So...

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Jesus Was A Geordie

Jesus Was A Geordie

Well-Known Member
Jan 25, 2011
4,944
147
63
Bishop Auckland/Belfast
Alright lads, tough weekend for you, much like when we played Chelsea - you were beaten but with a bit more luck you could've easily gotten a point or more. I didn't see the full game as I've got deadlines up to the hole (currently taking a not massively well earned break from it), but from what I did see you created plenty and without taking away from McCLean (you've got a gem there) a little more experience would've seen you right!

We weren't pretty, but we were efficient and aside from two 8-10 minute spells, never looked particularly threatened (despite MOTD2's best efforts to make it look like we were beaten 8:0 by QP-Rcelona!).

Anyway, enough of all that, I've come across the barricades, in what is a pretty exciting time for N/E football, to ask where you see us both finishing this
year...

I know a few of you have been on our board, having done the BBC Predictor and from what I can tell, the majority have us finishing in 9th and yourselves in 8th.

Is this genuine? If so, why? Last season 8th and 9th only required 48/49 points - can you really only see us picking up 13 points from the remaining 17 games? You lot got 14 points from your first 17 and that led to Bruce getting sacked!

As for yourselves, where do you think O'Neill can take you? Your organisation is impressive and this has allowed players like Larrson and McClean to get forward down the flanks well, but without a proper goal scorer ahead of them they can only do so much...Do you think you'll pick one up in this window or wait 'till Bentdner is sent back and you've got his wages to play with?
 
I don't think we will catch you now, I'd imagine we will end up 9th and yourselves in 7th.... Hopefully we will have some redemption in the derby tho. :)
 
I'll be honest, I think 12 points is too much for us to bridge.

I ain't doing that bastard predictor, it'd take me all day, but I expect us to both finish comfortably top ten, maybe 8th and 9th, sadly with us below you (which WILL **** me right off, won't deny it).

You lot could get 7th, depending on how you cope without Ba and Cabaye, and whether Ashley sells any jewels this window.

That said, we have a good run of games coming up, where I can see us picking up a lot of points, so all this could change in a few weeks!

You will need more points than the last few seasons for 7th, as although the overall league is a bit weaker (6 poor sides at least), most of the top 12 are pretty decent now, and will pick up points consistently.

Our main hope is the cup, where I think MON will focus a lot of attention, and hopefully a result at SJP to rubber stamp his way to easily earned hero status!
 
Mags 7th or 8th,

Us 10th or 11th....

That's as it stands now...

But if we can get a new half decent striker, it'll be closer...

Can we close the gap? yeah sure.

Will we? Highly unlikely.
 
jwag - I guess this may be in response to my post on your board - I'll re-post on here - whan I did the predictor I found us 9th and you's 8th (unfortunately!) although my predictions are notoriously bad!!!

As for the goalscorer comment - absolutely spot on - we need one desperately as Ba would've filled his boots at Chelsea on Saturday with the chances we had

Also - there was a 7 game spree where Newcastle only picked up 5 points - one win and 2 draws with 4 defeats - this is always possible and that was WITH Demba Ba. As you are without him now for a month or so this is why I think you'll struggle - 1 shot on target in 90 minutes against a team like QPR is quite poor by anyone's standards - particularly when we, without the potent striker, scored 3 goals against them recently
 
MONsMush said:
I'll be honest, I think 12 points is too much for us to bridge.

I ain't doing that bastard predictor, it'd take me all day, but I expect us to both finish comfortably top ten, maybe 8th and 9th, sadly with us below you (which WILL **** me right off, won't deny it).

You lot could get 7th, depending on how you cope without Ba and Cabaye, and whether Ashley sells any jewels this window.

That said, we have a good run of games coming up, where I can see us picking up a lot of points, so all this could change in a few weeks!

You will need more points than the last few seasons for 7th, as although the overall league is a bit weaker (6 poor sides at least), most of the top 12 are pretty decent now, and will pick up points consistently.

Our main hope is the cup, where I think MON will focus a lot of attention, and hopefully a result at SJP to rubber stamp his way to easily earned hero status!
Click to expand...

Aye I reckon 7th WILL take more than the 48/49 points this season. Top 10 for us both is both realistic and encouraging, especially because of the poor start you had under Bruce and the expected (though non-existent) fall out from selling Nolan, Barton and Enrique!
 
Jesus Was A Geordie said:
Aye I reckon 7th WILL take more than the 48/49 points this season. Top 10 for us both is both realistic and encouraging, especially because of the poor start you had under Bruce and the expected (though non-existent) fall out from selling Nolan, Barton and Enrique!
Click to expand...

We should see a great battle between us both next season at the right end for sure mate.

We were handicapped by Bruce, this is clear when you see the difference in the side under MON, facts are we aren't playing sensationally well, we are just playing to the level of our squad.

2 defeats away to Spurs & Chelsea in 8 games, just about deserved at Spurs, thoroughly undeserved at the Bridge, shows that the management change should have happened earlier, but it's gone now.

The thing you guys have had over us in the last 2 seasons has been spirit, the Blackburn, QPR & City games have shown that that is the main thing MON has changed, but 12 points is a huge gap to close on a decent side, sadly.
 
marcusblackcat said:
jwag - I guess this may be in response to my post on your board - I'll re-post on here - whan I did the predictor I found us 9th and you's 8th (unfortunately!) although my predictions are notoriously bad!!!

As for the goalscorer comment - absolutely spot on - we need one desperately as Ba would've filled his boots at Chelsea on Saturday with the chances we had

Also - there was a 7 game spree where Newcastle only picked up 5 points - one win and 2 draws with 4 defeats - this is always possible and that was WITH Demba Ba. As you are without him now for a month or so this is why I think you'll struggle - 1 shot on target in 90 minutes against a team like QPR is quite poor by anyone's standards - particularly when we, without the potent striker, scored 3 goals against them recently
Click to expand...

Fair point, the 1 shot on target does say a lot, however, as we got the 1st half lead, I don't think we pressed as much as we could have - according to sky we had over 60% of the possession and were happy enough to keep it.

Coping without Ba will be tough but I never doubted Best's ability to score - his record isn't amazing 1:4, but that being said, he almost always adds something positive and can produce moments of class (like he did). We created a fair few chances to shoot - good balls into the box etc. but Shola failed to capitalise on them.

Commachio - spot on, I know Wickham is one for the future, but you were crying out for a goal scorer and buying him just didn't seem like good business to me! I'd say the summer will see you pick up someone nippy (agbonlahore-esque) and the gap between us will be near-nonexistent!
 
We can no longer say Newcastle have been lucky, I have seen a few of your games and its not luck.

I dont see us catching you and will be happy with anything down to 12th for us, after the start we had that would be fine IMO.

Newcastle I honestly dont know, keep thinking the bubble will burst but will it, certainly dont see you lower than 8th at very worst.
 
If we did manage to finish above the skunks it would be an amazing achievement considering the start we have given them...
 
MONsMush said:
We should see a great battle between us both next season at the right end for sure mate.

We were handicapped by Bruce, this is clear when you see the difference in the side under MON, facts are we aren't playing sensationally well, we are just playing to the level of our squad.

2 defeats away to Spurs & Chelsea in 8 games, just about deserved at Spurs, thoroughly undeserved at the Bridge, shows that the management change should have happened earlier, but it's gone now.

The thing you guys have had over us in the last 2 seasons has been spirit, the Blackburn, QPR & City games have shown that that is the main thing MON has changed, but 12 points is a huge gap to close on a decent side, sadly.
Click to expand...

12 points isn't that much - ask Kevin Keegan and Alex Ferguson <whistle>
 
My money is still sitting in the bookies on us finishing above you lot again!
Looking more unlikely after another lucky win the other day for your lot, one shot one goal. <ok>
 
Both teams are playing well, and both teams can pick up a good number of points.

However, we're both vulnerable to the same sort of issues which could scupper our season.

History has shown us that Sunderland is no more immune than Newcastle at selling players if the price is too good to turn down.

Similarly, both teams are equally vulnerable to injuries. Whilst I think Sunderland's squad depth is a little better than ours in certain areas, there are players like Larsson, Brown and especially Sessegnon who play huge roles in what they do. Brown is basically like our Coloccini and keeps the defensive unit organised, and Larsson and Sessegnon are often found as the instigators in most attacks. Losing any of them would be similar to us losing Colo, Cabaye, Ba and so on.
 
To be fair, yesterday was always going to be one of those games, but we were never threatened as much as MOTD made out. We were really poor, but kept the ball well.

Missing Ba is a shame, but we've won 2/2 without him. Fulham next, where we will be expecting to defend, hopefully nick a goal and come away with something.

Sunderland were dominant and got nothing, but Man City were dominant and you got all 3, that's football.

We have Fulham, Blackburn, Villa and Sours without Ba, and I honestly can't see us losing the first 3. I think we'll beat Villa at home as well as Blackburn away, 6 points out of those will do me.
 
The gap was always going to be tough to bridge. We aren't strong enough to claw back a 12 point gap and win 4 league games off the belt and likewise, Newcastle are too good to lose 4 off the belt.

That said I still think the gap come May will be much smaller than 12 points and if we can recruit a finisher, who knows where we will end up.
 
Realistically we might squeeze into the top 10, MON or not SB did a huge amount of damage early doors, the table is so congested between 15 and 8th that anything could happen. The Mags ought to finish somewhere near the top of the Euro chasing pile - would have then 7 or 8th by the end of the season.

In a dubious moment of goodwill to all - can I ask everyone, whoever they support to leave the Predictor alone - only heartache and pain can possibly follow (and anyone who put Man Utd losing 3-2 at home to Blackburn AND 3-0 away to the Mags let me know and on production of suitable evidence I`ll buy you a pint!). The Predictor is the devil in disguise and it will eat your soul!!!

Happy Days
 
CestriaO'Neill said:
The gap was always going to be tough to bridge. We aren't strong enough to claw back a 12 point gap and win 4 league games off the belt and likewise, Newcastle are too good to lose 4 off the belt.

That said I still think the gap come May will be much smaller than 12 points and if we can recruit a finisher, who knows where we will end up.
Click to expand...

Thats the key to me cest, even under Bruce we made chance after chance. Now under O'Neill we create chances but also have goals from other players, a striker and who knows.
 
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