The morning after.....

Well... that's one derby out of the way for now.

It wasn't pretty... but when are they? We played average and were maybe unlucky at the manner of the defeat but the Red Card?.... the fact that, in the cold light of day the club aren't appealing says it all.
Stories abound about wrongdoings by a minority of SAFC fans.. I dare say some stories will emerge about a minority of our fans also. At the end of the day EVERY club has a minority of idiots, ours included (Gremlins anyone?).
In the final analysis there's not too much difference between our sets of fans apart from a few miles of geography and the colour of our shirts but at least both sets of fans can go to work today with equal bragging rights.

It's now time to put all of that behind us and focus on a series of winnable league games ahead.

West Brom (H)
Liverpool (A)
West Ham (H)
Swansea (H)
Southampton (A)
Stoke (A)
Wigan (H)
Fulham (A)

Out of the above I would expect us to hopefully bank 14+ points... hell.. on paper all 8 could be winnable.

We're getting better by the game and that's with some of our key players failing to fire on all cylinders thus far... given this I have hope.

How do you see the next 8 league games going points wise?

 

Not a red for me. We're in danger of turning football into "dancing on grass". Good play acting by Fletcher. I suppose he had to amuse himself as there is only so many interesting things you can find about the inside of Colo's pocket. We were very unfortunate not to get all three points, and to be honest looked a cut above them. The good thing is we saw the real Newcastle for the first time this season. This bodes well heading forward and I think we'll pick up a lot of points over the coming weeks.

The stuff about their fans is disappointing. But lets not do what they often do and blow it out of proportion. Its a minority of mongels who know no better.

 

All the lads gave 100% yesterday. Colo back from injury was outstanding. Shame about some Sunderland fans but they were only a minority.
I think West Brom game will be tough, they have made a good start to the season to everyone's surprise.

 

Having Colo back for West Brom will be huge. Cabaye being back to peak form will be good too. Anita or Perch in midfield to cover Tiote's inevitable ban?

 

Tough games coming up. WBA have had a good start. I'm confident, though, because we have a pretty much full strength defence again.

I'll have no worry at all with Perch in DM instead of Tiote, with Bigi and Anita to help.

Liverpool away is never a good fixture for us, but I think if we're full strength that we can beat them. Bellamy and Carroll were the players that ****ed us over last season in this fixture, but they're gone now.

I think Suarez and Sterling will be a handful, but I could see us grabbing a couple of goals vs an unsure Liverpool defence.

West Ham at home is going to be such a squeaky bum game. Set plays are our major weakness, and Nolan, Carroll and Fat sam will know this. We need to be ready for a bombardment. But we cannot try to play to counter their strengths, we need to keep it on the ground and play to our own. There's no point in challenging Carroll for headers, just mark the players around him so his flick on don't reach their target.

After these games, I don't see why we shouldn't beat Wigan and Swansea at home. Southampton away will not be easy, but I think we can claim the points. I think we can get results vs Stoke and Fulham away.

 

Perch. He seems to have a calming presence in the middle, I think Anita goes missing in games. some of Perchinio's tackles yesterday were beast.

 

Anita needs more time to adapt. Perch is first choice replacement for Tiote. Bigi would probably be ahead of Anita but you have to give him games to adapt. He is going to need to be carefully managed this season. We'll benefit next year.

 

Aye. Anita should play with Bigi against Brugge

 

I think we will draw them all but lose at Liverpool