Newcastle United (A) | Post Match thread

[Millo]

As for the game today, I’m not very happy. Sure Newcastle did well but look at the squad we have. We should do better.

I won’t change my stance regarding Rodri. He struggles against teams with high pressing and fast players. He’s capable of a lot but defending is not one of them. The way Newcastle time after time just sliced through our midfield within seconds and running past Rodri with ease was a clear indication of where things were heading. I think Rodri is better suited against teams sitting deep. I can’t stand watching him run next to opposing players and not getting physical. I expect a holding/defensive mid to atleast Try and put in a fkng tackle, standing or sliding I don’t care. Just do something.

I honestly think Kalvin would do great for us.



Agree, watched Kev all these years and knows what he’s capable of but todays assist to Bernardo surprised even me. He really is a remarkable footballer. He has to win balon d’Or at some point.

I agree about KDB, but I feel that we have become too reliant on him to create the chances. On the rare occasions he has an off day, we struggle to create anything.

 

[wattle]

We really did miss Grealish. His ability to win fouls and slow play down is vital to stopping opponents momentum. He may not pop up with goals and assists but what he does do is slow the game down and help us control the game. He’s also brilliant at retaining possession.

Woe woe woe!!!! You can’t speak sense or be tactically aware about Jack on here. You’ll be labelled a “fan boy”

 

[KS55]

Phillips should deffo have come on when Maximilian was ripping our right side. If not then, why did we buy him? Pep and subs, jeez.

 

[chickaroon]

Agreed if we get beat to second balls in CM and get harried out of possession, i think Walker was unfairly exposed today as we lost the ball a lot when we were set to move forward as a team...unlike us but our midfield got bullied today

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.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

We should definitely have won it,only poor finishing/choices prevented it.

We had 70% possession.....

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.

 

[wattle]

I’ve no idea if he has or hasn’t EB, although I get where you’re coming from as it took me a good while to get over my second bout of Covid, but this is different and shows classic signs of aged related decline in sporting prowess/performance like I’ve mentioned above.
A big sign also last season for me was Kyle going up and down the flanks both defensively and offensively at lung bursting speed, sooo used to him having amazing/elite recuperative/recovery abilities no matter how many times he did it in quick succession, his level barely dropped, then, he did about 3 sprints (6 in total) in one game and he was done.

Have a read up on VO2max and how it affects endurance of athletes when they age EB if you get the time.

Good points but I recon if he’d been showing signs of serious age decline it’d show up in training and city would have signed his replacement already. I think yesterday was being played out of position and asked to basically play 2 positions at once. Hopefully anyway :/

 

[Dirty Harry]

Maybe it's just age and injury catching up with him, it often happens quickly with footballers, especially when it comes to pace.

Well it definitely is age related (although injuries may play a part), no question of that, City’s sports science department will have the information already as they’re tested quite often, I wouldn’t expect them to admit that publicly, but privately they may and will already have the data.
Kyle will still be one of the top performing athletes though, because his ceiling was so high and for me, arguably the best athlete I’ve seen in a footballing sense, but he’s still human and eventually he will hit “the wall”.

 

[Dirty Harry]

Good points but I recon if he’d been showing signs of serious age decline it’d show up in training and city would have signed his replacement already. I think yesterday was being played out of position and asked to basically play 2 positions at once. Hopefully anyway :/

See my post to Keeper mate ;-)

 

[wattle]

We should definitely have won it,only poor finishing/choices prevented it.

We had 70% possession.....

Totally agree. It certainly didn’t feel like a 70% game though. We expect so much from our team nowerdays that if a team or player players well against us, most of the fan base goes into meltdown

 

[KS55]

Well it definitely is age related (although injuries may play a part), no question of that, City’s sports science department will have the information already as they’re tested quite often, I wouldn’t expect them to admit that publicly, but privately they may and will already have the data.
Kyle will still be one of the top performing athletes though, because his ceiling was so high and for me, arguably the best athlete I’ve seen in a footballing sense, but he’s still human and eventually he will hit “the wall”.

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..