Well I could sum it up in one word really, as I'm sure any of you could too, but for the purpose of the thread I'll expand a bit. Firstly those that didn't even get on the bus, messrs. Caulker (just what has he got to do!) and Dawson (heard there may have been a non football reason for this.)left behind in favour of Gallas! , and Hudd. The latter is tweeting dressing room unrest according to papers today. All 3 will be considring their future this weekend. Next, team sheet. Gallas a first pick over JV and the 2 mentioned above, JV I understand, the player I saw for Belgium v England is unrecognisable from the bumbling defender I've seen pre season, but over Caulker???...massive to AVB. VdV or Sigurdsson will not be how either player will want to continue this season either. Opting for Sandro and Livermore (to be expected away at SJP) leaves a front goal scoring department of JD, Bale (only player over 6ft), Sig, Lennon wouldn't send a shiver down the spine of any PL defence...and it didn't. Hitting the woodwork counts as much in terms of the result as smashing it into the face of some numpty in rowZ, it only shows the same proflligacy in front of goal as last season, oh for just one clinical finisher! JD's scrappy rebound was only a result of his own **** header. All of a sudden a home game against W.Brom who brushed aside a team full of internationals yesterday, becomes a whole different story. A game we should have been looking forward too with confidence, now has anxiety all over it. AVB has a very difficult week ahead.
Notso- you couldn't really sum it up in one word, many are needed. It looked to me like AVB had decided to combat the lack of a playmaker with Benny playing huge long balls to Azza. That was one of the problems there, Sig looked a bit out of sorts not sure whether to attack or hold. We tried to play our normal way but with no target to hit Bale & Lennon always had to check back therefore slowing it all down Walker was the same. Not all gloomy though all these things will settle as soon as the window shuts and we know who we have.
Dressing room unrest is a lot to draw from a single tweet. https://twitter.com/TomHuddlestone6/status/236798682660495361
Inda that sort of thing won't help his cause- AVB is the boss and if he wants to play someone else for a certain match he will. Not a total AVB fan yet BTW,but as Tommy says respect has to be earned,should heed his own words. I don't think he is out of the picture,just not ready I think.
I noticed that it was the same as last season with us melting away in the second half and missing good chances. JD's goal was scrappy and Newcastle were not at full strength. That's their first opening match win for 10 years which means either they are very good or we are very poor. I too feel the WBA worry after thrashing Liverpool but I have seen teams win the opening match and then lose the second one and vice versa. So a draw up there should have been the result which would have been a very good result for us but it wasn't so let's see how our home form goes. If we get 6 points then we're ok.
Few things I found interesting. 1. We dominated and tried to dictate play but our best attacking moments and chances came from hitting on the counter. 2. Sig & VDV are going to be competing for one position if AVB persists with this 4-2-3-1. 3. If we're going to play high up the pitch and try and dictate play with two dm's. one of these dm's needs to take some risks and support the attack as there was times when we won the ball upfield and both our wingers advanced beyond defoe and there was no support. Many of our issues can be solved by signing a striker that makes great runs and knows how to operate as a lone striker but i'm not a fan of playing two dm's if they are both just going to sit and protect.
I'm not afan of having 2 DM's either. I'm yet to see a game where i've really felt it's worked. I think it's a waste of an attacking player. Yesterday, I would have taken sandro or Livermore off for VDV and has VDV in some sort of striker role to help Defoe. it just seems wasteful having a "back 6" in theory, which I suppose will result in our forward players tiring much sooner.
I didn't see the game unfortunately and didn't catch MOTD either, so was the Sig as bad as I've heard people say he was? Because I've heard he was a bit ****e yesterday, displaying none of the technique and skill we saw from him in pre-season.
I'll seperate my thoughts into pros and cons. Pros: Imposed ourselves on the game early. You could understand if we wanted to be cautious early on and feel our way into the match but we looked confident that our tactics would pay off from the start. First half was excellent, barely had a peep out of Newcastle and created some good chances against them. Lets not forget that we were playing a more settled side, away from home who will be right up there again this season. Lennon brushed off his poor preseason and played very well on both flanks, I felt. Centrebacks were very solid. Gallas and Kaboul happily adopted the philosophy of not hoofing the ball out under pressure and kept Newcastle's front two very quiet. Defoe worked very hard and when he got the ball did well for the most part. Cons: When Newcastle took the lead they sat back and whilst we sent players forward, we lacked invention. This is nothing particularly new, it's happened on several occasions across the last 2 seasons in particular. Someone needs to take these games by the scruff of the neck and make things happen. Sigurdsson needed to get closer to Defoe, when we were controlling the game in the first half he should've been more like a striker in the final 3rd. I would've gone for VDV if he was fully fit, to me that was the big surprise selection, Sig did well in preseason but I think people got a bit carried away his performances. Two defensive mistakes proved very costly. Walker again making a mistake and then followed up by Lennon and VDV making a total pigs ear of closing down Ben Arfa.
When we played two DMFs under Harry, the problem was they sat back and allowed the opposition to get into the game more whilst also ruining our forward momentum (see any game between the FA Cup match with Stevenage and when Parker was rested because of a knock), but yesterday Sandro and Livermore were taking the game to the opposition and helping us get forward. However, whilst this was a clear improvement as well as a positive in the performance, if we had a creative player there (for the sake of argument, Carroll) it would have freed up Bale, Lennon and Sig a bit more to get forward. From this standpoint, I can see why Hudds wasn't picked, as he tends to sit back and that isn't going to work in the system we played yesterday. However, there may well be a place for him in home games or European games.
Sig did ok - certainly not ****e. One of his biggest plusses was his corner taking - defo an improvement on last year. In fact for the best part of the game there was a fluency in the play that belied playing a 'new' system. At half time there were not too many criticisms of our play, including the 2x DM's. However, apart from the obvious lack of a proper striker, we did seem to show some of the tactical errors of last season, especially in the Bale/Lennon area. In the first half, Bale was mainly on the left flank and caused Simpson all sorts of problems including an early booking. Lennon also produced some good runs/crosses on the right hand side. In the 2nd half they swapped wings for most of the time and caused few problems - the cross for our goal beng the exception. By and large the defence looked solid and the distribution from the back was good. Disappointing to come away within nothing from the game and I would agree with others who thought that VdV should have come on for Sandro or Jake rather than Sig, but not the most depressing of starts and something to build on.
First post after reading this board and the old 606 for probably 2/3 years! So, Howdy. I am not to disheartened from the performance, just the result. Personally I rate Gallas highly, while I agree JV should probably start with Kaboul given Gallis age I would still pick him above Dawson (who is not good enough) and Caulker (who should be loaned out again). As much as I want to see Jake Livermore come through the ranks, at this moment in time he is not good enough, he just doesn't have the vision to pick the decisive ball. Main things that stood out for me in the first game were, Urgency...Living with two Arsenal fans I used to always point out that when they are losing by one goal they never had urgency to really go for the equaliser, yesterday that happened to us...infact the only person to venture forward in the last 10 mins was Benny...and Benny put what 1 or 2 crosses in all game. We have two defensive midfielders, he should really be making overlapping runs more often. Secondly, VDV showed his class when he came on. However, I really rate Sigurdson and his set pieces are the best in the team by a long shot. I would love to see Sandro and VDV in the middle of the park. Lastly, we probably have the best counter attacking team in the league that all stopped yesterday when Freidel had the ball not once did we move the ball from the back to the front at any great pace.
Lastly, we probably have the best counter attacking team in the league that all stopped yesterday when Freidel had the ball not once did we move the ball from the back to the front at any great pace. I'll agree and disagree. Yes we have one of the best counter attacking teams in the league but we have to accept AVB isn't a manager that plays counter attacking football. Yesterday I remember Friedal lunching a couple of attacks with throws and within seconds we was in the newcastle box creating a chance, our best play seemed to come from hitting on the counter and using our pace as that is how players like lennon and bale thrive, running into space. It's going to be tricky playing a dominant game with our team as we're naturally a counter attacking team and I don't believe we have the guile and patience to dominate and create clear cut chances.
Yes, I was disappointed by the score, particularly as it was down to the stupidity of VDV and Lennon that gifted them the win. Our back 4 did a superb job at containing the Toon for most of the game, only for those two idiots to give away a silly penalty. Overall, however, I thought there were some plus points to come out of the game, and I can see where AVB is trying to take us. I was disappointed that Bale was, by and large, ineffective, but I can understand that with no target-man to aim for there is little point in him tearing up the left wing only to find pint-sized Defoe on the end of his cross. I thought Sigurdsson did okay. He brought a save out of their goalie for his free-kick, and his corners swing in very dangerously. Had we had Dawson and Adebayor in the box to get on the end of one or two of those we would have been sorted. What the game demonstrated, for me, is two things: (a) we need a midfield maestro to dictate play going forward, and (b) we are nothing more than a good mid-table side without at least one more striker, regardless of what AVB's plans are for the team.
1st game summary... we lost, perhaps we shouldn't have done, perhaps we deserved a draw, perhaps, perhaps, perhaps (any similarities between myself and Jeff Murdock are probably about spot on!) And on to the next At home to WBA, who will have their tails up... could be an 'oh dear' moment
This discussion would be very different if we'd come away with a deserved draw. The fact they got a pen was due to stupid defending and nothing to do with the manager and any new systems he may or may not be imposing. If you want to look at it with a half glass full approach, the first half was extremely positive as we dominated a very good team at their ground, as shown by their crowd being *very quiet*. We could easily have taken the lead and given our current circumstances that is very encouraging. The second half could have gone either way, and lets also not forget that they went ahead with a spectacular strike, which they appear to rely on to break the deadlock (beware toon fans, this is a dodgy tactic and will not work forever!) Let's not forget they'd produced very little threat on our goal until that point. Also must completely disagree with the poster that thinks Dawson isn't good enough. Ridiculous opinion.
I thought the two DMs were ok, though constrained by the early yellows. Sandro once again did a stupid challenge and got himself an unecessary booking, the times he does that, it really annoys me. I still stick by my view that we need a new keeper, as well as two strikers. Like Robbo, Brad struggles to get shots from distance, just doesn't have the athletic reach. I'm not saying he should have saved it, I just don't think he's athletic enough these days. I stick by my view that the Arsenal keeper is better. I was unhappy that VDV was on the bench as I'd play him instead of Lennon all day long, but to be fair Lennon did fine, so my judgment was wrong on this occasion. I thought we'd lose if we played Defoe and so it proved, he can't do that sole striker job properly, and that's that - IMHO.
I think it was a close a game and if you spend the money you get for Modric well your team will be great so I'd hold back with the negativity for a month at least.
Spot on GH10 - remember that Newcastle were fifth last season and we definitely played better than them, but were undone by a brilliant finish and a defensive mistake. With a new striker we will do fine for the rest of the season. Just watched the Chelsea match and I thought they were pretty average. Got an early goal on the break and a soft penalty and then relied on the opposition missing great chances for their clean sheet. Their reputation does seem to affect the opposition though.
