Sam Allardyce has talked about the game last night and the fact that the Newcastle players are probably at their lowest ebb of the season. We hope this is rock bottom as Sam says, because we don’t want to go any lower than this. But what Sam talks about this morning, are nothing but excuses and sob stories.
Sam Allardyce - it’s all woulda coulda shoulda this morning
Sam told the Newcastle Evening Chronicle today:
“The players are very dejected and disappointed. It has been a massive effort, with so many games in such a short period of time.†“Now it is three defeats on the trot and, in terms of confidence, that is hugely draining.â€
“We have to take it on the chin, and take the positive points out of the game.†“However, we cannot keep shooting ourselves in the foot by playing so well and not gaining results to go along with it.â€
“It was a very disappointing result at home, having played so well in the first half and not taken advantage of the chances we created.â€
It was very even in the first half, and Newcastle certainly had the better chances but looked inept when those chances presented themselves. On another day we could have easily gone two up, but we didn’t, and that’s why we are now in such terrible trouble. The Newcastle players get paid huge amounts of money to play the game, so we’re not going to feel too sorry for them. They will need to get themselves together for Saturday’s game, and start to earn their wages – like our tremendous fans do every single day.
Sam went on:
“It was typical of the Premier League – it will kill you under those circumstances. It killed us just before half-time with the Elano goal.â€
“In the first 10 games of the season we scored first in seven of them, and you saw how many points that brought us.†“People might say it sounds like we are making excuses, but we are not – have a look at them.â€
“We feel the challenge from Elano on Abdoulaye Faye was a straight red.†“It was a horrendous tackle, but not dealt with. People talk about two-footed tackles, but this was 10 times worse than that.â€
“Damien Duff was through one-on-one and was held by the full-back. The linesman gave offside, but when you look at the replay, it is onside.†“Richard Dunne upended Steven Taylor towards the end from an Emre free-kick – a penalty at that stage would have given us an opportunity.â€
But what Sam is talking about is all what we would call woulda, coulda, shoulda. If only the referee had flagged for their 5 offside goals and had given us that penalty we deserved, we would have won 1-0 and not been beaten 5-0. Just trying to make a point here. If the King was a girl he’d be Queen. It just doesn’t mean anything that’s very real. These things happen in every game, and that’s part of the game and you need to win whatever goes against you, because it happens to all teams.
Sam went on:
“You never know, but even that one was not given.†“The tackle from Elano was a straight red,†“He got away with it. We’re talking about stamping out two-footed tackles. That was worse. There was no attempt to get the ball whatsoever.â€
“He went over the ball. He’s not a tackler. He just went to do him. It was a defining point in the game. It might sound like excuses to some people. But poor decisions cost us.â€
It just about says it all when we talk about things like this in last night’s game. Like Brazilian Elano should have been sent off. If we had played better, then maybe we could have talked about that this morning. You cannot control how the other team plays or what the referee is going to do.
But you can control the way your own team plays and that’s what we have to now concentrate on Saturday. What we can do for ourselves on Saturday, that’s all that really matters right now. Ensure that somehow, the lads don’t fall to a 4th defeat in a row.
Comments and opinions always welcome.
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48 responses so far ↓
1 Indian toon // Jan 3, 2008 at 13:28
calm down everyone. all its gonna take is one good match to get the confidence back and that will be against stoke. and moreover sam is actually playin 442 and we surely look threatning playin that formation. so good positives ahead.
2 James // Jan 3, 2008 at 13:29
Only when the game was lost did he push Nzogbia up to his best position.
Sam do you think Man Utd would play Ronaldo at left back?
Yet again your tactics for a home game were very strange.
You would get more respect from us fans if you admitted your mistakes instead of blaming everyone else but yourself. The buck stops with you.
3 Soren // Jan 3, 2008 at 13:30
Still he should begin to take some blame for the poor performances, as he is in charge of the team and therefore has some responsibility. Though playing 4-4-2 is a step in the right direction.
4 looney toon // Jan 3, 2008 at 13:35
lol great article ed - but isnt da newcastle match vs stoke on sunday n being shown on BBC1 !!!
i thought nzogbia was insane at moments took on ppl went past great player - hope we play a 442 on sunday n i hope BS stops bein so stubborn
5 Tom_Toon // Jan 3, 2008 at 13:37
just sack the bugger and get new manager who is right bedded in before the start of next season.
We will get battered by Stoke, hopefully if it means sam gets the sack, we werent going to win the cup anyway.
6 Howie // Jan 3, 2008 at 13:40
how can ya hope stoke batter us. a true fan would never say that no matter how bad a situation is
7 Tom_Toon // Jan 3, 2008 at 13:44
a true fan wants the best for a club, we werent going to win the fa cup, so may aswell get knocked out straight away and concentrate on the prem, and it may also mean sam gets sacked.
8 steve c // Jan 3, 2008 at 13:46
Shame on you Tom Toon how the hell can you hope we get beaten by Stoke. Supporters like you we can do without.
9 Toon Al // Jan 3, 2008 at 13:50
i’d like sam to get til the end of the season, then if it isn’t good enough by then, he should be booted and Ottomar Hitzfeld should be approached as he’s just announched he’s leavin bayern at the end of the season
10 Tom_Toon // Jan 3, 2008 at 13:51
basically im supporting what dave kitson said, i dont particularly care about what happens because if we win, good we get to the next round, if we lose we can concentrate on the prem and sam gets the sack, good news, either way we arent going to win the FA cup.
11 Lincoln Magpie // Jan 3, 2008 at 13:51
Its is very worrying, and perhaps shows that Bolton is Sams benchmark, if he thinks that we played well last night.
Sorry Sam you will have to go. A Championship side will give you a chance!
12 Toon Al // Jan 3, 2008 at 13:52
tom toon, there is not a manager around at the moment who is worth sackin sam for
13 Tom_Toon // Jan 3, 2008 at 13:52
toon al - for the third time to people hitzfeld has begun talks with the swiss national team to manage them at the end of the season.
14 Tom_Toon // Jan 3, 2008 at 13:53
toon al - here a list for you that ar ebetter than sam:
Houllier
Adriaanse
Jol
Irrureta
Deschamps
and probably Bilic and van Gaal.
15 petworth magpie // Jan 3, 2008 at 13:56
I took a lot of positives out of that game. As Indian Toon points out we finally played a 442 and looked dangerous. Yes Zogs played LB but he might be the best LB in the country so why not. I thought Sam did well takin off Duff (crap) but dropped the ball when he took Faye off (our best player) I think we could have grabbed something if he had played Emre and Faye together. Come on guys lets stick with the team and the manager before the media ruin our entire season, I couldnt have been more annoyed with the completely biased an unprofessional commenting on Fox Sports yesterday lets keep it United.
Player ratings -
Given - 7
Beye - 8
Tayls - 8
Cacapa - 7
Zogs - 9
Duff - 6
Butt - 7
Faye - 8
Milner - 7 (not good enough)
Viduka - 8
Oba - 7
Enrique - 7
Emre - 7
Sam - 7
16 stjames // Jan 3, 2008 at 13:58
To Ed:
I’m with you on this one Ed.
17 Whumpie // Jan 3, 2008 at 14:01
Blimey. Handbags at dawn.
Calm down, guys - admittedly our finishing was poor, but the City defence has to take some credit. Take the up-side, which is that (against all expectations) BSA has shown that he is open to the idea of an attacking 4-4-2.
Stoke will be 3-0, so will Man-U (but alas the other way around) and we’ll finish the season lower-mid-table with BSA still in charge. But we’ll have a low injury rate, a good academy, effective scouting network, a far deeper and longer-term squad and (most notably) a healthy bank balance. Not bad for one season.
18 James // Jan 3, 2008 at 14:03
Nobody outside the top 4 clubs has won the FA Cup for 16 years, and it’s not gonna be use regardless of beating Stoke or not.
If we beat Stoke, we will be in the next round and Sam is safe till the end of the season.
If we lose to Stoke, Sam will most definitely be sacked.
The thing that made me nervous last night was seeing McLaren at the game - please god don’t burden us with that Muppet if Sam goes
19 ObaFan2 // Jan 3, 2008 at 14:21
Whumpie well said.
and I’ve said before BSA shut up fgs and get on with ur job. Imagine if he was talking to BBC too we’d never have a moments peace from the utter tripe (or state the bleeding obvious) he spouts to the media.
20 Rich // Jan 3, 2008 at 14:23
Tom_Toon i have to say if i was asked what id rather have win against Stoke and have Allardyce still in charge and finish 16th or get beat and get shot of Allardyce? Id take the defeat also!We would be better with no manager at present, at least the players know where they should be playing!
21 George // Jan 3, 2008 at 14:24
Stop the exscuses Sam, as we are in a bigger mess than last season and we can not blame previous managers for that, only you.
22 Tom_Toon // Jan 3, 2008 at 14:26
Rich - It makes sense, its not like we were going to win the whole thing.
23 Howie // Jan 3, 2008 at 14:30
yes but its the only excitement left this season at newcastle as we are gonna be about 12th or so in the league. have to agree with what whumpie said
24 Howie // Jan 3, 2008 at 14:38
i think some people fail to realise what a bad mess we were in at the end of last season and not just on the pitch. we werent like man city or villa where we had a good academy and players were a lot of the time unfit under roeder and we didnt spend that much this season compared to most premier teams
25 James // Jan 3, 2008 at 14:44
Stoke will definitely beat us. I thought that before the City game and am convinced now. They are one of the best teams outside the Premiership at the moment. I’m sure Stoke fans are already waiting to see who they will play in the next round
26 Andreas // Jan 3, 2008 at 14:49
The biggest worry in my opinion is that we’re only 9 points clear of bottom three and based on form we might soon be fighting relegation.
27 Leo // Jan 3, 2008 at 15:03
im not being funny but i think it is a distinct possibility that we will loose to stoke in the cup…
28 scott 9 // Jan 3, 2008 at 15:05
what is wrong with martins at the moment he just cant score last season he would ahve put all them sort of chances away he just aint doing it this season for me
29 Ross // Jan 3, 2008 at 15:14
confidence absolutly will not be regained should we beat Stoke.
no offence to them, but should we nick a 1-0 over stoke, i will not be sitting rubbing my hands claiming “right, bring on manure!”
and to be deadly honest, they will be unbeleivably confident going into this game looking at our current form and confusion at the club. Full of the one thing we lack more than anything else.
dont be surprised if we’re on here come sunday night lost for words, i know i wont be.
30 Tom_Toon // Jan 3, 2008 at 15:17
im actually concerned we may get relegated.
31 James // Jan 3, 2008 at 15:32
Is it me or is anyone else annoyed at seeing Sam sitting in the stands at the start of every game. That works fine when the team is organised and doing well. But when it’s all over the shop like it is now, he should be down in the trenches from the first whistle. Not coming down in the second half when things have gone wrong.
32 valle // Jan 3, 2008 at 15:45
What do u want him to say?… He is right u know, we should have won, but we didnt
33 Rob Kirton // Jan 3, 2008 at 15:46
What many have not picked up on is Sam “losing his mojo”. Not only is he on a run of poor results this term, I belive that the second half of the season in his last at Bolton was very poor.
It would be interesting to find out what his managerial record (W-D-L) has been for the last 12 months. It could be claimed he was disintersted and unmotivated towards the end of his time at Bolton. However he hasn’t covered himself in glory, this term with us.
Sam if you want to keep your job - forget the excuses - go get your mojo back !!!
34 Edd Case // Jan 3, 2008 at 16:22
Barton is out of jail - on appeal…apparently.
35 Hadrian // Jan 3, 2008 at 16:22
i think sam was pretty honest for a change , he admited for the first time we should be beating the likes of derby and wigan , admited we have tough games comming up , and admitted we shouldnt be losing at SJP .
bit of honesty for a change go’s a long way .
36 Johann // Jan 3, 2008 at 16:28
Ed - You are so right, when we finally stop blaming someone else than ourselves we´ll start winning games.
37 Micky Toon // Jan 3, 2008 at 17:08
So many people willing to stick the boot in whenever they can. Do I hear bring back Keegan? I’m surprised this little gem hasn’t been said yet.
As most proper supporters are aware what NUFC needed was a change of owner and a change of chairman to get this club back on it’s feet. We’ve got that. Unfortunately it came after our new manager was appointed. Personally I wanted Houlier to join us, but there you go. What fans of nufc have to realise is that we aren’t the big draw most of you think we are. Who in their right mind would join us right now? Nobody. That’s who. Sir Alex said that the Newcastle job was in danger of becoming a poisoned chalice and you know what? He’s right. If we were to sack a well respected manager like BSA before he’s even had a year in the job we would become a laughing stock. Look at ManU. Did Sir Alex get it right in a year? No. Don’t give me any crap about Man City either. There is always one team that is there biting at the heels of the top four, this year it’s City’s turn. Some of the so called fans need to be patient and realise that we were in a really big mess that started with the Keegan and Hall quick fix, patch over the holes mentality that give us some very short term happiness. We have to be thinking more than just this season, start thinking long term. We won’t be relegated, it’s just typical Geordie extremes. We are either the best team in the world and are going to win everything in site or the worst team in the world who even Gateshead could beat. Some perspective is needed. We are bulding for the long term, we will benefit from this and it will be Sunderland, Derby and Fulham playing QPR, etc.. next season and not us.
38 scott 9 // Jan 3, 2008 at 17:37
hulier is a f*cking s*it maneger we dont ant him for f*ck sake we aint gonna be relagated give sam time he will turn things round in the end
39 Hadrian // Jan 3, 2008 at 17:41
micky toon , ive been saying bring back keegan since august .
you can have a go at me for that if u will .
fact remains , kevin has been in and around the toon alot this season , gave interview on us which he never normally does , and if early reports were right was offerd a sporting directors role at the club , but didnt take it so he wasnt undermining sam .
im 100% confident that if asked keegan would come out of retirement and finish the job he started with us .
and id welcome him back with open arms ,
ps stick big al alongside him to .
40 geordiejayne13 // Jan 3, 2008 at 17:43
ohhhhhhhhh Hadrian I wish it were true, i have not lost the love for Keegan.
Also those who say we will not be relegated, the only way we will not be relegated is with good results FACT.
41 Steeley // Jan 3, 2008 at 17:46
Well blow me down! Well done Ed, an article which doesnt sound like it was written by Fat Sam himself! Nice to see a bit of a balanced opinion again!!
42 subz // Jan 3, 2008 at 18:05
Look at the table, then look at our games for Jan & Feb. We are going to be right in it. THE SHIT THAT IS!!!
We can only prey the likes of Bolton and the local Teams fail to pick up results, cos we aint.. The last game and a half have shown signs of promise, but I think this is down to the few decent players he uses shining, not the way he sets the team up.
If he gets his way, all our flair players will be gone during his 1st year, Solano(MASSIVE ERROR), Dyer( I know, never played and was a tosser), and soon Emre and Martins will probably go.
Apathy is a terrible thing to have around, but it seems to be all around us. Can’t wait for us to go and contain Stoke.
AND PLEASE STOP ALL THE BLOODY FERGUSON SHIT. HE HAD WON SOMETHING AND PROVED HE HAD SOMETHING ABOUT HIM.
43 Hadrian // Jan 3, 2008 at 18:13
i agree subz , we are walking into a bottom half battle with the likes of boro and brummy .
we are closer in points to sunderland (18th) than we are to everton (6th)
44 Andreas // Jan 3, 2008 at 19:57
Johann - Funny you should mention “stop blaming” since you are always taking swipes at Given (not in this thread though - which was bit strange).
45 scott 9 // Jan 3, 2008 at 20:44
im really worried we aint gonna buy anyone in january we really need some creative players bu they only one weve been seriously linked with is arshevin
46 Stamford Toon // Jan 3, 2008 at 23:16
Beye was great and has managed not to lose confidence. It seems to me that many of them have and heads go down so easily when they lose a goal. I think that is Obas problem he is needing an extra touch just to try and be sure of hitting the target.It happened so often against Man city, their defenders simply didn’t allow him the time for the extra touch. Did anyone see the article in todays Independent about noise levels of supporters at the Prem grounds. The quietest are Fulham, we are only 9th. You won’t ike this the noisiest are the Mackems. Now that doesn’t fit in with our song does it. I wonder if part of the lack of confidence is that the team has for the greater part of any game lost the ‘12th man’. Against the Arsenal was the exception and look how well the team responded. So often against man City once they had scored the vocal support was next to nothing. At the end of the game Tayls and Beye tried to show their appreciation. Lets really get behind the team and focus on the good things that they have achieved (the early wins, the games v Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City when they played better than the opposition) rather than all this mindless bitching about BS and constant bad mouthing of many of the players. Winning or losing we should be letting them know we are with them.
47 Micky Toon // Jan 4, 2008 at 11:54
If houlier is such a crap manager then how come he’s done wonders with Lyon? He was given a duff hand by Liverpool. He is generally regarded as one of the top managers in Europe.
As for Fergie winning something, I’ll grant you that he did a decent enough job with Aberdeen, but the SPL as it is now is leagues behind the EPL.
48 Johann // Jan 4, 2008 at 14:46
Andreas, How about you reading what I actually said. I did exactly say the players to blame themselves not others.
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