Steve McClaren

[Ronaldo]

Absolute minimum of 3 points from the next 2 games or I think my patience runs out.

[Ikon]

How many "must win" games has there been lately?

[Gallowgate Toon]

Absolute minimum of 3 points from the next 2 games or I think my patience runs out.

 

 

The football has improved/is improving, yes, but it has to start turning into results pretty quickly.

[Mattoon]

How many "must win" games has there been lately?

 

There's been a lot of winnable games recently but with the dross around our dross dropping points we've not been cut adrift. The Bournemouth game is against a team that will be in and around the bottom 3 at seasons end so it is assuredly a must win or there will be daylight between us and safety.

[ohmelads]

The time to lose hope is when results AND performances are sh*te. That's what happened under Pardew and Carver. We're playing alright now and deserved to win the last 2 games. The results are poor but the performances offer hope. Villa and the mackems don't have any positive performances to cling onto but we've shown enough.

 

McClaren wasn't my preferred choice, but so long as we're dominating these sorts of teams I'll get behind him (in the absence of any realistic alternative). The league table looks miserable right now but we look better than a fair few sides in this division and we seem to be improving. Some teams started well but have faded, and will continue to do so. We're not gonna do anything amazing this season, it's too late for that, but at least there seems to be some sort of footballing philosophy as opposed to just hanging on for dear life and launching long balls to pacy wingers. It's a work in progress but there are signs there. Yes it's 1 point from 2 winnable games but any neutral would tell you we deserved 6. If we can maintain it the points will come.

[George Bailey]

The time to lose hope is when results AND performances are sh*te. That's what happened under Pardew and Carver. We're playing alright now and deserved to win the last 2 games. The results are poor but the performances offer hope. Villa and the mackems don't have any positive performances to cling onto but we've shown enough.

 

McClaren wasn't my preferred choice, but so long as we're dominating these sorts of teams I'll get behind him (in the absence of any realistic alternative). The league table looks miserable right now but we look better than a fair few sides in this division and we seem to be improving. Some teams started well but have faded, and will continue to do so. We're not gonna do anything amazing this season, it's too late for that, but at least there seems to be some sort of footballing philosophy as opposed to just hanging on for dear life and launching long balls to pacy wingers. It's a work in progress but there are signs there. Yes it's 1 point from 2 winnable games but any neutral would tell you we deserved 6. If we can maintain it the points will come.

 

 

We drew nil nil and lost three zip.

 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

We did deserve two wins though.

[Yorkie]

Draw was a fair result yesterday. Aye we had the better of it but Butland's performance is slightly overplayed; there were no worldies amongst those saves. Yesterday wasn't an injustice like the Mackem game, we just couldn't beat the keeper.

 

I'm not panicking yet, though. I agree with whoever said the time to be panicking would be if we were playing shit and losing every week. That isn't happening, we've played absolutely shit-tons worse than what we are currently.

[George Bailey]

Maybe, but we got one point.

 

How many sides have pointed to the 'oh we should have won that game' or the 'we deserved better' lines right up until the point they disappear down the plug hole.

 

Results are everything, whether that's harsh or not. One of the most successful managers in recent football is hanging by a thread due to results. So our failure of a manager is gonna have questions asked.

I just don't see us getting out of it with him.

Hope I am wrong, but we need inspirational leadership, something 'left fieldish' imo.

[HawK]

Maybe, but we got one point.

 

How many sides have pointed to the 'oh we should have won that game' or the 'we deserved better' lines right up until the point they disappear down the plug hole.

 

Results are everything, whether that's harsh or not. One of the most successful managers in recent football is hanging by a thread due to results. So our failure of a manager is gonna have questions asked.

I just don't see us getting out of it with him.

Hope I am wrong, but we need inspirational leadership, something 'left fieldish' imo.

 

Not many teams have regularly outplayed their opponents and been relegated tbh. The point is regularly, these performances need to be week in, week out till the end of the season.

[Disco]

Maybe, but we got one point.

 

How many sides have pointed to the 'oh we should have won that game' or the 'we deserved better' lines right up until the point they disappear down the plug hole.

 

Results are everything, whether that's harsh or not. One of the most successful managers in recent football is hanging by a thread due to results. So our failure of a manager is gonna have questions asked.

I just don't see us getting out of it with him.

Hope I am wrong, but we need inspirational leadership, something 'left fieldish' imo.

 

Not many teams have regularly outplayed their opponents and been relegated tbh. The point is regularly, these performances need to be week in, week out till the end of the season.

 

We haven't regularly outplayed our opponents though. We've done it 2-3 times max.

[The College Dropout]

One thing I've noticed, is this renewed ability to conjure up chance after chance which hasn't be seen for a long, long time. Perhaps going back to the Championship season. Throughout the Pardew era, it was sneaking wins through clinical Ba or Cisse finishes, or a moment of magic from Ben Arfa or Cabaye. Rarely did we dominate and even in the games we won by 2 or 3 goals, it was rarely a total battering.

 

Derby last few seasons were similar to the way we are starting to play, in that they would dominate possession and stamp their authority on a lot of games. So that in itself is pleasing to see.

 

In a way, I'm thinking that Mitrovic and Perez, whilst they dovetail very well indeed, aren't the most clinical in the world. But Cisse actually is pretty clinical if you give him chances, he has scored in utter turgid teams that created very little from just one or two chances per game. The 5th season was probably best in terms of chance creation and confidence being high, and he filled his boots.

 

Would anyone else be tempted to go 4-3-3 - like the Keegan inspired Owen, Viduka and Martins, but with Perez in the Owen role, Mitrovic as the Viduka and Cisse as Martins (albeit with more poaching, clinical prowess instead of pure speed or athleticism). Behind them, you could then play Wijnaldum, Sissoko and then Anita (or Tiote) as the defensive lynchpin. There would be a lot of pressure on the wing backs  - Janmaat and in this case you would need to play Haidara.

 

I think it would actually yield a real goal threat - more so than we have currently. As Cisse's movement not only will result in goals for him, but free up space for the likes of Mitrovic and Perez. Sissoko and Wijnaldum could cover one another with their drives up the field but would need to ensure Anita (or Tiote) stay back at all times to cover defensively.

 

Thoughts? 

 

 

 

I think Cisse is done here, he wont be risked on the pitch as from the sounds of it they are hoping to move him on to free up salary space for new incomers.

 

I think you're right there but I do wonder how many goals Mitro and Perez will actually produce themselves. They both hold the ball up well so it looks like we are going to be relying on goals from supporting midfielders as much as the front two. While they are both excellent players, they aren't going to score the goals that Vardie and Mahrez will as a front pair.

 

This to me is a massive issue. We don't have a Cisse, Ba or Remy to get us out of jail. Before if we could keep it tight, we had a striker with a bit of magic to win it. Now? It's not their. The passing is nice but we don't have a genuine goalscorer (so far). We needed to sign a 25 year old who had consistently done the business.

[The College Dropout]

Dominating games against crap teams and not winning isn't a good sign you know. What happens when eventually we don't perform at all - oh yeah 0-2 Watford & West Ham. What happens when we play well? Don't score or concede a minimum of 2.

[HawK]

Maybe, but we got one point.

 

How many sides have pointed to the 'oh we should have won that game' or the 'we deserved better' lines right up until the point they disappear down the plug hole.

 

Results are everything, whether that's harsh or not. One of the most successful managers in recent football is hanging by a thread due to results. So our failure of a manager is gonna have questions asked.

I just don't see us getting out of it with him.

Hope I am wrong, but we need inspirational leadership, something 'left fieldish' imo.

 

Not many teams have regularly outplayed their opponents and been relegated tbh. The point is regularly, these performances need to be week in, week out till the end of the season.

 

We haven't regularly outplayed our opponents though. We've done it 2-3 times max.

 

That's my point we've looked better the past few games overall than at the start of the season, it's better to see a team improving than declining, no?

[Disco]

Maybe, but we got one point.

 

How many sides have pointed to the 'oh we should have won that game' or the 'we deserved better' lines right up until the point they disappear down the plug hole.

 

Results are everything, whether that's harsh or not. One of the most successful managers in recent football is hanging by a thread due to results. So our failure of a manager is gonna have questions asked.

I just don't see us getting out of it with him.

Hope I am wrong, but we need inspirational leadership, something 'left fieldish' imo.

 

Not many teams have regularly outplayed their opponents and been relegated tbh. The point is regularly, these performances need to be week in, week out till the end of the season.

 

We haven't regularly outplayed our opponents though. We've done it 2-3 times max.

 

That's my point we've looked better the past few games overall than at the start of the season, it's better to see a team improving than declining, no?

 

Of course but we could barely get any worse and we've not improved anywhere near enough. It's going to be too late soon.

[Disco]

Derby gone to absolute shit since he left.

[Foluwashola]

Derby gone to absolute shit since he left.

 

Dropped the best part of £20 mil in the summer tbf.

[lovejoy]

Derby gone to absolute s*** since he left.

 

Dropped the best part of £20 mil in the summer tbf.

 

Already had a canny solid foundation to build from as well, which was his doing, tbf.

 

 

[Guest JS]

Steve McClaren: Newcastle United still confident despite poor results

 

• Manager to persevere with playing style and hopes it will produce wins soon

• Newcastle head to Bournemouth with only one win in past eight games

 

Steve McClaren knows he must hold his nerve, keep the faith and remain patient. Newcastle United may be stuck in the relegation zone but recent weeks have seen their manager’s efforts on the training pitches transposed into some increasingly attractive performances.

 

Bad luck has distorted certain results – McClaren’s team did not deserve to lose at Sunderland and, on another day, would surely have beaten Stoke City – but the 54-year-old accepts that, ultimately, he will be judged on points accrued.

 

Despite assorted, and legitimate, mitigating factors, one Premier League win all season – 6-2 at home to Norwich City – is not good enough and the former England coach appears suitably anxious to translate potential into another victory at Bournemouth on Saturday. Otherwise morale will become ever harder to sustain.

 

“Sometimes in football you just have to believe – and we do believe,” he said. “We think we’re going in the right direction now and we have to maintain that confidence and that belief but it’s about getting results. To keep that belief going you eventually need wins. We hope they will come.”

 

Newcastle’s relentlessly disappointing results should be seen in the context of their manager’s attempts to transform them from a direct pragmatic, counterattacking unit into a more attractive, attacking and possession-based side built on controlled passing interspersed with rapid changes of pace.

 

Creating this new identity has not been easy but, quietly encouraged by the work in progress unfolding before their eyes, fans have largely stayed supportive.

 

“You’ve got to establish who you are and I think Newcastle fans want to see attacking football and their team go for it,” said McClaren. “We’re trying to embrace that while also getting the right defensive balance.

 

“We can go on and be better but it’s just about taking those first steps at the moment. We’re trying to get consistency in style of play and performance. It’s been frustrating but if we keep performing like this we’ll eventually get the rub of the green and the results we deserve.

 

“The fans have been fantastic with us. We called for patience from day one and they’ve been great. The players have been commenting on that and we’ve tried to embrace it by connecting with those supporters. It’s difficult but we’ll persevere with trying to connect.”

 

McClaren has short shrift for those who subscribe to the theory that his efforts are doomed to failure as the south’s economic pulling power will inevitably ensure the game’s powerbase moves incrementally ever closer to London.

 

According to exponents of this thesis, players will be increasingly attracted to playing for southern-based clubs such as Bournemouth, leaving the north-east, especially, increasingly marginalised and irrelevant.

 

“I’ve moved around, I’ve lived down south and abroad but the north is a very nice place to be,” said McClaren. “The north-east is a very nice place to live. When I was at Middlesbrough we were attractive to foreign players and I think we attract very good players at Newcastle.”

 

Víctor Valdés, Manchester United’s unwanted former Barcelona goalkeeper, was reportedly keen to come to St James’ Park on an emergency loan this week but fears that Rob Elliot’s groin injury would sideline him at Bournemouth have proved unfounded.

 

McClaren can only hope Elliot is able to repel everything Eddie Howe’s team throws at him. “I’ve been impressed with Eddie, I like him,” said Newcastle’s manager. “I like his manner and the way his teams play, especially their style of football.

 

“He goes about the job in such a calm manner. He’s very modern, very attack-minded and has created a good team ethic. What he’s built at Bournemouth to get that club in the Premier League is a great achievement.

 

“Eddie has the potential to be a future England manager. He plays the game in the right way, with the right style, the right temperament and the right emotional control.”

 

He is attempting to create something similar on Tyneside. “Our players have looked like they enjoy our style,” says McClaren. “Eventually it will get us results.”

 

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/nov/06/steve-mcclaren-newcastle-united-confident-bournemouth

 

 

[DJ_NUFC]

Trying to build a Bournemouth here. Get the fuck outta here.

[Dokko]

Just completely ran out of patience with him. He's got till the end of this match to prove he's up to Premiership level or i'll be firmly in the out camp.

 

 

[TRon]

Needs to be sacked ASAP. Howe has shown he knows far more about setting out effective formations and he's still a teenager. Just fuck off McClaren.

[Ikon]

Just completely ran out of patience with him. He's got till the end of this match to prove he's up to Premiership level or i'll be firmly in the out camp.

 

 

[Guest Howaythetoon]

I heard him shout "control the ball" a few times during the match, he can't even control his fucking hair the daft shite.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

That first half was like watching a Big Sam, Pardew and Carver team rolled into one, utter toss.