We were too flat, no creativity. He had to come on to try and change it, even if he was 5hit. Muto should have been on for lego hair too
Glad you have put your self forward to provide an intelctual thread for Fridays game so soon We all look forward to your efforts
There’s something not working. I think in a game like that we should gradually shift to 4-4-2/4-2-4, sticking with a back five just seems pointless with Yedlin and Ritchie utterly ineffective and, at times, liabilities. Too cautious and reliant on one striker in the middle. I’m all for modern tactics but at the moment we seem a bit lost. We won’t do it but I’d just go with an attacking 4-4-2, Rondon Perez up front, Almiron and Ritchie wide, Manquillo in for Yedlin, Schar/Lascelles at cb with Hayden/Ki in the middle.
Seems as though something is about to happen ref Rafa and any new contract. He said he is waiting for an answer, but obviously wouldn’t be drawn into say to what. A bit cryptic, but seems to suggest talks of some sort have taken place and Rafa has laid out his stall. Results like yesterday’s and the pathetic attempt to play football against Arsenal, won’t be doing much to persuade him that NUFC is where he should commit his long term future, without steady and purposeful change going forward. That can only come from Ashley, so there you go, as per the norm, we wait and see how the next saga plays out.
Runs both ways though. Arsenal was a bit more of a gulf in class/spending but Palace are just as average and we didn’t really have a plan b....as usual. Lejeunes injury should have been a catalyst for change yet it wasn’t. Disappointing to keep trying the same things yet expecting different results.
****e from the manager. ****e from the players. No excuses, bad day at the office. We were actually the more active side through the game but Palace looked comfortable and the longer it went on, the more you could feel a breakaway goal coming. We lack a bit creativity up top. We didn't really get a bit of luck in and around the box either. Those are the days though where you need the coach or one of the players to step up. Neither did for us, hence I say ****e even though we were the better side. Perez is such a frustrating player. When he is on it, he looks decent. Then he will play like the last two. Rafa has alluded to it and has stopped short of defending his chucking himself to the ground too easy. I think Rafa has improved him and is continuing to try to do so. Whether he will ever get that consistency from him I'm not so sure. The selection of Hayden after last week was a bit bewildering but clearly Rafa doesn't see enough steel to play Shelvey and Ki together. Its a shame because when a team sets up like Palace do, all counter attack, then the need for someone to break up play is less so. All it ends up doing is exposing how bad Hayden is with the ball. We always seem to be a little conservative when we don't need to.
I thought we played pretty well on Saturday to be quite honest. We had a bit of intensity to our play and created way more chances than Palace did, too many times the ball just did not break in the box for us when it needed to. I'd be amazed if Rafa is still here next season if I'm honest, he can see the same frustrations as we can but it must be more frustrating for him as he knows he can do something about if given the resources. Don't get me wrong he's bought some ****e in his career (not just with us), he can only work with what he's got and if you look back to before he came, some of the players that were here before that and are still here have improved, coupled with some real finds (Schar, Fernandez, Longstaff) he has made a difference to our overall play. We need to be a lot more clinical in the final third and hopefully Almiron is just the start of putting the final pieces of the jigsaw together to sort that out.
Saw the stats and it showed we put 38 crosses into the box, however rarely got past the first player. We can't cross for toffee.
Don think we deserved to lose the game to be fair, had more chances than them and played much better football for the majority of the game. I mean ffs they had 3 shots to our 18, 1 on target to our 5. Ki and Hayden in midfield did well for me although I think Rafa got his subs wrong again and should have taken Hayden off for a DM (I know Diame wasn't there but maybe Fernandez on and Schar moves forwards) instead of Shelvey for Ki or possibly brought Shelvey on for a CB and gone 4-3-3/4-5-1 and pushed for a goal a bit harder. Really need 2 GOOD strikers in the summer, Keep Rondon (£12m as one, as a back up) but a £30m striker really shouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility then a RB and CM's to replace those going out the door. Just for clarity I think Rondon has done a decent job but we need MUCH better than him, he's a 10 goal a season striker as I have been saying all season but he has done better than I expected in fairness (even though he's still not hit 10 yet).
Yeah because we’re relying on Ritchie and Yedlin to cross it, and both - especially the latter - are utter gash at it. Ritchie’s gone backwards. As i said we need to change and be more attacking. We have the personnel for a very attack minded 4-4-2 a la Atletico Madrid so might as well do it. Neither Yedlin nor Ritchie are good enough wing backs, so go for a solid LB in Dummett behind Almiron, then get have what would be a weaker but longer established right side in Yed/Ritchie. Perez off Rondon, Ki/Diame.
If doing well constitutes giving the ball away and offering nothing going forward bar an early effort on goal, and generally doing a good impression of an invisible man, yeah he did well. He was gash on Saturday as he was last game too. As I've said many times, anyone convincing themselves that Hayden has become a PL standard footballer because of 6 good games or so is kidding themselves. The manager has been pushed into 2 decisions this season he didn't want to make. Playing Hayden and Longstaff. Longstaff has been a revelation. Hayden delivered for us in a very important period and it should not be forgotten. However what we should not do under any circumstances is allow ourselves to be fooled by him and Diame. They have way more bad games than good and are simply not good enough. Haydens effort will never be in question, he is not however, a smart footballer. If you are going to be more of a sitting midfielder, then you need football intelligence to be a good one. He doesn't have it. Rondon for me is a concern. As an option in your squad you'd think "yeah he's a good one". The problem is his weight and fitness means he needs to play regularly. If we buy better than him in the summer, I could see him not being a great option. He was fat when we signed him, and I can only assume he has enjoyed himself a little too much back home in the recent international break. His fitness is poor again. He literally looked like he couldn't be arsed at times. I don't think there is anything wrong with wanting better. Perez is the same, he is another player with significant limitations. However I'd be happy to keep him regardless as back up to Almiron. He will stay fit and in shape. Both could have scored on Saturday but neither looked remotely likely at any stage. We didn't create a whole lot for all our bluster on Saturday. Certainly Woy and his side deserve some credit for that with their organisation. They allowed us generally half chances in non dangerous areas. However when you have Hayden plodding and giving it away, with Ki looking like he tired from 45min onwards, that central midfield is where we lost the game sadly. We needed to move it quicker, drag people out of position and play through them. Getting wide was one thing and delivery could have been better, but I have to say even when we did beat the first man they just lapped it up.
Agreed with all of that but Hayden is our enforcer, he's not there to play worldie passes and look glamorous. He had an 88% pass success rate - better than everyone in midfield for both teams bar Ki, won more tackles than any other midfielder on the pitch, won more headers than any other CM on the pitch so did his job really well again for probably the 14th time in the 15 games he's started recently - vs Arsenal everyone was dog ****e.
Fortunately I watched the game and he was gash. An enforcer should still take part in the game and be of use. He wasn't. All you've done is prove stats mean **** all in the grand scheme of things. For instance Granit Xhaka features in the list of most passes by an individual at around 11th place. Is he a top 6 player? Is he ****. Phillip Billing is in the top 10 for tackles. He is poor and will be relegated. Only one player has been dispossessed more than Salah this season. He's doing alright I'd suggest. I can go on and on. I watched the game and he was rubbish. He was also rubbish against Arsenal. I could go back through his 14 games too, because there is no way he's played well in all the other 13 either. This is always the danger. When you get conditioned to watching **** players, you eventually start to say "actually he's not that bad". The road to the championship as its otherwise known.
What I've done is highlight Hayden was better than just about every other midfielder on the pitch from all defensive points of view but because it's not conforming to your idea he had a bad game you start talking utter garbage. I've watched nearly every game this season and Hayden, whether you like it or not, has been good considering our team, our investment in the squad, our tactics and the job he's been asked to do. I've never said he is a world beater or due an England call up/a transfer to a top 6 team but for what he has been asked to do he has done a good job for us despite your preconceived disdain for the lad. You say he gave the ball away lots, I've showed you the #RafaFacts he did not, 43 of his 49 passes were made - let me just point out Ki had 100% of 37 passes so Hayden actually connected more. You say you don't like stats but explain to me then why the hell are the players all made to wear those data trackers while playing and professional, top level, elite coaches pour over them after every game and then run through them with their players in sit down sessions during the week if they aren't important?
You haven't highlighted anything at all except a few positive stats for the lad. I watched the game and he was poor. Almost to a man everyone wanted him off. Why if he is having such a stellar game? Were they all wrong too because they haven't looked at the stats? He has had a lot of good games in that run from December to March. Lets not forget all the god awful performances he has produced this season (we won't go back over as it would be a massacre for the lad). Man U at home, Liverpool away (I mean that was truly shocking), he was pretty poor away to Watford and again at home, poor against Chelsea away, poor against West Ham. I could go on. The reality is for me since Longstaff has been injured he has by and large been exposed for what he is. The young fellow was carrying him. You like him which is fair enough but I bet you Rafa isn't daft enough to think he is good enough. He was discarding him prior to his decent little run (and lets face it, it represents 3-4 months) and I believe he will do again. That had zero to do with the lad wanting away, he didn't play him anyway. Its quite simple for me, has Issac Hayden played well in more games than he has had bad games since joining Newcastle United? No. Has Issac Hayden been a sought after player while here at Newcastle? No. Has Issac Hayden put in a few useful performances? Yes he has. Its the exaggeration of his performances and ability which is the daft stuff. I don't subscribe entirely to judging performance on stats and never have. Once you judge the performance of players on them alone rather than just watching the game, I lose interest. You don't come out of a ground having watched a game saying "well he completed 92% of his passes according to Opta mate". As I have already pointed out, I can present 100's of positive stats which belie actual performance. Can you explain that? I mean I can give you the biggest one of all if you like? How many times have you seen a player be utter gash all game, and then score. That is the most important stat of all but it doesn't mean he performed well. Another example would be a player having a great game, smashing all the stats you like, but he gives the ball away 3 times which leads to goals and a defeat? Has the player performed well, has he ****. You are mistaking my dislike of stats for judging performance for something else. To suggest they have no purpose in football, coaching or management would be absolutely ridiculous. Hence I never do that. One thing for sure is though, watching a player perform and looking at stats after they perform, I am more than happy to stick my neck out and say I know with a great deal of certainty which tells you more about how they performed. There is no preconceived judgement on him. Look back through the match threads. When he has played well he has been given the credit due by myself. If anything the preconceiving is done by yourself. For whatever reason you've got yourself into the Hayden fanclub and decided all games are good games as long as the stats say so.
All Key to the position he was playing and disproving what you believe you saw #shouldhavegonetospecsavers You said he gave the ball away to much but he did no worse than the majority of the players out there and then won the ball back more than anyone else?: Misplaced passes... Rondon 5 Perez 5 Almiron 7 - one of which led to their goal Ki 0 Hayden 6 Ritchie 9 Lejuene 7 Lacselles 4 Schar 14 Yedlin 6 I watched the game as well and even commented at half time how well both he and Ki were doing - I've also stated earlier in the thread I think Rafa got the sub wrong - Hayden should have come off instead of Ki as he was tiring and Ki belted off the pitch so obviously still had energy to burn (Rafa also waited 9 mins after they scored to get his change of Ritchie for Atsu - in the 90th min... but that's another story) - Rubbish he was certainly not, the worst you could say was he tired towards the end but he had no help from Shelvey when he came on who gave the ball away 5 times in his 15 min cameo as opposed to Hayden's 6 (3 of which were once Shelvey was on). I have no particular like or dislike for Hayden, he'll be off in the summer and I'll wish him well due to his circumstances and the good performances he has put in over the course of the season for us but won't be shedding any tears when he goes...
