What we've learned

PS Is Santon ****ed then?

 

The only reason he was anonymous is because the defense were getting the ball and booting it up field for Best and Ba, we weren't playing it through midfield half the time. It wasn't Vuckic's fault that he was anonymous in my opinion.

 

We desperately need a new centre back, I hope we get one in during the first week of January!

 

Have to agree, it was Perch who rendered the midfield anonymous. I wouldn't mind if he could spray it round like Beckenbauer, but his passing is absolutely woeful. Yet he seems convinced that these 60 yard diagonal balls were the route to success. Same against Swansea. I could see Ba looking at him last night thinking "what the **** is doing on this pitch with us?" I thought after 435th diagonal ball he might have clicked on but apparantly not

 

Anybody else think that in the last 2-3 games the opposition look like they've found us out? Or do we seem like we've ran out of ideas? Swansea and WBA in particular, we have found ourselves sat in the other teams half going nowhere! Everytime we pass it around the back four then either Perch lumps it up to Best or Colo passes it wide and the winger gets closed down by at least 2 oncoming defenders. Cast your minds back to Blackburn (H) and the movement was hard to predict, the fullbacks were making perfectly timed runs and the exchange in play between the CM's and wingers appeared seamless. It just appears to be far too organised now.

 

Injuries and suspensions all over the place has left us disjointed. The fluency has gone from our play but to be fair we still look a threat. Its just we can't defend because of Perch. Colo can only do so much of the work. I think we need to remember just how much Saylor was contributing. The step down to Perch is immense. Like 3 goals a game!! To be fair Swansea came and parked the bus too. I don't want to sound like a broken record but Perch is killing our passing, patience and defending. Our patience is dwindling. Earlier in the year when there was little on we were quite happy to retain possession and shift the oppo around. Now Perch gets it and hoofs it.

 

i honestly think we're FAR too organised at times, none of the players are really moving from there area or role, so you know where everyones gonna be, infact you can almost predict where they will go if you were to hit the ball here, hold here, pass there, this seems to effect us LOADS when we go down a goal, alot of teams have just completely sat back against us after scoring and let us do all the work and infact, do most of the game, with the ultra organisation, we're being man marked and if nobody is moving or taking anyone on, nowt is going to really happen often, could explain peoples frustration at ober, that's what we're looking for, he's been playing alright, he looks a threat, guitirrez has toned down his attacking alot more it's weird. Yesterday ben arfa pure just tried to take people on every single time, i reckon what people are saying would work better with ben arfa outside, so he can come in if we can't get anything out wide and obviously he's very dangerous and on the flank, he'd have abit more time and space and i definatly agree with vuckic behind the striker, he played so high up the pitch, just sadly didn't recieve the ball very much. Demba ba is ****ing beastly aswell

 

I can understand what you're saying here - the loss of Saylor has been bigger than i expected. The confidence has gone when defending now - even Krul has lost his confidence without Saylor in front of him! However as much as Perch hits up to the target man, Saylor also used to be guilty of this. Colo is only one of few CB's who really have the composure to play the ball out like he does. Perch recieves a lot of the blame because his frailties stand out when trying to fill such a huge gap that Saylor has left but he surely cannot be to blame for our recent attacking impotence. I honestly think that teams are beginning to see how one-dimensional our tactics are going forward.

Personally I think the best way to address this is bringing in HBA.

 

Hmm for me he plays more long balls than any centre back we've had since Bramble. That said it is not really his fault that he is playing out of position, and is a league 1 standard player. He's probably trying his best, its just woefully short. To be fair I think we still look a goal threat. As I say Swansea could have happened anytime this season. Most teams have come to play on the counter, they just came for a clean sheet.

 

Considering all the long balls last night we actually had a multitude of opportunities - the ball was in the back of the net 4 times (2 offside) and we hit the cross bar/post on several occassions. The issue last night was our defense and in my opinion, their downfall was in 2 key areas - 1, rubbish at defending set pieces (same at Norwich) and 2, terrible long balls over the midfield, as many have said here. Tiote was also guilty of that last night.

 

I think we are very one dimensional and it does look like teams have figured us out.
I might be alone here but colo was to blame for 2 of there goals last night, perch had nothing to do with the fact Colo got raped for pace time and again last night.

 

If you're honest you should be saying "our unbeaten run at the start of season meant fans got ahead of themselves, average players played above themselves and the confidence and run allowed the team to briefly look like a top 6 team.

In reality newcastle are a top 10 team, likely to finish 7th-10 and as fans we shouldn't expect to be punching above our weight for the entire season"

I said it for you.

 

Have to disagree with this. He may have got raped but you have to ask yourself why he was so exposed. Perch lost his man for the McCauley goal. His fault no question, exact same problem he had against Norwich, woeful on set pieces. For the final goal yes Colo got raped but Long can do that to anyone. The point is how you defend after that and Perch was embarrassing. He just watched before finally deciding he should try and get close to Scharner, the man he should have picked up anyway! Sorry but Perch played his part in two of the goals.

As I say that is not really the point anyway. because he is so bad, when he plays the whole defence becomes disjointed. Colo gets moved around and exposed. Teams are targetting Perch and its very effective. I don't blame the lad himself, he doesn't want to be ****.

 

Um I think you'll find that's what we've being saying all season.

 

Once Marv gets back and presuming Santon can play more than 3 games in a row by this stage we should try him on the left with Jonas on the right. Honestly the complete lack of balance in our team is pissing me off quite a lot now. We are just not getting enough crosses into the area for the amount of times we give it to the wide players.

I want to see more movement, more short passing. Our hoofball is so irritating and horrible to watch.

 

The guy has a one bad game and straight away needs a kick up the arse?

Great supporter you are, might aswell be a fan of blackburn.

 

This gets one me tits like. Players playing last night have been great most of the season, one game comes along and you hear fans (not aimed at anyone is particular) saying how they aren't good enough/aren't interested.

 

For the captain of the team to play as badly as Colo did last night is unacceptable. That's why he needs a kick up the arse. With Taylor gone and Perch slotting in for now then Colo has to work even harder than he did earlier in the season.

I'm not saying 'get him out he's crap', I'm just saying that last night he looked completely disinterested and unmotivated, and that cannot become a habit. A lot of this season has been built on spirit and fight in the team, and as captain Colo needs to keep that going. With the poor run of results we've had recently then the rest of the team will start to lose confidence, and again it falls on Colo to help motivate them to win games again.

 

Hate ******s like this. That's exactly what all of us have been saying all season. But 1 point from West Brom, Swansea and Norwich is not top ten form, it's bottom 3 form, that's why we're complaining.

 

Words like this get on my tits even more. He was caught out of position and done for pace. It wasn't a question of effort or desire, just a poor game on his part.