Greetings. Just been looking at the league tables and its very interesting to read. From Everton in 8th place to ourselves in 16th, there is a mere 5 points. The next place up is Liverpool followed by the mags on 23 and 26 points respectively. Now, in all honesty, clawing back the 15 points between us and 6th place (or even 7th to be fair) is going to be almost impossible. Thats 5 games we have to win and they have to lose. So, I think MoN's first task is to stabilise the ship and get us going as a team in the next 6 or 7 games, then hopefully in January recruit a striker and a creative left sided midfielder and then look to cement a top 10 finish. I truly believe this is possible now and I'm sure MoN having looked at it will think likewise. On the subject of stats, there are some interesting ones when comparing the 2 NE clubs, separated by 15 points you'd imagine a huge gap in goals scored and conceded but thats far form the case. P W D L F A Pts Sunderland 13 2 5 6 15 15 11 Newcastle 14 7 5 2 19 15 26 They have played one more game and scored 4 more goals but conceded the same, yet they have 15 points more and have won 5 games more. Both have drawn 5. So whats been the difference? For the first few games they have defended well and not conceded in games but managed to score the odd goal in 1 in tight games. They have a striker in Ba. We have similarly done well defensively but havent had the benefit of a Demba Ba. With the sad news about Taylor (and I do mean this as I dont like to see players injured long term, even total ****ers like him) and the potential loss of Ba for 6 to 7 weeks next month, I have a feeling that the tables have turned a little bit today bit and especially with us having announced the appointment of Martin O Neill. I think he will have a few bob to spend in 4 weeks time and will do so on a striker and a creative pacy left sided midfielder, which will help our problem area of winning goals in tight games. As I said, 15 points is too much to catch up imo (or it certainly should be) but I look forward to narrowing the gap and giving it a go over the coming weeks and I'm sure that there will be a lot of Mags (even if they dont admit it) who will be a little concerned and looking to Ashley to recruit not sell in the January window. Will Coloccini be allowed to leave now or will a big bucks offer still loosen the hold on them? Will Tiote be allowed to leave as its no coincidence that they have now only won 1, lost 2 and drawn 1 of the 4 games he has been out. 4 points from 12. It was always going to be a test of the strength of their squad that would determine newcastle's season and now losing Taylor for the rest of the campaign and Ba, Tiote to the ANC? I also noticed tonight how Pardew was flapping a little bit and grasping for excuses by blaming the ref about the Luiz non sending off, which was really amusing as he seems to have forgotten the piece of huge luck only last week over his own penalty decision at Old Trafford. 2 defeats in 3 games now. Key injuries and Pardew under a bit of pressure for the first real time this season. Like I said, its going to be really interesting to see how the next 2 or 3 months pans out now. Our comeback starts tomorrow at Wolves but in earnest next Sunday v Blackburn. 2 wins would be too much to ask for but a draw and a win wouldnt. Long season still to go yet and many twists and turns to go too.
I should add that there are no guarantees we will shoot up the table but I look forward to the season now whereas last week the season seemed pointless.
I'm not bothered about the mags, just want to see us climb the table which I firmly believe we will under MON. Very tough game 2moro and it will be interesting to see how the players react. Wonder how much MON has had to do with them, I'm guessing nothing. Although our support is boosted and up for it, it will be interesting to see the tactics and team set out for the game. Goal scoring is still a huge problem for us, maybe a monkey off the back will help there, a home game would have been perfect as I think our new signings at the next home game will notice a very different atmosphere.
Wow. Cest provides some unbiased realism? I've always had you down as the one on here who basically promises that you will finish above us this season no matter what happens. I think the table finishes will be more down to how well other teams play, as opposed to how well Sunderland plays. You can't really stop other teams playing well in their other matches, so no matter how Sunderland plays, if the other teams are doing the business, then it's going to be tricky. Same goes for Newcastle. HOWEVER, with teams like Stoke, Fulham and Villa all struggling a bit, I think the places from 7th to 10th are wide open, and not actually that difficult to get. I mean honestly, who else is there? Villa? Everton? Plenty of teams this season aren't living up to expectations, so if Sunderland can pull it together where others can't, then we could see both NE clubs filling those top spots (presuming we keep it together too). Things aren't going to be as rosy as they have been from now on. Even I accept that. However, our team has still improved a lot from last season (with the much-improved Krul, Cabaye, an improved Jonas, Ben Arfa back, Ba and so on) so even if we beat our very average results of last season, we can capitalise on our great start and do well. Don't forget that if we didn't give away a 3 goal lead against West Brom on the last game, we would have been something like 9th. It was that close, and that was when we played some shocking teams involving Ameobi and Lovenkrands up front and all sorts. To be fair, what happened today was far more stonewall than last week. You would need video evidence to double check what happened against Man Utd, but today Ba was clearly the last man by about 20 feet. The referee plain and simply failed to enforce the rules. You can't deny that the red would have most certainly changed the game in a big way. If I had to choose between Chelsea being down to 10 men from the 4th minute onwards, or us being awarded a penalty, I'd take the 10 men every time. No wonder Pardew was livid when it was shockingly obvious that the referee didn't just make a mistake (like at Man Utd), he simply didn't have the balls to do that to Chelsea and make such a monumental change to the game. This decision was no accidental error. Up until the new year, you guys have: Wolves (A) Blackburn (H) Spurs (A) QPR (A) Everton (H) Whilst we have: Norwich (A) Swansea (H) West Brom (H) Bolton (A) Liverpool (A) Both fairly equal in difficulty tbh, although ours might be slightly easier. Not as confident now though due to Saylor and Coloccini being out.
Well personally I think we'll finish 7th behind (in no order) Liverpool, Spurs, City, United, Chelsea and Arsenal because realistically who else is playing better? Villa - no, Everton - nope, Bolton - ****e... Sunderland? Who knows. Could be 10th, could be 18th. I personally think you will finish 11th-14th. If Bruce had of stayed, 16th-20th. Our 3 main centre backs are currently out (although I'm not sure about the full extent of Colo's injury) which is quite frankly **** luck, but dont forget cest we've got Tiote coming back soon, and lets not forget Jonas who missed todays game. Both of these guys do an unbelievable amount of defensive work. Taylor isn't as big a loss as Coloccini. Call me deluded all you want but there hasn't been a better centre back in England in 2011 than Colo and I'm praying he isn't out for long. He's our captain and is in charge of organising the entire defence in their positioning, offside trap, marking etc. We're shafted without him tbh.
IMO We should forget about the toon, we have enough problems of our own. We might have got a good manager now but we still have an average squad and still no goalscorer (till Jan anyways)
I agree with this. MoN undoubtedly a great manager but he's still got Bruce's squad until January, which is six games. You can blame Bruce for the attacking, but he always started with four defenders and a goalkeeper, so the mishaps at the back of late weren't always his fault! I expect MoN to get the best out of the players but I feel we won't see his true potential until he adds a few players of his own.
Just stuck £50 on the win with Sky Bet! Rejuvenated performance today I reckon, players have got something to prove to their new boss. A bad performance now and in the coming weeks and a few may have to look to continue their careers at another club. (**Cough, Cough Elmo for starters!**) Just hope we stick two up-front and really go for it. 2-0 to the boys for me!
I have this one down as a 1-1 draw mate, might be persuaded to stick a few pound on at betfair. Around 13/2 at the minute which isn't great.
A draw huh? We really need that win today and I've just got a sneaky suspicion we'll nick an early one which will settle the nerves a bit and hopefully we can play some good possession football. Time will tell!!
I know mate but you've really needed that win all season Seriously though Wolves are generally pretty good at home and need the win just as much! I can see you still struggling to score and don't forget O'Neill is only in the stands.
