Steve Harper has been interviewed about Newcastle´s plight – we are second bottom of the league with just 6 points from the first 10 league games – and he thinks that Steve McClaren and his staff will be given time to turn things around at the Tyneside club.
Steve McClaren at the start of the season said judge me after 10 games, but he´s kind of backed away from that with only 6 points gained after the number of games and more than a quarter of the season gone by.
Steve Harper – a farewell wave to Newcastle fans
But if things don´t improve he will not be given unlimited time and it seems a case of getting Newcastle to play at their best for the full 90 minutes.
In our games so far this season we have been punished in games when we cannot seem to keep up the good play we have shown – and that good play is only sporadic.
Our defense is still our biggest weakness as it has been for the last three season – when we conceded 190 league goals – and we have already conceded 22 goals in 10 games so far – the worst record in the Premier League and on track to concede 83 goals over the full 38 game season.
🙁
And the teams on either side of us in the league – Aston Villa and Sunderland – have already seen their managers leave the club.
This is what the former Newcastle goalkeeper has said:
“The performances have been OK in patches, and you can see there are some good things in this team.”
“By all accounts Aston Villa’s performances haven’t been great, which is why they have taken action.”
“While the performances are OK then I think McClaren will be given time, if that were to change then I think it would speed up any action they were going to take.”
“The frustrating thing is there are signs there, Newcastle just need a 90-minute performance.”
“They were excellent at Manchester City for 45 minutes and then got beat by 6, they did well in periods at Sunderland, it is just playing for 90 minutes.”
“There are some good attacking signs but the Achilles heal is defensively as they always look like they will concede goals.”
“The heavy defeat for Bournemouth will leave a few wounds, Norwich are sliding down and Villa are in real trouble. The sooner Newcastle and Sunderland start putting points on the board the better.”
Hopefully, Newcastle can get a win at home to Stoke on Saturday but another defeat would not be good – and that’s a huge understatement.
Comments welcome.
6 comments so far
hibbitt
Oct 28, 2015 at 9:14 AM
Comment #1op who would you put in to replace them ????
lesh
Oct 28, 2015 at 9:20 AM
Comment #2Have the FF minutes been released yet?
Who selects the questions to be asked and how are they asked? Does Charnley select and read them out or are the fan reps given the platform to ask them?
optimistic prime
Oct 28, 2015 at 9:21 AM
Comment #3Hibbit
I’d probs try Windi with Anita and get SDJ in the 10 and put Perez out wide.
People might say Windi and Anita won’t offer protection but I can’t see it being any worse than Colback and Anita.
Tiote isn’t fit hasn’t played well for a while and the clowns got rid of Abeid.
IMO CDM is the most important position we need to sort, as bad as the defence is our cm offers little or no protection.
Sliema
Oct 28, 2015 at 9:35 AM
Comment #4I would like to avoid moving Gini deeper in to the midfield. He’s solid but he is nowhere near at his best in a holding or restricted cetral mid role… We need more goals in this team still and he is our biggest attacking threat.
Sav
Oct 28, 2015 at 10:57 AM
Comment #5There’s a load of old shite being written about NUFC at the minute. Especially Mark Douglas. ‘Get rid of Cisse to fund new forwards’: surely we’d get rid of Riviere first? And Obertan. And de Jong. They would bring in as much and at least Cisse is ready to play and will get a few goals. ‘Mitrovic is the answer to our goals drought this season’ – really? Two goals? Bit early for that claim. ‘We should abandon the policy of buying under 26 players’. Well it turns out we aren’t fielding Kindergarten United after all and the difference in average ages of squads throughout the league is minimal anyway. ‘Coloccini has to go’. Colo is one of the better defenders I’ve watched in 45 years following Newcastle. He’s had his bad days but he has become a scapegoat for some fans. For the penalty on Sunday equal blame has to go to Tiote for needlessly giving away possession. Colo has played in a series of dodgy defences at Newcastle.
Ravostag
Oct 28, 2015 at 5:49 PM
Comment #6I think elliott was the problem on sunday. He should have come off his line quicker stayed on his feet and claimed the ball avoiding the need for collo to make that clumsey challenge. Krul with his faults would have claimed that