We need to bin our whole midfield, none are good enough. Whole new midfield for next season, hopefully younger, fitter midfielders that are able to make the step up if we get promoted. We also need a solid RB!!
Apparently this is the first time in premiership history that all 3 teams have been relegated with 4 games to go.
Depressingly inevitable outcome,agree Johnson's first yellow was wrong but after that he shouldn't have made such a stupid challenge for the second.It was all uphill after that and the only question was how many Newcastle would score.
Centre midfield is the big issue for next season. Think Morsy will be able to play some games and also good to have around as a motivator. Luongo is likely to go back to Australia. Not sure that Taylor is a midfielder - more a no 10 but we have lots of options in that position. Recruitment has to be good - still think an option is for us to get Dewsbury Hall as part of the payment for Delap
Thanks to PSR limiting how much the promoted teams are allowed to spend, regardless of the finances available to each club from their owners.
I hate VAR, ruined a fantastic spectacle of a game today as did the officiating overall. And I don’t think there’s a lot wrong with the goal the first time they had the ball in the net, so it’s not sour grapes. I think there’s a real danger of a European Super League breakaway because the Premier League product is now garbage.
Yes agree biggest area for strengthening, although I do think Morsy has picked up his form the last few games. Apart from when we were down to 10 men he keeps the ball so much better than any of our other players. He definitely still has a big role to play next season. I also feel we need to consider whether we got to a midfield 3, we've lacked a lot of control in midfield this season with many teams having 3 midfielders, it was a concern I had going into the season because you could see we were playing right on the edge with the way we played last season and was just right in the Champ. If Burgess leaves he'll be a massive loss, I thought both him and O'Shea showed today they are both very much Premier League defenders. Other than that another striker whether Delap stays or goes I think is needed. We appear to have loads of forwards all injured, all decent players but also ones who've yet to find their feet here. Our best link up play today came from Hirst, Chaplin and Morsy all linking up, we need to get back to the pass and move football, not what we've done alot this season which is dribble the ball into trouble. We need the team to understand their positions and know where each other will be, the lack of connection on the pitch has been quite painful in comparison to the previous 2 seasons. As for Taylor, still not sure about him, had some decent performances earlier on in the season coming off the subs bench and making a difference but I guess like ourselves have actually looked worse as the season has gone on. I think his best position would be an 8, in a midfield 3 as he's not a defensive midfielder yet I don't think he has the skills to play in tight spaces as a 10.
Postecoglou is calling out the ‘narrative’ thing and it’s great to see him do it. The narrative is one dimensional and Match of The Day’s coverage reflected the narrative and not the reality. It influences the refs, the opposition and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The first half was a proper battle, not that Match of The Day presented that. The second half was no contest at all.
I also couldn't follow Joe Hart's logic that Johnson wasn't diving to cheat but as a self preservation thing in order to avoid Burn's outstretched leg but it still deserved a yellow card according to him??
I've always liked the BBC and MOTD but my eyes have been opened this year. Their coverage of us is rubbish and depth of knowledge useless.
I thought he was going to make me disagree with my last comment as thought he explained it brilliantly but then just said but the ref made the right decision to completely go against what he'd just said!! It's like the refs, the commentary the pundits all have the same bias. People pleasing the club's with power and not rocking the boat.
Made no sense at all did it? A lot of our play has the mindset to try to buy a foul. It’s what Delap spends half the game doing. He’s not diving, but he’s not focussed on trying to get through and score either - he’s trying to buy a foul. The ref shouldn’t give a card for this. It’s not a card somewhere else on the pitch. If he does he should be giving 20 each game. Raheem Sterling has made a career out of that scenario. Johnson should try to skip past and score but he doesn’t have the quality or the belief.
Plus when your running as fast as you can and adrenaline is pumping then you see Dan Burns massive leg sticking out you're gonna be worried that you're gonna seriously hurt yourself. When I was young and played football I used to rely on my speed (a little too much). My way of getting past people was no skill just kick and run, usually having to hurdle players legs constantly. It made me come to the conclusion that you don't have to touch a player to foul them. The amount of times I lost the ball because I had to hurdle someone's leg because it made me off balance. I thought as ever Kieran summed it up perfectly. We've had 5 sendings off this season maybe some due to the quality of play but majority have been really unfortunate.
We were doing well up to the red card and the penalty, the whys and wherefores don't really matter because our season didn't hinge on that result because we've lacked the quality to compete at a consistent level all season, I'm sure McK knows what's needed and who isn't going to be here next season in the crucial rebuild needed if we have learned the lessons of this season. If we are serious about getting to the Prem again we cannot expect players we had in LG1 to compete against world class players and our signings have to be the quality required to be able to make the step up, we don't know yet if players such ad De Lap and Davies will be sold but if they are the funds raised should give us a healthy transfer budget, we wait and see. Despite the result
Sorry PC malfunction, I was going to say that it was a pleasure to be at SJP yesterday despite the result and McK and the boys were cheered to the rafters after the match.
