Here are some observations after our 4th league defeat on the trot, and one thing is getting more and more real with every defeat – we could well be relegated this season – then what?
Reading won and Fulham drew away at Blackburn and Reading are now above us on goal difference having won 2 games in a row.
- Oba Martins came on in the second half and was more of a threat in those 45 minutes than Alan Smith has been all season.
The commentators were asking how come this boy didn’t start – you’ll have to ask Kevin Keegan that. Oba hit the cross-bar with a 30 yard shot and seemed determined to show Keegan just how wrong he is to start Smith.Oba proved his point without any question.Drop Smith – please!
- Liverpool were streets ahead of us and we have to be thankful that Liverpool settled for a 3-0 win in their crowded season.
- The lads were OK for the first 43 minutes but always looked fragile. Once the first goal went in, however unlucky it was – that was it – game over.
- If it hadn’t been for Steve harper our goal difference – which now stands at -26, would have been even worse.
- We must go all out and attack Birmingham in our next game – that will help take the stress off our fragile defense. Anything other than a win at Birmingham will have the storm clouds gathering over Tyneside.
- Who would have thought we would be in relegation trouble this season after a Billionaire bought the club last summer?
- Relegation is a real possibility because we have just 3 points from out last 12 league games – have scored 6 and conceded 30 – if that’s not relegation form we don’t know what is.
- Keegan’s record since he arrived is played 8, lost 6 and drawn 3. We’ve scored 3 goals and conceded 19. One of those games was our 3-0 defeat at Arsenal in the FA Cup.
- We need to pick the strongest team available against Birmingham and that means Smith will not play and Martins will.
- We hope our two crocks Emre and Viduka may even be available to help the cause, although we will not hold our breath. Emre, Carr and Viduka should be paid only for the games they play – it’s daylight robbery that they are picking up huge wages for hardly playing.
- We would keep Steve Harper in goal – he’s played very well again in deputizing for Shay , and right now he’s probably our best goalkeeper.
- Newcastle have a huge public relations problem on their hands with our fans. They have to explain to the Newcastle faithful how come we are in the position we are. 80% of our fans thought we’d finish in the top 6 this season.
- They also will have to explain again why we didn’t add to our squad in January.
- Reading beat Manchester City 2-0 at home and go above Newcastle United on goal difference – that’s because they have won 2 games in a row!
- Fulham even picked up a valuable point at Blackburn, and are now on 20 points, but they have a better goal difference than Newcastle (-23 against -26).
33 comments so far
Stephen
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:25 PM
Comment #1Kevin keegan sacked.
Players docked wages.
Butt and Smith dropped………….
Play 4-4-2 at home with Carroll and Martins up front…………….
Lose Owen as captain…………………..
Hope teams below us get caught for match fixing……..
If we dont do these things we are off playing preston away
Rory
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:26 PM
Comment #2Another thing I have noticed over the last few months, is that even on the (very rare) occsasions when we do mount an attack – it just doens’t seem at all threatening. We are completely impotent going forward.
Smith – must be dropped.
Owen – shouldn’t be an automatic pick. Think of the possibilites of Martins and Carroll up front!!!
However, to be fair to Owen and the rest of our strikers, the servie that they receive from our midfield is dismal.
Having said all this I still don’t think we will be relegated, but this will probably simply be down to the fact that there are teams worse than us (if thats possible!!)
toon_boy
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:27 PM
Comment #3F*CK OFF ALAN SMITH! Play Martins up front, he is by far our most dangerous player as well as being our topscorer. do you think there is any way we can contact KK????lol
sohic
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:28 PM
Comment #4duff played forward today, toally lost. be aware of that.
Stephen
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:31 PM
Comment #5The worrying 2 things for me are:
When we concede a goal its like we cave in we could concede around 4 goals a game…..
We dont look like scoring…………
If we cant score and we have a terrible defence we are doomed…….
And the worrying thing is the likes of reading and brum they dont have quailty like us but are used to battling for points down there…….
We aint used to it and we could struggle……
i think derby 20th fulham 19th newcastle 18th hurts me to say it
Stephen
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:40 PM
Comment #6And what does my head in is Kevin Keegan comes out every game saying oh we can pull off a shock against man united confidence is high then they lose 5-1
Enrique comes out saying toon fans im going to show u my best——–ya u did that mate didnt ya nearly concededed a penalty at fault at first goal and always out of postion impressive…….
Smith ?????why is he playing all the time i dont get it he is suppose to be a striker and hasnt scored since last season against roma for man united and playing him in midfield with nicky butt is making me fall asleep……
Smith and butt for center midfield i prfer to have boumsong as a holding midfiedler than look at that cra*
Owen?????????OMg just get rid how does he become captain he cost us 17 million 110 grand a week and never scores cause he is always injured or is hopless…………..
The only player i can ever give credit too is shay given never really at fault for goals always mr.consistent but even if he concedes loads of goals u cant blame him for the 4 in front of him…
We are a circus act………….
Oh and where is our class joey barton suppose to be gerrard type…….
ohya thats right aint aloud out of his own home ha…………….
and even though we have crap on the pitch its not like we can replace them with anything good….
ameobi and carr omg……………..
newcastle are a joke……………..
Sir bobby robson must cry they way managers tore up his top4 team into a relagtion team……
how things change……………….
only a few years ago we were taking on inter milan and barcelona……
now our must win game is against brum
nate dawg
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:40 PM
Comment #7ed could you find out about the fixtures of us an the teams below us , would like to compare them all , dont worry about derbys
ScottyT
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:41 PM
Comment #8disagree with what you say about 80% of fans thought top 6.
i thought we’d be midtable cos a didnt want big sam nd our players wernt gd enuf at start of season either nd knew his football wouldnt suit us but no doubt that not many people thought we’d be r zone candidates
Macca
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:48 PM
Comment #9Reading are above us, if Birmingham, Sunderland and Wigan win their matches tommorow we’ll be in the relegation zone or just above it.
oioi
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:49 PM
Comment #10glad im not like you stephen,
remember those wanting robson out at the time?
KK has inherited a bad bunch off FSA.
a previous post of yours said it all…
arsenal,arsenal,villa,man u,man u,liverpool etc…
wot do you expect?
shepherds gone,fsa has gone…no more egos to feed.
ashleys re structuring the whole club from the bottom up,this takes years not weeks.
anyone who thinks KK can just step into the mess and produce a miracle is deluded.
judge him in 3 1/4 years time.
and remember dont start shouting for his head when we’re in 6th spot coz we’re not in the top 4.
just chill out.
its football, these things happen.
Jon
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:54 PM
Comment #11Oba!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stephen
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:57 PM
Comment #12oioi ————-Chill out?????what are you talking about newcastle are going down like leeds i dont see any progress with Keegan atall…….
And i for one wasnt against Robson i thought he was always going to be a sucess as i did with Big Sam………..
Robson took over exactly like Keegan when we were in a dogfight but Robson had what it takes to get us out of trouble…..
Kevin Keegan looks like a lost man………
Everytime the match ends he puts his hand on to the other managers face y cant he just do a normal handshake……..
He bores me and is a terrible manager……
Just cause he did well before with us dont mean he is god………
10 years ago was alot easier to get results now the defences are stronger and theres not going to be many 4-3 results………….
He only has plan a and thats attack attack attack if that dont work he is lost doesnt know what to do……….
And some attacking football anyways i have seen soo far…………
Big Sams football was better ha
lee
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:57 PM
Comment #13On the Smith issue, I’ve heard that he has a clause in his contract that states if he is fit he must play, perhaps the reason he keeps getting picked? Or perhaps Keegan is sticking with him to give him confidence. Don’t worry lads, we’ll walk the Championship next year!
Stephen
Mar 8, 2008 at 5:59 PM
Comment #14he only cares about wasting all our money…
he reminds me off souness all about bringing big players in……..
nothing else cant be a manager like Hughes who works on a tight budget and would of being a better choice
Dunc
Mar 8, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Comment #15If Bolton beat Wigan tomorrow that means that the teams in and around us are all on the same (ish) points.
That leaves us 1 point off the drop I think.
The other teams around us are picking up points and we are in a right royal slump.
I wonder what Alan has to say about us being too good to go down now?
Pooping myself here!!!!!
azvael
Mar 8, 2008 at 6:01 PM
Comment #16I think Bolton will get the last releguated spot They wont win against Arsenal, Man U, Chelsea and Tottenham at WHL
Big Sam was only good with bolton because of Anelka.
Bob
Mar 8, 2008 at 6:10 PM
Comment #17azvael – The point was that Big Sam was supposed to be able to attract players like Anelka, Djorkaeff, Okocha etc.
oioi
Mar 8, 2008 at 6:17 PM
Comment #18your totally wrong there stephen…
KK doesnt just want to waste our money….coz he never spent any in panic in jan,or we could be 20 mill down and still in the same position???
souness DEFINATELY comes into that category!
if we stay up, 3/4 of the squad will go without a doubt. this club was in a mess both on the pitch and especially behind the scenes when ashley took over…he’s sorting it.
KK took us from the brink of oblivion to an established top 6 team then got shited on by the halls and their cronies.
he took fulham (i remember throwing coins into a bucket to save them !!!)and got em into the top flight.
he took city from oblivion to an established top 1/2 prem club.
england crapped on him by not letting him appoint coxy as his number 2 (coz of his age…then let sven appoint the much older thord grip).
so what if we go down…we’ve been there before,infact its the only worthy thing we’ve won in the last ??? years.
give keegan a full transfer window and pre-season and watch things improve…he came in at the wrong time,end of the season wouldve been better.
the mans bloods black and white!
Martins
Mar 8, 2008 at 6:18 PM
Comment #19Is there any hance of bringing in Bobby Robson until end of season to help keegan out?
Stephen
Mar 8, 2008 at 6:22 PM
Comment #20Ya thats right took Man city to the premiership kept them there……
Ya impressive but pretty much put them into debt with his signings
Anelka 18 million berkovic i think 7 million……..
If that thailand guy didnt come in Man city be bankrupt………………………
So what if he is black and white true and true……….
So am i dont mean i would be a great manager would it????
If he cares bout the club so much he should admit he aint good enough and leave now…….
he only came back for the money lets face it…..
how could anyone turn down 20 million for 3 years……
like fuc* he came back to turn us around….
he only came back because he knew he could spend loads of money in the summer
Die hard toon
Mar 8, 2008 at 6:25 PM
Comment #21Birmingham, Fulham, Tottenham, Reading, Portsmouth, Sunderland, West Ham, Chelsea & Everton i think we can do it with this draw i hope
walker
Mar 8, 2008 at 6:27 PM
Comment #22martins no chance of sir bobby it would kill him he needs to concentrate on his health.
trader
Mar 8, 2008 at 6:29 PM
Comment #23Liverpool fan here. Im not going to get involved in the Keegan debate as its not my place but you will not go down. You have had a hard run but you have some win-able fixtures ahead. You wont even come close to going down.
oioi
Mar 8, 2008 at 6:31 PM
Comment #24oh dear…
did you cry when he broke the transfer record for shearer?
we’d be bankrupt if it wasnt for ashley,
most clubs inc man u are carrying MASSIVE debts.
people like you are whats wrong with the club m8.
ive had great times at oldham,stoke,blackpool,exeter as well as old trafford,maine road,villa park and of coures SJP.
its called football,
you win some you draw and lose some you go down you go up but you support the lads.
thats life.
dont be bitter
walker
Mar 8, 2008 at 6:38 PM
Comment #25@ oioi quality comments.
toon4lyf
Mar 8, 2008 at 7:11 PM
Comment #26why are people hoping to go down how is spending years in a worse division good for the club…..and every1 was begging for keegan at the beginning and wanting allardayce back allardayce was terrible never ever played decent football or the right players.keegan was unlucky and had our best player injured emre.butt is terrible contributes nothing smith is average but shouldnt start all the time but should be i the squad next week we should play
…………..harper…………..
beye…taylor..faye….enrique
duff….emre..nzogbia…milner(is available)(
……..Martins……owen(smith)
ScottyT
Mar 8, 2008 at 7:15 PM
Comment #27trader hope ure right but i dont have the same faith im afraid we are hopeless away but ill still be trying to get a ticket for birmingham next week lol stupid but loyal thats newcastle fans for ya
John
Mar 8, 2008 at 7:51 PM
Comment #28There is a team that could just about pick up enough points to stay up. It involves dropping Michael Owen who is certainly ineffective and off form. It also means dropping Duff who may still come back eventually. Smith needs a rest too. All should have further chances but not till safety is reached. I see no evidence that players don’t try. They are just wretchedly low in confidence. There is no point in angrily condemning players or manager. The best we can do is:
Harper, Beye, Enrique, Faye,Taylor, Butt, Milner, Barton, Viduka, Martins and Nzogbia.
richie
Mar 8, 2008 at 8:03 PM
Comment #29wel stay up jus about cant wait t end season, need a whole new team pretty much,,have we any good central mid we could bring in from the ressies to steady the ship, central mid is a big prob
rlw
Mar 8, 2008 at 9:43 PM
Comment #30I think ed is right about harper being our best keeper but if he gets a chance given will spit his dummy out again.
Gallowgate Channel
Mar 9, 2008 at 1:45 AM
Comment #31I give up with some of you spineless so called United fans. Look – theres loads of games to go, some of which we can influence by the fact they are at home. Those of us who are lucky enough to get into home games have an obligation, as Geordies, to create such a wall of noise, as only we can, that ensures the home points are in the bag.
Anybody who wants to whinge, have a go at Sir Kevin, etc etc Fook Off – we don’t need you. End of Story.
ObaFan2
Mar 9, 2008 at 4:26 AM
Comment #32oioi, thank you, another voice of reason.
Stephen, every post I’ve seen by you is tripe. Even a scouser’s been on and talking more sense than you m8y! (trader,no offense intended had many an enjoyable night out in Liverpool)
You seem to me to be a typical fair-weather…. sack the manager supporter who, like oioi we can do without.
There are problems still obviously at sjp but it’s mainly player related… performance related wages and they’d be bankrupt.
I still seen positives today but accept we were beaten by a much better team, one of the better teams in Europe let alone England.
Oba needs to play and play at his best.
Smith, I’ll say it again IF he has a must play clause (which I doubt) it should be bought out and him strung up In Newcastle by his (tiny?) testicles.
He must be dropped.
Taylor should shut up whining ’bout his contract and try n concentrate for 90+ minutes.
Duff had an off day but he’s been one of our better players recently.
Zog couldn’t deliver a pizza let alone a cross but he played ok at times.
Quite simply we gave the ball away too easily, yeah ofc KK in training says ” yeah this is what you do, touch the ball then pass to the opposition” yeah right!
I can see tears in his eyes cos he can see some useless players in his beloved black n white.
CRAIGG
Mar 9, 2008 at 12:58 PM
Comment #33Stephen why do people like you never look at the bigger picture.
“Robson took over exactly like Keegan when we were in a dogfight but Robson had what it takes to get us out of trouble”
I love Bobby Robson to pieces but he took over a side after 8 games of the season with a lot easier games ahead and a much better set of players he could put out a side like this:
Given
Barton Howey Dabizas Hughes
Solano Lee Speed Dyer
Shearer Ferguson
We were robbed against Boro and Blackburn, Bolton never wanted to leave their 18 yard box and we had loads of injuries as well and what did you really expect against Man Utd at home, arsenal away twice, Villa away and Liverpool away ???