When Newcastle got that equalizing goal from a superb piece of skill from Frenchman Ben Arfa, Newcastle had been pressing well in the second half, and the momentum was with us, and we thought we were going to go on and get a great win in London.
Ben Arfa – after scoring terrific goal last night
But then about 9 minutes later we let in the simplest of goals to give Hugo Rodallega his first goal in many moons, and we were on the back foot again – and Newcastle again got no points out of a Premier League game, and that was for the 5th time in six games – and it’s becoming a little alarming.
Tim Krul thinks we keep shooting ourselves in the foot:
“It doesn’t mean anything when you lose, especially after the way we played,” “We’ve had eight or nine shots on target, others that have hit the post, been kicked off the line… but just no luck.”
“I don’t know what it is – we’re playing well, working hard – we just gave two stupid, silly, unlucky goals away.” “When it was 1-1, the momentum was on our side. We put the pressure on them – and then we conceded a silly goal and we’re on the back foot again.”
“We’re doing it over and over again. We just keep giving silly goals away and we have to have a good look at what we’ve done wrong, again.” “We’re playing well now, though. Before, we weren’t playing well but we are now. If we just keep playing like this, the luck will come through hard graft – that’s football.”
“It’s going to be a massive on Saturday for us.” “We know everybody has to be on it.” “We can’t do with two or three players playing at their best. On Saturday we need eleven players on top form. That’s what we did last year and hopefully we can make a good statement on Saturday and beat the champions.”
Ben Arfa came back in the side and he made all the difference and it was his great goal that got us level, but then we let in another sloppy goal from a set play.
And whereas last season we were finding ways to win games, which is the sign of a good side, this season we are finding ways to lose games, which is what poor sides do.
We had better buck up soon – before it gets too late – but Manchester City on Saturday seems a daunting task at the moment, the way our defense is leaking goals galore.
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
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23 comments so far
roshan MAGPIE
Dec 11, 2012 at 10:11 AM
Comment #1I think our next win will come next year because of tough fixtures
Conaldo (The Wizard...Also Bestest Friends With Paul Scharner)
Dec 11, 2012 at 10:13 AM
Comment #2Our high line killed us last night. How many times did we lose the ball near their box, then Fulham lobbed it forward to rodallega and he was through. Although I agree that some of our attacking play was very good last night. The build up to Ben arfa’s goal was very good. We held the ball for about 4 minutes just patientl building up to the goal. I have seen enough the last 3 games to know we should e fine, but we could really do with some points right now
Jail for Ashley
Dec 11, 2012 at 10:15 AM
Comment #3The irony of not buying a much much needed centre half in the summer when both the goals last night were mistakes from, who would have guessed it, centre halves.
WWYCD
Dec 11, 2012 at 10:15 AM
Comment #42 shots cleared off the line and Colo hit the post last season all of those would of gone in
Doesnt make me ignore that we had too little in attack, subs were poor, players talking to each other rather than playing, laughable defending and Tiote having (yet another) bad day at the office
Times are torubling Timothy and we need a fast turn around not a slow growing one
89Norcal
Dec 11, 2012 at 10:16 AM
Comment #5Conaldo
So true, and why is it ever other mid table side we’ve played can create consistent pressure with the long ball but us? Fulham put so many accurate long balls out to Berba and Rodallega, they knew exactly where they would be.
As soon as Hatem came of we went to max quantity crossing and direct play, our offense became completely toothless.
89Norcal
Dec 11, 2012 at 10:18 AM
Comment #6Dont remind me of Colo’s header, I felt sure that was going in 🙁 and then that curler that just hit the post.
blew
Dec 11, 2012 at 10:20 AM
Comment #7Match build up on Newcastle radio John Anderson sain not 1 Fulham player is good enough to get in the Toon team.
If that is the case, how are they a better footballing side?
Any ideas?
hotdog
Dec 11, 2012 at 10:29 AM
Comment #8Conaldo/norcal
Could it be that our defenders don’t mark correctly and read the game well when the ball is being played out by the oppo. That’s my view. Look at John terry, not the quickest but reads the game and you can bet when the ball is played to his man he is right up his jacksy or getting in front to win the ball. Basically doing what a defender should!
Marty-Toon
Dec 11, 2012 at 10:30 AM
Comment #9I think if its Santon that’s getting caught too far up the field often then we should let him play LW and stick Jonas at LB as he doesn’t do much on the wing anyway.
Only seen the last 20 mins last night and Jonas actually put in 2/3 splendid balls in the box but from reading on here he didn’t give much in the first 70 mins.
Think it would be better using him as the sub instead of Marveau.
We’re in shocking form.
Slightly misleading by Ed as from this thread it would seem we were the big threat but Fulham coulda been 3/4 p at the half.
Bring back Hoots!! Lol
Jail for Ashley
Dec 11, 2012 at 10:32 AM
Comment #10I would like to wholeheartedly and unreservedly apologize to any who cares about my slightly softening approach to the Mashley regime between January and June of this year, the birth of my first child seriously affected my judgement, I would like to say that I am over it now and hate the FCB and his rodent sidekick now more than ever.
sirtoongospel
Dec 11, 2012 at 10:32 AM
Comment #11I would take Hangeland all day long. I actually wanted Rodallega in the Summer, as he is different to what we have, and was free!
Last night when we scored, I would have taken a draw there and then. We weren’t opening them up, and we have NEVER come from behind to win under Pardew.
Charlie in the Gallowgate
Dec 11, 2012 at 10:35 AM
Comment #12Need someone to sit in front of defence.
Last night Fulham forwards/midfielders at acres of space and time to set up moves.
Week in week out every team gets a one on one with Krul.
If not for Krul we would be in deeper sh*t
Keep same back four (got no one else) and put Perch in there cos Tiote is not doing his job at the moment
Also Hangerland 6′ 4” and we still persist in floating in crosses
Get the ball on the bloody deck and try and slip Ba and Cisse in with a through ball or whip it in low from the wings.
Thats my moan
Now for the positive we are playing better than earlier in the season and
Anita has found his feet in the priemership
jesperfuglsang - captain of the lemon crew
Dec 11, 2012 at 10:36 AM
Comment #13You know maybe our players just think they are better than they are and our Manager think his tactic are better than they are?
…arrogance is confidence’s evil twil 😉
Yo…I was just being a silly twat before, sorry! lol
Indian Magpie
Dec 11, 2012 at 10:36 AM
Comment #14Transfer window can’t come soon enuf
Transfer Sage
Dec 11, 2012 at 10:36 AM
Comment #15glad to have you back jail.
you have even managed to help me, an ashley supporter for a long while, change over to your side.
Indian Magpie
Dec 11, 2012 at 10:38 AM
Comment #16Would i still be slaughtered if i said Shola is not Good enuf for NUFC.
geordie157
Dec 11, 2012 at 10:39 AM
Comment #17a commanding centre back is a must in Jan, maybe Douglas but he does seem like the type who would get sent off on his debut, then wilo would be back in. Jonas is still a concern, him or Cisse should be dropped for Marveaux. 3 points will be ours this weekend!
go toon go
Dec 11, 2012 at 10:46 AM
Comment #18Vurnon Anita must on the bench.Last year we had squad that was dangerous.Why this player?With him we lost almost all matches.Too weak for premier league.Like a bird around players.On the bench as soon as possible.We have the best strikers in league.They doesn,’t have fault at all.Marveaux-fantastic player.Why on the bench PARDEW,why.Mistakes one after the other.And after all Ashley is bad.Not strenghtening the squad.No.In modern football you can’t have players in squad that are useless.In the squad need workers not stars.Look at Man utd.We must correct errors with choice of first team line up.
go toon go
Dec 11, 2012 at 10:50 AM
Comment #19And Mike Williamson can play immediately in npower championship.He is not NEWCASTLE UNITED level.
danuneek
Dec 11, 2012 at 11:06 AM
Comment #20I thought last night was a little better tbh. I wouldn’t get carried away like Pardew and say “we are putting in performances but not getting the results”. We were very poor for the first 30mins for whatever reason, nerves … poor set-up … etc … I feel there has been too much of an emphasis on 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 but in reality that’s only a small part of the game. When you pass and move your creating space. It’s that space that you have to attack. We don’t do this. Our players seem to pass and then just leave the next man to get on with it. This usually results in that player been forced off the ball. Unless your Ben Arfa or Santon and can skip around 2 or 3, your going to struggle. To be fair to Pardew, I could here him shouting “pass, pass, pass” all night.
Also another blindingly obvious problem is Ba and Cisse. They’re always playing in the same space. I thought they did a little better last night but still aren’t linking up. One thing I’ve noticed with Cisse is his first touch and passing can be quite poor. It doesn’t make sense for him to be shoehorned into the team via the left or right side. If he’s not playing as the main striker he may as well be on the bench. Ba is probably the more complete player. But as someone mentioned yesterday, he can be really greedy and he needs to release the ball quicker. I think that’s partly why Cisse is always caught offside. He makes those runs but the ball is released too slowly.
Then we come to the midfield. At least we have started to use this a bit more in the last 3 games. I can’t stand hoof ball, particularly when we have some talented midfielders. Anita is improving in every game and definitely looks good for a pass. I can see why Pardew played Jonas last night instead of Marveaux; Santon loves to get forward but that does leave space in behind him. Jonas’ energy helps fill that space whereas we can’t really rely on Marveaux to do that (not in his game). But other than that, Jonas offers nothing going forward. He has the worst delivery I’ve ever seen. In fact, our whole team can’t cross.
When your playing with two big strikers its crucial to deliver some good crosses into the box. But all our wide players struggle with this. Simpson, Jonas, Santon, Fergie, Obertan, Ameobi etc … I think Ben Arfa is the only player who can cross, but we can’t rely on him to do everything. I think bringing in a wide player with a bit of flare, pace, creativity and who can deliver a good cross is a must. This seems to be the position everyone forgets about. We don’t need another striker unless Ba goes.
I could go on and on, Tiote looks bad, but I think this is more of a case where teams are closing him down very quickly and not giving him time on the ball. He definitely likes taking that extra touch!
I’m not going to bang on about our youngsters, as they are clearly overrated and not ready for the first team.
Our defense is probably the poorest area in the side at the moment and the blame has to go to Willo. He’s a championship player at best and is even making Colo look rubbish. This is an area that definitely needs strengthening in January as well. We can’t rely on Taylor to be fit.
Then we come to Simpson, I have to say, not that bad defensively and played reasonably well last night. But he obviously doesn’t want to sign a new contract and again offers nothing going forward. This would be my 3rd January signing.
I think a lot of what I touched on is pretty basic stuff, but I think that’s where the problem lies. Getting the basics right!
Graeme
Dec 11, 2012 at 11:49 AM
Comment #21Danuneek, I though Collo did a pretty good job last night of making himself look bloody awful. There were times he completely lost the plot and on at least 2 occasions, Willo had to bail him out.
The whole defence is disjointed and lacks cohesion – do we actually have a defensive coach, purely working with the back four? They played as if for the first time, which is stupidity of the highest order.
In January, we need TWO CB’s who can walk straight into the team. It will take pressure off Collo, having to play with Williamson, but it also means he will have to fight for his place for a change, which should help him stamp out the schoolboy mistakes creeping into his game.
Toonfreak87
Dec 11, 2012 at 4:00 PM
Comment #22Slightly better performance but tbh still look shocking at the back. We need a full back and a centre back Williamson is shocking. http://everythingnufc.co.uk/
James RS
Dec 11, 2012 at 10:27 PM
Comment #23Interesting point…during our 13 match unbeaten run last year Obertan had played in every game and as soon as he stopped being in the first team regularly the slump started. He is now a lot better at crossing and is well worth a slot in the first team… good pace and reasonable skill. Give the lad a decent run they do seem to play better when hes in the team, hasnt been played much since the opening 15 games last season.