The woeful defeat at Reading on Saturday was Newcastle’s fourth consecutive away defeat. Newcastle fans seem to be getting a little frustrated at Big Sam’s over cautious approach to away fixtures.
Fans think there is too much focus on defending and many thought that Charles N’Zogbia and James Milner should have been in his starting team at the Madejski Stadium.
However, Big Sam is still fuming about that second goal we gave away on Saturday – which was soul destroying – to say the least.
Sam Allardyce – is the manager over cautious for our away games?
Certainly when the the two wingers were brought on in the second half, the Newcastle team looked a lot more balanced, and certainly more attack-minded. We expect both to start against Portsmouth, when we expect Newcastle to attack from the very first whistle.
Sam told Miles Starforth of the Shields Gazette today:
We’ve put huge pressure on ourselves after back to back (home) wins to win another home game, and put ourselves back in the picture at the top end.”
“I find it really disappointing that we’ve left ourselves in that position.”
“We won’t win every game at home. We’ve got to get points away from home, and it was an ideal opportunity to put one in the bag. We scored in the 76th minute and had 14 minutes to see out.â€
“But we committed suicide by conceding a very basic goal, really, that we should deal with 99 times out of 100, or 999 times out of a 1,000.”
“We would have been three games undefeated, and broken the problem away from home by getting one point, but the goal we’ve conceded has made life extremely difficult.”
Sam’s right about not being to win all the home games – although we can always give it a try. But even if we do win at home against Portsmouth this Saturday, we’ll not know when our away form problem is fixed. We always seem to do well against Portsmouth and another win at home is not beyond our capabilities – so we have to expect that on Saturday.
Then our next away game is at Sunderland the following Saturday – a good time to get our second away win of the season? Oh yes, we think so.
Comments welcome.
15 comments so far
gordon
Oct 31, 2007 at 2:04 PM
Comment #1Is anyone in the media have the BALLS to ask sam about the ridiculous team selection and tactics.
Leo
Oct 31, 2007 at 2:26 PM
Comment #2no would you have the balls to question BIG sam, because i sure wouldnt
yemozone
Oct 31, 2007 at 2:27 PM
Comment #3He shld be concerned about the we played generally aganist reading instead of the second goal
Craig Allen
Oct 31, 2007 at 2:33 PM
Comment #4lol
col
Oct 31, 2007 at 2:39 PM
Comment #5seems like he is trying not to upset the big money buys and older players…its easy saying to milner and charlie that your not playing….wise up sam..play the best team you can…and that includes jimmy and charlie !!!!!!!
Craig Allen
Oct 31, 2007 at 2:43 PM
Comment #6sorry, the context of my “lol” is in response to Leo. 😀
indian toon
Oct 31, 2007 at 3:09 PM
Comment #7SHOCKING!!!!!!!!!!
Welcome mat removed:
It’s a lockout
From The Mirror, Wednesday under the headline “Banned”.
Newcastle have banned Freddy Shepherd from St James’ Park in an astonishing snub to the club’s former chairman.
Billionaire owner Mike Ashley is embroiled in a business wrangle with the Shepherds and ex-vice chairman Douglas Hall after paying £133million to take control of the club.
That has boiled over into the Shepherd family not being welcome at the St James’ executive box they own, demonstrated before the win against Tottenham when Freddy’s brother Bruce was turned away.
It is understood Douglas Hall, who lives as a tax exile in Spain, is also frozen out. The ruthless break with the club’s history has left members of the families who oversaw the 52,000 redevelopment of St James’ Park, and the club’s revival as a Premier League force, denied the opportunity to sit in the stadium they built.
Shepherd, who banked £37.65m for his 28 per cent stake, has always insisted he wants to remain a supporter when he bowed out. The Halls held 41.6 per cent of the shares and made £55m from Ashley.
Shepherd has spent much of his retirement in Barbados, but his three sons have attended away games to support the team and give backing to Sam Allardyce, the boss they appointed before Ashley’s takeover.
A United insider said: “Freddy was away but Bruce wanted to use the box as he usually would.
“But he was told by a club official that it had been closed off.
“It meant Bruce could not get into his VIP seats and he was not very impressed, to say the least.
“Freddy was furious when he found out, but there is nothing he can do about it.”
But Douglas’s father Sir John, the man whose vision kick-started Toon’s Kevin Keegan era, is still thought to be welcome at the ground.
indian toon
Oct 31, 2007 at 3:09 PM
Comment #8from nufc.com
andyc290
Oct 31, 2007 at 3:56 PM
Comment #9Faye was winning all those headers. Sam took him off. He switched Beye to centre back and Geremi to right back even tho he’d had a shocker. He needs to accept responsibility.
BTW – loving Fat Fred being banned from SJP!!!
indian toon
Oct 31, 2007 at 4:11 PM
Comment #10shame on ya mr andy.. freddy has done so much for the club.. u could only see the dark side of him..
hadrian
Oct 31, 2007 at 5:04 PM
Comment #11indian toon , all your comments are extremely nieve . makes one wonder if you follow the club at all , yesterday carr was good enouge, today fat freddy’s done so much for the club . have a word .
Alex
Oct 31, 2007 at 5:21 PM
Comment #12Fat Freddy should have been banned from the club after he sacked Sir Bobby in the manner he did.
Brisbane Mag
Oct 31, 2007 at 10:04 PM
Comment #13Alex, your spot on buddy. What he done to Sir Bobby was terrible but to bring in Souness afterwards set the club back ten years.
BSAs team selection against Reading lost us the game; i.e. we played without width and got what we deserved; nothing!
The team selection for the Spurs game and substitutions were good, although Smith may start in attack in place of either Owen or Martins. (Still have’nt made up my mind who is better; Owen vs. Martins……)
valle
Oct 31, 2007 at 11:17 PM
Comment #14Gordon, ur name makes anything u say lose credibillity, ur clearly a mackem the rest of u guys who keep on moaning should go and use the Newcastle-mad “supporter” website, their negative doomsday writing should suit u well… Frankly, im just sick of all the whining and moaning considered that things are looking the brightest we have had for a long, long time
indian toon
Nov 1, 2007 at 2:08 AM
Comment #15carr was good.. i didnt say that..i was not online yesday!!!!