What will we see next week?
Like most Newcastle United fans I was ecstatic with not only the 3 points against Chelsea, but also in the manner in which we got them. Yes Chelsea had the better of the first half, but we more than proved ourselves worthy winners with our fantastic display in the second half. Given how a lot of our first team players featured in our mid-week defeat to Man City in the League Cup, which needed an extra 30 minutes to settle, it was to be expected that we may not have started the first half with a great deal of intensity. However, our desire, commitment and intensity in the second half was too much for Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea side to handle and we ran out comfortable 2-0 winners.
After fervently enjoying the evening which proceeded, I then went into a reflective mood, looking at the bigger picture of our season, and I just could not understand where we plucked that result from. We have had a decent start to the season, but we have also seemed to claw results from games when we least expect it, and fail to turn up for the games we should be winning. We followed up an excellent away win to Aston Villa with a horrendous home performance to Hull. We followed up a battling full-blooded point at home to Liverpool down to 10 men, with one of the most disgusting derby performances I have seen in recent years away to Sunderland. However, we then managed to follow that up with a gutsy display in our defeat to Man City and a fine home win to Chelsea. It simply does not make sense.
I always enjoy a Newcastle United win, and please don’t see this as an attempt to take away from the fine win we had at the weekend, but I do feel that these questions need to be asked. How is it that we can draw with Liverpool and beat Chelsea at home, yet we do not show up at home to Hull and let Sunderland walk all over us? We are comfortably sitting 9th, not spectacular but not in any immediate danger, however, had we cut out and improved upon some of our more questionable performances, we’d be looking at a start to the season akin to our 5th place finish – we wouldn’t want that now would be Ashley?
I don’t know if it is the manager, the players, or a lack of ambition emanating from the top that is impacting performances so badly, but the result at the weekend has proved that when we want to, we can play some good football and get some good results, so why can we not do that consistently?
I am not calling for a run of 5 wins in a row (although that would be nice), all I want to see is consistency in performance. Why is it that Gouffran looks amazing 1 game, terrible the next, and then amazing again? What is going on with Sissoko? What has happened to Tiote that he is looking like a footballer again? Why has Debuchy came on leaps and bounds yet Santon still looks terrible? And can for all that is holy, someone tell me why Vurnon Anita is still sitting on the bench? If we seemingly played with a coherent system, one that the fans could readily identify with and understand, then perhaps this would not be so perplexing, but as it stands, our tactics, ethos, and game plan changes with the wind.
Our next game is away to Tottenham Hotspurs, who only a few short years ago were a club in a similar position to ourselves. Managerial upheaval, poor start to the season, no real sense of direction. But they appointed Redknapp, finished 8th in the 08/09 season, and then went on to invest in the squad and gain Champions League football and challenge the top 4 on a regular basis, whereas we appointed Kinnear, got relegated, and have subsequently seen our squad operate on a “None In, One Out” kind of basis. This is another game where I think we would be doing very well to get something from, but with the consistently inconsistent Newcastle United, you just never know what is around the corner.
What do you think is the cause of our spotty form? Are you expecting anything from the Spurs game? I’d love to hear your views.
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To be fair the only time i dont think we showed up for the game was against everton in the 1st half.We would of beat liverpool with 11 men on the pitch is my view. Onto scumberland slow start but i thought we bossed most of the game meself.Onto man city were we more than gave them a game and just lacked the killer instict in front of goal, so the chelsea result has been on the cards for some time in my view.
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How about the Hull game? Just an anomaly? We were dreadful in our first game away to City, and they have been shown to be very beatable. Or the very bland performance at home to West Ham? Perhaps we would have beaten Liverpool with 11 men, and having the ball a lot doesn’t mean we bossed the game against Sunderland. They are a truly woeful team and the only goal we scored was fortuitous to say the least. To say the Chelsea result was on the cards is being incredibly optimistic, and perhaps in denial a little bit.
However, care to hazard a guess at not only the result this weekend, but the performance?
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@ Ciaran Donaghy
do you think we going to be the only team gets tonked at city least they did not score 7 past us lol
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Cardiff, Chelsea and Aston Villa have all beaten Manchester City and these are all teams that we have beaten, so why was it a foregone conclusion that we would get beat by them? We were also 2-0 down before Taylor got sent off, so that is no excuse.
Sunderland did not boss the game, we had more possession but created nothing, that is not ‘bossing’ the game.
Also, care to go out on a limb before the Tottenham game? Easy to say you predicted the Chelsea result after the game is over.
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and are you saying scumberland bossed the game lmao ?
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the city game did we not play over half the game with 10 men ?
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I think momentum has been building since the Cardiff game, which we both agreed, we needed to get at them from the off which is what was done and as a result we should of been out of sight by half time !
Games before this were a mixed bag, probably nerves,form and tactics playing a big part, but moving on from Cardiff and to Liverpool I could sense revenge was on the agenda, the team all performed in a solid formation that was good on the eye and until the sending off it looked likely that we could turn them over, however we hung on well for the point.
Sunderland was a mere! we didn’t do to bad after the first twenty where they targeted young dummy with success but we were absolutely no threat to their goal, so if having all the play and losing the game to their only shot in the second half is being walked all over then I’m a fish, but I know we certainly lacked the passion of the Liverpool game which in the eyes of supporters is a sin!!!
Man City again we done ok ! People who are saying it was their reserves well I’m sorry but 90% would get in our first team! and if we took the chances then it would of been victory for us…
And the form continued with the beating of Chelsea…
Gouffran didn’t play we’ll at Sunderland – no one did but he’s been solid all season, Anita should not have been dropped,another solid performer, Sissoko should have been dropped, but he showed what he can do against the Blues, so things are looking good at the mo! Leave Shola,Cisse and HBA on the bench please and put Anita in the mix…
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Here’s hoping that we are in fact building up a head of steam which will carry on into the Spurs game, personally I think our performances haven’t really reflected a turnaround, but I must admit that Cardiff, Liverpool and Chelsea were much better than we were seeing early season, but the Sunderland game cannot be treated as an anomaly, as it was so vital to at least put in a performance, which we failed to do.
Until we can regularly, and consistently, out perform weaker sides at home, I will continue to question whether we can be consistent enough to challenge top 7, which some fans see as a target this season.
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<<<<<<<<<<<<< expects a hard fought point from the spuds game
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“Expects”? Well I’d say that a point would be an excellent result. What I want to see is a similarly honest performance that we saw against City in the Cup and Chelsea last weekend. If we manage that then we won’t be far away.
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Consistency …. hard to predict any result in the prem …. On any given day any team can beat the other which is why it’s the most popular league in the world …. Consistency within the team usually stems from having a solid back four playing regularly together something we haven’t had for a couple of seasons sort out our defence …(get rid of the sick notes etc) and we’ve got the forward thinking players to hurt anyone on their day.
Btw debuch probs starting to look good now as he’s adapting to life in prem plus he’s older wiser and more experienced than santon … He’s only 22 just had a newborn which plays havoc with your life and is still learning his trade he’s got ability in buckets imo far more natural ability than most in our team give him a break
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Oh and spuds 0 toon 1 they ain’t all that
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Ciaran…I get what you’re saying, this really isn’t a topic about results, but performances.
When isolating one game at a time, it’s easy to brush it off as all teams have off days or bad games etc, but it is the seemingly one good performance followed by a bad one that is slightly odd.
Is it too much to expect a few games on the trot where the lads seem up for it?
I have felt for a while that there are confidence / psychological problems within the club. Where that come from I have no idea and nor do I know how they should go about dealing with them.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom for me.
Debuchy has been steadily improving the last few games and it seems that we may finally be seeing the player we all expected.
Tiote is back to his old self…long may it continue.
Anita is impressing me everytime he’s on the field…he needs to be starting games imo.
Remy is exactly what we needed (and will need next season too…hint hint Mike).
Cabaye is in his best form for us imo. Whether inspired by the upcoming WC or transfer I don’t know, but in the meatime, it’s paying off for us.
Anyway, consistency in performance…yeah, it would be nice 🙂
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