Is this the start of a downward spiral?

Confidence in the team and the club was at an all time high pre-Christmas. A lot has changed since then!

There was a good feeling amongst the players, the fans and the city. We had a great manager in Chris Hughton and were playing some brilliant football.

Then we all received a reality check... 'BOOM'. Chris Hughton departed alongside Paul Barron and almost immediately Alan Pardew was installed as manager. We were all left scratching our heads, asking "Why, oh why?".

Whilst at first he was an unpopular choice as Chris Hughton's replacement, the majority of us have now warmed to Pardew. To his credit, he has done a good job of keeping the 'good feeling' that was present amongst the squad.

BUT... there is no escape from the inevitable perils of being a Newcastle United fan.

The final day of the transfer window loomed. We all had our doubts that Mike Ashley & co would reject any serious offers (e.g. £35m) for Andy Carroll. But to our surprise... Andy Carroll was the one to stab us in the backs, after all of his promises.

Anyway, moving on from that blur of a day. We were now left with just 3 senior strikers of average ability. This made us very worried about the remaining 15 games and how we might obtain the points required for Premier League survival.

Fulham v Newcastle - We were dismal, there was no confidence in the team and attacking flair was almost non-existent. Anything we did produce went to waste, there was no final product. To top that all off, we lost 1-0 and learnt that Ameobi would now also be injured for a possible 6 weeks.

So... where do we move on from here?

Arsenal on Saturday. Great... Can we really even expect to grind out a draw from this game, especially after last night?

Face it... we're going to be subject to a thrashing. Then the feeling amongst the squad really will be at a low. The future doesn't look too bright!

 

we have tiote coming back and ben arfa coming in later on in the season, we beat west ham 5 - 0 and without carroll. i think everyone needs to settle down and wait, we cant judge the rest of the season on one performance.

 

We're certainly feeling down after the last few days and the 'performance' last night has left many of us depressed but we're at home against Arsenal. The players should get rocket up their posteriors for the display last night and get out there and play.

Tiote is back and he will re-enforce the midfield. We look OK at the back but the forwards have to up their game and Barton et al have to give them something to feed off of.

 

This is what I have said on a previous thread.



"I don't think that it is anywhere near as bad as people think.

The next few weeks should see the return of Tiote, Ben Arfa and Gosling, and the introduction of Ireland. What we lacked last night was creativity. The last 3 players mentioned will give us much more of a cutting edge going forward and Tiote makes us stronger in defence.

In the short term we will be hard to break down, but probably won't create too much, but we are only about 10 points from safety with 14 games left.

Many people have been saying that Ranger should be given a run in the team. Well now he has his chance.He can't do a lot with the poor service he received last night, but Ireland and HBA should be able to put that right.

Remember, at the start of the season we were all saying that 17th place was the aim."

 

It;s the same feeling we had after the West Brom game mate. We are only short of Carroll and Ameobi now.

Over the last month, Ameobi has scored 1 goal, and Carroll has scored none. We have managed 8 points out of 15, and it could have quite easily been 12 out of 15.

This was just a poor game after a bad time. Keep faith.

 

Doom merchants. We lost a tightly fought contest by the odd goal and we didn't play well at all. Yes we're short up front but we did well defensively apart from one error. A few improvements from individuals and we'll be back to winning ways. Tiote back against the Arse will improve the side.

 

We lost a game after a very bad few days and you're saying we're on a downward spiral? Give me a break.

I really hope the players don't read forums like these because it would just drag them down.

 

It's been a **** few days but i still believe this squad can make it. One game doesn't make a season. I'll admit we looked like we had the wind taken from us last night but the lads just need to put it behind them and come out like lions this Saturday, even if we lose, i want to see a performance worth cheering about. It is worrying watching a performance like that, (a two week break in Portugal seems to have done us no favours) and memories of 2 seasons ago did flash by my eyes a couple of times, but c'mon, let's not get too disheartned yet,it was nice dreaming about Europe or a top ten finish but lets stick to plan A which was 17th and anything above is a bonus. There's still a long way to go and we have a nice 30 points on the board already, another 10-12 should do it...and i think we can do it...just.

 

I agree the person who made the article is quite negative, but it's atleast understandable, and i can tell he's passionate about the club. I myself am guilty of being very miserable in times like these.

I think we have more than enough to survive. Goals can come from anywhere in our squad. We're not just the 5th top scorers because of Carroll.

 

I am usually the eternal pessimist when it comes to Newcastle, and even I think we'll be ok this season, We started the season aiming for 17th. I'll be honest, at the start of the season I didn't think Carroll was good enough yet to get us the goals we would need in the prem (It might show how much I know, but I wasn't alone). So what we've had since then is the bonus that we are on 30 points after 24 games, 11 goals from Carroll and now £35 million in the bank to boot. We probably need 10 points to be safe and I can't see us getting less than 12 in our remaining games, even with the lack of strikers. We've got more than the making of a decent squad. Even with the squad we have now we'd be very confident if we had a good goalscorer - we were last week!

Its not going to be the second half of the season it could have been, but lets face it, it was not the first half of the season most of us were expecting back in August. We'll be ok. Get behind the team and try not to get on their backs. It isn't going to be easy but we'll be ok. We will!!

 

Dispite last nights result we are still in the top half of the league with a game in hand. I didnt think we played that badly, it was a tough game against a Fulham side that rely on their home form to keep them up. One goal was always going to win it.

Times a good healer and this team has rode worst storms than AC leaving. They'll bounce back. May not be against Arsenal though.

There are worse teams than us in the league. Wolves are simply awful and a sure certs to go down. West Ham may get out of it perhaps at the expense of Wigan and Blackpool have lost 5 of their last 6 games!

I think we'll huff and puff our way to saftey, we have a solid defence. Collo was class again last night.

 

Christ we've scored 9 goals in the last 6 games without Carroll, the defence played pretty well last night mid field was hit and miss and the strikers weren't even the game. As Bob Moncur keeps saying build from the back and aim to keep a clean sheet, your at least guaranteed a point. We have a defence capable of doing that especially when Tiote is back in the team.

The pitch also looked awful and to Fulhams credit are no push over at home. So I'm not to upset.

We all ways seem to come back after a week or two's break and play ****e, put the result behind us a get behind the lads on Saturday. Give them a reminder that we are a TEAM not a one man club.

We're not in the relegation zone (though it isn't to far away) and there are plenty of games to get ourselves clear.

 

Okay, after re-reading.. I do come across a bit negatively. Like many say, we have a lot of players coming back in the not too distant future. However, we lack anyone of any quality to turn attacking opportunities into goals (as far as strikers go).

We'll be very lucky to grind out a point against Arsenal on Saturday. However, I'm not saying we're doomed. Me concluding that this will lead to relegation would be massively far fetched. I'm just saying that we as a club are about to face very testing times.

This is going to be a huge task for Alan Pardew, but hopefully he will be able to turn things around and give the players a much needed boost.

Anyway... here's to us recovering from the last few days. Who knows, we may surprise ourselves on Saturday?

 

Honestly, I think when we get our full strength team back (Ben Arfa, Ireland (if he's in good form), Gosling, Taylor, Tiote and so on) we'll be in a stronger position than when we were WITH Carroll. Just look at the matches we didn't win when we had Carroll in the team:

Tottenham
Man City
West Brom
Chelsea
Bolton
Fulham
Blackburn
Wigan
Man City
Stoke

He's a good goalscorer but he isn't some sort of god-like saviour who doubled the quality of our squad just by being there.

 

hear, hear!

 

Last night was just dreadful.

Looking at the strikers you wonder where the goal's are going to come from.

Midfield looked flat but a lot of players just didnt look up for it last night.