If you look at the comments after the game from Steve McClaren today, you would think everything was just fine and the only thing wrong was that the referee Robert Madley made two mistakes just before half-time – one was to award a penalty to Sunderland for a supposed foul by Coloccini on Steven Fletcher – and the other was to send Colo off with a red card.
The penalty wouldn’t have made all that much difference after Newcastle had dominated the first half – but going down to 10 men was certainly a turning point in the game.
Steve McClaren – talking to Ayoze Perez today
But even in the second half Newcastle played quite well with the possession game, but we didn’t have too much bite up front today and we didn’t score any goals.
This is what Steve said after the game:
“It was never a penalty. The penalty and red card was a double whammy. In the first half the team were excellent. I was totally relaxed. We were in control. I said to players that’s what we must continue.”
“If we continue doing that and get decisions right then we’ll do OK.” “Even with 10 men in the second half we still controlled it. Referee decisions are out of your control.”
Apart from last week against Norwich when we scored three in the last 25 minutes to win 6-2, Newcastle haven’t won any other league games and we have lost six of the first 10 games.
There’s always a reason why we lost – and if “something” hadn’t happened we would have been just fine in most of the games – according to McClaren.
- Today, it was hard luck and two refereeing mistakes, but there again before the penalty decision we could and probably should have been ahead after we had missed some chances.
- In the game at Swansea and at home to Arsenal it was because we had a man sent off before half time.
- We didn’t beat Chelsea after being 2-0 up with 12 minutes to play because Ramirez produced a fantastic goal out of the blue in the second half as Chelsea went on to draw that game 2-2 with a late equaliser from a free kick after 86 minutes.
- In our first game of the season, we were heading for a 2-1 win before the Saints equalised late in the game – and that was because our two center-backs hadn’t played much in pre-season and they tired.
- At West Ham United, it was because we got to the ground 45 minutes late but the FA wouldn’t delay the kick-off time.
- Against Watford we did very well to come back in the second half from 2-0 down and were unlucky not to get at least a point – that was the positive spin put on that defeat.
- At Manchester City, we lost our concentration for about 20 minutes but in that time we conceded six goals after being 1-0 ahead.
We suppose the follow-on from that is that if we had concentrated for those 20 minutes we would have won 1-0?
Too many times after each game there are (too many) reasons given why we didn’t win or why – like today – we have lost a game.
We understand how Steve wants to keep the morale of the Newcastle players high, but you can also overdo it.
Yes, it takes time to have the team gel, although Slaven Bilic is the new manager at West Ham and he has the Hammers in third place with 20 points from their first 10 games.
In any business, you either have the results or you have all the reasons why you don’t have the results.
We’ve had lots of reasons in the first 10 games and have only 6 points and one win to show for it.
We need to start winning games and start getting the results – like wins and all 3 points – it’s over a quarter of the season gone by.
We can start next Saturday by beating Stoke City at home.
Comments welcome.
125 comments so far
roblee7
Oct 25, 2015 at 6:40 PM
Comment #41Goes to show, more than ever, that possession means nout if yer dont do anything with it
West Lancs Geordie
Oct 25, 2015 at 6:42 PM
Comment #42Agree Ancient but he created a problem when he renewed his captaincy at start of season. I too can’t fault McLaren the set up was spot on today apart from Tiote & perhaps it’s time now to see if the lad Lascelles can step up to the plate at CB
toonking
Oct 25, 2015 at 6:43 PM
Comment #43rob
i’ve not done it myself but after todays result I did taske a look at all the fiixtures between now and January and from what I saw it looks as though we’ll be going down now.
Stoke i see as a win
bournmoth might be a win but being away i’ve got my worry
leister i’d normal go for a win any day but the way they are playing at the minute i’m thinking we’ll be lucky to get a draw
palace itself draw loss or win who knows, might have that derby like manner in it.
West Lancs Geordie
Oct 25, 2015 at 6:45 PM
Comment #44No Roblee 7 you are right but Cattermole & co were employing “spoiling”tactics by trying to kick us off the park & were never punished.
thepict
Oct 25, 2015 at 6:47 PM
Comment #45185 votes for colocinni. You must be taking the pi@@@
roblee7
Oct 25, 2015 at 6:48 PM
Comment #46Toonking…agreed. problem we have is alot of teams that you’d expect to be bottom half at the least or way over performing so as it stands, look nothing like relegation material. I mean Leicester, Palace, West Ham, Watford even doing better than I’d thought. Only Villa and the mackems teams really you’d expect down there. Personally, I’m praying its the mackems, Villa n Chelsea (haha) who go down. That would make me as happy as if we won a trophy I think!!
West Lancs Geordie
Oct 25, 2015 at 6:48 PM
Comment #47No good surmising about results as you often get points in the least unexpected games. A third of our points so far have been pick up at Man U and home to Chelsea. Just start getting behind those who are trying the best for this club and there are quite a few
the broons
Oct 25, 2015 at 6:49 PM
Comment #48Don’t care if its the messiah shearer saying it aswell. To say that it is a penalty but not a red card is totally flawed logic.
And people who disagree with me please back up with a direct reference from the FA rules and regulations.
West Lancs Geordie
Oct 25, 2015 at 6:50 PM
Comment #49Going for my Sunday Roast now – Don’t get too despondent ! 28 games left!
toonluvva
Oct 25, 2015 at 6:51 PM
Comment #50Hopefully Mr Ashley & Mr Charnley will have learnt that a team that regularly starts Tiote & Colo are likely to get relegated.
Imagine that Mr Ashley! No big TV money washing into the coffers. No big audiences being bombarded with adverts for SD products.
There will be a hell of a lot of criticism of your appointments though, Kinnear, LLambias, Charnley etc.
We need 2 decent CB’s and another striker at least in the January window. If not, well, it will be a looong second half of the season.
roblee7
Oct 25, 2015 at 6:51 PM
Comment #51West Lancs…yep, how Cattermole didn’t get booked…horrible footballer and extremely lucky today. Taking the score out of the equation, we are far superior to them in every department. Sending off spoilt it big time
angelswithdirtyfaces
Oct 25, 2015 at 6:51 PM
Comment #52Judge me after ten games Pt 2
Played 10 won 1 drawn 3 lost 6 pts 6
Games played with 10 men 3
So we need at least 34 pts from 28 games average 1.22 pts per game
That requires consistent form for a 46 pts+ season. (46.36 to be axact))
Last five seasons 46 pts = once; 46 pts twice.
So on average form over a whole season its 40/60 that we don’t go down – less than 50/50 that we’ll stay up.
I’m glad I’m not a betting man.
lesh
Oct 25, 2015 at 6:52 PM
Comment #53Yes, Mr Charnley’s decisions on spending the £50m or so available are coming home to roost.
We were and are crying out for a second CB and a LB but for some reason (payroll control I’d guess), we didn’t strengthen where it was needed but chose to move Cabella out in part ex for Thauvin.
Between Charnley and Ashley (nowt to do with him he’ll say), the Club’s in deep deep doo-doo and in danger of being well adrift of safety by Christmas.
Another fine mess and maybe they’re thinking about bringing Carver back to save us – like what he says he did last season
So much hope, in vain it seems.
toonking
Oct 25, 2015 at 6:53 PM
Comment #54west
i’d add a RB in there as well myself, jam is a player who performs well but he seems to be allowing the opposion width far too many chances, he doesn’t get back often enough. jam himself could still play in the starting 11 only i’d put him as a wide midfielder, push sissoko along side colback and get a RB who’ll manage to keep on track with his main role stopping the opposition having too much time to cross.
angelswithdirtyfaces
Oct 25, 2015 at 6:53 PM
Comment #55Doesn’t seem to like math symbols
Should have read : less than 46pts twice, more than 46 pts twice
Munster Mag
Oct 25, 2015 at 6:54 PM
Comment #56Catchy, you are wrong on Thauvin I’m afraid. I dont care that it was 13 mins. He wont be getting 13m more mins of he pulls out of challenges like he did. Also his straight line pace is very worrying. Useless acquisition by Old Man Carr , in addition to Marv, Amalfitano, The other french winger ( now at Marseilles, sorry cant remember his name ) , Santon ( weak defender ) , Mbiwa ( see Santon ) . At least Carr did well in the summer, if we leave out Thauvin. Re the game, I am optimistic for the future but worried re injuries and how much we ask of out best players. But 3 players worth 10-15 mill each could make us a very very tidy team.
roblee7
Oct 25, 2015 at 6:54 PM
Comment #57Broons…i don’t think it was red as Elliott looked to be getting to it so it wasn’t a goalscoring opportunity. Or is it last man, automatic red regardless of situation???
GeordieTwo
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:01 PM
Comment #58McLaren clearly isn’t the answer. I would go after Brendan Rodgers immediately. The sending off was ridiculous. We dominated the first half with possession but a lot of it was just knocking it around the back four and back and forward between the midfielders. Sunderland are an extremely poor side yet we lost 3-0 to them under McLaren. Time for him to go or down we go.
roblee7
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:01 PM
Comment #59Angels…those reds cost us massively, Janmaats angered me the most mind, even more than colo today as it was so rash. Colo was just too heavy with what looked to me like a shoulder barge
GeordieTwo
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:02 PM
Comment #60Dummett is a poor LB as well. We need a LB, CB, and experienced striker straight away in January.
BandB
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:02 PM
Comment #61I may be getting a bit long in the tooth to understand these things, but I recall a time when being beaten 3-0 by the bottom club, (which hasn’t looked like winning a game so far this season) was regarded as really not very good.
It’s now nearly three months since people were seeing signs that we’d be soon alright as we were being brushed aside by minnows in pre-season.
We did well last week against a team which really went for it, but defended as badly as us.
Today we played them off he park for 45 minutes, not 90, and while the ref may have altered the game, he didn’t score three goals.
Ed is right. We’ll get no points at the end of the season for the best catalogue of straw-clutching excuses.
roblee7
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:03 PM
Comment #62And what angers me more than anything is us giving Colo a contract extension…mental. he’s class on his day, but thats about twice a season. Crap the rest of the time. Feel sorry for Mbemba
welshgeordie9
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:04 PM
Comment #63I’m not a mcclaren fan, more of a Mercedes fan.
Ha ha ha
welshgeordie9
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:05 PM
Comment #64Come on Hamilton win tonight.
GeordieTwo
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:07 PM
Comment #65Spot on BandB @61. Well said. We need to beat either Stoke or Bournemouth in the next 2 matches (or preferably both) or McLaren should be sacked. Personally I would sack him now and go for Rodgers.
toonking
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:09 PM
Comment #66rob
This season is a season where only 5 teams seem to be part of that relegation battle, us scums, villa, norwich and bournmoth. chelsea and stoke are the next two in line both of whom usually considered not a relegation team.
The next best hope is watford who are 2W+1D above 17th and after that it’s westbrom 2W+2D Palace 3W and the mighty leister 4W+1D.
Either result are an even greater importance or lets hope chelsea continue
When you’ve got chelsea then stoke sitting down amoungst us it can make those relegation battle feel more worried when a loss occurs. Usually we’ll have 6-8 teams all battling around in the bottom half of the table trying to avoid relegation but chelsea and stoke wouldn’t be amoungst that group,
usually their is 6-8 teams in amou
bladeuser
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:10 PM
Comment #67Get real people cattermole stayed on the pitch because he did not make any shocking challenges yes maybe he should have had a yellow but that’s it put this into perspective scum had not won a game it is irrelevant that we played them off the park We lost
AGAIN only nufc give teams three points whenever they need them and smirking SMAC blaming the ref is Bolton
It was a pen but maybe not a ref card
One win and that could have been six six
We r I’m deep shit with this clown
ASH OUT
MAC OUT
COLO OUT
GeordieTwo
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:11 PM
Comment #68If we stick with McLaren and don’t make some big signings in January we would have to be one of the favourites to go down.
Jib
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:11 PM
Comment #69B and B
You are right
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
You are a bit long in the tooth
btw
does B and B stand for – bingo and booze ?
roblee7
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:12 PM
Comment #70I’d love us to get Rodgers or Moyes. Would prefer Moyes. Both of the Dalglish personality though which would be painful, but at least they’d likely get better results. Villa apparently after Remy Garde, he’d be too risky. Thing is, unless its just me, I enjoy alot of the things we’re doing under Mclaren. Some great passing, movement but little end product. I genuinely think if we hadn’t picked up the reds, we’b in a much happier place in the league, and the reds aren’t really down to McLaren?
angelswithdirtyfaces
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:14 PM
Comment #71roblee
Aye, true enough, but we don’t need to get beat with ten men. We could have had a draw today if our attack had shown any bite.
On average form over the last 5 years its 60/40 we’ll go down.
I really don’t think any other manager would be allowed ten games into a season to show one win and three draws as a reason why he should keep his job. We are just not playing well enough to get enough points to stay up. Simples.
catchy in norway
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:15 PM
Comment #72BandB
sorry but the ref missed a blatant pen for us only seconds before there pen, if it goes the way it should have and we scored the pen, there was no way on this planet they are getting back into the game, they had no ideas on how to get out there own half let alone to our goal.
it was only 3-0 because the ref got things wrong, if this game had of finished 3 -0 to us, not one person could complain, we were that dominant,
just been to the shop and listened to talk sport, 2 out of 3 hosts said no pen 1 said he could see why he gave the pen but it was not a red card.
also Cattermole all he did was kick players or slap them, not one yellow, hand ball and arm around gini,1 yellow and a pen, knee in the back of perez, should have been yellow, was not any where near the ball, then the follow though on colback ++ lots of niggly little things.. for me he was luck to stay on the pitch
roblee7
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:16 PM
Comment #73Toonking spot on. I can actually see Palace sliding down, and yeah, Watford, but i’ve been well impressed with them. Hmmm, its going to be a long season I suspect!
angelswithdirtyfaces
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:17 PM
Comment #74Jib // Oct 25, 2015 at 8:56 AM
“I know who I woudn’t want on my side when the chips are down – and it isn’t Fabricio Coloccini !”
Brilliant prediction with a double negative !!
BandB
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:17 PM
Comment #75catchy
Good teams play badly and win.
They don’t get beat 3-0 playing, by common assent it seems, somewhere near their best.
catchy in norway
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:17 PM
Comment #76GeordieTwo
how would getting Rodgers in help us, we dont have Suarez in our team, he is not a good coach,
GeordieTwo
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:18 PM
Comment #77I said I thought the 4 matches including Norwich, Sunderland, Stoke, and Bournemouth would decide it for McLaren and I’m sticking to that. Anything less than 6 points in those 4 games and he’s gone. So he has to win one of the next two. It’s as simple as that. After that it’s Leicester, Palace, Liverpool and Spurs and we may be done by then. As in relegated before the halfway mark of the season.
roblee7
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:18 PM
Comment #78Angels…unless things improve quickly, it will be like Carver / Pardew all over again. The fat controller doesn’t seem to like sacking…probably for money reasons
GeordieTwo
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:21 PM
Comment #79If you say so catchy mate but others see it differently. Rodgers lost his way in Liverpool after they sold Suarez and Sturridge was a permanent sick note. That was out of his control. He works well with youngsters and he has a decent sense of tactics. We need more from the owner as well of course. If we do nothing in January we are done no matter who the manager is (and we may already be done unless we start beating teams around us in the standings).
toonking
Oct 25, 2015 at 7:21 PM
Comment #80BandB
spot on.
entertaining football is only good to the netrual when they are not getting us the results we required.
I’d rather have four games that finish 2-1 1-1, 2-0 and 1-0 than a 2-1 V waford 2-0 going 2-2 V chelsea and 3-0 loss with attacking football vs sunderland whilst only that 1 game where we win