HaydnNUFC

Using Hendrick as a sole argument as to why the squad is 'awful' is incredibly shortsighted imo. There's a nucleus of a alright PL side there iyam. Needs a few tweaks but a whole new manager and coaching set up. The prick holds every team that he manages back with the exception of Hull. Not many players have been with us for 5 years as the only additions for a decent wedge were made after Benitez left. That's no fault of theirs. The players here for 5 years were signed for the Championship and have yet to be flogged due to neglect by the ownership. Hence why they're still here. Wilson, ASM, Almiron when used properly, Willock, Schär, Lewis once he receives decent coaching, Fraser at a stretch plus the likes of Murphy, Manquillo, Hayden and perhaps the Longstaffs as squad players is the basis of a midtable PL, non relegation worrying side. Bruce brings them back down to being perennial strugglers. Ashley's neglect of the playing staff stemming back to January 2017 is a gargantuan part of why so many players from 2016-17 are still prominently featuring now. But I'll die on the hill that the options we have are canny for this level and the manager is holding them back tenfold. Someone like Howe would get far more out of this group.

Anywhere between 3 and 7-0. Gonna be the first game since West Ham away in 2019-20 (which we won and went 0-3 up in ) I'm deliberately choosing not to watch.

Don't agree that it's an awful squad. There's a nucleus of a decent side in there, they're just being used utterly terribly, in the wrong positions and with tactics and a formation which is pure self harm. IMO its our best squad since 2013-14 and it should be in midtable with no worries of a relegation battle. It just underlines how shit Bruce is and how much of a cunt Ashley is. With a decent couple of additions under a decent manager who knows what he's doing, we're well clear of any flirtation with relegation. Bruce would probably have Leicester, Villa and West Ham's current squads struggling and fighting with relegation. It's just how utterly shit the bloke is.

Fucking hell. The Platinum Club looks like it hasn't changed since its launch in 1993.

My self imposed exile didn’t last long need to vent about how shit it all is. The only benchmark I’m going to be comparing Bruce and his band of merry bell ends on the coaching staff to for the most part is his first season; 2019-20, as I’m a firm believer that football with full grounds in and lockdown football are two completely different sports. Other teams have stepped up in intensity and speed in moving the ball and in their press. We haven’t. We’ve seen yesterday’s performance all the time last season, from just the top of my head, Brighton (h), Man Utd (h), Chelsea (h), Fulham (h), Leeds (h), Arsenal (h). All home games where we looked petrified of leaving our own third against sides that didn’t even deserve that kind of respect, so the only outlet is hoofing it straight back to the opposition and they were the performances that would have seen the reaction from the crowd yesterday. This 5-3-1-1 that we’re playing is fucking terrible. It’s got wingers playing as wing backs in a system that always enables a numerical advantage to the opposition in wide areas via an overlapping full back which allows any team playing 4 at the back with attackers out wide crossing opportunities almost at will. In turn, our wing backs can’t get forward to create width of our own because they’re always back defending due to there being no outlet whatsoever other than punts up to ASM or Wilson so turnovers of possession happen almost all the time when we get the ball back. It’s got a number 10 with a slight frame who can’t defend playing in centre midfield and a very good winger playing almost like a fucking target man due to long balls being the only out ball, so our 18 yard line is always under pressure. The 3 man midfield almost as deep as the back 5 so there are absolutely zero options in the middle going forward. The formation is pretty much self fucking harm. In 2019-20 we played a back 5 all season other than away at Leicester (went down to 10 men and lost 5-0) and the last 3 games before the first lockdown; Burnley (h) which was a 0-0 draw, 2-3 win at West Brom in the FA Cup and 0-1 win at Southampton. Still we were defensively solid in 2019-20 pre COVID, especially at home. I’ve wondered whether that was defensive tendencies instilled by Benitez were yet to wear off or simply the formation played. We played 5-2-3 or 5-4-1 with ASM and Almiron out wide; that meant the numerical advantage the opposition can get in wide areas didn’t exist then as they came back and helped Manquillo and Dummett/Ritchie with the overlapping full backs of the opposition, plus because of ASM and Almiron wide with wing backs we had an out ball. Now that’s gone. We can easily go 4-2-3-1; Woodman, Manquillo, Lascelles/Fernandez, Schar, Lewis, Willock, Hayden/Shelvey, Murphy/Fraser, Almiron, ASM, Wilson. Players in their actual positions. Options going forward and (relative) protection for full backs and the centre halves. Almiron in his position which has seen his best games for us; West Brom away in the cup, Southampton at home last season. Another thing I have to say about us under Bruce is his game management is absolutely shocking. Taking the lead in the 90th minute and not winning is absolutely scandalous. Even games in the past; Leicester away, we were 0-4 up with 10 minutes left, he takes Willock and ASM off and it stripped us of our engine and pacy outlet and we end up pretty much fucking hanging on. West Brom away in the cup, Almiron gets 2 goals and plays a key part in our 3rd, Bruce takes him off, West Brom score 2 and we’re hanging on at the end again! West Ham, 2-0 up at HT, them down to 10 and guess what? We let them fucking equalise before Willock bailed us out. Absolutely shit. Then he’ll go like ‘ah it wouldn’t be Newcastle if it wasn’t dramatic’ or ‘this job should come with a health warning’. No, Steve. It’s your own tactical ineptitude you gormless cunt. He has to change things again as he’s still playing lockdown football and he won’t last this whole season whilst trying to do so imo. Admittedly probably when it’s too late, but still.

Probably tbh. Watched it today, fucking dreadful. Villa were awful yet still were able to beat us 2-0. Worrying signs. I may be clutching at straws looking at the past but the past with fans in is the only benchmark I can draw, last season barely counts to me as imo he would've gone if fans had been in during that 22 or whatever run of 2 wins.

IMO this season is going to go a similar way of 2019-20. We lost our first two games that season to garbage/average opposition too, we've just traded a decent defence and non existent attack for a non existent defence and decent attack. We won the third game on 2019-20 at Tottenham, Bruce needs to beat Southampton next week both for himself and for the club, especially as Southampton will probs lose tomorrow at home to Man United. Win next week and I'll be confident we won't go down. Fail to win and I'll start to get worried.

If he's pleased with what he saw today we're getting relegated. Sack him and bring Eddie Howe in.

Thought so

Darlow been hacked or something? Tweeted this Then retweeted this Now tweeted this

I don't think it's fully dead but it's just got to the point where its all just so boring that a lot of people just don't really care anymore. How I feel anyway. Keith, Wraith, this thread, the PL, everything has just made it unbearable to follow.

Don't mind playing a back 3/5 tbh as long as we play players in their own positions. Put actual CBs at CB and play Lewis instead of Ritchie. Hayden-Willock midfield with either Almirón behind Maxi and Wilson or as part of a front 3 with Maxi and Wilson. We have the players for 4-2-3-1 too but it'd probably be best playing that in a game like next week v Southampton.

Yeah. But we'd rather have seen Lejeune play CB than Krafth, even after 2 bad injuries. He came back fine after his first one, no reason why he couldn't again. But we'll never know.

He said that Lejeune was 'more suited to the pace of the league in Spain'. Utter bollocks.

Asked if Joelinton will ever be decent pretty much and asked why Sean Longstaff has regressed so much since his games under Benitez.

Decent questions from this bloke tbf.

"Graeme Jones does the offensive side of the team and me and Steve Agnew do the defensive side." That's why we are fucking useless at the back and useful going forward then.

This cunt is on BBC Newcastle now if anyone wants their ears to bleed.

Aye.

There's Bruce targets and Nickson targets imo. Bruce has brought in Wilson, Lewis, Hendrick, Fraser, Willock. I also think the links to Rob Holding and many British Isles based players are Bruce's targets because he hasn't got a clue about anything on the continent. Nickson is the new Carr iyam. Joelinton, ASM, Krafth, the January 2020 loanees, the links to Kamara and Cajuste. Could be completely wrong like.

I personally and tbh pretty awfully don't care about sportswashing. I should, with my own political views, but I'm just sick of the same Ashley owned monotonous dilge. I just want change. I'd take any new owners at this stage, obviously that may be risky but this is just boring, constantly shit and there's no hope of ever being better even though its clear that this club can be better. The ownership just don't want to be. The PIF takeover would see rejuvenation in the club and city a la Manchester City and is a dream takeover for me. The pisstaking from the Premier League, Big 6, Keith et al has just made me sick of it to the point where I barely follow it anymore, just follow the 90 minutes. I want change and at this stage I don't care what it is.

He was asked indirectly about it, some woman rang in and talked about the current racist issues in football and asked what he thought of the 'boo boys', which is when he talked about abuse on social media. No idea why people boo it. It just makes you look a racist, ignorant cunt. Ah well. It'll happen at almost all 20 clubs but hopefully applause and support continues to drown out people who boo.

I mean, players are never gonna slag the manager off on regional radio which will be reiterated to the national media. A lot of players probably like Bruce. Because he gives them loads of time off and lets them do whatever they want on the training ground.

I get what you're saying but someone could easily use that argument as to why Shelvey looks largely piss poor in this team rather than he's just shit. I've not seen any glimpses from him to suggest he's a good footballer at this level since the start of 2019-20 and that was some time ago. Maybe Man United (h) when his brother scored the winner? But even then it was his brother who was getting the deserved praise and Matty's the poor bastard who never gets played! I've watched the highlights of Leeds away last season to jog my memory and he's responsible for three of their goals. Three. I suppose I need more convincing and I'm not sure that it's gonna be here. A £10m+ move would probably be best for all parties, especially if it means Matty finally gets his chance in the team again. I doubt it though.

He's been terrible for a while now, mind. That performance away at Leeds last season was AIDS inducing, two of his set plays were so bad they led to breaks which Leeds scored twice from. A better manager like Benitez would get more from him, or any player of ours for that matter tbh. But I've seen nowt since March 2019(!) since he picked up his injury to suggest those 8 games were anything but a purple patch. Yes, the common difference between those 8 games and the 2 seasons since was the manager, but surely we would've seen a positive glimpse since then? We may have done but nothing whatsoever springs to mind. After his form over the last 2 seasons I'd cash in tbh for £10m+ if it means we get a suitable replacement. ( )