We didn’t expect any points last night at Old Trafford – and we didn’t get any – and we didn’t deserve any either.
Mike Williamson – had a good game last night
But that game is now behind us, and the lads will be getting ready for the game against Aston Villa on Sunday, which has a 1:30 pm local kick off time.
This is a game in which we think we should be able to get one point at least, but it will not be much easier than last night’s game, although with Villa without a full time manager, after Martin O’Neill walked out of the club in a huff with his massive ego intact, it may be an opportunity to put some points on the board this season.
Aston Villa caretaker boss Kevin MacDonald did very well indeed last Saturday, when his team thrashed West Ham at Villa Park 3-0, and it could have been a lot more goals, against a weak looking West Ham side.
So we should be able to get at least a point out of this game, and of course a win would be a terrific result for the lads, but they will have to learn from their experience last night, when the first and third goals were caused by poor defending by the Newcastle side.
However, on the positive side, there were some good performances from the Newcastle players, and few better than Mike Williamson, playing his first game ever in the Premier League, and the 26 year-old was very solid last night.
This lad could well turn out to be a massive signing for the Newcastle club – and his attitude and temperament are just excellent.
Chris Hughton talked about the game last night, and it’s good we will not be playing teams like Manchester United every week – that’s for sure.
Chris said this morning:
“It is always a daunting task coming to Man Utd and all you can do is restrict the opportunities they have and I think we did that for periods of the game.”
“I think with them having so much of the ball and the quality they have got you just don’t want to concede again.” “For us the important thing was to come out of today with some credit going into what is an important game next week.”
Newcastle will need to learn from the tapes of last night’s game, and play in a more attacking formation against the Villa on Sunday afternoon if we are to get anything out of this game.
We need to get some points up on the board as soon as we can, and Sunday will be a good time to start that, but it will again be a tough game.
The following Saturday we are away to Wolves, and that has to be another match in which we can secure some points.
Comments welcome.
62 comments so far
Captain Beefheart
Aug 17, 2010 at 11:17 AM
Comment #1No surprise, I forecast 4-0 yesterday on the match preview, it was 3-0 in the end but could have been more. I also forecast we would get done down our right – and of course we did because we crap on the right. The only revelation was we were utter crap on the left as well as Enry played a stinker.
We were never going to win it, nor will be beat Villa, because we are a Fizzy Pop team cruising on empty. Perch was never a Prem player, and displayed this miserable fact with aplomb last night – no the wonder Forest weren’t crying when he left. Get rid of him before he is targeted week in week out.
In effect we have not strengthened our squad one bit in three months – and on the evidence of Perch’s woeful display we have arguably weakened it from the one that pushed the wee clubs around last year. If CH really thinks this was acceptable as a performance (forget the result, I can live with that) then we are in trouble. But, hey, we are already in trouble as no self respecting ambitious player will come near the Tyne Bridge now. In 90 minutes the fragile myth that took all last season to create was blown.
So Geordies, enjoy being the Prem’s laughing stock once again it while it lasts. Ashley you are prize w****r for allowing under-investment to cause such damaging humiliation, and anyone buying your shoddy shirts should be given an immediate mental health check..
veloso in toon
Aug 17, 2010 at 11:33 AM
Comment #2captain
I wonder who does more damage Ashley or sensationalist comments that undermine confidence in or squad.
whilst you have some valid points and are no doubt stinging from the loss as we all are, lets not get carried away, our season WILL not be decided by the top 8, it will be decided by how we push on from this against the lower placed teams.
take a clear objective view not hampered by emotion( this is not a dig by the way as I have admired your comments previously)
Spoonz13
Aug 17, 2010 at 11:43 AM
Comment #3Totally agree with veloso. We were never going to get anything from last night. yes the gulf in class is massive as ED highlighted in another article, however we are not gunning for the title, simply trying to stay in the league. One game against the best team (in my opinion) in the division cannot be taken as an indicator for our season, nor should it be used to condem a player who has played one agme for us (Perch). I'[m normally the most cynical and pessimistic NUFC fan but even i took positives from last night. Let’s move onto Villa and see if we can get a result. baby steps are needed and support and encouragement, not slating the owner for not puting his hands in his pockets, which seems to be the easy scapegoating technique these days!
Rant over! 🙂
Davies
Aug 17, 2010 at 11:45 AM
Comment #4That’s a bit bleak Beefy. I think Perch needs a little time to get used to the pace of the prem and hopefully that won’t take too long.
Last night’s game wasn’t good for us, but nobody expected it to be. To say that the scoreline means we MUST invest to survive (a headline I read among the other horse sh1t that’s been trotted out today) is idiotic. We lost to Man United at Old Trafford. Chelsea lost 3-0 to them last weekend; do they need to invest to survive?
No.
I agree, we do need to get somebody with a bit of flair and creativity in the centre of the park (apparently, the Ben Arfa deal is “in doubt”) and we could do with shoring up the gap at right back, but I’m encouraged by what I saw from Andy Carroll last night.
For my money, Nolan and Smith shouldn’t play at the same time anymore. Smith does give us some steel in front of the back four, but we can’t afford to have two players with very little pace on the pitch.
Perhaps if we get this lad Fer in, we can send Smudger on his way across the border, or possibly even to Everton (is Moyes still interested?). That could be a massive improvement.
The problem at the moment is that, until the window closes, we’re going to have nothing but ifs and buts.
I still think we’ll be alright.
geordielad880
Aug 17, 2010 at 11:52 AM
Comment #5Perch is terrible I have said that for ages, well before we signed him, seen him loads over the last couple of seasons for forest, the forest fans were laughing there heads off when we signed him, we paid nearly 2m for him, we scould have signed luke young for that money!!! sunderland got an argentina international right back for less money for god sake. He was signed because of calderwoods forest connection and cos he played good once against jonas, he is nothing short of terrible, look back at my posts, i said that when he was linked to us.
And on ben arfa:-
Jean-Claude Dassier has expressed his desire for striker Hatem Ben Arfa to stay at the club this season.
The French international has been strongly linked with a move away from OM to English side Newcastle – and has also declared he does not want to be coached by Didier Deschamps – but Dassier says he will remain.
“Hatem will remain at the club. We will not loan him out when [Mamadou] Niang leaves [for Fenerbahce],” the president declared to Goal.com France. “We will not be creating problems for the sake of creating problems.
“I do not have to sell him off. If Newcastle are unable to buy him, that is their problem.
Im not surprised by last night at all, but there were alot of positives to take out the game aswell, and we had 5 players missing who probably would have started:-
campbell, gosling, s.taylor, guthrie and lovo
Davies
Aug 17, 2010 at 11:56 AM
Comment #6Also Ed, try not to assume that we can pick up points from teams like Wolves. We’re the underdogs now; even the teams that came up with us managed to beat us last season in the fizzy.
This will be a battle. There are no easy points in this league anymore.
banjoball
Aug 17, 2010 at 11:57 AM
Comment #7Last season, Man United won by a margin of at least 3 14 times. We lost 3-0 at old trafford in possibly the hardest fixture on the calendar, and had some decent performances and held out quite well, so lets get off the players and more importantly hughtons back.
magpie9
Aug 17, 2010 at 11:59 AM
Comment #8joey barton will not shave his mustache until we win. hopefully we don’t repeat pompy then and lose the 1st 6 games
geordielad880
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:03 PM
Comment #9davies wolves are a much better side than us, seen them alot last season, organised, great shape, break at pace, and create chance, even the top sides didnt hammer them last season, they are hard to play against, i think bolton, blackpool, wigan and west brom are who we are battling against
geordielad880
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:04 PM
Comment #10and I hope barton isnt looking like ze ze top by the time we first win 🙂
BeeGuy
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:05 PM
Comment #11What was disturbing for me was that NUFC played the game like it was on the outside of a gigantic egg shell. Manu played on the inside of the egg shell. Our mid-field consisted of Joey Barton trying to guess where the ball was going to 3 or 4 open Manu attackers. It was just too much defensive worry by some of the lads. What CH needs to do is get that mentality out of the team. A few players a few yards further up the pitch from Harper & there would have been a little breathing room and a chance to at least play Route 1 football.
altern8tif
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:08 PM
Comment #12Typical reaction (or should I say overreaction) in the press and comments boards…
People generally tend to overreact to a single piece of news/result. Look at the stock market. The volatility is caused by investors’ irrational overreactions…
Football is no different. We were beat 3-0 by a strong side yesterday and today people (even our own fans) are already coming down hard on the team and the tactics… If we had drawn (or even won), everyone would then be dreaming of a potential European campaign next season.
A single match does not make an entire season. We should be judging the team at least over a span of 4 or 5 matches… Instead of deriding them after a single match.
geordielad880
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:09 PM
Comment #13I think it would have made a big difference if someone like vuckic or lovo had been playing off carroll rather than nolan, pace and movement is everything, it gives the likes of barton something to aim at, there was no movement, we always look better when lovo is playing, and seen as he was injured, i would have played vuckic, what did we have to lose? cant have played worse than nolan
geordielad880
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:11 PM
Comment #14altern8tif // Aug 17, 2010 at 12:08 PM
I have already said we need to judge the team after 6-8 matches, when we have played sides around us, we are competing with bolton, west brom, blackpool, and wigan. Wolves, stoke and blackburn are way better than us, especially wolves, who i think will have a decent season.
Visten
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:11 PM
Comment #15It comes down to the fact that we have no pace simple as that. I would agree playing with 1 up top should be the way to go away from home but without pace you can’t sit deep with 2 holding midfielders and hit on the break without pace. Look at the game, we got pinned in our own half which we expected but when we did break with a ball out to Routledge or Jonas when they bust a gut up the sidelines and looked up there was only Carroll in the box surrounded by 3 players no one to square it to.
Toon XI
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:26 PM
Comment #16Latest rumor on Ben Arfa:
AC Milan wants to swap Huntelaar for Ben Arfa.
BuryStEdmundsToon
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:26 PM
Comment #17Hold on a second, lets face it, not many teams are going to complain at a 3-0 reverse against Man Utd! Perch was nowhere near as bad as everyone has been saying for a first game against world-class opposition he was alright and the early booking took the wind right out of his sails. Carroll looked good all night prompting apt praise from Fergie!
Each game is going to be tough and we sure gave a good account of ourselves at Old Trafford and we all know that other teams will go there this year and lose by far greater margins! Our hardest game of the season is out of the way now so we can focus on getting to that cherished 40 point mark….
More signings are necessary of course but the core is there and wasnt it nice to see newcastle players looking like they wanted to be playing for us!
Wigaz
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:27 PM
Comment #18Think the problem was quite clear last night, we have a lack of pave in our side especially in midfield which is key, a few years ago you could get away with tough mids like smith barton & nolan playin in mid but not these days. We need to bring in this young dutch lad for dm for me & ben afra if we can so we can add some legs to a very imobile mid. If ben afra deal is dead we should bring in matt taylor from bolton for lw & stick jonas inside with fey. Taylor has cracking delivery & can fill in at lb. I’d try bring in pennant for rw as i have serious doubts on routledge. We could really do with keane up top with andy but it looks very unlikely we could or would pay his wages, why not get austin in from swindon as lovens back up. We really need carroll & taylor back asap 2 help sure up our back line. I’m not a doom & gloom monger but it’s facts vs teams who hit you on break we can’t use nolan & co or we’ll get smashed. Team wheb fit & signings. Harper——————————————————-staylor—–sol—–williamson——-jose———————————pennant—–fey——afra/jonas——m taylor————————————–carroll——–loven/keane
RichK
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:28 PM
Comment #19I can’t believe all the critiscisms that are flying around already after one game against what was an outstanding man utd performance (one that would have beaten all other prem teams in my eyes)
Yes we’re a little short on quality in one or two areas and we lack depth in our squad but i felt quite positive after last night, we worked hard and continued to play where possible regardless of the scoreline. Carroll was our best player by far followed by a solid performance from Williamson. I don’t think Perchy was that bad tbh, people need to give the lad a chance.
Lets wait and see what the transfer window brings and how we get on in the next few games before we start mouthing off at players and management.
Some of us need to get our head out the clouds and be realistic, we’re in a relegation battle and finishing 17th this season will be a success.
newcastle10
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:35 PM
Comment #20i think we played well last night
magpie9
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:36 PM
Comment #21@richk – i agree that you can’t criticise the team just after 1 match, which shows just how good man u are.
if i was CH though i would have changed formation in the second half having someone like lovenkrands or vuckic playing off carroll, because he was just heading the ball to no one and then we were chasing them around for 10 mins.
listie
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:37 PM
Comment #22Some of the comments on this board make me laugh, we lost to Man U 3-0, so what it was never like we would have beaten anyway.
I watched the game last night and I thought we played ok, and I saw enough to show that against the teams we are competeing against we have a good chance.
Yes we need more players, some pace would be good, some proven goal scoring and some flair in midfield, but we have an ok base to start with. Everyone is going about Perch, he wasn’t as bad as was made out, what the whole team need to realise is that they have no time on the on the ball in the prem, spidey, Rout, Jose and Nolan, all found that out last night.
Stuart
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:39 PM
Comment #23I agree RichK I felt positive after the match last night aswell. It was nice to see that the lads never dropped their heads, which is a definate improvement to the season we got relegated.
aguero10
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:41 PM
Comment #24Can’t believe anyone can say Williamson had good game he was awful. Too slow and not good enough for this league in my opinion.
Solaidback
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:44 PM
Comment #25Davies – sorry to correct you mayte but we drew with WBA away & beat them at home, as for Blackpool, we stuffed them 4-1 at & only lost 2-1 away, so for them both beatimng us, you need to watch the games more closely mate 🙂
As for last night, we need players in the midfield, as last night both Smith & Barton were over run by a 35yr old Scholes who bossed that midfield & controled the game, if Barton had done to Scholes what Williamson did to Rooney, we’d have gotten something from the match!!!
Everyone is already on a downer after 1 games, as it was pointed out, Chelski lost 3-0 to Manc Usa just last week, so we should be rejoicing that it was only 3-0 & not 6-0 which WBA lost to Chelski or 4-0 like Wigan (who’re an establisehed PL team now) lost to Blackpool….
Yes we need some new faces & it would be nice to get them but I think we all know we wouldn’t get anything from last nights game, even if we jokingly said we would.. lol
geordielad880
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:45 PM
Comment #26well i will wait and see if you all say the same things after you see how many points perch will cost us this season, like he did at forest, giving away cheap free kicks and getting caught out of position, and playing everyone onside all the time.
There were positives, carroll and williamson were both very good, and collocini bar fletchers goal, was also steady, enrique wasnt as bad as some people said.
We were missing s.taylor, simpson, guthrie, gosling, lovo and campbell.
————————harper
s.taylor——campbell——collocini—-enrique
guthrie——–gosling———barton——-jonas
—————-lovo———carroll
bit of a difference
Solaidback
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:46 PM
Comment #27Aguero10 – How can you say Williamson had a bad game, eh man-marked Rooney out of the game & stopped him from knocking in loads of shots, I would say he was our man of the match if anyone was….
MacToon
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:49 PM
Comment #28I can’t believe we all seen the same game!
lloydie780
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:50 PM
Comment #29I was there last night, let’s face it we were playins the best team in UK away, we are expecting to beat relegation this season. . . . so 3-0 aint a bad result. From what i saw we struggled having only one up front as Jonas/Routeladge would take on two players and only have a marked Andy Carroll to pick a pass to. So the ball would get taken off us far too easily, Kevin Nolan for me was the wasted player, like a lost boy, here are my comments-
Harper- solid enough
Perch- looked slow compared with Premier pace and looked scared on the ballm not up to it based on this
Williamson- couple of mistakes but still felt more confident with him than Taylor at the back
Colloccini- looked solid, few good last ditch tackles
Enrique- hit and miss, didn’t have the great latin link up with his partner
Routledge- probably one of our best, worked his arse off but no-one to play ball to
Smith- typical dodgy tackles but plenty of work rate, just little impact
Barton- very eager and boos didn’t get to him, he was very eager to get involved
Jonas- hit/miss, seemed very static, no great runs and didn’t appear to want to be there at somepoints, final ball still very suspect
Nolan- like a lost boy, i felt the same in Championship apart from his goals/leadership he offers very little else on the pitch, the position he was deployed last night jsut didn’t work
Carroll- missed a chance yes, but to be fair worked his arse off, very committed, needs a little man to play off him.
Ameobi- got invovled a bit, little to comment on
Xisco- actually had some confidence, ran at the Man Utd defence and got invovled attacking but left Enrique very exposed at leftback and was not interested in defending, think defo deserves a shot this season.
Solaidback
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:50 PM
Comment #30Geordielad – you post made me laugh, as you praised Willaimson & them didn’t include him in your team line up.. lol
Players like Perch need a little time to get to know the rest of the team, he’s new to our squad & is very handy to have with him being able to play anywhere across the back 4, so give him a chance, I can bet you Sol Cambpbell will make mistakes when he first comes into our squad too but how many of you will slag him off for it??? none I bet but he will make them, same as Colo, Tayls, Wiliamson will do, they just need time to settle & playing Manc Usa for our first game back in the PL isn’t the best platform to be starting off on now is it?? 🙂
southerngeordie
Aug 17, 2010 at 12:51 PM
Comment #31What is everyones panic – we lost 3-0 to Man Utd. Like Ed says we need to move on. People have some really warped view on the club. They expected us to make some grand fairy tale return magic up £20m and shock the footballing world with a hard out 2-1 win at Manure. Like everyone i was dissapointed with the result, there were things that weren’t good and there were players who looked poor but christ it’s one game. We all know we need investment but we have to be realisitc that we might not get it.
Lets not forget we were playing a very good team away from home on our first game of the season. The season is long and hard and nothing is decided on the first day. What is needed is people getting behind the team and moving on. Negative comments do no one any good and the last thing we want is people passing on their views to the team at matches. The club is in the best position its been for years – we have stable finances, strong youth players and a blend of experience.
geordielad880
Aug 17, 2010 at 1:00 PM
Comment #32Solaidback // Aug 17, 2010 at 12:50 PM
Geordielad – you post made me laugh, as you praised Willaimson & them didn’t include him in your team line up.. lol
just because they played well doesnt mean they should be in the side, campbell has played at the highest level, and is still in the top 5 centre backs in the country in my opinion, he has to play, he is brilliant, when you are defending deep like we seem to do, rather than when you play a high line like the top sides do, williamson did play well, but campbell has to play when fit, one of the first names on the team sheet for me
aguero10
Aug 17, 2010 at 1:02 PM
Comment #33If you think Williamson played well you don’t know much about football im afraid.
lloydie780
Aug 17, 2010 at 1:04 PM
Comment #34Where was Danny Guthrie and Lovenkrands?
balubas1
Aug 17, 2010 at 1:06 PM
Comment #35Anyone agree with me that we should’t look too much at each player individually? The fact that we did not have anything to offer offensively was because we had no runs off the ball. When Jonas or Wayne ran with the ball, creating some instability in the ManU defence, everybody else just stood still, taking no initiative for movement off the ball.
I believe that We need CM’s that can provide that help offensively. Just look at what Fletcher and Scholes are doing. They are always available for the wingers. Don’t worry too much about the players. We need to get back to basics at the training ground. Like I’ve mentioned in another post; Even Messi can’t take on 8 manu players alone..
lloydie780
Aug 17, 2010 at 1:07 PM
Comment #36aguero10. . . .Williamson made a couple mistakes but he had a solid game and dominated aerially.
aguero10
Aug 17, 2010 at 1:10 PM
Comment #37Don’t kid yourself. I think it was more to do with Rooney being rusty and not yet in his stride than Williamson being good. Also i would expect Williamson to dominate in the air given the fact he’s 6″4, if he didn’t dominate in the air i would be worried.
geordielad880
Aug 17, 2010 at 1:11 PM
Comment #38balubas1 it comes down to movement, the only real movement in our side is offered by guthrie and lovo, and both were missing, we need someone who likes to link up play, and has pace and movement, nobody moved into space, it was sideways or backwards, and when they ran out of ideas lump it forward to carroll, who won the ball well, but no-one was within 20 yards of him, i remember one time in the game, carroll went on a run with 3 man utd players chasing him and no-one even offered to help or went forward to support him, nolan and smith dont have the legs
lloydie780
Aug 17, 2010 at 1:13 PM
Comment #39Crouch is 6ft 7 and i personally do not feel is great in the air. . . . .sure Rooney wasn’t looking great but considering vs Man Utd and a good attacking team, best in premier league i feel Colo and Williamson were impressive and hard to get past, saw both put in huge hits when Man Utd were one on one with them, good last ditch defending.
singamagpie
Aug 17, 2010 at 1:13 PM
Comment #40@aguero10
There’s a lot of us here that thinks Williamson had a solid game. Maybe you’re the one who don’t know your football.