Newcastle 2-4 Post Match Thread

[An Away Move]

Just now, SydenhamFox said:

The ONLY positive about this is that the Chelsea players might take victory against us a bit too much for granted after watching that.

Actually it's not a positive is it. It's just desperation on my part to put a positive spin on something that can't be spun positively!

[filbertway]

3 hours ago, Dahnsouff said:

Well, if people are convinced that 352 is the cause of our ills, then we have little choice but to play a diamond?

 

      Smikes 

Ricky Fofana Cags. Luke/Timmy

            Wilf

Youri.  Praet

    Ayoze/Madders

Kel.  Vardy 

 

Zero width.

I'd honestly bang Albrighton and Perez out wide. Its get more out of the better players to play in a formation we know were comfortable in. Then we just have to accept that Perez and Abkrighton will frustrate but it's for the good of the team.

 

Anything that means we can attack down the wings. I'm certain that Ricardo and Castagne will look a hell of a lot better with someone to work with down the flanks as well.

 

 

[ultrafox]

1 hour ago, Foxhateram said:

Apologies Chelsea. 5-2. One of the big 6. 

Actually, reminding me of  Chelsea's 2-5 home defeat to West Brom in April has softened the blow somewhat. 

One month later they ripped through Real Madrid.

 

Funny ol' game, eh Saint? 

[Clever Fox]

Well that wasn't part of the plan. so what went wrong. ?

Quite a lot really,

 

1. Mentality wasn't right and that's down to the Manager. 

2. Too many personnel mistakes. down to the Players.

3. Tactics and approach were questionable.

4. Opposition, of the top 8 clubs They knew we were the one's they could turn over.  

     And to their credit were excellent.

5. The loss of Harvey is proving really costly to us .

6. you could argue that the selection was poor but we don't really have a lot of options so it's a bit unfair to blame Brendan when there's not much he can do until the Window.

And that for me is were the real problem is.

 

We really need to sort out the Balance of the Squad this Window.

A strong physical midfielder with a big Engine.

A top Winger to stretch defenses.

A top Striker to play with Kelechi into the future. 

More pace into the Team. Always hard to find but that's the challenge.

 

 

[filbertway]

Something like that has been coming for a while. This is why looking at performance is more important than basing your opinion on results. It's also why there are usually so many disagreements in football. Some people are totally results driven and some people are performance driven. 

 

I'll never understand peopel who will accept poor performances because we've managed to luck box a win. Eventually the luck dries out and you will hit a bad patch of form or get battered.

 

We've got a very talented team who I am still confident are capable of picking up 4-6 points in these last 3 games. The chelsea games will be very tough, they've made mince meat of Man City, Atletico and Real Madrid already.

 

Down to Brendan to get the most out of the most talented Leicester team we have seen.

 

[Hoopla10]

24 minutes ago, Edingleyfox said:

The stats for the last couple of games look brilliant on paper but most of the shots were from distance and lacked real confidence or getting in between the lines.

True but Dubravka still made at least three world class saves and we scored twice. We're too reliant on Nacho. Barnes out, Maddison injured and still not 100%, Ricardo also not anywhere near as good as he was before the injury, Vardy completely off it... NUFC closed the lines and effectively broke. The thing that was so anger inducing last night was our defense looked like they were sleepwalking. They looked lost. BR has to take a lot of the blame because playing Castagne there was neither one thing or the other. I'd rather Armartey play and you can at least keep Castagne in his favored position. 

 

I also agree that Kasper had his hand in their second goal. He should have come out quickly and attempted to do something. 

 

Honestly we looked better when Maddison was injured and couldn't play. I get that it's a big gamble for BR to bench him but for the last few games he's been a passenger when we simply can't afford it. If he's unable to score or dictate play he has to at least try to effect the game and he's certainly not a leader. Bench him, rest him, bring him on for the last 15 minutes, get him 100% for the last couple of games.

 

These last two games will be the games these players will look back on with regret if we drop out of the top 4. 

 

It's still in our hands but they've made it 100 times harder because the end of last season is now the narrative everybody will throw at them. And if I thought they'd use it as fuel I wouldn't worry, but if that was the case they'd have been much more aggressive and on the front foot right from the start in the last two games. They would have used last season to motivate them in the same way Liverpool used their CL final loss to get them back the following year. 

 

Oh well Manchester United up next. If we can't stop NUFC counter attacking us then ManU will have a field-day. 

[gerblod]

This isn't about formation - it's much deeper than that. The panic wasn't obvious when they walked on without Evans, but they looked unsure - a kind of nervous half smiling on some faces. I think Rodgers, behind the apparent calm, is haunted by past failures and that might be something the players are picking up at a subliminal level.

We have very talented players but we all know that confidence has to be at high levels for that talent/skill to be translated into dominance.

Maybe Rodgers is too nice, too understanding and too forgiving. These guys are mostly young and I don't see a steadying influence where it needs to be - in midfield. Maddison is too far up his own fundament to lead by example. He treats the game as a showpiece for his (undoubted) ability. Whenever I think back to the truly great teams there's a calm figure leading by example and command - you remember them for that quality. I suspect that the players are looking for that on-field leader and he's not there. Schmeichel cannot do that job stuck where he is. Evans does it in defence.

The thing is that it's mounting pressure and every time they let it get to them it freezes them even more deeply. When I saw Evans limping I thought "bugger" (or maybe something more descriptive).

I think Rodgers needs to forget about winning and just pick those players who won't freeze in the headlights. Sounds daft, even to me, but, unless he does something radical, we'll get dragged under by nerves. We've got a little bit further than last year, yet the hesitancy has crept in again.

[Col city fan]

Just watched the highlights back and noticed how Soyuncu literally just stopped for their fourth goal

He made no effort to even try to block Wilson’s shots

Fook sake... 😡

[Kitchandro]

13 hours ago, Matt said:

Why are we pissing about at the back, trying to draw Newcastle out - when credit to them they don’t need drawing out, they’re playing quite open?

 

Please, believe me, I'm not just complaining about possession football or sideways football for effect or for the sake of it, I'm genuinely waiting for a decent reason for it, I've still not heard one.

 

Only for us to continually make mistake, gift them possession and they attack us?

 

“PlAyInG oUt FrOm ThE bAcK”, “PoSsEsIoN bAsEd FoOtBalL”...Piss off! Disgusting, pointless style.

 

****ING ATTACK! GO ****ING FORWARD!

 

I’m still yet to hear a positive argument, rhyme or reason for PlAyInG oUt FrOm ThE bAcK or PoSsEsIoN bAsEd FoOtBalL and ItS tHe WaY fOoTbAlL sHoUlD bE pLaYed!

 

What I don’t get, what blows my mind more than anything given our last 1 and a half games is Rodgers was going mad during the first half against West Brom, why? We playing so good stuff, forward, fast, attacking, yes it was only West Brom but we playing some good stuff regardless of the opposition, there was nothing to be frustrated about, yet the last game and this 45 minutes have been disgusting and he seems fine with it - I’d like to think he’s not and he’s ripping shred out of them right now aswell as taking a look at his own style but I don’t get why he was going mad about the West Brom 1st half.

Sort this ****ing shite out! ****ing go forward and ****ing attack instead of this pointless possession for possession sake bullshit that only leads to mistakes.

 

I often joked about this when Puel was in charge but it's almost like the 1st half of the West Brom game was too positive or exciting for him, the 2nd half of that game wasn't great - I let that off as the game was already won, why do more, but as you say since the 1st half of that game we've been dogshite, yet he seems to stand there are lap it up.

 

Can't wait for Rodgers interview telling us all it was "Too passive".

 

How about doing something, training them and instructing them to be "Less passive" rather than mentioning it after every game?

 

This - this is where the problems start, the style of play. I’ve been saying it for years.

 

It only works when everything falls into your lap. If a team is solid, disciplined, energetic and they press you - you have to have a team full of world class players like Spain did, otherwise it’s extremely difficult. That’s why when we won the league, we didn’t play this way.

 

We are a one-dimensional, weak team who folds under any pressure and is easily bullied.

 

As bad as last night was, it’s far from the first time under Rodgers (or Puel previously) where we have lacked desire in a big game. There’s no excuse for walking around, pulling out of challenges or playing at that sort of tempo.

 

 It’s hard to care when the players don’t tbh, we’ve had worse teams who I’ve identified more with because they didn’t put in displays that insulting.

 

If they win the cup final then that’ll do me but I’m dreading it at the moment.

[Beachyboy]

9 hours ago, WigstonWanderer said:

Isn’t there some stat that we’ve saved more points that any other team after going behind?

Hmmm I think theres a stat when we score the 1st goal, this season I'm sure its Man utd that have the most points when conceding 1st.

[st albans fox]

23 minutes ago, Col city fan said:

Just watched the highlights back and noticed how Soyuncu literally just stopped for their fourth goal

He made no effort to even try to block Wilson’s shots

Fook sake... 😡

Maybe he was thinking back to the first where he deflected it past kasper ......

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Feel Brendan is too chilled in these situations. It's all "stay calm", "play our game", "trust in our quality" etc etc. At this stage of the season we just need someone to whip them up into a frenzy in the dressing room and let them loose. The players are more than good enough to get results at this point but I'm questioning where this chilled out mentality is coming from.

[ARM1968]

To be honest being ripped apart by Newcastle just shows we aren’t ready for the CL. We are better than Newcastle but mentally we are too weak and that needs to be urgently addressed. 

[Dahnsouff]

1 hour ago, filbertway said:

I'd honestly bang Albrighton and Perez out wide. Its get more out of the better players to play in a formation we know were comfortable in. Then we just have to accept that Perez and Abkrighton will frustrate but it's for the good of the team.

 

Anything that means we can attack down the wings. I'm certain that Ricardo and Castagne will look a hell of a lot better with someone to work with down the flanks as well.

To be honest, after watching that horror story, I would quite happily have Danny Ward on the wing

[foxfanazer]

I'm still fuming at that shite last night! 4-0 down at home to an awful Newcastle side who were pretty much safe from relegation. Its simply inexcusable! 

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

Very poor indeed, but, some of the posters reactions are even worse. Shame on them too.

[st albans fox]

1 minute ago, DANGEROUS TIGER said:

Very poor indeed, but, some of the posters reactions are even worse. Shame on them too.

After the previous performance at Southampton, I think all responses are acceptable.....

[Kitchandro]

12 hours ago, That_Dude said:

We made everything we could to lead to that mistake. We invited pressure until Kasper blew it up. I don't think I'm biased when I say that BR was the one responsible for that defeat.

Yep - the Bournemouth collapse was entirely Brendan’s doing.

 

Like in a lot of our matches, we sat back as if getting a goal (or a 2nd goal in that case) wasn’t necessary.
 

We tried to slow the match down despite being the superior team. We deserve these capitulations for regularly being passive and acting like scoring a goal is an afterthought rather than the aim.

[dannythefox]

Gob smacked last night worse than Southampton. Cags doing that stupid turn he does what’s wrong with playing simple. Massive blow with evans not playing cags looks lost without him. I’d of had madders off at half time for Dennis, when you need to battle you don’t want madders in the team.

 

Hopefully this will be the massive kick up the arse they need for the last few games. The season would be a failure if we don’t get CL now but I’d have the FA Cup over it every day of the week. 

Edited 8 May 2021 by dannythefox

[fuchsntf]

12 hours gone ,all this lamenting, in what are actually your own egoistic thoughts...

You all thought you knew better.....

 

The Solution is so easy....In fact if I was one of them, I would be now demanding Not only Rodgers, but telling the whole Changing Room & Top..

with the support of ever-present Tielemans....

 "Play us supposedly Not Good enough fringe players"..!!!

 

We are the players that got us to the Top of the, table, Top 4, and got & kept us there....we hand it over to the  fans-chosen, must Play team, what happens,

You start to fcuk it up..!!!

Right or wrong formation & selection, where  some fans even now still have the audacity, to argue the toss over which & what, whom is better,

we have played in all, and got quality results..!!!    

Now bring on / back the True Dogs of War....

 

Edited 8 May 2021 by fuchsntf

[Corky]

I've still no clue as to what happened. It wasn't nerves because you'd see an inhibited team. Was it complacency? It certainly wasn't maximum determination to make the game as tough as possible.

 

Aside from the goals, it was players losing out on 50/50s and even 70/30s at times, beaten to the ball when ahead in the race, walking back when they were charging through. Look at the fourth goal- Wilson had two free efforts at goal, nobody getting back near the line.

 

This was a huge match, that's what makes it even worse.

[foxinsocks]

7 minutes ago, Corky said:

I've still no clue as to what happened. It wasn't nerves because you'd see an inhibited team. Was it complacency? It certainly wasn't maximum determination to make the game as tough as possible.

 

Aside from the goals, it was players losing out on 50/50s and even 70/30s at times, beaten to the ball when ahead in the race, walking back when they were charging through. Look at the fourth goal- Wilson had two free efforts at goal, nobody getting back near the line.

 

This was a huge match, that's what makes it even worse.

it was poor decision making from Brendan - some out of form players - and some school boy mistakes  - disasters usually occur when there are a number of things wrong.  any one of those might have been surmountable.  WE now have some very big games to win. C'mon foxes

[foxinsocks]

32 minutes ago, ARM1968 said:

To be honest being ripped apart by Newcastle just shows we aren’t ready for the CL. We are better than Newcastle but mentally we are too weak and that needs to be urgently addressed. 

I worry about this too - on one hand I want a top 4 finish- as it would help recruitment and be fun... on the other hand we will be stretched.

[fuchsntf]

Choudhury....Praet.....Mendy....( Justin injured), ... Thomas,... Perez, ....Amartey...Under

 

Have all been the best, alongside Teilemans (ever-present)...

 

You all laughed....These guys helped pick up the hard Early  points...!!

 

 

[smudgerfox]

 A couple of things I really dont get

 

The preparations for this game would have revolved around a three man defence with Castagne and Pereira out wide. In what universe does Albrighton (a utility wide midfield/defender) replace the brain and heartbeat of our back 3? Was Rodgers trying to be too clever - trying to use the injury to surprise the opposition with a change of tactics for which his own team was understandably ill-prepared? Neither Fuchs or Albrighton are perfect replacements for Evans but surely they are better options and in line with the tactics envisaged for this game..And given the last minute timing of the change for a must-win game, simply the best option.

 

Maddison, Praet, Perez. Why is he persisting with an obviously unfit Maddison when Perez regularly creates energy and buzz in the area around the box which is so clearly lacking? And where is Praet? Creative, fit, experienced and a good calming influence just sitting on the bench week after week. Under’s been cold shouldered, The squad, in the mind of BR seems to consist of no more than about 14 players...