KaKa

5 hours ago, Jagten said:

What Man City getting ran through last season (?) looks like

 

Us getting ran through 

 

 

You've gone from pulling random one off images from games, which can be done for any team to now switching the narrative.

So from these graphs you tell me what that sudden switch in our xg against midway through this season coincided with, because up until then we were on track with what we were doing last season, which was comparable to the almighty Man City you worship, despite clueless Eddie playing the evil Dan Burn.

I wonder if it had anything to do with Joelinton and Pope no longer being available like I mentioned in the first place.

1 hour ago, Jagten said:

Is this a problem of personnel, or is it the system? 

I could pull up stills of Man City getting ran through similar to this earlier this season when Rodri was out. What is this supposed to prove exactly?

3 minutes ago, Holmesy said:

I convinced myself a long time ago, using nothing but my eyes and a fairly average brain, that dropping Dan Burn would alleviate a lot of our defensive issues. Put some pace in there and give opposition teams one less focal point to exploit, and we’ve addressed two of our problems. We saw how it worked against Villa - they started targeting Burn and had loads of joy, so we brought Livra on at LB and they had to change plan. We tightened up and saw out the game. Just do that more! It has already worked! 

I don't think it's that simple and so we'll have to agree to disagree.

10 minutes ago, Pablo said:

Some cracking to and from comments this afternoon. I think we all need to remember we aren’t the only team trying to win every time we play. Our opposition also have a squad of 25 and who knows how many coaches, sports scientists, physios, analysts etc. Our opponents might be richer than us, they might have less injuries ans they might have a stronger bench. They might have a player who has a season defining performance, and they may have worked out how to exploit a weakness in our system caused by a savage injury list. There players might be good at game management, cheating and off the ball fouls. They might play for Luton on a relatively low wage fighting for their financial future.

We have no right to beat anyone on any given day, we have to work our socks off and take our moments. As the club progresses so will the squad and we will have a stronger first team, bench and more experienced coaching g set up.

in spite of all of the above, the injury and fixture list this year have been crippling, and we are probably overachieving based on every metric except net spend over the past 5 transfer windows.

Didn't you hear yet?

We are the richest club in the world and shouldn't be losing to any team outside the top 4!

2 years out from being relegation fodder every season.

14 minutes ago, Holmesy said:

What’s even more awful surely, is just going “well there’s not a single thing we can do about that so we’ll just accept conceding 3 goals per game”?!
At least fucking try to stop us conceding FFS! Do something! 
Of course Joelinton is a huge miss, but if one player missing renders our whole defensive game plan useless, it’s a pretty sketchy plan to start with, right?! 

You've seemingly convinced yourself he isn't doing anything, because you think it's as easy as just changing something and everything starts working perfectly.

Howe himself came out and spoke about how they make adjustments every game after the Wolves game when Gary O'Neil made that cheeky comment.

Just because it isn't as obvious as dropping any player that makes an error, doesn't mean nothing is being done.

1 minute ago, Holmesy said:

Keiran Trippier went through a run of terrible form where he individually cost us goals in multiple games (possibly due to fatigue). Never even looked like being dropped despite us having a fully fit Livra on the bench, who has been one of our players of the season despite his lack of minutes.

 

Botman looked crap for ages. Never dropped despite not even being fully fit. Swap him with Burn or Lascelles and bring in a proper left full back.

 

Dan Burn has largely been a disaster for the past 4-5 months and has cost us goals individually in a good number of games. Never looked like being dropped despite us having a fully fit Livra and Hall on the bench, both of whom have looked excellent when they’ve played recently. This is the biggest head scratcher for me. When Bruce continued playing Ciaran Clark and leaving Schar on the bench people went mental. What’s the difference here?

 

This is more of a shape thing. Every set piece, we throw 9 men forward, leaving one back. This, despite having probably the slowest defence and midfield in the league. We are more threatened from our own set pieces than we are threatening - constantly. Leave more players back. We rarely score from set pieces anyway so it’s a shit risk to take - see Bowen’s goal yesterday 

 

Our midfield is cut open so easily, leaving our pedestrian back 4 totally exposed. Dropping one midfielder back to fill the gap between defence and midfield would give us loads more protection. I would suggest Longstaff given that he offers nothing from an attacking standpoint.

 

Against superior teams, sit deeper to negate our defensive fragility. Press hard when they cross the halfway line and use our pace and passing accuracy to play on the counter. 
 

Not all player-related but I also don’t think any of them would be considered crackpot suggestions.

The issues with our defence have mostly stemmed from the midfield missing our best presser and ball winner as well as missing our sweeper keeper.

This idea that the solution is simply chopping and changing people in the backline due to individual errors is awful.

2 minutes ago, gbandit said:

Think you need to take a break man, Butcher. Last six months? Howay, we’ve been absolutely fucked by injuries to the point we couldn’t change the team for months. Then when people come back they’re not match fit and others then get injured, it’s impossible to build any fluency.

 

Our defence is terrible, that’s not up for debate. Our shielding of the defence in midfield isn’t right either. There are massive mitigating factors but it’s also a minor concern that Howe hasn’t found any solutions. I just don’t know that there are that many solutions with the team of players we have currently. 
 

It’s almost impossible to draw proper conclusions about anything right now and anyone trying to make a strong case for anything needs to take a step back and accept that this season has been mental with many things outside of our control 

Happy clapper!!!

Just now, The Butcher said:

Piss off, Kaka

5 minutes ago, The Butcher said:

This team hasn't looked like it's going anywhere this season, especially in the last 6 months. We're rarely looked like a collective unit.

 

The lack of defensive structure this season compared to last season is a massive worry, and it will cost Howe his job if it doesn't improve.

 

 

 

The delusions of grandeur man. My goodness.

People wouldn't know a good thing if it kicked them square in the nuts.

Even Pep telling Grealish to stop passing backwards all the time.

6 hours ago, Menace said:

Kaka's endless happy clapping is just as irritating as the doomers to be honest.

I just know how good Eddie is and what he is going to continue to grow into.

Nit picking over every mistake he makes is completely pointless. Too many of you can't see the bigger picture.

Give it time man. You'll soon see.

Great play from Toney.

My God that is pathetic from Man Utd 

3 hours ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

He is boring TBF, he’s just very efficient and doesn’t bother doing anything that’s unnecessary. 

The way he explodes into the space Isak left when he dropped deep to get the ball for Barnes' first goal was absolutely fantastic.

Isak then delivers an excellent through ball for him to be in one in one for the goal.

The ball from Isak was top class, but for me the run from Barnes is just as exciting. In fact the run is so good it encourages the pass from Isak.

Actually quite enjoy Barnes' more direct style and dangerous off the ball runs.

11 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Pointless signing

2 minutes ago, Matt1892 said:

It was a great finish to the game but it isn’t one I would point to as a masterclass in management, if anything it had the same feeling as the 4-4 against Arsenal about it.

 

What it did show is when the crowd get behind the team and we go on the front foot then teams will crumble under it, it was especially enjoyable after the Ole’s from

the West Ham fans when they were cruising early in the second half.

Nah, I'll credit the manager thanks.

The team gives their all for him even in tough situations because of the environment he has fostered. Signings of his that have been questioned coming up with big performances. Substitutions to right things. Heads not dropping, ever.

Hats off to Eddie Howe.

5 minutes ago, Shak said:

Feel like if you didn't enjoy that game then you might have lost the plot a bit in terms of why you're a football fan.

Think some people were waiting to unleash hell on here for days, and so we're a bit deflated once the opportunity didn't materialise 

Just now, Matt1892 said:

The only points we have from losing position is the 3 points today, and then one point each from Bournemouth and Luton at home. 
 

So 5 points from losing positions this season.

 

 

Good enough for me man.

Just now, Matt1892 said:

This is the first league game we have won from a losing position this season.

 

 

And how about the draws? We never fold or stop competing as a team. 

Kudos to the manager.

He will play when he's ready. Pretty certain he is looking so much better now, due to the work they've done with him.

This idea they're just refusing to play him despite how good he is, is farcical.

Just now, christ said:

I’ve backed Howe’s judgement on keeping him out of the first team but Hall needs a bash after that. Kudus didn’t get a kick when he came on. He might not be as defensively sound but he looks like a mirror of Tino on the left. We’d be so much more balanced.

We need to let the manager do his work.

He's likely looking better because they took him out of the firing line after looking a bit shaky early on, and have been bringing him along behind the scenes.

3 minutes ago, Ikon said:

 just couldn’t only enjoy the win 

I'm enjoying it immensely man. You can't even imagine.

So glad for Harvey Barnes too. Absolutely lethal. 

Good signing!

Always seemingly have a chance with this guy, even when things look bleak.

So glad for him. Such a pleasure seeing him make so many on here look so silly. Get in! 

Today was the most satisfying Newcastle game I've followed in a long long time man.

Seeing Eddie deliver such an outstanding comeback with so much going against him and completely showing up so many folks on here was just too good man.

What a start to the weekend.