In probably the worst display under Alan Pardew, Newcastle looked a woeful side tonight at Craven Cottage, and lost to a team beneath them by 1-0, and give 3 points to their relegation rivals.
And West Ham beat Blackpool away tonight, so if the lads can do better than this, then we are in a relegation fight for the remainder of the season, and we’ll have to realize that.
And to make it even worse to take, former Newcastle player Damien Duff, who left the club once we were relegated, he couldn’t get out quickly enough as we recall, scored the winner on 67 minutes.
The Ireland winger raced clear of the Magpies’ defense, and slotted the ball past goalkeeper Steve Harper to get the win, the 5th win in succession for Fulham at home, but didn’t he used to miss those chances all the time when he was on Tyneside?
Duff slotting home the winner to take all 3 points
And it turns out he must miss them for Fulham too, because it was his first league goal for Fulham in a year. Oh my.
Newcastle tried to get an equalizer, but the side now have limited attacking prowess up front, very limited based on what was on show tonight, and it looked like we had no penetration at all – we’ve been left woefully short up front.
But a loss is exactly the worst result tonight, against a side beneath us in the table, who have struggled all season, let’s be honest.
We suppose the trip to Portugal didn’t do much good at all, but there didn’t seem too many Newcastle players interested tonight, they didn’t really turn up for this game, and Carroll was watching Liverpool beat Stoke City 2-0 for their 4th win in a row.
And it is very possible that the Andy Carroll hangover will take some time to lift at Newcastle, and that’s what is so very worrying about tonight.
It will be major job now for Alan Pardew to rally the troops for Saturday’s game against the Gunners – hopefully with significant help from Kevin Nolan – although we didn’t expect much on Saturday, but we were hoping for all 3 points tonight and at least a draw.
But let’s be clear, Newcastle deserved what they got tonight, nothing, because they played so devoid of any spirit, and we’ll not even mention the skill piece, and to say it was a disappointing display would not be fair – the lads were just awful tonight.
And we were beaten by an ordinary side, who themselves are struggling beneath Newcastle in the league, and are now just a point behind us in the league.
Not to pile it on too much, but our current top striker Shola Ameobi went off injured after just 13 minutes, with a suspected fractured cheek bone, and young Nile Ranger came on.
But the big question is after the incompetent piece of work the Newcastle club did by shooting themselves in the foot last Monday – and selling England’s center-forward – and then failing to bring anybody in as a replacement in the 6 hours they had left in the window – the big question is the following:
Who now at the club can score the goals for Newcastle?
Maybe young Phil Airey should be given a chance – once he is fit again.
There are 14 games left this season – starting on Saturday against Arsenal (oh my) – and if we play anywhere near this level of pathetic and gutless play – we’ll be completely buried, by an in-form Arsenal side. Apologies for being so honest.
The incompetence in the management of the Newcastle United club last Monday, could still come back to bite us big time this season, and not for the first time.
And the words that ring in the ears after this performance is Joey Barton saying this morning that Newcastle are not safe from relegation.
He’s right there – if we play like this in many more games.
Alan Pardew talked about having to lift the players yesterday, after what happened on Monday – but he was not successful in doing that, at least that’s clear.
But we cannot play many more times like this – otherwise we could plummet like we did two years ago – it was that bad tonight.
The players have let the Newcastle club down tonight – make no mistake about that – and they must now lift themselves up – and get ready for a do or die performance on Saturday, and the home crowd will support the team, we know that.
But to try to finish on a somewhat positive note – it’s just one game after all, and we didn’t deserve to get anything out of the game – so we cannot complain about that.
And it was our first defeat this year and we still have 8 points form 5 games this year. Now we have to really hope the lads will come back somewhere near their best on Saturday, and get over what happened this week – please!.
And some good news is that Cheick Tiote will be back in the side, but we do have a lot of players out injured, which is why we hoped we’d strengthen the side in January.
Please vote for the Newcastle Man of the Match on our home page.
171 comments so far
Carl92
Feb 3, 2011 at 12:18 AM
Comment #161Sorry I have an opinion superclivemendonca.
balubas1
Feb 3, 2011 at 12:18 AM
Comment #162Patty
Good suggestions. Realistic also. If u asked me a month ago i wud never have c.cole but now he would be a wonderful addition.
We could also strike gold on young talent
patty518
Feb 3, 2011 at 12:21 AM
Comment #163they are the type of players we will target i guarantee. france and holland is full of players like tiote too. he was a ressie in holland!! unbelievable
balubas1
Feb 3, 2011 at 12:31 AM
Comment #164Superclive
Totally agree with you on the panic issue
Your reasoning on the sale of carroll is also good
But what i stress is the hopeless acting of us in the mindless attempts to sign players in this window. Sure we were short on time, but i would expect aclub of our calibre to be able to have contacts with agents across borders and at least have figured out a shortlist of potential players IF the opportunity would appear like it did. The names of the players we tried to sign also rings a bell of their incompetence. And how could they ship xisco and routledge out on loan? I am sure of that we would have been far better off having routledge on the right wing today with barton in the middle.. Of course pushing guthrie out of a team he never should have played for in the first place.
I follow your optimism, and i am looking forward to see the return of tiote and ben arfa. but thats the only light i see atm
And now we have to change our ONLY TACTIC since both carroll and ameobi aren’t playing. And may I remind you that it is the only tactic we’ve had for the last 10 years or so..
nicolnj
Feb 3, 2011 at 1:05 AM
Comment #165hey, we can get this guy, he’as free agent.
ewerthon, used to play for dortmund
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ewerthon
or ricardo oliveira
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardo_Oliveira
branunited
Feb 3, 2011 at 1:52 AM
Comment #166our team did not play at all, i do not know why they do not understand that without carroll do not play with long balls, as there is someone who earns above.
but the result , i am upset the preformanc, but above all wit duff, goal after fulham kisses the badge, you must remember that with the own goal againts aston villa went down and has to have repect for this club.
changing the subject, anyone know if ryan taylor again?
what happened to fabio zamblera? (is the good striker, could help
which is playing joan simun edmundsson? (is good striker, i think he has experience, at least in selection (has played against, españa, francia, italia),
could make in the first team.
not believe that, vuckic, airey and ferguson deserve a chance in the team.
Sav
Feb 3, 2011 at 2:07 AM
Comment #167We were one-dimensional, but I wouldn’t fault the players for effort. Guthrie, Barton, Simpson all played hard. What we lacked was tactics, Plan B, decent passing, control of the ball and any kind of cutting edge.
No-one had the ability to carry the ball as far as their penalty area tonight.
Will Tiote be the next to go in the summer when the offers come in for him?
lewman
Feb 3, 2011 at 2:24 AM
Comment #168guthrie was our best midfielder today, i dont think balabus likes him very much as he must be extremely biased against him
branunited
Feb 3, 2011 at 2:30 AM
Comment #169signing on loan of emergency the ADRIAN MUTU or andriy shevchenko or jeremy aliadiere is employer.
beegee90
Feb 3, 2011 at 6:46 AM
Comment #170Has anyone thought of investigating our blue away kit for some sort of mild tranquilizer in the fabric? Worn it 4 times in premier league and looked incredibly awful to abysmal. Bolton 5-1, WBA 3-1, spurs 2-0 losses and now this. Lets not even talk about stevenage
killingworth38
Feb 3, 2011 at 8:31 PM
Comment #171We are pathetic; the bloggers not the team! One poor result and we are facing doom. To my mind this time Ashley has done nothing wrong. As it happens he has put shedloads of loot into the club and saved it from bankruptcy. Also he has promised the manager the Carroll money. That will be proved one way or the other in 3 months time. Neither he nor Pardew could possibly have wanted Carroll to go, especially at the very last minute. I think the boy got greedy. He does not come out of it well at all but he’s just 22 and easy prey for agents and flattery. It just makes no sense for Ashley (and Pardew) to risk bringing on a relegation battle at the 11th hour. We can discount that.
The rest of the season? Remember the previous 3 Premier League matches? Decent performances without AC. Don’t bring in out of contract sub standard freebies. If necessary much better to play a decent player out of position for a couple of games. Steven Taylor up front? He’d shake the opposition defences.
Tiote’s back. Ireland will be ready soon. Try Vukic? Ryan Taylor’s (when fit) not the worst player. Lovenkrand knows the way to goal. Use Ranger for 20 minute spells. He’s just 19. He could grow into the new Carroll. Remember AC 3 years ago? All gangle and mishits.
Above all bloggers keep cheer up!