Things are looking a lot more positive at Newcastle since our great comeback against Manchester United on Tuesday night in what was one of the best games seen in the Premier League this season.
And coupled with Jonjo Shelvey and Henri Saivet coming in it has lightened the mood considerably this week.
Steve McClaren – has to get some wins on the board soon
But even this week we lost two points to the two sides that were below us in the league – as Aston Villa and Sunderland both won their games and Sunderland are now above Newcastle on goal difference and we second bottom.
So the game on Tuesday night didn’t help us too much, we dropped one place and we need some wins from now on if we are to escape relegation.
And with games spread out to about one a week for the rest of the season if we don’t win games soon Newcastle will be down there in the relegation zone for some time.
In SkyBet Newcastle are still third favorites to be relegated at 4/6 odds on, with only Aston Villa (1/20) and Sunderland (1/3) worse off than we are in the betting.
Here’s our current league position today before the tough game at home this afternoon.
UEFA Champions League Group F
Team | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | GD | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dortmund | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 11 |
PSG | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
AC Milan | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | -3 | 8 |
Newcastle | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | -1 | 5 |
If we can wint he game today we could even move up to 16th place depending on the other results – and that;s 5th bottom bit another defeat and that would mean just two point in the last six league games and our slump after beating Liverpool and Tottenham in successive games will continue.
Our record this season is not good – in fact it’s still the worst ever in the Premier League after 21 games played.
[table “44” not found /]And here are the rest of the 17 fixtures left in which we probably have to get 23 points at least in order to survive.
January Sat 16 15:00 H West Ham Sat 23 15:00 A Watford February Wed 03 19:45 A Everton Sat 06 15:00 H West Brom Sat 13 17:30 A Chelsea Sun 28 12:00 H Manchester City March Wed 02 19:45 A Stoke City Sat 05 15:00 H Bournemouth Sat 12 15:00 A Leicester City Sat 19 15:00 H Sunderland April Sat 02 15:00 A Norwich City Sat 09 15:00 A Southampton Sat 16 15:00 H Swansea City Sat 23 15:00 A Liverpool Sat 30 15:00 H Crystal Palace May Sat 07 15:00 A Aston Villa Sun 15 15:00 H Tottenham
Things are starting to look up – yes – but this is a reality check and Newcastle need to start winning very soon to alleviate the concerns among fans that we could still become a Championship club in May.
And that would be a compete and utter disaster.
Remember since Alan Pardew left the club we have only seven wins in 40 Premier League games and that’s two games more than a season and only 31 points on the board with a shocking goal difference of -33 and 73 goals conceded.
[table “42” not found /]🙁
We hope that’s eight wins by this evening but another defeat would not be good.
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
31 comments so far
G
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:21 AM
Comment #1Suspect this is a wind up, but just got a text off a mate who reckons the Tiote to China deal, is a swap deal with Demba Ba. Anybody know anything about this, or is it carp?
banjax
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:21 AM
Comment #2McLaren, Carr and Charnley have to go for Newcastle to avoid relegation, new players or not !
John Tudor
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:22 AM
Comment #3expat
what gave you the right to deride not one but two bloggers who made no reference to you in a post it is you who needs to get a life
jimmysmith
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:22 AM
Comment #4Our form over the last ten games is surely a more reliable guide. This is a top eight group of players now, without doubt if we get Townsend too. If we go down McC will have to squarely take the blame. The first ten games a legacy and hangover of last years debacle, ok, but this group of players should not go down over the course of a full season, and Ashley has splashed the cash.
WWSBRD
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:24 AM
Comment #5G
Think it’s crap mate but I’d take that Ba (if he is still the player we sold) if not take the 8 mill and go straight to QPR
John Tudor
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:25 AM
Comment #6especially as one blogger was not here to defend himself
yes get a life and grow up
CookyToon
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:25 AM
Comment #7I think Saviet will hit the ground running the same way Tiote did. The DM role is a lot easier to adjust to with less pressure than a winger or striker, who is expected to produce flashes of brilliance every game. Pretty much the unsung hero role.
NoahJ
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:26 AM
Comment #8All of our games against the rival teams apart from Norwich (sunderland, swansea, west brom, bournmeouth) are all at home- playing away when you need 3 points desperately (like at villa park!) is a horrible feeling, so at least we’ll have the home crowd behind us
in the maths, we always forget that our rivals also have to play each other, so multiple points will be dropped.
the key is patience; it may take another four weeks, but we can claw out of this.
But, we need a striker; there’s simply no negotiation
toon kk
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:26 AM
Comment #9Let’s hope we hang on to Sissoko and get a top quality proven striker in or we will go down. There’s no doubt about it.
John Tudor
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:27 AM
Comment #10repost
McClaren you have been backed by mr Ashley with one or two players possibly more to follow and he replied along the lines …its is now the time for me and the team to start winning some games……….
question being he has had all season
and if Ashley is backing him to the hilt how long are you prepared to put up with that
expatmag
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:29 AM
Comment #11JT
I havent derided anyone that gas not deserved it. Truth hurts, does it???????
John Tudor
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:30 AM
Comment #12no comment needed get off my back you bully
Harley
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:32 AM
Comment #13Whenever we’ve sold a player in the past, the criticism has always been that we didn’t bring in a replacement in time.
The club obviously decided to accept a huge offer for tiote and decided the time was right. But this time went out and got his replacement before he left. Yet still the criticism flows.
They can’t win.
expatmag
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:32 AM
Comment #14Jt
Ever heard of full stops and commas…….lol
expatmag
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:34 AM
Comment #15JT
Heat…….kitchen springs to mind. Bully? I am not. Realist?..I am
G
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:34 AM
Comment #16Wwsbrd, yeah, I thought so too. I’m sure it would be all over Twitter if there was any truth to it. Ba is 30, and still has that iffy knee problem.
John Tudor
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:35 AM
Comment #17there was no need to attack an innocent comment you moron when it was not directed at you enough said on the matter please refrain from any further snide comments directed towards me or any other blogger
it has consequences
toon kk
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:35 AM
Comment #18Jimmysmith
West haven’t enough cutting edge in front of goal to be a top eight side. We need a top striker. Our current goals scored rarely come from Mitro.
John Tudor
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:36 AM
Comment #19keep going by all means …………..
John Tudor
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:37 AM
Comment #20ill bhave my p.a. script my future comments then
John Tudor
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:37 AM
Comment #21drogo more like
John Tudor
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:39 AM
Comment #22you are such a pratt to boot enough said on this please stop last chance
G
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:40 AM
Comment #23Wow JT, you really know how to kill a thread mate.
stretchintoon
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:40 AM
Comment #24sounds a bit harsh but id get rid of de jong,he’s an injury prone liability & has done naff all since he’s been here,give him an eye patch & get rid asap.
John Tudor
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:41 AM
Comment #25he started it the wally
Big Archie
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:41 AM
Comment #26Maybe if we survive on goal difference you might change your mind about whether or not that one point helped us or not.
John Tudor
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:42 AM
Comment #27bullied off the blog never to return
G
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:43 AM
Comment #28Stretch, I think SDJ will come good for us ìf we can tape him together long enough to get a run of games. Always looks like a game changer when hes fit.
WWSBRD
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:44 AM
Comment #29G
True mate but I’d still probably have him back like haha Perez/Mitro/Gini can do his running
G
Jan 16, 2016 at 9:49 AM
Comment #30I think the knee problem got worse in Turkey for him, not sure he would get a game in the prem now, which is a shame as he was a class finisher.
jimmysmith
Jan 16, 2016 at 1:21 PM
Comment #31Not a top eight group because of the lack of a genuine striker? That’s a fair comment on current and recent form, but really, we should get plenty of goals out of an attacking group including Mitro, Cisse, Widjnaldum, Perez, De Jong, Shelvey, Townsend, and Sissoko.
I agree though we need a replacement for Cisse, who has been difficult to accommodate, and is hit and miss, and also De Jong and Rivierre have not shown near enough for us, although have done for others in the past.
There’s room for improvement certainly, and I think we will get it, but that is still a pretty impressive array of attacking talent.