themanupstairs

What is worrying is that we didn't appear to have any sort of game plan today or if we did the players completely ignored it.

 

Yeah we did and it was easy to spot.

Yup. It wasn't the non-descript away performance we've become used to. It was starting to take shape as well before the dickhead got himself sent off, which is a shame.

I think McClaren is causing the lad problems by bringing him on as a sub. He seems riled up and full of hell as he jumps off the bench. I reckon he'd be calmer starting games and easing himself in. Or he's just batshit mental.

This has got to be it.

I don't know how people can say it's a justified yellow when a couple of minutes later a Swansea player went in from behind with his 2nd foot on one our players and never even got booked. He shouldn't have held his shirt, even if he wasn't on a yellow, but it was never a yellow card. The referee is as much to blame as Janmaat is.

He was booked for persistent fouling. The ref was a an inconsistent cunt aye, but the shirt pull when on a yellow makes Janmaat completely at fault for throwing the match. Should be made to pay all the expenses of the traveling support tbh.

Cisse has no presence up front whatsoever. We spent more time in Swansea's half in the 10 minutes Mitrovic was on than we did the first 80 minutes. He obviously needs to calm the fuck down, but I reckon that will come with starting matches, and not sitting on the bench itching to play, then coming on charging around like Mike Tyson in a doll house.

Fickle bloody lot.

 

This tbh. He's very good. Stupid from him, but he's very good.

He is very good, but the decision to pull someone's shirt in their own half when on a yellow is beyond stupid. It's irresponsible and effectively betrayed his own teammates and fans. Very cuntish behavior IMO. He's clearly one of our best players, but you just cannot throw a game away like this for a fucking shirt pull. I'm fucking livid tbh. Ruined my weekend

Stupid piece of s***. Get a new RB in. Dumbest performance I've seen in a long time.

Simply unacceptable performance or behavior. Gone from one of my favorite players to an absolute cunt. If McClaren has anything about him, Janmaat will be disciplined heavily or sold. Utter wanker.

at those who captained Rooney. He looks way off the pace, and Man Utd still haven't figured out the best way to get him chances. Avoided making a transfer this week so I can get him out of the team next with 2 FT.

Made Milner my captain instead. He'll score an OG and get sent off on Monday 

Edit: Just realized we play them at OT next week. Rooney stays.

I've never had the time to read all of this thread.

I don't know or care if it's appropriate or not.

I hate liverpool and their fans nearly as much as i hate mackems

Newcomer of the year

Get cracking on the thread. You'll enjoy it. Welcome to the board.

The quotes call into question McLaren's mentality. Speaking about nullifying not only the threat of Soton's RM, but their f***ing RB as well? That's what's dictating the call for picking Obertan over Aarons, because Obertan can somehow DEFEND better against Cedric? A strong whiff of the Pardewesque, defeatest mentality if that's what he actually means. And whatever the f*** he actually meant with those quotes, there is simply no reason at all for starting Obertan over Aarons or even a poodle.

 

I was under the impression that he wanted to peg the full backs back by offering our own threat down the wings (albeit only in the form of pace in Obertan's case). His plan was clearly to try and push Southampton into their own half due to the potential speed we had on the transition.

 

That isn't a Pardewesque mentality at all.

 

Exactly. I'm all for calling out a cowardly bullshitter. McClaren hasn't shown any of Pardew's character as of yet when it comes to the footballing side of things. He's in cahoots with the owner, but that's one relationship we are still yet to see how it plays out.

It's not a bum lick, more of an appreciation of their fantastic effort to make it into the top division in England from the very low position they started in. If you can't appreciate that and hope they do well, what do you appreciate in football?

As if the bumlick of the people's champion al pards and Crystal Palace isn't embarrassing enough. You listen to Howe and you listen to the charlatan, and there's a world of a difference, but aye. Fuck Bournemouth.

I'm also utterly convinced Shola Ameobi is an ace fella. February 4th, snowing. Shola pulls up to training bang on time with a smile and without being annoying in the slightest. As soon as the coaching staff see him, he brightens up their day. And the general moral of the squad.

Say what? 

Its going to be a good possession vs counter attack game - should be intriguing

If we get our counter formula right, we could get a result in this game IMO. Wijnaldum with Anita in the middle, Sissoko and Aarons out wide, Ayoze and Cisse in the number 10 and 9 respectively. That's what I'd like to see.

Can't complain about a home tie against a L2 side. Really hope we have a good cup run this year, just so it can feel like we're a proper football club again.

201/209

Missed out Elliott (on account of the second T), Robert and Parker 

Peddling this waste of space would earn SMC a lot of slack from my side. Took him all of 5 minutes to figure out that he's a useless pardball oaf that has no place in the PL let alone a team that should be aiming for the top 7.

Probably someone off here

I'm so handsome I can afford to say "just keep it wham till the game's finished hinnie"

Hugely encouraged that Wijnaldum was taking set pieces yesterday as well.

 

Makes this man's position less bullet proof. Was worried when it seemed he was solely responsible for them in pre-season.

Wijnaldum's set-pieces were quite poor though in the main.

(black - check)

(forrin - check)

(criticism - check)

Just seen this on Twitter

 

 

FM stats, Really?! f***ing hell Sky are s***.

Well they have to cater to the level of their audience.

If Colback had gone off injured for Tiote instead, we'd still have struggled in the same ways as when Anita went off.

 

Not quite to the same extent but yes considering how s*** Tiote is. It's more of a indictment of how this happens pretty much every time Anita is subbed than anything.

 

I can't remember one single game when he was subbed off and the team was still in control.

 

Anita had had far more bad games for us than he has good and other than West Ham at the end of last season (his highlight as an NUFC player) I can't really remember us controlling many games, definitely not under Carver and very rarely under Pardew as we generally played on the back foot under him.

I reckon we were in control yesterday for the majority of the game. Except after his injury.

If Colback had gone off injured for Tiote instead, we'd still have struggled in the same ways as when Anita went off.

 

Not quite to the same extent but yes considering how s*** Tiote is. It's more of a indictment of how this happens pretty much every time Anita is subbed than anything.

 

I can't remember one single game when he was subbed off and the team was still in control.

Has Colback ever been subbed off? Maybe once if I recall. It's definitely an issue though. He is NOT the magnificent Geordie captain many make him out to be. He's a competent PL midfielder, but I don't want him in the team at the expense of someone better, or when he's off form.

It's not about that and it never has been

 

Anita positions himself properly off the ball and makes himself away available for the pass constantly, Colback doesn't and slows down the build up where as Anita gets it to where it needs to go quickly instead dawdling on the ball like Colback does allowing the opposition to get into position.

 

Shock and horror as soon as Anita goes off we struggle to hold on to the ball for more than 5 passes, which has happened almost everytime he's been subbed off in his Newcastle career.

 

I have said before i don't want to see them both together, but there's more to it than where they pass the ball.

This. End of, really.

Also, from the stats TCD posted, Anita barely crosses the halfway line. Colback found himself in advanced positions a lot more often. How some still don't get the difference between the two when it comes to the sideways passing is beyond me. The heat maps illustrate it perfectly.

Big Sam was on BeIn over the weekend and he brought up a very interesting matter. He said that most coaches in the PL, if not all, rely tremendously on statistical analysis of players' performances in matches. He said that it was a double-edge sword in that sometimes it can be used as an excuse to drop a player if his stats weren't good enough. On the other hand, players with good stats get upset if they're dropped, and the boss has to use man-management skills to explain that it was a tactical decision etc..

Could it be that players, who are obviously aware of this, try to use it to their advantage? Making these meaningless sideways passes surely increases a player's passing accuracy? I'm not accusing Colback of doing it. He may or may not be. He certainly has shown that he's willing to fight for the cause, but maybe this over-analysis of statistics is giving some players something to hide behind.

As somebody said above, he keeps us ticking over with short no nonsense passing. I would also agree that he, in reality, is no Pirlo, but we know what he does and he does it week in week out, therefore giving a sense of security and consistency in a position that in time will get an updgrade. He gives 110% which for me is decent enough, his ability is what it is and until we sign an upgrade give the lad a break...FFS!

He doesn't keep us ticking over at all IMO. He makes some great interceptions, and bursts forward into space where he has the chance to do something good. Then he fucks it all up by suddenly stopping, and giving a meaningless pointless sideways pass. Sometimes sideways passes are important for keeping possession and frustrating opponents. They are also sometimes completely cowardly when they slow down an attack that could potentially yield a goal scoring opportunity. If he's to improve, he needs to learn when to pass sideways, and when to take a chance and make a threatening pass forward.

Comparing him with Anita isn't clever at all because Anita actually has the ability and speed of thought to make the one touch first-time pass to a player better positioned than him. Colback needs too many touches, and needs to improve this side of his game.

The last ditch block showed high levels of fitness and concentration at the end of a match when the rest of the team was out on its arse. He single handedly prevented us from losing, and for that he earns high praise.