Newcastle spent £29M in the January transfer window and going into the window we had one of the worst defenses in the Premier League, but of the four signings not one of them was a defender.
Last summer we needed a proven Premier league goalscorer brought in, but we still haven´t got one and so we continue to miss chances in games and have difficulty scoring goals.
Joey Barton has said Newcastle should have signed defenders in January so the team could stay competitive in games as Sunderland have proved they can now do with Sam Allardyce shoring up their defense in January.
Rob Lee – while at Newcastle
We signed three midfielders in the January window – Andros Townsend, Henri Saivet and Jonjo Shelvey – and a striker – Seydou Doumbia – who hasn´t played since early December when the Russian Premier League started their winter break – so he´s a little rusty to say the least.
Following on from Joey Barton´s statement that Newcastle should have shored up their defense last month is another former Newcastle midfielder, Rob Lee, who says much the same as Joey – we spent money on the wrong players in January and we should have brought in defenders and a top goalscorer.
This is what Rob has said:
“The two players they’ve bought, Townsend and Shelvey, I like them but if you look at it, they weren’t essential buys.”
“It’s like going to get your groceries and you see something and think, ‘I wouldn’t mind that’.” “But we need a goalscorer, we need a leader at the back, a centre half and a left-back.”
“We’ve got Rolando Aarons playing there at the moment. He’s just a young kid and that’s not his position. For a club the size of Newcastle, that’s ridiculous really.”
“I don’t see much of them live these days but I wouldn’t want to actually. Chelsea was a poor result and a poor performance.”
“That’s the trouble with Newcastle. You think they’ve turned the corner but people forget their previous win was against West Brom who were awful and it was only 1-0.”
“They’ve got a lot of problems but I’m not really worried. I think there are three worse teams than Newcastle.”
It´s good that Rob thinks we will still survive – that would be a huge relief.
But it´s even worse than Rob says because we were short of a proven PL striker, a top center-back and a top left back last summer – and we still haven´t signed them.
Notice these are now supposed to be the top transfer targets for this summer.
So if we do go down these are some of the mistakes that those running the club – in this case the Newcastle Board – have made.
And we made enough mistakes last year that took us to the brink of relegation on the last day of the season against West Ham.
We may not be so lucky this time around.
These are the basis of some questions to ask Lee Charnley next Monday night at the Fans Forum meeting – always assuming the meeting goes ahead.
Comments welcome.
69 comments so far
GeordieTwo
Feb 17, 2016 at 12:09 AM
Comment #1I like pointy criticisms. The pointier the better…..
MacToon
Feb 17, 2016 at 12:10 AM
Comment #2“For a club the size of Newcastle, that’s ridiculous really.”
GeordieTwo
Feb 17, 2016 at 12:11 AM
Comment #3I also like witty criticisms that are pithy and pointy.
GeordieTwo
Feb 17, 2016 at 12:11 AM
Comment #4For a knob the size of Ashley it all makes sense though….
MadisonToon
Feb 17, 2016 at 12:15 AM
Comment #5REPOST:
G2
I also wonder why we haven’t gone 4-4-2 more. The two holding players seems like a good idea because we leak goals, but we are still leaking goals so it’s clearly not helping that much. We need to be able to play on the front foot sometimes and to do that we will need to have more players forward. It has to be worth trying out more.
I think SMc should be here through the end of the season. Changing managers at this point is unlikely to fix things. Additionally, these are the players that SMc wanted in (at least it would appear he had some influence on who came through the door) and if we bring a new manager in, what will they do with them? We just spent 80+ mill and I doubt Ashley sees it in his best interest to give a new manager the reigns and have him say that he doesn’t want the players that were just bought and needs an additional 80 million. I just can’t see it happening.
Jeffrey
Feb 17, 2016 at 12:16 AM
Comment #6Is this Belfast?
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/21/26766503_3dacf12092_z.jpg?zz=1
jimmysmith
Feb 17, 2016 at 12:20 AM
Comment #7“When you haven’t got that work ethic in your trousers, then you are going to struggle from minute one.”
“……… that work ethic in your trousers,…”
Deary me, that is absolutely priceless.
banjax
Feb 17, 2016 at 12:21 AM
Comment #8All of our ex great players like Rob Lee are too diplomatic to say what the real problem with Newcastle United is – apart from M A and that is his executive and management. There, said it Rob !
GeordieTwo
Feb 17, 2016 at 12:21 AM
Comment #9Excellent post Madison mate@5. I think you’re saying we’re toasted. We’ve spent the money and now Steve can’t get us playing properly. We didn’t get the defenders we needed, that everyone except Ashley and his yobboes knew we needed that is and we’re hooped…. And really now, how do I get this damn thong off?
GeordieTwo
Feb 17, 2016 at 12:22 AM
Comment #10I don’t leave my work ethic in my trousers either jimmysmith mate. Sometimes it causes a rash. I think that may be Steve’s problem. He’s got a bad, itchy, rashy work ethic thing going on in his trousers……
GeordieTwo
Feb 17, 2016 at 12:25 AM
Comment #11Sometimes I worry about Steve. I really do………
MadisonToon
Feb 17, 2016 at 12:25 AM
Comment #12G2
I wish it wasn’t so, but I think it might be. If SM can get the players he wanted (Shelvey/Townsend, maybe also Wiji/Mitro) playing well under him, then he might have a chance to survive the summer. As it is, I think he will be the manager through the summer and if we stay up he will stay and if we go down, he will go. I just don’t see Ashley making a chance before then. It would be hugely risky to do so since who would come in and how well are they likely to mesh with the team in both the short- and long-term?
GeordieTwo
Feb 17, 2016 at 12:30 AM
Comment #13Again you’re spot on Madison mate@12. We do have trouble meshing. Sometimes I think, oh look we’re doing it…. We’re meshing! But then things fall off and it gets nasty with a lot of screeching and we grind to a halt. It’s verrrrry disappointing!
GeordieTwo
Feb 17, 2016 at 12:33 AM
Comment #14Just listening to Nick Drake’s The Riverman while doing this excellent bloggery….. Lovely.
jimmysmith
Feb 17, 2016 at 12:33 AM
Comment #15I played football against Rob Lee once, when he was playing for Charlton Athletic, who were then in the old English top flight, before SKY invented modern football.
It wasn’t a first division fixture I’m afraid, just a post season friendly with North Queensland, but hard fought and in driving rain, in front of a few thousand people, at Brolga Park, Townsville, Australia.
I doubt Rob even remembers it, winning 4-3 against the local amateurs, although of course I vividly do.
MadisonToon
Feb 17, 2016 at 12:35 AM
Comment #16The meshing is never permanent with NUFC – it’s a pretty permeable mesh in our case. When was the last time you saw Newcastle with a strong mesh? We haven’t let in less than 50 goals in a season since 06-07 – maybe our mesh has been weakening since then?
GeordieTwo
Feb 17, 2016 at 12:35 AM
Comment #17now switching to Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds, The Riverman. Very nice…..
GeordieTwo
Feb 17, 2016 at 12:40 AM
Comment #18Well, that’s what I’m saying as well Madison mate! I think some of the players don’t really understand the meshing…. Some of them are busy in one corner meshing, others are running about just ignoring it! I mean what’s really going on mate? Is this the only mesh we have? And there’s Steve on the sidelines trying to organize his work ethic in his trousers….. It’s just puzzling frankly…..
MadisonToon
Feb 17, 2016 at 12:45 AM
Comment #19I fear we are too enmeshed in this topic.
RonVanDam
Feb 17, 2016 at 12:57 AM
Comment #20I hope the board has a decent coach on standby if SM loses the friendly and the next game.
Of the available PL experienced managers waiting on the wings, my money is Rodgers at this stage. We will be able to grind 5-6 wins before the season concludes under guidance
Toon-Prodigy
Feb 17, 2016 at 12:59 AM
Comment #21I know Rob beats on about signing what we need but I have to go against him here. We did sign that CF. i do think from now until the end of the season the defence will pull through and we will be better for Townsend, Shelvey, Doumbia, and Cisse coming back. Aswell as Taylor coming back to fitness.
We could have signed defenders but we were also lacking goals and that’s what wins games also. There is just amount of risk in signing only defenders with the situation we are in. No guarantee in dropping Colo and bringing in a new CB at this stage of the season with the problems this club has.
I think in signing some experienced players will be enough, Doumbia is still up for debate but his pace will be key I think.
Plenty outgoings and incomings in the Summer and hopefully a squad ready to compete will be the outcome.
GeordieTwo
Feb 17, 2016 at 1:10 AM
Comment #22You must have been a very decent player jimmysmith mate. It’s hard to give it up as you get older. I still dream about playing but that’s all now.
GeordieTwo
Feb 17, 2016 at 1:12 AM
Comment #23You may be right Madison mate. But we deserve better! We deserve a decent side. To support through thick and thin yes, but where is wor thick mate? Where is it???
GeordieTwo
Feb 17, 2016 at 1:14 AM
Comment #24I’ve had more than enough thin! I’m sure you would agree Madison mate. We’ve become bogged down in thin! I demand some thick! Unbelievably hard to get that point across with this owner……
GeordieTwo
Feb 17, 2016 at 1:16 AM
Comment #25I miss playing more than anything else. That feeling of being able to run forever.
GeordieTwo
Feb 17, 2016 at 1:20 AM
Comment #26RonVanDam mate I hope you’re right. Even if it’s under Steve we need those 5-6 wins. I hate this fiddling about in 18th place. What kind of season is this? It’s just like last season. It’s a repeating nightmare. I’m expecting Freddy Kruger to pop up at any minute…..
GeordieTwo
Feb 17, 2016 at 1:21 AM
Comment #27Well I’d better leave it at that. A lot of pent up frustration though. Fed up with it. I want my club back.
lesh
Feb 17, 2016 at 1:42 AM
Comment #28Jmmysmith
A player’s had his work ethic in his pocket?
I can think of one at least!
lesh
Feb 17, 2016 at 1:45 AM
Comment #29GeordieTwo
I’d never have expected to hear of a Nick Drake fan on here.
RonVanDam
Feb 17, 2016 at 2:07 AM
Comment #30GeordieTwo
The way SM has got the team playing, i’m sure Freddie Kruger is having nightmares
Sav
Feb 17, 2016 at 2:09 AM
Comment #31Black Eyed Dog would be more appropriate for Toon fans of Nick Drake.
As the actress said to Whispering Ray Wilkins, “Is that your work ethic in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?”
If I thought they’d appoint someone good (Eddie Howe?) I’d be happy to risk Macca until the end of the season rather than pick up a Rodgers or a Pearson now. But I don’t and they wouldn’t.
Sav
Feb 17, 2016 at 2:10 AM
Comment #32As the actress said to Whispering Ray Wilkins, “Is that your work ethic in your trousers or are you just pleased to see me?”
Jeffrey
Feb 17, 2016 at 3:27 AM
Comment #33Nicholas Rodney “Nick” Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter and musician, known for his acoustic guitar-based songs. He failed to find a wide audience during his lifetime, but his work has gradually achieved wider notice and recognition. Drake signed to Island Records when he was 20 years old and was a student at the University of Cambridge, and released his debut album, Five Leaves Left, in 1969. By 1972, he had recorded two more albums—Bryter Layter and Pink Moon. Neither sold more than 5,000 copies on initial release. Drake’s reluctance to perform live, or be interviewed, contributed to his lack of commercial success. There is no known footage of the adult Drake; he was only ever captured in still photographs and in home footage from his childhood.
jimmysmith
Feb 17, 2016 at 4:32 AM
Comment #34Yeah, I was a top notch semi pro attacking right back, just as they were coming into fashion – (think of a hybrid of Crocodile Dundee and Roberto Carlos), and quite the dashing figure, although cruelly robbed of a professional career in the game by the most unsympathetic combination of pathological bad luck and insufficient talent.
posada
Feb 17, 2016 at 4:37 AM
Comment #35Lee – We need a leader and a centre half at the back.
That’s code for Collo is crap.
Shearer – Costa is not the quickest but he gave him 5 yards start for the third goal.
Again, code for Collo is crap.
toonincheek
Feb 17, 2016 at 5:29 AM
Comment #36Ed – Your latest health update – Great news.
magscar
Feb 17, 2016 at 5:48 AM
Comment #37Ed
Yes congratulations on your continuing good news on your health update.
Jail for Ashley
Feb 17, 2016 at 6:18 AM
Comment #38jimmy@34,
Ha ha, fairplay to you.
TP,
What’s with the extremes, why did it have to be only defenders, Saivet was brought in for the same price as Kone who we’ve been linked with for ages, I doubt very much that Saivet will get any more game time this season. If we’ve got a LB lined up for the summer, why not go the extra and bring him in now, the extra ?M is going to be peanuts compared to what we’re going to miss out on.
Jail for Ashley
Feb 17, 2016 at 6:27 AM
Comment #39magscar,
I see you poo poohed the cup competitions the other day in your defence of the regimes heartless decision to exit them as soon as possible, you do realise that they offer the only feasible way of winning something. You can argue PL survival all day long but there have been a few occasions noe where we have been safe in January and took the same course.
Ron Knee
Feb 17, 2016 at 6:49 AM
Comment #40It’s always nerve-racking waiting for blood test results!