Luton Town 1-0 Newcastle United (23/12/23)

[Novocastrian]

4 minutes ago, Armchair Pundit said:

They can fuck off with this shit. There was always the worry that peaking too early last season when the squad wasn't ready would lead to this. The long term demotivation and weakening of the mental strength of the team being shredded is now what worries me. To go from the way the players played last season to their current plight is abysmal and at this point in time I'm really not sure who to blame. Injuries are one thing, but we should still be able to work a result against a team like Luton, even if we were using half the youth team!

We go again in 4 days and Gordon, who was probably carrying a knock, and Almiron have just played another 180 mins. What’s the answer? I would have lined Gordon to have been rested midweek. The wide players have the hardest job in Howe’s system. We are breaking them at the moment.

[mouldy_uk]

If we were putting in these performances with the likes of Tonali, Barnes, Wilock, Pope, Joe, etc.. all available, then I’d be worried. The next few weeks are going to nasty, but I think we will bounce back. 

[KetsbaiaIsBald]

Just now, RS said:

If you think that you don’t know football. Have you seen the state of our squad?  I’m putting today down to a very bad day at the office. 

 

The question will be who ultimately makes the decisions.  When we were doing well it's easy to sit back and let decisions be made. When things get rough who knows. 

 

 

[ChrisMcQuillan]

Just now, LionOfGosforth said:

It wasn't good today, and the away form is poor but it doesn't take much critical thinking to see why it's like this. I've seen "woeful, clueless and pathetic" and "disgusting, lazy and a disgrace" hoyed around in here. Fuck me people, do you even think for a moment before posting

I don't think they were lazy in any other game this season until today. 

[nufc123]

2 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

We basically just need to stop the rot with our away form and go from there.

Pool and Villa next. Howay..

[SAK]

Not getting CL this season unless PIF chuck some serious money at the winter  window and everyone seems to reckon we don’t have the FFP wiggle room.

 

Really need a right sided winger, attacking midfielder who can thread a pass, striker, and centre back.

[TheBrownBottle]

Just now, black_n_white said:

And here is our rough spell, was bound to come at some point. We will improve, might be a while yet though.

We’ve played half a season of away games without many tough fixtures in that run and have five points from it.  This isn’t a rough spell, they have been poor away for half a season.  There is clearly something wrong - that doesn’t mean Howe isn’t the man to fix it; but it’s a bit more than a spell

[toontownman]

Been an absolute disaster of a past month.

 

We have to be better, we DESPERATELY need two outfield signings to buoy the squad. but to compile everything we are also shit out of luck.

 

- PSG VAR debacle

- constant injuries

- lack of VaR being a difference maker at Chelsea.

- Facing Luton turbo charged after last week's incident.

- mackems with a new manager

 

Can't rely on the excused but fuck we have been unlucky too.

 

Ultimately we still don't offer enough up top and aren't consistently clinical enough (not a new problem) to be a top 6 team. Fine margins but we could be sat 2nd right now had we been better finishing or had that luck. 

[BShearer]

if this was hard wait until we visit Pool, Arsenal, Villa in the next month or so

[UncleBingo]

7 minutes ago, Tiotes Witch Doctor said:

We are back sliding massively, Howe has a lot of credit in the bank but this feels like we've been figured out to me, last season it was disappointing draws and we've regressed and moved into very disappointing losses, we are very easy to play against away from home, the more worrying part is that we can't seem to keep possession for dear life, our midfield has been absolutely shambolic.

Aye, nowt to do with  having half a squad missing or key players running on empty/playing when not fully fit.

Have a bit of context at least.

[mighty__mag]

Gotta drop the F-Bomb

 

 

 

 

Edited December 23, 2023 by mighty__mag

[Hanshithispantz]

6 minutes ago, Theregulars said:

Good teams find a way to get results. We are not finding that way too often to claim to be a good team right now. Questions to answer for manager, squad and club in January. Petrified of the mackems match now.

"We're a highly physical side who have a severely depleted squad, who have been playing in the most conjested point of the season in 2 extra competitions" Eddie Howe probably.

 

 

Edited December 23, 2023 by Hanshithispantz

[TheBrownBottle]

2 minutes ago, LionOfGosforth said:

It wasn't good today, and the away form is poor but it doesn't take much critical thinking to see why it's like this. I've seen "woeful, clueless and pathetic" and "disgusting, lazy and a disgrace" hoyed around in here. Fuck me people, do you even think for a moment before posting

Tbf there are some overboard reactions, but ‘they’re tired’ is applying no more critical thinking than those you’re pointing fingers at.  

[Conjo]

3 minutes ago, LionOfGosforth said:

It wasn't good today, and the away form is poor but it doesn't take much critical thinking to see why it's like this. I've seen "woeful, clueless and pathetic" and "disgusting, lazy and a disgrace" hoyed around in here. Fuck me people, do you even think for a moment before posting

 

No, they don't. Equally facinating and embarrasing.

[Aiston]

Meltdown?

 

A lot of criticism has been earned today.

[Myleftboot]

5 minutes ago, reefatoon said:

Our lack of creativity and lack of being able to break a team down who sit back is alarming. At no point did I think we were going to score or even look like it.

Struggled with that last season that’s why we were hoping for Maddison.

[LionOfGosforth]

1 minute ago, ChrisMcQuillan said:

I don't think they were lazy in any other game this season until today. 

 

Watched most of it and simply don't agree they were "lazy". Out of energy, low on confidence and making poor decisions aye. Lazy? Not at all. Hard to look like you care when you can barely run. We're in a rut, definitely and it's not easy to see a way out until the fixture congestion eases and the injuries improve to the point players can actually recover and get the intensity and confidence back.

[Guest]

Absolute shite December and you can’t just blame injuries. That team should have beaten Luton easily. 
 

Had enough for now so just going to enjoy Christmas & New Year’s not thinking about Newcastle United. 

 

All the best..

 

[christ]

That was the most grimly predictable result of our season. Luton have upped their game every time a name has turned up at Kenilworth, plus with what happened last week they were always going to play at 110%. Fair play to them, they absolutely deserved to win.
 

The biggest concern about our away form is how we don't really look like creating anything. It’s not like we’re peppering opposition keepers with shots. Our final pass is almost always universally shit - blindly put into an area where we don’t have anyone, overhit or into the first man.

[HaydnNUFC]

2 minutes ago, Myleftboot said:

Struggled with that last season that’s why we were hoping for Maddison.

 

Who we should have went for but the club opted to go elsewhere in the summer according to the Athletic. Maddening. 

[LionOfGosforth]

1 minute ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Tbf there are some overboard reactions, but ‘they’re tired’ is applying no more critical thinking than those you’re pointing fingers at.  

 

Christ mate, howay. I didn't just say "they're tired". It's obvious that low energy and confidence begets poor performances and increasingly low confidence. It's a spiral and a very obvious mitigation point. Hoying your toys out the pram the split second a game has ended with a poor result, just illustrates too many are operating on emotion (understandable, we're all football fans and humans), rather than a clear thought process.

[magvicar]

The bad news is...(stating the obvious)....we're in a bit of a rut.

The better news is, we are not out of anything as of yet because we still have January to come good and other teams still have their own rut to go through, as far as I'm concerned.

[Hanshithispantz]

3 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Tbf there are some overboard reactions, but ‘they’re tired’ is applying no more critical thinking than those you’re pointing fingers at.  

Do people seriously need a critical analysis of our current situation?

 

Other than thriwing games (which in hindsight would have been a better option) there isn't much to say ither than "we're obviously going to be shite, we're knackered".

[Jaqen]

We had to start two wingers who physically can't run anymore There's only so much you can expect really. 

 

The average Newcastle fan is out of breath walking up to their seat in the ground so it's a bit pointless listening to them claim fitness and fatigue has no effect on the performance. 

[Andy]

The recent run of form goes to show how important belief is in football. Last year we were riding that wave of positivity and were gladiatorial. The players looked taller, stronger, faster and more technical than the opposition. 

 

It's obvious that the injury crisis has caused a physical issue, but there is a clear lack of belief away from home. We're playing within ourselves and look small, weak, slow and clumsy on the ball. Players are making bad decisions, playing too safe, dropping too deep, not being brave enough in the press. Some of this can be down to fatigue, but not all of it, as our home performances are still relatively similar to last year. 

 

Lots of work for Eddie to do. A few good signings in January are needed to change the mood imo .