We need to get something very clear after this game was over – Newcastle are in dire danger of being relegated – make absolutely no mistake about that.
Don’t tell us we are too good to go down. Any team that has gained just 3 points from their last 12 league games should be fighting relegation – and that’s our terrible record since we won at Fulham on December 15th.
And that was a very lucky win with a penalty after 92 minutes that Joey Barton converted.
After Newcastle had held Liverpool for 43 minutes and looked like going into the break all square we conceded an unlucky goal that only happens to teams fighting relegation.
The ball was on the right by the goal line and Enrique turned to boot the ball away, but it hit Pennant and the ball then looped over Harper into the goal. Pennant will be credited with the goal but he knew nothing about it.
Martins did look lively when he was brought on in the second half, and he hit the cross-bar with a fantastic shot from 30 yards after 69 minutes. That’s probably more of a goal threat than Alan Smith – who is keeping him out of the starting team – has been all season.
That’s a point that Keegan needs to look at – as he seems to be playing players with the biggest reputations – not necessarily because they are the best players for the job. But there will certainly be another inquisition about what has been an utterly disastrous season for Newcastle United.
If Newcastle players were short of confidence before this game, they will have even less after this performance.
Not to mention what the loyal Newcastle fans have had to go through. It’s little short of a disgrace what the team has been serving up since December.
Bit today, once we were 2-0 down and Liverpool put a 3rd goal past us after 51 minutes through captain Gerrard – Liverpool were content (thank goodness) to see out the game because on Tuesday Liverpool play Inter Milan in Italy.
They took Gerrard and Torres off before 70 minutes was up, as their job was done and both had scored.
The game died a death during the last 20 minutes but Steve Harper still managed to produce a couple of excellent saves to keep the score down after 82 minutes.
The game died only because Liverpool had given up trying to score and were playing out time and seemed satisfied with a 3-0 win.
Where we go from here we have no idea. We play Birmingham a week on Monday at St. Andrews – if we can win that game 4-0 against fellow relegation candidates Birmingham City – maybe we’ll have a chance of staying up.
But something is terribly wrong at Newcastle United this season and our star players are under-achieving now more than ever – and that’s saying something. Maybe we should dock their wages – they’ve hardly earned their massive wages this season.
In our last 12 league games we’ve lost 9 and drawn 3. We’ve scored 6 goals and conceded 30 – that’s how bad things are.
When other people don’t do their jobs – they get the sack.
Whoops, but I keep forgetting – that’s in the real world.
We look for a statement from Newcastle Chairman Chris Mort about what is happening to this once great club.
This is just too much to bear.
58 comments so far
Tripp
Mar 8, 2008 at 4:57 PM
Comment #1At the end of the day a loss was the likely result. The way it happened was shit. We have a slim chance, but it gets worse by the day. So if we got relegated, what happens to the team? How does it all work? I’m sure players would demand to leave, not that anyone in the EPL would want them.
Yorkie Dave
Mar 8, 2008 at 4:58 PM
Comment #2its not acase anymore of who do we sign for next season its a case of who we can keep in the championship!! im only saying this cos if we play like that in the next 2 games it will be all over!!!
Christ my nerves are going to be shot b the end of the season
Zx
Mar 8, 2008 at 4:59 PM
Comment #3Doesn’t make a difference to me whether we survive or get relegated. I’ll still be a supporter.
=)
Yorkie Dave
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:00 PM
Comment #4again tho its not over till that fat bird in row z starts singing
Yorkie Dave
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:01 PM
Comment #5zx too right ill have the club creston my gravestone
Sash
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:02 PM
Comment #6Shouldn’t have sacked Allardyce really. He was right when he said you can’t attack till you can defend. Now with the return of the messiah who didnt watch a premier league game for 3 years before his return to management your getting relegated, and the only reason he was sacked was because the most delirious fans in the world thought mid table was much to low for the mighty NUFC, how about relegation? Stats for last 12 games. For 6, against 30!! hahah
Yorkie Dave
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:04 PM
Comment #7we can beat birmingham, reading, scum, fulham 12 pts and i believe we could be safe but we need the team to perfor like they did against blackbur and martins needs to start, ive eing wiling smith to kick a scouser in the head and get himelf banned!!
Obafan
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:05 PM
Comment #8Tonight KK will again go eating and drinking with Smith and Butt and telling them not to be annoyed about their performance today.
KK: “Don’t worry boys, I’ve just received my game sheet for the Brum game and your names are already on it. The rest I will see this week in training. Or you both can tell me, cause this week will again be very busy for me with giving interviews for the press.”
Smith: “Okay Kev, but don’t put Martins in the team, cause he is better than me and then perhaps I might lose my spot.”
KK: “If Martins plays Alan I will drop someone else so you can play. Which position do you prefer to play against Brum?”
Smith: “Let me for once try as a central defender.”
KK: “No problem I will put Faye on the bench.”
Smith: “Thanks Kev, do you want another alcoholic drink?”
Foxy
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:05 PM
Comment #9I think MARTINS should start ahead of SMITH every match the whole team seemed to come a bit more to life when MARTINS came on, he has a certain energy about him which gets the other players performing better (but still not good enough) =(
Outlaw
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:06 PM
Comment #10Today was meant to be a bonus guys. The next two games we have to get something.
Tripp
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:06 PM
Comment #11For me its a big deal because Setanta doesn’t show the Championship too often and I live in Denver, so I can’t see games live. I’ll never get to watch a game. I won’t stop supporting the club, that would be beyond lame. If I was that type of person I’d be a ManU, Chelski, or Arsenal supporter…
Macca
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:06 PM
Comment #12Reading 2-0 Man City
The Irish lads had a very good game, they grinded out a result, we don’t seem able to do that at all, and we haven’t this season yet. Looking at not just our performances of late but all season, I’m not sure that we deserve to stay up, I don’t want to say it, it’s not nice to say like and I hope we don’t go down but we’re playing some of the worst football in the Premiership. Clubs are never too big to go down, and it looks like we could be on our way, hopefully not, hopefully we’ll find some sort of miracle that’ll save us, but I can’t see it, no one on the pitch filled me with confidence or hope. Martins ALMOST scored, Harper made one, sorry two good saves but we still conceded 3. It’s not good enough, we’re not good enough. It’s yet to be seen if we’re able to stay up.
valle
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:07 PM
Comment #13Terrible planning (if there was any) for this match and no build up play at ALL, we looked clueless once we got into their half… If we are going to play one striker, then look at who can do the job FFS!!!. Imo Owen is twice the player Oba will ever be, but there can be not doubt that as a lone striker, Oba is far better than Owen, with all his running and power.
Why Smith and Butt are in the team are beyound me, simple as that. They give away our balls and Butt looks like he is on a nervous breakdown when he make hasty and stupid decicions and passes.
DP
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:08 PM
Comment #14Maybe we NEED to go down, to get rid of the tripe of players we have, butt, smith, cacapa, enrique, faye, carr, barton, ameobi etc etc, even owen to a certain extent. This football club is my life, I will always support the lads, but this is painful. I think relagation is a real possibility and possibly the wake up call the club needs, not sure Mike Ashley will stick around if we go down though. Ronaldinho?? more chance of a quiet night in the bigg market tonight. As always, Howay the lads!!
brad
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:09 PM
Comment #15dnt u ppl get it we wont beat birmingham we couldnt beat em before wot makes u think we can now and i think we will only get a win from reading so were going down and none of u give me that keep the faith bull shit its over
toon1978
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:09 PM
Comment #16RUBBISH,VILE,DISGUSTING, that is my verdict on a bunch of losers playing for NUFC. Relegation is an understatement we wont even last in the CC.
ToonKing
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:09 PM
Comment #17i blame KK tonight, going 4-5-1 to Anfield…….big mistake Kev.
Today’s was a Sam mentality with KK tactics….not a good combo……
toon_boy
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:10 PM
Comment #18Actually starting to believe that we might go down now, just because reading and even fulham managed to pick up points today and again, we looked nowhere near. Where did the blackburn performance go?? It just looks like the players have no interest in playing for the win. They look drained and uninterested.
The unfortunate thing is that it all still stems from Fat F*CKING Freddie Shepard and Fat F*ucking Sam for what happened and who was brought in last summer.
I truly have all the faith in the world in KK, Mike Ashley and Chris Mort. As im sure Kevin would have a good confident attacking team playing at Newcastle with MA’s cash and im sure every1 will agree with that?
Lets all just pull together and cross our fingers that we manage to stay up!!!!!
CMON THE TOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GraemeR
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:12 PM
Comment #19I can only hope KK is picking his team depending on the liklihood of getting anything out of hte game. against liverpool we never looked like getting anything other than a draw (0-0) so who played up front is academic. Now next game against Brum is a must win (not even a draw is enough) and for this Martins and Viduka must start. Butt and Barton cannot play in the middle and duffers must get back on the left (maybe Zog or Emre in hte centre midfield slot).
Zx
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:12 PM
Comment #20Just want to stress this…even if we get relegated, its not the end of the world.
We can go always get promoted if that happens. But I do hope that if we do go down, we should at least drag sunderland down with us.
Outlaw
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:13 PM
Comment #21sam allardyce is a fat bastard who deserves to choke on his chud the next time he chews.
milnerfan
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:13 PM
Comment #22lol!!!!! did any1 actually think we could beat liverpool 2day? whats the point of saying, ye we could do it? ive got a gd feeling about this!. Bullshit, i knew from the start we were gna get hammered agen! It comes down to the games against reading and birmingham, that we should be saying ye were goin to win. Coz if we dont we will go down and become the next leeds!
oioi
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:14 PM
Comment #23jus watched it on the net (cheers for the live footy link ed)
least the heads stayed up and we played our best stuff at 3-0 down.
unlucky for obas mega effort and liverpools fluke 1st goal.
(un)funniest moment of the game…duff been substituted mid 2nd 1/2…i genuinely didnt know he was playing…he was never mentioned once in commentary!
relegation might be good…we can lose some socca fans who know nowt about anything except screaming at the manager and lose some of the team hopefully haha…
KK’ s season starts now…
even if we go down at least we can win sumat next year…
keep the faith.
kk will sort it
Stephen
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:15 PM
Comment #24I did tell you people on here that Kevin Keegan was the wrong man for the job………
Most people on this said i was talking rubbish and wasnt a real toon fan……
But its clear to see he aint the man to take us forward………
He is past his sell by date and we should of given more time with Big Sam……..
Exciting football????
Oh ya very exciting
3-0 against liverpool
5-1 against man u
4-1 against villa
3-0 against arsenal
3-0 against arsenal in the cup………….
Newcastle need to sort out the defence first big sam had a plan but most toon fans just want attacking football…….
And they see keegan as god…………..
Well he is just sending us down…….
FACT
its really being a bad day for newcastle united football club
Max
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:17 PM
Comment #25Yep team selection is bad, Smith did nothing and hasnt done anything for the team since he arrived at the club. I fell for Enrique as he read the pass well, showing good defensive awareness! Play carroll and martins, owen and smith are utterly useless!
toon_boy
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:17 PM
Comment #26lol exactly outlaw, exactly!
ToonKing
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:17 PM
Comment #27we can’t get relegated, we just can’t…..there is no guarantee that we can come right back up again and languishing in the Coca Cola is not my idea of bringing the glory days back…… ;(
Stephen
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:18 PM
Comment #28He is tacticlly inept…
and the only thing he wants to do he splash the cash……..
he brought man city up and splashed 18 million on anelka a chamipnship team spending that money coming up???crazy
he is only interested in buying superstars like owen………….
That never ever got us anywhere i like us to be like spurs and buy good young players for the future…
buying boumsong signings and luque signings is just going to make us the new leeds………..
We are the new leeds………………
toon_boy
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:20 PM
Comment #29My only worry is that if we do go down, we wont come straight back up. Has anyone else thought that we might end up doing a Leeds if we go down?????
daiv
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:20 PM
Comment #30We are going down and the Mackems are staying up. KK keeps picking his old cronies like Smith and Butt. Smith has not scored for TWO YEARS but keeps out Martins and Viduka. I suppose it must be big Sam’s fault. He must “supporters” on this blogg helped get him the sack. Are you still glad he was sacked and KK brought in? Everything was Sam’s fault …its his fault that KK is doing such a feeble job. Has any Newcastle manager starting a job had such a terrible record and still been in a job? Must be Sam’s fault that he’s keeping his job.
boater
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:21 PM
Comment #31Why has no one mentioned Taylor? we love our obvious scapegoats at this club. Yes, Smith and Butt should have been replaced by Geremi and Martins without hesitation but Taylor is very culpable for some mighty fine – relegation style defensive performances. I hope you will still feel that same affection for our local boy defender when he’s messing up his job in the championship. Milner and Zog – despite the views of most – should also take some of this flak as our creative players who have seen more of the ball than anyone in the side this season and game upon game done nowt.
The main worry is the fact KK keeps sending out the same team – his famed morale boosting is not called for now…. but changing his personnel is.
Stephen
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:21 PM
Comment #32We are shocking………..
Look at pompey winning at old trafford today into the semi final..
There a small club and you see them up there……
Its shocking and disgusting what the players have done to this great football team…
they should get there wages docked………
owen 110 grand a week for what??????
putting on the jersey………..
BILLY - B
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:22 PM
Comment #33Obafan i dont think your far from the truth, how else can you explain smith been picked ahead of martins or carol. the old pals act seems to be alive and kiicking at st james and it is going to kick us straight into the championship
milnerfan
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:26 PM
Comment #34@ Stephen its not the manager its the players!!!! We could have brought in a world class manager he would have done no better. If you sent a shit manager to real madrid the players would still perform well. Mike will regret not putting his hands in his pockets now!!!!!
Obafan
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:27 PM
Comment #35toon_boy – indeed if we get relegated we should only hope to come back right back into the EPL, but that will be very hard, cause every team in the Championship does want to get a good result against a team like Newcastle so it will be very hard.
Stephen – You’re spot on m8!!! KK took over at a moment that we needed a clever, tactically strong manager (perhaps SA could do that). But the board deceided to turn the clock back for 10 years and get back a tactical zero manager who indeed needs cash to get a bit of a result.
When I was 17 KK was for me the best manager of the world, but that was because he had cash to buy players who were so good that they didn’t need any tactical advise from their manager. Now KK proves that if he does not have the best players that he isn’t worth anything as a manager.
daiv
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:27 PM
Comment #36Sam got the sack because he “did not know what he was doing.” The football was boring. I agree. But there was no talk of relegation. The messiah arrives and we are boring AND hopeless. Relegation is a real possibility. Keegan gets no blame or we just stay silent (because we like him)and drift into the Championship. Must be Sam’s fault.
Stephen
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:27 PM
Comment #37Yes i agree its the players…….
But it doesnt help when we have a manager who is tactically inept…….
Ramos for spurs would of being ideal he gets the organised……
To be honest if we defend like we are now we will lose every away game and pick up the odd point at home……………
and if we lose every away game i wouldnt be shocked
LouDeKross
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:28 PM
Comment #38West Ham went to Anfield on Wednesday night, played 4-5-1 and got their arses whipped. So what does Keegan do? He goes to Anfield 3 days later and plays 4-5-1 and guess what?? Yip his team get their arses whipped. And make no mistake they could have lost by more if Liverpool had not got one eye on the San Siro. Well Toon fans you wanted Allerdyce out and Keegan in… Keegan really has turned things around since he took over… instead of being a mid-table side you have become relegation fodder…. Excellent.
Mike
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:28 PM
Comment #39Obafan I am pissing myself laughing from your first post… it’s probably true too!
Also if Martins is healthy LET HIM PLAY!
He’s a quick pacey striker and maybe his play will spark up the team…
To be honest I don’t blame them for falling asleep with the crap style they play half the time with smith and owen up front…
I think Owen Martins could do well… maybe take some heat off Owen for a bit.
Obafan
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:29 PM
Comment #40milnerfan – if Houllier or Deschamps would have been picked, we would have had at least 37 points (win Bolton and Blackburn and Boro).
KK is not able to build on a good performance like last week. Now we need to rebuild from nothing cause today’s game is a game to forget ASAP.