toonpete1892

Ultimately it has changed from a good performance to a shite performance in two raises of the flag. We could have been better but we create chances and (until the officials stepped in) scored two goals. A clean sheet was vital and could be the important factor come next Thursday. Do the same next week and we'll do well. Tonight, luck simply didn't go with us.

Potential to see Saylor at RB? Or 3 at the back with Santon able to push a little higher.

With no game the following weekend, and the fact I'm heading all the way out to the Ukraine, I hope we go as strong as we can and make the most of the home leg. Obviously we have the potential to do an Alkmaar (and that fucking hurt coming home from that game) but with wins against Villa and Chelsea, we have giving ourselves that bit of confidence we could have only dreamt of a fortnight ago. Unlike most of the campaign, we have a strong European squad to fall back on for the away leg, but for the home leg, I want our strongest 11 possible. If we play half a side at home then have to risk our bigger players to get a result out there, just a few days before a very crucial home league game, I'll be very annoyed.

Colo's foot was high but it wasn't that high or late (well not unless you use high speed cameras). Ba stooped down to head it and as many have said, he had his chance to score from it. I could understand if the pen was given but a red for a 50/50 ball? No chance. It makes you think why overhead kicks are allowed. The attacking player clearly has his accelerating foot above waist height, normally they are off the ground and therefore aren't in control, and it would take a very brave player of the defending team to stick their head in the way. How many times do you see free kicks given? Most of the time the commentators wank it up, but like yesterday, it is a case of a head and a foot going for a 50/50 ball. Unless there is menace behind it or a late challenge, or against us, just play the fuck on.

Absolutely. The movement and passing ability of Cabaye and the power and pace of Sissoko, Gouffran and HBA. But not one of them would make it into their Sunderland/FTM XI.

That the one where we scored from it? Blackburn springs to mind. It was Villa, Steven Warnock. I was partly there, one of my disliked clubs.

That the one where we scored from it? Blackburn springs to mind.

KO = 1-0 = 1-1 = 1-2 = 2-2 = 3-2 = FT = :indi: :indi: :indi: :indi:

They could have done, but then the next club/person would have wanted more, then the next, then the next. It's a slippery slope.

You know where the Dreamboat lives?

Whatever the ball boy did or didn't do, Hazard is a professional player who can hit a ball fucking hard. What appears to be a sly leg swing will have power behind it. As for the official Chelsea tweet, that club really is in a league of its own ....

From those at the game, what was his reaction at FT? As I commented after being at Norwich, it looked like he was definitely going when he slowly walked off down there. Can't see him playing again at home if he is going.

Get in Dreamboat!!!

Howay the toon!

Just arrived back to Northampton after being at Norwich and I'm still not sure what to think of the game. Both teams were horrendous so the draw was probably the fair result. Glad we managed to hold on for the point but at the same time gutted that we didn't offer more in front of goal. Last season this would have been one of those games we would have won but 4 points off a normally strong Norwich side this season can still be drawn as a positive. We didn't lose and as long as we build on it next week, it was a good (if not a frustrating) result. Performance wise, we didn't help ourselves at times, Norwich didn't help us at times and our lack of confidence really didn't help us at times. Their front 2/3/4 sat very high up the pitch and not only did this stop our back 4 moving forward, it also pulled half our midfield back with them. Our wide men generally stayed wide on the flanks with Cisse and Marveaux somewhere in between, and this meant there was a large void in the centre of the pitch that Norwich consistently used and built chances from. Once Cabaye came on this situation improved but was Obertan really the sub to make? Fair enough him and Jonas had been poor but both were making unassisted runs that would have only improved had it been for a rock in the middle to help take away some pressure. I lost count the number of times we had the ball level with the 18yrd box with our nearest players either being Cisse/Marveaux hiding in amongst the defenders or our defence/rest of midfield way back on the halfway line. The end product and simple passes were poor all day. I said it during the first half and the scenes at full time only, unfortunately, confirmed that today was probably Colo's last performance. He was a man on a mission on several attacks and came very close with his overhead kick. He seemed to be in tears at FT and was really needing the support of both the Newcastle and Norwich players as he left the pitch. We don't really know the situation but if that was his last game, I'm glad we managed to keep the clean sheet for him. Only time will tell on the situation but it doesn't look good. Results else where didn't go our way and the premier league table doesn't make pretty reading, but we must look at ourselves before others. The next game is huge, huger than any other huge game this season. We must get 3 points ....

Like my brother who was late out for the second half, you must have missed his last ditched toe poke to stop us going behind. He may have offered little else but this (along with Perch in the 1st half) was one of very few good touches in a horrible game.

Just got back to Northampton after being at the game (unfortunately my brothers now have a 3.5hr drive back to Newcastle) and I'm still angry. Just seen some of the footage on the tv and its painful - the highlights will definitely be given a skip tonight. Less said about the game the better. Truly stuff of nightmares. Not one player deserves a mention or even a 'they tried'. How long can we continue to say they are inexperienced? Most of them have had more than enough games this season. Lots of lost little boys either too scared to move away from the spots they've been told to stand in or never in their spots to begin with. My finger of blame lies at the feet of many. Again the officials didn't offer anything. Too many times the linesmen stood there and only flagged for something when told so by their 'Dad'. Their Dad, Lee Mack, tried everything to help Brighton. I'll need to see the incidents again before commenting but going back to show Newcastle players yellow cards whilst worse from Brighton don't even get an advantage shown (the challenge on Shola just before Bigi's shot for example). All he did, normally when the game was still going on, was to jokingly say 'dont do that again' to an offence that he technically hadn't seen/given. I'd love to see his match report as some of his decisions were mindblowing. We can't lay the blame of defeat on the officials but they didn't help us out one bit. I'm not saying its a fix but it is the FA's cup... Atmosphere wise, we were on the right as we looked at the pitch and it wasn't that bad. True enough it wasn't the noise of normal away games but southern games generally aren't that loud. For the first half we kept the songs going. Second half the football started to get to us and we ended up groaning and sighing rather than supporting. The last 5-10 minutes got going again but that was only to show the players we were there. I stayed to the end but walked out rather than applauding/booing, it really wasn't worth anymore effort. As for post match Pardew, I'd like him to stand in the away end and say those things. 'Effort' is paying and making it down to Brighton for a 12:30 televised game. 'Effort' is not simply walking out of the pitch and making up the numbers. It was a bad lose and I feel obliged to be angry. However, and I'm not against the guy, his comments have hit a sore nerve and won't make him any friends. Enough of this 'injured and missing players' stuff, the players you picked were mentally nowhere near match prepared and changes were very slow to happen. Sitting there so Marv can make a fresh impact at 70 minutes? Quite frankly, fuck off ... A mountain of things to work on this week as today was totally unacceptable. Get some players back, don't play the Ameobis, work on possession triangles, DO NOT resort to a high defensive line, get players talking and most of all prepare them for a dog eat dog and physical game. We need every single one of them to be men not boys! Will I be there next Saturday to do it all over again, yeah definitely!!

He'd scored 16 by February last year then got pushed out onto the wing (where we've learned from Cisse you can't possibly score from ). He'd have had 4 more in 4 months in his favourite position. He's got 13 by January this season and would definitely have had/will have 7 more in the next 5 and a half months. And the selling club stuff is true as they've barely paid a transfer fee without it being paid for by someone else. On paper it does show that but we've been very clever with our purchases/signings. Would people rather we went out and paid over the odds for a players just to show we aren't a selling club. We tried that before and it nearly finished the club.

MotD. Fucking dribble week in week out.

Or can see the bigger picture, one good performance in a game you are expected to lose. Next week will be completely different and when we have played the poorer sides what have the results been exactly ? We lost against West Ham and Swansea and look where they are in the table. Maybe on paper and recent history it looks like we should be stronger but they're up in the top half of the table for a reason. Erase the fixtures of the last month or two and what are people's opinions of the last couple of games? Don't get me wrong, they still aren't the results we want but its what we realistically expect. It's just frustrating what went on beforehand.

But did we expect anything else regarding the result? The performance was a lot better and we deserve to feel positive about it. Do the same next week and it won't be 0 points. And that is the problem, we haven't done it against the poorer sides all season. And we haven't played like that all season either. The Stoke game showed promise, we won against Wigan, we played well for long periods against Fulham and we created lots of chances against a strong City today. These minor adjustments are having a positive impact (against say a month ago) and the effectiveness will follow. We have to stick with what we're learning. Everyone takes something different from the game and yeah I'm angry that we aren't picking up points but everyone expected us to be fed to the lions today. The scoreline may suggest that but I bet the City dressing room will be full of brown underpants right now. We fought, varied the play and could/should have got more. I saw the West Ham/Swansea games and clearly saw why we couldn't create a thing. Compare those performances to what we saw today. It's the same bunch of players. Things are being changed and are going in the right direction, it's just a shame the fixtures are tough for the next few weeks. The performance today reminded me of last season rather than the poor last two months, and that's personally why I'm feeling more positive. Like Wigan, next week is huge but I'm feeling more confident after seeing the shift and desire today.

But did we expect anything else regarding the result? The performance was a lot better and we deserve to feel positive about it. Do the same next week and it won't shouldn't be 0 points.

Shiteh playing some lovely football but so are we. The long balls are ugly but they are causing issues and when we get Simpson/Santon forward, the movement is promising. Probably the best I've seen us play this season. Its just annoying that two moment of magic have put us behind. Having Willo and Simpson booked is going to really cost us in the 2nd half. Personally thought we could have worked with 1-0, 2-0 not so much. Despite probably going onto to lose this, lets keep our heads held high as this is a huge improvement on a month ago. Why couldn't we have had these games in November and played the 'weaker' teams now we're back to the form were showing last season?

I had a quick call from one of my brothers, they are doing just fine.... "Don't send me home. Please don't send me home. I just don't want to go to work. I want to stay here, and drink all your beer, just please don't make me go home"

Wigan away in the Carling Cup, 2005 - http://nufc.com/html/2005-06html/2005-11-30wigan-a-cc4.html The only positives were the fact we filled the away end (about 5000 of the sparse 11000 crowd) and, well, that is it. A fucking disgraceful game and even seven years on, I'm still angry. We may be poor at the moment but it doesn't come close to that night.