After Burnley scored directly from a corner after 6 just minutes this afternoon, Liverpool came back to win the game 4-2 at Anfield and remain just one point behind Manchester City.
City have won six league games in succession since we took them apart 2-1 at St. James’ Park on Tuesday night 29th January.
The defeat leaves Burnley on 30 points and they are now only 2 points above 3rd bottom Cardiff and 4 points behind Newcastle.
Rafa Benitez – turning Newcastle’s fortunes around again this season
Here’s the current table with Brighton having a game in hand.
[table “76” not found /]Here are the upcoming six games:
Sat 16 Mar Bournemouth vs Newcastle 3:00pm
Mon 01 Apr Arsenal vs Newcastle 8:00pm
Sat 06 Apr Newcastle vs Crystal Palace 3:00pm
Fri 12 Apr Leicester vs Newcastle 8:00pm
Sat 20 Apr Newcastle vs Southampton 5:30pm
Sat 27 Apr Brighton vs Newcastle 5:30pm
And after yesterday’s game here are the Newcastle goalscorers with Salomon Rondon top and Ayoze Perez second.
[table “75” not found /]We need 11 points from the remaining 8 games to beat last season’s points total of 44.
That’s very possible if we can keep winning games.
If we can do that it would be the second successive season there has been a massive turnaround from this dogged and determined Newcastle team.
Comments welcome.
134 comments so far
Nicky the ball tosser
Mar 10, 2019 at 11:41 PM
Comment #121Rafa talks about the proper balance between defence and attack. It depends on who we have available, the opposition, our confidence levels and whether we are playing at home or away. We are evolving quite nicely, remarkably considering we’ve spent nothing. Wonderfully meticulous manager.
RobLeenio
Mar 10, 2019 at 11:42 PM
Comment #122NY Mag, I think he’ll stay too but have no evidence to say he will, which is where the nerves come in.
I remember when we were relegated the club moved quickly to get him signed up at the end of the season. It proves that they can do it when they want to, but I think it’s Rafa dragging his feet at the moment.
I just hope we get it sorted before the end of the season, because going into the close season without a resolution will be stressful for all of us.
NY Mag
Mar 10, 2019 at 11:43 PM
Comment #123Nicky,
I love your optimism…..but everything I’ve heard Hayden say makes me think he’s gone, it’s only a matter of when.
If he’s made his mind up for family reasons, then good look to the lad.
Nicky the ball tosser
Mar 10, 2019 at 11:51 PM
Comment #124If Rafa stays and Hayden is wanted, and we can offer him a better deal, and of course do what we can to alleviate the family issues he has, then I think we have a chance of keeping him. If not, then he will be leaving for all the right reasons, and the very best wishes to him and his young family.
Posh_Geordie
Mar 11, 2019 at 2:18 AM
Comment #125Nicky
As much as I’d like him to stay if you’ve read the full transcript interviews he’s given you’d understand why most of us a certain he’s going.
He’s been a true pro for 2 windows now but he has come out and said because of health issues of his family and the support network of relatives all being south. He wants a move.
Like he said priorities change and there is more to life than football. Most of us would move jobs closer to home if our young family was not well.
The next Mike Williamson
Mar 11, 2019 at 5:18 AM
Comment #126I think Jib was joking about Garry Cook as I couldn’t imagine OLG doing all his cryptic clues for somebody that we all read about in the Chronicle anyway. But it would make sense. If there were two of these figureheads seeking funds in the same market (USA) for the same company, they would have both hindered each others bids. If both had say raised £200m then there would have been a possible stand-off between Kenyon & Cook. A stand-off would explain the delay. Whichever party backed down the other would immediately start courting the oppositions backers or at least listen to their proposal. Providing the Kenyon backers have no problem with Cook or his plans then why wouldn’t they defect? They obviously think there is money to be made and now we look a bit of a safer bet. Trouble is risk is factored into value so Ashley will want more.
The next Mike Williamson
Mar 11, 2019 at 5:29 AM
Comment #127It’s interesting OLG says we’d be 7th if VAR was in use. It’s a disgrace the big teams have been gaining an extra 5-10 pts a season from biased refs afraid to upset the big boys and how many little teams have been relegated due to the opposite? I said shortly after we went 4-5 years without a red that they’d probably give us a decision fairly quickly just to get that embarrassing record off their hands. It was only a matter of time before one if the national papers ran with the story (more than likely the next moment a ref failed to send off a blatant red). Any ref would have known if they were the offender and this story ran they’d get slaughtered so it was no surprise we finally got a red.
The next Mike Williamson
Mar 11, 2019 at 5:39 AM
Comment #128if we’d got all those deserved points due to VAR and were higher in the league it’s likely due to extra confidence we’d have beaten or drawn some other teams too. Burnley last year, Watford this year, us the year we came 5th, and Leicester when they won have shown what difference confidence and actually playing for something can make. Getting off to a good start (even if it’s lucky or undeserved) can make an enormous difference. If we’d had better fixtures and/ or got all these points who knows where we could be?
Jib
Mar 11, 2019 at 6:22 AM
Comment #129A Wolves corner yesterday vs Chelsea – ring any bells ?
martoon
Mar 11, 2019 at 6:44 AM
Comment #130I don’t think you can say we’d have had a certain amount of extra points with VAR because people forget about all the decisions in our favour. For instance in Saturday’s game our third goal was offside and we were lucky not to give away a penalty.
The next Mike Williamson
Mar 11, 2019 at 6:57 AM
Comment #131martoon
but they would have been down to ten men before they got the second goal so it would have been a different game. it’s extremely unlikely that chance can be used to explain the reffing stats against us.
Jib
Mar 11, 2019 at 7:01 AM
Comment #132Maarten Stekelenburg was Everton’s reserve goalie
He couldn’t have done any worse than the SMB
Jib
Mar 11, 2019 at 7:19 AM
Comment #133Only wee Lee at the match on Saturday !
Ashley , Barnes , and Bishop all busy down south
trying to seize control of Debenhams
Jib
Mar 11, 2019 at 7:26 AM
Comment #134I was just waiting for my sister at the airport,
as I saw her emerge in arrivals I shouted “Hi sis”…
F*#! me, never seen as many armed police appear as quickly in my life!