Mediocrity

[Dave]

The initial comment had nothing at all to do with Inter as a club, just that Martins has won trophies elsewhere - which he has.

[Northern Monkey]

Above average squad?

 

We can't field a first team with a premiership-quality player in every position.

 

Name me 10 Premiership squads you'd swap for ours then, honestly...

 

I know the squad has major flaws, but i'm struggling to think of more than 6 i would prefer.

 

First teams i'm talking about (i don't know enough about other teams full squads, really).

 

Of our "first" team, we have 1 GK, 1 Defender (2 if you count Solano), 4 Midfielders (only one of whom is a top-7 player for me), and 1 striker (Oba still tbc, but he's looking good, in fairness) who are definately up to it.

 

We have a so-called first team where we are TWO dfenders short of a premiership back 4, only one top-7 quality midfielder, and 2 good strikers (if Oba comes good in the medium term). But there is still the fear that this cretin Roeder thinks Babayaro, Bramble, Ameobi etc are good enough, and will try to play/not replace them.

 

Plus he was bigging up Carr earlier in the season, a man whose legs are so fat he can barely run

 

Playing the cunt at left back was beyond fucking stupid.

[chicago_shearer]

This post is true.  Yes, we have some above-average players like Martins & Given, but so do the other mediocre clubs from Bolton on down.  We are underperforming, but you can't pretend this squad has anything near the ability to get any higher than 5th.  And thats if we had average defenders on par with the rest of the league, which we don't.  11th is too low, but 6th or 7th is about our level at the moment.

[Northern Monkey]

6th or 7th is beyond us.

 

10th would be the level that certain players and the manager are dragging us down to.

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

Michael Owen - Uefa Cup, FA Cup winner, played loads of CL

Oba Martins - won god knows what at Inter played loads of CL

Shay Given - One of best prem keepers for a decade

Kieron Dyer - England International

Milner - form of his life recently

Duff and Parker- Premiership Champions

Butt - Champions league, FA Cup, Premiership winner

Solano - Vastly capped, superb right foot

 

We shouldn't be s***. But we are. NUFC to a tee.

 

Note* Not one defender in that list.

 

^ This.

 

The sheer gulf in class between our attack and defence totally unbalances the team.

[Guest smoggeordie]

Michael Owen - Uefa Cup, FA Cup winner, played loads of CL

Oba Martins - won god knows what at Inter played loads of CL

Shay Given - One of best prem keepers for a decade

Kieron Dyer - England International

Milner - form of his life recently

Duff and Parker- Premiership Champions

Butt - Champions league, FA Cup, Premiership winner

Solano - Vastly capped, superb right foot

 

We shouldn't be s***. But we are. NUFC to a tee.

 

Note* Not one defender in that list.

 

^ This.

 

The sheer gulf in class between our attack and defence totally unbalances the team.

 

1 goal in 2 games against Waragem and Wigan. I'm yet to see the supposed "class".

[Northern Monkey]

Michael Owen - Uefa Cup, FA Cup winner, played loads of CL

Oba Martins - won god knows what at Inter played loads of CL

Shay Given - One of best prem keepers for a decade

Kieron Dyer - England International

Milner - form of his life recently

Duff and Parker- Premiership Champions

Butt - Champions league, FA Cup, Premiership winner

Solano - Vastly capped, superb right foot

 

We shouldn't be s***. But we are. NUFC to a tee.

 

Note* Not one defender in that list.

 

^ This.

 

The sheer gulf in class between our attack and defence totally unbalances the team.

 

Our attack:

 

One great player. Injured.

One good player, could be great if he achieves consistency.

One absolute shithouse. Championship level.

One slow, slow journeyman who was good for less than one season*

Two decent midfielders who make poor strikers.

 

 

* And who that twat Roeder wants to give a 2 year contract to.

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

Michael Owen - Uefa Cup, FA Cup winner, played loads of CL

Oba Martins - won god knows what at Inter played loads of CL

Shay Given - One of best prem keepers for a decade

Kieron Dyer - England International

Milner - form of his life recently

Duff and Parker- Premiership Champions

Butt - Champions league, FA Cup, Premiership winner

Solano - Vastly capped, superb right foot

 

We shouldn't be s***. But we are. NUFC to a tee.

 

Note* Not one defender in that list.

 

^ This.

 

The sheer gulf in class between our attack and defence totally unbalances the team.

 

Our attack:

 

One great player. Injured.

One good player, could be great if he achieves consistency.

One absolute shithouse. Championship level.

One slow, slow journeyman who was good for less than one season*

Two decent midfielders who make poor strikers.

 

 

* And who that t*** Roeder wants to give a 2 year contract to.

 

Certinaly better than our league 1 standard defenders and kids, tbh.

[Kitman]

Above average squad?

 

We can't field a first team with a premiership-quality player in every position.

 

Name me 10 Premiership squads you'd swap for ours then, honestly...

 

I know the squad has major flaws, but i'm struggling to think of more than 6 i would prefer.

 

First teams i'm talking about (i don't know enough about other teams full squads, really).

 

Of our "first" team, we have 1 GK, 1 Defender (2 if you count Solano), 4 Midfielders (only one of whom is a top-7 player for me), and 1 striker (Oba still tbc, but he's looking good, in fairness) who are definately up to it.

 

We have a so-called first team where we are TWO dfenders short of a premiership back 4, only one top-7 quality midfielder, and 2 good strikers (if Oba comes good in the medium term). But there is still the fear that this cretin Roeder thinks Babayaro, Bramble, Ameobi etc are good enough, and will try to play/not replace them.

 

Plus he was bigging up Carr earlier in the season, a man whose legs are so fat he can barely run

 

Playing the c*** at left back was beyond f****** stupid.

 

I seriously wouldn't even have Carr as a squad player.  Injury prone and overweight.  What a waste of a decent wage - I don't see what Roeder sees in him, I honestly don't.  Babayaro isn't a first teamer either imo, too injury prone and bad positionally

[chicago_shearer]

6th or 7th is beyond us.

 

10th would be the level that certain players and the manager are dragging us down to.

 

Maybe.  But I think whatever difference in class exists between the teams you consider good enough to finish 6th or 7th and Newcastle is fairly small when you compare it to how far behind the top 4 we are.  I personally don't feel there is a lot of difference between the 5th placed club (Bolton) and the 17th placed club (Wigan).

 

If we had a really good manager, a decent pair of fullbacks and a decent centre-half we'd still not crack the top 4 until the entire squad was rebuilt.

[Optimistic Nut]

Michael Owen - Uefa Cup, FA Cup winner, played loads of CL

Oba Martins - won god knows what at Inter played loads of CL

Shay Given - One of best prem keepers for a decade

Kieron Dyer - England International

Milner - form of his life recently

Duff and Parker- Premiership Champions

Butt - Champions league, FA Cup, Premiership winner

Solano - Vastly capped, superb right foot

 

We shouldn't be s***. But we are. NUFC to a tee.

 

Note* Not one defender in that list.

 

^ This.

 

The sheer gulf in class between our attack and defence totally unbalances the team.

 

1 goal in 2 games against Waragem and Wigan. I'm yet to see the supposed "class".

 

9th best attack in the division (only 2 goals off having the 6th best)

13th best defence in the division

[Northern Monkey]

Michael Owen - Uefa Cup, FA Cup winner, played loads of CL

Oba Martins - won god knows what at Inter played loads of CL

Shay Given - One of best prem keepers for a decade

Kieron Dyer - England International

Milner - form of his life recently

Duff and Parker- Premiership Champions

Butt - Champions league, FA Cup, Premiership winner

Solano - Vastly capped, superb right foot

 

We shouldn't be s***. But we are. NUFC to a tee.

 

Note* Not one defender in that list.

 

^ This.

 

The sheer gulf in class between our attack and defence totally unbalances the team.

 

1 goal in 2 games against Waragem and Wigan. I'm yet to see the supposed "class".

 

9th best attack in the division (only 2 goals off having the 6th best)

13th best defence in the division

 

Mid table mediocrity, then. Go Roeder.

[Kitman]

Michael Owen - Uefa Cup, FA Cup winner, played loads of CL

Oba Martins - won god knows what at Inter played loads of CL

Shay Given - One of best prem keepers for a decade

Kieron Dyer - England International

Milner - form of his life recently

Duff and Parker- Premiership Champions

Butt - Champions league, FA Cup, Premiership winner

Solano - Vastly capped, superb right foot

 

We shouldn't be s***. But we are. NUFC to a tee.

 

Note* Not one defender in that list.

 

^ This.

 

The sheer gulf in class between our attack and defence totally unbalances the team.

 

1 goal in 2 games against Waragem and Wigan. I'm yet to see the supposed "class".

 

9th best attack in the division (only 2 goals off having the 6th best)

13th best defence in the division

 

Or 17th best defence in the division plus Shay Given?

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

Michael Owen - Uefa Cup, FA Cup winner, played loads of CL

Oba Martins - won god knows what at Inter played loads of CL

Shay Given - One of best prem keepers for a decade

Kieron Dyer - England International

Milner - form of his life recently

Duff and Parker- Premiership Champions

Butt - Champions league, FA Cup, Premiership winner

Solano - Vastly capped, superb right foot

 

We shouldn't be s***. But we are. NUFC to a tee.

 

Note* Not one defender in that list.

 

^ This.

 

The sheer gulf in class between our attack and defence totally unbalances the team.

 

1 goal in 2 games against Waragem and Wigan. I'm yet to see the supposed "class".

 

9th best attack in the division (only 2 goals off having the 6th best)

13th best defence in the division

 

You don't really need stats to prove it, just look at the technical ability of our midfield/strikers compared to the defenders.

[merlin]

Any pretence (or effort) to being a club aiming at the top 6 of the Prem disappeared in the summer of 2003 when Robson was refused cash to build on a successful Champs League campaign.

You can use your own judgement to assess the reasons why this happened(I have my own views...).

 

The choice of a successor to SBR was woeful, and done in desperation(a successor should have been lined up months previously, and SBR moved upstairs).

The repercussions of this decision will be felt for many years(we've already had 2) - the only solution is a complete takeover of the Club, and no-one seems willing to pick up THAT poisoned chalice(too much debt).

 

Roeder's team selections have been poor and lacking in courage(what can one expect ? He's there to suit the Chairman), so up & down results will always happen in such circumstances.

The current side's results are similar to those of the 70s teams - WITHOUT the entertainment !

We would beat Leeds Utd(top dogs of the day) one week, lose to Stoke/Sts/Leicester etc the next.

Also, we were hopeless away from home, but would get the OCCASIONAL shock win(like the one at Spurs this season).....see any parallels!!

Fans kept turning up, but eventually, Cup humiliations forced Joe Harvey out and Lee came in.

People knocked him, but he got the Club to the Final of the L/Cup(v Man City) and the quarters of the FA Cup despite the team being hit by a Flu epidemic at the time.

The team had a good team spirit, and scored plenty of goals.The following season, we were doing well in the league(even after Macdonald was sold), but the Board refused Lee the money to replace

Supermac(he wanted Francis), and when Everton came calling, Lee was off.

Player Power brought Dinnis in, and although it was the Chairman who wanted Roeder, the situation is now the same - except for the fact that Dinnis took over a winning side which qualified for Europe.He wasn't backed by the board over signing - guess who!? - Graeme Souness from M/Bro, and Souness went to L/Pool. A pity - he would have been much more use as a player than he was as a manager...

 

However, until JH came along in the late 80s, we WERE mediocre - two relegations(1978/1989), two promotions(1984/1993 - after JH's takeover & KK coming in).

 

Mediocrity has been the standard at NUFC for most of the past 40 years - only from 1993 until 2003 have the club been anything like a force in the game - despite its large fan-base - and thsi will continue - sadly - for the forseeable future.

Being 'top dog' in the NE seems to be all that many fans care about - until they become more demanding and withold  cash(i.e don't go) Fred will remain and pick up the cash.IF all you want is a day out on Saturday - fine - its your choice.Misplaced loyalty will NOT bring an end to mediocrity, so get used to it.

One day, things may change,but its not going to happen yet.

[mrmojorisin75]

Michael Owen - Uefa Cup, FA Cup winner, played loads of CL

Oba Martins - won god knows what at Inter played loads of CL

Shay Given - One of best prem keepers for a decade

Kieron Dyer - England International

Milner - form of his life recently

Duff and Parker- Premiership Champions

Butt - Champions league, FA Cup, Premiership winner

Solano - Vastly capped, superb right foot

 

We shouldn't be s***. But we are. NUFC to a tee.

 

Note* Not one defender in that list.

 

sums it all up in a nutshell, nowt else needs saying

[mrmojorisin75]

If we're going to be mediocre at least let us be entertaining and mediocre. Our tactics are; when we have the ball everybody stand stock still and hope their defence quite literally falls asleep, if not, pass it around slowly and aimlessly until a)we lose possession or b)we give the ball to Given, let him make it painfully obvious he's about to hoof the ball long before hoofing it long back to the opposition. Defend. Poorly. Repeat ad nauseam.

 

this is a great point - when was the last time we either (a) ripped another team up to shreds? (b) clearly outplayed someone else on the pitch? © were entertaining in the keegan/robson sense of the word?

 

admittedly i live out of the UK now and don't see all the games but what i do see is a team largely restrained by fear of defeat and set out to not lose games rather than win them

 

as much as i like roeder i feel a better manager could do more with the attacking options we have available from midfield in order to mask the lack of depth up front and quality in defence - it's basically what keegan and robson did their whole time in charge

 

look at the wigan game and the options we had there - for me roedebot just chose the wrong ones as witnessed when it looked like martins might have to come off he warmed up milner which can only suggest he was gonna play duff/sibierski up front instead of playing the lad carroll who is, although young, an actually striker

 

duff would have naturally dropped back in search of the ball leaving sib up on his own and thus the team conceding ground and attacking momentum to the home side - naive at best, some would say foolish

[GeordieDazzler]

I think Pompey is probably the only league game this season where we have clearly outplayed the opposition for the full 90.

[Slugsy]

I think Pompey is probably the only league game this season where we have clearly outplayed the opposition for the full 90.

 

Aye

[Cheshire Mag]

Every day I hear 'we were mediocre today', 'if you wan't to settle for mediocrity, fine', 'we have a mediocre manager'.

 

 

Aye, we are, we're an average premiership team, with a mediocre manager and a mediocre squad. So why the shock when we get beat. An average team means we'll get beat by the lower teams sometimes, and maybe we'll show up against the big teams.

 

I don't like it, but thats what we are. I was at Wigan yesterday, and I was canny hurt. But It's what I expected, really. Most of us knew what was going to happen. Doesn't mean we have to like it, but we'll have to settle for it for the time being. What else can we do?

 

You can slag individuals off till you're blue in the face, but most of them are average, so what can you expect?

 

Getting rid of Roeder would be a very good start to getting back up there again & getting a manager in who can atleast pick his best XI.

[Guest Hibbits left foot]

We are shite, we will finish 10th this season , and 10th next season etc ad infintum...nothing ever changes same shit different bottle etc...blah blah

[Sima]

Michael Owen - Uefa Cup, FA Cup winner, played loads of CL

Oba Martins - won god knows what at Inter played loads of CL

Shay Given - One of best prem keepers for a decade

Kieron Dyer - England International

Milner - form of his life recently

Duff and Parker- Premiership Champions

Butt - Champions league, FA Cup, Premiership winner

Solano - Vastly capped, superb right foot

 

We shouldn't be s***. But we are. NUFC to a tee.

 

2 Italian Cups which is less thought of than the Carling Cup in Italy.  Oh and a gifted league title as well.  Calling Parker a Premiership champion is a bit off really seen as he hardly played.

[Guest smoggeordie]

Michael Owen - Uefa Cup, FA Cup winner, played loads of CL

Oba Martins - won god knows what at Inter played loads of CL

Shay Given - One of best prem keepers for a decade

Kieron Dyer - England International

Milner - form of his life recently

Duff and Parker- Premiership Champions

Butt - Champions league, FA Cup, Premiership winner

Solano - Vastly capped, superb right foot

 

We shouldn't be s***. But we are. NUFC to a tee.

 

2 Italian Cups which is less thought of than the Carling Cup in Italy.  Oh and a gifted league title as well.  Calling Parker a Premiership champion is a bit off really seen as he hardly played.

 

Did he or did he not win the Premiership?

[johnnypd]

Michael Owen - Uefa Cup, FA Cup winner, played loads of CL

Oba Martins - won god knows what at Inter played loads of CL

Shay Given - One of best prem keepers for a decade

Kieron Dyer - England International

Milner - form of his life recently

Duff and Parker- Premiership Champions

Butt - Champions league, FA Cup, Premiership winner

Solano - Vastly capped, superb right foot

 

We shouldn't be s***. But we are. NUFC to a tee.

 

2 Italian Cups which is less thought of than the Carling Cup in Italy.  Oh and a gifted league title as well.  Calling Parker a Premiership champion is a bit off really seen as he hardly played.

 

Did he or did he not win the Premiership?

 

i don't think he got a winner's medal, so no.

[biggs]

for me the sign of a good manager is someone who can get results from his teams against any standard of opposition .so you get good results against liverpool one week and get beat off wigan soon after so read into that what you will.