Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson was impressed with Newcastle’s performance against West Brom last Saturday and while he said it should have been 4-0 or 5-0 – it was only 1-0.
Paul also points out Newcastle’s woeful away form and how terrible we looked at Everton – when some of our players only woke up in the second half.
And therein lies the reason why Newcastle have dropped so many points from winning positions this season – 12 in all – because when we are creating chances and on top we cannot score the goals.
We could even have dropped 2 points last Saturday after being completely dominant when West Brom had a good chance to equalize in stoppage time.
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Paul Merson – takes Chelsea for the win
In January we didn’t really bring in the proven Premier League striker we needed and Seydou Doumbia is still way short of being match-fit.
So we will have to rely on players like Aleksandar Mitrovic and others to get the goals if we are to pull off a win in London tomorrow.
This is what Paul Merson said to Sky Sports about tomorrow’s game:
âNewcastle played really well last week against West Brom and could have won by four or five.â
âBut, in the end, it was only 1-0 and West Brom had a chance to equalise late on, so itâs worrying they didnât put the game to bed.â
âChelsea are a different side now the players want to have a go, they have really picked up under Guus Hiddink.â
âIâve got to take Newcastleâs dismal showing at Everton last week into consideration though, so Iâm backing Chelsea here.â
âNewcastleâs away form has a greater influence than their impressive home performances.â
Newcastle have only a miserly 6 goals and 7 points in 12 games on the road – and two of those goals and 3 of the points were at White Hart Lane in the unlikely 2-1 win.
We have failed to score in eight of the 12 away games this season, so scoring goals has been a problem for us for a couple of seasons now – and we still haven’t solved that particular problem.
Maybe next season?
That’s one reason why we could still be struggling come the end of the season unless players like Mitrovic, Wijnaldum, Perez and Doumbia can start hitting the net for us.
And we’re not even going to mention that our other problem is the defense and it has been for over three years now – and that we also failed to solve that specific problem last month.
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
14 comments so far
Vest
Feb 12, 2016 at 8:01 AM
Comment #1I have to agree with him on this one. But I hope I’m proven wrong đ
sing in the corner
Feb 12, 2016 at 8:02 AM
Comment #2It irks me that Merson is still making a decent living from being the number 1 exponent of stating the bleeding obvious. Is there anyone in the northern hemisphere who doesn’t know already every single thing he ever says?
Novocastrian66
Feb 12, 2016 at 8:06 AM
Comment #3Will Taylor or Lascelles start tomorrow?
croftus5678
Feb 12, 2016 at 8:12 AM
Comment #4@3 nova
fingers crossed saylor as he’s the only one capable of handling costa.
Mag52
Feb 12, 2016 at 8:14 AM
Comment #5Novo.
It’d be Taylor for me.
YouCouldn'tMakeItUp
Feb 12, 2016 at 8:20 AM
Comment #6Sitc
I thought Owen held that title? đ
YouCouldn'tMakeItUp
Feb 12, 2016 at 8:23 AM
Comment #7We did a job away at spurs. I think thats the only time so far that Macca got his away tactics right.
sing in the corner
Feb 12, 2016 at 8:29 AM
Comment #8YCMIU
Aye they’re all at it man! Can’t believe they get free oxygen. It just shows what the media / football think of the intelligence / awareness levels of fans. Not much I would suggest, judging by the repetitive, mind numbingly simplistic guff they churn out. Gary Neville excepted. Although he’s not looking too clever with his latest job venture! Hope he turns it round somehow as he’s a breath of fresh air in footy. Didn’t think I would ever say that!
Novocastrian66
Feb 12, 2016 at 8:29 AM
Comment #9McLaren might go for 3 centre halves and 5 in midfield. Chelsea tend to try an play through the heart of the defence rather than get the ball wide. This one of the reasons why Hazard has not been as influential this season.
He tried that at Watford and it didn’t work but he may give it another go.
Novocastrian66
Feb 12, 2016 at 8:32 AM
Comment #10Sing in the corner; He cannot say “three” or “threat” either. Nor can that knacker Jamie Rednapp.
jesperfuglsang - capt'n awesome of the lemon crew
Feb 12, 2016 at 8:35 AM
Comment #11Three at the back against Chelsea will be dangerous I think! …and it will make our wide more defensive. Not sure that is playing to their strength.
I think McM will go 4-4-1-1 of maybe changing it to a 4-4-2. But it’s a difficult game and the answer is not just in the formation I think.
posada
Feb 12, 2016 at 8:48 AM
Comment #12Chelsea I think play PSG on Tuesday night and Man City next weekend in the cup.
We have to give nothing away and make it difficult for them.
Just hope we are still in it with 20 mins to go.
YouCouldn'tMakeItUp
Feb 12, 2016 at 9:00 AM
Comment #13Adam Johnson finds new lune of work
http://www.lifebuzz.com/dirty-mind/13/?p=1&utm_source=sp&utm_medium=AprilOb&utm_campaign=dirty-mind&fp=sp&ljr=txwc2m-8-_zIpBetVe_WgA_eZbIpVxR1q6Kf0FiUtsU%3D&ref=www.getlfbz.com
mad-serb
Feb 12, 2016 at 9:38 AM
Comment #14I think this could turn out to be a cracker. The message all week has been about taking the game to Chelsea and doing the things we are doing at home away from home.
I am actually expecting some goals in this one. We have played well away from home against all the big teams and should have won at Arsenal, drew at Manchester and apart from the horror second half at city we played well in that first half.
I think Chelsea might have some problems at the back and are in a similar boat to us. They dropped Cahil for the simple reason that he as Terry together have problems with pacy forwards and balls over the top. For that reason Cahil was replaced with Zouma to help cover Terry. Now Zouma is injured and I guess they are forched to play that combinations again that leaked all that goals.
I think there is goals in this one. 2 – 2 would be my prediction. i believe we will be unchanced apart from maybe colback in for Arons. we will see Doumbia in the second half depending on how things are going to try and exploit there problem against pace.