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Parker: We're in a relegation dogfight


Guest smoggeordie

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Guest smoggeordie

Scott Parker left Charlton because he wanted to play in the Champions League. On Saturday night he accepted Newcastle are now in a relegation dogfight - and his place in the England squad is scant consolation.

 

Parker did not expect life to be like this when he left The Valley for Chelsea in 2004 for £10million and moved on to Newcastle for £6.5m in June last year.

 

But he is not to blame for the dramatic downturn at St James' Park. He has inherited the captain's armband from the retired Alan Shearer - and no small share of his popularity.

 

But his side have problems in every department bar goalkeeping. And not being able to see off his old club, who were woeful, did not help his mood.

 

Newcastle have won only one of their last nine in the Premiership matches and, when the 26-year-old was asked if his side were in a relegation fight, he said: 'Yes, of course, that's the reality we are in. We are near the bottom of the table and it isn't looking good.

 

'We could go through the season saying we are playing well and not winning games - but that doesn't keep you in the league. We need to win games, and if that means playing rubbish and winning then so be it.

 

'The performance is certainly there but the points aren't. For 60 or 70 minutes on Saturday we dominated the game and looked a class above them. If you don't put your chances away, which we didn't, it is going to be harder as the game goes on.'

 

Primarily that was because they could not take their chances, the makeshift strikeforce of Giuseppe Rossi - who was involved in a first-half collision with Scott Carson that left the Charlton goalkeeper needing attention on the pitch - and Damien Duff spurning opportunities in both halves.

 

More worryingly, there is nothing to replace them. The sight of Shearer handing cheques to charity last week was a reminder of what the club have lost.

 

Shola Ameobi is in desperate need of a hip operation and Obafemi Martins, the £10.5m summer signing who has scored once in the Premiership, will be sidelined for three weeks with a hamstring injury.

 

Parker added: 'When the window shut we knew we were light in the striker department. It is showing at the moment. We have to keep battling on. We can't whinge, we just have to get on with it.

 

'Most of us are used to winning games and being at the other end of the table.

 

'Mentally, we have to be strong in these situations. We all know we should be up the league and doing better than we are doing. It's hard. You come in after the game thinking what more could we have done.

 

'Personally I think it's the best we have played for a long while and I include last year in that, I really do. There's no doubt we should be up the table, we are a big enough club to be up there.'

 

Manager Glenn Roeder is not wavering in the belief that the situation can be turned around, but he has admitted that Newcastle are running out of bodies.

 

He said: 'The squad are being tested to their limits. I don't like the description bare bones but we are short on numbers. We have five or six not available over the next couple of weeks.'

 

Chairman Freddy Shepherd appears to be backing Roeder but he warned in his programme notes: 'We have a lot of quality in our playing squad and have spent good money on players who now have to repay our faith by producing the goods where it matters.'

 

In contrast, Charlton manager Iain Dowie could not quite believe his team picked up a point, his first away from the Valley this season, and played down a spat with the substituted Marcus Bent, who did not shake his manager's hand as he left the field.

 

Dowie said: 'I made sure I shook hands with him at the end of the game. It was just disappointment because he wants to play every minute of every game just like Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and the others. You don't expect players to be happy about being taken off. Things are fine now.

 

'We didn't play well enough to come here and win but we have another clean sheet and we have to build on that.'

 

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Goodness me. Did anyone feel the weight of reality dropping onto them for the first time after reading these quotes?

 

Fuckin' hell.

 

I join the ranks of the diminished spirits, and suddenly feel very sick.

 

Still think it's bullsh*t, tbh.

 

COME ON YOU TOON!

 

(I feel like a creationist conservative fighting an illogical battle - or is that something they call faith?)

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Goodness me. Did anyone feel the weight of reality dropping onto them for the first time after reading these quotes?

 

more a feeling of relief really! At least our captain knows what's going on, and isnt delusional about our situation thinking we're doing great.

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Goodness me. Did anyone feel the weight of reality dropping onto them for the first time after reading these quotes?

 

Fuckin' hell.

 

I join the ranks of the diminished spirits, and suddenly feel very sick.

 

Still think it's bullsh*t, tbh.

 

COME ON YOU TOON!

 

(I feel like a creationist conservative fighting an illogical battle - or is that something they call faith?)

 

The club has been reduced to a position that we will have great difficulty recovering from.  Sadly shouting COME ON YOU TOON! gets us diddly as long as the wrong people remain in power.

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Humiliation in Sicily is almost expected at the moment - losing to Sheffield United at home will be the breaking point...

 

Sure, but if Palermo are on top form and the scoreline gets embarassing then I don't think Roeder will survive it.  Comments like 'we could go through the season saying we are playing well and not winning games - but that doesn't keep you in the league' aren't just worrying - they are more or less directly contradicting statements from the manager.  I don't particularly know why, but I don't see him surviving a hammering on Thursday.  Again, I don't know if it will solve any problems.  I blame the chairman, I blame the manager, but I also blame the squad - most of whom aren't good enough.

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Guest Ridzuan

Cant blame Parker for saying such thing,but I still think such comments should not be said at the moment where morale is low.But we have to face with the harsh reality that we are currently in a relegation dogfight.However the season is still long to go and we will need to perform much much better,and most importantly scores goals if we want to move up the table or we will still be in this state come January.

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Guest nufcandy

I couldn't believe Simon Bird's comments in today's Mirror. Saying things are bad but not as bad as the Souness shambles.

 

IS HE TAKING THE P*SS! We were bad last year but never this f*cking shambolic.

 

i dont think they are as bad as the souness area, he was a 100% arsehole and glen isnt

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I couldn't believe Simon Bird's comments in today's Mirror. Saying things are bad but not as bad as the Souness shambles.

 

IS HE TAKING THE P*SS! We were bad last year but never this f*cking shambolic.

 

i dont think they are as bad as the souness area, he was a 100% arsehole and glen isnt

 

Souness at worst we were a 13-15th placed side. Under Roeder we could easily finish worse than that.

 

 

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Guest nufcandy

I couldn't believe Simon Bird's comments in today's Mirror. Saying things are bad but not as bad as the Souness shambles.

 

IS HE TAKING THE P*SS! We were bad last year but never this f*cking shambolic.

 

i dont think they are as bad as the souness area, he was a 100% arsehole and glen isnt

 

Souness at worst we were a 13-15th placed side. Under Roeder we could easily finish worse than that.

 

 

 

this well sound stupid and petty but the black cloud that souness brought was blown away a long time ago and even now when were lingering around at the bottom i have full faith that we'll find a way out whereas with souness i just didnt, he was killing our club

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Guest Invicta_Toon

Parker added: 'When the window shut we knew we were light in the striker department. It is showing at the moment.

 

So Parker admits Luque is shite then  blueyes.gif

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Parker added: 'When the window shut we knew we were light in the striker department. It is showing at the moment.

 

So Parker admits Luque is shite then  blueyes.gif

 

Only if he sees Luque as a striker. More likely that he doesn't even think of him at all.

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Parker added: 'When the window shut we knew we were light in the striker department. It is showing at the moment.

 

So Parker admits Luque is shite then  blueyes.gif

 

Now it would hardly be very captain-like or good for Roeder's hopes if he came out and said, "Why the fack we've got a £9m player on the bench when we can't score for sh*t is beyond me".

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umm lets sack the manager and let fat fred put another muppet in his place ,an neverending cycle where we all know the inevitable outcome .no new manager lined up (how many times have we seen that happen lads and lasses),if by any chance fat fred starts to get his act together and shows true ambition and has a top flight manager lined up we are on the road to nowhere again. he must realise the mess he has made and how hated he is by the fans .But he can never see the big picture and show TRUE AMBITION always meddling looking for the glory signings leaving everything to the last minute in the majority of his transfer dealings.god i wish i could be positive about things but all i can see is gloom ahead unless the leopard can change his spots.

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Just read this on SS website, and it shocked me when I first saw the headline, but after reading it, I agree completely with Sparker.

 

I'm actually panicking a lot. Not happy at all. We need results. :(

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