Newcastle (H) | PL | Post-Match Thread

[foggy1974]

And has been for a while, sadly.

I keep saying it, he's peaked. Will always conjure up a moment of true brilliance, hopefully as our ultimate, big game player, but all the games of the last couple of years have caught up with him.

We have to use him carefully and hopefully he can recharge his batteries this summer.

Wonder if that's why Pep wanted Maddison in the January transfer

 

[ganganvince]

And has been for a while, sadly.

I keep saying it, he's peaked. Will always conjure up a moment of true brilliance, hopefully as our ultimate, big game player, but all the games of the last couple of years have caught up with him.

We have to use him carefully and hopefully he can recharge his batteries this summer.

I believe we will start to see Alverez used in that role over the next 12 months

 

[Dribble]

Oh don’t get me wrong mate I’m not one who thinks he’s ‘done’, however he’s always been one who’ll give the ball away with his risky passing style, trying to conjure up the brilliance he has in his locker, but that pass or moment is become more or more infrequent and something we can ill afford at this part of the season.

Maybe he just needs a break, maybe his illness is still causing him problems, I don’t know, but he couldn’t even do the simple passes at times today and was rightly dragged off, I’d argue he was lucky to come out second half.

He’s had great moments this season but not one great game. That’s the difference this season to the past few.

All my opinion of course and I’d love him to have 12 majestic games out of the next 12 if possible.

Most seem to think he had an atrocious game today, which I & others disagree with. As we've agreed, it's all about opinions.

However, I've been saying all season that KDB's apparent woes go beyond a loss of form. It's a loss of physicality & there's no turning back the hand of father time in that respect.

I judged his performance today on the KDB we have now & not the vintage KDB of the past. Several people have strongly disagreed with me & used the adage "Form is temporary. Class is permanent". However, that didn't take into account Kev's physicality changing.

I'm now wondering what those who disagreed with my early season assessment of KDB have to say now? Rarely do I see anyone who believes Kev's tepid displays are just a temporary blip. I think more & more fans are coming to the realisation that I did, that the KDB we knew is sadly a thing of the past.

As someone said earlier, more often than not this season, Kev's being selected on reputation not performances. We need to realise it's very unlikely we'll ever see him dominate games from minute one to ninety, three times a week any longer.

Personally I'll continue to enjoy his Hollywood moments, but for me I don't think a seriously below par KDB is worth playing in the hope of a match winning moment of magic.

The problem is will KDB readily accept being an impact substitute squad player at Manchester City, & be happy playing a bit part role? )(

 

[blueparrot]

Be very hard to replace. Hoping it’s just a blip with him but if it is the beginning of the end then what a pleasure to have seen one of the greats play .

Think he is becoming very much a one game a week player. We will need to start using him more sparingly and he needs to retire from internationals to extend his career for a couple of years.

 

[East Level 2]

My summary: Foden and Grealish attacked well, Ake was my MOTM, Eddie's kicking was awful, and Howe has taken his time-wasting tactics north with him. Ref was completely conned by the Barcodes and seemed to forget the definition of head injury.
And I heard the last minute of the Arse game and wasn't impressed.

 

[chesterbells]

Thought at times we played really well....we were moving the ball quicker and more vertically, looking to play earlier passes.
KDB sadly was very poor and I think at present we are a better team without him....I think i saw a stat that he gave the ball away 17 times today...now some of that is down to the type of pass he is trying to make (slide rule - high percentage passes) BUT he aso gave the ball away countless times when he should be making the pass....he seems to have lost a yard at least....is this down to a slight injury he is carrying or could it be the long term downturn of a player where age is catching up with him.....I unfortunately think its the latter.

On the other hand, Foden was excellent Ake was as well.....Akanji despite a few moments seemed to relish the physical battle with Wilson and Haaland is starting to link play more and more....Dias is again showing his leadership qualities....

Bernardo - its noteable how much better we press when he is on the pitch...he is also a goal threat whne played further forward and at present Id be tempted to put him in instead of KDB......

A tough game out of the way and 3 pts.....

Another tough game next week - Palace away is not a great place to be going needing nothing but a win but we are showing signs of fight again.....and ontop of that we are showing signs of playing good football again..
All we can do is keep winning and hopefully someone takes points of Arsenal......

Bernardo in for KBD?
Seconded.

 

[Legal Alien]

Mixed bag of performances out there today. Thankfully we took our chances, 3 shots on target and two goals. Grealish and Ake on the left are a fantastic combination, Foden and walker on the right worked well today too. Foden another MOTM performance, not just his goal but work ethic, some fantastic touches and ball control and caused them problems all game.
Some of our passing was dreadful in midfield, very sloppy and at times Gundogan, Rodri and Akanji were caught out dawdling and we lost possession.
What is going on with Ederson's kicking? The scene for that was set right from kick off, pass back to Dias who fumbled it, passed back to Eddie who kicked it out of touch.
We rode our luck a little defensively at times but we got the three points and kept a clean sheet. A few feisty tackles were going in and it was good to see us respond as a team and not leave some one on their own like with Lewis that time.

I agree.

I thought it was a strange game, but it was a good three points and we were the better team and deserved to win. Well played CITY!

We controlled it for the most part, but needed two great team goals to win it.

Foden and Bernie are the energy we need in the team and both their goals were superb. They should both be starting imo.

Dias and Ake are our standout defenders and even though Akanji has been really good, i can't wait for Stones to get back.

I luv Kev and he can win a game out of nothing, but something's not right with him and i don't think he should be starting all the time now.
On his day he's our best player, but we need to be selective with his games for the rest of the season because we going to need him when it matters.
I would like to see how Grealish plays in his role as i think he would dominate there.

My biggest fear going forward is Rodri getting injured, i'd like to be selective with his minutes too and i think Phillips should start at Palace and save Rodri for Leipzig.

I was disappointed with Newcastle. The commentators were hoping they'd get something but they play shithouse football and how Lascelle, Trippier and Burns weren't booked in the first half i'll never know.

Anyway we get timely week off, then onto the palace "...and the Blues go marching on, on, on!"

 

[chesterbells]

I believe we will start to see Alverez used in that role over the next 12 months

Wow. Alvarez? I mean I like the player, and he puts a shift in like few others, but to play as Kevin’s replacement … I might be in the minority here, but I’m surprised to read that mate.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Most seem to think he had an atrocious game today, which I & others disagree with. As we've agreed, it's all about opinions.

However, I've been saying all season that KDB's apparent woes go beyond a loss of form. It's a loss of physicality & there's no turning back the hand of father time in that respect.

I judged his performance today on the KDB we have now & not the vintage KDB of the past. Several people have strongly disagreed with me & used the adage "Form is temporary. Class is permanent". However, that didn't take into account Kev's physicality changing.

I'm now wondering what those who disagreed with my early season assessment of KDB have to say now? Rarely do I see anyone who believes Kev's tepid displays are just a temporary blip. I think more & more fans are coming to the realisation that I did, that the KDB we knew is sadly a thing of the past.

As someone said earlier, more often than not this season, Kev's being selected on reputation not performances. We need to realise it's very unlikely we'll ever see him dominate games from minute one to ninety, three times a week any longer.

Personally I'll continue to enjoy his Hollywood moments, but for me I don't think a seriously below par KDB is worth playing in the hope of a match winning moment of magic.

The problem is will KDB readily accept being an impact substitute squad player at Manchester City, & be happy playing a bit part role? )(

Probably not, so he either plays or we allow him to go. Still think he is too good to let go and has not been as bad as people are making out. He would be in my starting line up every time and I don’t remember us playing well at Spurs when he didn’t play. In fact we were dross. Any team with the top assist maker in the league would be mad to let them go. He is a game changer.

He was getting pelters against Bristol yet all three goals involved him. His surging runs were still there today. It was his final pass that let him down. Haaland was partly to blame for some as his runs were poor today and didn’t leave the pass on. We also didn’t get players up quickly enough. We used to overload players on the break and often score from them. Today we had Kev bursting forward from one of their corners and only Haaland was up. Easy to defend that and it made Kev look the bad guy when he literally had no one to pass too other than a surrounded Haaland.

We have seen the best of him but at his age, that is to be expected. However the rung below is still good enough for us. We also have 3/4 players who have peaked and will only be on the decline from here. Gundogan, Mahrez, Walker Spring to mind.

Huge summer ahead for us this one.

 

[the blue panther]

Ake was my MOM,he's been our best player of the season imo.

Foden now back to the Phil we know

Fuck knows how's Newcastle never scored today we were giving so much shit away at times

Our midfield legs look fucked after 60-65 minutes, decisions need to be made

Kev looked lost today, didnt know where or who to pass it too & it got worse

Eddy, wow his distribution was embarrassing today, its the worst I've seen
2-0 flattered us but it's the time of the year you just have to get over the line, just ask Arsenal.

Phil, Jack & Ake superb

Spot on with everything. Never seen us give the ball away so much. We were there for the taking and Newcastle had very little to offer. Ref was shite. We started poorly, giving the ball away straighaway, and it just continued on and off throughout the game, and the Geordies were no better.
Foden's goal was worthy of Maradona. Thank God he's got his form back. Great to see some battling, especially from the big fella, who never stopped trying but was barely fed a scrap. There seemed to be very few chances created compared to how we once were.
Maybe KDB was still poorly, but, on that showing, he can't expect to start in the next game. I hope he gets his form back because he's absolutely crucial to us. As is Eddy's distribution - it was all over the place today, though he kept us in it a few times, so credit for that, as he's had some stick for his goalkeeping skills on here lately; no problems with that today.
All in all, a good 3 points from a very average performance overall.