Newcastle United (A) | Post Match thread

[waspish]

Of course pep is a genius and he has his reasons , but he argues for five subs, we buy Philips and others and he doesn’t use anyone, I know we fought back but it must frustrate these players to not get any minutes

Players on the pitch would of been in the same boat as them on the bench so that will gain more respect

 

[Mick_]

If you play like you did yesterday regularly this season you'll be in for a cracking season.

We're one or two injuries away from struggling.

 

[crossbar]

Yes, against a team that presses us high, Bernie needs to be in midfield. If Gundo is looking for those spaces in the box and we lose the ball. Rodri is then exposed. My change would have been, to move Bernie into midfield, take off Gundo and play Alvarez on the right. We would have been more secure in procession and a guy up front who presses hard. Just an opinion.

Spot on. Bernardo in midfield is much more suited against teams pressing like maniacs and run a lot, like Newcastle yesterday, like Leeds and Liverpool. He runs so much with an amazing workrate defensively. Gundogan should play the games where the opposition doesn’t go all out attack.

I love Pep but it’s almost misconduct not changing your tactics midgame when you see them constantly slicing through us. The signs were so clear they would eventually score.

 

[chickaroon]

Was it me or did Phil shit out of a 50/50 ( might even have been 60/40! ) - looked to me as though he could have certainly caused their keeper an issue

I agree with you.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

Fair play to Newcastle and St Max in particular. Trippier should have been off - airborne knee high lunge. However, Haaland looks like he's playing against kids - has a Yaya type ability to resist attempts to foul him. At some point we'll be fully tuned into the service he thrives on.

 

[Tolmie scores]

Possession does not tell the whole story. We always have more possession. They had six shots on target (to our ten), and as many corners. How often do you see us allow that, from any team in England or Europe, apart from the dippers? There was a point after about twenty-two minutes in the first half when our game completely went to pieces. Overall, I think it's a pretty fair result, and the most important thing I take away from it is the mental steel that we showed after going two behind. That's what we now show (as we did against Villa), and it will stand us in good stead for the season.

There will be loads of games like this , thus season. Getting used to less domemance in CM to accomodate a CF = some wins and some losses. Teams are getting stronger as welk. Strange WC year...league is wide open this season.
.

 

[lazerblue]

it looked to me like walker was just getting in the way in midfield, taking rodri's space while leaving us wide open down the right where we were getting ripped to shreds, i don't undrestand why pep didnt change it

 

[dickie davies]

Yes, quite a lot of differences between them. And I still don’t think Stones’ was a red card neither but there was far more force in his than Trippier’s.

Stones took a wild swing at the ball, missed, thumped a knee and withdrew his foot almost at the same time

Tripper hung his foot out for a full flight DeBrune to clatter into with his knee

There is no difference in the impacts the knees of both players took, yet one was upgraded and the other downgraded

 

[Spurs quarter 69]

What we saw yesterday was one fantastic game of football. Well played Newcastle for giving us a really hard match and we'll done our boys for going toe to toe and gaining a battling point. At the end we looked the more likely winners but they had a late chance too. Anyone who didn't enjoy that doesn't enjoy football, don't become rag like and expect wins before a ball is kicked. Great game both teams a great treat for the TV audience.

 

[halfcenturyup]

When I suggested last year that we should keep an eye on Walkers pace diminishing and be prepared to shift Cancelo over and buy a left back, I got the reply that I was being ageist. Hmmm..

Tbf, I am pretty sure they keep more than one eye on the performance of every player in incredible detail and if there was any age-related drop-off they would know about it earlier than us. I am sure it is in hand.

 

[Tolmie scores]

We are not carrying 25 top players, we have 18 outfield players who can realistically expect to feature in the PL. Of those, Gomez - we have no clue how he is going to adapt to the PL, Alvarez - we can only hope the South American player of the year wont have difficulties to fit in and Palmer - he had few games only and we are from knowing realistically his impact for the whole season. With competing on the four fronts and so many games, with impact of wear and tear throughout the season and five subs option, we have the thinnest of thin squads in the league.

The answer..drop out of tge cups like most do.. i think Jesus is a good example of how hard it is to go for all comps. He is too good to leave out but with so many optionds he got a cup game, if he did well then got a prem start. For a lot of players thats too much of a burden = snatching chances. At Arsenal almost guarenteed start...so weight is off = clever relaxed finishing. Looks 2 x tge player

 

[halfcenturyup]

What we saw yesterday was one fantastic game of football. Well played Newcastle for giving us a really hard match and we'll done our boys for going toe to toe and gaining a battling point. At the end we looked the more likely winners but they had a late chance too. Anyone who didn't enjoy that doesn't enjoy football, don't become rag like and expect wins before a ball is kicked. Great game both teams a great treat for the TV audience.

That can't be right. Our games are boring, apparently.

 

[dickie davies]

Yeah it's pretty different. The amount of force and the fact he went with his studs up makes this a nailed on red.

When the replays of the Trippier foul came on, it seemed pretty obvious that it was more of a high trip than and out and out kick. Not much force and his studs pointed towards the ground.

The fact it was the knee makes it perfectly justifiable why Kev was initially so pissed off and I would understand if the red stood but it wasn't as bad as I first thought.

See my post above
And do not forget, the ref yesterday was five yards away with a totally unobstructed view and watched it in real time
He obviously saw it as dangerous

 

[dennishasdoneit]

They say that every time we lose a match.
The theory might look simple, trying to execute it can have you 3-0 down at half time when City are on it.

Correct.

 

[depps]

I thought we played very well in attack at times and could easily have had another couple of goals - Pope was excellent. Defensively a bit all over the place though and could have conceded more as well. Seems like we weren’t expecting Newcastle to go at us so aggressively.

Overall though, I think the type of game we would have lost early in the season in previous years. Happy that we are on the right track and the slow start from the Dippers has given us some breathing room to sort ourselves out.

 

[chickaroon]

A couple of worries for me.

Walker looked shot, for the first time ever he started to look his age, hopefully just a bad game but also maybe a sign his pace is going and if that's the case we need to worry.

Foden, a guy with undoubted talent but is he starting to believe his own hype? Why has he not signed his contract, is the club reluctant to commit? Whatever he needs to get his head back in the game, and start playing the team game, he is clearly pissing off Haaland and rightly so, the big man should have another two goals for us in the last games but has not because of Fodens greed.

Finally we have a world class striker in our team, making amazing runs, for gods sake get the ball to him early, feed him and this big daft Viking will score goals for fun.

I agree with all of this. Haaland would have got to the non cross from Phil. No problem, he is that quick and hungry. If Walker has lost his pace, then he is an average fullback.

 

[KS55]

I am slightly worried, but not about the team, more about ourselves, the fans. Let me explain.
In the pre match thread, I suggested that we should be wary of Newcastle given the influence of Howe, the recruitment etc, and said I would be happy with a draw, which is what I predicted.
Some “gentlemen“ said I was being disloyal to City. Well, nah nah na nah nah….look at the result.
They didn’t seem to take into account the barcodes massive turnaround since new year. I think they are third since then in points garnered. Nor did they understand the meaning of the word ‘prediction ’. Rather there was an attitude of We’re City, so we deserve to win and that is what you should predict. Oh dear, sounds like rags.
Just a reminder to them, you have to work your bollocks off every game to deserve a win. See also the post in this thread claiming Howe is a stupid twat!
I hope this is just one or two individuals rather than a general mood.

 

[OB1]

I thought we played very well in attack at times and could easily have had another couple of goals - Pope was excellent. Defensively a bit all over the place though and could have conceded more as well. Seems like we weren’t expecting Newcastle to go at us so aggressively.

Overall though, I think the type of game we would have lost early in the season in previous years. Happy that we are on the right track and the slow start from the Dippers has given us some breathing room to sort ourselves out.

I need to find time to watch the game in a state of calm but my feeling is that it's not so much that the defence was all over the place in some sort of disorganised fashion as much as we push men forward, in a very delibertae organised way but if team manage to break on us or win possession back high, which I beleive Newcastle did more than has happened in Pep's time in the league bar one other occassion, it leaves us short and then you do look all over the place.

It also probably didn't help losing Ake as the team would have prepared the game on the basis of the Stones / Ake partnership. A small thing, given Stones / Dias are hardly strangers but still not helpful.

 

[Dirty Harry]

When I suggested last year that we should keep an eye on Walkers pace diminishing and be prepared to shift Cancelo over and buy a left back, I got the reply that I was being ageist. Hmmm..

I didn’t see that mate although the thing with Kyle is, he’s such an exceptional athlete, a 10% drop (just an illustrative figure) from him would probably still see him in the top 5% of footballers for athletic performance, and likely still the best at the club, so personally I’m not worried, as I said before, we (the sports science department) need to manage it more closely than we normally would have to.

He did it have it back in the early days. I think him and Jesus missed all the Christmas fixtures not last year but the year before. No idea if he’s had it a second time though.

Generally speaking though, I think people jump too quickly to the age factor. A player over 30 has a bad game and everyone immediately claims it’s age catching up with them. A player under 20 has a bad game and it’s always because they’re inexperienced and naive. A player between 20 and 30 has a bad game and it’s… well they just had a bad game, it happens.

It’s nothing to do with him (or anyone for that matter) having a bad game mate, it’s about noticing certain aspects physically and mentally that are age related and the beginning of a decline, there are people out there who would have seen signs before me, as I’ve said before, the players are tested regularly on their VO2max etc so the club are more than aware of where we stand with him.

As a side, nobody should feel the need to defend Kyle on this, the lad’s paid his dues at the very top of sporting performance.

 

[metalblue]

Result feels like a win after being 3-1 down. Great game of football, had everything - I enjoyed it (once we’d pegged them back obviously!). Toon fans a lot like us, place was rocking then you start to think you’re going to throw the lead away and panic sets in.

Newcastle are going to destroy some teams with that high press. I expect them to comfortably make a europa league spot this season along with Brighton. Maybe challenge for a CL spot the season after if they can get their recruitment right.