Great result, and we're much better than that performance It was hard to watch at times Just the boost we needed before the scum game Well done lads Im a happy man
The most important factor in that performance was the return to form of Harrison and Klich. OK they might not have been at their absolute best but Harrison's assist and goal and Klichs assist might be just what they need to really get themselves in to a run of form. Klich is so important to how we play. It's no coincidence that when he is off form then the whole teams seems to falter.
Watched the match on Bein Sports and Andy Gray said Leeds are the most entertaining side in the PL but cannot defend, especially set pieces......no **** fat head Andy, thats a great observation My views were as follows:- The FA and referee's are thick as fck, Newcastle play in all black, so what's the **** for brains ref play in black shorts and socks, yellow top, if i had been Bielsa i would of asked him to change them, i think Bielsa is a soft centre when it comes to confronting officials, he needs to get them on the back foot, Fergie knew how to and did. We started off a bit nervy and players trying to keep the shape, a couple of times we had 2 players going for the same ball in the air, nobody calling ay all. Give silly free kicks away by tackling from behind, something we cannot afford to do with our defending. Our Captain is a very lucky man not only by shirt pulling in the box but rash challenges at least one penalty could have been given. Phillips should never take another corner, if Bielsa cannot see that then there is a question mark, they scored from his poor corner..... not acceptable. We know we are poor at defending corners, so put a player on each post, its not rocket science, maybe Harrison and Phillips because neither can head a ball. Ayling lost his marker and when he jumped he got 6" off the ground..........sorry not acceptable. Bamford run his socks off tonight, his goal was an opportunists goal, he got in there looking for scraps and got rewarded. Harrisons goal was a screamer, fair play to the lad, but ffs his crossing is abysmal yes he crossed one for Rodrigo but that was an hurried cross, when he has time 8/10 its poor. The fitness showed tonight which confused me somewhat, against West Ham we looked very tired, but lets be honest Newcastle are a poor side. Hope we carry the good points from tonight and take it to the Salford Yanks and tear them apart, have to be at our best tho.
I meant what I said earlier, Harrison frustrates me more than anything else because he is on the verge of being a great player. He works hard, his positional sense is good, his first touch is mostly very good but his decision making and delivery in the final third, is more to often, awful.
If Harrison just shifted the ball out of his feet and just whipped it in to an area he could be an England international. His biggest problem is having that extra touch or that extra step over. He is also guilty of overplaying. He tries to do his Pablo passes too often. He has a great first touch. Just practice whipping that ball in to an area and tell your strikers to hit that zone. My biggest frustration with Harrison is that he could be an absolute world beater. He is really talented. Just that decision making at the end that let's him down. He doesn't seem to be learning.
Thats the first time I can say that Bamford dint miss a chance and thats because he only had one chance. Rodrigo missed one great chance, Raphinah missed 3 chances, Harrison missed one and plenty of crosses, Klich missed a gilt edged chance, Roberts well why hes still coming on is beyond me. So we missed a load of chances and we messed up a lot of passes which then put us on the back foot. But we still scored five goals. If we can sort out the passing, and Old Trafford wont be a slow waterlogged pudding like ER right now, we should be better going forward. I think Rodrigo will carry on scoring and think Raphinah is going to smash it. ogS should get sacked this weekend. Well done lads but my arse was nipping for too long tonight
I hate saying this but as we are showing Bamford footage of Haaland in order to improve his movement I would show Harrison footage of Beckham at scum. Beckham never had to run at players, he made himself space and whipped an early cross in. That's how Harrison should play. He regularly gets the ball in a lot of space, his first touch is excellent so he shouldn't need to skin his man 5 times before trying to slip Klich in to the byline.
I had no worries about VAR for that penalty decision once I'd heard that Berra had broken into their office & demonstrated to the VAR ref how good he was at juggling his knuckleduster collection. Wonder if we could get Berra to do the same in the dressing room before a match, perhaps sitting in Roberts space?
Harrison was poor first half but 2nd half he turned it around. Cooper makes mistakes, all CB do, and he's part of a very makeshift defence, especially with Alioski as his left back, when he's there. It must be difficult as a CB playing with Alioski.
Sit back and enjoy the ride lads, both our strikers scored tonight, harrison showed what he can do, even the fullbacks scored. Pablo still has class, maybe not for 90 mins, but what a guy to come on later in the game. Bielsa didn't reveal the team, so played the same one, masterstroke. MOT
