Haha I don't think its that bad yet TD. So we have HBA out... Cabaye out til January, and Colo out for the last game of his suspension. Firstly in midfield its looking like Jonas, Tiote, Bigi and maybe Marveaux? I know Obertan has been struggling with a toe injury, and I'm not sure if he's back yet. I know Southampton are likely to line up 4-1-4-1 with Lambert and Ramirez being their most dangerous players. We've been so shit recently and haven't won an away game this season, and we're crippled by injuries. I honestly think the way we're playing at the minute is the worst since the relegation season. I'd like to be optimistic but I'm thinking a draw would be good to arrest the slide. Incidentally I have been given a free £5 bet as a birthday present from a bookies... so I want suggestions as to a good bet to make in either this game or the Chelsea-City game. If you give me something that wins I'll send you a Newcastle scarf with some of the winnings. Cheers and Howay the Lads!
Oh yeah and to clarify for the bet... give me a first scorer/player to score anytime and a result/score for either game.
#NUFC (4-4-2) v #southampton: Krul; Simpson, Williamson, S.Taylor, Santon; Gutierrez (c), Tiote, Anita, Ferguson; Cisse, Ba. #newcastle #epl— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) November 25, 2012 #NUFC substitutes v #southampton: Harper, Tavernier, Perch, Bigirimana, Marveaux, Sammy Ameobi, Ranger. #newcastle #epl— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) November 25, 2012 I'll probably watch F1 live and the game on TV later. As for your bet: Parlay Ba and 1-1 if you can. Thx, Jay!
Hey guys, doing a long multi state drive coming home from holiday stuff. Help a guy out and give me some pbp when ya can. Much thanks
As crazy as it may sound, don't post and drive kids, I think the team would be better without Ba. They move the ball around so much better when he is not on.
Don't have a choice with the other striker "options". 11-1 shots in the first half, 6-0 on. Lucky to only be down 1-0.
Anita just got through on goal but shot straight at the keeper, slightly better from us at the start of the second half.
So... where's it all going wrong? Seems like with hindsight the transfer window was a massive balls up by the club, we've lost some players who were good contributors last season (Best springs to mind) and only brought in one senior player who looks like we paid about twice as much as we should have. Not that I'm saying Anita is a dud just yet, but the signs don't look good. I just can't figure out how we looked so good last season and so shit this season.
Where has Anita been played, when he has played? The guys over on the Ajax forum seem to think he is not being played in his correct position. Apparently, he is more of a DM, but because of his smaller build, and seeming finesse, he is being used in alternate positions like LB, RB, or even CB.
Anita is being played at both RB & DM. I think he's done a much better job @ RB and while I would hate to have paid £10 mil for a RB, I think it's where the club should be playing him. I think he's been the clubs best RB so far this season while an argument could be made that he is the 5th best CM on the team behind Cabaye, Tiote, Bigiramana, & Perchino.
Anita certainly hasn't bloomed yet, and I think Bigi has looked a lot better than the staff thought he would and has added competition for places at DM they didn't expect. I agree about the transfer window. There is a difference in snapping up bargains/doing your homework on players and only buying bargains. The glaring need at the moment is for someone to be a dangerous (to the other team) attacking midfield player. At the moment, about the most likely to do something that will make the other team have to react outside their comfort zone is Santon. The real let downs here are Obertan and Marveaux. Marveaux is healthy when literally everyone he is competing for time with as an attacking minded Mid is injured. MArveaux has to step up or I hope they flush him in January. But all that said. check out the injury list posted at nufc.com. http://www.nufc.com/2012-13html/squad.html Our treatement room must be the size of a mid size city's hospital.
Russell, I'm going to concentrate on four areas that need to improve and are the chief concerns in my eyes at the moment. 1) Defense: Colo has missed playing time and that has hurt us. Perch is a DM and while he is flexible enough to play on the back line it needs to be in emergency only cases; and then only in the middle. Willo is getting exposed for the player he is. In the US there is a term in baseball where a player is called a 4 A player (AAAA) and this is what Willo is. It means he is too good for the minors but not really good enough for the majors and should be used sparingly. (The top minor league is AAA for baseball and where the term comes from). This club needs another CB in the worst way. Willo and Perch are not cover for Saylor and Colo. They're close your eyes and cross your fingers when they're in the game. Anita needs to be the starting RB. While Simpson has had some positive moments and would be a quality back up but Anita has offered the most going forward and in supporting the CBs in the flow of the game. His work on set pieces and aerial challenges has left a little to be desired but I believe that would come in time with more comfort and experience in the position. 2) Ba: I know, guy is carrying the offense, only legit scorer at the moment, etc etc. He's causing more problems than helping right now. Take a little trip in the time machine to last season and Cisse is the talk of the EPL and Ba is sulking on the wing. I really think Ba said something to HBA & Cabaye because it seems the 3 of them only pass to Cisse in extreme cases. Ba is back in the middle where he wants to be and the focus of the offense because Cisse can't get going. Look at Cisse's best games; they are all cup or Europa games where those three have been rested. He is getting service and looks somewhat dangerous. When Ba and Cisse play together, they keep getting in each others way on runs and in the box. I thought this was a Cisse problem until I saw the same thing happen with both Ameobi brothers. I'm all for a striker being selfish, but Ba is being self-centered. The ball moves around better in the games he has sat out. I honestly hope someone does come in and trigger his release clause. I think there's a reason AP let this slip and that he's seeing a little of this as well. 3) Set Pieces: when a team is more willing (West Ham) to give a corner kick over a throw in, you know people aren't afraid of your set piece attack. Outside of Raylor's FK goals this season I can't think of any goals off set pieces in any competition. Corner kicks either never clear the first defender or go over the area completely. Free Kicks either are played to the goalie or miss the goal/target area completely. Newcastle either score on the run of play or they don't score. I've seen teams that rely completely on set piece goals for their attack, with Newcastle, the live and die on the run of play. The set piece defense is a problem as well. We've given up too many goals off a free kick/corner kick, or as a result of a set piece play with the ball still around the area. Whoever is in charge of this in training might need to be fired because we are with out a doubt the worst at Set Piece Offense & Defense in the EPL. 4) CM: Last season, Cabaye and Tiote were being called one of the best central midfield pairs in the EPL. It seemed they were both on everyone's summer shopping list. Cabaye had a pretty good Euro tourney and we fans started to get giddy with the thought of what they would do this season. Then Tiote's rep got in the way of his game and basically neutered one of the better shutdown mids in the EPL. I think bringing in 2 DMs this offseason hurt his ego a little and caused him to try too hard in games to make an impact so he doesn't lose his spot. Cabaye is a shell of the player we saw last season. Without the CMs taking the heat off the D, it has been exposed more this season. The answer is in the players themselves. Can Tiote get past the Bigiramana and Anita signings and adapt his game? Can Cabaye find last Spring or even this summer's form on a consistent basis? These questions have to have yes answers if the club want to make any kind of turn around.
What's funny is that the defense is where we have the most experience and the most stability. Krul Simpson Taylor Colo and Santon have been pretty much regulars the past two seasons with Willo and Perch deputizing. And with Taylor out until Feb, it's going to be Colo and Willo going forward, at least until Perch is healthier. Thx, Jay!
Only thing I think that is left out is Pardew's influence, or lack of it, this season. I'm not calling for his head, or for him to be sacked but come Pardew, step up and have some balls to own the team, own the wins, own the losses and own their hearts and minds. This route 1 hoofball is not what got us into the top five last season. Add to it, last season Pardew could train and work with the team, the same players, on a daily basis without the midweek interruption. This season he's tasked with essentially getting two sets of players to work as 2 units, one for Europe, one for the PL, with only two days training for each. I don't think he has the experience or the support to do this. A good example of this is continuing to fit Ba and a 4-4-2 into a team that's not really built for it. Pardew is very afraid of losing his top scoring striker ATM and is letting Ba get his way to keep him from leaving; and transforming the tactics to make Ba work. (Interesting aside from fourfourtwo stats zone: last season Tiote relied more on short passing to clear the lines, this season he's bombing them waaaay down field and not doing it successfully. Even when Cabaye was playing we're bombing it down field...to Shola or Ba rather tahn playin great passes thru the midfield...) Purely speculatively on my part but Cabaye, Tiote, HBA, Ba etc had their heads turned by their own performances last season no doubt helped by Pardew's support and encouragement. (in Cabaye's case at the Euros, in HBA's case at the end of the season in the 4-3-3) They were most likely expecting the club to reciprocate and help add to their ambition. When the club didn't and Pardew rolled over expressing his satisfaction with the team he had going forward, his prime motivating tool, promises of future ambition and glory etc went out the window as did the motivation for the team. This little patch looks remarkably like what got Pardew in trouble at West Ham. In September 2006 he went on a nine-game win less streak drew once lost the rest, of which they didn't score in seven matches... This also included going out of both the UEFA and League Cup. All in the middle of this (the muddle of it?) he was dealing with Carlos Tevez not scoring and acting like a child. Had the Biscuit Elf from Iceland not kicked him to the Curb(ishley), he may have gotten thru it...
I completely agree, I think Krul has more assists than most of our field players. I know I've seen Ba score twice from his kicks. AP is letting the inmates run the asylum at the moment. I really think selling Ba is the best thing at the moment. Send a message that the club comes first. That to be successful you have to play as a team and not as 11 individuals. Now that's all well and good, getting a bunch of professionals to believe it is something different. Honestly though outside of Ba, HBA, and Cabaye, I think the rest of the squad would buy into that message. Ba because I seriously doubt is more than a me guy. HBA because I honestly don't think he's changed, it's just that AP has a decent relationship with him and is giving him free reign. Cabaye because I think he's let all the success go to his head and has become a little self absorbed. I think the only difference between Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Ba is that at least BAE admitted he's a merc and in it for the money and not the club. I think that Cabaye could see the light if Ba is removed from the picture. I think he's having a bad influence on the locker room at the moment and I'm a bit surprised that Colo, Jonas, and Saylor are letting it happen. The problem I see is that everybody talks about our French contingent and how they are the flair of the team, but is any of them really a leader? I think the fact that not one of them is in the locker room leadership, in more than an underhanded way, is a problem as well. I think if Tiote or Cabaye took more leadership it would help the club as well.