Indefensible.

Indefensible.


mackems 2 Newcastle 1


Alan Pardew became the first Magpies manager since Joe Harvey in 1967 to endure back to back Tyne-wear derby defeats, following a stuttering display from his side that lacked both intelligence and endeavour.

Trailing to a fifth minute Steven Fletcher header from a corner that wasn't properly dealt with, the lifeless black and whites were restricted to long-range efforts for the remainder of the opening period.

Matters looked to have improved after the break though when Mathieu Debuchy emulated Paul Dummett's effort against Liverpool - ghosting in unattended at the back post to fire past Westwood in the 57th minute.



Without a win in their previous dozen league outings, the mackems looked at that point to have reverted to type - conceding possession and territory as United went in search of further goals.

Despite the presence of both Papiss Cisse and Shola Ameobi on the field by then though, the visitors again struggled to provide any sort of service into the box,

scuffed efforts from Yohan Cabaye and Ameobi never looking likely to produce any dividends.

Having seemingly settled for a draw though, there was to be a sting in the tail with just six minutes remaining, as on-loan substitute Fabio Borini slammed a rising shot beyond Tim Krul for only his second-ever Premier League goal after netting at SJP for Liverpool last season.

There was some controversy over the move that led to that goal, referee Lee Probert over-ruling his linesman and penalising Cheick Tiote for a foul rather than giving Newcastle a throw as indicated close to the halfway line.

To focus on that incident however as the turning point in the match ignores a string of sub-standard performances from the likes of Moussa Sissoko and Yoan Gouffran, both of whom remained peripheral figures despite a number of tactical reshuffles by Pardew during the first half.

Chief goalscoring threat Loic Remy had his poorest game in a Newcastle shirt, while Hatem Ben Arfa saw plenty of the ball but was only able to contribute the cross-shot that Debuchy latched on to for the equaliser.

Fears that the makeshift back four would struggle were duly realised, but in fairness to Paul Dummett on his first start, the contribution of the more experienced Davide Santon was no better.

The area of greatest concern to those watching from the upper tier of the North Stand though lay in an apparently poor attitude shown by the visitors to the task in hand.

Recovering from going a goal down but failing to then go for the jugular and place genuine pressure on a woefully bad mackem side raises questions marks about the motivation and organisation on and off the pitch, regardless of whether we lost or drew today.

For all the sound bites from the manager about the righting the wrongs of last season's 0-3 mackem home loss, the evidence of today was that his words fell on deaf ears in the dressing room. That was exemplified by the fitful contribution of Cabaye, who like Ben Arfa can hardly be accused of putting himself in the shop window.

And while we're not quite in the perilous position that Gus Poyet finds himself in, this defeat combined with the visit of Chelsea to Tyneside on Saturday makes Wednesday's League Cup visit of Manchester City a game too far in terms of playing our strongest possible XI - something that will hardly endear Pardew to Newcastle fans.

Team: Krul, Debuchy, Santon, Cabaye, Williamson, Dummett, Tiote, Sissoko (Cisse 46), Ben Afra, Gouffran (Sa. Ameobi 70), Remy (Sh.Ameobi 70).
Subs n/u: Elliot, Anita, Obertan, Haidara.

Goal: Debuchy 57

Booked: Cabaye

smbfc: Westwood, Bardsley (Celustka 77), Dossena, Cattermole (Ki 70), Cuellar, O'Shea, Larsson, Colback, Altidore, Fletcher, Johnson (Borini 69)
Subs n/u: Gardner, Giaccherini, Mannone, Roberge.

Booked: Fletcher

Goals: Fletcher 5, Borini 84

Crowd: 46,313 including 2,800 away fans. The whole day seemed to be broadly trouble-free, with a small number of seats frisbeed down from the away section at full time.

The welcome absence of smoke bombs and flares may be partly explained by pre-match police action that resulted in the planned arrest of seven males between the ages of 18 and 57 and the seizure of a number of canisters.

The local tradition of pitch incursions remains alive and well here though, with inbreds allowed to strut across the turf before being guided back to their seats by caring home stewards.

Referee: Lee Probert

Stats:

The 149th Tyne-wear derby ended in defeat number 47, with the draw count unchanged on 49 and United stuck on 53 victories. We've now scored 222 times and conceded 219.

A report on the game from NUFC.com

 

Some of the Pardew stat are indefensible, time for him to go and take Ashley and Kinnear with him.

 

We wish!

 

Ashley is the key. Pardew & Kinnear can go but until Ashley sells up mediocrity is the best we can realistically hope for.

 

Our 1 defence is we were playing with out last resort CB pairing, Dummet was awful but its not his fat, Williamson was Williamson! If any 1 of Colo Saylor Or Mbiwa the result could of been alot different, but probably not as Pardew is the Anti Keegan and deserves to rot in the lowers echons of the antartic football league (He'd still be oout of his depth)

 

Why can't MA see this.

 

On the head.

 

A very accurate report.

Sadly though, it doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know.

Krul can be a great player along with Cabaye & Ben Arfa, trouble being that they all looked uninspired.

Rest of the squad is totally average and without Colo at the back, we look like anybody could score against us... including the worst team in the PL (they were before the game).

If QPR player Remy isn't firing, then neither are we.

Utterly pathetic effort from the team.

Congratulations to the DMM's and let's hope those are the last points they get this season

 

I'd like to see them get enough to stay up, even if it's just for the sake of the Derby.

Actually chatted to a few at the game and they were a good lot. Never thought I'd hear myself saying that, but there you go.

 

AB is on the turn

 

Go on big mouth, tell everybody!

 

The next soundbites out of our club will be bullshit bingo favorites like:

-We need to see a reaction
- Players were tired
- Small squad
- Bad day at the office...

I can see it now, really can.

 

Yesterday also showed how we needed back up in the summer. Weakened by injuries at the back with no one on the bench worth bringing on save Anita who should be starting games. Seeing both Ameobi's come on was just sickening. Yeah Shola had a shot. Big deal. He is a striker or at least he claims to be. He should be having a shot, at least once in a game. Save that he just embarassed himself like always. We needed two strikers in the summer - we got one in on loan. We need a big man up front who can hold the ball up. Why we didn't at least try to get in Lukaku on loan is just baffling. Yeah, we probably wouldn't have suceeded but anything is worth a go.

 

Not going to happen

We knew in summer we needed quality CB and nothing was done. Not blaming Dummett for Fletchers goal the lad is LB not CB.

 

What I was saying to some of the guys on the Metro coming back from the game.

 

The way we're structured, I will guarantee that Pardew was given the option of "if you want another defender, sell one and use that money". Then when the only one he wants to sell, Willo, will net him £1m, he realises it's probably then not worth trying. We'd struggle to attract better than Colo to the club and Steven Taylor/MYM should be good enough at our level. That ALL THREE were unavailable is not something Pardew can influence and its utterly unrealistic with our current set-up to expect us to be able to bring in someone like Lescott as 'cover'.

The real fck up was up front. It was clear he wanted a left wing forward, hence the bid for PEA and the subsequent loan of Remy, but he desperately wanted a strong CF, someone who would obviously fit into our formation instead of having to experiment with HBA there. The club 'offered' what they felt were fair amounts for Carroll (£5m), Bent (£2m) and Gomis (£7m). We probably 'offered' for the likes of Bony as well, but as is the norm, not enough. What we're discovering is that players we're succeeding in bidding for - at OUR value - are coming up short. Sissoko and Gouffran look like £2m players, not the £20m bargains Ashley wanted.

If I was Pardew that would take up my every waking moment, ensuring Graham Carr has 5 or more bona fide transfers lined up who are going to make a difference immediately for each position. I'd want to have a bid on the table already for a 1st Jan move for someone like Lukaku (or Doumba, or whoever else fits that bill) so if that was all I bought, it'd be enough. Really we now need two of those types up top, so we can keep that identity, using Campbell as the 'nippy' one when reverting to 4-4-2. Ship out Cisse, finally call time on Ameobi.

 

No trouble apart from a few Mag mongs throwing seats...Which could have easily killed somebody by the way..And all you moan about is a couple of Sunderland fans who got past the barrier..Not on the pitch..You should take lessons from us on how to conduct yourselves at football games..

 

!

 

Sunderland fans never throw seats at us do they, or anything else like that and yes the fans were on the pitch otherwise the referee would have booked your players same ways as he booked Fletcher for going in the crowd.

 

I think he is baiting you mate