KaKa

Don't want to sound too negative, as I still think Sam deserves time as he's trying to change so much about what's wrong with us.

 

But if we get any result today I'll be truly shocked.

 

Blackburn are one of the most physical sides in the league, if you show even a hint of weakness they'll just power through you. They'll also have that bit extra to prove after the batterring Villa gave them in midweek, they'll want to make that up to their own fans.

 

Our last few games we've been so lethargic, half-assed and generally easy for teams to bully. Unless that improves drastically we'll get absolutely thumped.

 

That said, there's no reason whatsoever we should be so poor again, and if we actually show up and show a bit of desire we'll be able to give them a game.

 

But, with that starting 11 out it's really very hard to see where our attacking threat will come from. Butt, Geremi and Barton in the middle should give us a chance to match them physically, but where precisely is the service from the middle gonna come from? Who's gonna keep the ball for us?

 

Out wide, Martins may do something spectacular at some point but other than that he doesn't effect the game positively in a consistent manner at all, while Milner just plainly isn't much better than above-average.

 

Smith will get about up front, which is key for the lone striker, but don't expect his name on the scoresheet.

 

Be surprised if we score at all today personally, if we do it'll almost certainly be a Martins thunderbolt or a scrappy goal froma  set-piece.

 

If we go behind, we're 99% gauranteed to lose.

 

What does that say about any football team?

I'm expecting a lot from the Geremi and Barton combo in the centre. I think Geremi's passing will help Barton.

They look quite strong in midfield compared to us. Makes me nervous and I backed us for a point earlier today.

 

Butt Geremi central midfield should sort that problem out.

 

I think they might be a lightweight and could possibly be over run

 

Suprising. Wouldve thought theyd make a pretty strong central midfield, one that would be void of creativity or any attacking instinct, but still, both players are pretty good defensively and despite not being tall, arent pushovers.

 

Could play Faye there, but hes pretty much our only consistently decent centreback.

Actually Barton will look a lot better as an attacking threat now he has someone in midfield who plays the short simple ball in which Geremi does. Butt cannot pass the ball and Emre always wants to be too complicated by dwelling too long or playing a raking ball accross the field which he gets wrong a lot.

Butt, Geremi and Barton is our best balance in midfield. at the moment none of our central midfielders are good enough as a pair and I think the best option is to have three in there.

I think we'll be really good today wehter we'llw in or not is another matter though.

Not sure about Geremi. Can't really see how he's any better than Parker.

Watched Parker today and he still stinks.

Still twirling around in circles with the ball and chasing his tail, still losing the ball while he does this and still doesn't have the confidence to pass the ball forward.

s***, McCarthy and Santa Cruz. We'll concede.

 

Who's down the left for them though?

Oh dear ... 

Not liking that at all.

I like the Faye and Rozehnal combo though. Think it has potential. Hope they prove it today.

Team according to Radio Newcastle:

 

4-5-1/4-3-3

 

Given, Beye, Rozenhal, Faye, Zog, Geremi, Barton, Butt, Milner, Martins, Smith

 

I don't have too much of a problem with that. N'Zogbia at left-back is the only real thing that you can properly criticise; but if we're playing 4-3-3, there's no place for him in midfield and he's done well from deep earlier in the season.

 

Good line-up imo. Just hope it's not all-out long ball.

 

Am I the only one who thinks N'Zogbia could be absolutely lethal playing as left sided striker/winger in the 4-3-3?

 

He has a great eye for goal and if you get him one on one with the full-back he has about a 800% better chance of actually going by his man and getting in a cross than either Milner (who'll go by his man before checking back and allowing the defence to get in position to deal with his cross) or Martins (who can beat his man with sheer pace but seems determined to not do so if possible).

 

But no, lampoon him at LB where he's a liability defensively and can only effect the game getting forward when we're on top, which is pretty much never.

I agree Shak he would be great in that position.

However away to Blackburn and considering what happened last week it's probably better if we let Enrique have a break today.Zoggy is a liability baack there at times but i imagine he will have some support from Milner today as Milner tends to get back defensively for the most part.

I think playing away to Blackburn, we are probably better defensively with Zoggy and Milner on that side, rather than Enrique and Zoggy.

Ecstatic about that line pup to be honest. I was dumbfounded when we didn't go with a 4-3-3 last week. Now is the time to see if we can make it work while Owen is out.

I also think Martins has been doing a bit better from that wider position for us because he doesn't have to receive the ball with his back to goal which is when he is more prone to lose the ball.

Great to see Geremi back in a central position too and I expect him to get back to being the link between the defence and the rest of the team which he did a quietly good job of earlier in the season.

I'm actually looking forward to this now.

Aalborg are surprisingly good to be fair. They have strung together more passes than we have all season in this first half!

Or maybe Tottenham are just that rubbish ... yeah let's go with that.

Tottenham stink. Ramos out?

Did anyone watch the Owen documentary?

When he went to his barn he pointed out horses owned by Parker, Stephen Carr and Given.

I'll go out on a limb and say these were probably his closer pals on the team. Sam got rid of Parker, Given has laready thrown a tiff about being replaced for a few games and Carr is just a bum.

Wouldn't be a surprise to me if Owen, Given or Carr are behind these kinds of stories coming out, even as the article suggests it is Owen.

Which other senior members could it be? I can't see any of Sams signings turining on him already and I can't see Butt doing it either as he is one of Sam's favourites.

All he had to do was not moan about money all the time and go on about the owners in the media regarding this. I honestly felt he would have still been in the job had this been the case.

Lost his right to even ask for money after spending £3.5 million on Earnshaw and givin up on him so quickly.

He's a twat and he deserved to be ditched.

Idiot manager tbh.

Always moaning about not having money despite blowing a decent amount on Earnshaw and then never playing him!

Couldn't stand his moaning and whinging. Glad he's gone.

Viduka is part of the problem IMO and it's been really apparent in the last few games.

 

If your strikers aren't pressing from the front then defenders have loads of time to pass it in triangles, amble up to the halfway line and outnumber your midfield. Emre and Butt were completely outnumbered, even though Liverpool were playing a 4-4-2.

 

Torres and Kuyt showed what it's all about. Every time we were in possession they were onto us straight away, we couldn't keep the ball under pressure in our own half, and in desperation we launched it long.

 

It was the same at the mackems. Owen and Viduka spent much of the game as spectators, but their opposite numbers were covering a lot of ground, making sure we couldn't play it out of defence with any ease.

 

Apart from Derby, I doubt Liverpool will have an easier away game all season. Our team has been carrying Viduka for a while IMO. Watch him closely, when we're not in possession he does nothing for the team. Butt and Emre didn't play well yesterday but in fairness to them they were often outnumbered and Liverpool had the run of the middle of the park. Unbelievable given that Sissoko was so poor.

 

Smith is a poor midfielder, and he's not a good goalscorer. But for a team trying to alleviate the pressure on our midfield, he will do a pressing job up front. Then maybe we'll see opposition defenders rushed into the kind of mistakes our lot are making. With Viduka strolling about up front that's just not going to happen.

Excellent point.

Very disturbing that Sam has not been able to point out something so simple. It's an absolute joke.

Same could be said for Owen.

 

Yakubu is fairly lazy himself aswell tbh.

Yakubu is lazy for sure but he is still a major threat. He is quick and strong and can finish in a variety of ways.

I've watched both games today and West Ham and Fulham are passing the ball around much better than we do ... how can this be possible?

Aye, i mean Boro were all about the quick and athleticism last season.

 

There's very few strikers in the Premiership who can conjure a chance out of nothing better than Mark Viduka.

 

Completely and utterly worthless for crying out f****** loud.

 

Some people. This forum's f****** unbareable when the side's in a rut.

Don't get me wrong Viduka is a good player but have you seen our midfield lately?

Downing and Yakubu were really important for Viduka last season and none of our players are playing at their level this season. Not even coming close.

In order to conjure up something out of nothing he at least needs the ball right? Somewhere close to the goal at least. This is happening less and less each game.

Perhaps I went overboard with my choice of words but at the moment his contribution in this pitiful team is nil.

Viduka really was a terrible signing. He's the kind of striker you should only have if the rest of the team is very quick, athletic and active and can do all the running around and create opportunities for him in dangerous situations.

He is absolutely worthless for us. Completely and utterly so ...

2 - 1 to Fulham and Fulham are playing some lovely stuff.

I think they actually play better football than us  :-[

you watch teams like everton, liverpool and arsenal today. we haven't played like that since sirbob left. we always appear to be playing with 9 men who can't pick out a pass.

 

Makes you think, why the f*** can't my team play like that, doesn't it.

 

aye

 

 

Really is amazing how scared we are to pass the ball and it's been this way for too long now.

 

Forget Everton! Teams like Reading, Birmingham, West Ham and even Fulham are passing the ball with more confidence than we are.

 

I don't like to blame the fans because they're well within their right to boo if what is being served up is dross, but I do think the effect it has on players, especially new lads is underestimated.

Except we were doing this from the outset of the season even when optimism was sky high.

you watch teams like everton, liverpool and arsenal today. we haven't played like that since sirbob left. we always appear to be playing with 9 men who can't pick out a pass.

 

Makes you think, why the f*** can't my team play like that, doesn't it.

 

aye

 

Really is amazing how scared we are to pass the ball and it's been this way for too long now.

Forget Everton! Teams like Reading, Birmingham, West Ham and even Fulham are passing the ball with more confidence than we are.

Can someone point me to when he's played well then? I'm yet to see it. I'm not making him a scapegoat, far from it - I was just unable to reply in that thread to such a ridiculous comment.

 

Kept Arteta in his back pocket the majority of the game against Everton.

 

He's been good but today he was poor. Seems to be too clever for his own good sometimes and I think his lax passing and his poor final ball is down to the lack of movement from our players rather than just him being inaccurate.

 

Aye fair point about the movement, but he needs to be overlapping N'Zogbia more. Whether that is an instruction from Allardyce I don't know - Geremi moreso seemed to treat the halfway line like a brick wall that he wasn't allowed to pass.

quite often it's hard to overlap someone who is getting the ball too wide or is going inside........n'zogbia''s positioning is the worst part of his game. any full back playing behind him isn't going to form an easy partnership.

Excellent point. Zoggy ruins every good thing Enrique tries to do. Never gives Enrique the return ball but instead puts his head down and dribbles into a defender thus losing the ball.

Zoggy was disgustingly bad today.

Wow ... shocked by this thread. He's done some really good things and done some not so good things. Looks very promising in my opinion. Looks like he will be a good player eventually for sure.

Viduka is a good player but his signing really surprised me. He was never going to work as a cebtre forward in an Allardyce team. i really can't imagine what Sam was thinking.

It's quite a mess it really is.

Its probably the fat useless c***s who Sam said were unfit when he arrived and dont want to stop eating the pies.

 

IMO the manager comes first, if the players arnt up to changing for the new manager's set up they can f*** off tbh.

We really do have to clear out all the left over players from before. They are all losers and their attitudes stink. I have no doubt it is the likes of Duff and Carr who were clearly way out of shape last season who are now having a moan. It's quite disgusting really.

So with the players disgruntled already and the fans carrying on like they did today is it going to be possible for Sam to weather the storm?

The players will only be more of a pain now as they will no doubt lose even more respect for the manager having seen the extent to which the crowd turned on him today.

Don't think anyone spotted this from this mornings paper. Our recent performances are beginning to make more sense now ...

Unrest in the dressing-room adds to trouble for Sam Allardyce

 

Matt Dickinson, Chief Sports Correspondent

 

Sam Allardyce heads into a testing few weeks as the Newcastle United manager, yet to convince his own players that he can turn around the club’s fortunes. Senior members of his squad are known to be at odds with Allardyce, who has picked up just one Barclays Premier League point in nine before matches against Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers and Arsenal.

 

Allardyce’s tactics have already caused some disquiet among the club’s fans, but there is also unease in his dressing-room. The manager is aware of the unrest, which may explain why he recently spoke about needing three to five years to bring success to Newcastle.

 

It is a familiar story on Tyneside, where the club seem to be constantly on the brink of crisis. The picture is complicated by the fact that the owner, Mike Ashley, did not appoint Allardyce but inherited him after his takeover of the club in June.

 

Chris Mort, the chairman appointed by Ashley, has been critical of recent performances, which have included a 4-1 defeat at home to Portsmouth. The big question is whether Allardyce will get proper backing, and patience, from the board. Six months is no time at all to judge whether the methods that were so successful at Bolton Wanderers can work at St James’ Park but he will not be helped by the whispers of unrest.

 

Allardyce is trying to change the club at many levels, from a new gym and massage rooms to the style of play. His training methods are believed to be far more rigid than the previous regimes of Graeme Souness and Glenn Roeder. Allardyce would say that that is a good thing, but it seems to have come as an unpleasant shock to some of the players.

 

The manager admitted to teething problems in a recent interview. “I think the difficulty at the moment lies with everyone being so new,” he said. “I don’t think anyone realises that when you change so much it is difficult to get things right overnight.”

 

The board backed him recently in the recruitment of Paul Barron, one of the country’s outstanding goalkeeping coaches, from Middlesbrough, but they will want to see results improve. That is unlikely in the short-term as they face Liverpool today before the trip to Ewood Park and then the meeting with Arsenal.

 

Allardyce revealed the pressure he is under when he snapped at the local media last week. He accused them of whipping up supporter disenchantment with his direct style of football. “It is probably more volatile and more unacceptable than I expected here,” he said.

 

As Newcastle host Liverpool, it is a confrontation between managers who are not only uneasy at their clubs but also uncomfortable in each other’s company. Asked to describe his relationship with Rafael BenÍtez, Allardyce was pointed: “Average - a bad average I would say,” he said. “He doesn’t like me.”

 

Why? “Because we beat them. And Bolton were not supposed to beat a team like Liverpool. We played a different game with different rules, apparently. But I didn’t see any referee’s report saying we played outside the rules, so it was just a bit of self-protection [from BenÍtez].”

 

Newcastle will be without Michael Owen, who strained his thigh on international duty in England’s game against Austria. The forward’s bad luck with injuries is another cause of frustration on Tyneside.

 

Damien Duff has been another long-term absentee, but he is back in training. It remains to be seen how Allardyce intends to shape his team when everyone is available. He arrived at the club with plans for 4-3-3 but has been forced to chop and change.

 

He ruled himself out of the running for the England job this week, but he would not be in contention this time around. BenÍtez, though, has expressed an interest, which gives the rivals something to talk about in Allardyce’s office.

 

“I don’t see why I won’t be inviting him in for a glass of wine afterwards,” he said. “I went in for a glass of wine when Liverpool beat us 2-0 and he’d spoken about me in the papers the day before. I was big enough to walk in and test how good his red wine is.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/newcastle/article2933696.ece

Very worrying if this is the reason for the players apparent lack of effort. I think Sam has struggled and made a mess of things and I won't be sad to see him go, but for the players to be complaining about training being too hard?! The players certainly have to take some heat too. Quite unnacceptable.