Kevin Keegan was philosophical after Newcastle’s cruel defeat against Blackburn Rovers today.
Kevin Keegan – Blackburn in smash and grab raid
Keegan told Sky Sports after Newcastle’s defeat against Blackburn today:
“Incredible [the result] that’s football – it is a cruel game at times,” “I thought it was a magnificent performance. First half if we come in 2-0 or 3-0 up I don’t think anyone would have questioned it.â€
“Second half we had four or five good chances, but if you don’t stick them away you can get punished.â€Â  “We got caught with a sucker punch. Blackburn stole the three points today but that’s football.â€
“This week training has been superb and they had taken that into the game today and I feel really sorry for them in there because they definitely did not deserve this.” “They have to pick themselves up and we have got to help pick them up and we have got to go to Anfield that is our next match,”
“We have got to face reality – we have a lot of big games to come but if players play like that today I don’t think we will have any problems, we will win more than we lose that’s for sure.â€
“I thought we gave a really good account of ourselves, but at end of day we have got nothing for it.â€Â “We are a team that has not won in a while and confidence is low. That last-minute goal will not help but we will pick them up and dust them down and take them to Anfield.â€
“Spirit is good, no doubt about that. They have done everything they can to win a football match and as manager I certainly cannot ask for any more than that.”
Newcastle are deep in trouble as far as relegation is concerned, and every game now must be played as a possible win since we need the points desperately.
We suppose that means trying to somehow get a win at Anfield, which may not be as impossible as it sounds, since Liverpool have themselves been a little dodgy this season.
But we need to get some points on the board because the teams beneath us are starting to catch us and we’re just 3 points above the drop zone.
Comments welcome.
67 comments so far
Zx
Mar 1, 2008 at 6:52 PM
Comment #1KK was holding back his tears and disappointment. Short of luck i must say.
GP
Mar 1, 2008 at 7:05 PM
Comment #2Now that I have calmed down a bit, I have to say that I agree as long as we play like we did today we surely have to pick up points.
mikeygd
Mar 1, 2008 at 7:13 PM
Comment #3yer if we play like we did today the goals wil come and it eases the pressure off the defense , how longs butt out for ed?
Ashton
Mar 1, 2008 at 7:14 PM
Comment #4Ashley is one greedy bastard why we didnt get any senior players in jan !! every shiti team in PL bought two or three players why we didnt FFS ?
bollocks
Pan
Mar 1, 2008 at 7:47 PM
Comment #5IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
‘ Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Mag, my son!
If you love the Toon stand up!
craig chisholm
Mar 1, 2008 at 7:49 PM
Comment #6lets face facts lads, we are going down. this is the worst run i can rememeber – ever and we are three points of relegation with a trip to liverpool up next. we have no chance. even if it comes down to goal difference which it may well do – we are stuffed. we are going down. its a tough pill to swallow but we all need to face up to it. big sam lost or drew too many of the easy games in the first half of the season and now we are paying the price with a hell of a hard run since xmas. i see no way out of it this time.
jordi
Mar 1, 2008 at 7:57 PM
Comment #7Listened to the match on Century (and put up with bloody Moncur…) and it sounded as if we had a right go! (Especially Beye vs Pederson 😉 )
Thinking back to when Fat Sam was here I would watch the games thinking ‘why bother’. They were truly awful. I’m not KK’s biggest fan but the performances have definitely been getting better and thats whats needed right? (Oh, and some goals, aye!)
It’s very easy (and pointless) to say we could’ve done this or should’ve done that as many on these boards do. Games are easy to win on paper and hindsight is 20-20. Looking back we can all see what went wrong. But it’s over. Get over it. Move on.
Anfield next and hopefully an even better performance (meaning putting a chance away!) I’m not saying we’ll win but if they have any luck like ours was today then we’ll have a chance! Oh aye, and we won’t have jail-bound Barton messing up our midfield either. 🙂
milnerfan
Mar 1, 2008 at 7:59 PM
Comment #8Trouble is i dont think we will do any better next season if we stay up. It seems to me we attract players like bramble boumsong luque who are gd for the current club, then cme he and under perform. I can see that happening again next season.
Macca
Mar 1, 2008 at 8:01 PM
Comment #9We played well for like the first 5 games something like that, cause it was the start of the new season, we’d a new manager, so we had a few good games, Sam, then I don’t know what he did.
He shattered a lot of players confidence, Martins and Given’s to say the least.
He went out with a bad attitude after there was less media coverage in him I suppose and we’d a bad run, and here we are a few months later still on the bad run. Everyone, well most were over the moon when Keegan was appointed, even though some thought that you should leave the past in the past, but so much was expected with King Kev and the new Keegan era, but it wasn’t that easy. People expected the team that was playing badly back at the start of the season to change suddenly but nothing really changed, nothing but the name of the manager, he didn’t have time to bring in players, he’d injuries and a team with very low confidence team. Some of ye are surprised we’re here, but we’re still the bad team we were under Sam, what’s changed besides the manager..the team has still low spirits, we’ve still injuries and well we’ve still the same team we had a few months ago.
Not much has changed. Keegan maybe a legend but he’s not a miracle worker, he can’t change things of that magnitude in such a short while.
Steeley
Mar 1, 2008 at 8:43 PM
Comment #10Liverpool next up at Anfield – oh dear!! I fear we will be 2 points of relegation as of this time next week as I dont think we will get anything, and I reckon a couple of clubs below will get a point. Looks like Fulham and Derby def gone, so the question is – do our players have what it takes to pull the performances out of the bag and get more poins than Boro, Sunlun, Birmingham, Reading and Wigan.
Here’s hoping so….
Michael
Mar 1, 2008 at 8:51 PM
Comment #11Sam got 26 points with the same players. Keegan has got 2 thus far. Sam was better and you all know it.
Keegan has done nothing in the past and will do nothing in the future because he does not do tactics. How often must this resonate in your thick heads. You diefy him so much that you cannot see where the problem lies. You refuse to see the problem. Sam would have at least taken 6 or 8 points from the last games we have had and the picture would be different. Hell a baboon would have taken more points than keegan has as a baboon it probably more tactically savvy then this brainless prat.
It is not hard to see that the reason keegan cannot change anything and nothing has changed nothing in all the games he has managed nothing has changed from player selection to results because he is not a learning manager. Arsenal 3 – nil sucessively showed he did not take anything from the first loss. Man united 6 nil and 5 – 1 again he did not take anything from the first.
I am sorry guys but motivation alone is not a quality that should have anyone manage a club. tactical ability should be a prerequisite.
The two are congruent. Motivate a person the play a game of chess when he does not know how to play and put him against a person with the lowest self esteem but knows how to play, who will come out tops? You answer that question and you will see that motivation is overrated.
Taxi for Keegan.
GP
Mar 1, 2008 at 9:12 PM
Comment #12Michael – F**k off you sad twat, if you want to watch Fat Sam’s shit football, go buy a season ticket at Bolton. I’d rather we go down trying to play football than stay up kicking people and grinding out 0 – 0’s at wigan.
daniel
Mar 1, 2008 at 9:12 PM
Comment #13Come on boys! we can stay up! Toon Toon Toon
Dragoner
Mar 1, 2008 at 9:14 PM
Comment #14i dont really see how you can compare footy to chess michael? lol
Gloryhunter
Mar 1, 2008 at 9:16 PM
Comment #15I can. We’re all prawns in the game!
Zx
Mar 1, 2008 at 9:16 PM
Comment #16Michael, bs started his job with a pre-season, with a good team morale. KK started his job with all the shambles that bs left behind. bs failed to get 3 points against teams like wigan and derby. So who is the one left us in such desperate position?
Anyway, just wait and see. No point slamming KK, he will be here for quite some time. That’s unfortunate for you isn’t it?
So what if we get relegated? At least it will be clear who are real loyal fans and who are the glory hunting whiners.
Taxi for the whiners…
Marty
Mar 1, 2008 at 9:19 PM
Comment #17from what i read on the live streming with eurosport we played really well for 89 minutes n that is a massive possitive.
we deserved to win today n its been a while since
we deserved anything from any game.
Don`t think wel get anything from anfield game but keep playin like this n wel put the ball in the net!
Gloryhunter
Mar 1, 2008 at 9:20 PM
Comment #18You mean gloryhunting winners 🙂
Dragoner
Mar 1, 2008 at 9:25 PM
Comment #19The worst thing is, we only needed to put away ONE of those chances and we probably would have won as blackburn only scored once we threw everyon forward
middlesbrough we were unlucky
blackburn we were unlucky
…come to think of it, we have been constantly unlucky since the chelsea game, surely our luck is going to turn soon.
geordie_jordan
Mar 1, 2008 at 9:28 PM
Comment #20deep deep deep trouble. i hate what our club has become. god help us. we aint helpin ourselves.
mikeygd
Mar 1, 2008 at 9:35 PM
Comment #21well said zx i cannot believe people like you michael, if you wasnt so dumb you could see that we had the easiest start to a prem campaign we have ever had with big sam and he failed to deliver results in games such as derby for example which has caused this whole mess in which he got the sack and kev took over to find himself with a very tough fixture list. There is no easy game left for kev because even the teams we shud beat such as reading and birmingham and sunderland are going to be fighting for there lives and football can be a funny game. In my opinion i did not think we would get anything from this game and i was right but i am very pleased with the way the lads went about there job today, they played very well considering what they have been like in recent weeks but just failed to convert the chances which can happen in football. Kevin can take alot from this game and his work hes been doing in the short space of time is starting to show but you just need to give him the focking time and understand he has just come into a club in a big crisis and he is not a miracle worker, everyone shud be satisfied he keeps us up this season and let him rebuild in the summer. And next season you should just be greatful that he improves on this disastrous season and not be so focking optimistitc and think that we shud finish in the top 7 at least because we are not a top 7 club and havent been for a long time now so get used to it. You all say u wanted a better manager but we have got the best man for the job out of who would want to do it and he knows wat the fans want and he will deliver if we get rid of these whinging fans who have ruined this football club.
mikeygd
Mar 1, 2008 at 9:37 PM
Comment #22if harry turned down the job why do u think a better manager than kev wud accept? and u call us loyal fans dumb
GP
Mar 1, 2008 at 9:43 PM
Comment #23Harry isn’t really a good manager imo. He’d never cut it at a big club.
trojan
Mar 1, 2008 at 9:44 PM
Comment #24In 11 seasons out of 15, at least one team which plays in stripes has gone down. If you factor in hoops and quarters, it’s 13 out of 15.
» Newcastle have taken just six points from their last eleven league fixtures. If they continue this run of form until the end of the season (exactly eleven games left) they will finish on thirty four points. A total that would have seen them relegated in 12 of the 15 Premier League seasons.
» In their favour, Newcastle’s points have come mainly against lower half teams at home, and they still have to host Sunderland, Reading and Fulham.
» Newcastle are currently 13th. Only one side has ever gone down after being higher after 27 games (Norwich in 1994/5, who were in tenth(!) place with 35 points.) Geordies beware!
GP
Mar 1, 2008 at 9:46 PM
Comment #25trojan – and who do you support then? Some glory hunting munich I suppose. Shouldn’t you be off in some pub in essex singing your clever songs about Shearer and Keegan?
mikeygd
Mar 1, 2008 at 9:47 PM
Comment #26i agree harry isnt a big manager but if he turned us down what chance is there of someone the whinging fans want coming?
mikeygd
Mar 1, 2008 at 9:48 PM
Comment #27the whinging fans listen to the bad press the club get all the time thats a fact, put that in ure stupid fact column trojan
Dragoner
Mar 1, 2008 at 9:49 PM
Comment #28Didier deschamps said he would have liked the challenge of managing newcastle united
Dragoner
Mar 1, 2008 at 9:50 PM
Comment #29i feel 37 points are needed this year
Dragoner
Mar 1, 2008 at 9:50 PM
Comment #30which makes sunderland, fulham and reading all must win games
mikeygd
Mar 1, 2008 at 9:59 PM
Comment #31deschamps is a quitter and a french frog, fact.
mikeygd
Mar 1, 2008 at 10:00 PM
Comment #32i think we will beat fulham and sunderland and draw against reading and birmingham
mikeygd
Mar 1, 2008 at 10:02 PM
Comment #33please list deschamps winners medals as a coach because i think it was only serie b that he won ? quote me if im wrong but thats just as far as im aware
Mac
Mar 1, 2008 at 10:03 PM
Comment #34Right after much soul searching and many pints here is what is happening,today at the game i smiled i haven’t smiled at a Newcastle gane in ages. We played well we created chances believe it of not Butt played well. I believe we may well have turned the corner,you laugh please don’t i think that is the best performance i have seen all season
Dragoner
Mar 1, 2008 at 10:05 PM
Comment #35no doubt you have already checked online mickeygd, but yes you are right, however, he is a young, relatively new manager that looks like he has a bright future, he is a man of the future, not of the past, which is how many describe keegan ( i am not blaming kk for today as a manager cannot put away the chances, that is up to the plyers)
CRAIGG
Mar 1, 2008 at 10:11 PM
Comment #36Well i just got back God watching that today hurt
i think had that been the start of the season we would have won 4 or 5 nil the confidence is shattered owen would usually have had 3 or 4 of those chances we played really well virtually everyone Butt included
Just when you couldnt be any more depressed we have the usual C***nt brigade on this site
Kevin Keegans magic is beginning to work and we will stay up swear down
3 points= Fulham, Reading, Sunderland.
1 point= Birmingham, West Ham.
39 points maybe more if Chelsea havent anything to play for when they com to toon.
Hadji
Mar 1, 2008 at 10:23 PM
Comment #37Guys wake up its not over yet.
Start whining when we’re really relegated,we still have a chance.This dark run can’t last forever.
But its bad its really really bad but we can manage to get away if we stay positive till the very end.
When summer comes KK will be replaced with someone who knows modern football.
Michael
Mar 1, 2008 at 10:30 PM
Comment #38Look at sides like Villa, Man city, Blackburn, everton, they have players not any better than that of Newcastle united, the only thing they have is a competent manager. We were not in trouble when Sam left, Relegation was not a thought.
Now Keegan is here, this is looking more a reality. He is incompetent and that is why he quit England, and Man city his most recent clubs prior to taking over at Newcastle.
I wish the muppet will do as he has always done when his incompetence surfaces and that is quit.
Dragoner
Mar 1, 2008 at 10:38 PM
Comment #39“Didier Deshamps is at home buggering Zidane”
Well done craigg, that was almost funny
“Kevin Keegans magic is beginning to work”
What!?
Gloryhunter
Mar 1, 2008 at 10:42 PM
Comment #40So if you’re negative and ctiticise the club you’re a whinger and if you’re positive and praise the club you’re a muppet. If only everything was so black and white.