merlin

A much better result - and, more importantly - much better performance than last week. Both of the new signings were critical in producing this and although Ben Arfa will rightly take the headlines for his brilliant goal and ball skills, Tiote was just as important to the side in my opinion ; his tackling, movement and passing were basically the reason why we dominated midfield for a large part of the game. For players who have just played their first full game in the PL, I thought both were superb. Had both been in the side from the off last week, I have little doubt that the Blackpool result would have been much different. It must have been more embarrassing in the first half for Everton fans than it was for us last week, because they were almost completely outplayed at home and they can't have any complaints on the day(Neil ..!). Had Carroll been supported by a better player than Nolan up front, they would almost certainly have lost, although they will point to the absence of Tim Cahill. So - plusses ; HBA and CT, Enrique, Colo, Krul(didn't have much to do apart from collecting high balls). Decent performances by Routledge, esp in supporting the rest of MF, Minuses - Perch ; another Yellow, we need Simpson or ST back soon.Perch didn't have a bad game,but he picks up needless cards by diving in rashly. Decent - Barton and Willo, but I have reservations about some of Willo's challenges. We may concede pens in future as refs will be watching for his tendency to hold players in the box. Fellaini was just as guilty for the one which they wanted a pen for late in the game, but there were others.... Barton tends to fade late in games but played quite well. Ben Arfa gets a big Plus from me as much for his on-field temperament as his undoubted skills ; this will be put to the test over coming weeks as teams become aware of the danger of letting him run.If he has a fault in his play it is that he will tend to hold the ball too long, and I reckon this is why he fell foul of previous management. Our fans will love him though, similar to both Beardo and(almost!)Tony Green..! 7 points from 5 games is OK - its on target and we have pulled back the deficit from last week's defeat. We now need to keep winning games at home against the less talented sides to keep it going.

In his current state of fitness, he is highly unlikely to score anywhere NEAR the number of goals in the PL that he did in the CCC.

Hughton will not be under any extra pressure if we lose today because not many expect us to beat Everton. However, the games against Wigan, West Ham and Stoke will go a long way to deciding whether he - and the team as it currently is - are capable of keeping the club in the Prem because these clubs, along with Blackpool, are the teams we have to get points from to stay up. Interesting month or two ahead....

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/football/newcastle/8400509.Hughton_will_do_a_runner_if_Newcastle_finish_in_top_half/ Doubt very much that his long-distance running skills are going to be put to the test...!

Allardyce is totally correct ; his claim that he was equipped to manage Real is true....the only problem was that he left off the word 'BAD' after Real.....!

Agreed - Shearer was virtually the complete CF in that period. His series of injuries whilst at NUFC took the edge of his effectiveness after 97. Better than Drogba at leading the line and being a target man.

This - shame we need other teams' fans to remove the scales from some eyes..nice post.

This - well thought-out post .

But if Ben Arfa replaces Nolan, you're talking about sticking with the same system anyway. Kevin Nolan may get 8 goals and assist 3 or 4. Gutierrez will typically get 1 or 2 goals and 3 or 4 assists in a decent league. So who would Ben Arfa most beneficially replace? Someone who scores goals, or someone who "creates space" and "relieves pressure"? By my count Ben Arfa has 18 careerer assists over 6 seasons and 170 appearances btw, so I don't know but perhaps hoping he's going to get 15 this season is maybe expecting a little too much? I guess as long as Ben Arfa adapts quickly to a new position, team, country and league, hits the form of his life, maintains it, stays fit, can create his own chances, doesn't let his head drop when we're losing, when he's not getting the ball, or when he's targeted by the opposition, and has the typical strong gaelic mentality and maturity to handle the pressure of carrying the rest of the team, we'll be fine. On the other hand, I hope we haven't put our single egg in a basket and counted it as a chicken already. So much of our hope for this season seems to be pinned on this lad. Thank goodness no-one wanted to buy him. ...'typical strong gaelic mentality..' Don't you mean GALLIC ? He's French, not Scots. And frankly, after the French players' pathetic showing all round at the WC, we must hope that he HASN'T got a typical Gallic mentality.....!!

Unless NUFC are relegated, its hard to see Carroll leaving for at least a year or two, but it wouldn't be a major shock if he did. The club's wage structure and limited transfer funds mean that any player who is able to play for any of the top clubs is likely to go. It has ALWAYS happened, even in the SJH/KK era when Andy Cole went to Man U(although the club had other ambitions then, incl Shearer). We are now in a similar situation to when Beardsley and Gazza were at the club ; middle ranking club who will not be spending big bucks or challenging for top honours. We lost BOTH of those players and, TT, they were both GEORDIES so you theory doesn't stand up. I can tell you now, for certain, that we ALSO bid for Shearer in 1992 when he was being chased by Blackburn and Man U ; Blackburn bid 400,000 more for him and the player went there, but he still knew we were in for him. Are you saying he wasn't a 'proper' Geordie because he went to a club in the Prem(which we weren't at at the time ? If players see that their club is going nowhere, they will leave - simple as..if KK hadn't been manager and got Newcastle promoted, do you think Beardo would have come back from Everton? Of course not, but he knew the club was going places under Keegan. Unless we get taken over or Ashley has a change of policy, it is almost a knocking bet that Carroll will go to a better club PROVIDED he maintains his improvement and development. Its going to be hard for some people to adjust to what it means to be a Newcastle fan when there isn't an unlimited supply of transfer funds - the only laughable part of this story is that we would accept 6m...then again, knowing Ashley.....

Good Post and good points about Nolan's weakness in being able to play high-tempo, pressurised midfield football ; nowhere near fit enough and Barton might also lack proper fitness.

All true - in the previous 2 games, Barton was at last, beginning to look a decent PL midfielder, but as you say, he was poor for large parts of the game on Saturday.Totally nullified, along with Smith and Nolan,by Blackpool's midfield esp Adam who is far from quick but a good passer of the ball. I hope this was a one-off for Barton but I'm not yet convinced.

To answer your question(which quite a few will avoid..!), the alarm bells will start to ring for me if we are in or near the bottom 3 in November - esp if we have a poor home record as well. Too soon yet to judge the side properly because new players have yet to be seen in action over a few games. My biggest worry as some others have said, will be whether Hughton has the b---s or the nous to change the team by dropping his 'favourites' when it is necessary. As a matter of interest, Crumpy, when will the alarm bells start ringing for YOU..!?

posting sense as always. Agreed - the fact that Nolan was made Capt raises serious concerns about Hughton's judgment. If he continues to play him and performances remain mediocre, he will pay with his job in the end.

Ho-Hum .....usual retort of a fan who wears the B&W sunglasses...

This is tosh - 'some teams are lucky to win..' I think it was Jack Nicklaus who said 'the harder I practice, the luckier I get'...and that sums it up. SOMETIMES a team will be 'lucky', but in NO way were Blackpool lucky. They fought for their win and in the first half were the better side. They outfought Newcastle in midfield, were quicker to the ball and forced Harper into a better save than ANY Gilks made. When they tired in the second half, we got more of the game but still couldn't create any REALLY clear chances - those that did arrive were often the result of a lucky bounce or bad defence from them. If you had been a neutral and didn't know who was the Title-winning side from last season, you would have thought it was Blackpool in the first half. Hardly lucky ....if your theory stood up, teams like Chelsea and Man U must have an awful lot of Ju-Jus in their lockers !

I thought that at the time bit I wrote it off as something else. If he genuinely was signalling to sub a teammate off then he's an almighty c***. If I've read this situation right, I'd be more angry about Hughton allowing such behaviour. Get the fat t*** in line immediately. I'm more angry that Hughton no balls couldn't make the decision himself and couldn't see things needed changing at half time. Agreed.

We did NOT control the game from start to finish - Harper saved our bacon before we had even threatened their goal, and we were second-best in midfield for the entire first half. The midfield should have been changed at HT.

The problem over the years with NUFC is largely that the fans have been TOO forgiving of lazy players, bad decisions, second-rate managers and an uncaring Board. Whining about people being 'knee-jerk' etc etc is just typical of that train of thought - people have a right to their opinion and to hold the club to account ; yesterday was not 'just one of those days'...NUFC have been having thousands of 'those day' over the years, despite different players, managers and Directors. Why do you think that has happened ? A gypsy curse or something ?? A fluke result is when you hit the wood work several times, have shots cleared off the line and force the keeper into really blinding saves - and I don't mean most of those by Gilks yesterday. We lost because we were out-fought in midfield in the first half; because there is a question over Hughton's ability to drop players he has pinned his flag to; because the board have failed to give the manager sufficient funds to sign a player who would take the heat off Carroll.....and finally, because they wanted it more than us..... All reasons why fans are concerned....get used to it....

Disagree about the pen Macca - from replays I saw, it looked FROM THE FRONT as if Smith got the ball, but when you saw it from the side, he caught the guy's leg at the same time. We got away with Perch's tackle at Wolves, so its all square in my book..you are right about Perch though because Smith had no choice after Perch lost out and I reckon the guy would have scored if Smith hadn't tackled him.

I never forecast results, Dave, but that looks about right. This is as difficult a game as we could have wished for after the Blackpool debacle. Everton will be on a roll after their comeback against Man U and they will have far too much in midfield for us. Arteta will have a field day, just as Charlie Adam did unless there are changes to the Newcastle midfield. This is where the reality of the PL begins - we had a fairy tale home start and a decent performance at Wolves, but in the other 2 games we always looked like losing. Everton are not Top 4 material, but if we lose heavily there it will be a bad indicator of how the season could pan out.

Whether Hughton has the b----s to drop him and Smith will determine whether Hughton is still manager by the end of the season......

Mick's player summary was spot-on. When I posted on the pre-match thread 10 days ago, I warned about complacency against Blackpool ; I thought they would run like men possessed and, if they got their noses in front, that they would fight for everything to defend it and sadly, this is exactly what happened. They fully deserved their win. They outfought Newcastle in the first half and, as has been noted by Mick and one or two more, Hughton was found badly wanting in his tactical approach. We had a warning when Harper saved our skins early on, and it became increasingly obvious that Barton and the woeful Smith were being outplayed in midfield. Smith compounded his poor showing with a reckless tackle to give away the pen and he should have been replaced by Tiote. Hughton left it far too late to bring on Ben Arfa, whose one good run and dribble should have resulted in an equalizer but nobody was in the right place. It was odds-on that we would be caught by a sucker-punch as the team got increasingly-desperate in going for an equalizer, and that is what happened. I do not subscribe to the view that we had loads of chances - loads of HALF chances maybe, and some bad finishing, but very few clear-cut chances ; Gilkes may have played well, but that is what he is there for and lack of really clear chances was the reason we failed to score. The club failed to buy a decent, mobile striker to back up Carroll and as Mick says, you have to feel sorry for Andy because he is almost solely responsible for getting goals. Nolan was again living proof that a player who gets goals in the CCC will not always do it in the Prem and his lack of movement is terrible. The big question has to be whether Hughton is too close to players like Nolan and Smith to be ruthless enough to make necessary adjustments to the side. He has a difficult job because he should have been given enough funds to get a new striker in, but he knew the limits when he took the job. He is going to have to learn fast because without a big budget, tactics will have a big say in whether we stay up or not. This is a massive loss - not in terms of goals but in the fact that this game was a virtual 6 pointer - we have given a huge boost to a side who will be rivals for avoiding relegation and probably caused doubts to rise in the back of players - and fans - minds. With a very tough game at Everton to come, there will have to be some hard decisions made by manager and coaches. Although we only lost 0-2, a better team than Blackpool would have taken us apart in the second half..think Chelsea..... Big reality check for those who were forecasting 3-0 + wins yesterday and it will be VERY interesting to see how the team react at Goodison next week......

The Guardian is a Socialist rag, well past its sell-by date...its rapidly-diminishing circulation is testimony to its relevance in the modern world. They will use an excuse to trot out accusations of racism because that is one of the sacred cows that enables them to pontificate at the so-called Capitalist system, but they will never let truth get in the way of a good bleat. All UK media is rubbish, but I wouldn't even use this discredited brainwashing publication as bog-paper if there was a cactus as an alternative...that is how highly I rate it ! Fitting that Louise is on their staff, a credit to Wearside ! it's not socialist, it doesn't pontificate against the so-called capitalist system and dont the majority of dailiy papers have rapidly declining circulations ?. they still print a lot of crap but then they all do and have. news in this country has gone back,both in print and other forms.......out of curiosity where do you get your news info from ? So YOU are the one who is still buying it eh ? I get my news from the Internet as far as poss because you often dig up stuff which gives you the REAL story and not the one the MSM want you to see.. As for saying the Grauniad isn't Socialist, you might as well say the Daily Mirror loves the Tories....

The Guardian is a Socialist rag, well past its sell-by date...its rapidly-diminishing circulation is testimony to its relevance in the modern world. They will use an excuse to trot out accusations of racism because that is one of the sacred cows that enables them to pontificate at the so-called Capitalist system, but they will never let truth get in the way of a good bleat. All UK media is rubbish, but I wouldn't even use this discredited brainwashing publication as bog-paper if there was a cactus as an alternative...that is how highly I rate it ! Fitting that Louise is on their staff, a credit to Wearside !