Mick Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Imagine being able to influence it more when you don't have to use two subs on your fullbacks because they're radgies Hopefully Colback is now a thing of the past. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Little thing, but I was impressed by how he handled the Mitrovic fiasco. Came in here to say that as well. Wouldn't say it was a fiasco mind, everyone handled it the way it should have been. Mitro being the mad bastard that he is was always going to fight to come back on, but fair play to the medical team and Rafa for not allowing him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBG Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Aye, I think Mitro would've nutted McClaren in the same situation Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Little thing, but I was impressed by how he handled the Mitrovic fiasco. Came in here to say that as well. Wouldn't say it was a fiasco mind, everyone handled it the way it should have been. Mitro being the mad bastard that he is was always going to fight to come back on, but fair play to the medical team and Rafa for not allowing him. Real professionalism from Rafa. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Aye, I think Mitro would've nutted McClaren in the same situation I would have paid good money to see that mind Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St1pe Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 The first half was tactically awful. Massive gap in midfield which allowed them so much pressure. HOWEVER, the mark of a good manager is how they can change the game. His subs weren't like for like...they were what was needed. They all had a positive effect on the shape of the game. Loved how he properly talked to the oncoming player. Loved how he handled Mitro in mental mode. The biggest stress with relegation isn't losing PL status...it's losing this guy. Painful truth there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
loki679 Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Thought he screwed up a bit with the tactics today. I don't really like this 4-4-2 he's going with, we're starved of width and weak in the middle of the park. De Jong playing as a 10 off Mitro might help as he links up the play quite well but I hope this isn't what he's looking at long term. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shak Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Sissoko left, Townsend right needs to go away sharpish. No threat down the flanks playing like that. Especially ridiculous when we've got Mitrovic at CF. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Thought he screwed up a bit with the tactics today. I don't really like this 4-4-2 he's going with, we're starved of width and weak in the middle of the park. De Jong playing as a 10 off Mitro might help as he links up the play quite well but I hope this isn't what he's looking at long term. I think that's down to not being familiar with our players. He probably didn't realise how slow Colback is until he's seen him being roasted by Borini. It might take him another 2 or 3 games to come up with a workable line up. We don't really have the games but that's the situation we are in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallowgate Toon Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Not entirely sure what to make of that, tactically. I thought Perez simply wasn't doing his bit as a 10, when it came to the defensive work, and de Jong instantly improved our flow with his retention and positioning - this stopped their midfield getting so much time and space. Perez was much more dangerous when out wide, he just couldn't move in the middle and didn't seem up for the battle; Kirchoff owned him on 3 or 4 occasions. Not keen on Sissoko left at all - we need to have at least one winger on his correct foot to get balls in, Sissoko slowed so many moves down by not wanting to get on his wrong peg. Still, he recognised what was wrong as we went on and had a plan, that much was obvious at least. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Think this fortnight international break might've come at the right time for us. 4-4-2 didn't seem to work for us today, need to either work on that or get 2 weeks of something else trained before the Norwich game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 You could see the thinking though, I guess just we underestimated how effective Kirchoff would be. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AY Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 De jong has been so poor he again brought nothing to the game. But 2nd half was a big improvement so team talk and tactics change worked at least. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest firetotheworks Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Sissoko left, Townsend right needs to go away sharpish. No threat down the flanks playing like that. Especially ridiculous when we've got Mitrovic at CF. It's supposed to be the full backs that provide the width and the overlap so that Sissoko and Townsend can cut inside, but we don't have the players for it. I'm not sure putting Townsend on the left is a good idea though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deuce Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 De jong has been so poor he again brought nothing to the game. But 2nd half was a big improvement so team talk and tactics change worked at least. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Benitez will learn more about his players during a game than he ever will during training. He'll make mistakes because he might have too much faith in players he doesn't really know yet but he got us a point that we wouldn't have had without him. I'll give him 8 out of 10 again today for the simple reason that he's still learning but is also effective with his changes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 De jong has been so poor he again brought nothing to the game. But 2nd half was a big improvement so team talk and tactics change worked at least. De Jong is tactically much smarter than Perez. His positional play between the lines creates space for other players, bringing him on changed the game IMO. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Open_C Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Game changing substitutions Man, we've been missing this forever Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dontooner Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Surprised how little we improved today. 10% atmost. I am not getting on Rafa's back by any means but we still play like strangers. This is the most diffcult thing to fix, i am sure Rafa will get it eventually but we might not have enough time. We need to start playing like a team if we want to get out of this and now its doesn't look like its moving that way yet. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Figures 1-0 Football Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Who knew managers could see a shit performance, change it a bit at HT and then make substitutions that come off well and improve the game Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaKa Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Surprised how little we improved today. 10% atmost. I am not getting on Rafa's back by any means but we still play like strangers. This is the most diffcult thing to fix, i am sure Rafa will get it eventually but we might not have enough time. We need to start playing like a team if we want to get out of this and now its doesn't look like its moving that way yet. In his first two games he has tried different starting lineups. I really love that. You can see he's trying to find the right formula. Our squad is oddly balanced and none of us yet know how best to utilise the players either. He'll get it right because he's clearly making the right subs so he knows when it isn't quite working. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallsendmag Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Great manager working with an absolute shower of sh!t unfortunately. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nufcjb Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 A weak manager would have taken Perez and Mitrovic off and put Cisse and De Jong on for them. But Rafa kept all his attacking players on bar Townsend and kept faith in them. It paid off. Think he'll get rid of Sissoko on the left. Think he was only there to protect Colback. If we have one of our LB back, then Townsend would be there again. Sissoko can't go on one of his driving runs with his right foot playing on the left. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarrenBartonCentrePartin Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Youtube: Newcastle 1-1 Sunderland | Rafa Benitez Post Match Interview Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Figures 1-0 Football Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Bit of a shit time for an international break. Another week working intensely with the players would have been good before Norwich rather than players travelling far and wide for very little purpose/benefit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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