Positives...

Well there aren't any really, that's our first performance this season where there's nothing to take from the game.

However, this should see the end of the Colback and Anita experiment. Both far too similar and don't offer enough drive or creativity.

Gini should play deeper if we're to persist with the 4-2-3-1 which just isn't working. Steve needs to quickly realise that Perez is one of our best players and needs to be starting.

Our build up is too slow and Cisse far too isolated. Definitely time for De Jong and Perez to be given a proper chance. Saturday is now a huge game with City and Chelsea to follow. Far from a crisis but McClaren needs to learn quickly that the current set up isn't getting anything out of Gini or Sissoko and isn't playing to Cisse's strengths. Hopefully Saturday brings a change in personnel and formation.

 

Not much good to take out of tonight, but I agree with all of the above.

 

Get's worse every game I watch (alright I didn't Swansea or Man Utd). People think Thavin is good because he did well against Northampton I ain't seen it in the 2 league games, Mitrovic and Cisse are both liabilities and with a strike force like that then we are in trouble. Haidara is another example of a poor Carr signing I'm afraid.

 

Honestly couldn't take much from tonight.
Time for a warm cup of horlicks and an early night to warm the soul.

 

Mbemba is a cracking signing, that's this season's positive

we'll probably get about double our money when we fall through the trapdoor.

 

Wijnaldum looked a cracking signing at the start he looked dreadful tonight. The players have more ability than they have shown, been the same for a while. Need a Cabaye to get the best out of them.

 

This is it. He bought the level of others up around him.

 

Well done title it positives then point out all of the negatives

 

None.

 

What a joke. We can't even show up on time.

 

It has got worse every game we have played. That reminded me of a Carver performance. No ambition, no ideas and just plain shyte. I can not see us beating Watford next match. If we lose that then we are in deep do-do, with some tough games to come. There are going to be no easy teams to mug off this year, apart from us. Its going to be one hell of a long season methinks!

 

That im passed caring and can get more important things sorted out on match days.

 

Our formation is what is wrong. The system he is trying does not work. There are to many stages to our attack player and we don't have the quality and pace/ movement for it which is why we don't create chances. That formation needs 3 good creative cm players and yet we are playing two defensive midfielders who are basically poor. We need to go 4-4-2 with Aaron's and dare I say it overran on the wings. Gini and sissy cm Perez and either of cisse and de Jong up top. Thauvin looks ****. Colback to stay as far away fr the team as possible: we need to go back to basics.

 

positives - we're just below Chelsea with 5 games gone.

 

Horrific. I still think Mbemba is a positive, as is the effort of Anita.

I think McClaren must carry the can for the season so far and that game in particular. His lack of understanding of how to piece a team together from the players we have is worrying, his subs are worrying too. If he can't see that we need to take Sissoko, Cisse, Colback out of the team in favour of SDJ, Aarons and Perez then he needs his head checked.

I'd be foaming if I was Anita. He gets subbed in every game despite outperforming Jack in every single game. It is bizarre management.

Essentially whereas I don't think we are any great shakes, and certainly still have major defensive issues with Haidara, Colo and to a lesser extent Janmaat, we are handicapping ourselves through poor squad management.

 

Have to agree. I like McClaren and think he'll come good with time but Jack is woefully out of form and needs to be dropped.

Every time Perez is on the pitch we immediately look more dangerous. We need to ditch the 4-2-3-1, it's too slow and too technical for us. We aren't good enough to dominate the ball in the other teams half. We need to play Gini deeper with Anita, drop Jack until his form picks up and play De Jong in behind Perez with Thauvin and Aarons wide to offer genuine creativity along with a simplistic game plan. We're currently over complicating everything when we don't need to. A prime example being playing out from the back, I applaud this as I see it as the right way to play but if the short ten yard pass/throw isn't available then Krul needs to just go long. I mean how many times did he kick the ball out of play last night trying to find a player with a precision forty yard chip? It was ridiculous.

 

I like us playing out. The problem is Krul is having to learn to change his ways. Pardew started the process trying to stop him going long. He had limited success with it. The problem is Krul himself. He is now trying to force himself to stop just humping it. He had a simple ball on to Colo a few times last night in the first half, he didn't have the confidence to play it. He did play Mbemba a couple (usually behind him!). The as you say he tried on other occasions to play when it wasn't on particularly second half. His confidence and technical grasp of the concept is taking an awful long time to bed in. We are going three seasons the coaching set up has tried to change this, and we have seen very limited progress. The problem is Krul is not a modern goalkeeper. Trying to change him into that is difficult. Against Man U Krul was belting long balls and you could see McClaren getting frustrated gesturing. It was a mirror image of Pardew.

I like Krul, I like his commitment to us. Same goes for Colback. That doesn't mean that makes them some sort of untouchable or immune for criticism. Sissoko has teflon too. He has been shocking.

McClaren is confusing me. He wants a technical game, but picks our non technical players who lack the football brain/guile like Cisse, Sissoko. Haidara you have to cut him some slack, I'm sure he'd have kept Santon and played him. We have one fit left back so there is little he can do about it.

I'm not suggesting just because we pick the players I suggest we'll turn into a top 10 side. We won't but I'm sure we'll improve and McClaren's ideas will transmit better. We may even look more vulnerable but we need to score.

 

I do agree that players should be in the team on merit and on that basic Colback should be dropped for now.

 

Just seen we had 61% possession last night.
For an away team that is rather good.
I don't recall ever hearing stats like that for a NUFC side away from home.
Of course possession play doesn't win matches. Just ask Brendan Rodgers.

 

Yes that was passing around our box