I may be setting myself up here by saying that we should give Newcastle Utd some credit for their result today.We got stuffed by WBA and then our neighbours beat them out of site.However,who will have had the best season if we can beat Everton on tuesday??An FA cup semi-final appearance is up for grabs with the potential of more to come.What is remembered more...an appearance at wembley,or fifth-place in the league??Thoughts,please,lads and lasses.
Its swings and roundabouts. We stuffed Norwich and they beat Newcastle! Newcstle have a strong first 11, but a fairly average squad in my opinion. Fair play to them though, theyre having a very good season!
If Newcastle finish 5th or 6th, looks nailed on and we can finish 7th to 9th and maybe a cup then good seasons all round IMO. TBH after our start we have had a good season already.
Actually we beat Norwich mate. And if you're refering to the 4-2 game when we lost away, we had no CB's. And I'd disagree saying we have an average squad. We're weak in certain places, but we have some good depth in places also. Cisse and Ba first choice strikers, Best and Ameobi back up. Jonas and HBA first choice wingers, Ryan Taylor, Marveaux, Obertan as back up. Cabaye and Tiote first choice CMs, Perch, Guthrie, Raylor back up. What's good about our squad is that we have quite a few versatile players who can play in numerous different positions. We definitely need to strengthen, and I don't know what's going to happen over the next few weeks without our best CB;s and having to rely on playing a player out of position in CB. Most teams have weak points in their squad, ours is our CB area.
Got to agree with you,syd.After the start we had,we've had a great season.A wembley appearance would put the icing on the cake!
One of the most important games for our season is the semi final game at Anfield. If either Sunderland or Everton win that game, then that's Europe gone for us. And getting into Europe could decide whether or not certain players stay or leave.
both clubs in there own right have had a good season. After the Wigan game I would of taken 17th come the end of the season but just look how good of a job MoN has done imagine if we had had him from the off I am sure we would of done better than we did in the first 14games but who know's. we need to get to the final if we get knocked out in the semi final then it makes no difference to if we had got knocked out first round we won't of got a europa league place or had the chance to win a final
The semi-final will almost certainly decide whether we get into Europe or not but its not as though its impossible for us to finish 5th. Plus I trust the current structure of our club to be able to rebuild and strengthen whether we have Europe or not, there are pros and cons to the Europa League - Champions League there are simply pros!!
Fair play to them, they looked very good today. One of their lads came on here to congratulate us on our win, so I have no problems with returning the gesture.
Proves my point mate. You had no defenders cause your squad is weak! Cabaye and Tiote are very good players but who would replace them? Guthrie and Gosling are average players! Cisse and Ba are very good, but behind them you have the Ameobi brothers and Best!
To be fair Guthrie and Perch have both stepped in and been very good CM's for us this season. Guthrie in particular deputised for Tiote in October and then Cabaye in the new year and i feel Cabaye shouldn't have been simply reinstated as Guthrie had played better. If he goes at the end of the season it will be a big loss for us (in my opinion). Up front our over isn't terrible. I think having Ameobi, Best and Lovenkrands as our 3rd, 4th and 5th choice strikers is about the right level for a team looking to finish 6th-7th in the league. As for our back line we're stuffed. We have no good cover whatsoever. Perch looks suspect at the back (much better as DM) and Willo is just a midtable Championship defender at best. I'd have preferred to see Kadar there, not because i'd seen alot of him but because i find it hard to believe he could have been worse. Our full-back are iffy too. Santon is hit-and-miss, Simmo is decent at best and Raylor is great until he needs to defend.
That's funny because (barring the recent game against us) Williamson always looks fairly solid whenever I've watched yous. Reminds us a bit of Turner for us, occasionally a bit clumsy but mostly reliable and brave. To be fair I think Newcastle have a lot more strength in depth than people think, much like ourselves. It could mainly be down to good management on the part of Pardew and O'Neill to make sure the back-up players are ready to fill in when needed.
But come on though mate, if you lose your 3 top CB's to injury that would **** most sides over in this league. I don't think you could name many sides that wouldn't have a tough time dealing with Holt and Morisson in the air with 4th and 5th choice center backs. Gosling is an average player, Guthrie is a good player that can create things, and he has good movement on the ball. He's got good agility and can keep a hold of the ball. Perch is also another good CM would good pace, and good tackling ability. Also Ryan Taylor, good set piece deliveries, a goal threat, fantastic crosser and good passer. You're calling our squad weak when it's still better than most in this league. Having two quality strikers like Cisse and Ba, and a canny striker in Best and a good impact striker in Shola, that's good depth right there. People may not rate them highly but they do a good job. Sorry we can't agree. We have weak spots but our overall squad is not weak. We've proven plenty of times we can win games without several first choice players in the team.
Well a cup final is no better than finishing 5th in the league. If you win the cup, then yes, that's a better season, but I'd rather prove quality over a season than by being beaten couple finalists. Fair play if you win it though, I'd take that over a top 4 place tbh.
Overall, the Toon have had a better season, assuming we don't win the cup. The big thing for us, is looking to a full season with a manager who can manage. We will be a force next season, there is little doubt. Both clubs fully deserve top 7 status, and now, finally, we both look capable. Happy days.
Better season is a point of view. I'd personally rather finish as high in the table as possible, some people might think it doesn't mean anything other than more money. This isn't true, it gives you a more attractive position to sign new, quality players and to push on for your future. If Sunderland won the FA cup then they've had a fantastic season, but my personal choice would be to finish 5/6th and establish ourselves as a quality team, so we can attract the caliber of players we need to push on and achieve higher things. At the end of the day both teams could be on the verge of a fantastic season. The expectations of the clubs being exceeded plays a part in it too. If Liverpool win both cups this season and finish 7th, I don't think the majority would say that Liverpool have had a better season than us because they expected to do better. Where as if Sunderland finished top 10 and won the FA cup, and we finished 6th and won nothing really, then it would be a very interesting topic for debate, but I'd personally see we'd had the better season to be honest. Both Newcastle and Sunderland were aiming for top 10 finishes at the start of the season, one club wins a cup, one finishes in the top 6 - It's a very opinionated matter.
