Please WBA are likely to not be around next season...they did what they needed to do and it wasn’t pretty but it’s ****ing awful to watch. Kicking lumps out of most of our players and just fouling all day long in general, coupled with a **** inexperienced ref it was just woeful. I’m pleased we’re not battling against teams like that anymore to stay up cos we just don’t have the fight or the players to do it with and we’d be fooked!
Shame to see Murphy being given ****, how ****ing ridiculous to expect him to just hit the ground running considering his last proper match was Citeh time ago
Not so sure I sit two from the front in the east stand and watched him at close hand there was one midweek game and there wasn't a mark on the bugger he did **** all was not interested which is a shame
I think we played like a Pulis team today, relegation assured and everyone's on holiday. Well I guess that's what happens when u push survival to be the key at the start of the season. I'm certain if Benitez and the fans genuinely thought we'd be in anything other than a relegation battle the rhetoric would be different. It is what is is, let's put our hopes on getting Rafa's key targets this summer!
Absolute bollocks, never wanted to be here and if you think we'd have ever got the output Marseille have out of him, regardless of manager, you're on another planet.
Just back from the match. Pissed. Couldn't give a toss. Players have got their feet up, job nearly done. Bad day at the office today, never mind. Atmosphere was canny in the last 25 mins, but the players didn't respond enough.
Mate it's nearly May and he's still sub-par. I don't expect him to win games, but for chrissakes he's still paid more in a week than most are in a year and he can't pass 10 yards to a team-mate. Not good enough.
Yeah, I didn't mean it in that way. Thauvin was an atrocious buy - never ever wanted to be in Newcastle. All I meant was he's shown why he's a £15m player. Murphy looks like another Amalfitano - right price, wrong player.
I wonder if the complacency is more to do with the same team is being picked every week and they don't think they have to work hard to keep/win their place in the side? They need to be kept on their toes with competition and a bit of squad rotation. Rafa should slip out a few rumours to the papers this week about certain players being shown the door this summer. A little incentive for them to prove to the manager they are worth keeping.
It was a very lethargic performance on the pitch and in the stands. Thank god we've almost certainly already done enough!
Murphy's got a good cross on him. I've seen signs this season that he could develop into a decent player but there is a long way to go. We obviously haven't bought a finished product so just be patient and give the lad a couple of seasons for Rafa to mould him into a proper player. If anything, I thought he looked a bit lacking in confidence today - maybe not used to playing in front of the big crowds yet and the pressure that comes with it. The whole side was misplacing passes today so I'd hardly be singling him out.
These match day threads sum up the state of our team at the minute. Crone thought the job was done, got cocky and went to the pub. We then brought back someone we knew was **** but somehow time had made us forget how ****. We believed the Rafa effect could have transformed Albert, but we were wrong. He is still **** - and I think we knew that deep down. It's time for some proper quality to step up for the next game!!