Wallsendmag

Last season I remember serious struggles at home to the likes of West Ham, Brighton, Everton, Fulham and Bournemouth. Think we might well have lost against them all.

I said a few days beforehand on here that Sunderland would be awful opposition for us. Would have fancied our chances much more against Liverpool, Man Utd, Chelsea, Villa etc for the reasons you outline. Howe doesn't seen to have a clue how to set up against teams that play a certain way.

Aye were were just starting to lose a bit of control before HT. I was hoping we'd get in 1-0 up and just stabilise things a bit but unfortunately the 2nd half was a complete shambles straight from our Kick off.

It started a bit before half time. You could see it coming before HT. Said to my mate in the pub 5 mins before HT that we needed the whistle. They took control at the start of the 2nd half.

We weren't chasing the game at home on Sunday though and the same thing happened.

Tbh I would have (very reluctantly) taken 2 derby defeats square on the chin had we shown up and maybe not had the rub of the green but put in a battling performance. The nature of the defeats is what's done it for me. Going there in December and turning in that abomination of a performance was bad enough but to replicate it at our place against a team that had scored 8 away goals all season including 2 pens I think and couldn't even breach soon to be League 2 Port Vales defence, nah I'm not having that like. If you can't rouse your players for this match, not once but twice, there's issues there.

Anyone going to any games on Saturday for Non League day? In form Gateshead doing 20% off admission against Yeovil Town. We're going to Berwick Rangers v Bonnyrigg Rose.

Managing the world's biggest and most demanding club is a tough gig for a new manager still cutting his teeth in the game, although a 70%+ win ratio isn't to be sniffed at I suppose. He created a superb camaraderie in the Bayer 04 dressing room though and also formed an incredible bond with their supporters. Think he even went in with their Ultras at the end of one of their games. Remember seeing a picture of his held aloft by them with a crown on his head, reminded me of Keegan down at Grimsby all those years ago! He'll be a better manager for that short spell at Real Madrid I'm sure. Interested to see where he ends up next but if the club are serious about their aspirations for 2030 (I have my doubts but we'll see) then he should be one of the people under consideration to get us there.

Bet Isak’s bank balance isn't!

I wouldn't say it wasn't good. He wasn't really there long enough.

Not even close. Leverkusen are considered a small "factory" team in Germany. They'd never won the league before until Alonso tipped up and had only won the German Cup once as well until he won them their 2nd. Small fanbase as well. I've been to watch them twice in the Bundesliga and on both occasions the crowd was only 25k. Even Koln which is only a few miles away don't see them as serous rivals.

Aye I'd go along with that. Absolutely despise losing to them, it's absolutely horrible. Any of those people, and there's a lot of them which probably refelcts the changing attitude/personnel in the NUFC fanbase, who wanted them back up to get this game back, I'd question how much of a NUFC fan they really are. Sunday was just horrible and even at 1-0 up it wasn't enjoyable. Win, lose or draw they tend to be shit games with very few exceptions. However if we were playing good football and going along well, after the dust settles you can sort of try to see the bigger picture and take a more philosophical view . Problem is we are stuck in the bottom half and to be brutally honest we've been a very hard watch all season. Really haven't enjoyed many of the matches at all to tell the truth (another reason they've got a nerve to hike the ticket prices right up again) so when you factor in 2 pathetic derby displays on top of that it does tend to make things feel worse again.

Incredible turnaround from Gateshead.

Think Rochdale might come a cropper at Scunthorpe tomorrow.

I'm holding on until nearer the time when I can check the weather forecast. If it's fine we'll go in the uncovered Gateshead end behind the goal. If it's going to be raining we'll go in the home end. Cheaper if you buy tickets in advance.

We're going to that one. Hopefully take a big crowd over. Brilliant result for Gateshead that mind. Out of the relegation zone!

Ramsey blasting our KO in the 2nd half straight out for a goal kick is something I don't think I'll ever come to terms with and keeps poppping into my head. Just set the tone for the utter shit show that followed and made me question what the HT team talk was based around.

Some damning stats there which basically backs up how I seen it. They wanted to win the game more than we did.

Does 7th definitely get Europe like? 5 wins from our last 7 (6 really as Arsenal away is a write off) gives us 57 points. That would have got us 9th last season. At a push it could get us 7th or 8th this season if Brentford and Everton slip begind their average PPG in the remaining games.

I'm implying that they wanted it more than we did, same as in December. We barely put a foot in on them especially 2nd half. Usually derbies are full blooded games. Tackles flying on trying to unsettle your opponents. Did any of our players even pick up a yellow card for an over zealous challenge?

Not sure if your new to football but booing has always been a thing at football, especially in this Country certainly in the 40+ years I've been watching it. Different in other countries. Whistling in places like Italy for example, white hankies in Spain etc.

And the number one way for the players to piss the fans off is to lie down in both derbies this season.

They aren't a better team than us man for man but they certainly wanted it more than us. Same as December. Make of that what you will. We barely put a challenge in on them all game. People being more upset with some fans booing than the performance and result I find bizaree tbh.

It's the number one way of (none violently) displaying your displeasure at a football match. Always has been. Sunday was absolutely disgusting and the players and Howe should be made aware of how unacceptable losing to them is, especially in the manner we did. I actually thought the reaction was quite mild given how bad we were following on from how bad we were against them just a few months ago.

We were 2nd to pretty much every ball in a Derby match and lay down to them in the 2nd half. Fans have evey right to let the team know that's not good enough. Want to think themselves lucky they don't play somewhere like Italy where they'd likely have been confronted on the training ground. Our fans reaction was pretty mild compared to how it would have been in other places.