merlin

This was a match we didn't deserve to lose - there was doubt about Man C's penalty, but the foul on Ameobi was a stone cold certainty ; the player took his leg away in the box. Plenty of possession, but once again, very few clear-cut chances created. All the good work done in the build-up peters out when we reach the penalty area because we lack a player with quick movement up front and a midfielder who can spot an incisive pass. Sadly, you can only go for so long bemoaning bad luck and questionable decisions - consistent loss of points means you slip down the table and after Blackpool's result at Liverpool(surely it won't be long before they take the axe to Hodgson if they keep losing), we are in a bad situation compared to the sides who we need to finish above. Only Wolves look as if they might struggle at this point, but Blackpool may start to drop away as the season goes on. None of this is any use to us unless we start picking up points, esp at home ; 2 very crucial games coming up...... Terrible injury for HBA, and a bad tackle from De Jong, although I've seen worse ; things like this make you wonder whether the fates are conspiring. The lad will be out for most of the season now and its a bad blow. Good performance once again from Tiote - a good signing and he was the spring-board for much of the possession. Nolan almost anonymous and Barton also disappears - he is nowhere near as effective as he should be and is one paced - got into a tangle with Enrique for Johnson's goal too... Coloccini was playing really well until he had to come off and despite his limitations, Shola did offer a bit more stickability when the ball was played up to him. Another 'what-might-have-been'...but these things do not keep you in the PL, because its hard to see where the goals are coming from.

I agree - those games are '6 pointers' because they pull the other sides into the scrap ; Everton and Villa are NOT going to be fighting relegation. Stoke might have been if we had beaten them....

the only thing we gained from the chelsea game was the possibility that way may have a bit more depth than we thought, the team that we had out and they had out means nowt in view of league games. Would have willingly swapped the Chelsea and Stoke results - one is just bragging rights against a Top 4 team's reserves, the other may just the points we need to stay up......

Bit harsh on half-wits tbh. Ronaldo is a dictator who wants to hear his kind of opinion or else don't like it thats why he want me ban..... If he is a leader of some third world country I am sure he want me Killed. Probably the most hilarious post I've seen on here..!

They are starting to look a better all-round side than us...either that or RDM is a better manager than Hughton. Reckon we would have lost both the games they played in the last 2 weeks.

This is exactly why I was so concerned after losing to Stoke and Blackpool at SJP, esp Blackpool. Those games are 6 pointers and if you fail to win them it puts you under enormous pressure to get results against teams who you know have much better players. Result desperately needed today after yesterday's matches. If we lose this and then fail to beat Wigan, there is a growing likelihood that ourselves and Wolves will start to lose ground against the rest of the potential strugglers.

Spot on Brummie - just won't happen without money unless the new Uefa rules on breaking even make a difference.

Even if we had had 16 years in the top league back then, we still couldn't have equalled the numbers because the capacity had been cut to around 37,000.

You would need to supply a lot more examples than that to justify that conclusion. Are you old enough to remember the fiasco of some of the decisions affecting S.Korea in 2002 ? I am sure the Spaniards & Italians would have great pleasure in reminding you... Then we have Blatter's pig-headed insistence that Video technology cannot be used in the WC despite both Tennis and Rugby using it.. The match-fixing scandals of Germany and Italy, the latter getting Juve relegated by the Italian FA... You probably aren't old enough to remember Trelford Mills, ref at our FA Cup game back in 83....denied us 2 clear-cut pens... Etc., Etc...... Is that enough for you ?

Correct - his big 'mate', Phil Neville was responsible for that at OT ; Gillespie was never the same player again.

As Neesy says, its nothing to do with an expected assault on the top 10....not that a club like Newcastle shouldn't expect to be there anyway. If you'd said Top 6 I might have agreed.

bigger games have been when we played man utd when going for the title. the chelsea game also when we needed to win to get into europe. yes the atmosphere is better v the mackems but theres more to it that that. This - I agree. It's small town stuff to believe beating the Mackems is better than challenging for the title.

Yep - you are right again Crumpy. Unfortunately the 'Emperor's New Clothes' fans will deny it. It's not that we are TOTAL S--t, but that we are in crucial positions and many older fans see that and know it aint going to be put right any time soon.

It seemed to work for one D.Maradona in 1986 - Argentina went on to win a WC after his 'Hand of God' goal against England... Cannot condone cheating but International Football seems to be based on it.

Some interesting debate on this thread. I have some sympathy with Wallsendmag's views because I believe that many of the people that used to follow the club in the 70s have either stopped going because they are disenchanted, or they haven't got the money(many on a pension now). In fact, many WERE disenchanted that the Leazes was knocked down without a plan to replace it quickly,and in the 80s we had 3 really class players and lost the lot to other clubs. In addition, the whole way people are educated now combined with the loss of industrial jobs has left many younger people fatalistic and more accepting of being ripped off etc because they have no alternative but to go along with it all. Life seems very limited in its prospects, esp at this time. Brummie has raised an excellent point about the 80s and I agree with him to a point. We at NUFC had a reasonable period between 1983 and 1987 because we had KK, got promoted with some exciting young players and it all looked good until the board spoiled it all by refusing Cox a decent transfer budget(now THAT sounds familiar..!). He walked, in came Big Jack(who we all thought would do the biz)and although we never looked like being relegated in 84/85, the football was, shall we say, pragmatic..!! Nevertheless, we got flashes of brilliance from Waddle and Beardsley and then Gazza came along. Jack walked out before 85/86 after getting the bird at a friendly with Sheff Utd and McFaul took over. The board were happy, but I wasn't - I don't like keepers as managers anyway, and we all knew McFaul was a board stooge. He DID give us some decent football for a while and although Waddle went to Spurs we got some OK signings such as Paul Goddard, a good player who actually kept us up in 87. McFaul stole the headlines in the summer of that year by signing Mirandinha, the first Brazilian to play in England, but against that, we lost Beardsley to Liverpool in order to pay for the Milburn Stand. MIra's best performance was probably one of his first games at OT, where he scored and starred in a 2-2 draw, and Gazza was becoming a real talent. We lost him to Spurs in Summer of 88 and because the board were under pressure from John Hall and the Magpie Group then, McKeag let Mc Faul sign Thorne and Beasant from Wimbledon)a case of 'if you can't beat 'em, sign em, as they had knocked us out of the FAC after all that controversy with Gazza and Vinny Jones) - he also signed Robertson from Hearts, a prolific striker in Scotland but flopped totally at SJP - as did the other 2....we never replaced Gazza, and the takeover struggle probably partly caused the club's relegation although the players should have got on with their jobs and didn't. As the 80s came to an end, we were back in the second div again and after a terrible flop against the Mackems at SJP in the 1990 play-offs we were destined for 3 years of mediocrity until SJH and KK took over.Many fans DID stop going between 1990 and 1993... Interesting times, with enough going on to keep fans coming to games - once the 3 local geniuses left though, the only thing that really kept the fans interested was getting McKeag & Co out. In some ways, we have come full circle because we have a manager who is basically in the board's pocket and an unbalanced side as we did in 88.. Not a coincidence that gates began to drop off after Gazza left and some called it a day after Beardsley went - people want entertainment, but they also want results and neither were forthcoming after 1987. Today, it is almost impossible for a club to do what we did in the 90s because the money is only with a few clubs and THAT acts as a dis-incentive to fans because they can see there is a real limit as to what their club can achieve. Hopefully, the new rules concerning young local players will make a difference but I'm not holding my breath...money does, and always has , talked.

TV money is largely going into the pockets of(in many cases)sub-standard players who are not worth paying even a quarter of what some of them get...until that is addressed, football will be expensive. Don't hold your breath, though - greedy players Union combined with spineless and short=termist management(common in Western society) will ensure the PL is in a state of crisis before anything is done.

A good summary of the counter-argument. Gosling in particular could threaten Nolan's place in the side. Gosling is a midfielder, Nolan if I'm not mistaken is playing as a striker. Until last season, we'd have defined Nolan as a midfielder as well. Playing either player in that position isn't ideal, but I think Gosling could step up to it. I wouldn't say that about Guthrie. We haven't seen Gosling in action, but the Everton fans seem to think he lacks pace - if so, then we are little better off playing him as a withdrawn striker than by using Nolan there ; it is a striker with pace that we need because Carroll isn't that quick.

now then young man, you can chuck all your pies and your burgers and your hotdogs in the biggest f***ing dustbin you can find. i want to see some elbow grease from you and not the stuff that's running down your arms from that kebab that you're eating neither Now, young man, that is very, very good - who the 'ell d'ya think you are ? Bill Shankly!!?? Very good indeed Nobby and about spot on too..

We've already lost at home to one of those teams you think we are better than... What's your point? We also beat Everton and Villa (teams I don't think we're better than). Over the course of the season you can see which teams are best, not after 6 games. So which 3 teams do you think we will be 'better than' come May?

Yes, Clough DID always play McGovern(AND took him to every club he went to), but the difference between McGovern's fitness and that of Nolan is like chalk & cheese ; he was a 100% trier....can you imagine Nolan lasting in Clough's teams ? I can just hear the waspish comments that the great man would have made when he watched Nolan training....!

Can you honestly imagine Hughton enforcing ANYTHING on Nolan - or, come to that, any other manager getting an old dog of 28 to work on his basic fitness if he can't do it himself by now..?

That's not even an option It is for me..!

Agree with basic sentiments of last 3 posts, Talk about Everton and Villa should be also kept in context because we played these teams at the right time - Chelsea too, because it was in a competition where both clubs were prepared to field basically reserve sides. As Crumpy says, we got a grateful 6 points from Villa & Everton but then spoiled it all by losing at home to 2 sides who will probably finish below these teams - in fact, the 6 points from Villa and Everton I would rather have had from Stoke and Blackpool because we are likely to be competing with these teams for survival this season and the results were almost 6 pointers EACH.. Sadly, I can already see splits developing on this forum about the manager and much of that is because whilst some want to give him the benefit of the doubt, others see the warning signs only too well in the Nolan business. As I said earlier, he will be here longer than many would because the board currently have little option anyway, so although everyone will speculate, in actual fact there will be nothing happening this side of December..if then. Hughesy has a good point about Jonas and his link with Enrique - at this point, although BOTH players are unproductive, Routledge looks the one who should be dropped. Enrique did NOT look comfortable linking with HBA..

I preferred standing in the Leazes and was gutted when they pulled it down, I still enjoyed going in to the Gallowgate, even if it wasn't quite as good. Im sure us oldies have been here before- My dad used to take me in the leazes corner next east stand, them fuckers in the middle section then were mental- was that you? Btw ive just read TT post our average this seaso is 45k.... wtf is dissapointing about that? We've certainly been there before - but why not harp on about it again - it was an amazing experience which could only be witnessed in some Turkish or S.American stadium nowadays. It was violent, passionate, crammed, bordering on uncivilised and deafeningly loud but far better than anywhere I've ever stood or sat since. The "scoreboard" and "corner" which came next in the Gallowgate were decent but didn't even get close to the old Leazes End atmosphere. Used to stand in the Leazes in the late 60s/early 70s - it was an awesome experience, part brill, part bad. You never got cold in winter, everyone packed in like sardines. A voyeur's paradise too, all those lasses being pressed up against you when goals were scored...! Fantastic atmosphere - was there when we beat the Mackems 3-0 in 1970 and feet hardly touched the ground.

...and after we got relegated, Scudamore, that oh-so-not-so-whizz kid that runs the PL, said the Pl 'wouldn't miss Newcastle at all'... I said he was wrong then, and for the same reason that Sears writes about. Our crowds are still lower than they used to be though.