1st half 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Happy Birthday Kimtoon.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
If you are right Stuart, I think it shows that Bruce had nothing to do with Jones’ appointment. You see Bruce’s interaction with the other Steves in the technical area and it is asking for advice. Jones is in there as well but he goes it alone, one on one with players. There is definitely some tension there.
If you look at other teams, the manager will ask the advice of their coaches. Here it is like 2 competing factions.
We are playing better though.
We also tried a couple of different corner options. Somebody has finally noticed the Shelvey floater doesnt work. Then I think Fraser took them when he came on.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Bruce seems to have been alienating player after player over a period of time. Fraser can’t be happy and now he’s going to have to rely on him, the Longstaff have been treated like a joke, he’s blamed Ritchie for conceding a goal and hasn’t give Gayle a look in.
Recipe for disaster.
There’s zero chance of us beating WBA. They’ll be bang up for it, Big Sam always does well against us and they will know a win against us and they’ll only be 6 points behind us.
It’s not actually unthinkable that we finish 2nd bottom.
Stuart79(Quote)
I watched the match again and I am not sure that Almiron’s injury is as bad as Bruce thinks. He got a knee to the back of his his knee and didnt twist it or anything. Then he stayed on until half time. Probably a bad bruise. Maybe Bruce heard from the physios but he seemed to be basing his diagnosis on Miggy being upset. Miggy is very emotional. Remember him in tears when he was injured under Rafa?
Bruce probably didnt watch that game as what would be the point of watching videos of the team you are taking over and assessing the players 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I think we need to play Carroll for that game. BFS will be playing for free kicks and corners and Andy is our best defender of them. Get Dummett on as well as he is better on set pieces than Lewis.
I have a suspicion that Bruce will stick with Joelinton as he doesnt really do tactics. The rest of us know what BFS will do but Bruce will probably ignore that.
Surprisingly, I think that was probably Joelinton’s best league game for us. He probably should have hit his shot into a corner but so should Willock.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I will be shocked if Miggy is out a long time. He was injured on 28 mins and was moving fine until half time. Maybe it is more a precaution. I dont trust anything Bruce says. He said Manquillo had ligament damage when it was a twisted ankle.
Maybe it is him getting wrong info from Drs and Physios but I think Bruce is all too willing to assume the worst. Then the idiot will bring somebody back too soon when there really is a bad injury.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
what the hell is going at the club players trying to sort manager and coachs out,Bruce was heard by players telling Joans to fu– off,what a shambles,the club going down alright,manger and coachs fighting among themselfs you could maake it up 😈 👿
icedog(Quote)
Here here, happy birthday Kim ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Hang on a minute. What was Bruce doing bringing Ritchie on knowing that he was switching Hayden to right back? We then needed a holding midfielder not a winger. We had Longstaff and Hendrick available. It makes absolutely no sense.
We could have kept the same shape even after losing St Max and Miggy because we still had 3 attackers on the pitch – Joelinton, Murphy and Fraser.
I also dont see why Dummett or Clark cannot play right back. I know they are left footed but they know the role and positioning for a fullback.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Icedog: we have definitely played better since Jones arrived, even against Man U. No more 9-0-1 formations. I pointed out the obvious on here when Jones 1st came in that there was bound to be tension. The Mr Nice Guy act of Bruce is a facade. I think he is petty as he shows at his press conferences. He wont even let the reporters finish their questions now.
Bruce is just as bad as Pards and BFS at the blame game. If we won a game or 2 in style it would be interesting to see if he is as arrogant after that. Unfortunately there has only really been Everton and West Ham when we played well and I am not sure we won “in style”.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
With regards to the game overall, I enjoy watching us more now. I enjoy watching that high press and the players competing to get the ball back quickly when the opposition have it – rather than retreat to 2 banks of 4.
Our midfield looks stronger. I thought Shelvey played better last night & I really like Joe Willock – he should have scored last night for the ASM offside and that was really disappointing, but I thought overall he’s been a good addition.
But, still last night the final product is so bad, so frustrating. Whether that’s taking the shot when a pass was a better option, or a poor pass or finish – the quality when it comes to putting the ball in the box is so clearly missing.
You can work on things in the training ground but ultimately it’s the players at that moment that are responsible – for example, on one occasion ASM cut in from the left, Miggy had loads of space centre edge of the box – it was the pass to play and he try to shoot it through 2 Wolves defenders.
On another occasion a similar move happened and ASM made the pass – he could have rolled it so Miggy hit it first time but the pass was a little heavy & Miggy took a touch, which was too heavy meaning the chance passed and Wolves defenders blocked it.
I’m not picking them 2 out coz I thought both are really good players – it’s just that final piece, but that’s why they are at NUFC and not MUFC I suppose.
What I will put on Bruce is giving us the best chance of winning football matches – and each time he puts Joelinton on the pitch, he is not giving us the best chance.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Well, it looks like the perfect storm is brewing between Bruce and Jones, there is defo tension there.
Bruce blaming the players for their goal and Lascelles clearly not a happy bunny that he wasn’t passed on instructions.
Implosion incoming.
Thanks for the birthday wishes lads.
kimtoon(Quote)
Sharpy – ultimately Bruce has waste 2/3 of the season playing the way he has. We now have 1/3 left to try and scramble points together and the attacking players are injured. Maybe he should have played this way when he had them available.
Stuart79(Quote)
I know it’s being discussed a lot but this lack of communication when Ritchie came on is a joke.
There are NO fans in the stadium & Bruce has himself & more coaches than subs on that bench – why was it ever even on Ritchie to get the message on????.
I understand it when there’s 52k fans shouting and singing & players can’t hear, but you watch the match without crowd noise now & you hear everything.
As the sub is happening why didn’t Bruce shout Hayden over and explain it himself??? – managers have nothing to do with the sub process so he could get his message to the player directly – you see it with other managers all the time.
That said, watch the goal back & Hayden WAS in the right back position when they scored – and I don’t think it had that much to do with conceding – Lewis should have done better to stop the cross, Lascelles didn’t need to follow Jose as Clark was there – which would have left him in the area Neves headed the ball, and finally Dubravka should have definitely saved it having got such a good hand to it.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Eric – absolutely bang on mate.
He’s claimed this is how he wanted to play & he was playing the other way to please others – well that could well come back to bite him hard. Especially when he came in saying he was a Geordie & knew better than most what the fans wanted to watch – well what I’m watching now is, but what he’s served up most of the season most definitely was not.
Sharpy17(Quote)
KIM happy birthday to the blogs young chick 😆 😀
icedog(Quote)
The positives from last night were definitely the performance – I thought we played well, and should have won if we converted better.
But a point against Wolves isn’t the end of the world. I think the key games are the 5 against the teams around us. Any points we pick up from the other games are bonuses & mean those key games become less vital.
The negatives are without doubt the injuries to Almiron & ASM – both looked like they could be lengthy lay offs.
The other negative is this internal battle that seems to have grown out of control now. You get out of relegation battles with a togetherness & everyone pulling in the same direct. We are certainly not doing that & the way Lascelles spoke last night it has clearly spread to the dressing room – and when that happens, Ashley HAS to act.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy: I just watched the Wolves goal again and you are right. It had nothing to do with a miscommunication of who was in what position. Hayden was playing at right back and lost his man. I said earlier, what the hell was Ritchie doing coming on when we had 2 center midfielders and had to replace Hayden not Kraft because Isaac was going to right back.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Can anybody think of any time that a 1st team coach was brought in over the head of the Manager? Especially when Bruce has had the others Steves following him around like lost puppies for years. Jones has replaced Bruce’s guys. There has to be conflict.
It would not surprise me if there are factions in the dressing room – some loyal to Bruce and some seeing the changes made by Jones as beneficial. It must have been soul destroying to play the Bruce “system” and have him make excuses every week which would vary between the players are **** and the players only know one way of playing – the Rafa way. This was when most of our main players didnt even play under Rafa and Miggy only played like 10 games.
Bruce is a BS merchant and every clubs’ fans he has been at have said it. That includes Mackems and Villains who none of like anyway. But they are correct.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric – the only thing I could put it on was he wanted Ritchie to try and help Hayden with Traore who was clearly their danger player.
He had been turning Kraft inside out all game & I think Ritchie was there to double up on him a bit.
I think it was a change of system with that sub more that just a like for like replacement – but quite clearly that wasn’t put across to the players.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Well having just watched the first half of the Palace/Fulham match – firstly I’ll never get that 45mins back & secondly neither of these teams are playing with momentum or are pulling away from us.
Sharpy17(Quote)
There was a total of 3 efforts in the first half for both teams & none on target. There was so little to analyse that they actually discussed the new series of in the line of duty ??
Sharpy17(Quote)
Well that was an awful game to watch.
Fulham had the better chances but they weren’t great – and Palace was one of Fulham’s remaining ‘winnable’ games looking at their fixtures.
Can’t believe I gave up the Leicester/Arsenal game to watch that gash ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy: Palace are terrible. I have said a few times I cannot believe the points they have. I said last week I thought Mr Roy had done some sort of deal with the devil. Maybe sacrificing Wilf Zaha if they stay up. We all know Mr Roy is gone after this season so maybe he would want to hinder the next manager to make himself look good.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Spurs are taking Burnley apart.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Well that gives us a bit more breathing space although it’s still just one win or one loss whichever way you look at it. 3 points gap is still very nervy.
Gilly Toon(Quote)
I think it says it all when we are relying on other clubs above us and below us to be bad or worse than us. Fulham’s next three games are Liverpool, Spurs and Man City. Our are WBA, Aston Villa and Brighton. If, after these three fixtures we are only 3 points above 3rd bottom we are certain to be relegated.
Stuart79(Quote)
I was looking at The Mag and they had the betting for relegation. We are 7/5 but Brighton are 8/1 and Burnley 9/1. That doesnt really make any sense. I can only assume there have been big bets placed on it and that punters are looking at our recent injuries.
They couldnt have watched the games because we have played better. We probably need 3 wins from 12 to stay up which even for Bruce and his dysfunctional coaches is doable.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Stu – I don’t think we are quite there yet, but I do think we are relying heavily on taking the points from the games against the teams around us. I think winning at least 3 out of 5 of those games is essential really – especially as we could be without our 3 best forwards for the rest of the season. But 2 of those 5 are our last 2 games of the season – in Sheff Utd & Fulham.
I’m still confident we have the games to pick the points up needed.
But we shouldn’t be in this position in the first place. As Eric said earlier, if we were playing this way the whole season through we’d be safe by now imo.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Eric – they said in the analysis that Palace only had a total of 6 shots in their last 2 games, yet have taken 4 points from Brighton & Fulham – keeping them in the mix & effectively making themselves safe now I reckon.
They were also saying that Roy & as many as 11 players are out of contract at the end of the season – so there could be big changes there next season.
Sharpy17(Quote)
RIP Glenn Roeder 🙁
kimtoon(Quote)
RIP Glenn Roeder.
Stuart79(Quote)
Yeah RIP Glenn.
He was Newcastle captain when I first started supporting us.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Glenn was dignified in a way Bruce can only dream of, lovely player and a real gent too. 65 is no age and the poor guy was fighting that wretched tumor for years.
kimtoon(Quote)
I have to say that Bruce’s pettiness is getting on my nerves now. He never really bothered me until about the last 3 months. I wasnt even that bothered about the excuses. The i dont want to make excuses… but… then a bunch of excuses. I think he has just ground me down.
I am now much more worried about relegation and I think it will depend of St Max and Miggy’s scans. We have decent cover in Fraser and maybe even Murphy and Ritchie but they are not really game changers. Bruce will play them out of position anyway.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
So sad to hear about Glen Roeder. 65 is no age. Did so well as a player and as a manager. ??? may he rest in peace.
Gilly Toon(Quote)
Would like to know how that Brazillian variant has gotten here when we are supposed to of stopped travel in from there.
kimtoon(Quote)
We have a budget on Wednesday. Corporation tax is going up. I suppose it should too given the help that government have given business over the last year. The chancellor should also freeze certain public sector pay.
I think the economy will bounce back in GDP terms this year but there’ll be millions unemployed for quite a long time.
The government are going to need to really raise money because over the next ten years there are going to be horrendous problems. Wednesday is just the start.
Stuart79(Quote)
So the government are looking for someone who has the Brazilian variant who didn’t fill in their locator form. How is it possible that someone has a test without filling in a locator form? I’m pretty sure you must fill in a form to get the test after arrival. Someone should be losing their job.
Stuart79(Quote)
I am going to get vaccinated as soon it is available to me which I think might be quite soon. This is as much to guard against some of the conspiracy theorists who think there is a Govt plot and vaccines are bad. I saw a poll yesterday and one third of Americans are going to refuse the vaccine. Measles used to kill people before that vaccine. Polio used to cripple people. What are these people thinking?
There has always been a certain amount of skepticism over vaccines from crazies and some black people who remember the Govt doing experimental treatments on black soldiers. But I think now it is the INTERNET. There is just so much misinformation and scaremongering. Even the President, VP, Country’s chief Dr. and Tom Hanks getting vaccinated doesn’t sway them (Hanks has diabetes).
I am sure most are Trumpers because some of the theories they come up when interviewed at rallies are just madness.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric, the debate over here is whether there should be vaccine passports which will allow people to go into different places or travel. I’m personally a little conflicted on this. I think it could be discriminatory and people who don’t want a vaccine have a right not to have the vaccine so by the same logic, business’ and employers have the right not to employ people or let customers on to their premises if they haven’t had the vaccine. I do agree with Chris Witty though. It is a medical responsibility for people working in health/care industry to have the vaccine. My niece is a nurse and refuses the vaccine because she thinks it might effect her chance of getting pregnant.
I do wonder if people who refuse it would change their mind if the reality was that they couldn’t enjoy their freedoms like socialising and holidays. I think we’d find that most of these “principled” reasons for not having it would disappear.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart: this is very much getting under control in the US. Chicago has lifted restrictions for 20 states so you dont have to quarantine. The positivity rate for testing is 2.9% and their rate for tentative reopening was 10%. There were only 20 hospital admissions in the last 10 days in a City of 3.5 million people.
The bars are open at restricted capacity but I think they will up that soon.
Same thing is happening in Washington so I think you will be able to go to Seattle if Boris lets you fly.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Keeping my fingers crossed about Miggy and St Max but I still think we can put out an OK team without them. Lewis’s Wolves performance means he will be dropped and also Manquillo will be back. Bruce will also have no excuse for not starting him. I would like to see Murphy but I think Bruce will start Joelinton.
I highly doubt Miggy and St Max will be available even if their injuries are not as bad as Bruce PREMATURELY said. The team will be:
Dubravka
Manquillo Lascelles Clark Dummett
Willock Shelvey Hayden
Joelinton Carroll Fraser
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I think that team can win but it is also set up not to lose with the way Bruce is playing Joelinton now and the fact that Carroll is our best set piece defender. Doesnt hurt that Dummett would also be in there for BFS specials.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
West Brom also have a game Thursday and we will have had 8 days to prepare.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
We won’t have been relegated because we missed our best attacking players for 1/3 of the season. It will be what happened for the first 2/3 of the season.
2 wins in 16 is our latest scarcely believable stat. Any other club in world football where that would be able to go on?
Stuart79(Quote)
Should know the results of their scans today Eric, keeping everything crossed they are not really serious injuries.
Wasn’t Miggy due to go away for international fixtures soon ?
kimtoon(Quote)
Stu, I am in favor of the vaccine passport thing, it’s on all of us to protect each other globally. Some will be unable to have it and should get a special pass, everyone else will have to live with restrictions to their ability to travel or do certain things imo.
They may say what about my rights to say no to a vaccine but I say what about everyones right to be protected.
I also think kids that don’t get their full vaccines that are able to should not be allowed to start school, we’d soon see principles fly out the window as you said.
That doc that linked MMR to autism caused so many problems and it was a load of rubbish, they may not know what causes autism but i’m sure in time it will be shown to a chromosome defect. There is a high incident of it in chromosomal deletions in the number 2 chromosome like lewis has.
Paddy mcguinness has 3 children all with autism, pretty sure it’s genectics at play and not MMR jabs fault.
So much wrong info being peddled by anti vaxers , it’s very concerning.
kimtoon(Quote)
I’m with you Kim. Every country has the right not to allow unvaccinated people in. Pubs, restaurants, shops, aviation companies and the likes also have the right not to allow unvaccinated people in. The people have a right not to be vaccinated. As I said previously, let’s see how principled they are when it restricts their lifestyle.
Stuart79(Quote)
Kimtoon: I had said earlier in this thread that Miggy’s injury would not be as bad as Bruce’s overreaction. Bruce was saying it because Miggy was upset in the dressing room. But Miggy is very emotional and I dont know how Bruce doesnt know that.
Now Olly reports that Craig Hope is saying he has heard it might not be so bad.
I watched the game a second time and he got a knee to the back of his knee. That usually means a bad bruise. There was no twisting and I highly doubt it is ligaments which is what would end his season.
We will see with the scan. I could be wrong but the cabbage did what the cabbage always does and got his excuses in.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I might be being totally overoptimistic but I think there might be good news with St Max. It is a groin injury I think and players have often played with pain killing injections. I hope it is weeks rather than months.
I think it is good it is not ligaments or his hamstring. Those are usually much worse injuries.
My main fear is that he would need surgery.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Saying over here that there will most likely be more vaccines than people that want them by the end of April. Their only fear is that there would be the supply chain and injection facilities to get them into people’s arms.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Ole has got some front , says Manure not getting fair treatment off refs because of other clubs complaining !!!!
My heart bleeds it really does, did he miss Maguire taking out Lascelles last weekend ?
Fergie time went on for years plus his players crowding round the ref over decisions not going their way, they been influencing refs for donkey’s years ffs.
Bad losers are bad losers end of.
Fact is they had something like 15 pens last year and some was proper dodgy towards end of season. It was well publicised they HAD to make top 4 or would be in a terrible financial mess and low and behold they get a flurry of pens late season, hmmm strange that like.
kimtoon(Quote)
Crouch is betting we will go down because of a toxic atmosphere. I assume he means from the fans or maybe the written press. There is certainly no toxicity from Bruce’s fanboy pundits.
He is not even on twitter so I dont see how he sees the “keyboard warriors”. There are no fans in the stadiums so that cant be it.
How about the press? They only allowed 2 questions last time out and even banned some for a couple of games.
The Chronic were a mixture of either backing Bruce or keeping schtum for about the 1st 16 months. Ryder spoke out last month and John Gibson got more vocal. But for the most part they just let him say whatever he liked and get away with it.
Crouch is pretty much blaming the fans and I just dont get it. He thinks we will be relegated and it will not be down to Bruce. And who invited Jones in as 1st team coach with no say so from Bruce. Certainly not me, I had never heard of him.
Where is Bruce picking up this toxicity from fans. At Greggs?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Crouch is pretty witty but he is just like the rest. Him and his pundit pals all stick together in protecting the British Dinosaur managers and then never say another word after they are rightly sacked.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
There’s no easier way to annoy and alienate journos and turn them against you than to not take their questions. They have what used to be called column inches to fill and if you as manager dont give them quotes then they will put their own thoughts in and probably unflattering as is happening now with Brucie.
It gets even worse at NUFC with their secrecy and sometimes just plain disinformation. How can you trust these people so they may as well just write opinion pieces and match reports.
The way NUFC act is like stopping the journalists doing their jobs. There will be resentment and it will come out when NUFC are doing badly.
The MIrror just had a piece taking Bruce apart.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Saints are definitely in this battle too!!.
Only 1 point from their last 9 games and they’ve had their players fit & available through all them.
We have WBA & Fulham have Liverpool this weekend – we win & we pull away from Fulham to 6 points & only 1 behind Saints.
We lose to WBA and I fear for us coz I think if Bruce can’t motivate the players to win that one, then we are in big trouble.
Sharpy17(Quote)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56243610
kimtoon(Quote)
ASM and Miggy out till April. Even if it’s 1st April I don’t think it’s too pessimistic to suggest we will probably go down now. No goal scorer and no creative players. We struggled with them so I can only see something worse than struggle. Whatever that is!
Stuart79(Quote)
Miggy and St Max out until April according to a club statement. That suggests that there is no ligament damage or tears for either but doesnt tell you much else. Doesnt say when in April.
I am sure that more news of the scan results will be leaked in the next few days as what they say in the press release is really vague.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
1st 3 games in April are:
Spurs H
Burnley A
West Ham H
We can get points from these so you really want them back. Dont laugh at me at maybe getting points against Spurs. They are a strange team and were terrible for 6 games before hammering Burnley. There were even murmurs that Mourinho was in trouble. Their defense is still **** and Lloris can be dodgy.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It is good news and bad news because Bruce was acting like Miggy was out for the season. It is bad news because the scans have obviously revealed some significant damage to both players.
Manquillo was back in training last week so he should be available for West Brom. So should Dummett. Lascelles also had his best game of the season against Wolves and even Joelinton did OK. I think this injury news cements the selection for that game:
Dubravka
Manquillo Lascelles Clark Dummett
Hayden Shelvey Willock
Joelinton Carroll Fraser
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric, you won’t see a particularly big difference in results with or with them. That’s the predicament Bruce has left us in.
The next three games are the key ones. Fulham play three teams who they have no real right to expect anything and we play three teams we could, under normal circumstances expect to get something from. If we are still only 3 points ahead of Fulham or less after this run of three games we are going down.
Luke Edward’s also reporting that the takeover has been placed on hold until the relegation situation has been determined. Has that focused the mind of Jabba? It ought to.
Stuart79(Quote)
Eric – I’d be inclined to move Willock further up to cover Almirons absence and but either Hendrick or one of the Longstaffs in midfield.
Fraser would be the natural replacement for ASM – not as good as, but hopefully enough to get us through til April.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Stuart: we have a chance with our next 6 games. We have played better since Jones came in. We have tried different free kick and corner routines and stopped the Shelvey floaters. If we let Jones continue with the tactics that leaves Bruce’s job to pick the team and with our best players out the team virtually picks itself.
The only real question is Carroll or Gayle at CF.
Bruce has to see that he must protect Lewis and that Dummett is better in a 4 at the back. And now Manquillo is fit he has to play.
Hopefully we can avoid any more injuries.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Definitely bad news but I suspect Miggy will be back sooner. As for Krap? Who cares.
georgio(Quote)
Sharpy: I am trying to predict who Bruce will play as I probably wouldnt have Shelvey or Joelinton in even though they both had one of their better games against Wolves. That’s a really low bar though as they have both been shyte all season.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
So no Miggy, saint or callum until april at earliest then. We are done.
kimtoon(Quote)
So despite me refreshing this page several times the last post showing was mine from yesterday, then i put a post on and there’s all of a sudden 9 post i couldn’t previously see !
This site has gremlins or is it me.
kimtoon(Quote)
@LukeEdwardsTele
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9m
To underline how significant this blow is, I’m told this morning all #nufc takeover conversations have been halted by Justin Barnes and the club is, effectively, no longer for sale. Everything paused until relegation matters decided.
kimtoon(Quote)
I wouldnt write off the West Brom game just yet. Brighton had 68% possession and missed 2 penalties. There was also a VAR controversy that saw the Ref taken off next days 4th official duty. If Brighton could hit a cows **** with a banjo they would have won 3 or 4 to 1. The only time they seem to find their shooting boots is against us.
West Brom have a **** team. Get Dummett and Carroll on to defend the set pieces and I think we will win.
Eric Sykes(Quote)