Newcastle United 0-2 Manchester United (26/02/2023)

[Ste]

Haven’t really seen much criticism and I was posting while watching in the second half. I posted about Karius maybe doing better for the second goal but nowt over the top like. 

[Wandy]

3 hours ago, Stifler said:

They are nothing special. They are in a false position in the league mainly down to the fact that everyone seems to be having an average at best season.

This run of form they are jacking themselves about isn't that impressive. Watch the games they play in, they are losing large spells of games where they are 2nd best. Heck if Leeds didn’t have that drop off towards the end of games that teams at the bottom have, they would have taken 4 points off them in the last month.

They didn’t even win their group in the Europa League.

They look bang fucking average with 1 really good player, and another having the form of his life that he’s never shown before, and will probably not show again once this season is over.

If the referee didn’t practically score their 1st goal for them yesterday, the only way they would have won is on penalties.

Next season you would expect Chelsea, Liverpool, and Spurs to be stronger. The fight will be harder for them to reach the top.

They will be nicely distracted by a takeover which if it does happen, will end up being leveraged as fuck, further limiting their ability to invest. On top of that in the coming years they are pretty much going to have to rebuild Old Trafford, again this will limit spending.

 

It’s alright though, because they keep raving about a manager who did well at a club who only have to turn up to win their league, and sacked off 1 of the best Premier League defenders this season for someone who was found at this level, fucking genius isn’t he?

 

You are just coming off as massively bitter here. They are just that bit better than us, and beat us fair and square. Ten Hag is proving himself to be an excellent manager and is getting their squad to perform at its '"best levels" as our Eddie would say. They are a definite outside bet for the title right now, but only if City & Arsenal slip up massively.

 

The great thing for us is that we aren't too far behind them. Their squad is stronger but their first 11 is only slightly better. We didn't get any luck yesterday but if we did the result might have been different.

 

As regards their support, they absolutely do have a massive amount of aggressive, mouthy wankers in it. But one thing you can never level at them is that they are quiet. They genuinely have some of the loudest support, home and away, and yesterday was no different. They are an odd bunch though, and their confidence in themselves is actually quite brittle. They know that everyone in the country loathes them so they use that as their energy to drive them. Its quite weird, they are the biggest club in the country yet have a backs-to-the wall mentality, hence why a lot of their songs are about denigrating other clubs. Their fragility though shows immediately when in games they go a goal or two down, or the game is lost. That's when they go silent. So although their support is loud, it's not actually that impressive because when the chips are down they are found wanting. They are just fortunate enough that they have always had a team good enough so that their support is never really tested, and it's where their arrogance comes from. They are the footballing equivalent of a bully, shouting and screaming in people's faces and trying to intimidate, but they sharp shut the fuck up if someone puts them in their box.

 

As for Froggy, I'm just annoyed that he has been proved right with his "we aren't keeping up with you....you are keeping up with us" comment. 

[Ste]

It felt like a repeat of the Liverpool game, but with less bite and 11 players on the pitch. We equip ourselves well but seem prone now to a mini collapse. All the signs are there that given the time, Howe has us set up well and with added quality up front and in midfield, we’re laughing. 

[The Butcher]

Man Utd subbed off a 100m winger and put on another 100m winger. We had Jacob Murphy coming on.

 

We're miles away in terms of quality in the squad.

[GeordieDazzler]

I’d argue that Antony isn’t  a £100m winger (I know he is as that’s what they paid). They got some great players but he isn’t one. Brazilian Ryan Babel.

[Scotty66]

So that was the fourth final I've seen played at Wembley. 3 for Newcastle and 1 for England and we've lost them all 

 

Absolutely shit feeling but fully behind Eddie. We made a decent account of ourselves and we'll only get stronger from here. 

 

Now let's get that European football in the bag for next season!

[Whitley mag]

I think Jack has hit the nail on the head re our support yesterday. My experience was that we were fucking great all weekend, took over the bars and created a great spectacle at Trafalgar. We still have a large element of lad support as witnessed at Trafalgar, around Kings Cross/Euston and Baker Street pre match. 
 

However, the make up of our support in the ground yesterday was very mixed, nowt wrong with that football has moved on. But here lies the problem their fanbase yesterday seemed to have a lot more match going lad types and they did create a big noise inside Wembley, it certainly helped that they we’re winning but our end just never got going like theirs bar maybe at the very start and at the end when the flags came out.

 

They’re horrible arrogant cunts undoubtedly but they have a large hardcore of fans, our end did have a feel of day trippers yesterday, which considering it was season ticket holders in the main is worrying.

 

As someone else said for not one rendition of the Blaydon Races to ring out around Wembley is a pretty sad state of affairs.

 

 

 

[The Prophet]

Reflecting on it, the first 25 minutes or so was the killer. As suspected Man United were slow out of the blocks, ASM had a couple of half opportunities and we opened them up with a lovely ball across the six yard area that no one attacked bizarrely. If we take the lead, we have a fighting chance.

 

It hurt to go behind in dubious circumstances, compounded by a highly unfortunate second, but once Man United got their noses in front there was only one winner. They were happy to let us have the ball, while they packed the middle of the park and forced us wide, confident they'd have enough experience and nous to see it out and they did. We huffed and puffed, but just didn't have the quality to find a breakthrough, either on the pitch or the bench. 

[The College Dropout]

2 minutes ago, GeordieDazzler said:

I’d argue that Antony isn’t  a £100m winger (I know he is as that’s what they paid). They got some great players but he isn’t one. Brazilian Ryan Babel.

He's not. But he's better than Almiron & Murphy.

[gbandit]

Wouldn’t say the match was decided by a major gulf in class, but by them being extremely solid and clinical in two moments. If we’d gone two up I don’t think we’d have been able to kill the game as well as them so fair play to them for that. Just annoying that they didn’t really create a ton of opportunities or overrun us but they still had a really easy time of it overall. The main take aways are that we need more creativity in midfield and more direct pace / trickery on the wings. I’ve always backed Maxi and I still love him, he was one of our better players on the day but I don’t think he’s going to be a part of our future. We need someone who’s probably a bit more orthodox and can play in Eddie’s system. As an individual he can create something out of nothing but I don’t think he’ll ever be amazing at linking in with other players due to his reading of the game 

[Rafalove]

Watching on the telly, it seemed as though both sets of fans contributed equally to the atmosphere up until the goal went in. Our lot went quiet, their lot perked up.

[WilliamPS]

In the past year Newcastle have spent about the same as Man Utd, but they were starting from a top 6 club and we were starting rock bottom in the PL.

 

Its no surprise they have better depth.

They lost Eriksen and bring in a Brazil starting international. Whereas when Bruno got suspended and it was bare bones. Deep in the season this matters.

 

Be another few transfer windows to get close 

[Guest]

Just now, WilliamPS said:

In the past year Newcastle have spent about the same as Man Utd, but they were starting from a top 6 club and we were starting rock bottom in the PL.

 

Its no surprise they have better depth.

They lost Eriksen and bring in a Brazil starting international. Whereas when Bruno got suspended and it was bare bones. Deep in the season this matters.

 

Be another few transfer windows to get close 

 

They have a right-back on a yellow and can throw on a £45m back-up at Half-time. It's incredible that we've went toe-to-toe with them over half a season. We're a good 4-5 years before we get to that stage you'd think.

[Collage]

I’m still gutted. Would never be easy but 0-2 again…was hoping for a bit of luck and that we would give them a proper match. They were lucky, got the goals pretty easily and at the wrong time for us. Too easy in the end for them.

[Wandy]

11 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

I think Jack has hit the nail on the head re our support yesterday. My experience was that we were fucking great all weekend, took over the bars and created a great spectacle at Trafalgar. We still have a large element of lad support as witnessed at Trafalgar, around Kings Cross/Euston and Baker Street pre match. 
 

However, the make up of our support in the ground yesterday was very mixed, nowt wrong with that football has moved on. But here lies the problem their fanbase yesterday seemed to have a lot more match going lad types and they did create a big noise inside Wembley, it certainly helped that they we’re winning but our end just never got going like theirs bar maybe at the very start and at the end when the flags came out.

 

They’re horrible arrogant cunts undoubtedly but they have a large hardcore of fans, our end did have a feel of day trippers yesterday, which considering it was season ticket holders in the main is worrying.

 

As someone else said for not one rendition of the Blaydon Races to ring out around Wembley is a pretty sad state of affairs.

 

Going over old ground here but it's clear that the 10k who walked a few years ago has had a very serious detrimental effect on our support. Those who walked have been replaced by spectators. The only way its going to be rectified is by creating a very large section of SJP safe standing and a major reorganisation of ST holders. In addition, more season tickets need to be made available in the newly-created singing section so that as many of the 10k singing lads can get back in.

 

It's something that the club need to be made aware of urgently, and I really want Wor Flags and the trust to start banging on their door about it.

 

There also needs to be a specific thread started on here, addressing match atmosphere, so we can have proper discussions about it. To much of the debates about it are lost in match threads and the SJP one. The SJP one should be about the stadium itself and not the atmosphere.

 

With regards to yesterday, I can only comment on what I heard on the TV in a bar. When we were singing as one it sounded massively loud. There were definitely times when Man Utd sounded equally as loud though. As I said in the other post though, a lot of their noise comes from the arrogance/belief that their team instills in them. If they had to watch most of our teams over the last 50 years or so their support would be garbage.

[LFEE]

Well I’ve been down here since Thursday and have found it heartwarming seeing our fans absolutely everywhere. Every street, pub, station they couldn’t be avoided. Took until Saturday evening until I stumbled across one Man Utd fan and as always singing about Shearer ? Took until an hour before KO before them to start appearing in small numbers on underground heading towards Wembley Park. Seem to recall it being the same in 99. Always found it a bit baffling. 
 

As for the game however apart from pre match build up and final minutes of defiance our lot were very poor on the day. I was in the safe standing as hoped to be beside likeminded fans but it was flat as a fart to the point I turned on everyone around questioning if this was the East Stand. From previous experiences I knew unless we scored early there probably wouldn’t be much chanting as the occasion tends to be more nervous once the game kicks off than for the players. I appreciate the team didn’t give them loads to shout about but still all things considered possibly the worst away game I’ve done in all my years from an atmosphere point of view. I’ll be kind and suggest maybe our lot partied too hard for 48hrs and the hangovers were kicking in ?

 

Performance sadly was exactly as I expected. Regardless of league position we are playing the best/hardest team in the country “in this moment” and a team that matches up well against what we are good at and to add to the mix we are “out of our moment”. Just hoping I’m wrong in my fears that the season drops off both on and off the pitch if Bruno is out again and Willock clearly not fit. My hope is we now have a simple focus with no distractions like others. Gordon will be eligible now and I’m hoping Isak might replace Longstaff in certain games after a bright cameo in a deeper position to what we’ve seen him in previous. Both these changes if made I’m hoping will make us less predictable as I do fear we’ve become that these last two month.

 

Hope all those who travelled from far and wide had a great time back in Newcastle regardless. Back Tuesday myself so hoping it’s still in one piece ?

 

HTL

[TwoForJoy]

1 hour ago, Danh1 said:

How did we play yesterday in comparison to 98 and 99?

 

 

Exactly the same. Limp with a bit more possession this time.

[Choppy Chop Chop]

I gave up my season ticket when Rafa left so no complaints from me about getting a ticket. However the number of people who I see posting on Facebook going to the final who I know haven't been to a match this century is amazing.

 

ps We were singing the Blaydon Races as Liverpool lifted the cup in 1974 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

It was fairly odd atmosphere in the bar as well, almost like the match was getting in the way of the party. And people had been drinking probably for a good 4.5 hours beforehand. 

 

Of course it didn't help we let two goals in so early. 

[Whitley mag]

15 minutes ago, Wandy said:

 

Going over old ground here but it's clear that the 10k who walked a few years ago has had a very serious detrimental effect on our support. Those who walked have been replaced by spectators. The only way its going to be rectified is by creating a very large section of SJP safe standing and a major reorganisation of ST holders. In addition, more season tickets need to be made available in the newly-created singing section so that as many of the 10k singing lads can get back in.

 

It's something that the club need to be made aware of urgently, and I really want Wor Flags and the trust to start banging on their door about it.

 

There also needs to be a specific thread started on here, addressing match atmosphere, so we can have proper discussions about it. To much of the debates about it are lost in match threads and the SJP one. The SJP one should be about the stadium itself and not the atmosphere.

 

With regards to yesterday, I can only comment on what I heard on the TV in a bar. When we were singing as one it sounded massively loud. There were definitely times when Man Utd sounded equally as loud though. As I said in the other post though, a lot of their noise comes from the arrogance/belief that their team instills in them. If they had to watch most of our teams over the last 50 years or so their support would be garbage.

That’s a good call re an atmosphere thread, I sometimes think I just need to move on and accept times have changed, but I’m not convinced we still can’t have a great atmosphere. 

Wor Flags have done a great job and the huge Howay The Lads flag draping down from the top tier was fantastic. 
 

However, like you say it’s old ground and it needs positive action now, the flags look great but without the vocal support it feels a bit manufactured and hollow to me.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 27, 2023 by Whitley mag

[Adam]

6 minutes ago, Wandy said:

 

With regards to yesterday, I can only comment on what I heard on the TV in a bar. When we were singing as one it sounded massively loud. There were definitely times when Man Utd sounded equally as loud though. 

 

Both fans were loud, boths fans were quiet at times. It's not as if either set of fans were singing non stop for 90 minutes. Yesterday we saw all walks of life in black and white shirts, radgies to grannies. Now this has riled some people up on twitter as they're complaining about people not singing or being real fans. Granted there were people who aren't ST holders who has tickets so not sure how they got in. 

I'm all for fans supporting and singing, but are we then stopping other supporters from going, who aren't as vocal? I don't know what the answer is, though a thread on atmosphere, songs and other ideas is needed. 

[dorty]

It must really hurt the sad manc bastards that Big Al never signed for them. Tossers.

 

 

[alexf]

20 minutes ago, WilliamPS said:

In the past year Newcastle have spent about the same as Man Utd, but they were starting from a top 6 club and we were starting rock bottom in the PL.

 

Its no surprise they have better depth.

They lost Eriksen and bring in a Brazil starting international. Whereas when Bruno got suspended and it was bare bones. Deep in the season this matters.

 

Be another few transfer windows to get close 

Just checked on that transfermarkt website and since the start of last season, they have spent about €115m more it seems in transfer fees and recouped less. Our spend was €270 and there's was €385 according to that site. 

 

As you say, with a much stronger starting position aswell and not to mention there will be a vast difference in terms of wages also. Helps to pick up players like Erikson on a free and Sabitzer on loan.

 

So yeah we have a way to go to catch up as you said.

 

Currently we need to be on top form and have all of of our key players available to compete with the teams we want to be long term. 

 

Yesterday we had neither. We had out of form players (Wilson, Almiron etc) and players missing like Pope and half fit Willock and dare say Targett would be first choice left back once health again.

 

 

Edited February 27, 2023 by alexf

[Lush Vlad]

Howe was spot on in his assessment.  Good between both boxes.

 

We were not ruthless enough and didn't really create much.  Then two bits of slack defending has cost us.  

 

Not really sure how I feel today.  To get there was amazing.  The build up to it all, the day out, being lucky enough to be there.  I feel positive for the future and I don't think we played badly or anything.  It is just difficult to get to a cup final.  Finally getting to one and being so close to success, but still so far.  It's just a bit shit. 

 

It makes you think when the next one might come.  I certainly hope we're not waiting another 23 years  

 

Just to weigh in on the 'our fans were shit/great' debate.  I was in Club Wembley in our end behind the goal.  Supposedly 'neutral' and there were 4-5 mancs the row behind (who were actually sound TBF and I spoke to them at the end).  But even in there, the chants got going a bit.  It was only really flat after their second goal.  Felt like it was pretty decent other than that. 

 

It actually got silly loud at times and was a struggle to even hear what the chant was, or we had different areas, singing different songs.  Might just be because they were the other end, so you could hear it clearer.  But it seemed like their songs were a bit more coordinated and so carried quite well.   

[Sima]

More than our poor record at Wembley, I'm just sick of barely even scoring there.

 

2 goals there in 68 years, man  

 

 

Edited February 27, 2023 by Sima