Newcastle Away Post Match Thread

[iancognito]

I didn't think we were that bad overall and definitely shaded the first half. The big difference was the two chances, they took theirs very well, Fryatt decided to cut in onto his swinger and made a complete arse of himself with ours. He'll get 15-20 this season but the frustrating thing is that he'll miss 15-20 too, more easier chances than the ones he bags.

I was amazed that Gallagher was given a game on the wing when we have four natural wingers, though he was a mile better tonight than on his debut. Dyer seems to prove by the game that he's not got enough for this level, even his free kick was shocking and both he and N'Guessan were well short of where they need to be. Once Newcastle got the goal it was hard to see where ours was going to come from apart from a set piece.

Hobbs, Brown, Wellens & Howard were our best performers on the night but lets not be too down about the defeat, we were undone by a good strike and aside from that we'd be saying what a hard-earned point it was.

[Tomassi]

u no i do not agree with this. They did pass the ball better yes. But how many attempts on goal did they have? no more than we did! they do have quality, but personally i think we matched their performance and we deserved a point out there. we have small flaws in our team, but we can improve, and i have no doubt in my mind that we will be at least top six at the end. I also will bet that we will get revenge on newcastle when they come to the fortress later on in the season!

It doesnt matter if they didnt have as many chances as us, they took one of a number of well created chances. They closed down quicker and more effectively and their plays were consistently better. We didnt deserve a point, even if Fryatt or Howard scored their chances, as we were outplayed by the better team. Should have been 3 maybe 4 to Newcastle. If that offends you lot then so be it but thats just my reading of the game (albeit on TV). The good thing to come out of tonight will be that Pearson will have learnt a lot more from losing this fixture. I can see why he tried Gallagher on the left to try and support the strikers (lets face it, its not a new tactic, Rooney has been tried this way) and it may well be tried again.

[topharry123]

It doesnt matter if they didnt have as many chances as us, they took one of a number of well created chances. They closed down quicker and more effectively and their plays were consistently better. We didnt deserve a point, even if Fryatt or Howard scored their chances, as we were outplayed by the better team. Should have been 3 maybe 4 to Newcastle. If that offends you lot then so be it but thats just my reading of the game (albeit on TV). The good thing to come out of tonight will be that Pearson will have learnt a lot more from losing this fixture. I can see why he tried Gallagher on the left to try and support the strikers (lets face it, its not a new tactic, Rooney has been tried this way) and it may well be tried again.

quick poll? how many people thought it should have been 3 or 4 to newcaslte? what game were u watching? from what the rest of us saw we deserved a draw. Yes they took the ONE real chance they had, and we didn't! As far as being outplayed goes, that just wasn't the case. We passed the ball well, but lacked in the final third. How many saves did Weale have to make? he was dormant for most of the night. On the other hand, Harper had to make some good saves to keep them in the game first half. I respect ur views, but realistically, if you think that we should have lost 3 or 4-0 then u were watching a different game to the rest of us!

[Nationwider]

At the game tonight - my first chance to see us this season. I thought we did pretty well as a team considering there were only four players on the pitch at the start who played any meaningful role last year. It's a new team and Pearson is going to be tinkering for a while yet. We possibly lacked a bit of self-belief on the night, but hopefully that will come as they get used to the quality at this level compared to some of the pub teams we played last year. Before they started to play, NUFC looked ordinary. Palace went up a few years back after losing 16 games - let's not beat ourselves up about missing out to the likes of Newcastle. Yet.

The Cleverley-Davies Getting Forward With The Ball from Midfield Thing will be missed, but I'm sure we'll outpass plenty of average midfields with what we've got available now. Wellens looked as good as he was made out to be. Oakley still has a very small head.

N'Guessan looked good on the ball until it was time for him to make a decision about what he was going to do with it - again, big step up for him. He is a big unit for a winger though.

I've decided Robbie Neilsen is the most boring footballer on earth. Right-backs called Neilsen just don't get the sap rising and this one's no different. He looks plain, vanilla right-back material.

If some lunatic in a callcentre headset wants to part with a few mill tomorrow for Fryatt, we should just take it. I'm sure Waggers and Gally can play just as well off The Wheelie Bin as anyone else can. I'd take a couple of mill of anyone's TV money and stuff it in my pocket for January. If Fergie can clench his arse cheeks long enough to accept £80M (or whatever) for Ronaldo, we shouldn't feel too downcast about making a profit on Fryatt. It's business.

Oh, and get Tunchev back in.

[Tomassi]

quick poll? how many people thought it should have been 3 or 4 to newcaslte? what game were u watching? from what the rest of us saw we deserved a draw. Yes they took the ONE real chance they had, and we didn't! As far as being outplayed goes, that just wasn't the case. We passed the ball well, but lacked in the final third. How many saves did Weale have to make? he was dormant for most of the night. On the other hand, Harper had to make some good saves to keep them in the game first half. I respect ur views, but realistically, if you think that we should have lost 3 or 4-0 then u were watching a different game to the rest of us!

I'm offering an unbiased view of the match (despite being a city fan) which will undoubtly be a bit different to a lot of peoples. We did pass the ball well at times, but only in our comfort zone Where as Newcastle took it to Leicester with their passing. Our chances came from a defensive error that allowed Fryatt through and a set piece header. The other Newcastle chances were straight at Weale, Nolans in the first few minutes in particular. either side of him and they would have scored more. Also i didnt say 3 or 4-0 i said it should have been 3 or 4 to Newcastle, which if we took those 2 chances (Fryatt, Howard) then we still would have lost if the scoring form was on both sides.

[jonah]

dissapointed if im honest.apart from maybe the last 20 mins of the 1st half where we created a few good chances but yet again failed to turn them into goals (echo,s of our last season in this league ) i thought we were poor and devoid of ideas.

plenty of possesion but no idea in the last third.

howard was by far and away our best player, he worked his nuts off all night and was the only one of our players who didnt deserve to loose.

n'gussen played with the kind of blind gusto of the league we brought him from, plenty of pace no idea what to actually do with it.

fryatt was inefective and deserved to be hauled off as did gallagher.

basically we seemed to be played off the park in the secound half especially by a 2nd string newcastle side that was missing 5 or so key players.

they passed it better, looked more comfortable on the ball, and coped much better with the wet conditions.

admittedly this is the 1st time ive really seen us this season, but i have to say on this performance they do not live up to the hype.

[shen]

only four players on the pitch at the start who played any meaningful role last year.

Make that five: Howard, Fryatt, Oakley, Berner and Hobbs.

[Nationwider]

Make that five: Howard, Fryatt, Oakley, Berner and Hobbs.

Good point. It was Berner I forgot now he's slinked off temporarily to LB. If he rooms with Neilsen, you can only imagine the laughs they have together.

[Edmund]

Make that five six: Howard, Fryatt, Oakley, Berner, Hobbs and the referee

[Ultra]

Last night was a reality check for those who were giddy enough to think the current squad is strong enough to trouble the top six.

The home side, despite fielding an attack consisting of a third-choice rookie and a striker who hasn't found the net in nearly FOUR YEARS, made the most of their first real chance, and then defended their lead with considerable ease.

We've had chances to win all three of our away games in the league and haven't been able to take them.

Some hard decisions need to be taken about our strikeforce, otherwise our lack of firepower is likely to hold us back throughout the season.

[Munzie]

Just got back from the game. Firstly, well done Newcastle. Great display tonight (especially 2nd half). Despite all their troubles, including injured strikers, they performed like a team that will bounce back at the first time of asking. It will take an almighty effort from an opposing team (or an off day themselves) for them to lose their current winning streak. Also, their fans were first class. Willing to shake hands before the match and wish us all the best and then offer the sympathies for not being able to take anything from the game.

As to our performance, we gave it a shot. Not a bad effort all in all. That said, I'm losing my patience with N'Guessan. Having seen all our games so far, he's not living up to expectations. He may be an emerging talent, but like other emerging talents in our squad, there is a time and place to try them. What has gone on with Gradel? Has he been hanging out with Levi Porter or something?

[Radovan's Caravan]

First time that I have seen your team this season (via internet streaming). My findings:

1) You appeared to dominate territory and possession - the team are very hard working and look highly motivated.

2) Newcastle were forced for long stretches into keeping men behind the ball and counter attacking - effectively playing like the away side. Whether this was by accident or design (aware perhaps that your attack is blunt) I couldn't tell.

3) Newcastle packed the centre of defence very tightly making it difficult for Leicester to carve out openings.

4) Newcastle successfully coaxed Leicester out wide. Going wide is not a proactive offensive option as 75% of outswinging crosses are duds. When forced onto the flanks winger's should play one two's with strikers and run diagonally to intersection of bye line and six yard box and cut back to feet of onrushing players OR cut into area from the flanks (right foot on left flank, left foot on right) and hit dipping inswinging shot to far post.

5) Leicester's free kicks were very poor. Not enough use of the deceptive inswnginger (unlike the outswinger where the keeper can hedge, the keeper has to commit or the ball might end up in the net direct from the kick).

4) Although they enjoyed less possession, Newcastle's attacks were more threatening (in the second half). They moved down the central channels with only the last line of defence in front of them.

5) The appalling conditions hampered Leicester's first time passing build up play in central midfield. One or two of your players did not appear to be on the same wavelength. Overall though, most of the quality football came from you.

6) Newcastle looked very mediocre and were quite fortunate to get the points (although the winner came from a notable strike from a central position). On this performance, Smith, Barton and co look run of the mill Championship material. A lot of bullcrap about their missing 'stars'. Better get used to the idea of a stretched squad - that's why it's a 46 game season.

7) Leicester might have got more joy had they sat deep and tempted Newcastle out (in the second half) and hit them on the break. Slouches like Italy have got by on cattenacio for the last half century or so - why not you?

8) N'Guessan was for me your best player. I like his style.

9) The referee was appalling and cowardly - always looking for players reactions after challenges as to whether he should blow up or not. As for that clear handball in the area...

10) The commentary was equally as bad. Any neutral would have thought that Newcastle United were playing themselves.

Your team is confident and competent enough for a mid table finish. At home, dominating possession and territory will translate into goals against weak, mediocre and maybe some goodish opposition. On the road you will need more guile to get goals against top half teams but your rearguard actions will ensure enough clean sheets/low score draws to (partially) compensate for your toothlessness.

[lildave3]

I'm not going to be disappointed with a narrow defeat away at the best team in the league.

Erm, that's basically it right now.

[Granno]

I'm so gutted, we deserved at least a draw.

[shen]

Your team is confident and competent enough for a mid table finish. At home, dominating possession and territory will translate into goals against weak, mediocre and maybe some goodish opposition. On the road you will need more guile to get goals against top half teams but your rearguard actions will ensure enough clean sheets/low score draws to (partially) compensate for your toothlessness.

Yup, seems about right to me.

[SOCCERROO FOX]

What are people expecting of Berner and Neilson? I mean, both of them went forward quite a bit. Every time the ball came to our left side, Berner was there to receive it or make a run. Both of them found themselves by the edge of the area a number of times. We didn't take enough advantage of that. The delivery wasn't up to scratch admittedly, but they tracked back quite well if you ask me. Neilson in the second half especially battled really well. He seems to know his weaknesses, and I prefer him to 'take two touches and pass it back' than losing the ball to an onrushing Newcastle player

Went forward more as the game went on because we were 1 nil down and had nothing to lose. But in the first half Nielson simply pass such as that dreadful back pass were not turned over but putting our players on the back foot. Like i said i can only judge him on this performance and i think a team with more pace on there wings and will cause us a few problems based on what i saw tonight.

[Maybes]

Blimey. A lot of moaning going on in this thread.

"Pearson tactics are showing him as a one trick pony and it will not suffice at this level'

What a load of bollocks.

'Fryatt missing and open goal every game' - Not sure what games you been watching squire.

To be honest I take heart from tonights performance, we outplayed them first half having the cut of the best chances, admittedly which we should have taken. Harper did make a few top saves in all fairness although Fryatt miss was pretty poor. The clinicalness of our strikers is the only worrying part of the team but I guess thats what separates the top sides from the average.

All in all a solid performance which I thought we did enough to get a point from one of the top sides in the league.

[J.Lisemore]

Just got back and i'm still angry with Fryatt, If he wasnt so flipping greedy we would have been 1-0 up in that match. But Fryatt being Fryatt doesnt give a toss about his teammates and goes alone.

He looks too casual and disinterested sometimes for my liking.

Not happy. <_<

[Ilkeston_Fox]

Just got back from the game. Firstly, well done Newcastle. Great display tonight (especially 2nd half). Despite all their troubles, including injured strikers, they performed like a team that will bounce back at the first time of asking. It will take an almighty effort from an opposing team (or an off day themselves) for them to lose their current winning streak. Also, their fans were first class. Willing to shake hands before the match and wish us all the best and then offer the sympathies for not being able to take anything from the game.

As to our performance, we gave it a shot. Not a bad effort all in all. That said, I'm losing my patience with N'Guessan. Having seen all our games so far, he's not living up to expectations. He may be an emerging talent, but like other emerging talents in our squad, there is a time and place to try them. What has gone on with Gradel? Has he been hanging out with Levi Porter or something?

This their fans were in a different class, despite all their problems they showed up in decent numbers and made some bloody good noise. Also enjoyed their little dig at MA. I was sat with Ian Marshall's Canadian football team (or some of them at least) and had a great time teaching them City chants, they loved the goal kick thing

Overall a decent first half performance against the leagues best team. We just need to carry the good performances into the second half, if we can manage this we will be ok.

[C-man]

They clearly had more quality in more positions than we did, but what did we expect? Having said that, I thought we played well in the first time, but severely lacked composure once we went behind. It's a shame that we don't have a game for 12 days now, although the break might give NP time to work on several things.

I thought Richie Wellens was outstanding yet again; him and Oakley played some neat stuff in the middle tonight.

Defence was reasonable apart from the goal and 15 minutes after - they didn't really trouble us unless we made silly unforced errors. Jack Hobbs was exceptional other than two misjudged long punts and Bruno Berner had a good game.

Wayne Brown, amongst his shite distribution, was troubled for the first time this season by Nile Ranger who by all accounts was bummed by the Sky commentators but is actually just the size of a tree and not a lot else.

Neilson was shit, but N'Guessen is hard done by by some of our fans. He's clearly a confidence player and lets face it, he came from Lincoln and was playing against the best left-back in the Football League in Jose Enrique tonight.

Howard did okay and was unlucky with his header, and although Fryatt was guilty of wasting by far our best opportunity, I think he showed that he can play at this level.

Our fans were decent except for the massive Canadian Villa contingent in front of us. Wtf?

[Radovan's Caravan]

Just got back from the game. Firstly, well done Newcastle. Great display tonight (especially 2nd half). Despite all their troubles, including injured strikers, they performed like a team that will bounce back at the first time of asking. It will take an almighty effort from an opposing team (or an off day themselves) for them to lose their current winning streak. Also, their fans were first class. Willing to shake hands before the match and wish us all the best and then offer the sympathies for not being able to take anything from the game.

As to our performance, we gave it a shot. Not a bad effort all in all. That said, I'm losing my patience with N'Guessan. Having seen all our games so far, he's not living up to expectations. He may be an emerging talent, but like other emerging talents in our squad, there is a time and place to try them. What has gone on with Gradel? Has he been hanging out with Levi Porter or something?

Sorry, but to me Newcastle looked a very ordinary beatable team. And it wasn't their seond stringers who looked impotent it was their big guns (notably Barton). Just a little bit more nous, a courageous ref and a little less rain and Leicester would have had at least a point - you played what little quality football there was.

Like no other division in Europe it seems the Championship can drag old pretenders like Newcastle down to the level of the also rans.

[topharry123]

if you could take any game of the season beforehand that i would of thought we would lose without putting up much i would of said this one. Bottom line is we turned up and played well. Yes we lost and it is disappointing, but if we carry on like this we'll be there or there abouts at the end.

Newcastle were challenging for the title within the last 10 years, whearas last season was our lowest point ever. We can't expect to win them all, and i for one am pleased that we put up a fight agaoinst newcastle. Regardless of the result, if a neutral watched the game knowing nothing about the teams they would find it hard to pick which side got promoted and which side came from the best league in the world.

All in all, some good performances and potential for the rest of the season. We need to use the wings more effectively and cut out the long ball. i for one woule like to see gradel get some time on the pitch, and more of adams also.

Signing of the season so far from me? although he didn't have much to do today, weale is looking like a huge talent for us and finally a goalkeeper that has the quality to take us all the way to the top.

[Filbert_Ross]

Kyle Ranger is the greatest player ive ever seen, what a debut. amazing.

right bum fest that was.

[queensland fox]

if you could take any game of the season beforehand that i would of thought we would lose without putting up much i would of said this one. Bottom line is we turned up and played well. Yes we lost and it is disappointing, but if we carry on like this we'll be there or there abouts at the end.

Newcastle were challenging for the title within the last 10 years, whearas last season was our lowest point ever. We can't expect to win them all, and i for one am pleased that we put up a fight agaoinst newcastle. Regardless of the result, if a neutral watched the game knowing nothing about the teams they would find it hard to pick which side got promoted and which side came from the best league in the world.

All in all, some good performances and potential for the rest of the season. We need to use the wings more effectively and cut out the long ball. i for one woule like to see gradel get some time on the pitch, and more of adams also.

Signing of the season so far from me? although he didn't have much to do today, weale is looking like a huge talent for us and finally a goalkeeper that has the quality to take us all the way to the top.

totally agree

[Criggers]

After last night I would really, really like to see a midfield of (L to R) Adams, Wellens/Berner, Oakley.

We looked so, so light in midfield it was unbelievable at times the amount of space Newcastle had. Berner is a much better player than people give him credit for and is wasted at LB in my opinion. I would love to see this tried out at least once. Especially with McGivern available LB now.

It was clear to see as well, that at the moment we need Oakley out wide because nobody else is capable of putting in a good ball for the front men.

Felt sorry for Gallagher, after all the talk from Green Army(?) about how good he was up front for Plymouth but Sturrock kept putting him out wide, and look what happened tonight. He clearly didnt track back enough unfortunately leaving us exposed. Forward first and foremost in my book, only on the wing as backup. Especially when Adams is proving to be worth a crack at regular first team football.

I usually praise Pearson for his substitutions but here were probably some of the most ineffective substitution decisions i have seen from Pearson as well.

EDIT: Must say this wasn't meant to read as bad as it looks I was happy with the performance it is just clear there is room for improvement. Overall we were unlucky come away with nothing. We will get points of a lot of other Championship sides playing like that, just need better wing play and crosses.