It was an awful display last Saturday at Swansea, but the traveling Newcastle fans who had to put up with that kept with the team throughout the game, especially in that second half when we had 10 men, and it became very difficult after Daryl Janmaat had been sent off just before half time.
Daryl Janmaat will not play today because of this last week
Steve McClaren was asked if the fans kept with the team because they were knowledgeable about the game.
This is how McClaren answered that in the Chronicle today:
“I think that is so, so important and credit to them for that.” “It was a difficult game. Once we had 10 men it was a very difficult game to manage.”
“I think at 1-0 we kept the striker on and thought we might hold it if we were strong defensively.” “We felt we were able to maybe get something and stay in the game.”
“Unfortunately they scored the second early.” “I don’t quite know this team well enough yet. But our fans were fantastic.”
“I was just gutted because it was a day when I didn’t learn a lot, and they probably didn’t either.”
“Old Trafford is a fantastic stadium. It’s a bit eery going to warm up there as an opposition manager, and I’m doing it again near enough 10 years later.”
“It’s always a ground I think was lucky for Middlesbrough.” “I’ve heard that it’s not too lucky for Newcastle. Sometimes you get that.”
“We have to try to turn that around and change that.” “It’s another game where we are testing ourselves.”
“The next two games are against two of the best sides in the Premier League, who will both be there or thereabouts in the Champions League also.”
We have never done very well at Old Trafford and the 1-0 win the season before last through a goal from Yohan Cabaye was the only win we’ve had there since way back in 1993, so it’s one win there in 22 years.
It’s going to be difficult to get a result today, but the lads have to play a good game and be resolute, and the defense has to show they can get the job done in tough games like this.
We basically were second best at Swansea last week in those first 20 minutes, and we cannot start slowly today, otherwise the game could be over all too quickly.
We need to see a commendable display from Newcastle today – whatever the result.
Comments welcome.
116 comments so far
ronaldo aarons
Aug 22, 2015 at 9:58 AM
Comment #1I like this debate about cisse. I personally see him as a great player to bring off the bench if we are in need of goals, early last season for example. He is in decline and his knee is still troubling him but like a few others mention he doesn’t have a good all round game. Great instinctive striker through. Really don’t think he should be starting games now as a stiker with more strings to his bow can be more beneficial to us as a team. Like others have also mentioned, the biggest part is finishing which is true but I feel we could have more goals in us if we have a striker that can keep hold of the ball up top, rather than losing the ball and were back to defending again. I definitely would not sell him.
Rotonda heights
Aug 22, 2015 at 9:58 AM
Comment #2Tequila
I must say I’m surprised at those stats for JC. I guess it’s a bit subjective as Cabella allegedly created 31 goal scoring chances but we only netted once.
I don’t dislike JC but Chelsea home game last season apart, I just don’t recall him creating that much, especially from set pieces.
Good to have coming on to shore things up but not really a good enough starter. Sorry Abeid has gone as I felt he offered more all round than JC or CT
Calvin
We already have Saylor throwing his whole body in the way to save a certain goal, ie trying to be a keeper. Passion is great but it doesn’t mask the inability to do very much with a football.
ronaldo aarons
Aug 22, 2015 at 9:58 AM
Comment #3If it was up to me I would sell de jong. As much as I like him and was so happy when he signed I personally don’t see him fully recovering from his injury issues these past couple of years. I hate to write people off but I just don’t see him coming back and if he does he definitely won’t be the same player IMO. I saw quite a bit of him at Ajax and was a big fan, he could play deep in a 3 man midfield, he could play number 10 and also he could actually play one the side of a striker in a 433 very well considering his lack of pace. Not forgetting that he played up top a few times as well, very good and clever footballer who looks like injuries have ruined his career like so many in the past. If it was up to me I’d try to sell him for what we could get and go replace him with Franco Vazquez.
WeNeedAnotherHero
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:00 AM
Comment #4Can’t wait to see Thauvin in action!
Rotonda heights
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:01 AM
Comment #5ronaldo
agree with both posts. cisse off the bench and sadly if de jong can’t produce something quickly, he will be as ineffective as his brother and a waste of a salary.
ronaldo aarons
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:04 AM
Comment #6Rotonda
I remember colbacks assist to ameobi in the Tottenham game. Straight from kick off. And I too think abeid leaving is a bad move, I’ve always felt he had a lot of potential and wasn’t given a proper run in the team. When he did get one, before his injury, he was great in dm which is out of position for him. I think he got mom v west brom, he was good v Liverpool and I remember in the league cup game v city he bossed yaya toure like I’ve never seen before, technically and physically. He had to be subbed off after an hour or so.
northernracoon
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:05 AM
Comment #7Id like to see McClaren start with the front four of mitrovic, aarons, wini, and thauvin, we should be playing 433 but i think he will match a 4231 that man u will put out … he may even start perez in place of thauvin if sissoko dont play. Still think we are guna get a good 3-1 beating
Jib
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:06 AM
Comment #8I like that McClaren isn’t getting ahead of himself.
He said Southampton felt like 2 steps forward whereas Swansea was definitely one step back .
Anita selected for Holland but Janmaat not is a strange one.
We made a big approach for Thauvin 7 weeks ago which was rejected but when Florian saw the players we were buying negotiations restarted about 10 days ago.
Gazza special guest on Soccer am
Sky are going nuts for Geordies this morning
Our Toon
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:08 AM
Comment #9Cisse is what he is, the lads a finisher simple as that. Very crucial to have finishers in the team. The likes of nufc 83 want strikers to do everything, if you want the hold up play and the pretty team build up shit then stick to Riviere buddy, if we had set up the way you’d like strikers to play then we’d be facing Rotherham this week instead of Man Utd.
Aguero last week had 6 shots before he scored, every striker misses more than they score. If you are Riviere you miss all the time.
ronaldo aarons
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:10 AM
Comment #10Rotonda
Yeah it’s a shame as de jong was someone I did want us to buy for some time.
Our Toon
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:10 AM
Comment #11Colback won’t get dropped because he’s the only English player we have in our starting XI. We won’t play without an Englishman, the press would go mad.
McClaren surprise signing is going to be obertan, he’ll get a new contract for being shit!!
JDdubai
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:11 AM
Comment #12Think Aarons should start today with or without Sissoko playing with Thauvin off the bench most likely as doubt Aarons will last the 90.
Would like to see Perez on the right in place of Obertan but realistically it wont happen.
Think Mbemba is the most likely to be able to handle Depay.
If we dont give away any stupid fouls/goals then we have a chance as Man U havent started well – can we do a 90min performance without fecking up defensively???
Our Toon
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:12 AM
Comment #13De Jong needs game time, use him for the u21 fixtures, build him up slowly. He’s been unfortunate as a collapsed lung isn’t an injury.
Ron Knee
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:13 AM
Comment #14northernracoon
Like you, I think we’ll lose but I hope we at least show some fighting spirit. I wish the fixtures were reversed and we were playing Arsenal at home this week.
ronaldo aarons
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:14 AM
Comment #15Northern raccoon
I would definitely play Perez, in fact I’d play him on pretty all games I’m a big fan. But he should start today as he has always turned up for the big games, even when were getting a lesson he still doesn’t stop trying and gives everything.
toon kk
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:17 AM
Comment #16The broons,
from previous thread, I can’t believe you actually took me serious about Barton, those players are our past mate.
Our Toon
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:18 AM
Comment #17Ronaldo
Perez looks very good but if he plays it’ll be out wide and defensively how good is he? Will he be tracking the runs of Darmian or Shaw? Will he double up against the likes of Mata and Depay? Sometimes playing your strongest XI doesn’t necessarily mean your best XI to get the right result
jayphoto
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:18 AM
Comment #18Hows gazza looking in soccer AM?? Loved him on bt sport earlier in the year, very funny guy! Think he’s been a victim of being a superstar in a time when clubs didn’t know how to protect superstars. One of a kind though and one of the most talented players england has produced!
We moan about Ashley, but what a team newcastle would have had in the late 80’s if they’d have kept Waddle, Gascoigne and Beardsley for a few more years
ronaldo aarons
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:19 AM
Comment #19Our toon
I don’t think the previous poster was saying he wants a striker that does everything and not score, I think he was wanting a more rounded striker. Demba Ba for example was a well rounded striker and loic remy also. Both offered more than goals and finishing.
And I wasn’t really classing the collapsed lung as injury really, mainly all his other little injuries and noggles he has been picking up before his first and second collapsed lung and since then. But as you mention it a collapsed lung is more of a condition but can still be classed as a lung injury.
ronaldo aarons
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:23 AM
Comment #20Our toon
Pardew played Perez a few times on the wing, sometimes as a starter and sometimes switched him there during the game, each time he as always tracked back and put a shift in. Considering he is not exactly new to the position I assume the defensive side to the wing is something he is aware of. Plus he puts his all on the pitch, even when he is on his last legs he still keeps going. Put it this way, he’ll do a better job defensively than obertan.
jayphoto
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:24 AM
Comment #21Would like to see Mclaren spring a tactical surprise today!
Id consider 3-5-2! We don’t have anything on the fullbacks anyway…
Mitrovic is a must today. Holds on to the ball better than cisse which we’ll need!
Unfair because he’s been one of the better players over 2 games but i’ll say now, theres no way obertan goes to old trafford and plays well! Too big a crowd, his old club where be failed, he’ll hide throughout the game!
Play Thauvin! Hes dying to show the world he can do it at this stage!
What’s the story with Tiotes fitness? Should be there or there abouts now!
northernracoon
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:24 AM
Comment #22Iv got a feeling he wont drop obertan though… especially against his old team…. we really need to start mitrovic aswel…. holds up play better than cisse and has a better work rate… would defo calm him down….i do think alot will revolve around sissoko being fit on who else starts…. if we fight and put in a better show than last week and still lose… id be alot happier! But if we can maybes get a point to go into the arsenal game things could start to get rolling
ronaldo aarons
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:26 AM
Comment #23Jay
Yeah gazza is one player you kind of wished had gone to man utd and ferguson. Maybe he could have been protected off the field a bit more.
SPRINGY
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:29 AM
Comment #24about de jong…big season this year if he keeps breaking down with injurys he’ll b moved on and rightly so unfortunately… if that happens it’ll b a shame coz we would not of seen the best of him….hopefully he has a crackin season tho…and only a few light knocks injury wise
jayphoto
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:31 AM
Comment #25Yea, just imagine what he could have been with the right guidance and better people around him!
Tore up serie A when it was the #1 league too! Not sure i can think of a career where so many wrong choices were made! Should have stayed in toon longer, should have then gone to man utd etc
Good to see hes looking a bit better these days
Our Toon
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:32 AM
Comment #26Ronaldo
Perez on the wing against a WBA or a Norwich team would work and a risk worth taking, against man utd or an arsenal I’m not to sure it’s a wise move.
I know what NUFC 83 meant by all round striker, if I’m not mistaken Cisse has a better mins played to goals ratio than both of them when Cisse is used upfront on not on the wing like Pards did. 14 games and 13 goals. The only all round striker I’d have got to replace Cisse is Bony but we buckled at his price. He’s blamed cisse for conceding goals though which is laughable
SPRINGY
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:33 AM
Comment #27about cisse….imo is he is alot better in a 3 or 2 up front coz his strength and control lets him down as a lone striker but i think the decision to keep him has been made now and will try and pick austin or another striker up next year….january or more likely the summer b4 the euros
Slank
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:36 AM
Comment #28Our Toon @ 12
As much as I would love to see Thauvin make his debut at Old Trafford perhaps instead he should be eased in against Northampton alongside De Jong and Mitrovic who both need 90 competitive minutes.
Again as much as I would like to see a front line at Old Trafford of Aarons, Mitrovic and Thauvin it wouldn’t surprise me if Obertan, Cisse and (if uninjured) Sissoko start.
Jib
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:37 AM
Comment #29Jay
He’s looking good
They didn’t hold back and asked him about his recent shit – he seems clean as a whistle and had them all laughing their heads off .
To repeat he looks fit as a lop
SPRINGY
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:41 AM
Comment #30to be fair to cisse or any of our strikers tbh…. we’ve hardly been great at creating loads of chances and raining in crosses over the last few seasons… so maybe this season they’ll all get goals….hopefully!lol……glad to see pics of gazza the other day lookin healthier…not many betta to watch then him in his prime
toon kk
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:45 AM
Comment #31All the new signings should be all started today, let’s see what they’re made of, bad job when you spend all that money and you’re wary of playing them. Keep Mitrovic on until he picks up another yellow, then replace him before we’re down to ten men.
Slank
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:46 AM
Comment #32ronaldo aarons @ 22
The story goes along the lines (as told by Fergie) that when ManU played against us Gazza was running rings around their players and he deliberately nutmegged two of their players in front of Fergie.
After the game Fergie approached Gazza and said he would like to buy him upon his return from holiday. Unfortunately for Fergie he found on his return from holiday that Gazza had accepted a bid from Spurs.
I think it would have turned out so much different and better for Gazza if he had signed for ManU.
Our Toon
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:46 AM
Comment #33Slank
I don’t think thauvin should be starting mate, I said last night that we’ve worked on a game plan and it’s been without thauvin. The lads had 1 training session, no one knows his game so to start him would be absolutely bonkers
ronaldo aarons
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:47 AM
Comment #34Our toon
I don’t see it as risk, before he came to us he played the majority of his career in the attacking positions behind the striker. Number 10 or on the wing. We played him up front because we had to at the time and he played well, the striker position is not his natural position, supporting the striker is so I don’t see it as a risk tbh.
I’m not defending the previous poster on his views but I don’t care too much for stats. I prefer making my views on what I see myself. I think cisse had the best mins/goal ratio last year didn’t he? Doesn’t make him the best striker last year. I don’t want to come across as knocking him but I might do lol. Pardew was a fool (and still is) for playing cisse on the wing but when ba left, cisse was brought back in the middle and performed poorly for the rest of the year if I remember.
Slank
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:50 AM
Comment #35Our Toon @ 32
Understandable logic I suppose.
I guess ManU have done their homework too against our likely team but possibly wouldn’t have taken into account Thauvin.
ronaldo aarons
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:51 AM
Comment #36Slank
Agree, think it would have benefitted him greatly. Reminds me of that saying, timings a b….!
Jib
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:51 AM
Comment #37This Tunisian footy site says the Abdennour situation is becoming a bit of a soap opera but that .
a. He’s definitely leaving Monaco
b. The Toon are favourites to get him
http://www.tunisie-foot.com/home/2015/08/22/journal-des-transferts-mais-ou-ira-abdennour/
Nufc-83
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:51 AM
Comment #38I would rather have gomis than cider every day of the week. Is it so much to ask for a Premiership club who have spent 50m to get a striker with high work rTe and is powerful can score goals and cause the defenders problems.
Our toon why has the striker got to have only one decent attribute?
Nufc-83
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:53 AM
Comment #39Also our toon aguero is playing in a city side that creates chance after chance so they can afford to have a poacher in the team to finish the chances. He also runs well with the ball and can create for himself which cisse can’t do overall bad comparison.
ronaldo aarons
Aug 22, 2015 at 10:53 AM
Comment #40Our toon
Agree with you about thauvin, don’t think he should start today for the reasons you have stated and he would be a good sub to bring on later in the game against tired legs.