It was a must win game and while there very few chances the chances were there to win the game, especially for Owen and Martins, but the 0-0 draw was simply not good enough.
Michael Owen – missed golden chance after 63 minutes
This was another time when the lads and the club had promised they were going all out for the win, and had to win this game to save our season, but in the end they failed the task yet again.
While it pains us to say this, with just one win in the last 18 games, we hardly even deserve to stay up, given our horrible record this year, and the lad’s play this year has been very poor to say the least.
This squad will go down in Newcastle history as the most overpaid and under-performing set of players in the club’s history, and the sooner we clear the decks of a lot of them in the summer, the better Newcastle United will become. This scenario is starting to look far too similar to what happened with Leeds United for our liking.
Yes, we will hear Alan Shearer say that we can still stay up, and while that’s possible Alan has just one point and one goal in the four game he’s been in charge and all this is starting to look like an almighty disaster for the Newcastle club.
The continual inept displays of the players and the toothless nature of our forwards, make it hard to believe we can get the number of goals and therefore points we need. Don’t forget we need to score a goal to get 3 points, which is what we need in our remaining games.
If we can win at Liverpool this weekend we will change our minds about the team, but it looks like it’s all over for Newcastle United this season, unless Hull and Middlesbrough promise not to get one more point in the last 4 games. That would mean we’d beat Middlesbrough and catch Hull City, – but they’d both have to keep that promise.
The best chance of the night came after 63 minutes when Owen was put straight though and his shot was turned for a corner, but he should have chipped the ball over the advancing James, who should have been given no chance – and on the night one goal would have been enough and produced the goods – and we’d all be ecstatic this morning.
The team are now 3rd bottom, 3 points behind Hull City and safety, but Newcastle cannot keep throwing these golden chances of catching the opposition away, with inept and uninspiring performances like last night. They go to Liverpool this weekend and we have to hope we’re not taken apart, like last December, to preserve our decent goal difference which may still give us a chance.
They looked like a side fighting relegation last night, and as we said, they hardly even deserve to stay in the Premier league, the players have all been so under-whelming this season, and even the Newcastle fans are losing their patience, as only 47.000 turned up last night – and the ones that didn’t, would have been let down if they had made it to the game.
It looks like these players just haven’t got it in them, when it matters, like it did last night – shame on them.
Comments welcome.
47 comments so far
Stuart79
Apr 28, 2009 at 9:56 AM
Comment #1Couldn’t agree more with the headline ED.
Whoever put this squad together needs a good slap!
The phrase chickens cominghome to roost springs to mind!
Utter shambles and if anyone actually things we can stay the are deluded!
Our club has been raped, pilliged and the heart has been ripped out by a poor excuse of a billionaire!
This is not going to make many friends but here goes-
For the long term good of the club I want us to be relegated!
If we go down Ashley will have NO choice but to sell up and fck off! If he doesn’t we will go down again because we will spend no money whichever league were in.
We will get somebody who knows what it means to own a football club and someone isn’t bothered about spending money.
Stardust once said that relegation would shake f a few monkeys from the tree’s(our fans) well I think relegation would shake one big fat, sad, skint so called billionaire from the tree.
That I say is a good enough reason to see relegation as a positive step!
dak76
Apr 28, 2009 at 9:58 AM
Comment #2watched the game last night here in italy… was a nervious affair, and I have no nails left!!. We had some good chances but just not good enough.
We had more creativity when Viduka was on the pitch, for me Owen was a passenger throughout the game, yes he had one deft touch to set up Viduka and one clear chance to put the ball in the back of the net. HE should have been replaced by Carrol or Lovenkrands, not Viduka. we seemed to run out of ideas once he went off….. despite his injury problems this says alot about his presence on the pitch!
Looks like we’ll be playing championship footie next season unless the other useless teams at the bottom does us a massive favour (fingers crossed).
Toon Graeme
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Comment #3What more can you say?
I am not only aloss with my voice – but Im speachless with our current position.
Its a big ask to reply on other teams’s results and not gonna guarantee our survival alone.
Championship (spew) or Premiership
2 mins coverage (if that) with adverts either side on ITV or Football first on Sky and MOTD.
batty
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:01 AM
Comment #4we need the whole liverpool 1st 2nd and 3rd team to come down with swine flu to get out of them
batty
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:03 AM
Comment #5and i think hull should be deducted 6 points because phil browns son has been caught with coke lol
batty
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:03 AM
Comment #6and any one calling our fans pathetic want to try and go watch a game this season because i dont blame them leaving early watching this shite week in week out
Kanusti
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:11 AM
Comment #7we is down but rember when wher is gona 3 years we wil play for get in chl football every season as MA promise fans.
Toon Graeme
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:11 AM
Comment #8Batty – a few who left early (85th min) around me didnt go quiet – they were shouting at the pitch about how shite the team were as they walked down the steps.
DevonMag
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:12 AM
Comment #9batty i actually totally agree with you mate, fans who’ve been at sjp week in week out had every ritght to leave the ground early last night. They’ve been promised performances all season long and when it really matters we come up with jack sh*t. The team doesn’t look right playing at the ground in front of all those fans it’s like west brom playing at home in anfield.
batty
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:13 AM
Comment #10Toon Graeme // and i cant blame them m8
batty
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:16 AM
Comment #11DevonMag the only way we coul stay up is if hull dont pick up more than 1 point but cant see it as i think they will beat stoke m8
Stuart79
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:18 AM
Comment #12You can’t blame the players!
It’s not their fault that their not good enough!
They should never have been bought because we needed different types of players.
Nolan and Taylor didn’ even get on the bench last night, that says it all.
YOU CANNOT DRINK CHAMPAGNE ON BEER MONEY!!!!!
Good players cost money we have none!
Relegation will get rid of that fat tw*t who has raped our club of our best players!
DevonMag
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:18 AM
Comment #13where’s the stoke game being played? If it’s at the britania we’ll be alright I rekon. Seems a bit shamefull to be relying to teams like stoke and hull for our own future!
Spitfire
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:21 AM
Comment #14The painful truth is if they could not do it last night – almost full strength squad, 3 strikers on the pitch, the crowd up for it, the atmosphere good, Shearer in the dug out, Portsmouth hardly prolific away from home playing a lone striker- then they will never ever be able to do it. I have been saying since October that we would go down but always had that little ember of hope burning away. That ember finally went out last night. And that was even after Peter Crouch deliberately did not score against us by passing the ball back to Harper when he could have buried it – and us very very easily.
DevonMag
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:22 AM
Comment #15stuart79 that’s the truth mate. If MA didnt have to fu*king buy before he sold (HE’S A FU*KING BILLIONAIRE FOR GODS SAKE) we’d have milner, nzog and given on the field, with a prem standard left back and a world class creative midfielder. If only our BILLIONAIRE owner had invested 20-30mill, I rekon we’d be about 7th, maybe challenging everton for 6th?
batty
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:25 AM
Comment #16Stuart79 // yep ur right m8
batty
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:26 AM
Comment #17hull are at home at the K C m8
Danish_Magpie
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:27 AM
Comment #18Team for Liverpool:
………………………Harper……………………
Beye……….Colo…….Bassong…….Duff…
………………………Butt……………………….
……………..Smith……….Barton……………
……………………..Owen………………………
……………..Martins……..Viduka…………..
Stuart79
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:28 AM
Comment #19Devonmag
I really hope Ashley woke up this morning and though “if only I would have invested 20-30m we would be ok now”
Prick!
batty
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:29 AM
Comment #20Danish_Magpie no one gives a fck aboot the team for liverpool m8
Spitfire
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:30 AM
Comment #21Stuart79
I really hope Ashley didn’t wake up this morning and never wakes up again
DevonMag
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:35 AM
Comment #22I hope he did too mate, I hope he looks back on the time he decided dennis wise was more important to this club than kevin keegan and thinks, yeah- nice one mike. The only plus about us going down is the thought that Ashley will have lost hundreds of millions in the space of a couple years, still no consilation. As someone else said- he deserves what he gets, we dont 🙁
Kc, hull will come out all guns blazing as well, i rekon teams around us will be spured on by the fact that we couldn’t beat pompey last night…we’ve all written westbrom off but imagin if they overtook us. I would never live it down… Also, bit harsh there Batty but i agree with ya- who gives a fu*k about team selection if the players that are picked dont turn up for the game?
DevonMag
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:36 AM
Comment #23incidentally danish I agree with your team..altho we should probs be playing a 5 man midfield in an attempt to keep goal differance down…
komfort
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:52 AM
Comment #24stuart , i hope he woke up and decided to take a long holiday in mexico..
sirjasontoon
Apr 28, 2009 at 10:52 AM
Comment #25Liverpool will crucify us the squad is Gash and that is why we will be going down.
Where are all the Mike Ashley fans now eh?
Stuart79
Apr 28, 2009 at 11:01 AM
Comment #26The Ashley fans are stilll trying to get the brown stuff off their tongues!
sickofitall
Apr 28, 2009 at 11:20 AM
Comment #27stuart79 why do people keep saying that Ashley will sell if we go down? and saying it as if its a fact?
Surely he is less likely to sell if we go down due to the fact the club will be worth less.
Micky Toon
Apr 28, 2009 at 11:44 AM
Comment #28This is possibly one of the worst teams I’ve ever seen play in 25 odd years of going to SJP. We had some dross in the 80’s, and this lot run any of those teams close.
Where to start? I don’t know, but I do know it’s not just one persons fault. Everyone would like to think that by getting rid of Ashley would solve everything, but it won’t. It’s a combination of poor appointments of chairman, DoF’s and managers. None of our managers including caretakers and the current lot have enough guile, skill and experience to manage a club like NUFC.
If Ashley walked tomorrow and handed the club over to another “billionaire” for nowt, do you really think we’d be better off? Would any one want us? That is the question that’s bugging me. Why out of all the very rich people in the world was Mike Ashley the only one who was willing to stump up the cash for us?
There are absolutely no pluses to relegation, none. We would be stuck there for a good few years. We would be like Wolves. It would take us a year to get used to the Championship then another 3 or 4 to try and get promoted. If we can keep the young talent and Beye. Really he is the only one I’d want out of the team that played last night. Then we might be competitive in the Championship.
Take a look at what McCarthy did with Wolves. That’s what we would need to do and we would need to be patient, like the Wolves fans were. He said to give him 3 years and he would get them promoted and he did, even though his second season was a bit of a mare. If, who am I kidding, when we go down we should have a long hard think about who we need as manager. I don’t like Dowie and I’m not convinced of Shearer. However I did state late last year that Shearer as manager in the Championship would be a good move. I’m not so sure now. Last nights formation and tactics were spot on, but the players didn’t deliver.
Stuart79
Apr 28, 2009 at 11:45 AM
Comment #29sickofitall // Apr 28, 2009 at 11:20 AM
stuart79 why do people keep saying that Ashley will sell if we go down? and saying it as if its a fact?
Surely he is less likely to sell if we go down due to the fact the club will be worth less.
When we go down we will need to invest serious money into the first team to enable us to get back up.
Ashley isn’t in a position to do that, so I think he will cut his losses as another relegation would be a complete and utter disaster for him!
Don’t forget players like Owen, Viduka, Smith, Duff, Barton, Geremi, Cacapa, Martins, Gutierrez, Collocini and Beye will all be leaving as they are on high wages and want to play at a higher standard.
They will need replacing and Ashley won’t provide the funds to do that. He doesn’t want us relegated to div 2!
Without investment that is a real possibility!
It makes sense for him to lose 100m rather than 200m!
Stuart79
Apr 28, 2009 at 11:51 AM
Comment #30Mickytoon
Who would want to buy us?
Buyers were queing round the block to buy us. That’s why Ashley didn’t do due dilligence as he wanted to act fast so the other buyers didn’t get the club.
If another billionaire bought the club and decided that the most important thing at a club is the playing staff then yes we would be better off.
Can’t believe you think we would’t be!
We were and still are desperate for investment in the team, you need money for that and he hasn’t got it!
Micky Toon
Apr 28, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Comment #31Stuart – I see your point.
We need to have an owner or owners who are willing to invest wisely. Look at QPR the richest club in the championship and they’ve done nowt.
I can’t see any mega rich oil barons wanting a Championship club. They would have to have a bargain basement price to try and attract someone like that. I know I wouldn’t want to invest my billions on potential.
Stuart79
Apr 28, 2009 at 12:07 PM
Comment #32Micky
Abramovitch invested in potential. They hadn’t won much had they?
He really can’t afford to go into div 1 so I think he would take a massive hit and just write it off as a bad job, otherwise he could be left with nothing.
We’ll see but I don’t think he’ll hang around, I mean can you see him being welcomed with open arms at SJP next season?
RyanToon
Apr 28, 2009 at 12:08 PM
Comment #33agree ed but my love for this club will NEVER go away!
toon toon
Micky Toon
Apr 28, 2009 at 12:24 PM
Comment #34Stuart – I agree re Chelsea, until Abramovitch turned up they were on the slide to the bottom of the division. However, they were still in the PL , not the Championship and they are in London. It’s amazing how much of draw a London club is compared to us. I don’t understand it myself, but there you go.
I agree that Ashley will be as welcome as Martins at a KKK meeting, and I’m hoping that the Shearer appointment was made because a new owner or owners wanted him at the club.
Stuart79
Apr 28, 2009 at 12:31 PM
Comment #35That would explain alot. Shearer has been a real fierce critic of Ashley and I find it strange that he would work for him.
geordie deb
Apr 28, 2009 at 12:48 PM
Comment #36MickeyToon -post 28
Agree with your reasoned message and on here today they’re in short supply.
Those who believe new owners are lining up around the block I’m afraid to say are completley deluded…
coyote
Apr 28, 2009 at 12:52 PM
Comment #37everyone is saying that all our big earners will leave us…………..but will they?
after there performances for us this season who’d want them?
who’d be prepared to pay there obscenely high salaries?
if we go down and all along I’ve said we’d finish 4th bottom with a point to spare but thats looking unlikely now they maydecide to stay
not because they love the toon but they love the wages and may just stick with us for the money
I hope they don’t cos a lot of them aren’t worth paying conferance wages never mind premiership and we may be stuck with them and that’ll be financial suicide
Davies
Apr 28, 2009 at 12:59 PM
Comment #38We are famous for our delusion, are we not?
I say this. It ain’t over ’til it’s over.
There is a chance that we’ll still be in the top flight next season and there is a chance we will not. Sadly, this WILL depend on the results of the teams around us. Happily, they’re all playing like donkey’s as well.
I will support the team whichever league we play in and I won’t waste my time or energy bemoaning the owner, manager or payers. That’s out of my hands. All I can do is be a supporter.
Ed, please don’t finish sentences with FACT. It’s opinion not fact. And you don’t say what the current team is not good enough for. Sorry.
Davies
Apr 28, 2009 at 1:00 PM
Comment #39By the way, did anyone else think Smudge put in a gutsy performance last night. I know we’ve all knocked him in the past, but I thought he was good. Worth his wage for once.
bowburnmag
Apr 28, 2009 at 1:05 PM
Comment #40Mick T – couldn’t agree more with most of what you’ve been saying. Considering the individuals relatively, this is far and away the worst team/squad we’ve had in years.
It could just have been lip-service but did Smith look like the only one who cared enough about the result and displayed frustration at blowing a good opportunity at stepping towards safety? He’s been a big let-down in terms of quality but you can never question the kid’s heart. Pity we don’t have more Smiths in the squad for the desire and maybe the odd player with a bit of quality.